The international arms negotiations appear to be making progress. But a US spy satellite reveals that the Soviets are building a massive laser-defence system controlled from an otherworldly array of pillars and domes in the Soviet hills at Dushanbe near the border of war-torn Afghanistan. The Americans need more information. The man to give it is Colonel Mikhail Filitov of the Soviet Union, codename Cardinal, America's highest-placed agent in the Kremlin. But Filitov's cover is about to be betrayed to the KGB, and CIA adviser Jack Ryan must rescue Filitov and bring him to safety...