Used paperback in good condition. Cover and pages showing average wear. Pages with normal age discolouration. Signature in ink on title page. 626 pages. Published by Fontana Books, 1989. ISBN 000617454x.

The superpower 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 other-worldly 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.