ON JULY 2, AT 6 P.M., ATLANTIC CITY WILL VANISH INTO THE SEA. AND SO WILL THE HAMPTONS . . . AND OCEAN CITY . . . AND CAPE MAY . . . AND . . .

George Williams’s orders came directly from the president: Find the live nuclear warhead buried under three hundred feet of ocean, somewhere off the Jersey shore. And bring back the brilliant man who put it there. Williams’s only link to both: an ancient map bearing the coded words of Benedict Arnold, the infamous Tory spy. It is now July 1. Within thirty-six hours, the bomb will explode. A million tons of radioactive water will smash over the Eastern seaboard. Millions of people will die. The countdown has begun . . .