Alistair MacLean's The Dark Crusader

Forsaken by their governments, two people stand alone in a desperate struggle to track down a biological weapon before it is used to wipe half the population of Eurasia from the face of the earth.

John Bental, onetime specialist for the British SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) is visited by his previous commander, Colonel Raine. Brandt, a bio-defence scientist of the highest level is missing. He must be found and John’s credentials make him the man for the job.

Despite initial reluctance, Bental soon finds himself in Berlin on the trail of the missing scientist. But when every lead he speaks to ends up dead, he realises this is no ordinary kidnapping. After Raine refuses to send backup, John joins forces with Brandt’s daughter Marie, who unknown to him is a Russian FSB (Federal Security Service) agent operating under alias.

They discover Brandt was abducted by La Fontaine, an extreme right-wing operation whose membership penetrates the governments of every west European state. Their plan: to release Dark Crusader, a horrific biological weapon, into Europe’s immigrant population in a bid for total ethnic cleansing.

Seeing the full scale of the potential horror, Marie rejects an FSB order to kill Bental in order to help him stop it. Together, these two outcasts learn to open their emotions to each other as they embark on a desperate struggle to save millions of lives, all the time pursued by the La Fountaine who want them dead.

Based on Alisatair Maclean’s classic novel, Dark Crusader charts a heart-pounding course through Europe and Asia Minor towards a gripping and emotional conclusion, as two renegades assault insuperable odds in a high-octane thriller that will sweep audiences away at breakneck speed.