Dirk is distracted by the promise of treasure, however.

It is later revealed that both Topiltzin and Yazid are scions of a notorious crime family. As the plot unfolds, several more attempts are made on Hala's life, since she is trying to stop would-be dictator Akhmad Yazid from taking over Egypt. Also in the area is Lily Sharp, who discovers an ancient coin. The hijacker bails out of the plane after ensuring that the plane crash lands in Greenland, where Dirk Pitt, Al Giordino, and Rudi Gunn are trying to locate a sunken Soviet submarine. Soon after, a Middle Eastern terrorist secretly hijacks a plane carrying Hala Kamil, the new United Nations Secretary-General. Topiltzin kills the envoy, and sends his skin and heart back to the President. The story then shifts to the present day, where an envoy of the US President having a secret meeting with a would-be Aztec dictator, Topiltzin. While one small ship manages to get away, they never reach land and the secret of the treasure is lost. After the treasures are buried the people, the Roman soldiers, and slaves are all slaughtered by the natives. The book starts with a historical prologue in which Julius Venator, a Roman, along with a group of Roman soldiers and slaves, sail in a fleet of ships ferrying the treasures from the Library of Alexandria before its destruction to a secret location to be buried in caverns. This is the ninth book featuring the author's primary protagonist, Dirk Pitt. Treasure is an action-adventure novel by Clive Cussler.

Raise the titanic by clive cussler