The Karamanov Equations

Dr. Nicholas Sten stands under the white lights of the operating room and faces a decision upon which the fate of nations depends: Is he to save a life, as his oath as a doctor binds him to do, or to save his country, as his pledge of allegiance commands him to do?
On the operating table lies Nikolai Karamanov, a Russian physicist whose genius has given the Soviet government the theoretical means to construct an avant-garde antimissile system. The Russians have already invested billions in the project. Now Karamanov has contracted a disease whose only cure lies in a surgical technique pioneered by French and American doctors. At the invitation of the French, Dr. Sten has been flown from his home in the United States to Paris to operate. The CIA, however, has informed Dr. Sten of the identity of his mysterious patient. They have also told the American surgeon that the National Security Council considers it his duty as a citizen to see that Nikolai Karamanov does not emerge alive from the operation.