It began with the mysterious collapse of a new suspension bridge spanning the Mississippi River. But that was only the beginning. Soon battleships, Army fortifications, coastal defenses, even skyscrapers were crumbling under the strange corroding Dust of Doom. What malevolent force was obliterating America's most important military sites? What shadowy person or nation stood behind these atrocities? Swinging into action, Jimmy Christopher, Secret Service Operator #5, plunges into a whirlpool of dusty destruction caused by The Melting Death. But can even Operator #5 preserve the nation from an agent so corrosive that no stone or metal can withstand it?