Summoned late at night to the Bureau, Quiller attends a secret conference with the foreign secretary and a surprise defector: the Chinese ambassador to Britain. Minutes later, shots ring out and the ambassador's body is flung out onto the sidewalk of a deserted London street, riddled with bullets.

Searching for clues, Quiller flies to Calcutta to meet Sojourner, a key ally in the plan to bring democracy to China. But Sojourner is killed…thus two men, both dedicated to bringing freedom to their country, are dead. No wonder Quiller is skeptical about his next mission: smuggle a Chinese dissident into Tibet.

"Tense, intelligent, harsh, surprising." (The New York Times)