Life for Paul Samson has gone downhill since he last saw Denis Hisami. His luck on the turf has run out and, broke and a little desperate, he has accepted a dangerous assignment searching for a missing American businessman in Russia. Then he receives a call from Hisami asking him for a meeting.

Hisami has a bombshell to drop: Anastasia Christakos, the third member of the unlikely trio who searched for Naji 'Firefly' Touma across the Balkans three years ago, has been kidnapped, and Hisami wants Samson to find her. Given that Anastasia recently left Samson for Hisami, it's a bold request, but Samson is unable to say no.

It soon becomes clear that Anastasia is being held by parties with Russian connections in order to manipulate Hisami's business dealings. Is there a connection to Hisami's early business dealings, or even to actions taken by Hisami twenty five years before when he was a member Kurdish special-forces and intelligence? It will take all of Samson's courage and guile to find out - and meanwhile the life of the only woman he has ever loved hangs in the balance