Disaster threatens. Already in the grips of another long, dark winter at war with Nazi Germany, the Allies are dealt a potentially crippling blow when a British agent working inside the S.S. is captured. His loss is a calamity for Allied intelligence and the balance of power in the deadly intelligence war suddenly threatens to swing in favor of Nazi Germany. Desperate to stop the enemy from dealing the Allies a crippling blow, British intelligence strikes back with an emergency mission into Occupied Europe. Andrew Courier, a linguist in U.S. Intelligence, has never seen combat and is untrained in special operations. He is young and militarily naive, swept up by events for which he is unprepared, but he may yet hold the key to Allied success. Cold and determined, Ian Dunbar is an experienced and ruthless intelligence operative, but with a troubled past that threatens the success of the mission. Improbably paired in an operation born of desperation, they must rescue Allied intelligence from a cataclysm that could change the course of the war. Knowing they must not fail, but with little chance of success, Courier and Dunbar face a seemingly impossible task: a hastily planned operation, a resolute and merciless enemy, extreme misfortune and very little time."