Jack Dunphy has operated as a CIA agent "without official cover" in London as a businessman who establishes commercial covers and banking facilities for people with large amounts of money that needs hiding. He does his spying on the side. Suddenly someone he has had under surveillance is mudered. He is told his cover is about to be blown, made to proceed directly to Heathrow and home to Langley. There he is dumped in a desk job that seems calculated to make him quit. Instead he begins to suspect an incredible conspiracy within the CIA and starts to uncover it. In danger of his life he goes on the run, not just to save himself (and his girlfriend) but to uncover the truth.