One night on a lonely marina, ex-agent Tarp peace is disturbed by an old disgraced collegue, John Carrington. Before he knows it, he's been dragged back into the fold. The head of the US Research Bureau, Carl Reiser, was killed - murdered in an apparent mugging. But Resier's replacement, Molly Coffer believes otherwise. She wants Tarp to discover what really happened - although her gung ho attitude is nothing but suspicious to Tarp. It seems though...