Haunted by the brutal killing of his UN interpreter wife in Bosnia, ex-SAS operative, Ed Coltrane, is consumed with the need to hunt down her murderers. Drinking too much and spending too much on his search, his life is going into meltdown. Just as it seems he can fall no further, a former colleague informs him that one of his wife's killers is in London, as a guest of the British government. Certain, unofficial figures in the corridors of power would like to see this man disappear, and they'd like Ed Coltrane to accept the contract. Although he is finished with the service, and has no desire to commit what amounts to a state-sanctioned murder, the desire for revenge is too strong, and Coltrane agrees to pull the trigger. What he doesn't know is that there is an elaborate game of bluff and double-bluff being played throughout Europe, and certain high-ranking officials have a vested interest in his failure and removal. Thus begins a dangerous journey into the dark heart of modern Europe, where Ed Coltrane finds himself in deadly conflict with the new mafias and security apparatus of an emerging superstate. At the centre of everything is a secret act of national betrayal that is as shocking as it is unexpected. All that is required to bring it to fruition is to silence one man. Unluckily for the architects of treason, that man is Ed Coltrane. And he's in no mood to compromise.