The most efficient killer in Europe is working as a book-keeper for a small, dusty merchant. But Circumstances force Hunter to employ him for one last operation. Schneider. Cheerful, friendly, affluent Schneider with his innocent passion for model soldiers. Callan hunts again And again his tool is Lonely, the most frightened little man in the underworld.It is Lonely who gets him the gun, a Noguchi Magnum 38 calibre. A magnum for Schneider. The operation is studded with leathal booby-traps, but Callan's own inhibitions are the most dangerous.

    He hankers after his dangerous past, when he was a spy with the SIS, and cherishes his contact with ex-colleagues, disbanded members of 'The Firm', at weekend parties hosted by their old chief, Philip Wetherby. When one of these parties is overshadowed by news of a defection, Arundsen resists Wetherby’s request to investigate. But he cannot resist Wetherby’s beautiful and mysterious niece. He finds himself, against his better judgement, drawn into the investigation, and so into a tangle of treason, intrigue—and a trap from which it seems there is no escape.