Former
SAS Major Harry Maxim is assigned to
Number 10 Downing Street as a special assistant to George Harbinger,
private secretary to the
Prime Minister, following the suicide of his predecessor with the
British Secret Service. Maxim is assigned to protect Professor John White Tyler, Britain's premier
military strategist on
nuclear weapons policy and famed war hero (as well as an insatiable lecher). Tyler's many enemies, including local pacifists, leftists, and radical students, as well as the
KGB will do anything, perhaps even murder, to keep Tyler from addressing a
NATO summit in
Luxembourg. However, are various events surrounding Tyler related? Such as a
hand grenade thrown through the door to the Prime Minister's residence, or the death of a Czech defector? Assisted by
MI5 liaison officer Agnes Algar, Maxim must uncover a horrific secret from Tyler's wartime past in order to prevent a massive foreign relations disaster, as well as keeping Tyler alive. ==Film, TV or theatrical adaptations==