In February 1967 a one-off television drama in the series Armchair Theatre introduced the surly complex and ferociously downbeat character of David Callan - a professional hit-man working for a very dirty section of British Intelligence. As portrayed by the actor Edward Woodward Callan was to become an iconic figure of espionage fiction appearing in novels a film and an immensely popular television series. This is the first of five novels written by Callan's creator James Mitchell featuring his human but not necessarily pleasant hero.