It begins one rainy dawn: Orville Brame, prominent lawyer and president of the American Bar Association, is found shot through the heart, slumped in a monorail, silently circling downtown Sydney. The next day, the body of a security guard is fished out of the harbor. During the ensuing investigation, a talented rookie cop is ruthlessly gunned down. The trail Inspector Scobie Malone uncovers leads to betrayal-betrayal between brothers, when jealousy causes estrangement and murder, and betrayal between countrymen, when cynicism triumphs over patriotism and sparks a multimillion-dollar international intrigue.