A novel about political wars and their secret participants - agents of the GRU and Western intelligence services. A unique opportunity to get acquainted with the secret mechanisms of the complex work of an intelligence officer. Nikolai Bolshakov has a rich track record: operations in Europe, South Africa, Afghanistan and other countries. A valuable intelligence officer, a rare professional. But this time he was unlucky. Nikolai was betrayed by a defector, and the intelligence officer was detained right at the airport. And then - persuasion, intimidation and an offer to work for the intelligence service of a foreign country. But you can’t take Bolshakov with your bare hands. Well, they give him time to think... in the basement of a secret prison. Fortunately, Nikolai’s cellmate turned out to be an old acquaintance of his, with whom he had to cross paths more than once in different parts of the globe. The recruiters do not even suspect that they themselves have launched a terrible mechanism of retaliatory strike...