The head of the Bulgarian Secret Service asks to meet with Sandbagger Tom Elliott in Sofia, but Burnside doesn't like it and intends to give Elliott backup whether his bosses approve or not.

When there's talk of getting a new 'C', Burnside decides to back Peele for the job, believing him more malleable than the other most likely candidate, whom Burnside once clashed with.

Permanent Under-Secretary of State Sir Geoffrey Wellingham goes missing in Brussels and the Sandbaggers are dispatched to find him, for Burnside's sake as well as Wellingham's.

On an airline flight back from Sri Lanka, Caine and CIA covert-action agent Karen Milner run into trouble during their stop in Turkey, and Burnside runs into bureaucratic opposition when trying to help them.

Sandbagger Mike Wallace runs afoul of the local SIS station while on a risky mission in Warsaw, and Burnside risks his own career to show him support by sending him on a subsequent mission to Stockholm.

In the wake of the assassination of one U.S. senator, the Sandbaggers are assigned to bodyguard another, while Burnside gets wind of a traitor in the British cabinet.