Max-Catt is summoned by his Bastion boss, Cordelia Fernsby, and sent to Paris to meet a rogue French intelligence agent. What she carries is explosive: secret film footage of a covert laboratory hidden in Yalta, Crimea.

A breakaway Russian faction, the Progressive Russia Party, is attempting to develop a chemical warhead capable of shifting the global balance of power. When a disgraced French scientist completes his banned research under PRP funding, the stakes escalate fast. The evidence linking them could destabilise the Kremlin — and ignite international chaos. But powerful forces are already moving to suppress the truth.

Hunted across Europe by operatives desperate to reclaim the stolen footage, Max must protect the evidence long enough to expose what’s really happening in Crimea. With deception layered on deception and enemies closing in from every direction, one mistake could trigger consequences far beyond his control.