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 profession 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 immensley 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.