Secreted in a filthy, cramped cabin on the Italian steamer Sestri Levante, an Englishman begins his terrified flight across wartime Europe.
For Graham, an engineer working for an arms company, the inconvenience which began in a hotel room in old Istanbul has become a nightmare from which he fears he may never wake. His pursuers have already wounded him - surely the next time they won't miss.
But who are they? And where on the long sea passage to Genoa will they make their move?