Mild mannered American David Pollock, a professor of ancient hieroglyphics at Oxford, is hired by Middle Eastern shipping magnate, Nejim Beshraavi, to decode a hieroglyphic written cipher. What Beshraavi is unaware of is that David only took the job as a favor to Middle Eastern Prime Minister Hassan Jena to discover what Beshraavi is up to. David just met Jena for the first time on a clandestine visit to London prior to his official visit to sign a business treaty with the British government in two days' time. Jena tells him that what Beshraavi is asking him to do involves some plot orchestrated by Beshraavi, a countryman of Jena's, against his government. For Jena's security, David is not to disclose to anyone that he is doing this job for Jena, that he has even met Jena, or that Jena is already in London. This job also entails some personal risk to David's life as Beshraavi is not averse to killing to achieve whatever his goal. As David progresses on his task, he is approached by Yasmin Azir, the beautiful owner of the house where Beshraavi is staying and where David is doing the work, who is also Beshraavi's lover. She provides information which suggests that his task is more dangerous than it appears on the surface, as there are more players beyond Beshraavi interested in the cipher and its message, and they will also kill as needed to achieve their goal. However, David, who initially takes her information at face value, will develop doubts about who she is truly working for and why.—Huggo