John Spada runs an enormous multi-national corporation; privately he heads Proteus, a clandestine resistance movement. His aim is to free prisoners of conscience wherever they may be. As the story unfolds, Spada himself becomes an outlaw, and holds the world hostage.

Big John Spada is a self-made millionaire. From his headquarters in New York, he directs enterprises around the world with military precision. Privately, Spada also funds Proteus, a clandestine movement that works to free political prisoners and combat tyrants wherever they may be.

Then news arrives from Argentina that the Buenos Aires secret police have arrested Spada's daughter Teresa, a doctor, after she performed emergency surgery on a man with gunshot wounds. They then take her husband Rodolfo whose outspoken editorials have angered the country's fascist government.

A scheme is hatched by Proteus to rescue them, but soon the enemies of Proteus begin to target Spada himself.

'Mammoth brew of good and evil.' The Observer

'Extraordinarily well-told . . . narrative is very exciting.' Auberon Waugh, Evening Standard

'Bestseller written all over it.' Daily Express