It was a game of cat and mouse right from the start. Mallory Queen, a former State Department man who'd gone freelance, had a plan.
He wanted to trade Willis Browning, a CIA-held double-agent, to the Russians in return for a spy named Vordak, who possessed a vast amount of information relating to Russia's space program.
The CIA would never willingly release its prisoner, of course, but because Vordak was the bigger prize, Queen decided to snatch Browning away from them. So he enlisted private eye Larry Kent-a former CIA man himself-to mastermind the kidnap
Even if it meant that Larry had to sell out some of his closest friends to do it.