From the master of the historical spy thriller a story set in the heart of the Polish resistance September 1939. The invading Germans blaze a trail of destruction across Poland. France and Britain declare war but do nothing to help. And a Polish resistance movement takes shape under the shadow of occupation enlisting those willing to risk death in the struggle for their nations survival. Among them is Captain Alexander de Milja an officer in the Polish military intelligence service a cartographer who now must learn a dangerous new role: spymaster in the anti-Nazi underground. Beginning with a daring operation to smuggle the Polish National Gold Reserve to the government in exile he slips into the shadowy and treacherous front lines of espionage; he moves through Europe changing identities and staying one step ahead of capture. In Warsaw he engineers a subversive campaign to strengthen the peoples will to resist. In Paris he poses as a Russian poet then as a Slovakian coal merchant drinking champagne in black-market bistros with Nazis while uncovering information about German battle plans. And a love affair with a woman of the French Resistance leads him to make the greatest decision of his life.