The unexplained murder of a young Russian woman in Stockholm puts the Säpo (the security, anti-espionage and anti-terrorism department of the Swedish police force) on red alert, and they immediately try to bring a smoke screen down around the crime. Stig Bohman is head of counter intelligence, and he is charged by the government to obstruct the work on the case, run by Police Commissioner Gunnar Jansson and his assistant Anna Palmqvist. But there is a mystery around the dead woman that the police just can’t ignore. According to the media she was an Eastern European prostitute killed by an overdose, but it turns out she was the daughter of a Cuban Colonel who was about to flee his country and sell information to the Americans in exchange for political asylum, and an intense plot of loyalty and betrayal; treachery and double-dealing is revealed between the Swedish and American governments.