2026. Nine years have passed since Jonathan Pine tricked Richard Roper in Egypt and sent him into the hands of his Syrian captors. Now Roper is dead and Jonathan Pine has become Alex Goodwin, a low-level intelligence officer with MI6. Then Pine sees an old Roper mercenary in London. And his new secure life begins to unravel.

Pine is on the run, and using a new identity. Under the name Matthew Ellis, he travels to Colombia to get inside Teddy dos Santos' operation and uncover the mystery of the Cartagena shipment.

Pine gains Teddy's trust in Cartagena, and secretly finds the proof he needs to connect the Cartagena shipment to covert British intelligence interests. But then things start to go wrong.

Pine has the proof he needs to expose the British-backed overthrow of the Colombian government. But Teddy no longer trusts Matthew Ellis, and Gilberto Hanson is on his tail.

Matthew Ellis has been exposed and Pine can no longer run. He meets Gilberto Hanson and offers a deal. Then Pine covertly starts to work on Teddy, and to dismantle the Colombia operation from within.

Pine works with Teddy to bring down Gilberto Hanson's Colombia coup from the inside. But Hanson has found a new ally of his own. It is winner-takes-all.