Major Max Devlin is on a joint SIS/CIA assignment to train an elite unit of India's All-Tibetan Special Frontier Force – the 22s – for covert ops inside Tibet. A welcome escape to Chakrata in North India turns explosive when his US counterpart earns himself a shamanic curse.

Their host, an Indian cabinet peopled by self-serving ministers, is split on where national interests lie. A deviously ambitious intelligence officer waits in the wings. Local politicians whose salacious sons perish at the hands of Devlin and his Gurkha sergeant, Deepraj, are in vengeful pursuit.

Once across the border and high on the Himalayas, death and torture await the 22s. Caught in the geopolitical web are three remarkable women – two officers and a combat surgeon – whose courage, faith and skill will be tested to the limits.

Faced with a clash between his principles as a soldier and his cherished career in the Royal Gurkha Rifles, Devlin must decide how the die is cast.