When five superpowers — the US, Japan, Germany, France and the UK — put their heads together in the name of global political X02 stability, the result is EXIT: the most deadly and efficient intelligence agency the world has ever known. EXIT specialises in the removal and replacement of 'problematic' people - be they political or religious leaders, scientists, academics or those with extraordinary talents.

The EXIT mandate is simple: do it quickly and do it properly.

Ray Cain is EXIT's most skilled agent, a man trained specifically

• for one long-term mission in Pakistan. His task successfully completed, Cain now faces retirement in exile from the only existence he has ever known.

Then he is recalled for a final trifling assignment — a project that should be straightforward. But allegiances are compromised, promises are broken and Cain finds himself at the centre of a gathering storm on the most inhospitable continent on earth.