Detective Inspector John Rushton has gone too far this time. After brutally mistreating a suspect when a kidnap case involving a child goes horribly wrong, he is relieved of his position and suspended under investigation. Now, hidden behind his front door, he teeters on the brink of a mental breakdown that he point-blank refuses to acknowledge could ever happen to him. Encouraged by concerned friends, he realcitrance is more than matched by their determination to get him out of this depression and he is pressed to take a relaxing break away from his troubles on the beautiful Mediterranean island of Cyprus. He should have stayed home. A chance encounter with a known felon from back home turns his bout of R & R completely on its head, for the next day he is picked up by the police after the man and his accomplice are found dead, executed in the grounds of a monastery. Rushton's holiday turns into a nightmare excursion when he is accused of these murders by a Machiavellian Foreign Office official who rather than help out, appears more than happy to let him take the blame . . . unless he would be willing to assist in another matter. So begins an unequal partnership in the quest to be first to locate a fabled cache of Egyptian Treasure not seen for over two hundred years. Unfortunately, they are not alone in the race, for as well as a German archeological team, somehow, a link to organized crime has occurred and with the backing of a ruthless International drug syndicate, are forging remorselessly ahead for the prize, gleefully unconstrained by any laws and rules.