Both have a distinguished record in the WWII Anti-Nazi Resistance and are highly regarded in their own countries, but they discover that at NATO they are complete non-entities and the Americans never bother to listen to anything they say.

Increasingly fed up and angry, the two hatch a scheme whereby they would be avenged on the arrogant Americans and at the same time gain a tidy sum for their approaching retirement.

Acting through a fictional intermediary, they start sending the surprised editor "articles", which consist of highly sensitive information about the weapons systems of the USA, USSR, Britain and NATO.

Latimer has mysteriously disappeared and the reader is left to read through the notes of his interviews with various people and officials involved in the affair, their telegrams and letters, as well as his imaginative "narrative reconstructions" of important scenes.

In the final chapter, Carter, now recovered, visits the Majorca home of the missing Latimer and discovers that one of the intelligence chiefs had become his neighbour, living in a fine villa, driving a new sports car and accompanied by an attractive young woman.

In 1989 it was adapted for television as "A Quiet Conspiracy", a four-part series for the UK's ITV network, starring Joss Ackland as Theodore Carter.