Hoping to make the best of a bad situation, he proposes to the government that they start various joint ventures, with Howell's foreign companies getting exclusive export rights.

Howell's mistress/colleague Teresa discovers the battery business has been ordering unnecessary and unauthorized extra materials.

He forces them to sign confessions of being Israeli spies, and to assist with ordering crucial parts for bomb detonators.

The second is to shell the Tel Aviv coastline from a small wooden boat the PAF has bought, shielding it from radar with one of Howell's larger ships.

"[5] Alan Furst wrote that it "features some of the strongest action scenes to be found in Ambler".