 Erskine must track down the missing Dr. Gregory Holman while simultaneously trying to convince officials of his government the intelligence operative is dead. He is aided by Holman s wife, who now knows her husband is alive. Yustov, a chess-playing rival of Holman s, also knows Holman is alive and is trying to convince Ambassdor Korvin of that fact. Erskine leads a team of FBI agents that finally locates Holman. But he won t defect until he knows his children, who are still in his home country, are safe.