Free-lance terrorists break into the London offices of an intelligence agency and ruin the Christmas hols for the spies within--in this latest thriller from the reliably exciting Egleton (Troika, Missing From the Record, A Conflict of Interest). Unhappily divorced British Major Anthony Hollands and professionally single American Lt. Colonel Lindsey Whyte, good single sports that they are, have taken the holiday watch at the Joint Intelligence Bureau to allow their colleagues to spend Christmas with their families. Along with a very boring and about-to-be-retired bureaucrat, they are expecting the slowest and emptiest of holidays, the heaviest task being to stay awake. Not so. Headed by one Nick Boden, a busy little gang of nasties--including a cave expert and a computer wizard--have been tunneling their way through the sewers and conduits of central London, headed for the Bureau Offices, and before you can say ""Happy Christmas,"" the spy shop is overrun. By the time Whyte and Hollands can call for help, the agency's computer has been ravished. Whyte's and Hollands's professional reputations are in shreds. A very angry and bloodied Major Hollands becomes consumed by the search for his assailants--and for the traitor who must have given the gang the secrets needed to attack successfully. Blood flows and bodies drop throughout the Home Counties. Dashing British action--all of it unencumbered by psychological insights.