Major John McKendrick returns from thirteen months' duty in Thailand to find that his wife Anne and children have disappeared while the paste ring he had bought her over there is found to be worth $$$$$$$. Apparently he's the lamb/judas-goat in a smuggling operation (not only jewels but marijuana and arms) which puts him up against the local Tampa police, the FBI, politicos, Fidelistas and a still higher officer in this man's air force. . . . An armtwister to which pace and dire pressure lend that extra torsion. Good.