The First Man had been given up for dead long ago and in another country. Now, twenty years later, there came a single bright shred of evidence that he was still alive.

They sent the Second Man to find him. He got himself taken by guerillas, who stuffed him into a bamboo cage and hung him from a tree to see if he'd sing or croak.

That's when the Third Man came into the picture. His name was Sam Durell, and he was a tougher cookie than the other two. An ex-whore with 300 million dollars' worth of influence sent him up the Irrawaddy and into the boondocks to bring them back - whole or in pieces.