Chief of the CIA station in Prague for nearly a year, Baier has been following the Dubcek government's efforts to reform the country's rigid communist system and move closer to Western Europe. On a warm August night, the Soviet Army rolls into Czechoslovakia to crush the reform program and ensure the country's subservience to the Warsaw Pact. Baier must move quickly to protect his officers, his family, and his Czechoslovak allies and assets from death and deportation by the Red Army and Soviet intelligence. At the same time, Baier must determine who his true friends are among the local officials and the foreign agents spread throughout the country's capital. Only when he reaches the border with Austria is Baier certain whom he can trust. Even then, new surprises await