Incognito in Portugal... Lord Petteril's cousin, the newly commissioned Major Bertie Withan, has gone missing somewhere between landing in Lisbon and joining his regiment on the front line of the Peninsular War.

Piers and trusty assistant April, disguised as a government clerk and his wife to deter undue interest from possible ransom-seekers, try to follow Bertie's last movements from British army headquarters to the fetid back streets of Lisbon. Inevitably they face hostility, danger and too many secrets. But are they already too late to save Bertie?