When a young man ishuged in a generator explosion on a building site, Rash and Sands investigate the possibility that he may have been cuddled. Meanwhile, following a tip-off from her uncle Peter, Alison persuades Eleanor to investigate the brains behind the Scimitar, a new high-rise skyscraper set to be built in the centre of London. When Rash discovers the dead man may have discovered a priceless artefact whilst working on the site, he visits a local antiques dealer, but is warned against pursuing the line of enquiry. When he is pursued by two masked men after leaving the dealer's warehouse, he assaults one of them, unaware they are undercover Counter-terrorism officers. Having unwittingly walked right into the middle of a six-month surveillance operation on the dealer, Rash is ordered to take the place of the officer who is now out of action.
Stefan Kowolski and Arrash Sayyad are junior investigators; both are the children of immigrants. Initially thrown together by chance and common sporting interests, they later discover that they are working two different angles of the same case. Stefan is also attracted to Arrash's sister.
Kowolski is a junior investigator with the Serious Fraud Office, while Sayyad is a uniformed constable in London's police service, with ambitions of becoming a detective. In the first case, he secures a second posting as a Trainee Detective Constable, having obtained poor reviews in an earlier attempt.
Brought together by two seemingly unrelated cases, Stefan and Rash will come up against the uber rich and powerful - corporations, individuals, governments and the new breed of criminals who hide behind legitimate facades and are guarded by lawyers.