1936: Soldier of fortune Cal Jardine travels to Barcelona to help with the athletic games rivalling the Berlin Olympics. But as the first shots of civil war ring out, friendship, love, and political conviction converge to persuade Jardine to once again embroil himself in a foreign war.
Discovering that the British athletes attending the games are keen to enlist for the fight, Jardine agrees to train them into a professional force. With old army comrade Vince Castellano and his beautiful interpreter Florencia Gardiola by his side, Jardine leads the athletes through the street battles of Barcelona and on to the fighting in the Catalan countryside. But when murderous betrayal blights his previous fortune, Jardine will go to any lengths to seek suitable revenge . . .
David Donachie (1944–2023) was born in Edinburgh. He always had an abiding interest in military history, including ancient Rome, the Middle Ages, the British navy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the clandestine services during the Second World War. He had more than fifty published novels to his credit, with over a million combined sales. David lived in Deal, the historic English seaport on the border of the English Channel and the North Sea.