Gerry Steel's loyalty to the man he worked for is total, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that Sullivan, on trial on an attempted murder charge, goes free.
Once he has fixed the jury, and is assured that it will hang, Steel assumes there is nothing standing in the way of Sullivan's freedom. And there isn't - apart from the man himself . . .
For twenty-five years MacKenzie lived by crime in many countries. 'I went to jail,' he wrote, 'if not with depressing regularity, too often for my liking.' His last sentences were five years in the United States and three years in England, running consecutively. He began writing and selling stories when in American jail. 'I try to do exactly as I like as often as possible and I don't think I'm either psychopathic, a wayward boy, a problem of our time, a charming rogue. Or ever was.'
He had a wife, Estrela, and a daughter, and they divided their time between England, Portugal, Spain and Austria.