An ex-soldier employs an ingenious method of smuggling ancient Egyptian artifacts through customs for a big payday in England. But the discovery in his house of several artifacts--including the sculpture of Amenhotep's head--leads to a harsh crackdown from authorities bent on enforcing international law.
When paintings vanish from a Buenos Aires gallery, suspicion falls on feared members of Argentina's brutal junta. The chase for the canvases leads to Taiwan and London and a black market involving stolen art and guns for the Argentinian regime.
