In spite of warnings to the contrary, Cradock closes in for the kill. He knows his man and is determined to get him at any cost. But his final fling leads him into deadly territory.
Did someone pay £30,000 to spring a convict to help pull off the job? It seems a high price to pay - but death is an even higher price, and the criminal fraternity aren't always to be relied on.
Pressurised by his superiors - not to mention the Home Office - Cradock must make his move and deliver the marksman who shot at the tyres of the police car escorting the bullion.
A bullion aircraft, carrying five-and-a-half million pounds of gold bars approaches an airfield in the South of England. Before the day is out. Det. Chief Supt Cradock will find himself assigned to track down the team behind 'the crime of the century'.
A ray of hope - or just another tough nut to crack? Tom Goodwin, the pilot who flew the plane, appears to want to 'opt out' and is prepared to spill the beans. But can Cradock really trust the man's evidence?
Why should an informer put the finger on the Hon. Timothy Fry, DSO, who was found smuggling a girl out of the country. Of more interest to Cradock is how is the Hon. Timothy mixed up in the bullion snatch?
'Mr Big arrested in Paris' reads the newspaper headline. Cradock has got his man - the brain behind the gold robbery. But he knows all too well that there's someone bigger still at large and sets out to find him.
'Hello, Tango One To Base. Hello Dave.' Cradock is certain that the voice who mimicked a police operator's relay call belongs to Barry Porter, a second-rate conman. But how can he prove it?
A major turning point at last. Harry Oscrost, a brilliant accountant and paymaster to the gold robbers, is desperate when violence enters his safe suburban retreat and threatens his family. Perhaps with a little squeeze.