The discovery of a ten-billion-dollar mountain of platinum in the remote African republic of Zangaro causes Sir James Manson, a smooth, ruthless tycoon, to hire an army of mercenaries, whose task it is to topple the government and replace its dictator with a puppet president. But news of the discovery has reached Russia - and suddenly Manson finds he no longer makes the rules in a power game where the stakes have become terrifying high.