A contract killer sees a chance to free himself from a tragic past.

After Bond helps Russian officer Georgi Koskov (’Jeroen Krabbe’(qv)) make a daring defection to the West, the intelligence community is shocked when Koskov is abducted from his remote hiding place. Bond leaps into action, following a trail that leads to the gorgeous Kara (’Maryam d’Abo’(qv)), who plays Bond as easily as she plays her Stradivari cello. As they unravel a complex weapons scheme with global implications, they are forced into hair-raising chases, a riveting jailbreak and an epic battle in the Afghanistan desert with tanks, airplanes and a legion of freedom fighters on horseback.