Stuart and Roxanna have managed to make their way alive from their desert ordeal secretly to Capital City, the two, who have become more than friends, potentially entering into a long term relationship if Stuart accepts her veiled offer of marriage. They find, however, that they have other challenges making it into the political compound. Stuart is surprised and relieved to find that Jeff is in San Dede on the case, he who largely has to take over under the circumstances. Jeff, Stuart and Roxanna have to figure out who they can and cannot trust in getting Roxanna back into the compound in one piece. With passable Spanish, Jeff finds that he has some extra baggage in the form of a young native woman named Juanita Gonzales whose dialect he cannot understand.
—Huggo