Lam's old acquaintance from his days serving in Berlin, a former informant named Dicky Bowe, dies on a bus at the entrance to Oxford; and not only does his death look suspicious, but on his cellphone Lam finds an unsent message with one word: "Cicadas." This means that there is a possibility that the mythical undercover network of deep conspiracy is not so mythical. But the MI-5 is not up to that, counterintelligence is paralyzed by "an audit that more resembles the Inquisition," and Lam and his "lame horses" will have to deal with the "Cicadas" and their mythical (or still not mythical?) Leader...