Organized Crime. Drug Smuggling. Islamic Fundamentalism. A powerful mix for a complex, sometimes dark novel! Malika waits for someone to pay her price - a few scraps of heroin. The smugglers' village, close to the Afghan border, is cold and unwelcoming - its only entertainment, the women who will put on a show and give themselves to anyone willing to pay. A Russian gangster on the run from the KGB finds himself there against his will, but where else can he go - they want him dead. A drug lord, an Afghan warlord and the Russian Mafia are entwined in a plan to increase the quantity of heroin shipped out of Afghanistan. The drug lord sees the Russian mafia taking his business. He will not let it happen without a fight. The Afghans, double-dealing and treacherous as ever sense an opportunity to play the Tajikistan drug lord off against the Russian mafia. The Afghans only care for their money, not who they deal with and if that means death to a few or many, concerns them little. Profit is what they want for their disparate causes, and the cost of a life has little value.