Mickey should have known better than to get involved with one of the most ancient and secretive Secret Societies in Britain, but he is under orders from his boss, Captain Gibson, to attend a Swearing-In ceremony for his friend Neil, who is, in fact, American. Maybe because of this, the event doesn't end well and Neil disappears. Mickey rushes back to Gibson for orders, but something seems to have happened. Mickey is ordered off the case. So what happened to Neil? Where has he gone? What happened to him. No one is talking. Everybody seems intimated and afraid. Mickey, distraught, is forced back on his own resources, but, as the extent of the cover-up becomes apparent, he soon realises the extent to which the Sacred Society penetrates all of British culture, right to the top. Well then, Mickey reasons, I'll have to take my concerns up there, but it is a fruitless quest and merely gets him in trouble with his superiors. It is only when those authorities try the same trick on him that the forces of repression realise what they have done - they have unleased a demon, and it's not something the can possibly control. Not ever.