Westwind / Ian Rankin.

Originally published: Barrie & Jenkins, 1990.

Includes new introduction from the author.

It always starts with a small lie. That's how you stop noticing the bigger ones. After his friend suspects something strange going on at the launch facility where they both work - and then goes missing - Martin Hepton doesn't believe the official line of 'long-term sick leave'... Refusing to stop asking questions, he leaves his old life behind, aware that someone is shadowing his every move. The only hope he has is his ex-girlfriend Jill Watson - the only journalist who will believe his story. But neither of them can believe the puzzle they're piecing together - or just how shocking the secret is that everybody wants to stay hidden..."--Provided by publisher.

The Zephyr program is monitoring the progress of Britain's only spy satellite. When Zephyr goes briefly off the air, Hepton finds himself in danger and the mistrusted Dreyfuss, sole survivor of a shuttle crash, has the only key to the riddle that must be solved if both men are to stay alive.