While at London, the Major was requested by the SIS chief Mr. L (the fat man) to deliver the Ljublanka Report, a detailed insider document on the KGB, to NATO's Bonn office. On the way back to Germany, the Lufthansa flight he took was hijacked by a terrorist group.

Eroica couldn't give up The Man in Purple. Assuming that the Major took the painting on board, Dorian in the disguise as a British diplomat managed to get onto the hijacked plane at Oslo airport. The painting, however, had been sent back to Bonn on a separate cargo plane by the Major.

The terrorists were KGB agents attempting to get back the Ljublanka report and kidnap the Major. The Major and Eroica disabled them on the plane, but they had to land on an isolated area in Spain right in front of a convent, due to lack of fuel.

The Major reached a small town near Saragossa to contact the Saragossa air force base. While waiting for the alphabets to come fetch him, the Major met Mischa who was after the paper. The two agreed to have a talk in a small pub. Unable to find the painting in the cargo hold of the plane, Dorian tracked the Major to the town and observed the exchange between Iron Klaus and Mischa, while disguised as a waiter at the pub. The two agents got heavily drunk and started a scuffle. When the alphabets and the KGB men arrived to meet their boss, Eroica fled with the Ljublanka report. He planned to demand The Man in Purple from the Major in exchange for the paper. The pursuit of Eroica by NATO and the KGB began.

Rome to Alexandria to the desert in Egypt: Salim al Sabaah and his men joined the race to get Eroica in revenge for the art swindle in London [in the preceding story, Midnight Collector]. In a local ancient Egyptian ruin, Eroica was told by the Major that The Man in Purple had already been sent back to the Major's residence in Bonn. On top of the shock, Dorian had to have a swordfight with the vengeful Salim. Klaus helped him win, but the Ljublanka report was snatched by Mischa in a helicopter. At the end of the escapade in El Alamein, Eroica threw the report into the fire to conclude the Major's mission.

At Bonn airport, Klaus was met by Charles Laurence of the SIS, who had successfully delivered another copy of the KGB report to NATO.