Nick Heller is a private eye for Stoddard Industries. He finds a plane, ostensibly stolen, with a billion dollars in cash. This is salary by Paladin, a company which supplies mercenaries to the Gulf. At the same time, his brother Roger is kidnapped. Roger’s wife Lauren is attacked. She calls on Nick for help. Lauren works for Leland Gifford who owns Paladin, a fact which is not known till later. Nick tries to trace his brother on his with the help of Garvin, an electronics expert, and Dorothy, an IT expert who works for Stoddard.
It becomes clear to Nick that Roger has not been abducted but has staged his own abduction. Like Roger and Nick’s father, who is jail for dubious financial crime, Roger is a master at finance and has some sort of hold on Leland Gifford. Nick, in the mean time, has a run-in on a couple of occasions with Paladin’s strong arm men where they come off second best. Nick infiltrates the house of Allen Granger, the real owner of AG Holdings who tells him that Roger has manipulated finances in a way to steal Paladin itself.
With the help of Dorothy looking through Roger’s e-mails, Nick discovers that Lauren has not been entirely honest with him and is in touch with Roger. The story ends with Nick leading the FBI to Roger. Nick’s part is mostly told in the 1st person as is Lauren’s. Quite a fast paced thriller but the ending leaves one unsatisfied as it does not really explain Roger’s financial wizardry.
Also, Nick now estranged from his family is left at a loose end at the end, pun not intended.