Now he is contacted by the billionaire owner of Anshiser Aviation. A corporate spy has stolen plans for a revolutionary targeting system for fighter planes and sold them to rival Whitemark. Anshiser wants Kidd to wreak havoc in the Whitemark computers, to delay them long enough for Anshiser's system to reach the marketplace first. The gamble is greater than Kidd has ever accepted – but then, so is the money.

Kidd likes to work alone: no leaks, no feuds, no double crosses. But this time he's got a team. There's LuEllen, a cat burglar addicted to danger (among other things); and Dace, a down-and-out journalist who'll do anything for a story that would revive his career; and sent to monitor their work is Maggie Kahn, Anshiser's beautiful – and ruthless – assistant. They dig in for battle, as Kidd tries to stay one step ahead of Whitemark, the feds, and the two mysterious characters watching him from a green van. One night he does a tarot reading: "I got the Seven of Swords overlaying the Emperor in a crucial position. Later, I knew what it meant. But then it was too late."