One year has passed since the unpopular second Diamond Purge began. When the trains in Bridges mysteriously stop running, tensions among the populace rise to the point that the other three Families decide something must be done.

Private investigator Jacqueline Spadros gets an unusual request: mediate with Cesare Diamond so that Inventors from all Four Families may meet to find a solution to the crisis.

But Jacqui has more pressing problems. Her best friend is dying, she has a missing-persons case that she can't seem to solve, and her teenage sister-in-law is out of control. When her lawyer blackmails her for the enormous amount she owes him, Jacqui does something no one would ever have expected.

Warning: language, smoking, on-screen violence and past infidelity.

This is chapter 6 of a 13-part serial novel. Please begin with The Jacq of Spades and read the books in order.