Twenty years ago he had been the hottest chopper pilot in the service. Ten years ago he found himself working for the agency. Seven years ago, his star was still rising and he was training mercs for covert operations with Uncle Sam’s blessings…Then he married some Officer’s Club bimbo and decked a know-it-all senator on a “fact finding mission.”

Anthony Tempesta, the first born son of Italian immigrant parents, had planned on retiring and starting a private investigating company at the age of forty-two after twenty five years of government service . Between the bimbo and the incident with the senator, those plans, as well as most of his connections, seemed like nothing more than the smoke and mirrors of a cheap parlor magician until…

He heard the knocking at the door through the haze of an almost perpetual hang over. As he answered the door, the courier handed him a large manila envelope and a pen. As he looked at the plain-faced man in his early twenties he asked, “Who’s suing me now?” The man just looked at him for a moment and answered, “I don’t know dude, but I need my pen back and you need a shower.” Tony grunted as he closed the door.

As he tore open the envelope and looked at the contents spilling onto the table, he sobered up from the shock of seeing two sets of ID, with only one set of pictures, all of his PI licenses, gun permits and security clearances. A smaller off-white envelope was included. As he opened it, a small plastic card fell out.  Looking at it he wondered…who lit the fire and was holding the mirror this time.

Filled with more twists and turns than an epileptic python, this action adventure is a modern day combination of Peter Gunn, Mike Hammer and Tiger Mann.