After Chick Sterling narrowly escapes an explosion, he and Booker try to find out who would want him dead. The case leads them to an assignment Chick was given when he was in the military.

Mata Yamashiro, an employee of Teshima's Japanese branch and friend of Chick Sterling, is murdered while in town on business, and Chick asks Booker to look into it. All signs point to the prostitute who is found at the scene, but Booker believes she is innocent.