Plot

A dying man sets bombs around the city, and then calls Mike demanding a half-million dollars in ransom money. Mike suspects the bomber is someone from a case he worked in the past, as he meets with the bomber to pay the ransom.

Mike receives a telephone call from an unidentified man demanding $500,000 in two hours. The police believe the man set off a bomb at a power station, the bomb which Mike could hear at the other end of the telephone line. They assume he will set off another bomb in the city if Mike doesn't comply with his demands. Mike also assumes the man is an ex-client holding a grudge against him. In addition to the usual suspects assisting Mike - namely Nikki, Duke and the police - Mike's old martial arts friend, Li Tsung, who was giving Mike another martial arts lesson when the call came through, wants to be of any assistance he can in the matter. Each successive call from the bomber provides the next piece of the puzzle in how Mike is to obtain the money and how Mike alone is to deliver the money. What may be on their side is that everything is being done by telephone, Mike and Li who are trained to listen, one thing they instantly noticing being that the man is in distress beyond the issues of the bomb and moneys. Each piece may also provide a clue as to the man's identity from the long list of Mike's old clients, and where his bomb target will be. But Mike also obtains a crash course in how to disarm a bomb like the one used at the power station if it gets to that point, his ability to do so which would not only save his life but potentially millions of others.—Huggo