A flash of energy ripples at light speed across a mile of southwestern desert. It alerts watchers who have waited for it over half a century, and the race is on to possess the secret to the most powerful force ever created. Vernon Washburn is a retired assassin, now seeking a return to normal life, but success with his lifetime dream is suddenly being torn from his hands, his life is threatened, and the bad guys are making a world dominating move that he alone can stop. Now, two years into living his dream, he is forced back into action. His task; obtain four artifacts he and his Special Forces HALO team brought home from Bosnia. It's a simple enough mission, but the team members are murdered before he can obtain their items. Even while Washburn hunts the artifacts, he is being hunted by two men; an arch enemy who wants the artifacts and an Interpol detective. The action begins in a Bosnian forest, travels in time and place to Midwestern Minneapolis, and finally to the European Alps. To succeed and stay alive, Washburn must resort to the assassin mentality and combine it with the talents of a magician, or die trying. Sleight of hand and sleight of mind intertwine in an action thriller that blurs the lines between magic and science, good and evil, reality and illusion.