Bernie concludes his first international standards trip in 1988, only to return to chaos. Norma Harris, who had eluded capture, returns to steal company proprietary information, a valuable employee disappears, a hostile company takeover is underway, phones are bugged, a kidnaping takes place, and five deaths push Bernie to his emotional limit. All of this swirls as Bernie, and others, try to make sense of rumors of a bomb planted on the company aircraft. The expertise of police from many disciplines is called upon to solve the murders. These include Del Weaver and Gwen Bishop with the Cicero, Illinois, police department (Bernie’s close friends), several FBI agents, the Indiana Police Crime Lab, and even a police inspector from the West German Land Police. Even Bernie, at one point, is considered a murder suspect. For Deacon Bernie Mylin, who prides himself with controlling events around him, this is becoming too much.