It began as a favor to a woman trying to get away from abusive husband.<P>Jon Moore grew up in a prison laboratory. When he escaped with nothing but his body's nanotech enhancements and more anger than even a long lifetime could wash away, an entire planet died behind him.  Memories of the things he'd done still haunted him; because of them, he often ended up helping those in need.<P> <P>His kindnesses frequently didn't work out well. This one really didn't work out well.  It hurled Jon and Lobo, the intelligent assault vehicle and Jon's only friend, down an accelerating, ever more dangerous spiral involving:<P> <P>·         Private armies and government covert ops teams <P>·         A courtesan who always seems a step ahead of him <P>·         Rival superpowers that define Good in terms of their own advantage and Ethics as whatever doesn't get in the way of their Good <P>·         And a brilliant, amoral scientist to whom human beings are just more experimental animals--and who might be Lobo's creator. <P>            Jon and Lobo take the reader on a headlong rush through armed enemies and untrustworthy allies and encounter what just might be the worst danger their partnership will face: the truth. <P>