"HE WAS THE KILLER AND I WAS THE TARGET." It should be a mellow time for America's toughest PI, Mike Hammer. He and Velda are planning their overdue nuptials, and his friend Captain of Homicide Pat Chambers is nearing retirement. Then an assassin's bullet almost brings him down on his office doorstep. Could the attempted hit have anything to do with the impending release of a serial killer put away by Mike and Pat, decades ago? And how to explain the sudden rash of "accidental" deaths that has hit the NYPD? There's also the small matter of the $89 billion in Mafia money stashed in a cave, in a location known only to Hammer. With everyone from wiseguys to the US Government on his tail, not to mention the malign influence of convict mastermind the "King of the Weeds", Mike has to prove that he is just as sharp, and deadly, as ever.