After Del's death, Jimi wants to pick up the pieces of her life and move on. But she's become a public figure in her defense of chimeras, and she can't quite shake the spotlight⁠—or her suspicion that she's being followed. When her friend Dr. Guzman, a chimera sympathizer, is arrested for the murder of a chimera wearing a strange medical bracelet, Jimi does some digging⁠—and eventually discovers that Howard Wells, the venal businessmanand proponent of the Genetic Heritage Act, is supporting a hospital that ostensibly provides healthcare for chimeras. After teaming up with friends Rex and Claudia, Jimi learns that the hospital is actually a cover for an extensive mining operation that retrieves metals needed to operate WellPlants, the computerized brain implants that only the super-rich can afford⁠—and which have made Howard Wells millions. When Jimi realizes that the perilous mining is being done by captive chimeras, she risks her own life to shut down the operation⁠—and incurs the wrath of one of the most powerful and dangerous people in the world.