The Tert—a toxic strip of humanity outside the city limits—is no longer big enough for bodyguard Parrish Plessis and her sadistic boss, Jamon Mondo. So with Mondo's dingoboys on her tail, Parrish cuts a deal with a rival gang lord to steal some files that could send Mondo to death row. At the same time, she's sheltering a suspect in the murder of news-grrl Razz Retribution. In a networld run by the media, the truth isn't relevant. It's bad for ratings, which is why Parrish finds herself tagged for the murder—and up to her tricked-out leather tank top in trouble....

The world of Parrish Plessis is complex, frenzied, bloody and improbably dangerous. (Warpcore SF) The Tert war is over, and bodyguard Parrish Plessis has gotten a piece of the toxic pie-and the responsibilities that go along with it. To pay off a blood debt to the Cabal Coomera tribe, she must enter the heart of tekno-darkness-the slum town of Dis-to find their missing shamans and to kill her ex-lover Daac. But Parrish still has feelings for Daac-feelings that run as deep as the high-tech parasite he infected her with. Bad blood never boiled like this.

Parrish Plessis, sometime coup leader, paid assassin and ex-bodyguard, is finding life tough. Betrayed by the enigmatic Loyl Daac, and still under blood debt to the deadly Cabal Coomera, Parrish is trying to hold together the little empire she's inherited in the Tert, live up to the expectations of the many strays and waifs she's accumulated, and attempt to flush the high-tech parasite from her system before she becomes something so much less than human. Not an ideal lifestyle, Parrish would be the first to admit, but she can make everything alright again if she can manage just one little task. Bring down the media. Just another day for Parrish Plessis ...