When Annabelle asks Penny to clear her niece Charlotte of embezzlement charges, Penny soon comes to believe that Charlotte is innocent. But she also has a hunch that there's something more tied to the theft at Dunbar Haulage - murder perhaps?

She is in the early stages of the investigation when Maric invites her to The Grand Château at Mount Ruapehu for a weekend away, and the butterflies in her stomach start to multiply at an alarming rate.

Then there's the New Caledonia op against a drug cartel. Major General Wilkins wants Penny on board as an observer, but first the Lightning team have to find a back country airstrip long enough to take a twin-engined jet - and that seems like an impossible task.