A series of bizarre killings involve murderers who have no connection to the victims. The Keeper becomes the next unwitting ""murder,"" as she is part of a insomnia-research project. The project's scientists are using the device to program their subjects to become assassins. The Keeper's sanity is threatened if she can't complete her ""assignment."" Fawkes and Hobbes eventually mange to bring in the scientists, and come up with a means to break the Keeper of the programming (by faking the death of her ""victim"") before she goes mad.