While camping in Pennsylvania farm country, Veil is accidently shot by a guard for a powerful food conglomerate. Near death, he's discovered in the woods by a local woman, the beautiful Emily Noonan, who takes him to her remote farmhouse and nurses him back to health. Finally, Veil has found a safe place and someone he can trust.

After Veil's only ally within The Organization is taken away from him, he suspects the information in the palmtop computer could have been deliberately compromised all along. He debates the options and weighs the fates before using one more tip from the compact computer – the name and address of Clare Hillard, a reporter who covered the same sector where he took the now sought after "Hidden Agenda" photo.

Veil is snatched away by the enemy's operatives and taken on a manufactured "trip" down memory lane. Then, at the hand of one of The Organization's most twisted experts, he is subjected to an elaborate combination of chemicals and refracted light which triggers his advanced hypnosis.