Ed Long resented being "used" by anyone, and when it happened again, he loaded his truck, and set out for his parent's distant home. Holed up for the evening, an ad in a local paper caught his eye and a day later he was working for Walter Short, owner of Precision Machine Specialties. A few days later, Ed's sharp eye caught the sudden change in Walt's appearance, and a fatal heart attack was averted. Walt's LA-based daughter, Sydney Short, was having her own bad day. Once again credit and recognition due her were usurped by a vice-president and there was nothing she could do about it. Worse, she got a call from Ed Long; her father had suffered a serious heart attack and would most likely need surgery. The call between Ed and Syd was tense, but when she arrived in Conyerville late at night, still nearly ten miles from her father's house, Ed Long met her, put her luggage into his truck, closed her door when she got in, and in the dark of night she rode away with a man she had never met. She asked for no ID and would later question her own sanity. Would her resentment over her professional treatment carry over against Ed, and would he stay around long enough to see that happen? How about that heart attack Walt Short had weathered; how would it change his life? And then there was the call to Syd from a major corporate player. Would she take the bait? What does the IRS want anyway?