In a dystopian future society, policing has been privatized by the government, and victims of crime and/or their families must pay the cost of investigating and punishing criminals. This measure has been adopted to facilitate the neutralization of dissidents by the government. A combined police and security corporation employs the latest hardware in order to closely monitor the population and eliminate any threats. Veteran detective Michael Kelly tries to accustom himself to this new, profit-oriented police organization and also to his new partner Jane Sikorski. These two officers have been assigned a "top priority" murder case, but everything about it is not as it seems. The killer manages to slip past all the high-tech security measures and does not even register on the all-seeing surveillance cameras, which indicates that he or she is not human! A beautiful and mysterious figure called Athena introduces Kelly to the world of "killer androids". These bio-mechanical devices are being manufactured by the government but are now beginning to develop self-awareness, and thus are turning on the system that created them. Kelly now learns that there is a conspiracy afoot that aims to destroy them, while at the same time harboring suspicions about Jane.