Unnoticed by the police or the public, a number of important executives of different software companies have died by accident and their companies sold to the same bidder. At the same time, a group of Russian software experts, at the direction of a man known only as "The Controller", are undertaking the theft of software from a company by tapping into their internal computer network. When a series of accidents begin happening to John Packard, the CTO of the company under attack, he teams up with Karen Young, a police officer he met at one of the "accidents". When the Russians kidnap John and then unknown thugs, whose bodies turn up later, kidnap Karen, it is clear that they have to act quickly.