On the morning of 9/11, Brenda Grant and Daniel Hender- son meet for coffee before going to work at their software firm in the World Trade Center. This casual act saves them from the horrifying attacks on the Twin Towers. Their friends and Brenda's fiancé are killed, their company obliterated. In their grief, Brenda and Daniel vow to prevent this sort of nightmare from ever happening again. At the heart of their new multinational software-security com- pany, they establish a clandestine division that scours international Internet traffic for hints of terrorism. Days before the upcoming presidential election, the Cairo office transmits a coded warning. A short time later, one of Brenda's old friends makes an appointment to see her in New York but is killed before she can keep it. As Brenda and Daniel investigate these events, they uncover a sophisticated plot to hijack the election. The plan employs cutting-edge electronic balloting software, involves the highest strata of U.S. government, and threatens de- mocracy worldwide.