Alan Westbrook, an electronics and software engineer, has developed software that could be of enormous benefit to mankind, but could also unleash worldwide disaster. Governments, including his own, would go to any lengths to obtain his software, as would an individual with agendas of his own.

Should Alan just give in and sell it to one of them, whatever the consequences, or should he just disappear into the countryside and hide? Or perhaps he could just destroy everything he had worked for.

But it is a hard thing to destroy your own brainchild, and what would happen if he secretly continued to develop his life-threatening software in the hope that he could restrict its use for the good of mankind?
He is finally cornered by the renegade from MoD and forced to create a deadly virus for him, and as he has Alan's partner as a hostage there is not much he can do. However, he does finally manage to turn the tables and clear himself of all the interst in his work.