In the Nevada desert, a handful of scientists are battling to retrieve a swarm of rogue micro-robots that has escaped from the lab. The swarm is self-sustaining, self-reproducing and capable of learning from experience. It is, to all intents and purposes, alive. And very, very deadly. Because it has been programmed as a ruthless predator, a predator that becomes more dangerous with every passing hour....And we are the PREY

When the NSA's invincible code breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant and beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers sends shockwaves through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage...not by guns or bombs, but by a code so ingeniously complex that if released it would cripple US intelligence. Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrets and lies, Susan Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in.

In the year 2025 the Internet practically runs the world, and its virtually reality webwork has to be policed by Net Force to prevent terrorists from sabotaging it. But sometimes they need help. Which is where the Net Force Explorers come in, the young people's auxiliary for computer whiz kids who have made it through a tough training programme. Now secrets are being posted on the Web - ranging from innocuous to deadly - and no one can figure out who is doing it or why. But Explorer David Gray begins to suspect that his employers - a firm that manufactures a computer you can wear that interfaces with the human body - are behind the leaks. If he can prove it, he'll be a hero. Then his only problem will be staying alive.....