Scientists and politicians have a love-hate relationship.  Scientists make discoveries and give new knowledge to the world, for the benefit of humankind.  But knowledge can be bought and sold.  Knowledge is power, and politicians use power for their own purposes… which are not always for the benefit of humankind.
 
Malcolm Jaggard is a spycatcher, and a servant of the politicians.  He’s hard, tough, and intelligent – and he wants to marry Penny Ashton, a scientist, and the daughter of the scientist George Ashton.  Then the Ashtons’ comfortable world is suddenly shattered, and Malcolm is ordered by his politician bosses to protect Ashton.  But who is George Ashton?  And how do you protect a man who has just disappeared?
 
Malcolm needs more knowledge, and he can’t get it.  So he fights for it.  But knowledge is power, and servants must not have power.  As his search for Ashton turns into a desperate and violent manhunt, Malcolm finds knowledge.  But he also finds himself in the long-running war between scientists and politicians – a war that it is safer to keep out of, a war where.
 
“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”