When Gaby Baillieux releases the Angel Worm into the computers of Australia’s prison system, hundreds of asylum seekers walk free. Worse: an American corporation runs prison security, so the malware infects some 5000 American places of incarceration. Doors spring open. Both countries’ secrets threaten to pour out.

Was this American intrusion a mistake, or had Gaby declared cyberwar on the US? Felix Moore – known to himself as ‘Australia’s last serving left-wing journalist’ – has no doubt that her act was part of the covert conflict between Australia and America. Funded by his property-developer mate Woody Townes, Felix is determined to write Gaby’s biography, to save her, and himself, and maybe his country. But how to get Gaby – on the run, scared, confused, and angry -- to co-operate? And what, after all, does Woody really want?