When Jay Chevalier makes a startling discovery after eight years in a corporate laboratory, he disappears and drives cross-country with his invention hidden in a beer cooler. When Mary MacKensie watches a rough-looking stranger walk into the final meeting of her bankrupted company and sees what he places on the boardroom table, she senses her life will change radically. When Sammy Holmes serves Jay a sandwich in his poolroom and gets a LiveCell demonstration, he believes this lucky horse is about to pay a hundred to one. When Deirdre Holly, a receptionist and surfer, is offered the job of running Jay's high-tech factory, she barely manages to hold back the tears. But when the powerbrokers fully understand the ramifications of Jay's invention and realize he won't compromise his ideals, they conclude that he must be stopped. Nonstop action that takes you from the Maine wilderness to the boardrooms of San Francisco, a hero as compelling and mysterious as any in modern fiction, ill-destined love, and a tragically relevant plea for social change will propel you through this thriller at neural-network speed.