Book 2 of the Will Francis five novel series. In this second (Not by Death Alone, the first) of a series of novels, Will Francis, professor of computer science at a small university in North Dakota, finds himself trapped in a seemingly harmless get-rich quick scheme. He is soon flown to the Big Apple, unexpectedly imprisoned in a supercomputer laboratory, and instructed to produce software from which his captors intend to make billions of dollars. What he slowly learns about his situation drives him to run. However, what's on the outside makes what he endured on the inside seem like a picnic. Chased by both the police and his kidnappers, he finds himself in a vice tightening faster than he can escape. And the stakes are mounting. While what's real and not real become more and more confused, time's running out for him to figure out what's going on.