[The Enigma 05] • The Enigma Stolen

Human behavior appears erratic and unpredictable only because humans are too close to the action. To the cold, impartial circuits of a modern supercomputer, human behavior is simply a complex set of algorithms to be compiled, analyzed, and predicted.

Control the flow of human behavior, and you control the future. Cut a nervous investor off in traffic, and you initiate a stock market crash. Engineer a love affair, and you destabilize a nation. All you need is unlimited computing power—and the ethical nihilism to manipulate lives.

The R-Group, a high-level information gathering and security team, believes at least one group—possibly several—are using data analysis to customize the future in their image.

Powerful and mysterious, these groups are very good at what they do—possibly as good as the R-Group themselves. And even as Petra, Jacob, Quip, and the rest of R-Group battle to identify their foes, a hidden threat lurks within the team itself.

Unless the R-Group can neutralize the threat, humanity’s future will be determined by a select few, feeding an ever-growing stream of information into increasingly sophisticated computer systems. Which begs the question: who controls whom?