Born a privileged corporate scion, David Chen had severed ties to his strict Chinese family to become a virtual reality artist on the Net--and he was one of the best.

Jewel Martina had escaped the violent, dirt-poor 'burbs by becoming a medical aide. But she was determined to make it as a VR deal-broker in the economic network that spanned the world.

They might never have met. But then Jewel saved the life of David's partner--only to find that someone powerful had wanted him dead. Mysterious trouble was brewing in the Net, in the fleshworld, and in their own unhappy pasts. Nothing was ever as it seemed in the Net, where illusion was the rule of the game--but for Jewel and David, the difference between real and virtual was a matter of life and death.