When her boss rejects her next project to protect banking systems, Verity Banks develops a sophisticated plan for revenge: she plans to “steal” ten million dollars from her family bank, and then return the money and triumphantly announce to the management committee how easy it was do. Verity's former mentor, computer genius Zoltan Thor, instantly becomes aware of this plan. He is surprised: some measly ten million? How about stealing a billion dollars, investing that money, getting three billion in three months and returning the original billion before anyone notices? Which of the two will do it faster and more efficiently? Thor even offers Verity a head start: she can act with the help of a computer, but he cannot. In another translation, the title of the novel reads: “Calculated Risk.”