Excerpt from The Mother Code by Carole Stivers, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

He was startled by the buzz of the intercom at his lapel. "We need you down here," came a clipped male voice.

"Down here" was General Blankenship's basement office. Rick gulped coffee from his thermocup and straightened his tie. He was pretty sure he knew what this was about.

A month prior, he'd been summoned for comment on a biowarfare project at Fort Detrick. He was no longer subject to the immediate threats that had dogged his life in special ops, but in his desk job as an analyst at the CIA's Directorate of Intelligence, he'd found plenty of use for the same keen instincts that had served him so well in the field. With growing concern he'd pored over the feasibility report, acquainting himself with difficult scientific terms like "apoptosis," "programmed cell death," "caspase," and "nucleic acid nanostructure." He'd heard of the DNA nanostructures, nicknamed "NANs," before; it was his job to oversee approval of their use in domestic research labs. But this was different.

The project was called Tabula Rasa, a moniker that was frightening enough. But as he'd rescanned the section labeled "Expected Impact," he'd felt his heart skip a beat. The basis of the bioagent was a specific type of nucleic acid nanostructure called IC-NAN. When a victim inhaled this particular sequence of nanoparticulate DNA, his infected lung cells would begin to outlive their "use by" date: Rather than dying off to make way for fresh new cells as they were supposed to do, the old, infected cells would replicate to produce more defective cells. These mutated cells would overgrow good tissue, impeding proper lung function and eventually invading the body, robbing other organs of nutrients. The desired result was akin to an aggressive lung cancer-a slow but inexorable death.

Rather than offering the expected rubber stamp on the program, he'd fired off a salvo advising its cancellation. Sending uncharacterized bioweapons out into the world, even to the most remote parts of the world, was crazy. The mass poisonings, the devastation of innocent populations in an effort to rout out the few ... weren't they past all that?

But now, he was sure the vehemence of his response hadn't gone unnoticed. No doubt Blankenship had been dissatisfied. As he caught the elevator and traveled the three floors down, he steeled himself for the inevitable reprimand.

The elevator door buzzed open, and he headed down the dim corridor. A first lieutenant was waiting for him near the door to the general's office. As the man came to attention, Rick caught sight of the glimmer of a rifle. An armed guard. A cold sweat dampened his shirt.

Excerpted from The Mother Code by Carole Stivers. Copyright © 2020 by Carole Stivers. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.