lieutenant colonel eric west is the clinical director of the combat casualty research center (ccrc), an elite group of emergency physicians who provide operational medical support for the united states military, the fbi, the dea, the atf, and the secret service. deployed throughout the world on a moment's notice, eric begins to note a series of unusual deaths. federal agents are dying from massive thromboses, their bodies solidifying into a mass of necrotic tissue. dr. west discovers that some form of deadly thrombotoxin is being used as a weapon of mass destruction...but there is a link. the primary targets were employed by the cia during the 1980s, working a russian access agent known as gtviper. allen prescott, the president of the united states, knows who gtviper was as deputy chief of station in moscow. he was a gru scientist working on a thrombotoxin that was immediately lethal, like a chemical agent, but theoretically possible to induce immunity, like a biologic agent. it was the ultimate weapon, but failure to develop a reliable means to immunize troops arrested any further development. gtviper was believed to be dead. somehow, he had not only survived but had also learned to immunize himself against the deadly toxin. he was loose in the united states and killing at will. but why? why was he eliminating all the members of the cia support group? dr. west races against the clock to discover a means to fight the deadly toxin, prevent the assassination of the president of the unites states, and discover the motivation that drives a man of science to kill. gtviper leads the ccrc team on a frightening and deadly adventure, culminating in the unthinkable...