Book description
MARCH 19, 2003: Republican Guards and the U. S. 3rd Infantry Division
fight over the ruins of the Baghdad Zoo. In the looting that follows,
hundreds of animals--exotic birds, mammals, and reptiles--are stolen and
smuggled to collectors in the United States and Europe. Under the cover
of night, rare embryos are whisked from an Iraqi bioweapons research
facility and vanish along with the chief scientist. Present day: Dr.
Lorna Polk, a state veterinarian in Louisiana, uncovers a ring of black
market smugglers in the stormswept ruins of an old trawler--but the
ship's cargo is beyond exotic. The caged animals bear strange
aberrations: a double-headed snake, a lion cub with saber teeth, a
feather-less Amazon parrot. But all the creatures bear one disturbing
trait: an uncanny intelligence that defies explanation. Working with U.
S. Marshall Jack Menard, along with a pair of neurobiologists, Lorna
must expose a horrifying secret that traces back to Biblical times.
Combining current theories of fractal intelligence, stem cell research,
and a secret history out of the Book of Genesis, Lorna and Jack face an
insidious threat of global terror and genetic horror. But to survive,
Lorna must risk all, including the life of her unborn child. James
Rollins is the author of eight bestselling novels. An amateur spelunker
and scuba enthusiast, he holds a doctorate in veterinary medicine from
the University of Missouri. He currently lives and writes in Sacramento,
California.
