From New York Times bestselling author Michael Palmer comes his nineteenth heart-stopping thriller at the crossroads of politics and medicine, featuring the much-loved Dr Lou Welcome. They are the most ruthless enemy we have ever faced. And they are one millionth our size. Deep in an Atlanta research laboratory, the world's deadliest germs lie in wait. Dr Lou Welcome knows only too well the destruction they could unleash in the wrong hands and when a research scientist working on a top-secret case is kidnapped, Lou's fears become reality. Soon Lou is locked in a deadly race, from hospital wards to the top corridors of power, to stop a lethal epidemic breaking out. With his best friend's life in the balance, Lou must confront his own demons if he is to stop a group determined to use mankind's worst creation to take the power they crave for themselves...