Altar of Eden

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.