A scientist with a heart condition, accused of launching a deadly virus that spreads by a handshake, has but three days to outwit a powerful biomedical corporation, outsmart the FDA and outlast the international regime planning an outbreak to coincide with the world’s largest anti-terror rally in which fifteen million Americans will clasp hands and form a human chain across the country.
What if the world’s number one killer – heart disease – could spread as easily as the common cold? What if a simple handshake resulted in a deadly heart attack? And what if the virus was released on the eve of the country’s largest anti-terror rally, when millions of people are holding hands to form a human chain across the country?
And what if the only man capable of stopping the attack was accused of murder, wanted by the government, and slowly dying of a heart attack?
Dr. Ben Maxwell, a scientist at the Food and Drug Administration, is holding back FDA approval of a new heart implant. The device maker’s powerful CEO and an influential senator are eager to get the new device to market, but Ben believes the device is linked to a mysterious outbreak at a naval hospital. Ben is sent to investigate the outbreak, his suspicions are confirmed, but not before he is infected with a virus, one transferable through a handshake like the common flu. The virus causes a heart attack within hours.
As Ben fights for his life, he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of the FDA Commissioner, just as the country prepares to form a human chain across the country. Ben learns that a heart attack virus will be launched in conjunction with anti-terror rally. Nobody believes him. Ben must stop the heart virus from killing millions and repair the poor relationship with his son, all while is own heart is failing.
Ben is also forced to reevaluate his own dogmas on science versus faith. He comes to understand the true purpose of the terrorists and their sponsors, and he is forced to consider whether the great plagues of the past—the Black Death, the Spanish Flu—were naturally occurring events or carefully plotted campaigns aimed to bring civilization back into a ‘balanced state.’ As the nationwide rally commences, Ben must make a decision about his own beliefs based on new truths, save his son, and decide which sacrifices to make if he is to stop the heart attack flu from becoming the worst epidemic in the country’s history.
