80,000-words

Brilliant stem-cell biochemist, Aliesa Atworth, refuses to believe she was the intended target when her lab is trashed and her best friend and assistant is murdered, until Elliot Vance (Van), ex-DEA agent, takes her into protective custody.

Van follows the supply chain to Aliesa, and believes she is part of a drug distribution network in the United States. Soon the cartel’s henchmen kidnap and return them to South America, and it becomes personal. Van’s familial ties to the cartel make him more of a target than Aliesa.

After a narrow escape they procure transport back to Boston. This case has never been about cocaine—it’s about Aliesa’s research. Her financial backer, a fortune-five-hundred pharmaceutical conglomerate, Panacealla, will lose millions if her serum renders their current cancer treatments obsolete—and the CEO will stop at nothing to suppress it.