Germ Line: Revolution (ePub)

After Detective Adrian Stark witnesses a bizarre incident at the scene of a serial murder, he and his partner track the killer to a hotel and arrest him. While being transferred to county, the prisoner escapes and murders Stark's wife and unborn baby. Stark buries them and disappears into a bottle. While on leave, he's approached by a lawyer who suggests he sue the LAPD. He tells her he's not interested, but discovers her card in his pocket a few days later and makes the call. He's awarded a multi-million-dollar settlement.

On his final day, he's practically out the door when he gets called to a bizarre murder scene executed under impossible circumstances. With the assistance of the head of forensic science, Laura Kawamura, they discover a group of genetic hybrids, Homo Novus, has murdered several prominent doctors and scientists. Stark realizes the danger immediately: In evolution, a superior race always supplants an inferior race. They face the possible extinction of humanity as it is known. Stark discovers a connection to the Mommy Murders, but is ordered to close his investigation in the name of national security by Agent Quentin Rutherford from Homeland. He denies the murderers are "super human" claiming they are simply highly motivated terrorists. Torn between walking away and solving the murders, with his captain's persuasion, he stays on the case.

At home for a shower and fresh clothes, Stark is surprised in his bedroom by Adam, the first of his generation. Stark is warned off and told he won't like the answers he'll find, indiating it involves his wife's murder. When Stark attempts to arrest Adam, the detective ends up unconscious on the floor with no idea how he got there, and no sign of the Hybrid. In the parking garage of Stark's penthouse, one of Rutherford's agents surveils Stark's parking space. When he pauses for a drink of water, Adam kills him and drives away in his car to dispose of the body.

Stark and Laura discover the Hybrid's next potential target, Dr. Melissa Hampton. While interviewing her about her potential involvement in the Hybrid program, he is attacked and nearly killed by Michael, Adam's brother. Rutherford searching for Dr. Hampton, warns Stark to back off or face Federal repercussions. He takes Hampton into custody. Stark fills his partner in on the case, explaining the Hybrids may be a link to his wife's murder. They track Homeland's detention facility, and demand Hampton's release. Stark gets her to open up, but she's keeping information from him. Convinced she is working with the Hybrids, Stark arrests her for conspiracy to commit murder. She promises to tell the detective everything she knows if he'll let her speak with her colleague, Dr. Huang. She tells him about the program that created the five Hybrids, and that the doctors were murdered to cripple and expose the Hybrid program, bringing it to an end.

With their lives on the line, on the run from a homicidal Homeland Security agent, Stark must decide whether to protect the last remaining hybrids in the hope they help solve his wife's murder and bring down the conspiracy, or eliminate them in order to save the human race.