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The Scorpion
Set in the middle of the 21st Century, The Scorpion is the tale of Majahid Qadir, an elite Terrorist striking back at the Western World to avenge real and imagined slights to his people. Kestrel McMann is a Captain of Army Rangers, a Cyborg, sent on a mission to destroy The Scorpion. The Scorpion escapes, at least in mind, uploading his brain to a computer in a hidden location and leaving his ruined body behind. Now he is back, and it is up to Homeland Security Agent Kestrel McMann, along with beautiful Massad Agent Sharone Levine, herself a cyborg, to thwart the plans of the Scorpion, as he tries to bring the United Stated of America crashing to its knees. Add insane United States President Clayton Rogers, one finger on the nuclear trigger, pushing the emotional buttons of the rest of the world, and the tension level is ramped up to high. I think of this novel as Clancy meets Bond in the near future, when Genetic Engineering, Nanotechnology, Cyborgs and Fusion Power are common, and mankind stands on the brink of the industrialization of space. Follow the clones of The Scorpion as they attack the Western World in an ever more bloody series of attacks, guided by one mind in many bodies. Will the Scorpion win, striking from hiding? Or can McMann and the forces of the United States prevail and destroy the Scorpion once and for all?
The Scorpion came from an idea I had of what the world might be like when fusion power made oil obsolete, and turned the OPEC nations back into true Third World Countries struggling to survive. America is both the World's Policeman and the an Isolationist Power with borders sealed by the best that technology can offer. The major nations use cyborgs for their elite forces, the poorer use genetically engineered supermen. I used the model of the Cyborg Ranger from Diamonds In The Sand, when that book didn't sell and I thought it still a very good idea. The book is action packed, a page turner, one I enjoyed writing, and reading when it went through the rewrites.
The ordinary looking man moved through the mall, looking nervously at the security guards who walked toward him, then past him, as they
accosted a young man who had entered the mall behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief and fired off a quick prayer to the God he wasn’t sure he
believed in. It needed to be done in the center of the mall, where it would affect the most people. And it needed to be done soon.
He knew that this shell was only a temporary home to his consciousness, that he still existed half a world away. Still he feared the death he would
soon be bringing to himself. To these others, infidels who moved along in their futile search for happiness in the worship of their false God. He cringed
for an instant as a camera swept toward him, fighting to keep his composure as the lens tracked him for a moment before moving on.
Not that it should have noticed him. He looked like a normal Caucasian citizen of this region of the Great Satan, not standing out in any respect.
Brown hair, green eyes, with a tan that obviously came from a salon. Average height, slightly overweight like most of the people around him, he gave
nothing away. But he still felt nervous. This was the test that would let him know if all the other actions he had planned would be feasible.
He bustled his way through the crowd, brushing shoulders with people absorbed in their own tasks. Ahead was his target, the food court in the
center of the mega-mall. Crowded with people enjoying their meals, talking with friends or just moving through on their way to stores.
The man bit down on hard on the upper left molar, which cracked under the pressure, releasing an acrid taste into his mouth. Death, he knew.
Death that would soon take him into its arms. He could already feel it working on the tissues of his mouth like an acid, entering the cells, turning them
into miniature factories that reproduced it, until it burst the cells and spread the virus on to other still living cells. Like any other hemorrhagic virus, but
a hundred thousand times faster in its action.
Next he could feel the tissues of his throat begin to convulse as they were attacked. He realized that the virus was working its way down, and
would soon attack his internal systems. All of the test subjects had died within five minutes of exposure, some within as little as three minutes. All had
died in agony, and nothing could be done for any of them using the medical science known to his people.
The man took a deep breath into his lungs, already feeling the pain of expanding his chest. He blew out a breath, and then pulled in another one,
letting it out as well. On the third breath he felt the agonizing pain in his guts that foretold the damage being done to his internal systems. He coughed,
feeling the blood rising up from his lungs. People looked up at him, alarm and confusion on their faces.
