The Ides of March

The Ides of March, Ron Cutler, Writer's Showcase (iuniverse.com), 2000

McCord is a National Security Agency agent currently out of favor with his superiors. Instead of following orders, and protecting an accused Serbian war criminal, McCord brought him to justice. As punishment, McCord is sent to investigate a disturbance in Uganda. What he finds is a camp full of scientists formerly employed by a top-secret Russian bio-weapons factory. Under the cover of the civil war in neighboring Sudan, tests are proceeding on a new weapon, based on alien biology, that is being used to wipe out the local population. Before McCord can arrive, the camp is attacked by terrorists. One survives, and makes off with the weapon, and instructions on how to duplicate it.

This gets the attention of Kate Arnold, researcher at the US Army's bio-weapons lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland. She and McCord track this unknown person around the world, mostly by the bodies that are left behind. The weapon, called SV, is airborne, and kills very quickly and horribly, by crystallizing the oxygen in a person's blood. They don't know who he is, what he plans to do with the weapon, or have much of a physical description. McCord's superiors are not very concerned about the potential danger (for them, the emphasis is on "potential"). McCord and Arnold track him through Africa, Latin America and over the Mexican border, with all signs pointing to the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City. Among the marchers will be the British and Irish Prime Ministers and the American President.

This is an excellent political thriller. The author does a fine job at taking the reader around the world, presenting a very plausible scenario, and creating characters that feel like real people. For lifelong political junkies, like yours truly, it's more than juicy enough.