When a brilliant young researcher is found dead in her lab at the National Institutes of Health, the scientific community is shaken and secrets begin to unravel. Tasked with uncovering the truth, NIH security officer and former FBI profiler Mara Vance soon discovers that the victim's cutting-edge genetic study was more controversial than anyone let on. As she navigates the maze of government bureaucracy, academic rivalries, and buried ethics violations, Mara must untangle a deadly web of ambition and deception before the killer strikes again.