02113cam a2200301 4500 1022380639 TxAuBib 20120322120000.0 060224s2007||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2007-033491 9780525950295 052595029X (OCoLC)144557883 7512 7512 7512 TxAuBib Khoury, Raymond. The sanctuary : a novel / Raymond Khoury. New York : Dutton, 2007. 432 p. ; 24 cm. A geneticist and a CIA agent on a deadly quest to find the most dangerous book in the world discover a secret that has destroyed everyone in its path for centuries Naples, 1750. In the dead of night, three men with swords burst into the palazzo of a marquis. Their leader, the Prince of San Severo, accuses the marquis of being an imposter, and demands to know a secret only the marquis harbors. In the fight that ensues, the false marquis escapes over the rooftops of Naples, leaving behind a burning palazzo and a raging prince now obsessed with finding his quarry at any cost. Baghdad, 2003. An army unit on a routine mission makes a horrifying discovery: a state- of-the-art, concealed lab where dozens - men, women, children - have died, the subjects of gruesome experiments. The mysterious scientist they were after, a man believed to be working on a bio-weapon and known only as the hakeem "the doctor" escapes, taking with him the startling truth about his work. A puzzling clue is left behind: a circular symbol of a snake feeding on its own tail. As the power of the symbol comes to light, revealing the centuries of destruction left in its wake, one unsuspecting woman stands at the center of a conspiracy that could change the world forever. 20070914. Intelligence officers Fiction. Biological weapons Fiction. Women geneticists Fiction. Antiquities Fiction. Mystery fiction. Suspense fiction. TXNES