Brookhaven National Laboratory sprawls in the serene natural surroundings of Eastern Long Island, New York. Deep within a heavily guarded compound on the grounds of the laboratory, a forbidding building houses the nation's most protected secret: An active alien artifact.

Estimated at several millions of years of age, impervious to all efforts of modern science to penetrate its secrets, the Artifact taunts scientists with bursts of mysterious radiation that may be efforts at communication. Now the two top researchers have conducted unauthorized experiments using new technology, and something has awakened inside, something as old as time, wielding incalculable power and an agenda that would spell doom for humanity. As horrifying mutations and destruction descends on Long Island, it is only a mere portend of the true horrors yet to come.

While America's military struggles against an impossible power, only a 12-year-old crippled computer hacker and an aging police detective hold the key to the Artifact. But first they must overcome disbelieving authorities in a desperate race against time, with the very survival of humanity in the balance.

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The Last Operation

Deep in the swamps of the Everglades, lies a dark secret of deception and murder spanning decades and continents. Enlisted to lead a team of "recruits" a retired Special Forces Captain, turned mercenary, must infiltrate a deadly world of deception and intrigue to conquer his most challenging opponent.

For the last decade one man has led a team of rogue CIA agents into betrayal and assassinations. Now he is about to be nominated to head a newly created Federal super-agency, giving him unprecedented influence. This man's success will lead the United States government into an irreparable state of corruption, and him into a position of ultimate power.

Only the courage and knowledge of one man can lead "the team" to success and stop the nomination, and only if he survives this, his last operation.

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In 1969, the CIA began a project to use animals for military purposes in the jungles of Vietnam. Unlike successful experiences by the Navy using dolphins, the CIA project would use genetically engineered creatures to stalk and kill enemy fighters on land. These covert projects began in the desert of Nevada and the mountains of Puerto Rico. Early attempts failed and the project supposedly ended, but instead was taken over by a group of agents acting on their own.

Forty years later an undercover agent is brutally murdered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, torn apart by an unseen beast. The agent had made a terrifying discovery, and just before his death had mailed a CD titled Doppelganger Protocol to his sister in Florida. Unable to get answers, his sister asks her friend Richard Daniels for help and gives him the CD.

Daniels has stumbled onto a monstrous plot by a rogue intelligence agent code named Aztec. His shadowy company, Gen Dyne, plans to use the now-completed, covert genetic engineering project to bend the government to their purposes.

As the deadly creatures carry out assassinations, they also sow a virus, a GMO (Genetically Modified Organism.) Diabolically contagious, the virus spreads faster than any other diseases, and kills rapidly without exception. There is only one cure and it is contained within the CD that Daniels holds, without understanding its contents.

Daniels finds himself pitted against an organization that reaches within the highest levels of power, and has access to all aspects of US intelligence. As the clock ticks, and the death toll mounts, Daniels must enter the lion's den alone to save the woman he loves. He must face hired killers along with the most dangerous creatures in the world, and survive against all odds.

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Overpowered by ancient creatures, a man must save humanity from lethal alien artifacts, rogue NSA agents and science gone awry at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

As a result of a drunk driving incident, Joseph is overtaken by strange forces. He has fallen prey to Sylvans, powerful creatures using mind control to enslave selected humans.

Joseph escapes into Manhattan's underground tunnels, uncovering a horrifying secret: Corrupt NSA leader Duncan has used alien artifacts to communicate and partner with Sylvans in conducting an experiment that will decimate human populations, leaving him and Sylvans in control. Joseph finds that his only chance to prevent the coming horror is to return to the Native American roots he discarded so long ago.

Hunted by NSA agents and Sylvans with their shape-changing deadly minions, Joseph struggles with an ancient evil in a race against time. The battle ranges from the underground systems of Manhattan to Brooklyn's ghettos, and returns for a shattering climax at Long Island's Brookhaven National Laboratory.

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I love to hear from you! Please send your comments to patrick_ast@msn.com. -- Patrick Astre