Vector Burn

By Miles Ashbourne

The city is breathing in a weapon no one can see.

Cassian Holt and Jonah have finally found peace on their quiet Ozark property. Mornings are spent drinking coffee in the mist, running training sessions with their dog Sig, and enjoying a sanctuary that no longer feels borrowed. But their hard-won domestic quiet is shattered when a desperate call arrives from St. Louis. A cluster of sudden deaths has followed a high-profile biotech networking event, and the medical mystery is escalating rapidly.

The evidence at the scene is too precise and too fast-acting to be a natural outbreak. Driven into the heart of a mounting urban crisis, the Critical Trace team establishes a mobile command unit outside Helix Core, a gleaming biotech tower mired in corporate denial. Cassian and Jonah must navigate a complex web of scientific ambition, federal pressure, and a calculated pattern of deception.

As medical examiner Dr. Rhea Sato and CDC specialist Marcus Hale analyze the lethal pathogen, the true scope of the danger becomes terrifyingly clear. Someone has weaponized a biological agent, turning scientific innovation into an instrument of mass murder. The investigation points far beyond a single laboratory, revealing a ruthless conspiracy determined to use St. Louis as a testing ground for a devastating attack.

For Cassian and Jonah, this case is a brutal reminder that their safety can be stripped away at any moment. Surviving the crisis requires perfect tactical coordination and unyielding trust in one another. To prevent an entire city from falling victim to the lethal vector, they must confront an enemy who understands fear, power, and systems of destruction far too well.

In this high-stakes MM romantic suspense thriller, an established investigative couple must risk their lives and their hard-won peace to expose a deadly biotech conspiracy in the heart of St. Louis.