Covert-One Series - Plot Summaries - The Hades Factor

The Hades Factor

The first major crisis in Jon Smith's life was the Hades Project, a deadly and sinister viral experiment. The virus was first tested upon six soldiers and six Iraqis during the First Gulf War. Many years later, three people—a Vietnam Veteran, a young teenage girl, and a Gulf War Army Major all die of disturbing and unnatural causes. In the novel, co-written with Gayle Lynds, the virus, though not easily transmittable, spreads across the world, killing nearly half a million people. Sophia Russell, Jon Smith's fiancée and coworker, recognizes some of the symptoms as being similar to the Monkey Blood Virus that she discovered in Peru along with Victor Tremont. After confronting Tremont, she begins to develop the symptoms of the virus.

Meanwhile, Jon is returning to Fort Detrick after an assignment and is attacked by a number of rogue assassins, whom he dispatches after a couple of close shaves, much to the surprise of their leader, Nadal al-Hassan. Upon returning, he finds Sophia horribly sick. Despite all efforts to resuscitate her and to treat her, Sophia dies within less than three hours after being discovered. Upon performing an autopsy, and exploring more deeply into it, it is discovered that she was murdered by a lethal injection to the ankle injected by Nadal.

Enraged, Jon Smith vows revenge upon the killer, and teams up with Randi Russell, Sophia's sister and a CIA operative, and Peter Howell, a former British MI6 agent, in order to find out who is behind the deadly virus and Sophia's murder. Despite desperate efforts, Jon is quickly deemed a rogue by the United States government; thus, in addition to trying to discover the killer, he must avoid the government by all possible means. Along with Marty Zellerbach, a computer genius with Asperger syndrome, Jon Smith discovers that Victor Tremont, Deputy Director of a medical company has been trying to infect people with the virus through its widespread distribution through antibiotics. After revealing the truth to the world in front of the President of the United States, Samuel Adams Castilla, Jon Smith captures Victor Tremont and holds him until he is arrested.

Despite charges being dropped against him, Jon resigns from USAMRIID. An enigmatic man by the name of Nathaniel Frederick Klein approaches him later and asks him to join Covert-One. Jon, having found a new reason to live, agrees.

The Hades Factor was made into a CBS miniseries, Covert One: The Hades Factor, which appeared in the United States in 2006.