Dr Tom Carter- surgeon, geneticist, husband, father, is riding high. He has invented an extraordinary machine, the Genescope, which can decode the blueprint of man. From the DNA contained in just one hair follicle, Carter can read a person's genes, predicting the onset of disease, their lifespan, their future. But at the moment of his greatest triumph, the Nobel Prize for Medicine, Carter's world is shattered by the assassination of his wife on the night of the award ceremony. He knows that the killer's bullets can only have been meant for him. In the aftermath of his wife's death, a Genescope scan reveals that his young daughter, Holly, has inherited an incurable brain disorder and has less than a year to live. His greatest achievement, which will save countless lives, can only offer her a death sentence. Even the most advanced conventional science cannot save her. Something more radical is required. Dr Tom Carter needs a miracle. But where in the face of death does the man who has unlocked the secrets of science find the miracle of life? Where can he look beyond the genes of man? A secret brotherhood, two thousand years old, may have the answer. They need his techno