The Deadly Trade pulls on our own worst fears, inspired by the news of yesterday and almost sure to make the headlines of tomorrow. The anthrax scare of 2001 pales in the light of Ken's terrifying vision.

What legendary sportscaster Charlie Jones said about Man in the Middle is even truer about The Deadly Trade: "It can happen -- perhaps it already has. And, if hasn't happened yet, it will."

The investment banking firm no longer resembled a triage center. There was no hint of turmoil, and it was almost as if Tim had imagined everything. The trappings appeared as peaceful as the day he first arrived at Atterberry-Stanton. He couldn't believe it was less than two months since his move from New York -- not even sixty days. Now, highly trained professionals had restored artificial order. But artificial was the only kind of order left in Tim's world. He understood that these scientific developments had altered human destiny forever.

One day, he suspected, somebody would release a biological killer on innocent people, and that would mark the beginning of the end for the rest of mankind's naive peace-of-mind. The gates of hell stood wide open.