In the Twinkling of an Eye

In the Twinkling of an Eye is a story about espionage, family love, and loyalty, centred on a Russian-North Korean conspiracy to develop a devastating biological weapon for assassination, terror, and genocide. Written by a senior CIA operations officer whose career was devoted to battling the spread of weapons of mass destruction, this is the second book in the thrilling Guild Series!

In 1986, a Ukrainian teenager loses his father and his own left eye to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Despite this tragedy, he escapes and becomes a top-notch genetics engineer at Moscow State University. There, he is drawn into joining a well-funded new genetics institute, hoping to develop a genetic solution—better than CRISPR—to cure his twelve-year-old daughter's leukaemia. Her disease results from damaged genes inherited due to his radiation exposure. However, he soon discovers that the institute is secretly run by Russian intelligence and is developing advanced genetic bioweapons with the North Koreans for assassination, terror, and genocide. The Ukrainian scientist feels compelled to remain at the institute to find a cure for his dying daughter.

Parallel to this story, a young North Korean girl escapes to South Korea via a clandestine attack tunnel beneath the DMZ, designed by her father, a North Korean military mining engineer. Tragically, her father dies during the attempt, and she loses her younger brother, who was escaping with her. She is adopted by a Korean-American US military officer and grows up to become an FBI special agent committed to battling WMDs, who secretly recruits the Ukrainian scientist.

In their work together, the FBI agent provides the Ukrainian scientist with a new glass eye equipped with microelectronics on the nanoscale, allowing him to covertly record everything he sees and hears. This intelligence is then relayed to her daily through one of his daughter's dolls, which is equipped with advanced artificial intelligence. This device serves as both retribution for the scientist, who lost his eye as a teenager and a symbol of the immense loss suffered due to Soviet incompetence at Chernobyl. The doll, virtually sentient, acts as a stand-in for the female FBI agent, whom it resembles.

Through this innovative method, the agent overcomes the significant obstacles spies typically face: maintaining safe, frequent communication with their case officer for operational guidance and psychological reinforcement, while also facilitating the timely transmission of critical information. Together, the scientist and the FBI agent must prevent Russia and North Korea from using the bioweapons for assassination and mass murder of regime opponents.