MY NAME IS GEMMA KEYES. Other than my name, I am utterly forgettable—so those who never paid much attention to me in the first place aren’t likely to notice that I’ve disappeared. Vanished. Oh, it’s much more complicated than it sounds. I SHOULD TELL YOU ABOUT DR. SAMUEL BICKEL, world-renowned nanophysicist. We used to work together, but I’ll be candid with you: He’s supposed to be dead. Well, he’s not. (Imagine my surprise.) Instead of the proverbial “six feet under,” he’s subsisting in an abandoned devolution cavern beneath the old Manzano Weapons Storage Facility on Kirtland Air Force Base here in Albuquerque. “I need to show you what I’m protecting here, Gemma,” he insisted. I stared into the clear glass case. I could hear . . . humming, clicking, buzzing. A faint haze inside the box formed and moved. It reminded me of how mercury, when released on a plate, will flow and form. Only this, this . . . thing was “flowing and forming” in mid-air. “Do you see them?” Dr. Bickel asked. “Them?” I was confused. My mouth opened to a stunned “o” as the silver haze flowed and formed blue letters spelling out H E L L O. Hello. I blanched. Dr. Bickel hadn’t pressed any buttons. Hadn’t said anything. Hadn’t gestured. He grinned. “Ah. They’ve noticed you. They know that they’ve not seen you before.” “Well, I wish they wouldn’t notice me!” I choked out the words without shifting my eyes from the glass case. AND I NEED TO WARN YOU ABOUT GENERAL CUSHING. The rank and name likely conjure images of a lean but muscled soldier, posture rigid, iron-gray hair cut “high and tight,” and a face cemented in weathered, unyielding lines. Let me disabuse you of that impression. General Imogene Cushing is short and a tiny bit plump, and she wears her beautiful silvered hair in an elegant braid knotted at the nape of her neck. She knows how to smile sweetly. With the very best of sharks. You wouldn’t suspect a two-star general (an Air Force O-8) of being a traitor, would you? NANOSTEALTH Stealthy Steps, June 1, 2015 Stealth Power, 2016 Stealth Beyond Borders, 2017

I must survive. For Dr. Bickel’s sake, I must survive. Weakened by the nanomites’ drain, Gemma flees from General Cushing’s renewed pursuit. She finds temporary refuge in Dr. Bickel’s vacant safe house—refuge and time for her body to recover from the damage inflicted by the nanomites. But how does an invisible woman with no identity survive in a visible world? While the nanomites search for Dr. Bickel (intent upon facilitating his rescue), Gemma appropriates a new identity and, piece by piece, secures a tenuous foothold in the real world that allows her to move about unnoticed. To Gemma’s amazement and grave misgivings, the nanomites, who had previously withstood her every overture, show themselves to be her allies. Or are they? The struggle for control is on. Nanostealth Book 1: Stealthy Steps Book 2: Stealth Power Book 3: Stealth Retribution

Retribution. Also known as “payback” or a more dated word: “vengeance.” Arnaldo Soto has taken Emilio and intends to use him as bait to trap Gemma. It’s an effective strategy, because Gemma will do anything—anything—to save the young boy. The woman known as Gemma Keyes is gone, her molecular structure destroyed and reassembled as . . . something else. In Gemma’s stead emerges a fierce weapon: part woman, part nanotechnology, her cellular composition conjoined with the nanocloud, indissoluble and formidable. She and the nanomites are now more than a match for her enemies—but Gemma has promised God that she will not strive to visit retribution on Arnaldo Soto for taking Emilio. The nanomites have made no such promise. The conclusion to the Nanostealth series will blow your mind. Excerpt. First the “merge.” Now this, the latest iteration of Gemma Keyes—or should I say, the “new and improved nanocloud”? The revived and restored nanocloud . . . superior in every way, comprising six tribes and, at last count, more than twenty trillion nanomites; the nanocloud that had annexed and incorporated the person I'd been—all of who and what I was. The nanomites and I were melded. We were irrevocably bound to each other now. We were an amalgamation. I lifted my hands to examine them. As I did, the light fixtures banding the cavern flickered; current jetted from the wavering lights and slammed into my chest. The drawn energy coursed through me and reverberated in my bones. It swelled and spread down my arms until it reached my fingertips, ready to burst forth. With a curious and almost detached air, I watched as my body attracted more energy from the light fixtures. Electricity crackled around me, infusing me with might. I flexed and curved my fingers; tongues of current sizzled in the palm of my hand and built into a ball of pulsing blue fire. I drew another deep breath and felt my body respond, my strength rise. The electricity I attracted from the cavern’s lights (without conscious intent) pulsed and crackled; it bent toward me and flowed into me. I raised one hand toward the electrical source and current jetted into my palm—arcing and building within the span of my fingertips. I rotated my wrist, and the ball of energy sizzled. Intensified. I brought my hands together and stared with fascination as the shimmering bolus of energy enlarged. It swirled between my extended fingers. As I moved my splayed hands apart, tendrils of electricity climbed from my fingers onto the ball; they wrapped themselves about the sphere to hold and feed it. The orb grew larger; its vibrations thudded through my chest. I stared at the sparking sphere of electricity sitting in my hand. What could I do with it? What would happen if I . . . tossed it? I thought that I knew the answer. Nanostealth Book 1: Stealthy Steps Book 2: Stealth Power Book 3: Stealth Retribution

Conspiracies. Collusion. Plots. Secrets within secrets and plans within plans. Thanks to Gemma and the nanomites’ timely intervention, President Jackson survives Vice President Harmon’s attempt to assassinate him and seize the presidency. Back in Albuquerque, Gemma makes a difficult She allows the explosion that killed her identical twin sister to serve as the cover-up for her own “death.” Half a year later, Gemma emerges from hiding as Jayda Locke. Soon after, the President’s sole contact within the NSA, an old and trusted friend, vanishes. Did the President’s friend learn the identities of Harmon’s co-conspirators in his plot to assassinate the President? Was the President’s friend found out and eliminated because of what he uncovered? The President calls upon Jayda (now married to Zander Cruz) to infiltrate the NSA and, with the nanomites’ assistance, identify the remaining traitors. But is the sedition within the government more widespread than either Jayda or the President believed? More importantly, will Harmon’s confederates stage another coup, a second attempt upon the President’s life? As Jayda and the nanomites breach the NSA’s security and begin to untangle the web of treachery, no one can conceive how deep the corruption runs—or how close it stands to the President himself. Nanostealth Book 1: Stealthy Steps Book 2: Stealth Power Book 3: Stealth Retribution Book 4: Deep State Stealth Book 5: Stealth Insurgence, December 2, 2021