Julian Lethercore can read minds. Well, actually, what he reads are molecules, borne on saliva and other bodily fluids, with which he can access a person's memories, the secrets of their very lives and identities. He's also the result of a top secret military experiment gone wrong. He and the four other "bloodcogs" serve their master, Senator Pershing, a former warhawk now disgraced under a new administration headed by President Harmond. But Harmond may be gunning for more than the Senator's reputation. He may be out for all the bloodcogs—and it's up to Julian to find out.

Julian Lethercore is on the run, dodging police across the state of Colorado to reach Senator Pershing at his estate in the Rockies. Meanwhile, a menacing and unexpected midnight visitor at Kate Cliffbridge's home sends her comfortable suburban life spinning into disarray, dredging up secrets from her past as an experimental subject in a top-secret program. Her rescuer, the brilliant former scientist Stephen Hack, brings his own set of problems: he's a wanted man, the sole survivor of a covert government facility. The two of them turn to an unlikely ally to smuggle them out of the U.S.: white supremacists.

Dick Greenwood is a one-man force for world peace, and his plans are nearing fruition—because he's single-handedly "assimilated" scores of world leaders through blood transfusion, making them puppets of his powerful, domineering personality. Now, with bloodcog Julian Lethercore in his clutches at a secret Colorado base, he's about to fit in the final piece of his puzzle, finding out all about the late Senator Pershing's secret experiments. Can Kate Cliffbridge and her crew manage to save Julian in time? And even if they do, how will they ever expose Greenwood and put a stop to... world peace?