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The Destroyer#131Unnatural SelectionThe DestroyerBook 1312003
Unnatural Selection
- Writer
- James Mullaney
- Series creators
- Warren Murphy, Richard Sapir
Burt Solare plans to leave the bottled-water business he built in Lubec, where protest messages appear near the plant. In New York, reports of strange attacks reach CURE as Remo and Chiun take on a new Sinanju title and investigate. Smith’s golf outing is interrupted by the outbreak, and Mark Howard begins tracing the formula through water tests and a rural Maine operation.
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Burt Solare plans to sell Lubec Springs, the Maine water business he built with Owen Grude, while Judith White has altered its water with a formula that changes consumers into animalistic forms. Remo and Chiun respond to an al-Khobar operation near Furlow, Arkansas, where Remo kills the attackers except Faysal al-Shahir. In New York, Elizabeth Tiflis changes after drinking the water and attacks coworkers; the outbreak spreads through several locations. Smith and Mark connect the attacks to Lubec Springs and test the formula. Judith gathers transformed followers, recruits singer Bobby Bugget into her publicity trip, and seeks Remo’s stored biological material. Mark traces a possible route from missing-organ cases and cattle deaths to a hidden lab, but Judith ambushes him and forces him to ingest the formula.
Remo and Chiun confront the transformed pack and Judith near the bottling plant. Judith escapes into the Atlantic; Remo kills a large swimmer he mistakes for Judith, then identifies her as Elizabeth Tiflis. Judith remains at large. Mark recovers after the temporary effects pass, while the Genetic Futures staff remain permanently altered, according to the closing report. Smith later discloses that CURE retained Remo’s semen and used it to create Winston as a CURE contingency; tests find both stored semen samples dead. In the epilogue, Dr. Jesus Avalos sees six or possibly seven fetal heartbeats during Judith’s clinic visit. Judith says she used frozen blood and skin from beneath a fingernail. The source does not settle the conception mechanism or eventual outcome.
Characters & places
SpoilersFull articles
- ChiunCharacter
- Conn MacClearyCharacter
- CUREOrganization
- Folcroft SanatoriumPlace
- Harold W. SmithCharacter
- House of SinanjuGroup
- Judith WhiteCharacter
- Mark HowardCharacter
- Maude SmithCharacter
- Miss PurvishCharacter
- Mrs. MikulkaCharacter
- Remo WilliamsCharacter
- SinanjuPlace
- Sinanju (martial tradition)Lore
Characters 27
- Bobby Bugget
- Burt Solare
- Candi Bengal
- Chiun
- Conn MacCleary
- Dr. Andrew Mills
- Dr. Emil Kowalski
- Dr. Jesus Avalos
- Dr. Lance Drew
- Elizabeth Tiflis
- Faysal al-Shahir
- Great Wang
- Harold W. Smith
- Helen Solare
- Josef Menk
- Jude Weiss
- Judith White
- Mark Howard
- Master Vimu
- Maude Smith
- Miss Purvish
- Mrs. Mikulka
- Owen Grude
- Remo Williams
- Songjong
- Unnamed U.S. President
- Winston
Places 14
Organizations 9
Groups 1
Lore 5
Chapter summaries
Chapter 1
Burt wants to leave the bottled-water business, while Judith works at the company and the “S.O.L.” protests appear.
Chapter 2
Remo kills the armed operatives at the Arkansas airfield, identifies their planned attack, and lets Faysal al-Shahir go as a messenger.
Chapter 3
At Vaunted Press, Elizabeth changes into a predatory creature and attacks her coworkers.
Chapter 4
Chiun connects his experience to Great Wang in Sinanju lore; Remo and Chiun discuss their changed titles.
Chapter 5
After a disruptive flight from Little Rock, the two leave the airport through the cargo area and disappear into the confusion.
Chapter 6
They inspect the bloodied office, hear of victims and captures, and face two transformed officers at the chapter’s close.
Chapter 7
Remo and Chiun fight the creatures; Chiun explains they are not ordinary human assailants, but Remo questions the conclusion.
Chapter 8
After officers and prisoners are attacked, Chiun connects the creatures to his account of Shiva and the Masters.
Chapter 9
Judith directs Owen to alter the filters and explains that she sees her formula as survival of the fittest.
Chapter 10
After recalling his CURE appointment and old companions, Smith intervenes when a patron attacks a staff member.
Chapter 11
Smith and club bystanders subdue the attacker; Smith is paged back to Folcroft.
Chapter 12
Smith recalls earlier genetic cases, while the Midtown outbreak supplies evidence that contaminated water is a likely route.
Chapter 13
The attackers kill most of the visitors; Bobby Bugget and other celebrity clients survive initially, and Judith orders a cleanup.
Chapter 14
Chiun explains the changed Master titles and recounts, as Sinanju history, Songjong’s service to Nebuchadnezzar, Vimu’s Egypt assignment and death away from Sinanju, and Daniel’s role in the story.
Chapter 15
At GenPlus, Dr. Andrew Mills tells Mark that the other commercial water samples tested clean and that the altered bodies are associated with Lubec Springs samples; he describes the weakened formula’s effects as temporary. Mark uses the cover name Mr. Marx.
Chapter 16
Judith identifies herself as Judy Fishbaum and explains her work at Genetic Futures; the chapter also shows Kowalski’s transformed state and his loyalty to her.
Chapter 17
The President discusses the emergency with Smith and credits CURE for the response; the identity is not named.
Chapter 18
Remo and Chiun travel toward Maine while Judith receives transformed arrivals at the plant, describes the leech’s homing behavior and their feeding, and directs the group.
Chapter 19
Smith stores the New York formula sample in a refrigerator in the records room; a liquid-nitrogen tank there still contains older stored biological material.
Chapter 20
Chiun warns Remo to heed the prophecy; the pack surrounds them near the plant.
Chapter 21
The Masters fight the attackers; the boxer becomes a large brute, while Bugget remains behind in the bushes.
Chapter 22
Judith kills Owen at the bottling plant and flees; Remo and Chiun arrive to find the aftermath.
Chapter 23
Remo and Chiun examine the Solare remains and Owen’s wounds; Bugget is brought back to the plant while the group sorts out the attack.
Chapter 24
Smith treats the pattern as suggestive, while Remo reports Judith’s escape and the team’s next lead.
Chapter 25
Judith moves through the woods and returns to the plant to retrieve her valises; the chapter does not depict the Masters searching alongside her.
Chapter 26
Remo and Chiun wait with Bugget and the hidden case; they hear a vehicle and go out, leaving Bugget behind.
Chapter 27
Judith crashes through the window, disarms Mark, forces formula into him, takes the case and escapes. Mark collapses and realizes Judith has two arms; Remo and Chiun have not yet discovered them missing.
Chapter 28
Remo and Chiun find Mark after his transformation; his heart resumes with an altered rhythm. Remo searches for Judith while Chiun stays with Mark.
Chapter 29
Remo and Chiun bring Mark to Folcroft by helicopter; Smith summons Dr. Drew and has Mark carried inside.
Chapter 30
The medical staff continue the examination as predatory eyes observe them unseen.
Chapter 31
Smith leaves his office after learning there has been an incident downstairs.
Chapter 32
Mark escapes the ward, injures staff and leaves Smith ordering a search and lockdown; this chapter does not show him returning to the records room.
Chapter 33
Eileen Mikulka, who has accessed the contaminated sample, attacks Smith; Chiun knocks her unconscious but alive. Smith finds the sample bottle open and nearly empty and sees that the liquid-nitrogen tank has been opened.
Chapter 34
Smith explains that CURE took Remo’s semen sample without his informed consent and used it to create Winston as a contingency. Remo confronts Smith; Chiun asks whether the remaining frozen sample retains potency, and Judith’s motive is discussed. The contract is explained later in chapter 39.
Chapter 35
Remo pursues the swimmer offshore and strikes her; turning the body over, he recognizes Elizabeth Tiflis. He senses that Judith has escaped, then swims back to shore.
Chapter 36
Chiun waits with the unconscious Mark in the stolen car; Remo returns from the ocean, believes Judith has escaped, and recognizes that the wound on his arm relates to Chiun’s earlier warning.
Chapter 37
San Diego police inspect the wrecked Genetic Futures lab with FBI agents. The altered staff remain in the courtyard, equipment is missing, and Dr. Emil Kowalski is found dead; an FBI agent makes a dismissive remark.
Chapter 38
Smith tells Mark about his own trauma and gives him the locket recovered from MacCleary’s effects.
Chapter 39
Smith reports that Genetic Futures staff remain permanently altered. Remo and Chiun discuss the five-year CURE contract and its succession loophole. In the epilogue, Judith visits a Los Angeles women’s health clinic; Dr. Jesus Avalos sees six or possibly seven heartbeats, and Judith says she used frozen blood and skin from beneath a fingernail.
Editions & covers
References & notes
Sources 27 references
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Destroyer_(novel_series)
- stopyourekillingme.com/D_Authors/Destroyer.html
- destroyer-books.com/bibliography.php
- www.hachette.co.uk/titles/richard-sapir/unnatural-selection/9780751560800
- spyguysandgals.com/sgShowChar.aspx?id=472
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Edition and source notes
The selected EPUB transcription contains chapters 1–39; the epilogue appears within chapter 39. No additional source-text limit was identified.
The title-level bibliography supplies this writer attribution. credited_authors is null pending title-page/cover verification; do not infer that marketed creator names drafted this volume.
Unnatural Selection:
Publisher's description: A recurring foe, Dr. Judith White, puts a mind-altering formula in bottled water, and a CURE agent becomes one of her victims.
Story timeframe
Coarse estimate from the assumed incumbent’s historical presidency. The term range is context, not a claim that the plot spans the term or that a particular event occurs at either endpoint.
Historical term dates: Source 1
Presidential clues
Current U.S. President: retained hypothesis — George W. Bush (qualified contextual compatibility; not named or established in the novel).
George W. Bush (qualified contextual compatibility; not named or established in the novel)
high for the incumbent role; moderate contextual compatibility with George W. Bush, identity and exact year unconfirmed
Unnamed U.S. President (Book 131)
George W. Bush (qualified contextual compatibility; not named or established in the novel)
- The President is described as coming from a well-off family, preferring early bedtime and early rising, and taking a pay cut to become President.
- His wife is visiting family in Texas.
- He says the burden of office has fallen on him eight months into his fledgling presidency.
- These clues are compatible with George W. Bush, but the novel gives no personal name or exact year.
high for the incumbent role; moderate contextual compatibility with George W. Bush, identity and exact year unconfirmed
The narrative withholds a personal name and exact year. The wealthy-family description, early-to-bed/early-to-rise routine, wife visiting Texas, and eight-month-old fledgling presidency are compatible with George W. Bush-era context, but are circumstantial. The crisis is not explicitly identified as September 2001.
Unnamed deceased President who appointed Smith (Book 131)
None established; John F. Kennedy is only a qualified broader-series comparison, not an identity observed in this book.
- The narration says CURE was established by a President who was already dead at the time of his account.
- The text locates Smith’s early cover work in the early 1960s but supplies no personal name for the founding President.
high for source-reported role; identity unresolved
The narration says a President now long dead established CURE and that he was placed in early-1960s cover work. This book does not name the President or give a unique clue. A Kennedy-era comparison depends on broader series context and is not established here.
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