For over a half century, the nationa??s largest stockpile of radioactive wastea??some 53 million gallonsa??lurked in captivity beneath the 560 square miles of southeastern Washingtona??s Hanford Nuclear Reservationa??until one Saturday morning when nearby Rattlesnake Mountain becomes the epicenter of a rare and violent earthquake that unleashes the perils of Hanforda??s toxic legacy. Insidious poisons, freed from their confines, rush silently through underground waterways toward the Columbia River posing an imminent threat to the regiona??s civilian population. Using their companya??s genetically engineered microbes to combat the deadly advance, biotechnology gurus Marcus Steele and Leigh Richards lead their scientific team in the race of and for their lives.