I read them about 20 years ago. I don't know if these scenarios are from the same book, or 3 different books:

1. There's a terrorist organization that is using nanomachines. They spread really quickly, and when you get infected, your flesh melts into goo. I think in this book there was a famous question, something like "if a virus doubles in number every 24 hours, and the Earth is 50% covered in 52 weeks, how long would it take for the Earth to be 100% covered in virus?" or something like that. The nanomachines are airborne and it takes a while before symptoms appear so it's very easy to spread.
2. There's an antagonist, I think he's an African warlord or something. He's known as a mad dog or mad butcher or something. But he made his fortune through poaching tusks of bull elephants. He makes a big minefield in the savanna, then using multiple helicopters with machine guns, he and his men will direct the bull elephants into the minefield where their legs will get blown off. Then they'll get down into the carnage and hack the tusks off the still-living bull-elephants.
3. I think the setting is in Angkor Wat. Something about a virus. The only thing I remember about it now is that in the end, the female protagonist was infected by the virus but she's not harmed. Instead, her brain was rewired to go into a cave or ruin, where she saw the bodies of other infected people. Some of these people have been there for hundreds of years I think, since the virus epidemic comes and goes every hundred years I think? But these very old infected people are still alive, but they're no longer moving. Just statues.. with translucent skin and glowing skin? And our protagonist will now join them in their vigil while they wait for.. something. This ending is very mysterious for me and maybe if I read it now, I'll understand it better.

I really just want to read those books again. If it helps, the authors I remember reading back then were James Patterson, Robert Ludlum, Josh Grisham, Dan Brown, Clive Cussler, Jeffrey Deaver, Tom Clancy, and maybe Dean Koontz and Michael Chrichton.

Yesterday I realized that the worse part of the day without this person is the night, but reading can help to get my mind off a bit from everything. My breakup happened cause my now ed boyfriend had (has) a gambling addiction and I had to set boundaries, cause he got himself into trouble with a debt and hid it from me. It’s been hard cause it’s not that I don’t have feelings still anymore, and it’s been really hard to let go of what ifs or guilt.

I think reading and feeling understood and heard while I do could help, so maybe if anyone knows some books that tackle maybe that sort of grieving a person who’s still there but you shouldn’t be with, grieve of a future that can never be, maybe an exploration of the family or loved ones of someone with this kind of issue, maybe even something about savior complex, cause I’m probably falling into this category without much thought.

I’m looking for fiction but, if someone knows even non-fiction books that can help me during this time, I would greatly appreciate it and thank you if you red till here.