A forgotten civilization. A lost Biblical artifact. A criminal enterprise lurking beneath the seas. What links them with a potential cataclysmic event that threatens all of humanity? That's the question facing Dirk Pitt in this latest electrifying novel in the beloved New York Times bestselling series created by the "grand master of adventure" Clive Cussler. When National Underwater and Marine Agency director Dirk Pitt rescues a team of archaeologists trapped in a cavern by an earthquake, an unexpected artifact is discovered that rewrites history. A two-thousand-year-old silver scroll contains a message in a language more ancient than Phoenician and offering clues to a priceless treasure from antiquity.
While they work to decipher the message, another mystery arises. A freighter has disappeared without a trace in the Mediterranean. When Pitt and his partner Al Giordino find the wreck, they discover that the cargo--a large scale particle accelerator capable of creating plutonium and radioisotopes--is missing. In the wrong hands, its use could spell disaster for Western civilization.
It's only the first step in a perilous journey to uncover a trail of drugs, deceit, secret technology, and a conspiracy that threatens the planet. From a desperate car chase in the hills of Sicily, to a wild escape on a Spanish river, to a harrowing ride on an underground boring machine, the race begins to connect the pieces in a puzzle with very ancient roots but deadly modern consequences. Only Pitt can discover the truth and halt the plans to extinguish humanity and turn the skies to obsidian.
