Murder is only the beginning in this stunning, thought-provoking thriller by W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear, USA Today bestselling authors of Dark Inheritance and the First North American series.

"Dr. Tremain, your brother is dead." With one call from the FBI on a bright Colorado afternoon, paleoanthropologist Veronica Tremain's nightmare begins. Her brother, Dr. Scott Ferris, an anthropologist, has been tortured and murdered, his mutilated body left in the torched ruins of his home. Then the charred corpse of his girlfriend, Dr. Amanda Alexander, is found in Ohio. In fact, scientists on three continents-from New England to New Mexico, from Kiev to Tel Aviv-are dead or missing, their notes and labs destroyed.

Stunned by the ghastly news, Veronica can only recall that her brother mentioned solving a 60,000-year-old mystery-and that his lover said their work was "a matter of justice." Even as Veronica is trying to sort out the perplexing and horrific events, fugitives reach her home, including missing computer expert Dr. Bryce Johnson and a little boy who turns out to be Scott and Amanda's young son, Abel. Mere hours later, assassins strike.

Now, Veronica, Bryce, and Abel are on the run in a world with no refuge. Hunted by a death squad brazen enough to slaughter FBI agents and bomb federal offices, they will learn with horror that the terrorists' real target... is Abel. For a global conspiracy exists to kill one small child-along with everyone who has met, seen, or merely heard of the boy. And the killers may even be protected by the highest power in the land. Somehow, Abel is the key linking the present to a discovery from the ancient past, an amazing truth that can forever change humanities future-if anyone survives to reveal it...