The crime is inhumanly cruel with horrific consequences both
unthinkable and inevitable. During a service at a cathedral
in Cologne, Germany, a band of armed intruders dressed in
monks' robes unleash a nightmare of blood and terror,
ruthlessly gunning down worshippers and clergy alike. The
killers haven't come for the church's gold and valuable
artwork, but for a priceless treasure secreted within: the
preserved bones of the Three Magi who once came to pay
homage to a newborn savior. As they flee the carnage they
have wrought, they carry a prize that could reshape the
world.
The Vatican is in turmoil, and Lieutenant Rachel Verona of
Rome's carabinieri is assigned to lead the investigation.
But no ordinary police organization alone can deal with the
bizarre theft and massacre, and SIGMA Force -- an elite
covert arm of the U.S. Defense Department -- is called in
under the command of Grayson Pierce. New to SIGMA, Pierce
assembles a crack team of scientific and Special Forces
operatives to unravel the mystery of the stolen bones, and
together they set out on a twisting trail through a
labyrinth of clues and dark revelations that carry them to
the sites of the Seven Wonders of the World -- and to the
doorstep of the mystical and terrifying Dragon Court.
An ancient, secret fraternity of alchemists and assassins,
the master-adepts of the Dragon Court have plans for the
sacred remains that will alter the future of humankind in
devastating ways that only the maddest of zealots could
desire -- and they will let nothing and no one stand in
their way. Suddenly Pierce, Verona, and the SIGMA team are
the hunted as well as the hunters, forced to use every skill
they possess to survive as they follow the bones to the
ultimate confrontation between darkness and light -- in a
lost place of history where science and religion will unite
to unleash a horror not seen since the beginning of time.
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