Synopsis

Rookie State Department lawyer Jaqueline Quartermane was never much good at puzzles. But now she must unlock the infamous Templar Word Square to thwart a global conspiracy that spans five centuries.

While investigating the murder of an American missionary, Jaqueline discovers the mysterious Latin word square carved into an underground Ethiopian church near the tomb of the biblical Adam. Her obsession with solving its coded message draws her into a desperate race with an elusive Middle Eastern mastermind to find the last relic needed to resurrect Solomon’s Temple. A trail of cabalistic clues leads her to the catacombs of Rome, the crypt below Chartres Cathedral, a Masonic shaft in Nova Scotia, a Portuguese shipwreck off Sumatra, and the caverns under the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

Intertwined in a time shift with this modern relic hunt, a parallel duel is waged:

The year is 1452, and one of the most secretive societies in history, Portugal’s Order of Christ, is led by a reclusive visionary. Prince Henry the Navigator and his medieval version of NASA plot to foil their archenemies, the Inquisitor Torquemada and Queen Isabella of Castile, who scheme to bring back Christ for the Last Judgment by ridding the world of Jews, heretics, and unbelievers.

Separated by half a millennium, two conspiracies dovetail in this breakneck historical thriller to expose the world’s most explosive secret: The real identity and mission of Christopher Columbus.