Snake River, Idaho--Ariel Behn, a toxic materials expert at a remote nuclear site, finds her well-ordered life shattered when her cousin is slain by an unknown assassin. His shocking death leaves Ariel as the sole heir to a family legacy: a sinister cache of manuscripts that sweeps her into the deadly center of international intrigue--and a mystery that spans the centuries. Jerusalem, 32 A.D.--During the last week of the life of Christ, as the world stands on the brink of a new two-thousand-year circle, Emperor Tiberius works desperately to deciper the tantalizing clues to an age-old enigma. He will not be the only one. For whoever assembles and interprets these cryptic clues will possess the power to control the fate of the world. Now, at the center of this circle of ancient riddles stands the one woman who can pull the strands together: Ariel Behn. What strange powers lie hidden with in the manuscripts? As Ariel races across the continents to reveal the dark secrets buried in her family's past, she begins to unlock the chilling truth of the coming millenium.