Abraham Enigma

Egypt was hot as a furnace, as a refiner’s fire; even the Nile breezes as they crept through Cairo made little difference. But the men were meeting anyway, in a private room in the back of a coffee house near Orabi Square.

One of the men smoothed back his thick, white hair, then looked around the circle before turning to a large man, dressed in black. “All is ready in America?”

“Yes. The attacks will be sudden — and devastating.” The big man paused. “But the FBI is investigating the embassy, so we must move slowly and carefully.”

“You are a cautious man — maybe too cautious. Some might even wonder whose side you are on.” The white-haired man narrowed his eyes. He looked up as a newcomer joined the group, settling his skinny frame into a chair by the door.

“Soon it will not matter,” the man shrugged. “The embassy will be destroyed. Then the attacks in America will drive the point home, on their own soil. Perhaps then the Americans will keep to their own business.”

When FBI agent David Hunter is assigned to intercept terrorist communications in Egypt, he imagines an extended honeymoon with his new wife, April, exploring the ancient land and pyramids. He could not be more wrong. There is trouble in Cairo — a plot to bomb the American Embassy during a visit by the president of the United States — and time is running out. The agency needs David's sharp eye and cryptology skills to prevent a disaster.

But the more David uncovers the truth, the more the danger grows — not only for him but also for April — and the faster his enemies close in around him. Ignoring anonymous warnings to leave the country, David and April find themselves hopelessly lost in a massive ancient burial complex known as the Necropolis — a series of tombs with hieroglyphics that seem to have a connection to the book of Abraham. If they can decipher the hieroglyphics correctly, they may find a way out. If not, they are certain to join the “City of the Dead.”