The Gloaming Dawn

Something lies hidden under the sands in the Middle East, a secret so fraught with consequences and surrounded by the fear of the tumult its discovery might provoke, that it cannot be named.

It is for this reason the British government has assembled a team to unearth it before any of the other parties searching for it can find it. Included among its members are David and Clare Hutchings.

Ostensibly, they are participating in an archeological investigation in northern Iraq, at a newly discovered site, purportedly the ancient ruins of the fortress of Dara Akrata, an outpost of the growing might of Alexander the Great lost both to time and the unrelenting desert sands. Not only are David and Clare left uninformed of what they are searching for but of whom else among the broader British contingent are included in this secret operation. They have nothing to go on nor any idea on where to begin.

David considers the entire situation absurd and believes failure is the only logical outcome. "To leave everyone in the figurative dark and essentially hold to a spurious kind of wishful thinking that those given only part of the details will somehow miraculously stumble upon the answer, it seems only more and more ludicrous. Either it's been a completely mad mission from the beginning or someone here has meticulously planned everything out with far more precision than we or anyone has been able to imagine thus far."

Yet even before traveling to Iraq, a death has occurred. And more ensue within weeks of arriving at the site: each ghastly, brutal, and undeniably cruel. The means by which they occur and the reasons underlying them are as nettled and confusing as the mystery associated with their objective, with the few clues available as sparse as rain in the desert. Even as David and Clare conclude they can trust no one, the danger becomes personal. Clare fears that David's life may be forfeit before all comes to an end.

Yet, in that fear, lies the solution.