The Scroll - William Weber

Calvin Grady, naval combat veteran and rising star in the US State Department, is dispatched to Israel to investigate the mysterious theft of antiquities from the most politically sensitive location in the world: the Temple Mount inJerusalem. In a whirlwind first week on assignment, he is nearly killed by asniper, his daughter is kidnapped, then he himself is captured. Freed by a secret paramilitary organization, he becomes increasingly bewildered by a complex array of clues that don't make any sense. Thus our hero finds himself on center stage in a drama that has evolved across eons, and in which he is only the latest in a series of select individuals whose lives have been caught up in the destiny of the world's most priceless and coveted treasures, able to change the course of history. Along the way, the reader is introduced to men and women in previous ages who have taken up the same struggle, in the same holy city and against the same ancient forces of evil. Each labors to defuse his own dire crisis, and each meets his own unique climax. At stake are the souls of humankind...and the thread of redemption is woven throughout their stories. When Calvin Grady reaches his own unexpected conclusion, however, the satisfaction is only nearly complete.