About the Book

In the most explosive book of the thrilling Wilde and Chase series, the intrepid pair must race against time before an ancient force is unleashed on the world . . .

Their days of death-defying adventure seemingly behind them, acclaimed archaeologist Nina Wilde and her husband, ex-SAS soldier Eddie Chase, live like any normal family. However, when a mythical civilisation is unearthed deep in the Antarctic ice, they are drawn into a battle for control of its astonishing power.

Dashing from New York to New Zealand, from futuristic Chinese cities to the outback of Australia, they soon confront the gravest threat they’ve ever faced. Pursued by ruthless mercenaries and a secret special forces unit, Nina and Eddie discover the clock is counting down to the extermination of all humanity . . .

Dedication

For Kat and Sebastian

Prologue

The Southern Ocean

A frigid wind bit Arnold Bekker’s cheeks as he gazed at the ragged white peaks rising from the grey waters ahead. After six days at sea, the prospect of standing on solid ground was a blessed relief.

But the terrain ahead was not land.

The stark vista was an iceberg, a two-mile-long slab that had calved away from Antarctica. The research vessel Dionysius was on a mission that to most people sounded crazy; even those behind it, Bekker included, occasionally questioned their own sanity.

Their objective was to chart the berg officially known as D43 and test the feasibility of towing the entire colossal mass the three thousand miles to Cape Town in South Africa. If it could be done, it would provide the parched country with billions of gallons of pure, fresh water.

Crazy indeed. But if the plan paid off, it would not only save a nation from thirst, but make its backers a fortune. No risk, no reward, as Bekker’s fiancée liked to say. He agreed with the sentiment, but at the same time it drew a wry smile. He was the one freezing his balls off, while Imka oversaw the operation from a climate-controlled office back home . . .

He retreated into the relative warmth of the ship’s bridge. A plotting table was laid out with a large blow-up of D43’s most recent satellite photograph, two weeks old. The first task was to circumnavigate the iceberg to check for any more recent changes; a section breaking away, for instance, or a fault line developing. ‘Are we ready to start?’ Bekker asked.