A dead man is found on Israel's Golan Heights. Mysteriously, there are no tracks; ominously, the man died of smallpox.
Jeremiah Adams, former CIA field officer and now a very tough Deputy Secretary of Defense, is contacted by Mossad chief Gideon Karlski. The Israelis are certain the body originated in Iran and believe the smallpox and recent coded radio signals are somehow related. Adams promises to help solve the mystery if Mossad will give him the identity of those who launched a deadly biowar attack on the American mainland the previous year. Karlski agrees.
As Karkski and Adams begin work, the twisted master of Iran's clandestine activities, Morteza Dehesh, is planning a multi-pronged attack on Israel. His plot includes smallpox, anthrax, and something he refers to as the "great hammer." He intends to obliterate Israel.
Karlski sends a Mossad officer to give Adams comprehensive data on Iran's plans and to brief him on the earlier biowar attack on the United States—and that Dehesh was the man behind that attack. Anxiety mounting, Adams gets satellite photos of Shahab missiles and a KILO sub being prepared at bases near the Straits of Hormuz as delivery platforms for biological agents.
In exchange for his help to convince Washington to aid Israel, Adams demands to join a covert mission and neutralize Dehesh personally. Reluctantly, Mossad allows him to join a team going to Iran.
Meanwhile, architects and builders in Israel are in the final stages of constructing a tower on Mount Megiddo, the prophesied site of Armageddon, which will house a superb archaeology lab to investigate the ancient ruins on the hill. But it is much more than a research facility; in fact, the architects are agents who communicate with Dehesh using coded messages. Though the Americans and Israelis can intercept those transmissions, they cannot crack Dehesh’s cipher—a 'book code.'
As agreed, Adams and a Mossad team in the guise of computer experts arrive in Tehran. Meantime, the tower in Israel is almost complete, the sub is ready to go to sea, and the missiles are being prepared for launch from Bandar Abbas. Time is very short, and Karlski cannot stop the Israeli government from planning a preemptive strike on the sub, the missiles, and the entire Iranian infrastructure—using nuclear weapons.
When they finally break the code, Washington and Jerusalem understand that the danger to world peace posed by Iran's plan is greater than their worst nightmares. They realize Iran has learned how easy it is to change an A-Bomb into a thermonuclear weapon: into an H-Bomb! The two allies agree to a solemn covenant to join forces and eliminate the Iranian threat—without an invasion and without using nuclear weapons.
The combined forces of the United States and Israel go into action. A lightening chain of events leads to an earth-shaking climax that changes the global economy and the Middle East balance of power for generations to come.
© 2008, Chet Nagle. All rights reserved.
