When a sudden burst of radiation is detected beneath the desert in Iran, the world's spy agencies are immediately on alert. Alex Hunter, code name Arcadian, and his elite incursion team are dropped into the ruins of Persepolis. There they find an underground facility but nothing else - no weapons, no scientists - nothing to explain the gamma spike. It is as if a black hole has swept everything away . . . Meanwhile, Israel is threatening nuclear war, and the details of America's Arcadian program have been stolen. And someone - or something - is draining the fluids from the bodies of Iranian soldiers in the desert. If a black hole had taken everything, could something possibly have come back? When another radiation 'event' occurs in Iran, it is clear that something extraordinary is happening. Something that has been warned of in ancient prophecies. Alex must follow the traces of radiation to the ancient caves of Arak. In these tunnels, he will come face to face with his darkest nightmares. The clock is ticking down to what is told to be the end of the world and the ultimate judgement of humankind . . .