Professor Doran's research into deep space communication provokes a deadly response from an unlikely origin. Solomon Bondarenko, a young Russian mother, is forced to go on the run. Hunted by police she and her daughter embark on on a perilous journey following a bizarre nursery rhyme. Jack Hamilton, a successful bullion trader, leaves his job in London to try and answer a mystery as old as mankind. Severine Pascal, a French Army Officer, quits after becoming disillusioned at her treatment. Jayanti Kapoor, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, learns her new position comes with unexpected responsibilities. The tense, high-level and ultra secret Middle-East talks between the Israeli representative Benjamin Yogev and the Palestinian representative Saeb Tibi take an unexpected turn. At the epicentre of it all is John Deeth. His quest for a radically new method of refining Gold nearly kills him. Shaken to his core, his research in tatters, he finds that someone has been following his work very closely. Can he discover the true reason mankind has sought Gold for millennia? Or will the dark forces that are gathering on Earth silence him for all time?