Avanti Centrae

VanOps #1 - The Lost Power

Alexander the Great's obscure Egyptian weapon has been lost for eons. Can Maddy Marshall and covert agent Bear Thorenson find the ancient weapon in time to stop fragile post-Cold War peace from being forever shattered?

On a hushed, fog shrouded Napa morning, gunshots and the sound of breaking glass shatter the morning’s silence. Aikido black belt Maddy Marshall and her estranged twin brother Will quickly run toward the sound. When she sees a sniper’s bullet buried in her father’s chest, Maddy cries out in horror.
As he lies dying in a puddle of blood on the living room floor, Maddy’s father sends the twins on a mysterious quest to recover an ancient weapon so powerful that Alexander the Great used it to conquer the known world. However, if the killer solves the mystery before the twins do, the weapon will be used to cripple the United States' electronic early warning defense systems, allowing the Russians to swoop in and prey on the vulnerable nation.

Joined on the arcane international quest by a VanOps covert agent, the rifle’s sights are now set on Maddy and Will. No place is safe, a wrong move means death, and even a simple phone call is off limits if they are to survive. The tense, pulse-pounding adventure races from a California winery to a medieval Spanish castle, from a lost warren under the streets of Jerusalem to a mountaintop monastery, and eventually into the heart of their families darkest secrets.