An elite scientific military force must combat a plague beyond any cure—a scourge that turns all of nature against mankind in this nail-biting new thriller from James Rollins, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Sigma Force series. From the depths of the Indian Ocean, a horrific plague has arisen to devastate humankind – unknown, unstoppable…and merely a harbinger of the doom that is to follow. Operatives of the shadowy covert organization Sigma Force, Dr. Lisa Cummings, and Monk Kokkalis search for answers to the bizarre affliction aboard a cruise liner transformed into a makeshift hospital. But a sudden and savage attack by terrorist hijackers turns the mercy ship into a floating bio-weapons lab. Time is an enemy as a worldwide pandemic grows rapidly out of control. As the seconds tick closer to doomsday, Sigma’s commander, Gray Pierce, must join forces with the beautiful assassin who tried to kill him – following the trail of the most fabled explorer in history into the terrifying heart of an astonishing mystery buried deep in antiquity and in humanity’s genetic code.

A fire in a Copenhagen bookstore leads Commander Gray Pierce into a mystery that is connected to horrific Nazi experiments, an insidious madness affecting Buddhist monks, a possible mythological beast run amok in South Africa, and a century-old plot that threatens to destroy the current world order.

In this heart-stopping novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins, an elite team of ex-Special Forces soldiers turned scientific specialists must uncover a secret society and the treasure that could destroy the world. When a group of parishioners are burned to death in a German cathedral, the U.S. sends in the Sigma force. The tragedy is more than a case of arson; someone has stolen the priceless treasure stored in the cathedral’s golden reliquary: the bones of the Biblical Magi, the legendary Three Kings. Commander Logan Pierce, new to Sigma, will lead a team on the hunt for the Royal Dragon Court, a clandestine aristocratic fraternity of alchemists dating back to the Middle Ages, who seek to establish a New World Order using the mystical bones. The Sigma team will follow a labyrinth of clues leading from Europe’s gothic cathedrals, through the remnants of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, to a mystical place where science and religion will unite to unleash a threat not seen since the beginning of time itself.

What if you could bio-engineer the next great world prophet: scientifically produce the next Buddha, the next Mohammed, or even the next Jesus? Would it mark the Second Coming or initiate a chain reaction with disastrous consequences? A master at combining historical and religious intrigue with edge-of-your-seat adventure, New York Times bestselling author James Rollins brings back SIGMA Force to battle a group of rogue scientists who've unleashed a bio-engineering project that could bring about the extinction of mankind. From ancient Greek temples to glittering mausoleums, from the slums of India to the radioactive ruins of Russia, two of SIGMA's finest must race against time to solve a mystery that dates back to the first famous oracle of history—the Greek Oracle of Delphi.

From the depths of the Indian Ocean, a horrific plague has arisen to devastate humankind--unknown, unstoppable . . . and merely a harbinger of the doom that is to follow. Operatives of the shadowy covert organization Sigma Force, Dr. Lisa Cummings and Monk Kokkalis search for answers to the bizarre affliction aboard a cruise liner transformed into a makeshift hospital. But a sudden and savage attack by terrorist hijackers turns the mercy ship into a floating bio-weapons lab. Time is an enemy as a worldwide pandemic grows rapidly out of control. As the seconds tick closer to doomsday, Sigma's commander, Gray Pierce, must join forces with the beautiful assassin who tried to kill him--following the trail of the most fabled explorer in history into the terrifying heart of an astonishing mystery buried deep in antiquity and in humanity's genetic code.

From the depths of the Indian Ocean, a horrific plague has arisen to devastate humankind—unknown, unstoppable . . . and merely a harbinger of the doom that is to follow. Operatives of the shadowy covert organization Sigma Force, Dr. Lisa Cummings and Monk Kokkalis search for answers to the bizarre affliction aboard a cruise liner transformed into a makeshift hospital. But a sudden and savage attack by terrorist hijackers turns the mercy ship into a floating bio-weapons lab. Time is an enemy as a worldwide pandemic grows rapidly out of control. As the seconds tick closer to doomsday, Sigma’s commander, Gray Pierce, must join forces with the beautiful assassin who tried to kill him—following the trail of the most fabled explorer in history into the terrifying heart of an astonishing mystery buried deep in antiquity and in humanity’s genetic code. Also included in this edition is an excerpt from The Devil Colony, featuring Sigma Force.

“A real page-turner….Rollins keeps the story in overdrive, with plenty of twists and turns before the final shocker.” —Douglas Preston, co-author of The Monster of Florence A classic adventure from James Rollins, the author of The Doomsday Key, The Last Oracle, The Judas Strain, Black Order, and other pulse-pounding, New York Times bestselling thrillers, Excavation carries readers deep into the jungles of South America, and into the terrifying heart of dark mysteries that should never be unearthed.