Saas Fee ski resort, Switzerland, 7.00 am March 6, 2005 A group of skiers, anxious to get on the first cable car up the mountain, instead find themselves staring in horror at the half- naked body of a man, his outstretched arms tied to the cable. A plaque bearing an obscure message hangs from his neck. Later, the victim is identified as Monsignor Antoine Salvador, Archbishop of Lyon. The Swiss investigators, mystified by such a bizarre and gruesome crime, call Interpol for help. Thierry Dulac, a caustic inspector with an enviable track record, gets the nod. Dulac has barely begun his investigation when the assassins strike again: the body of Monsignor Alberto Conti, Archbishop of Milan, is found hanging from a pergola near Stresa, Italy. A similar plaque hangs from his neck. With little to go on but the plaques, Dulac turns to Karen Dawson, world-renowned mythologist, to help decipher their messages. Their search for the killers leads them from the hushed corridors of the Vatican and the quiet luxury of a British Marchioness's chateau, to the dank prison cells of Moscow's Lubyanka prison. Struggling through personal trauma, a web of Vatican intrigues and a cover-up attempt by the French government, Dulac discovers an astounding conspiracy fueled by dirty money, blackmail and deadly ambition. He's just realized the enormity of what he's discovered when a hit man strafes the windshield of his Renault.