The ancient Epistle to the Hebrews contains a hitherto unnoticed enigma. It refers to a man without beginning or end-one who lives forever. So, who and where is he? The Jews knew him only as the Wanderer. T. S. Eliot called him the Witness. And the early Christians named him . . . Melchizedek. Federal Agent Roger Quarston can't know that investigating an ancient, blood-stained manuscript will lead him to this same Melchizedek-whose revelation will threaten allegiances, challenge faiths, crack political foundations, enliven ancient dynasties, and open the promise of immortality and unimagined power.