Lethal Relic: Book 2 in the Desert Trilogy

The last thing Madeline expected to dig up in the wastelands of Patagonia was a twenty-thousand-year-old engine component.After her discovery explodes across the internet, she finds herself the target of the university's shadowy benefactor whose intentions, she suspects, are less than noble.Flavio Beneventi, the mysterious philanthropist with bottomless pockets, turns his attention to the Australian desert where the crew from Coober Pedy are again dragged away from their dubious day jobs. With Beneventi's diabolical intentions gradually becoming clearer, Madeline and her illicit companions must not only find a way to protect a sacred site but will also need to put everything at risk to come to the aid of the victims of Beneventi's hideous criminal cartel.Set upon by assassins and befriended by a silent protector, Madeline is hunted from one side of the globe to the other. Her quest for the truth becomes a test of her moral and ethical beliefs as she is forced to choose between collaboration and the preservation of her scientific integrity.As the conflict shifts from the Australian desert to the back streets of Athens, Naples and Paris, Madeline and the team race against the clock to discover the whereabouts of an even more valuable treasure -- dozens of stolen women, victims of modern-day slavery.Will Madeline and the crew get there in time? Will the fantastic origins of the ancient relic finally be revealed? Will the sacred site stay secret?