In Rome, the Easter crowds of the devout watch in horror as the Pope is assassinated.

In Canada''s frozen north a lake is suddenly turned into a cauldron of radioactivity.

In the Middle East the search for water ends in a bloodbath.

Three events with no connection, no apparent purpose. Except in the minds of an extreme millennial cult hidden deep in the mountain fastnesses of North Carolina; a cult for whom man''s abuse of the planet has called down God''s punishment, a cult dedicated to initiating a final battle between the forces of good and evil. With a terrifying combination of modern technology, military organisation and religious dementia, they are about to unleash a last crusade that could mean the end of man''s reign on earth.

And only one man can stop them . . .