When a NASA satellite discovers an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice,the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory--a victory with profound implications for NASA policy and the impending presidential election.To verify the authenticity of the find,the White House calls upon the skills of intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton.Accompanied by a team of experts,including the charismatic scholar Michael Tolland,Rachel travels to the Arctic and uncovers the unthinkable: evidence of scientific trickery--a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy.But before she can warn the president,Rachel and Michael are ambushed by a team of assassins.Fleeing for their lives across a desolate and lethal landscape,their only hope for survival is to discover who is behind this masterful plot.The truth,they will learn,is the most shocking deception of all.

Intelligence Analyst Rachel Sexton is in her mid-thirties,is single,and works for the NRO (National Reconnaissance Office).Her father,Senator Sedgewick Sexton,is a popular presidential candidate surpassing the incumbent President of the United States Zachary Herney.The President sends her to the Arctic as part of a team of experts to confirm and authenticate findings made by NASA deep within the Milne Ice Shelf.NASA's new Earth Observation System (EOS,) a collection of satellites constantly monitoring the globe for signs of large-scale change,has found an extremely dense spot in the Milne Ice Shelf.NASA discovers a very dense meteorite.In it are fossils of bugs very similar to--but not the same as--species on earth.NASA claims this as proof of extraterrestrial life.This find is something NASA needs desperately,as the agency's success rate on other fronts has put it in a bad light.Senator Sexton uses this as an example of government overspending and failure to further his campaign.

A group of four civilian scientists have already been studying the find and have confirmed NASA's claims.It is only hours before the President and NASA plan to go public with the discovery.