Gideon Crew--brilliant scientist, master thief, intrepid adventurer--is shocked when his former employer, Eli Glinn, vanishes without a trace, and Glinn's high-tech lab Effective Engineering Solutions shuts down seemingly overnight.

Fresh off a diagnosis that gives him only months to live, Crew is contacted by one of his former coworkers at EES, Manuel Garza, who has a bead on one final treasure hinted at in EES's final case, the long-awaited translation of a centuries-old stone tablet of a previously undiscovered civilization: The Phaistos Disc.

What lies at the end of the trail will either save Gideon's life--or bring it to a sudden, shocking close. Crew once again faces incredible odds--but as Gideon has proved again and again, there's no such thing as too great a risk when you're living on borrowed time.