Someone is hell-bent on world destruction. Inspector Kate Dawson is called to investigate a mass murder; a call that will change her life, and possibly the whole world--forever. Certain parents have been directed to put their children to death. They believe they are the Chosen Ones, destined by God to inherit the Earth. The charismatic leader of End Times Ministries, whose grand plan includes stoking the fires of Armageddon, has ordered parishioners to close ranks and prepare for a holy war. Kate Dawson knows this is not God's will, but that of a dangerous, diabolical mind that controls the lives of his people. "They plan to start a war!" "Nearly a million people live in the San Francisco Bay area," Senator Santiago said. "That's a lot of lives that would be lost, but nowhere near the hundreds of millions of lives lost in a global war, and the starvation, and sickness, and disease that follows.

" "So, you're saying, the Doomsday clock is ticking?" Kate asked, already sensing the answer. "It's five minutes to midnight ." Kate would have been the first one to confess that she didn't know a whole lot about politics and religion--but she did know there was a group of fanatics out there who were determined to move the hands of the clock closer to midnight, and it was her duty to stop them.