title: Trace: The Divine Sequence
author: Valentine, Randall Lee
description: Murders in Ireland, Armenia, Jerusalem and Egypt linked to the stars in the constellation Orion—or to the repressed hatred from horrendous crimes of long ago? Geneticist Sonja Martin and her associate Elana Dutros, repudiating antiquities fraud, bring their superior vision and intelligence to a search for Middle Eastern religious relics only to be confronted by a duplicitous and vengeful Irishman, Rigel. Financially strapped, Sonja seeks support from her alma mater which sends money and her college heartthrob, Professor Eric Stanfels. But with Eric come the ghosts of his failed CIA past, including Mordecai Rubin, the disenfranchised Mossad agent who orchestrated Eric’s CIA disaster. Questions arise whether these two alpha males can subordinate their egos in a mission dominated by the wisdom, judgment and insight of Sonja? Treading on a treacherous path, littered with deceit, retribution, murder and romance, Sonja, Elana and Eric compete with some mysterious and invisible Rigel-led Orion force in their search for a special genetic “gold dust” that will have a profound impact on the beliefs of all civilization. Yet, an age-old conundrum is confronted: ‘Why women do so much of the real work in life, yet are denied the just benefits of, and credit for their labors?’ Craving revenge, while forsaking the love of a devoted mother, can this devious Rigel really manipulate contemporary genetic engineering and cloning capabilities that by 2025 will definitely create and clone a wooly mammoth from ancient DNA?