Publisher's Synopsis
When the deputy commander of Rome's Imperial Security Service is assassinated on the island of Rhodes, Cassius Corbulo finds himself embroiled in the investigation. Assisted by ex-gladiator bodyguard Indavara and servant Simo, his search for the truth is complicated by the involvement of the dead man's headstrong daughter, Annia. Cassius and his allies follow the assassin's trail south aboard a ship captained by a roguish Carthaginian smuggler. Their journey leads them to the farthest reaches of the empire: to a ruined city and a deadly battle of wits with a brutal, relentless foe.
