Matt Kerns - linguist, archaeologist and reluctant explorer from Beneath the Dark Ice and Black Mountain - returns in his first full-time adventure. And this time he doesn't have Alex Hunter to save him when the stuff hits the fan.When a fame-hungry scientist brings an impossible, living specimen of a creature long thought extinct back from the wild jungles of South America he unwittingly brings along a passenger. Something with the potential to destroy every living thing on our planet.The infestation begins, rapidly overtaking medical resources and resisting all treatment. One woman knows the danger: Carla Nero, chief scientist of the Centre for Disease Control. She makes Matt an offer he can't refuse and together they join a team heading to the deep jungle in a desperate race to locate the hidden place where the specimen was taken.