When Danites (destroying angels) from a renegade Mormon sect set out to destroy the mainstream church with a merciless synthetic virus all of humanity is threatened. Man-made and self-replicating, the Scythe of God virus ravages the human immune system in mere hours, leaving its victims helpless in a world swarming in pathogens. Influenza, the common cold, and measles, might as well be Ebola. The Scythe of God Virus, named for its ability to cut down infidels the way a scythe does wheat, is to become the deadliest weapon in a war without boundaries. Investigators Gus Bolderjack and Mattie Hendrix are drafted into a conflict not of their making, with odds not in their favor, and with religious overtones outside their understanding. Yusuf Al'absi, a brilliant but embittered biomedical engineer, controls the offense. He is the father of the Scythe of God Virus and he is using Loyalist Latter Day Saints, a domestic religious sect, to help him spread it throughout North America. An eccentric man called The Magician heads the defense. He's a shadowy figure with immense power when it comes to defending the republic. He and Al'absi know something no one else on earth does: SGV is an extinction level virus, and this is a zero sum game. Life. Death. Not both.