Iraq and Syria were always artificial constructs. Nations carved out on maps that made sense to diplomats and Western politicians. With Saddam Hussein gone, Riyadh and Tehran are vying for regional dominance, alongside a host of new contenders: ISIS, Qatar and Turkey. This is the setting for OSIRIS, a story carved from today's fact and tomorrow's fiction. On a landscape cloaked in dust, an American embassy comes under siege by a weapon even Washington's military might cannot defeat, creating a dilemma no policymaker wants to confront: how to rescue 5,000 Americans trapped in Baghdad? Enter a crusty Marine sergeant, an embattled Army Major, two Turkish spies, the ultimate cyber warrior, and an ISIS leadership intent on establishing a new caliphate. The game is afoot. OSIRIS takes us on a twisted path from the glittering palaces of Qatar to the dusty hell of central Iraq, replete drunken Russian pilots, conniving American politicians, and the most unlikely heroes. Sheer will and technical expertise are pitted against national pride, religious zeal, and pathological bloodlust. Welcome to OSIRIS, the first in a trilogy that will take readers from the ISIS of today's newspapers to a caliphate that will leave tomorrow's Europe on the brink of a new Dark Ages.