Aileen G. Baron

SCORPION'S BITE: a new Book in the Lily Sampson Series, out in August, 2010.

In 1943, the world is at war. Archaeologist Lily Sampson has been sent to Trans-Jordan, along with Gideon Weil, the famous director of the American School of Archaeology in Jerusalem to do an archaeological survey of Trans-Jordan for the OSS. As part of the survey, they roam the beautiful, silent desert where the indelible presence of Lawrence of Arabia still lingers, and where the ancient Nabateans once ruled an empire from their capital in Petra. Soon Lily and Gideon are stranded in the Wadi Rum, and their Bedouin guide is murdered. When Gideon is accused of the crime, Lily must clear him of the accusation.

Lily finds out that two oil pipelines run from Iraq through the desert to ports on the Mediterranean, one through Trans-Jordan that supplies the Allies, the other through Syria that supplies the Axis. Syrians and Vichy French are raiding across the border, threatening to destroy the Trans-Jordan pipeline. Lily discovers that their real mission is to help safeguard the Trans-Jordan pipeline and to prevent oil from reaching the Nazis through Syria. At the same time, Lily learns of a Nazi plot to kidnap and kill the eight-year-old King Faisal of Iraq and take over the country.

Now, Lily and Gideon must act to protect the Trans-Jordan pipeline, sabotage the Syrian line, and rescue Faisal to prevent the Nazi takeover of Iraq.