A Nick Newman Adventure

For centuries, a secret has waited to be found.

In 1936, amid the chaos of the Spanish Civil War, two ancient, ornate boxes containing sacred relics are hurried away from a Carmelite convent in Ronda, hidden from the violence and looting sweeping across Andalucía. Their origins reach back nearly four centuries—to Saint Teresa of Ávila, Father Jerónimo Gracián, and the court of King Philip II.

One box is later recovered in Málaga. Inside is the severed, incorrupt left hand of Saint Teresa of Ávila — a relic Generalissimo Franco comes to regard as his good-luck charm and keeps close to him until his death.

The second box is never seen again.

It is supposed to contain something far more dangerous: a cryptic document Saint Teresa had guarded until her death in 1582.

Four hundred years later, in 1982, and seven years after Franco's death, an obscure organization, Consejo de Salvaguarda Nacional, is created in the shadows. Born from remnants of Spain's military and intelligence establishment, the secret organization is dedicated to preserving Franco's legacy, protecting his image and ideology—and, above all, safeguarding Franco's secret.

At its heart are the Custodians, three men entrusted with the entire truth.

Now, seventy-five years after the box disappeared, an old letter unexpectedly surfaces. What it reveals electrifies the Custodians:

The second box may still exist.

The trail leads thousands of miles from Ronda to Dakhla, Western Sahara — once the isolated Spanish outpost of Villa Cisneros.

Meanwhile, completely unaware, Nick Newman and Lee Ann Maddux are returning from commissioning a medical clinic deep in the Sahara. Before flying on to Málaga, they spend a few days in a renovated Spanish colonial house near Dakhla's airport.

Then comes a knock at the door.

Three Spanish-speaking strangers force their way inside. At gunpoint, Nick and Lee Ann are bound to chairs while the men tear the old house apart, searching its walls, floors, and hidden spaces.

Nick catches fragments of their conversation.

A box.

A hidden compartment.

Ronda.

Franco.

And something about a secret someone has waited three generations to recover.

The men finally leave empty-handed, disappearing into the night.

After Nick and Lee Ann manage to free themselves, they begin putting the shattered room back together—and, by sheer chance, notice something their captors missed.

However, that is just the beginning. The reader will soon discover that the clue they found and a missing box aren’t the only secrets.