
1 chapter • 3 scenes
When cryptographer Dr. Sara Chen discovers that five unsolved murders share an eerie signature—torn pages from Persian poetry and undecipherable codes—she realizes the messages form a sequence, and she's the only one close to cracking them. Now hunted by those protecting a 75-year-old conspiracy rooted in the legendary Somerton Man case, Sara must decode the final message before she becomes victim number six.





A narrow shop on Glenelg's historic jetty road, where Persian manuscripts rest behind locked glass cases and the smell of old paper mingles with cardamom tea. Afternoon light filters through arabesque window screens, casting geometric shadows that shift like secrets across the wooden floor.

A cramped university office buried in the mathematics building's basement, lit by harsh fluorescent tubes that flicker during Adelaide's evening power surges. Whiteboards cover every wall, filled with partially erased code fragments and pattern diagrams that overlap like archaeological layers of obsession.
Sara's complete transformation from detached academic to guardian of truth, as she discovers the coded murder pattern, faces betrayal and mortal danger from the conspiracy, and ultimately honors the dead by exposing the 75-year-old Somerton Man secret.
Sara discovers the pattern connecting five coded murders, seeks help from Detective Marcus Webb and antiquities dealer Nadia Kasra, uncovers her mentor Dr. Elias Thorne's role in the conspiracy, and ultimately decodes the final message while surviving an assassination attempt—transforming from isolated academic into guardian of a deadly truth.
Sara discovers the pattern linking five coded murders and realizes she's the only one who can solve them, transforming her intellectual curiosity into a race for survival.

Nadia reveals her grandmother's connection to the 1948 Somerton Man case and unlocks the truth Sara needs, while Elias's betrayal forces Sara to choose between safety and integrity.

Sara, Marcus, and Nadia expose the conspiracy at Somerton Beach, survive the assassination attempt, and Sara transforms from puzzle-solver into guardian of truth.
