The Byzantine Cipher

Constantinople, 968 AD. The most heavily fortified city on earth. The most sophisticated surveillance state in history. And one German spy with forty days to steal its deadliest weapon.

Lukas von Mainz arrives at the court of Emperor Nikephoros II as part of a diplomatic embassy - officially seeking a Byzantine princess for the German heir. Unofficially, he's been ordered to steal the deployment mechanism for Greek Fire, the incendiary weapon that makes the Byzantine navy invincible.

But Constantinople is not a city that gives up its secrets. Palace eunuchs monitor every whisper. Norse mercenaries guard every corridor. The Empress Theophano - beautiful, lethal, and already plotting her husband's assassination - knows exactly what Lukas really is. She has secrets of her own to trade. At a price.

When a young deacon in the embassy turns traitor and a dying chemist offers to sell everything, Lukas finds himself running two operations, dodging three intelligence services, and making promises to a woman who will soon be responsible for the murder of an emperor.

The heist goes wrong. The body count rises. And the only way out of the most surveilled city in the world is through the one person Lukas cannot afford to trust.

In Constantinople, every corridor leads to a dead end - or a knife. Trust no one. Steal everything. Get out alive.

The Byzantine Cipher is the second book in The Lukas Von Mainz Thrillers. Each book is a standalone historical thriller - no need to read them in order.

For fans of Conn Iggulden, Robert Harris, and Bernard Cornwell.