College lecturer Len Stamford suffered a personal tragedy when his son disappeared on a day out. His son was never found and the subsequent strain eventually led to his divorce from wife Tina. Five years on, Stamford mentions the anniversary in his regular column in a local newspaper. Returning home for the college holiday, he is surprised to find a note left on his doorstep. This directs him to a mysterious Wiltshire village, where he is told he will be able to find out why his son disappeared. Suspicious at first, Stamford finds it hard to locate the village in his atlas. Eventually intrigued by the possibility of finding out something about his son, he rents a flat for the week and heads off to the village.

Once there, he finds a Neolithic stone circle and sets about investigating it. Walking around the area he finds remnants of a once-great monument. He also stumbles across a strange abandoned site and ignores warnings not to enter. Almost immediately confronted by guards, who smash his camera and push him around, the lecturer is warned not to return. Researching the word on their vehicle, he finds some rumours on the Internet about a covert government agency. Interested in finding out more, he monitors the activities of the guards. Eventually finding that they come to the stone circle each night, Stamford copies their actions and finds he is able to view events that have happened in history. Viewing a series of dreadful disasters makes him fearful about using the process again. Wondering how the circle can be used to view specific events, he stumbles across an ancient poem that is supposed to reveal the secret of the circle. Unfortunately, more knowledge is required before the poem can be used.

His own detailed work at the circle shows some surprising mathematical relationships. The discovery of the agency's main base and an invisible straight line of energy running from the base to the circle, leads the lecturer to break in. Finding that most of the operations were underground, he eventually manages to target one of his viewing sessions at the subterranean centre. He finds a military operation involved in a variety of tasks. Ultimately discovering the circle's secret, he is able to undertake viewing sessions wherever he pleases, simply by marking one stone and touching another.

Stamford wonders why the agency is so interested in the village church. He is also surprised at how unfriendly the locals are, and how they seem to protect the agency. Events start to happen which make Stamford increasingly paranoid. The lecturer is eventually driven away by the agency and its activities, but not before he performs one last viewing session to find out what happened to his son. It's then just a matter of leaving the village to break the news of the agency and its apparently illegal funding arrangements. Unfortunately, the journey home does not quite go as he intended.

Matthew will be pleased to hear from any potential publishers

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