Rogue Emperor

It was a clear spring day just a hundred years after the birth of Christ when Jerry Pierce wandered into the Roman Colosseum to spend a quiet afternoon watching gladiators fight to the death. Sixty men had been killed already not including the 15 condemned criminals executed at lunchtime when an explosion rocked the arena. <P>Bodies flew from the broad terrace just above the arena where the emperor had been presiding over the event. Shrapnel sliced through an enormous awning that shaded the seats and a cloud of oily black smoke rose above the crowd. It was clear to Pierce--a traveler from the 21st century--that the explosion had probably been caused by an antitank missile. <P>Emperor Domitian was dead and Pierce was ordered to investigate the assassination for the Agency of Intertemporal Development--an assignment that would pit him against the best of Rome's gladiators.