As Sloan and the new VDAP team uncover alarming evidence—Mauna Loa and Kilauea’s massive magma chambers are connected, charging, and ready to erupt—a secretive experimental deep-earth drilling operation for volcanic gold threatens to derail their desperate race against time. They must convince a skeptical world of the unprecedented VEI potential of a joint eruption while finding a way to shield the Hawaiian people from an impending catastrophe.