Gary Jennings' the 2012 Codex (Aztec)

In the arid canyonlands of Mexico the race is on for the ultimate end-of-the-world codex—the final 1000-year-old prophesy of the god-king, Quetzalcoatl, who ruled Mexico 1000 years ago. Rita Critchlow and Cooper Jones hunt for that sacred codex in those scorching desert canyons, while 500 years ago, Pacal, a young slave-scholar, sets out on the same deadly quest.  He too must find those apocalyptic writings, knowing that his era—the Age of the Aztecs—may well come to an end if he does not find them. 

For Pacal, the End-Time is at hand.  Montezuma has built a vast empire based in what will one day be Mexico City.  Now however he faces war, disastrous drought, death-cult priests, who rip the hearts out of thousands of people atop their pyramids . . . and the arrival of red-bearded horse-borne conquistador, bearing preternaturally powerful weapons and catastrophic plagues, sowing pandemic death wherever he goes.

America’s leaders are also staring into an apocalyptic abyss.  Their own time mirrors that of Quetzacoatl’s and the Aztec’s in shocking detail. Convinced that Quetzalcoatl’s codex holds the key to humanity’s survival—that he is warning them of a global, planet-killing threat—the two women battle broiling desert canyons and drug-cartel warlords to track it down and decipher it. 

Moreover, earlier glimpses of his prophesy foreshadow uncanny similarities to those of John’s Book of Revelation.  Are Quetzalcoatl’s and Revelation’s prophesies one and the same?  Can they crack the 2012 code and save their world from their deadly fate?  The countdown is on.