Heir of the Gate. Heir of the Gate, #1

When Dr. Lin Saeed succeeds in opening humanity's first stargate, she discovers what lies beyond isn't empty space - it's an ancient network of twenty sites scattered across the globe, some contact points, others thresholds meant to stay sealed forever. Between a desperate rescue mission through the Ural Mountains to save a dying former adversary, and a confrontation with a secretive foundation seeking to control a power that has forgotten how to tell friend from foe, Lin finds herself heir to a family legacy she never knew existed, and guardian of a secret that could reshape humanity's fate.
A journey stretching from Algeria to the South Pole, where something has slept in anger for millennia - waiting only for someone bold enough to wake it.