Author: | Ron Austin | ISBN: | 9780463219362 |
Publisher: | Ron Austin | Publication: | January 16, 2019 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition | Language: | English |
Author: | Ron Austin |
ISBN: | 9780463219362 |
Publisher: | Ron Austin |
Publication: | January 16, 2019 |
Imprint: | Smashwords Edition |
Language: | English |
In a race against time to find a treasure hidden deep in the Cambodian jungle, biologist Dr. Alan Grace is seeking wild agarwood to help save an ailing people from a devastating disease. Alan has to first survive the jungle hunt and find the precious wood before he must try to smuggle it past crooked cops, Big Pharma, and the CIA, all of whom are hell-bent on stopping him and stealing his treasure, along with all his secrets.
Exiled from his university and lured off his agarwood plantation, Alan must leave behind the safety of the lab and find new strength in the jungle and beyond, in order to prevail against his many adversaries. The wild agarwood treasure that Alan seeks comes from South Asian trees that yield an oil worth millions of dollars, and can be more dangerous than drugs or diamonds. Alan got hooked on agarwood as a child visiting a royal palace in a small country in the Arabian Gulf—where it is revered as oud and used in all types of fragrance and incense. Alan is the world's leading authority on agarwood and wrote the CITES chapter—the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species—to protect the old-growth forests. Now the village near his plantation desperately needs money, and his childhood sweetheart is dying from a Gulf War disease. She and many others need a wild-agarwood-oil cure to live. Alan has a huge dilemma: Will he stick to his plan to improve plantation-grown agarwood to match the quality of wild agarwood, protect his reputation, and follow the CITES rules, or will he hunt for a forbidden treasure and try to smuggle it through dangerous circumstances to those in desperate need?
In a race against time to find a treasure hidden deep in the Cambodian jungle, biologist Dr. Alan Grace is seeking wild agarwood to help save an ailing people from a devastating disease. Alan has to first survive the jungle hunt and find the precious wood before he must try to smuggle it past crooked cops, Big Pharma, and the CIA, all of whom are hell-bent on stopping him and stealing his treasure, along with all his secrets.
Exiled from his university and lured off his agarwood plantation, Alan must leave behind the safety of the lab and find new strength in the jungle and beyond, in order to prevail against his many adversaries. The wild agarwood treasure that Alan seeks comes from South Asian trees that yield an oil worth millions of dollars, and can be more dangerous than drugs or diamonds. Alan got hooked on agarwood as a child visiting a royal palace in a small country in the Arabian Gulf—where it is revered as oud and used in all types of fragrance and incense. Alan is the world's leading authority on agarwood and wrote the CITES chapter—the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species—to protect the old-growth forests. Now the village near his plantation desperately needs money, and his childhood sweetheart is dying from a Gulf War disease. She and many others need a wild-agarwood-oil cure to live. Alan has a huge dilemma: Will he stick to his plan to improve plantation-grown agarwood to match the quality of wild agarwood, protect his reputation, and follow the CITES rules, or will he hunt for a forbidden treasure and try to smuggle it through dangerous circumstances to those in desperate need?