Bandits are a serious problem on the Mekong River from China down stream through Laos. Raiding made it dangerous to operate businesses along the river and as far inland as the holdings of the British Timber Company. BTC had been hit repeatedly between 1969 and 1972 when it became imperative to call on Jason Harte.
Jason crash landed in Vietnam and escaped to Laos where his life took a sudden and unexpected turn. A clandestine golfer who represented himself to Jason as an Admiral suggested, or perhaps ordered, Jason to remain in Laos to undertake a special mission in support of ‘friends.’
While awaiting orders, Jason believed he could fulfill his dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Full of hubris and youthful desire, he disregarded warnings against buying riverboats with which to compete against some of the most ruthless men in Southeast Asia. In an earlier volume of the Jason Harte Series, he was crushed and his business was destroyed. And yet, much diminished, he rises to commit a raid against a gun smuggler’s warehouse and deliver weapons to Chinese dissidents who were in rebellion against Mao’s Red Army in southern China. Perhaps the Admiral was behind the raid.
Far beyond any probable American policy position, he and the Admiral went further. Jason was asked, perhaps ordered, to establish a base in northern Laos from which the rebels could be supplied. A remote area of approximately ten square miles would suffice, if the Admiral could be believed. Jason trusted the man. Getting the land would require more than trust. Warlords in northern Laos are extremely protective of their poppy fields. They controlled that area with the secretive support of the Royal Laotian government.
Bandits capture the beautiful daughter of Kublam, most powerful of the warlords. With her they also take her lover, the son of a warlord who is Kublam’s worst enemy. Jason battles the bandits in the jungles of Burma where he frees her and returns her to Kublam. In return, he is allowed to negotiate with Kublam for a valley that is in Laos but adjacent to the China border.
Engaging bandits in behalf of BTC and river pirates in behalf of a rubber plantation owner, Jason is then faced with another attack from his competitors who resent his reemergence as a successful riverboat operator.
Just at the wrong moment the Admiral telescopes the time frame and requires immediate shipments of arms to the Chinese rebels. In the process of that attempt, Jason is forced into a confrontation with a Red Army convoy that is heading toward the valley. He finds safety at the warlord’s fortress where he negotiates a concession that brings the feuding warlords together. As a parting gesture, Jason dupes the warlord into confronting the remains of the Red Army convoy.
Jason crash landed in Vietnam and escaped to Laos where his life took a sudden and unexpected turn. A clandestine golfer who represented himself to Jason as an Admiral suggested, or perhaps ordered, Jason to remain in Laos to undertake a special mission in support of ‘friends.’
While awaiting orders, Jason believed he could fulfill his dream of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Full of hubris and youthful desire, he disregarded warnings against buying riverboats with which to compete against some of the most ruthless men in Southeast Asia. In an earlier volume of the Jason Harte Series, he was crushed and his business was destroyed. And yet, much diminished, he rises to commit a raid against a gun smuggler’s warehouse and deliver weapons to Chinese dissidents who were in rebellion against Mao’s Red Army in southern China. Perhaps the Admiral was behind the raid.
Far beyond any probable American policy position, he and the Admiral went further. Jason was asked, perhaps ordered, to establish a base in northern Laos from which the rebels could be supplied. A remote area of approximately ten square miles would suffice, if the Admiral could be believed. Jason trusted the man. Getting the land would require more than trust. Warlords in northern Laos are extremely protective of their poppy fields. They controlled that area with the secretive support of the Royal Laotian government.
Bandits capture the beautiful daughter of Kublam, most powerful of the warlords. With her they also take her lover, the son of a warlord who is Kublam’s worst enemy. Jason battles the bandits in the jungles of Burma where he frees her and returns her to Kublam. In return, he is allowed to negotiate with Kublam for a valley that is in Laos but adjacent to the China border.
Engaging bandits in behalf of BTC and river pirates in behalf of a rubber plantation owner, Jason is then faced with another attack from his competitors who resent his reemergence as a successful riverboat operator.
Just at the wrong moment the Admiral telescopes the time frame and requires immediate shipments of arms to the Chinese rebels. In the process of that attempt, Jason is forced into a confrontation with a Red Army convoy that is heading toward the valley. He finds safety at the warlord’s fortress where he negotiates a concession that brings the feuding warlords together. As a parting gesture, Jason dupes the warlord into confronting the remains of the Red Army convoy.
