GOLDEN
BUDDHA
CLIVE
CUSSLER
AND CRAIG DIRGO
BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK
Dear Readers,
A few years ago, while I was writing Flood Tide, I realized that Dirk Pitt needed some help on a particular assignment, and so I dreamed up Juan Cabrillo.
Cabrillo ran a ship called the Oregon, on the outside completely nondescript, but on the inside packed with state-of-the-art intelligence-gathering equipment. It was a completely private enterprise, available for any government agency that could afford it. It went where no warship could go, transported secret cargo without suspicion, plucked data out of the air—it was the perfect complement to NUMA.
In fact, I had so much fun writing about the Oregon and its rakish, one-legged chief that I was sorry to see it sail off when its task was done. I promised myself I’d find a way to bring them back some day—and here, I am pleased to say, they are. Golden Buddha is the first in a new series about Juan Cabrillo’s merry men (and women!), and I hope you get as much of a kick reading about them as I did creating them.
And who knows, maybe some time they’ll cross paths with Dirk Pitt again….
Clive Cussler
“A NEW CLIVE CUSSLER NOVEL IS LIKE A VISIT FROM YOUR BEST FRIEND.”
—Tom Clancy
The New York Post called him “just about the best storyteller in the business.” Now, Clive Cussler, creator of the bestselling NUMA ® and Dirk Pitt® series, presents his latest and most-intriguing high-seas action hero: the enigmatic captain of the Oregon, Juan Cabrillo.
Only Cabrillo could convert the interior of a nondescript lumber hauler into a state-of-the-art spy ship—and only he could take the helm on the dangerous covert missions it carries out for whichever U.S. agency pays the price.
In this first feature-length adventure, Cabrillo and his crew of expert intelligence and naval men must put Tibet back in the hands of the Dalai Lama by striking a deal with the Russians and the Chinese. His gambling chip is a Golden Buddha containing records of vast oil reserves in the disputed land.
But first, he’ll have to locate—and steal—the all-important artifact. And there are certain people who would do anything in their power to see him fail….
“Readers will burn up the pages following the blazing action and daring exploits of these men and women and their amazing machines.”—Publishers Weekly
PRAISE FOR
CLIVE CUSSLER
“Just about the best storyteller in the business.”
—New York Post
“Nobody does it better than Clive Cussler. NOBODY.”
—Stephen Coonts
“PURE ENTERTAINMENT…as reliable as Pitt’s trusty Colt .45.”
—People
“PURE CUSSLER, PURE FUN. The action just keeps accelerating.”
—The San Francisco Examiner
PRAISE FOR
CLIVE CUSSLER’S NUMA ® SERIES
“MARVELOUS…simply terrific fun.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“YOU CAN’T GET MUCH MORE SATISFYING.”
—The Cleveland Plain Dealer
“Cussler and Kemprecos weave A GREAT STORY.”
—Tulsa World
“Audacious and WILDLY ENTERTAINING.”
—New York Daily News
PRAISE FOR
CLIVE CUSSLER’S
DIRK PITT ® SERIES
“[A] NONSTOP THRILLER…CUSSLER SPEEDS AND TWISTS through the complex plot and hairbreadth escapes [with] the intensity and suspense of a NASCAR race.”
—Publishers Weekly
“CLIVE CUSSLER…IS AT TOP FORM HERE.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“A DELIGHTFUL PAGE-TURNER that is almost impossible to put down.”
—The San Francisco Examiner
“THE FUNNEST DIRK PITT ADVENTURE SINCE RAISE THE TITANIC! ”
—Rocky Mountain News
DIRK PITT® ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER
Trojan Odyssey
Valhalla Rising
Atlantis Found
Flood Tide
Shock Wave
Inca Gold
Sahara
Dragon
Treasure
Cyclops
Deep Six
Pacific Vortex
Night Probe
Vixen 03
Raise the Titanic!
Iceberg
The Mediterranean Caper
FICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER WITH PAUL KEMPRECOS
White Death
Fire Ice
Blue Gold
Serpent
FICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER AND CRAIG DIRGO
Sacred Stone
Golden Buddha
NONFICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER AND CRAIG DIRGO
The Sea Hunters II
The Sea Hunters
Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt Revealed
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
GOLDEN BUDDHA
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with
Sandecker, RLLLP
PRINTING HISTORY
Berkley trade paperback edition / October 2003
Berkley international edition / October 2004
Copyright © 2003 by Sandecker, RLLLP.
“Foreword” by Clive Cussler copyright © 2003 by Clive Cussler.
Cover art by Edwin Herder.
Cover design by Rich Hasselberger.
Interior text design by Julie Rogers.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
ISBN: 1-4295-2768-4
BERKLEY ®
Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY and the “B” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
For my brothers
Larry, Steve, Cliff and John,
and my sister, Dawn,
who never let a busy day
get in the way of a good nap.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
CAST OF CHARACTERS
PRELUDE
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPT
ER 37
CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
EPILOGUE
FOREWORD
Just so you know, this is not a Dirk Pitt adventure, nor a NUMA Files–Kurt Austin story. This book is based on the old tramp cargo ship Oregon that I described in the Pitt tale titled Flood Tide.
Beneath her derelict superstructure and rusty hull, Oregon is a mechanical marvel of technology and scientific genius. She is crewed by a group of highly educated and intelligent mercenaries who function under the myriad umbrellas of a far-flung corporate conglomerate. They contract with governments, corporations and private interests around the world to fight corruption and challenge the sinister threats of rogue villains in the exotic ports of the seven seas.
Craig Dirgo and I worked together to create an entirely new series of adventures with a cast of characters unlike any ever seen before.
I sincerely hope you will find it an enjoyable departure as well as a fun read.
Clive Cussler
GOLDEN
BUDDHA
CAST OF CHARACTERS
THE CORPORATION TEAM
JUAN CABRILLO: Chairman of the Corporation
MAX HANLEY:President of the Corporation
RICHARD TRUITT: Vice President of Operations for the Corporation
THE CREW
(in alphabetic order)
GEORGE ADAMS: Helicopter Pilot/Operative
RICK BARRETT: Assistant Chef/Operative
MONICA CRABTREE: Supply and Logistics Coordinator/Operative
CARL GANNON: General Operations/Operative
CHUCK “TINY” GUNDERSON: Chief Pilot/Operative
MICHAEL HALPERT: Finance and Accounting/Operative
CLIFF HORNSBY: General Operations/Operative
JULIA HUXLEY: Medical Officer/Operative
PETE JONES: General Operations/Operative
HALI KASIM: Communications Expert/Operative
LARRY KING: Sniper/Operative
FRANKLIN LINCOLN: General Operations/Operative
BOB MEADOWS: General Operations/Operative
MARK MURPHY: Weapons Specialist/Operative
KEVIN NIXON: Magic Shop Specialist/Operative
SAM PRYOR: Propulsion Engineer/Operative
GUNTHER REINHOLT: Propulsion Engineer/Operative
TOM REYES: General Operations/Operative
LINDA ROSS: Security and Surveillance/Operative
EDDIE SENG: Director of Shore Operations/Operative
ERIC STONE: Control Room Operations/Operative
THE OTHERS
THE DALAI LAMA: Spiritual Leader of Tibet
HU JINTAO: President of China
LANGSTON OVERHOLT IV: CIA Officer who hires the Corporation to free Tibet
LEGCHOG ZHUREN: Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region
SUNG RHEE: Chief Inspector of the Macau Police
LING PO: Detective with the Macau Police
STANLEY HO: Macau billionaire and buyer of the Golden Buddha
MARCUS FRIDAY: U.S. software billionaire who agrees to buy stolen Buddha
WINSTON SPENSER: Crooked art dealer who attempts to steal the Golden Buddha
MICHAEL TALBOT: San Francisco art dealer who works for Friday
PRELUDE
MARCH 31, 1959
THE flowers surrounding the summer palace of Norbulingka were closed but ready to bloom. The parklike setting of the complex was beautiful. High stone walls surrounded it, within the walls were trees and lush gardens, and in the center was a smaller yellow wall, through which only the Dalai Lama, his advisors and a few select monks passed. Here were tranquil pools, the home of the Dalai Lama and a temple for prayer.
It was a sea of order and substance centered in a country in chaos.
Not far away, perched on the side of a hill, was the imposing winter palace of Potala. The massive structure seemed to step down the hillside. Potala contained over one thousand rooms, was populated by hundreds of monks and dated from centuries before. There was an imposing orderliness to the building. Stone steps led from the mid levels of the seven-story palace in an orderly zigzag downward and then stopped at a gigantic block stone wall that formed the base of the behemoth. The precisely laid stones rose nearly eighty feet into the air.
At the base was a flat stretch of land where tens of thousands of Tibetans were assembled. The people, as well as another large group at Norbulingka, had come to protect their spiritual leader. Unlike the hated Chinese who occupied their country, the peasants carried not rifles but knives and bows. Instead of artillery, they had only flesh, bone and spirit. They were outgunned, but to protect their leader they would have gladly laid down their lives.
Their sacrifice would require but one word from the Dalai Lama.
INSIDE the yellow wall, the Dalai Lama was praying at the shrine to Mahakala, his personal protector. The Chinese had offered to take him to their headquarters for his protection, but he knew that was not their true motive. It was the Chinese from whom he needed protection, and the letter the Dalai Lama had just received from Ngabo Ngawang Jigme, the governor of Chamdo, held a truer picture. After a discussion with General Tan, the Chinese military officer in command of the region, Jigme was certain the Chinese were planning to begin shelling the crowds to disperse them.
Once that happened, the loss of life would be horrific.
Raising from his knees, the Dalai Lama walked over to a table and rang a bell. Almost instantly the door opened and the head of the Kusun Depon, the Dalai Lama’s personal bodyguards, appeared. Through the open door he could see several Sing Gha warriors. The monastic policemen lent a terrifying presence. Each was over six feet tall, wore a fearsome mustache, and was dressed in a black padded suit that made them appear even larger and more invincible.
Several Dogkhyi, the fierce Tibetan mastiff guard dogs, stood on their haunches at attention.
“Please summon the oracle,” the Dalai Lama said quietly.
FROM his house in Lhasa, Langston Overholt III was monitoring the deteriorating conditions. He stood alongside the radio operator as the man adjusted the dial.
“Situation critical, over.”
The radio operator turned the dial to reduce the static.
“Believe red rooster will enter the henhouse, over.”
The operator watched the gauges carefully.
“Need immediate positive support, over.”
Again a lag as the operator adjusted the dial.
“I recommend eagles and camels, over.”
The man stood mute as the radio warbled and the green gauges returned to a series of wavelike motions. The words were out in the ether now; the rest was out of their control. Overholt wanted airplanes—and he wanted them now.
THE oracle, Dorje Drakden, was deep in a trance. The setting sun came through the small window high on the wall of the temple and cast a path of light that ended at an incense holder. The wisps of smoke danced on the beam of light and a strange, almost cinnamon smell filled the air. The Dalai Lama sat cross-legged on a pillow against a wall a few feet from Drakden, who was hunched over, knees down, with his forehead on the wood floor. Suddenly, in a deep voice, the oracle spoke.
“Leave tonight! Go.”
Then, still with his eyes closed, still in a trance, he rose, walked over to a table and stopped exactly one foot away. Then he reached down, picked up a quill pen, dipped it in ink and drew a detailed map on a sheet of paper before collapsing to the ground.
The Dalai Lama rushed to the oracle’s side, lifted his head and patted his cheek. Slowly, the man began to awaken. After sliding a pillow under his head, the Dalai Lama rose and poured a cup of water from an earthenware pitcher. Carrying the cup back to the oracle, he placed it under his lips.
“Sip, Dorje,” he said quietly.
Slowly, the older
man recovered and pulled himself to a seated position. As soon as the Dalai Lama was sure the oracle was on the mend, he walked over to the table and stared at the ink drawing.
It was a detailed map showing his escape route from Lhasa to the Indian border.
OVERHOLT had been born into his career. At least one Overholt had served in every war the United States had fought since the Revolutionary War. His grandfather had been a spy in the Civil War, his father during World War I, and Langston the third had served in the OSS in World War II before switching to the CIA when it’d been formed in 1947. Overholt was now thirty-three, with a fifteen-year history of espionage.
In all that time, Overholt had never seen a situation quite this ominous. This was not a king or a queen in peril, not a pontiff or dictator. This was the head of a religion. A man who was a God-king, a deity, a leader that traced his lineage back to A.D. 1351. If something did not happen quickly, the communist scourge would soon be taking him prisoner. Then the human chess match would be over.
IN Mandalay, Burma, Overholt’s message was received and forwarded to Saigon where it was transferred to Manila, then over a secure underwater cable to Long Beach, California, then on to Washington, D.C.
As the situation in Tibet continued to deteriorate, the CIA started to assemble a force in Burma. The group was not large enough to defeat the Chinese, just large enough to slow them down until more heavily armed ground troops could be brought to bear.
Disguised as a front company named Himalayan Air Services, the armada consisted of fourteen C-47s: ten that could drop supplies and four that had just been converted to first-generation gunships. This force was augmented with six F-86 fighters and a lone, fresh-off-the-assembly-line Boeing B-52 heavy bomber.
ALAN Dulles sat in the Oval Office, puffing on his pipe and pointing out the situation to President Eisenhower. Then the CIA director sat back and let the president think for a moment. Several minutes passed in silence.
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