Clive Cussler - Golden Buddha

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

DIRK PITT9 ADVENTURES BY CLIVE CUSSLER

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'.

GOLDEN BUDDHA

The Mediterranean Caper

FICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER WITH PAUL KEMPRECOS

Fire Ice

Blue Gold

Serpent

FICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER AND CRAIG DIRGO

Golden Buddha

NONFICTION BY CLIVE CUSSLER AND CRAIG DIRGO

The Sea Hunters II

The Sea Hunters

Dirk Pitt Revealed

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

i:

A Berkley Book Published by The Berkley Publishing Group

A division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014

This book is an original publication of The Berkley Publishing Group.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors'

imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business

establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2003 by Sandecker, RLLLP. "Foreword" by Clive Cussler copyright 2003 by Clive Cussler.

Cover art by Edwin Herder.

Cover design by Rich Hasselberger.

Text design by Julie Rogers.

All rights reserved.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means

without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only

authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of

copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors' rights is appreciated. BERKLEY and the "B" design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

First edition: October 2003 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cussler, Clive.

Golden Buddha / Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-425-19172-9

1. International relations--Fiction. 2. Petroleum reserves--Fiction. 3. Tibet (China)-- Fiction. 4. Ship captains--Fiction. I. Dirgo, Craig. II. Title.

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.

PS3553.U75G65 2003 813'.54-

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 987654321

2003052217

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

2 CLIVE CUSSLER

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

PRELUDE

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

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

4 CLIVE CUSSLER

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.