Riddle of the Five Buddhas

Book excerpt: Leaving an abusive father, eighteen-year old Christie marries Marine pilot Kenneth Doran just before his Vietnam assignment. There he joins a plot to steal U.S. Embassy money. As the war ends, Kens plane crashes. Injured and suffering from amnesia, he is befriended by northern Thai Hmong villagers. Concurrently, senior Vietnamese officials illegally transfer millions of state-owned funds to Swiss banks. The secret numbers are concealed in five Buddha statuettes to enable them to claim funds later. Working in a San Francisco gift shop, Christie accidentally acquires several Buddhas. An American journalist and the CIA, tracing the stolen money, pursue Christie. Discovery of Kens survival takes Christie to Thailand and involvement in searching for the hidden money and gold.