The Abyssinian Cache

Book excerpt: It's 1941 and the last days of the war in Italian-occupied Ethiopia. A small Italian arms convoy is destroyed in an air attack and its sole survivor, Major Umberto Mancino, stumbles across a load of gold bullions hidden in one of the lorries. He seizes this once-in-a-lifetime windfall and hides the fortune in hopes of cashing in, once the war is over. Fates collide, and he gets orders for a covert operation: hiding two beautiful Bugatti automobiles brought to the Horn of Africa on Mussolini's instructions. Not allowed to fall into enemy British hands, the clock is ticking, and absolutely no witnesses to the hideout will be tolerated. The task is achieved with the help of Captain Silvio Falone but ends in bloody horror and the two officers in British prison camps. Some 30 years later, their hidden fortune beckons them back to Ethiopia. The ensuing recovery is daring and full of suspense. New and revised version.