ABPA Author Event—April 2
Barnes & Noble Presents APBA Author Event
April 2, 2009: 7:00 pm, Shea and 90th St.
10500 N 90th St
Scottsdale, AZ 85258-4526
(480) 391-0048
Please join us to support the ABPA Marketing Committee’s promotional partnership with this Barnes & Noble bookstore. Our program values your support, which helps to ensure its success. Invite your friends and plan to join us for an entertaining and enlightening evening.
Author Event: with Sydney David Gould
About the Book: Hijack at Malacca
Fiction (novel) also offered as an e-book
A daring plan to improve life for all citizens requires Amari Okira, a Nigerian People’s Movement leader and Yvonne Bakuna, a French secret service agent to hide an oil tanker until the government agrees to their bargain.
French agent Yvonne Bakuna has spent a lifetime battling the scars of a beating and rape by tax collectors when she spent her summer vacationing at a family member’s farm in Nigeria when she was twelve years of age. She has vowed to hold the government accountable, and is eager to join forces with Amari Okira, who struggles to overthrow corrupt officials.
After one of his protest rallies erupts in violence, the two decide to have millions of barrels of pilfered crude oil hidden on barges shipped to China in exchange for arms. This contraband will become a bargaining chip to compel the Nigerian government to agree on improvements.
While Yvonne continues her “everyday” work in Paris she meets American businessman Jason Wells. He invites her to his home in Arizona while his wife, Ann, is visiting her mother. Yvonne convinces Jason to lease Canadian Lite, a tanker to her for shipping the Nigerian crude oil to Singapore.
The Grecian Queen, a tanker larger than the Empire State Building, is chartered from a Greek shipping magnate by Lukos Oil to deliver crude oil from Russia to China. They arrange to have that tanker reported missing in the Atlantic Ocean…a decoy that will divert attention from Canadian Lite, which is up-loading pilfered crude off the coast of Nigeria.
However, Jason’s greed causes him to betray Yvonne. He contacts a rogue in France, asking him to have Canadian Lite hijacked by a pirate group. When the tanker enters the Strait at Malacca, pirates board the vessel and a battle ensues. The Malaysian Coast Guard is alerted to the hijack attempt and defeats the pirates — but not before Yvonne, incensed at Jason’s betrayal, kills him with her Beretta pistol.
She is extradited from Paris to Jason’s home state of Arizona to stand trial for murder based on the tracking work of Detective Jim Martin. After a riveting trial where her French barrister keeps the jury and onlookers captivated, Yvonne is held in jail to await sentencing. Amari believes she will receive jail time and arranges for her escape, and with newly forged credentials they embark for Nigeria.
But the Nigerian government blames Amari for the loss of oil, and Yvonne’s supervisor at Le Service Intelligence Francais holds her responsible for tarnishing his agency’s reputation. Both are targeted for elimination by their respective governments.
At the Nigerian airport, Amari and Yvonne emerge from Customs and reach the doors leading to the street. A baggage handler approaches with a gun, shooting them both. Ambulance attendants at the scene place Amari and Yvonne onto gurneys and drive off, leaving their luggage at the curb.
News accounts of the double homicide are sparse. The Nigerian government and Le Service Intelligence Francais both decline to comment. But in fact, the baggage handler who shot them was a member of the People’s Movement, and was using a gun loaded with blanks. The ambulance crew was carefully placed, with instructions to leave behind luggage containing Yvonne’s and Amari’s actual identification papers. This plan was designed to change their lives.
Amari shares with Yvonne his frustration with the government and members of the People’s Movement, many of whom are stealing oil for personal gain. He intends to begin writing about Nigerian events and organizing young people to support humanitarian causes through non-violent means.
As their relationship becomes stronger, Yvonne accepts Amari’s marriage proposal and joins his new crusade.
Meanwhile, back in Arizona, Detective Jim Martin has been promoted to precinct captain as an acknowledgment of his work in finding Jason Wells’ murderer. His relationship with the widow, Ann, evolves into a stronger friendship.
Two years later, having questioned the validity of reports on Yvonne’s and Amari’s assassination, Jim locates them in Nigeria where they’re living with new identities. He confronts them, then learns about their humanitarian work. Jim acknowledges that as far as he is concerned, they are both officially declared dead, and returns to Arizona.
ISBN: 978-0-97980004-0-5 Retail Price: $17.95
About the Author
Retired NYC school principal, educational special education consultant for the state of New Mexico, author of many articles. Sydney is also the author of Stop Sending E-mail, My Boss Is Watching and the booklet Best E-Mail Practices.
2009
April 2, Sydney Gould
May 7, Alicja Mann (Tucson)
