Book excerpt: An early-morning call to Rachel Echon, an analyst at Pacific Group, turns out to be the beginning of a harrowing six months in which she ends up in the middle of a high-stakes international financial battle. The publisher who called her turns out to be a member of the White Dragon Family, a group of wealthy Asians who are trying to recover some of the wealth they believe was stolen from them by the West. The Dragons have one of the two sets of maps that can help recover the famous Yamashita gold, and they seek Rachels help in bargaining for the other set, knowing that she is the widowed daughter-in-law of one of the most powerful bankers in America. She ends up traveling to the Philippines, where she meets the leading members of the Dragon Family, visits a recently opened Yamashita site, and reconnects with her fathers family. After nearly being killed in the ensuing intrigue, Rachel eventually ends up being rescued into the arms of her publisher and loverher White Spiritual Boy.