The Flight of the Grasshopper

1865. China’s Ambassador, Shao Ling makes a secret treaty with the Tsar of Russia to buy vast tracts of land for China’s expansion North. Hearing of a plot to steal his only copy, Shao hides it in the back of a small painting and races for home. He is murdered on the way and the painting with its precious papers disappears. 138 years later the painting surfaces in a small museum in Santa Barbara, California. The Chinese will kill to get it back. The Russians will kill to stop them, and the CIA … Well! When Scott Fleming is asked for help and discovers what is at stake he must make a hard decision. Should he destroy the painting … or return it to China and risk the start of World War III.