TEMPLE DOGS

Duncan (Dragons at the Gate) returns to his multinationals in the Far East and unrolls another bolt of velvet intrigue. William Corbett is a temple dog, or guardian, for ESK, a conglomerate with worldwide holdings now having problems fighting nationalization of its South Korean holdings. If the company gives in to Korean blackmail, which is heavy, then the other Asian nations will follow suit with threats of nationalization. But something is terribly wrong. As Corbett digs into the Korean mess, he finds himself being attacked by a Senate committee in Washington for an alleged (not true!) sale of Korean-US leftover war materiel to an African nation. Then he's involved in a murder: a Korean colonel is shot to death almost in his arms during a midnight meet in a Tokyo cemetery. Slowly, he's being set up as a patsy by ESK. He's to be the fall guy for a paramilitary operation that will shore up ESK's shaky condition. There's no place to run--not on this globe--where ESK (it's bigger than governments) can't turn him in, dead or alive. Blood on the pagoda--and richly shaded melodrama.