The Book
The Secret Empress
The nightmares were always the same, always rousing him from a sound sleep with a shock. The sound of gunfire, the screams, and the sensation of holding the lifeless body of the twelve-year old boy he couldn’t save – even in sleep the memories were as vivid as the reality thirty-five years ago.
Joe Wilder turned his back on that secret life, focusing on turning a reputation as a savvy, wining body builder – six times Mr. Olympia and seven times Mr. Universe – into a billion-dollar international health and fitness conglomerate. With the exception of the bad dreams, he had thought that old life had been relegated to ancient history. But sometimes, when you least expect it, life can surprise you.
Joe Wilder had come to the Chinese Import/Export Fair to renegotiate contracts with his suppliers and the Deputy Minister of Trade. In consideration of the new contracts, the Deputy Minister asked Joe for a small favor. He was asked to help a young Chinese boy, Charley, get to America. But within twelve hours of signing the new contracts, the Deputy Minister of Trade was murdered.
In an instant, Joe became both a murder suspect and the guardian of a twelve year old boy with a secret. Suddenly, he needed all those old nearly forgotten skills and training just stay alive. The oldest and most powerful criminal gang in China, the Bai Lang – the White Wolf – desperately wanted to kidnap or kill Charley. And Joe Wilder was their only lead.
Hunted by every drug dealer, thug and petty criminal who owed allegiance to the Bai Lang, with control of more than half of China’s economy at stake, Joe had four days to get Charley to safety.
