The Emperor Dies

Emperor Haile Selassie, Elect of God, King of Kings, is found dead outside of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.

This was eight months after his death had been officially announced.

Mengitsu Haile Mariam, unofficial head of the revolution, needs to silence any witnesses who know about the body.

The only obstacle left is one British man who knows the truth, but Mengitsu has reason to believe he died in the desert.

Three months prior...

Selassie’s vast wealth needs to be kept out of the hands of the revolutionaries, and Sir Charles Cromer holds most of it in his bank, under specific instructions from Selassie.

An Ethiopian agent meets with Cromer, and hints at the possibility of finding new instructions from the Emperor concerning his wealth, and its handing over to the Ethiopian government. The implication could only mean one thing.

Emperor Selassie is still alive.

With the realisation that the influx of Selassie’s gold into the world would devastate the world’s gold markets, Cromer draws up a plan of action.

He will kidnap the Emperor, and keep the gold in Britain.

Cromer hires his old friend Michael Rourke a number of his SAS friends to fly to Ethiopia, and bring Selassie back to Britain.

With a payment of £100,000 each, the men see this as an opportunity to turn their lives around.

Impersonating bank clerks, they must play along with the façade of meeting Salssie, now placed under house arrest by the revolutionaries. Under the pretence of presenting him with formal papers that will release his gold to the government that has imprisoned him, they will take Selassie and smuggle him out of the country.

Their only hope is to quietly take out anyone in their way, and get to a vehicle before reinforcements arrive.

Will Rourke be able to save the Emperor from the revolutionaries?

Or will the desert sands become their graves?

John Man is a bestselling historian and traveller specializing in Central Asia (in particular Mongolia). Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection is a best-seller in 21 languages. His other books include Attila the Hun, Kublai Khan, The Terracotta Army, The Great Wall. In 2014, Xanad was published in the US as Marco Polo, to accompany the Netflix TV series.

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