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America's Crown Jewels

by Virgil C. Odom

269 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1680; ISBN 1-4120-1302-X; US$24.00, C$29.00, EUR18.85, £13.06

A Vietnam veteran, his age decreased 30 years due to genetic experimentation, battles political corruption and terrorism with the help of former FBI and CIA agents in this espionage thriller.

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about the book      about the author      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book This story begins in a veteran's hospital with three Vietnam veterans who are confined to a mental ward after being used as guinea pigs by doctors without credentials. With the help of a beautiful FBI undercover agent and their old war time buddies, they demolish the mental ward of the hospital and escape, taking two doctors and a nurse as hostages and heading for a small town in Georgia. After discovering a few million dollars in the doctor's Cadillac, the old veteran known as 'V.C.' has one priority - to steal the money and complete the construction of the Golden Pig nightclub on the outskirts of Fargo, Georgia. The federal government also has a priority and it is to find old V.C. or the senior citizens home that he'd promised to build with a 2 million dollar government grant. V.C. has to keep one step ahead of the law and two steps ahead of the doctor's terrorist friends who want the money the veterans had taken from the doctor's Cadillac. The deadly toxins implanted in his body while in the mental ward begin to cause V.C. to lose consciousness and he is rushed to a top secret lab in Ohio, which is operated by the FBI. The doctors in this top secret lab have no knowledge of how to treat old V.C.'s illness and after 20 minutes of deliberation they agree to use a special medical technique on V.C. that had only been used on animals. After 3 weeks of treatment of in FBI secret laboratory V.C. makes a miraculous recovery and is told never to reveal to the outside world what had happened in the lab: the doctors had unwittingly regressed his body 30 years. He now has a new face, new body and a new outlook on life, but with one minor flaw. He has no memory of the present, on the memory he had as a 30-year-old hard drinking, woman-crazy sailor. He is offered a job with the CIA and his first assignment is in the Philippines, to rescue an Army Special Operations Major that terrorists were holding for a five million-dollar ransom. Upon his arrival in the Philippines, he learns that the small town of Olangapo is crawling with secret agents. All they need is a leader. During his search of brothels and watering holes, agent Odom meets a Chinese woman by the name of Suzie who owns and operates a jewelery store with her evil cousin Oliver. Agent Odom falls in love with Suzie instantly and when her evil cousin Oliver flies to Hong Kong on a business trip, Agent Odom tells Suzie of his love for her. To his dismay he learns that this could never be; Suzie is in love with the Special Ops. Major that her evil cousin Oliver is holding in a warehouse behind the jewelery store. Suzie cries on agent Odom's shoulder and tells him about the Major having a wife back in the United States that he didn't love and asked his advice on the situation. Secret Agent Odom has been trained by the military and is a specialist in the field of adultery and home-wrecking and knew instantly how to solve a problem of this nature. He would agree to kill the Special Operations Major's wife when he returned to the United States if Suzie would release the Major to him before her evil cousin Oliver returned from Hong Kong. Suzie agreed and agent Odom had her and the Special Operations Major flown to the United States. When Secret Agent Odom returns to the United States to honor the agreement he'd made with Suzie, he finds a complex situation awaiting him.

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About the Author Virgil was born in 1936 in MS and lived on sharecropper farms until the age of 14, when his parents managed to buy their own farm. At the age of 18 he left the farm and travelled to Houston, Texas and enlisted in the Navy. Virgil knew he'd found a new home and after four years he re-enlisted and attended Naval Engineering school at Great Lakes, IL. After completion of the engineering school he was assigned duty in the Philippines for 3 years. After a 'quick' one-year tour of Kodiak, Alaska, he was transferred and had duty on several navy destroyers and guided missile destroyers. Virgil did a tour of duty in Vietnam with the River Patrol Force and upon his return to the States he attended Navy Mine Warfare School. Then it was back to Vietnam on an Ocean Going Minesweeper (MSO). After approximately 2 years abour this ship he was transferred to shore duty in Mayport Florida and retired as Chief Engineman. Virgil finally unpacked his 'sea-bag' and went to Fargo, GA, settling down and doing carpetry work. Virgil's hobbies include woodwork and reading Tom Clancy novels.

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Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents

...The President said, "you're what we call a true American, Mr. Odom; I know that a man of your integrity and dedication could never have stolen all that money and blown up a veterans hospital."...

...I could smell her warm clean body as she stood near me; my eyes sent a message to my brain asking, "what would it be like making love to someone this beautiful?"...

...The Coroner asked, "are these the two worthless bastards who made the mistake of making your daughter mad?" "That's right, Lester," I replied. "How can she hit them right between their damn eyeballs with that 9mm?"...

...I said, "you're telling you're going to try something on me that has only been used on damn rats!" "It's your last hope unless you want to die in 24 hours," the doctor said...

...The small boats blocking the harbor sank as the old rusty Naval Destroyer plowed through them; all except one. An ugly protester stood up and fired a rocket-propelled grenade and missed. "Viper, those bastards already know you're coming - that was meant for you!" Nomad yelled...

...I took my shirt off and threw it on the bed. Angelina said, "don't move Viper!" I heard a shot and closed my eyes and thought 'Viper, you really screwed up this time'. Angelina came over to the bed and moved the pillow and said, "this is what you were going to sleep with." I saw a 6-foot snake with its head blown off...

...Shirley said, "you're not the Daddy I dreamed about if you're killing people!" I said, "honey, this is a one time deal with the CIA. I'm going to retire after I return to Georgia and kill the major's wife."...

..."The American has your cigarettes," Suzie told the guard. The guard said, "give me the cigarettes you stupid American!" I pulled the 9mm from beneath the dirty blanket and fired three times into the face of the man who had called me a stupid American. The three shots ripped his nose and most of his chin off...

...The Coroner arrived in his Limousine with a blonde on his arm that turned heads in the crowd. I'm sitting there thinking, "how in the world can that beautiful woman hold a hand that's been playing in blood and guts all day?"...

...Elizabeth screamed and said "you didn't dig up a body and bring it home did you Daddy?" I said, "call the Coroner and tell him I'm bringing his wife back home."...

...Old Marcy gave me a toothless smile and asked, "are you still as tough as you were when you were in the Navy?" "No, Marcy," I replied, "I'm trying to live right and quit stealing money." She embraced me and said, "you haven't aged a day since I last saw you thirty years ago!"...

...The old man said, "Virgil, those lying bastards downtown told me you'd built a whorehouse down yonder and I went by there yesterday and saw a real nice children's hospital." I said, "never trust anyone downtown old man; always check things out for yourself, then you can tell those bastards downtown to kiss your butt."...

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Catalogue Information

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