Undying

Andre Roberson, a young graduate of the University of California at Berkley, sits in an old, dilapidated fur trapper’s cabin in the Black Hills of South Dakota nervously awaiting an old Indian medicine man. Andre is eternally curious about the mysteries of life and seeks spiritual teaching from the spiritual leader. Reaching the limit to his spiritual understanding, Andre next heads for an unknown Shaolin monastery in Southern China for further teaching.
Andre winds up at a Shaolin monastery on the bank of the mystic Li River, several miles from the city of Yangshuo snuggled amongst the limestone mountains in Southern China. Arriving in Yangshuo, he meets a young Chinese orphan boy who will brighten his heart and the hearts of everyone who meets him. As Andre settles into the monastery, he also befriends a monk about his age named Jing Xian. Andre has trained exceptionally hard and learned Kung Fu with particular emphases on the mental part of the art, which earns him the commendation of the monastery’s grand master. Together, Andre and Jing Xian experience numerous events and challenges inside and outside the walls of the monastery.
A year later, the two young men travel to San Francisco to visit Andre’s rich father. They soon learn that Mr. Roberson has arranged for the three of them to join a camel caravan riding across the Moroccan desert. The travel group has many adventures, including maneuvering through the old streets and markets in the mysterious city of Marrakesh. Although the camel journey is supposed to be an exciting but safe trip, mysterious things began to happen before they even set off into the desert.
Learning to ride a desert dromedary for a week is extremely important to the inexperience rider, especially when crossing the Sahara’s giant sand dunes and the bleak dry lakes. When the guide gives a class in handling the camels, one of the riders, a Pakistani woman, panics and chooses not to ride the camel. Andre and Jing Xian think this is odd: why would she spend all that money and never ride a camel? The riders set off, stopping several times along the way to visit the old castles and Kasbahs of the desert. The eccentric Pakistani woman and her husband, decked out in upscale clothing and flaunting expensive shoes (something you don’t see on a camel ride) show contempt for the other riders and provoke a fight with Mr. Roberson the very first night. Mr. Roberson a bear of a man who doesn’t understand these bizarre people. What secrets is the Pakistani husband hiding when he has a late night meeting with a mysterious stranger out on the dune?
After several days, the caravan makes a planned short stop at an old, weather-worn Kasbah nestled among the giant sand dunes outside the city. It’s a warm, clear day, but suddenly all hell breaks loose as a wall falls down, killing Mr. Roberson and wounding Andre. Was this really an accident? Why do the police take so long to arrive at the Kasbah? Why do they not thoroughly inspect the crime scene? Was there a pay off? It looks like murder.
Jing Xian takes Andre back to the monastery, where Grand Master Shibo waits for them. He will perform a spiritually demanding ritual on Andre, in which he will entice the spirit world to come forth. He calls on the ancient green dragon, and Andre is healed.
Some time later, Andre and Jing Xian return to San Francisco, where they begin working with Stacey, Mr. Roberson’s personal secretary, to solve his murder. Stacey is already working with a columnist of a tabloid newspaper to set up a sting and draw the murderer toward them. With false information, the sting is set up at General Hospital. A mysterious, unscheduled plane flight around a menacing typhoon in the South Pacific keeps the murderers guessing. Aboard the jet, Andre and Jing Xian make plans to trap the murderers and Andre focuses on his spiritual technique of inflicting catastrophic pain. When the murderers fall into the trap, the motive for the murder and the man behind it are revealed.