William Turnbull

The Scorpion of Empendwe William Turnbull

The four young men sent to reopen a deserted mine in Zambia know they can handle blistering heat, back-breaking labour, scorpions, and the grisly accidents that happen underground -- and they can play as hard as they work. But they have no inkling of the history of the mine, or the fact that its new owner, Anton Turr, an international mining speculator and Russian mafioso, is planning a horrific catastrophe in order to collect, with the collusion of an insurance executive, $100 million in insurance proceeds. After a beautiful young geologist, daughter of the volcanic Col. Paxton, Chief of National Security, joins the crew at the mine, evidence about the mine's past begins to appear, and there is a race against time as Turr manoeuvres to escape detection. His mining engineer, Stefan, is seconded to his island chateau, and then to Toronto, where he experiences corporate life at first hand, while at the same time, Wim van Dyk, the mine manager, who has fallen in love with Paxton's daughter, is implicated in the assassination of a minister in the corrupt regime. Van Dyk goes into hiding, but is recruited by Col. Paxton to investigate suspected money-laundering activities of relatives of the president, a trail which leads him to Canada. The regime is overthrown, but Paxton's daughter has died in the catastrophe, and protected by a web of corporate and governmental corruption, Turr has succeeded in his diabolical plan. Paxton's only recourse is direct action, and he and van Dyk carry out a commando exercise to exact revenge on Turr in his Cayman Islands chateau.