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The Preserve

Steve Anderson
Chapters (56)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Half-Title Page
  3. Title Page
  4. Copyright Page
  5. AUTHOR’S NOTE
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  54. EPILOGUE
  55. AFTERWORD
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Front Cover

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Half-Title Page

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OTHER NOVELS BY STEVE ANDERSON

The Losing Role (Kaspar Brothers #1)

Liberated: A Novel of Germany, 1945 (Kaspar Brothers #2)

Lost Kin: A Novel (Kaspar Brothers #3)

Under False Flags: A Novel

The Other Oregon: A Thriller

Rain Down: A Crime Novella

Title Page

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Copyright Page

Copyright © 2019 by Steve Anderson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

First Edition

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Skyhorse Publishing books may be purchased in bulk at special discounts for sales promotion, corporate gifts, fund-raising, or educational purposes. Special editions can also be created to specifications. For details, contact the Special Sales Department, Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018 or [email protected].

Skyhorse® and Skyhorse Publishing® are registered trademarks of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.®, a Delaware corporation.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019945270

Jacket design by Erin Seaward-Hiatt

Jacket photograph: iStockphoto

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4209-3

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-4210-9

Printed in the United States of America.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Before and during World War II, the Imperial Japanese conquered and subjugated Asia without mercy. They also plundered it. It is said that the Japanese military even enlisted yakuza gangsters to help move vast stocks of gold and riches to occupied islands such as the Philippines, where the spoils were stored in secret caverns.

After the bloody and chaotic Pacific War, US General Douglas MacArthur reigned as Supreme Commander of all Asia from his exalted HQ in Tokyo. “Never before in the history of the United States had such enormous and absolute power been placed in the hands of a single individual,” said William Sebald, the postwar ambassador to Japan.

MacArthur would also inherit that secret mother lode of plundered fortune.

This is where our story begins.

The gambit was now set. The generalissimo and soon other cunning operators would maneuver to exploit the undisclosed spoils for their clandestine special projects, using dogma and deceit, the flag and anti-Communism as their sharply honed instruments.

And in 1948, with MacArthur at peak strength and popularity, it was also the perfect opportunity for certain powerful interests back home, from America’s castles of industry and finance and inevitably Washington, DC, to co-opt the whole enterprise for a devious plot. If successful, the bold move would block the march of progress and restore their ambitions of greatness, profit, and total authority once and for all.

To prevail, all they needed was a desperate fall guy.

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