William D. Hoy

Undying William D. Hoy

In the middle of the Sahara desert, Andre and his buddy Jing Xian are sitting astride their camels. Andre is staring out across the desolate desert. All he sees are sand dunes, dry lake beds, and miles of small brown rocks scattered all over the ground. These rocks must be a million years old he thinks. No wonder that is why the Arabs called the Sahara Bara bila maa, "ocean without water."
The first reverberating jump of Andre's chest catches the Grand Master off guard, almost knocking him off the wooden staircase. Quickly he recovers and continues to hold the hot branding iron in place against the young man's chest. Smoke from the searing flesh drifts slowly up into the ceiling of the ancient Chinese Shaolin temple.
Late one misty night at the General Hospital in San Francisco, Maji and Doshi secretly enters a patient's room. It's pitch dark except for the blinking lights on the life support machine. Andre lies motionless on the bed. Using the sonar traits of a bat he acquired from a Indian medicine man in North Dakota, the young man watches every move they make. He prepares to defend himself.