The American

A rare and volatile element has been discovered on the grounds of a monastery in China. Its existence could shift the balance of power on a global scale. And Kelly Morrison has accidentally wound up with knowledge of it that could save the world. Or get her killed.

Feeling like a failure at both work and life, Kelly Morrison has decided to shake things up with a six-week retreat at a castle-turned-monastery in Yunnan, China. It sounded like a good idea at the time. But four weeks in she still feels lost and has begun ditching the classes in favor of sneaking around, exploring the ancient halls. That's how, one night, she wanders into the wrong room at the wrong time and sees an illegal, international arms deal and witnesses two murders. Kelly runs out the door with Li, the now-orphaned ten-year-old son of one of the murder victims, with assassin-monks hot on their heels. They get to her best friend and childhood pen-pal, Qing, for help, and Qing takes them to a friend of his, an Australian tour guide named Durango. Unfortunately, Durango is both hot... and giving Kelly red-flag vibes. Why is this man risking his life to help them, when he doesn't even know them? Why is he so interested in the strange, little box Li took from the monastery? And why is he so good at killing people?

But their pursuers are getting closer, and they're out of options. Kelly is going to have to trust the hunky, mysterious Aussie and brave the journey. She's also going to have to quickly figure out how to trust her own instincts-at least enough to keep them all alive.