Best seafaring companions, Bjorn and Porter, are in bitter conflict. Youthful, ambitious, and naïve, they watch lascars hoist chests on their ship Agilis. Each box says Patna Opium. It is 1854 Calcutta. Porter can use the profits in China to own the vessel, but the officials ban opium and behead smugglers. Bjorn despises the venture. He lost a fellow miner to the opium dens in San Francisco.

Will the Sino Navy capture them, and can they deliver and keep their heads? Are Bjorn and Porter still friends? This exciting novel set of southeast Asia holds your attention to the surprising conclusion.