‘Underground Manager,’ he said. There was a long silence and he could hear the man breathing on the other end.
‘Speak, man, what is it?’
‘The whole bloody thing has come down,’ said the voice. It was husky, rough with fear and dust.
‘Where are you speaking from?’ Rod asked.
‘They’re still in there,’ said the voice. ‘They’re screaming in there. Under the rock. They’re screaming.’
Nothing drives men to danger like gold . . .
Rod Ironsides is an honest man and expert manager of the successful Sonder Ditch gold mine and its hard-worked miners. But honesty and expertise count for little when faced with desperate bosses and a crew who’ll break every rule to get their own illegal share of the precious metal. Under the command of the obsessive, meticulous Dr Steyner, Rod is forced into greater and greater risks. For if the mine goes down and takes the lives of the men with it, someone stands to make millions – but Rod will be the one who pays.
Wilbur Smith was born in Central Africa in 1933. He became a full-time writer in 1964 following the success of When the Lion Feeds, and has since published over fifty global bestsellers, including the Courtney Series, the Ballantyne Series, the Egyptian Series, the Hector Cross Series and many successful standalone novels, all meticulously researched on his numerous expeditions worldwide. An international phenomenon, his readership built up over fifty-five years of writing, establishing him as one of the most successful and impressive brand authors in the world.
The establishment of the Wilbur & Niso Smith Foundation in 2015 cemented Wilbur’s passion for empowering writers, promoting literacy and advancing adventure writing as a genre. The foundation’s flagship programme is the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize.
Wilbur Smith passed away peacefully at home in 2021 with his wife, Niso, by his side, leaving behind him a rich treasure trove of novels and stories that will delight readers for years to come.
