Rare Earth

Marc Royce stares out of the helicopter, a sense of foreboding
rising with the volcanic cloud. Below, the Rift Valley slashes across
Africa like a scar. Decades of conflicts, droughts, and natural
disasters have left their mark.
Dispatched to audit a relief organization, Royce is thrust into the
squalor and chaos of Kenyan refugee camps. But his true mission focuses
on the area’s reserves of once-obscure minerals now indispensable to
high-tech industries. These strategic elements–called rare earth–have
inflamed tensions on the world’s stage and stoked tribal rivalries. As
Royce prepares to report back to Washington, he seizes on a bold and
risky venture for restoring justice to this troubled land.