Gunung Jerai Industries Sdn. Bhd.

Level 3, Amoda Building, No. 22 Jalan Imbi

Kuala Lumpur

Dear Mr. Chua:

It was a pleasure meeting with you in Miami earlier this week. I hope that you (and the Hevea seeds) had a safe flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

As you requested, I am putting into writing the tragic events that attended the securing of these seeds.

On August 4 of this year, having acquired the thousand blight-resistant Hevea brasiliensis seeds which we had contracted for (plus another two hundred as backup in case of spoilage), my companions, Theodore and Franklin Molina, and I were attacked without provocation by Chayacuro Indians as we returned to the boat that we had left on the Amazon for the return journey to Iquitos. The first sign of them was when Theo was struck in the neck by a poisoned blowgun dart. A second dart hit my backpack.

We immediately fled toward the boat, which we believed to be some two miles farther on. For several hundred yards we hacked our way through the jungle with the Indians in pursuit some distance behind. When Theo was no longer able to run, or even walk, Frank and I carried him between us for a few hundred feet more, until it became inescapably apparent that he was dead. With our own strength failing and the Indians closing in, we had no choice but to leave him and continue our own escape.

A few minutes later, Frank was also hit by a dart, and at once showed signs of hysteria. I was unable to stop him from running wildly off through the jungle in what I was sure was the wrong direction. Nevertheless, I ran after him, catching up to him only when he stumbled and fell. At this point, one of the Indians suddenly appeared, brandishing his blowgun. I managed to shoot him just as he was about to release another dart.

By this time, Frank was completely paralyzed, able only to move his eyes. Apparently his frantic activity had hastened the circulation of the poison. He died in my arms.