Someone is killed or maimed by an anti-personnel landmine every twenty-two minutes. One-third of the world's countries are littered with landmines, and the U.S. State Department estimates that 60 to 75 million landmines remain unexploded worldwide. According to experts, it may take 300 years for all remaining munitions to be removed from Vietnam alone. The Avaricious is a Howard Watson Intrigue dealing with the greedy element who stockpile and sell leftover landmines to countries bracing for war.