Finding Rafael

Professor Manny Vidal learns that his missing cousin Rafael is alive and in grave danger. He and black-op contractor Jack Case search for Rafael on the Caribbean island of Guarida, where Rafael fought with the Freedom Front before it was defeated.

Rafael and his pregnant wife hide on a deserted barrier island off the coast of Guarida and attempt to flee to the United States. The police murder his wife and newborn child and imprison Rafael. He becomes an unintended revolutionary when a newly-formed rebel group liberates him from Guarida’s most dreaded jail. Then the police capture him again and a drug cartel seizes him from the jail, demands a ransom, and secretly moves him through Guarida’s sordid underworld and the sleazy urban jungles of Caracas and Maracaibo.

The cartel kills Jack Case. Manny follows Rafael’s trail with an ex-Miss Venezuela, who is active in the political opposition. When they are finally reunited, both Manny and Rafael face life-altering decisions. A Florida shrink treats Rafael as he struggles to maintain his sanity. The CIA offers Manny a position in covert intelligence.