The Imperial Connection

This is the first in a trilogy. The next novel is Well Bred Connections and the third book, Hidden Connections. Recently retired Air Force Intel officer Mike Foley discovers the guy who took a bullet for him during the Gulf War may be a homeless guy living in a small desert town. He leaves Chicago to find him. After arriving he finds a local, and very beautiful woman, who aids the homeless. They locate "Homeless Rick." To their surprise, the next morning he's found drowned in one of the irrigation canals.

As the suspense rises so does the love affair between them. Mike and Andy start nosing around and find Rick got mixed up in a large Chinese Mafia smuggling operation working out of Mexicali, Mexico. They are chased over sand dunes, through mountains and into Orange County, staying just one step ahead of death while trying to unravel the mystery. Mike contacts his old buddies at the FBI and CIA and gets them involved. There's hi-tech warfare, mystery and suspense, a love affair and crooked politicians who are involved in a payoff scheme.

The Calif. Imperial Valley is where where there's sand dunes, desert, Border Patrol, a major Naval Base and two of California's largest prisons, all tucked together to make a perfect backdrop for this novel.