|
Author's Note
The U.S.- Mexican border area is a strange place, not quite the United States and not quite Mexico. English and Spanish intermingle and a society exists containing elements from both sides of the border. Some would say the synthesis contains the best of both societies. Others would say it contains the worst. Both would be correct.
But that is just the border area. "The border," however, is a line that divides two very different countries. The reader should understand that Mexicans and Americans have fundamentally different views of that border and what it signifies. Without going into historical detail, it is most easily said that Mexicans believe they were robbed of vast territory north of what has become the border. So, when a Mexican crosses the U.S. border illegally he has no sense that he is doing anything wrong; he believes he is simply overcoming an inconvenient impediment that does not belong there.
The U.S. Border Patrol has existed since 1924 to correct that notion. They have not been notably successful in recent decades in doing so - the presence of 20 million or more illegal aliens in the U.S. testifies to that sad fact. That is not the fault of the Border Patrol - it is largely because of ambiguous feelings on the part of Americans about whether the border matters or not. As a result, until about 2004, the Border Patrol was perennially resource-poor and undermanned by a factor of ten to what it needed.
Historians say that the Mexican War ended in 1848. They are wrong - the last shots have not yet been fired.
In 2003, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Border Patrol was placed within the Department of Homeland Security, where it became part of Customs and Border Protection. Before then it had been a part of the Department of Justice, and before even that, at the time of its founding, a part of the Department of Labor.
|
|
Tracks in the Sand - A Tale of the Border Patrol
Marcos Ayala is a Juarez businessman.His business is drugs and whores, and like any other entrepreneur, he has problems to deal with. One of them is the U.S. Border Patrol. To get his loads across the border he must constantly find ways to thwart their vigilance. Another is keeping his women in line, a never-ending nuisance, and he has a new girl who is more trouble than most.
Luz Ortega was just a young country girl. But now she finds herself a captive, sold into a Juarez whorehouse and apparently doomed to the life. Even if she escapes she can never go home again.Is death the only way out? Or does Rafael Salinas offer hope?
Rafael Salinas is a retired alien smuggler. He made his money, then, when drugs came onto the scene and the business turned violent, he retired. Now he has been forced back into the business - his granddaughter was kidnapped to compel his performance. He does it, but he vows vengeance.
Tom "The Real" Diehl has been around the block a few times while wearing the Border Patrol's gold badge. He's seen it all in El Paso; there aren't many surprises left. Or so he thought, until he and his rookie partner follow tracks in the sand to catch a group of smuggled aliens.It seemed like any other trail - until he thinks later about how they acted. Then it makes no sense. Something new is going on and they've to figure out what it is.
Ken Travis' biggest problem since he graduated from the Academy is getting Tom Diehl to talk to him. Then, suddenly, violence strikes and the real learning process begins. There are guns and drugs and very bad men out there, men willing to kill. How he handles the job can mean life or death, and he'd better get it right because the price for getting it wrong is paid in blood.
It all comes together in the end, but like life,
not how you expect.
I hope you'll enjoy the book as much as I liked writing it. It didn't all happen just this way, but it could have.
|
|
