In the high desert above San Diego, on the U.S.-Mexico border, sits the tiny, forgotten town of Jacumba, CA, a place where ghosts of failed attempts to cross linger like the gray chill after a winter rain. Camouflaged against the rocks, a coyote name Wiley cautiously lingers near the Bridge of Sighs with six exhausted Mexican nationals. Time stands still for this small group as they breathlessly wait for a fast moving, teal green SUV to flash its lights three times just beyond the bridge. In an Indian casino seven miles away, Charlie and Denice DeVille live la vida loca as professional gamblers until they receive the call to GO! The hand-off from Wiley transpires flawlessly, and within minutes Charlie, Denice, and their six frightened passengers head north, navigating the gauntlet from San Diego to L.A. in a twenty-first century underground railroad, during a routine run they call the Jacumba Connection.
About the Author: I am the oldest of three brothers, raised in Southern California by awesome parents, now married over 50 years. As a youngster, I ran buck wild through the canyons and citrus groves of rural San Diego. I followed the Grateful Dead and the Mason Dixon Ramblers, my younger brothers' band who became The Uninvited -John and Steve, you rock! My father taught me to be a fabricator with a good work ethic, emphasizing that in this world, "Success comes to those who hustle wisely." He wore a belt with that statement engraved on the buckle. I used the knowledge he gave me to build the first giant inflatable product replicas with Robert Keith & Co. I helped design the patterning and production process. During that time I built all three "auto products" for the popular "Airplane" series of movies, the Killer whales for the Sea World billboards, and the first walk-in inflatable trade show booths for Sikorsky Air Craft and Bell Racing Helmets. As a young man, I was always moving: an old school hippie turned renegade. My demon king was methamphetamine. It followed me around like a bull puppy . It's my Kryptonite. It is the anti-life! I rebuke you, anti-life. I tumbled through life like a air of nine sided dice. I ave been a husband, father, a grandfather, a lover of nature, and sometimes an outlaw. I have been baptized twice and saw God once. She was standing next to me as we helped my son come into this world. I have a muse. Her name is Angelica. She came to me here in prison four years ago. She showed me how to kill the cannibal in my he'd that was eating me alive. she filled that empty dead space with words and story. She makes me laugh and cry at the same time as I put my hand to pen and paper. She once quoted Nietzsche in my ear: "Dave, he who has a why to live for, can bear almost any how." So now laughter is my medicine. Storytelling and writing are my genie in a bottle. That genie takes me out of this prison and everywhere I want to go. I found my Nirvana in being a wordsmith and writing novels.I revel in the faith of my editor, Stacy, who walks me through the process from the far away free world.