In 1964, I embarked on a journey that was to be my life's adventure.  I hired on as a pilot for Air America and its clandestine operations in Southeast Asia.      Flying for the CIA's secret airline was a dream come true.  Air America's operations were unknown.  Its schedules were irregular.  Its pilots were shadow people.  It was the world of spooks, covert air ops and adventure.  I had already been a pilot for more than half of my life when I left my home in Detroit for the wild escapades that awaited me in Southeast Asia.  Air America had been the pinnacle of my life and, had the trajectory remained steady, my world and my career should have gone onward and upward from that point.      The intent of telling my story is to take the reader on an historical journey of a little-known place in time through my own personal account.  Within the context of history, my narrative is not to be considered anything but my own experience.     The ranks of Air America were comprised of a host of patriotic professionals who deserve a place of honor in the annals of history.  However, many colorful characters wore the Air America wings, and inside the course of my narrative, the reader will be subjected to people and situations that cannot be filed neatly under anything resembling normal sanity.      Most names, except those of a known or high-ranking or public nature, and those I wish to recognize for heroic performances, have been changed to protect the innocent and guilty alike.

    

    The legwork is done for you. The chapter-by-chapter guides incorporate research-based, high-order reading, writing and thinking activities. (This is NOT the paperback novel.)

    

    The Apache Indians were apt to bolt from the reservation at any time and murders were commonplace. Every man went armed and bad whiskey was common, as was over-indulgence; in New Mexico, fights that might have involved fists in other times and places involved guns, and often enough the fight left one or more dead by the time it was over. Corruption was the norm. The Santa Fe Ring, an alliance of crooked lawyers, politicians, and land speculators, controlled the courts. Cattle theft, ‘rustling’, was for many a way of life. But it was a way of life that threatened the survival of the honest ranchers and herdsmen of the time. It was little wonder that the rustler often ended his life at the end of a rope! Liam Clancy, Irish immigrant and recently-discharged veteran of the Union Army, had lost his young wife and unborn child to cholera. Grieving, he sold his homestead and headed west. More by accident than design, he ended up in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory. Crooked sheriffs and corrupt politicians, beware! This is as far as he will go. He will fight to protect himself, his property, and the young woman he intends to make his bride!

    Miller, former Deputy US Marshal turned bounty hunter—she doesn't backwater to any man. Fiona Mae and her partner, Deputy US Marshal Brushy Bill Roberts are on a suspense filled encounter peppered with old west Indian mysticism, shapeshifters, Spanish gold, and outlaws on the scout in Blue Water Woman. In a country and lifestyle normally reserved for men, Fiona Miller is a special breed of woman. She's rattlesnake fast, an expert shot…with either hand…can ride anything with hair on it and doesn't tolerate injustice or rudeness anywhere or from anyone. Who is she after now? Who is the Blue Water Woman?