Fleeing the Past . Christopher LaGrone
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ENDORSEMENTS
THE DELTA TANGO TRILOGY is an in-depth journey of one man as he threads his way through personal problems and the challenge of his harrowing career as a U. S. Border Patrol Agent. His life of trials and sorrows rivals any fiction story today.
–Clive Cussler, New York Times bestselling author of the Dirk Pitt series
ESSENTIAL AND GRIPPING. Delta Tango Trilogy is a heartbreakingly honest tale of the lives that intersect and are forever changed along our bleak and dangerous southern border. This is an important set of novels, not to be missed or forgotten.
–Margaret Coel, New York Times bestselling author of Winter’s Child.
DELTA TANGO TRILOGY
The DELTA TANGO TRILOGY by Christopher LaGrone follows Layne Sheppard from the day he applies to join the U.S. Border Patrol through the rigors of the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (known as the Border Patrol Academy) and his alternating exhilaration, anxiety, and drudgery as a field trainee, to the often harrowing moments of shift work on the U.S.-Mexico border. Along the way he deals with his own insecurities, a serious drinking problem, the internal politics of Douglas Station in extreme southeast Arizona (where he’s assigned) and, for him, the unimaginable: Falling in love with a beautiful girl who was brought over the border as an infant—one of those illegals known as a Dreamer. Through Layne’s experiences, life in the U.S. Border Patrol comes alive in ways few Americans can even imagine.
In Book One—Fleeing the Past—Layne strives to prove, to himself and others, that his failures of the past are in the past. As he seeks self-respect and self-confidence, he endures the boot camp-like ordeal of the Border Patrol Academy in sweltering New Mexico—punishing long-distance runs and debilitating hand-to-hand combat. During precious free time he meets Felina Camarena Rivera. Both keep personal secrets and pursue plans for escaping them—plans they also keep to themselves, even as their attraction for each other deepens.
In Book Two—Felina’s Spell—Layne struggles to overcome the politics of the BP’s Douglas Station and advance from trainee to regular agent status—to succeed. As he rides with seasoned veterans, Layne gets a first-hand look at the challenges border agents face on a daily and nightly basis and learns realities that agents either accept begrudgingly or surrender to. Felina’s clever plan to become Layne’s wife seems headed for success, despite Layne’s serious drinking problem, when Felina’s brother is charged with DUI and deported.
In Book Three—Moments of Truth—Layne realizes the inevitable loneliness and fear of patrolling the border without a partner, and pressure from management mounts. While experiencing many “agent adventures,” he faces several moments of truth, both personal and professional, among them dealing with secrets Felina has held. She, too, must come to grips with tough choices; can she rely on Layne? They undertake an audacious gamble, and their futures, individually and together, hang in the balance.
THE DELTA TANGO TRILOGY
BOOK ONE
Fleeing the Past
THE DELTA TANGO TRILOGY
BOOK ONE
FLEEING
THE
Past
A Layne Sheppard Novel
CHRISTOPHER
LAGRONE
NEW YORK
LONDON • NASHVILLE • MELBOURNE • VANCOUVER
Fleeing the Past
The Delta Tango Trilogy - Book One / A Layne Sheppard Novel
© 2021 Christopher LaGrone
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Published in New York, New York, by Morgan James Publishing. Morgan James is a trademark of Morgan James, LLC. www.MorganJamesPublishing.com
ISBN 9781631950773 paperback
ISBN 9781631950780 eBook
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020933921
Cover and Interior Design by:
Chris Treccani
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IN MEMORIAM
The unexpected phone call from Nancy came in mid-December 2018.
“Denny, I have terrible news,” she said. “Chris died.”
And that’s how the completion of The Delta Tango Trilogy began.
I had gotten to know Nancy as the person in charge of author events at the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Colorado Boulevard in Denver. Over several years she hosted me each time I had a new book, and we collaborated on several Colorado Authors’ League events.
One day, I think it was in 2016, she asked if I would be willing to look at a manuscript written by a young guy who wanted very much to be an author; he needed a professional critique of what he had written.
Sure, I said. I enjoy working with aspiring writers.
Chris LaGrone (the brother of Nancy’s sister-in-law, I later learned) was then in his late thirties. He had been an agent in the U.S. Border Patrol for a time and had written a novel based on his experiences.
I read it and was impressed with the quality of his writing and the content of his story. But I told him, “No publisher will ever publish this, Chris, because it’s too linear. It’s just your character’s experiences getting into and going through the Border Patrol Academy, being a field trainee, and then becoming an actual agent.” I thought it provided insights the public didn’t have, but to make a compelling book it needed more.
“Novels,” I told him, “have subplots—twists and turns that make the overall story more complex, and thus, more interesting.”
I gave him an example: “You’re writing about someone whose job is to catch illegal aliens trying to sneak into the United States. Why not have him fall in love with an illegal? That would complicate matters!” I suggested that he read Helen Thorpe’s wonderful book Just Like Us to learn what a so-called “Dreamer” faces living in America without legal status.
I also told Chris his main character, Layne Sheppard, needed to have a personal issue to overcome—a demon to conquer. I left it to him to decide what that would be.
Chris proved to be the most coachable writer I’ve ever worked with. He came back to me some time later with a rewritten manuscript that contained love, conflict, and a demon for the main character. Again, I read it. And again, I was impressed. But again, I