Recruited into a private military group under the sanction of the U.S. State Department and trained as a kidnap resolution specialist by the most elite military and intelligence experts in the world, Luke Canfield is taught to operate solo, a lone-wolf without any backup or support, making every mission a deadly challenge. His job; bring kidnapped victims home alive and kill all the bad guys.
Thrust into the most significant covert black operation ever conceived in the Western Hemisphere; his role is expanded from hunting human traffickers to fighting communist insurgents and making the private armies of cruel third world dictators disappear. When a close friend is murdered, Luke vows to make the killers atone, a pledge that may prove to be his last.
While the American publicâs attention is focused on Vietnam and Southeast Asia, another deadly war was taking place closer to home.
Recruited into a private military group under the sanction of the U.S. State Department and trained as a kidnap resolution specialist by the most elite military and intelligence experts in the world, Luke Canfield is taught to operate solo, a lone-wolf without any backup or support, making every mission a deadly challenge. His job; bring kidnapped victims home alive and kill all the bad guys.
Thrust into the most significant covert black operation ever conceived in the Western Hemisphere; his role is expanded from hunting human traffickers to fighting communist insurgents and making the private armies of cruel third world dictators disappear. When a close friend is murdered, Luke vows to make the killers atone, a pledge that may prove to be his last.
While the American publicâs attention is focused on Vietnam and Southeast Asia, another deadly war was taking place closer to home.
Prologue
Coconut Grove, Miami. July 1965
The black limousine entered the high walled compound through gates guarded by highly trained men equipped with holstered Colt 1911 pistols and Uzi sub-machine guns, and pulled under the mansions porte-cochere, allowing the passengers to exit the vehicle.
The four men were escorted into the spacious manor and down a wide hallway to a wood-paneled study, with walls lined with rare first-edition books. Hundreds of hardcover manuscripts covering science, literature, art, history, and volumes of encyclopedias detailing in-depth information on every country in the world. Once seated in comfortable Victorian era chairs, they waited patiently for the man they had come to call on.
All four gentlemen were highly placed advisors to the President, and it was on his orders that they had come to Miami.
 Wallace Throckmorton, a portly fifty-one-year-old man, not over 5â10â was in charge of the South/Central American and the Caribbean Basin division of the U.S. State Department.
Fred Patchoulis, 6â3â was fifty-three years of age and skinny as a beanpole, with eyes that never stopped moving, held the post of CIA station chief in Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Bannister Hollings, the oldest of the group, was sixty-one, 5â11â of solid build, but with a red nose that betrayed evidence of his fondness for distilled beverages, had been the CIA station chief in BogotĂĄ, Colombia for almost a decade.
General Mack Davidson, stiff and starched at 6â4â was the commander of U.S. Army Forces Southern Command (CINCSOUTH), which directed all U.S. military programs in Latin America with oversight of the Caribbean Basin.Â
In less than a minute, the door of the luxurious study opened, and Lucius McGee entered the room. A very fit and tanned, sixty-four years old, standing a straight and tall 6â1â was the proprietor and director of a private military group based in San Miguelito, Panama. He had held the rank of colonel in U.S. Military Intelligence until 1947 when he was asked to end his military career and resign his commission to join the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency. He then worked as a field operative throughout Europe and then later as the station chief in Buenos Aries, Argentina.
In 1964 he left the agency, recognizing the need for a deniable group to operate in South and Central America and the Caribbean, that could work outside the bounds of the U.S. Military, and thus not subject to international treaties and protocols. He began recruiting elite military and intelligence personnel from around the world to assist and train a force that could provide executive protection details for businessmen and government officials, gather intelligence on communist activities and train the armies of U.S. friendly third world countries in current weapons and military tactics.
He named his company, The Organization, and based it in Panama, but maintained the companyâs headquarters at his large estate in Miami.
All four visitors stood as Lucius stepped forward, hand extended. âHello, Wallace. I didnât know you were bringing reinforcements to our little soiree.â
âI didnât want to scare you off, Lucius. You know all the boys, donât you?â Wallace asked.
âWhy, yes. How are you, Fred?â Lucius asked, shaking the bony hand of Guatemalaâs agency head.
âIâm good, Lucius. But I would be even better if you could send me some proper help. The commies are getting stronger on the banana plantations.â
âWell, maybe I can help you. Long time no see, Bannister. Howâs it holding in Colombia?â
âNot well, Lucius. But weâll talk of that here shortly.â
âVery well, then,â Lucius remarked. âGood to see you, Mack. I told you Iâd buy you a steak the next time you were in Miami. Iâll make sure the chef prepares a nice thick one for you later.â
âThat would be great, Lucius. We didnât intend to put you out,â the general commented, âbut we know you lay out a pretty good spread here at your place.â
âHow about a little toddy to wet your whistle before we get down and dirty?â Lucius asked, and the words were no sooner off his tongue when the door opened, and a liveried waiter brought in a tray with five glasses and an unopened bottle of Dewarâs 12-year-old scotch whiskey.
âThat would be great, Lucius,â Wallace chimed in, smiling, âI see you saved back a bottle of the good stuff for us.â
âOnly the best for you boys, Lucius chuckled, as he poured a hefty measure in each glass and handed it around. When all had a tumbler of the golden liquor in hand, Lucius offered a toast, âTo good times and bad, my old friends, and better times ahead.â
âHere, here,â the men echoed their assent, as they all took seats, and sipped the rich blend.
âNow,â Lucius began, âwhat brings you scoundrels here to see me today?â
âLucius,â Wallace Throckmorton began, âwhen I called you yesterday to arrange this meet with you, we had all just left a high-level meeting with the president. We have some problems that are getting worse by the day in Latin America and the Caribbean, and we are hoping you can help us out.
âYou must have a good crystal ball because when you left the agency, I donât think any of us here could have guessed, or should I say, had the foresight to envision a need for a group like you are putting together.â
âWell, that sounds good to me, Wallace, but can you be more specific,â Lucius asked.
âIf I may, Wallace,â the general spoke up, âwe all go back a long way with Lucius. Letâs just throw our cards on the table face up.â
âYouâre right, Mack,â Wallace continued, âLucius, we asked the president for the use of the military to combat several different problems we are facing in our joint areas of operation, and he shut us down completely. The problems in Southeast Asia are taking all of his energy, and he doesnât want to go to Congress for authorization for what needs to be done, so he told us flat out, find another way that doesnât leave an American footprint. So, we are coming to you for help.â
âAlright. Tell me what you need, and weâll see if I can provide a fix for your problem.â Lucius said.
âFirst of all,â Fred Patchoulis spoke up, âThe commies are beginning to get a foothold in Guatemala and Honduras. The Cubans are sending in advisors with training from the Russkies, and small groups are spreading dissent among the peasant workers. We need someone to come in and make the troublemakers disappear quietly. Just cease to exist.â
âAnd on my turf,â Bannister Hollings cut in, âThe gangs in Colombia are starting to work with the resistance rebel army they are calling FARC. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the buggers are financing their arms purchases from⊠you guessed it, Cuba, by kidnapping for ransom every foreigner they can grab who they think has some money. The ransom demands started as chicken scratch, and the governments made the mistake of paying them thinking the problem would go away, but now they are starting to ask for some serious money, and itâs only going to get worse, Iâm afraid. I need you available to go find the hostages, rescue them, and put the kidnappers out of business permanently.â
âAnd if that wasnât enough,â the Assistant Secretary of State, Wallace Throckmorton continued, âin the Caribbean Basin weâve got a piracy problem that is about to make big headlines if something isnât done soon. Almost weekly yachts are disappearing, or in some cases, all the crew members are massacred on the boats, and the vessels are ransacked. If this news gets out, the tourists will stop coming into the region on vacation. Weâve got dozens of little island nations that depend on those tourist dollars. Weâre talking billions of dollars here. If that happens, the whole region will turn into a bunch of little Haitiâs.
âWeâve started to promote a backdoor theory about supernatural occurrences in the region we are labeling, The Bermuda Triangle, just to divert the attention of the public from what is really going on, but the jury is still out on how well thatâs going to go over.
âWe need you to rid those waters of that threat before it becomes an even bigger problem. Just make it go away without any fanfare.â
âI canât help you with anything on the books,â Mack said, âbut weâve got slush money from the CIA that is set aside for black operations, totally off the books and more importantly, off the radar of Congress. Theyâll never know, or care for that matter. I can get you anything you need, arms, logistics, air transport, you name it. Just not personnel, that you will have to supply. You name the price for your work, and weâll pay it, no questions asked.â
The room went silent for a minute as all eyes focused on Lucius McGee. Finally, he spoke, âI think I can solve all of your headaches, with the guarantee that I operate with full immunity from prosecution by any government, and that my people are not suppressed by any damn rules of engagement. If that can happen, I do believe I can solve all of your problems.
âNow, letâs go have dinner, and weâll work out the details of this program later with full stomachs and a snifter of good cognac.â
Late that evening, the five men hammered out a plan for the most extensive black operation ever devised in the Americas. Only a handful of people would ever be read in on the top-secret undertaking. The American publicâs attention was so focused on Vietnam and Southeast Asia that they never realized what was happening in their own backyard.
Most authors include at least some autobiographical element in their work. In The Redeemerâs Vow, third in the Redemption Wall series, Marcus Miller makes clear from the start that his wild tale of adventure, government missions and off-the-books drug-smuggling action is based loosely on his own experiences.Â
The story begins in South Florida, from which Luke Canfield, our protagonist, is dispatched on missions by a shadowy outfit known only as âThe Organizationâ. Run by Lucius McGee, this groupâs main objective is to find and recover kidnapped persons especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. Mr. Canfield is recruited, because he exhibits nearly unmatched skill in the field and when ânegotiatingâ surrender of hostages. The negotiations usually end in death for the abductors and all associated with them.
But Canfieldâs skills go beyond those sanctioned by known and secretive government entities. He also uses his boats, the Wayward and Wayward II, along with a knowledge of how to operate planes that he acquires later, to make lucrative drug runs between Columbia and the southern U.S. These two objectives, to find and save abducted people and deliver contraband, continue to mix and match in various well-described locations from Haiti to Cuba and the often dangerous waterways in between.Â
The stories are similar, and usually end in incredible violence with rigged explosives, âdustâ blown through straw that is capable of rendering one unresponsive, or very accurate gunfire. After Canfieldâs previous life experiences, detailed in the first 2 books but summarized in the initial 20 pages of The Redeemerâs Vow, he has very little belief in the ability of a criminal to be righted, and chooses therefore to cancel him as soon as the possibility presents itself. Each vignette is interesting, but they largely feel the same with only the names and places changing. It almost hast the feel, as one might suspect, of someone sitting at a table and relaying his crazy experiences to buddies over drinks.
I would recommend this story to anyone seeking a read that does not require much thinking, but which can take the mind on some amazing journeys. As mentioned, the violence is almost over the top, though at least usually justifiable, so one must also be ok with that element. If these terms are acceptable, then the reader will find 500 relatively readable pages that take them to a little-known world that, while having taken place mostly in the mid-70s, still feels alive and relevant.Â