After 9/11, Meagan Wagner thought she could find security by returning to the tranquility of Arizona. She was wrong. Instead, she witnesses tragic human suffering and discovers the horrors of smuggling and dying immigrants in the parched desert. When innocent people are killed, she knows something has to be done. But will she risk her career and her integrity to expose the truth?
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The Huachuca Mountains majestically rise to almost 10,000 feet in southeastern Arizona. Sometimes the western sky resembles a fiery furnace and other times stars dangle from the onyx night like glittering jewelry. Blood red sunsets coat the evening sky and then slowly pull back their hot curtain to reveal a butter yellow full moon, suspended by an invisible force. Ghosts of conquistadors and cattle barons, real cowboys and Indians, soldiers and miners, and outlaws and priests litter the mountains and flatlands. Legends and myths ramble though the canyons. But something more menacing also travels through the Huachuca Mountains. Bumping up against the U.S. border with Mexico, there are strangers in the night. Some crossing the border carrying drugs into the country. But mostly there are men, known as Coyotes, leading the poorest of the poor to the promised land. At least that's what the illegal immigrants are told. Instead, if they don't die in the desert, they will take the most menial jobs at the lowest pay. They have nothing else to lose Cochise County was at the center of a continuously unfolding disaster and controversy. Like a tinderbox, it didn't take much to spark dissent, but more importantly, fear. It was this fear that threatened Meagan Wagner's peaceful life. She'd returned to her home looking for harmony after the horrible death and destruction she witnessed on 9/11 in Washington, D.C. When threatened, Meagan felt led to use her position as a journalist to tell the stories of death in the desert. Weaving recurring themes of death, tragedy, and local heroism into feature articles, she implies that these were senseless deaths, perpetuated on the residents of Cochise County by the lawlessness of illegal immigrants. She paints a picture of grief, fear, and outrage. The loss to family, friends, and community is a huge cross to bear, Meagan had written. It would leave a scar on the landscape of Cochise County. Only after being tricked by a friend and taken across the border, does Meagan begin to question her integrity. And she begins to wonder if her own compassionate nature has vanished. Trying to discover the facts, Meagan must decide whether she will risk everything, including her life, to uncover the truth.
Excerpt
Excerpt
There were nine of them - three other women, four men, and one child. They did not exchange names. Instead, the coyote whispered harshly for them to hurry.
Furtively, Alejandra stood. Heavy muttering and frantic orders sifted through the dust. Other groups scampered through the desert terrain as well.
“Come,” their guide hissed and scurried into the dark without a backward glance. They silently followed, putting distance between themselves and the border.
Suddenly, thin rays of flashlights flickered and bobbed in the darkness all around them. Alejandra realized their group wasn’t the only one crossing the border. This kind of foolish behavior would expose them to the Border Patrol’s relentless surveillance. They had been warned. Hunted and tracked like animals, their only chance of evading capture was to follow the coyote’s directions.
Unexpectedly, an intense blinding light shot through the blackness from above. Grotesque shadows danced and pranced through the darkness as sand whipped by a hovering helicopter stung Alejandra’s skin. She could not help but breathe in the swirling dust and debris. She coughed as she tried to draw a breath and stumbled as the dirt lashed out and blinded her. The helicopter’s thundering vibrations roared in her ears and shook the earth. Her heart thudded in her chest as if it would jump out her throat.
“Faster,” the coyote growled, gesturing for them to follow. They stumbled into a small clump of mesquite trees and crawled behind a tall stand of buffalo grass. The coyote used broken branches to sweep away their footprints.
Peering nervously through the trees, Alejandra watched as four-wheel drive vehicles crashed through the night, bucking over ruts and crevices like wild horses frantically trying to throw their riders. Spotlights caught other groups in their glare. Voices shouted from the darkness. Alejandra held her breath, as if that might prevent their group from being discovered.
She shifted her weight and a sinewy hand grabbed her arm. “Do not move.” Alejandra froze at the strength and hidden threat in the coyote’s guttural voice. She was beyond fear.
As Border Patrol agents swarmed like a hive of angry bees, the man silently motioned for the group to follow him. Their guide had warned them about the various methods the Border Patrol used, assuring them if they followed his directions without question, he would lead them safely to their destination.
They zigzagged in no particular pattern but Alejandra didn’t care. The lights, vehicles, and angry voices began to fade.
“Now we must run,” the coyote directed.
Professional Reviews
Lighthouse Literary Reviews
Meagan Wagner, an award-winning journalist, has settled back in the safety of Cochise County, Arizona. She has fled back to her roots in order for her to start healing from the devastation and fear that crept into her life after September 11, 2001. Living in Washington D.C. at that time, Meagan should have been covering the hysteria and chaos that surrounded the hours and days following the attacks on New York and Washington. Instead, she was glued to the television like the rest of the country. She was experiencing failure when she should have been taking pictures and writing about the experience.
Back in Arizona, she has settled into her life out on the ranch with her Uncle Billy, the closest thing to a father that she has in her life. Billy, a recovering alcoholic, has managed to turn his life around after years of drifting and drinking. Now Billy has won the lottery and lives comfortably on the ranch. One thing he had the good sense to spend his money on. The other constant in his life is his niece, Meagan, who has always shown him unconditional love even when most of her love life was dry like the desert that she lived in.
The quiet Arizona area that she lived in was quickly becoming the gateway for illegal immigrants from Mexico entering the United States. The area was becoming a little dangerous as the drug runners and coyotes (or paid guides) that brought the Mexicans became greedy and wanted more and more money to do these deeds. As more and more illegal Mexicans turn up dead in the desert from dehydration, the area becomes a tinderbox waiting for a spark. That spark comes and the fire of hatred and bigotry runs rampant throughout the county. Meagan is unintentionally fanning the flames with her stories. With the help of Uncle Billy and her friends, Meagan finally sees that the fear she has is running her life.
Wow, this book is really a lesson in fear and how it can run your life without you knowing it. Francine Biere tells a very touching story, it brought tears to my eyes a couple of times. I think that this is a must read book.
Mick Halpin, Reviewer, Dublin, Ireland
A novel with it’s heart in the right place. Well done, Francine Biere. I thought “Death in the Desert” was grand, as they say over here in Ireland. I hope that it raises awareness and lends support toward those good causes which try to assist poor migrants.”
Lindenville Publishing
“Death in the Desert is a literary experience that takes the reader to a place they may never otherwise go. Invaluable in this, true-to-life characters flesh out a dark but needful exposé of human suffering intensified, if not begun, by people who manipulate the tenets of their own freedom in order to maltreat others.”
Willa Goodheart, honest and hard-working white collar worker finds herself connected to a police investigation for a serial killer; and she hasn't a clue why - that is, until she begins digging.
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