J E Stanton

Gone Native J E Stanton

A CIA Agent Goes Rogue?Bet you've heard, or seen, that one before. The big noisy movie? The buff ball-clanking superstar who dukes it out with the evil double-crossing Agency minions out to get him? But our modest CIA "Man in Thailand and Laos" works quietly from behind the scenes and plays things as straight as they can be played in the midst of a mind-bogglingly bloody "Alice in Wonderland" war. Starting in the wilds of Thailand in 1953 he does his job and is proud of what he has done, at first. But, as the years go by, he finds less to be proud of, and more to revile. Finds that the good old USA is losing the war it sent him out to fight in secrecy. Sees the handwriting on the wall that the head honchos either don't see, or refuse to believe. That we have gone from trying to save Southeast Asia from Communism to destroying its people, including our own allies. In 1968 he decides to quit the Agency. But he can't quit the war. He owes it to the people he spent 15 years helping try to win it to aid then when they lose. Owes it to them because he knows that America intends to turn its back on them when the Communists win. Unable to convince his Agency superiors he walks quietly away from Langley and disappears into the jungles of Thailand and Laos where he sets to work using the skills he learned as a CIA agent to thwart American policy. Once there he finds several other "gone native" Americans along with some Hmong, Lao, and Thai to clandestinely assist him. "Our Man" Mick MacEvilly may be only 5 foot-6, and he never packs a gun, but he's got a lot of tricks up his sleeve, and he's not afraid to use them against his old employer or anyone else who gets between him and his personal mission.