Vern Maine

Dear friend, This is the true story of what happened after we rescued my father, Daniel Rivera, from prison in Cuba in 1974. My best friend, Mike Grey, wrote the story of the rescue that preceded this tale, in a book he called, "North Until Dawn." Call it Book 1 if you like. You may have read it already. He explained there how we found the publisher's cache at the Far Away Campground in Salt Springs, Florida, and teamed up with Bob Rines and Scott Walker to carry out the rescue mission. But little has been known or told about what happened after that, until now. I completed this manuscript, call it Book 2, in the three years that followed, while I was attending school in Rindge, New Hampshire. But I kept it hidden these past many years in order to protect my friends and family from further persecution by the Communist regime in Cuba. Now that Fidel Castro is dead, it is time for this part of the story to be told...I begin first with Part I, the backstory of Rines' Vietnamese sweetheart, Hoa, and then with Part II, when my father and I returned from Key West to Salt Springs, only to face the rath of Castro, and the drama of fire in the forest, dragons in the water, bombs in the air, the reality of life and death, and the power of love. Buen provecho Tom s Rivera

Is it true? Did it really happen? This is an old fashioned adventure story told in three installments, for young adults of all ages. The coming of age saga of Tomas Rivera from Cuba and Mike Gray from rural New York State, is set in the Ocala National Forest in Florida. Humor, drama, action, love, family, friends, tragedy, and triumph. The story unfolds in the still-recent historical context of the mid-1970s, a decade after the failed CIA led invasion at the Bay of Pigs, a time when Fidel Castro with the aid of the Soviet Union dominates Cuba with an iron fist. Witness their excitement and feel their pain as the boys live and play in the forest and on Lake Kerr. But watch out You will experience a growing sense of apprehension as they, with help from two former Green Berets, set out on a dangerous mission to rescue Tommy's father from prison in Havana The plan goes seriously awry. The mission succeeds, sort of, but no one escapes unscathed. Come along on their journey as they learn harsh lessons of life and death. Judge for yourself what role dragons play in their lives and ours. Youth, adventure, action, love, loyalty, international intrigue, fear, pain, death, and destiny. The story continues in the second installment, FEAR NOT THE DRAGON, when Castro seeks to find and punish Tom and his father in the forest, threatening death and destruction to friends and family alike Then Tom, Mike, and his sister Marris come of age in a perilous final adventure in the third installment of the Dragon Fighters trilogy, THERE IS A TIDE. Enjoy the read, leave a review, and watch for the movie