Gary L. Bridges 
Los Huerfanos 

Los Huerfanos takes its readers on a frantic journey, with rest stops in Baku, Azerbaijan; Tehran, Iran; Reynosa, Mexico; Cuchara, Colorado; deep south Texas, and a remote village at the base of Shirkuh mountain in eastern Iran.
Irans Revolutionary Guard assassinates the president of Iran and plans a desperate attempt to destabilize the United States by forging a deadly alliance with a Mexican drug cartel. With Irans leadership in political turmoil, ultra-extremists exert their influence and rush to finalize the first Iranian nuclear weapon. Fortunately for the United States, a mid-level Iranian official is a deep under-cover mole who provides vital information (at an agonizing personal cost) to the United States CIA and to Israels Mossad.

Steve Curry finds himself on West Peak, staring into a crashed, vintage World War II DC-3 aircraft, which happens to be carrying $100 million of U.S. currency. He later learns that the cash was on its way to a Mexican drug cartel as part of a shocking scheme to develop a gateway across the Mexico U.S. border, which would allow al-Qaeda extremists to enter the United States undetected.
Fortunately Steve knows none of this as he waits on West Peak for reinforcements to arrive. Hes been instructed to hide the unexpected cargo of cash until the CIA decides what to do with it. An elite Army combat team arrives and, having determined that there are no bad guys sharing the mountain with them, set out on a risky night time excursion to deposit the mysterious cash in a hidden mountain vault. Even without bad guys, though, the night time journey delivers its own nightmare for the heavily armed caravan.
On the other side of the world and in another time, the CIA and the Mossad work feverishly to extract the Iranian mole, who wishes to defect with his family as Iran dissolves into chaos after the Shah is deposed in 1979. Circumstances and plain old bad luck prevent Razzi, the Iranian mole, from leaving. Hes searching for his 13 year old daughter, who goes missing just before the family is scheduled to leave for the airport. Razzi believes that government agents have kidnapped her in an effort to make sure that Razzi doesnt leave the country. He stays behind to find her, beginning a life-long odyssey of searching and self-recriminations. His wife and their three other children make it to Amman, Jordan just in time. But they become trapped in a hell hole masquerading as a refugee camp.
After the U.S. Army team and Steve hide the cash near West Peak, the CIA launches a brazen attempt to intervene even further into the Iran-Mexican plot to destabilize the United States. If successful, the plan will poison future transactions between Iran and the cartel and possibly trigger severe repercussions for both sides of the nefarious collaboration. Steve Curry ends up right in the middle of the subterfuge at great risk to himself.
An even greater risk lurks inside Irans own dysfunctional leadership. The CIA learns that Chinese nuclear scientists are assisting Iran with their plans to develop Irans first nuclear weapon. The CIA scrambles to find a way to counter the Iranian/Chinese joint efforts at fulfilling Irans nuclear ambitions.
Razzi continues to provide the CIA with important information from his position within Irans government. With his help the CIA uncovers al-Qaedas shocking and brilliant plan to smuggle al-Qaeda fighters into the United States through Mexico. If successful, the carnage and destruction will dwarf the devastating attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11. The CIA and the U.S. Army realize that they must bury their mutual mistrust of each other and work together to try and counter the planned attacks.
The U.S. Army has only a few days to ramp up and train troops for their bold counter attack to obstruct al-Qaedas plan. The multi-faceted U.S. plot, if successful, will cripple the Mexican d

About the author

Gary Bridges’ previous novels, The Cuchara Chronicles, Out of Purgatory, The Wahatoya, and
The Footprint in the Lake knitted the lives of Steve Curry, his father Lane and other characters into stories of adventure, history, family and Ute Indian culture. Gary and his artist wife, Shawn, divide their time between San Antonio, Texas, where Gary teaches for the University of Texas-San Antonio, and Cuchara, Colorado, where they spend their summers. From 1985 to 2000, Gary and Shawn lived in Cuchara and Pueblo, Colorado, where Gary taught at Colorado State University-Pueblo. Gary was Director of Internal Audit for Valero Energy Corporation.