Crossing the Line

James (or, as he likes to call himself, “Jesse”) Filorino is a cocksure college student when we meet him, with fantasies of the good life. After he helps cause the death of a nasty thief, though, he backs away from his wild side, and signs up for a career with the U.S. Border Patrol. The reality of the work is far from glamorous. Patrolling the highways and railways in the middle of nowhere in southern Texas, the lulls between the dangerous and sometimes gruesome sites are so boring and lonely he starts to unravel. Worst of all, the women he pursues seem to prefer the high-rolling drug smugglers he is paid to catch and arrest. One night, on a deserted road, temptation arrives in the form of a trunk load of cash and cocaine. The driver is a young punk he has met before. Yes, he could arrest this guy, but he’d be no better off than before. Instead, he puts two bullets in the back of the drug-dealer’s head, and spends the next weeks scrambling to cover up the crime. The Author began his federal career as a United States Border Patrol Agent and worked as a Federal Agent for over 25 years. He used his experiences in the field to create this fictional story from a real event.