The First Eagle

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Since I began my fictional relationship with the Navajo Tribal Police, six of its officers have been killed while performing their duty. A small force covering a vast expanse of mountains, canyons, and desert, they must work primarily alone. In case of danger help is often hours away even if their radio calls for backup are heard. I dedicate this work to these six officers and their families. They gave their lives in defense of their people.

Burton Begay, Tuba City, 1975 Loren Whitehat, Tuba City, 1979 Andy Begay, Kayenta, 1987 Roy Lee Stanley, Kayenta, 1987 Hoskie Gene Jr., Kayenta, 1995 Samuel Redhouse, Crownpoint,

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

All characters in this work are fictional. Especially let it be known that Pamela J. Reynolds and Ted L. Brown, vector control specialists of the New Mexico Department of Public Health, did not model for the two vector control characters in The First Eagle—being too amiable and generous for those roles. They did try to educate me on how they track the viruses and bacteria that plague our mountains and deserts and even modeled PAPRS for me. Thanks, too, to Patrick and Susie McDermott, Ph.D. and M.D. respectively in microbiology and neurology, who tried to keep my speculation about drug-resistant microbes close to reality. Dr. John C. Brown of the University of Kansas Department of Microbiology provided a reading list and good advice. Robert Ambrose, a falconer and trainer of raptors, informed me about eagles. My friend Neal Shadoff, M.D., helped make the medical professionals involved sound professional, and Justice Robert Henry of the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals advised me relative to the federal death penalty law. I thank them all.

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