In the fall of 1970, Hackler Staley, a 27-year-old former United States Army Special Forces officer, is recruited by Jonathan Traynor, Staley's former brigade commander in Vietnam, to conduct clandestine operations on behalf of the CIA. Staley's first mission requires him to assume the identity of a French mercenary and return to South Vietnam, assisting the South Vietnamese in organizing a specialized rescue unit called the Hoc Bao, or Black Panther Company. Their primary mission is to rescue and recover American aircrews shot down in Laos while flying in support of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam incursion. When the Laos mission is finished, Staley returns to the United States and continues working undercover for Traynor. Meanwhile, the treacherous co-pilot, Robert McGowan, marries the daughter of a United States Senator and builds a successful political career, based principally on his stellar service record and the Silver Star he was awarded for supposed gallantry in action in connection with the downing of his Phantom jet in Laos. Twenty-eight years later, Robert McGowan is the leading contender for the nomination of the Democratic Party for the office of President of the United States. Traynor, now on the verge of a long-overdue retirement, decides that he cannot allow McGowan to become president. When McGowan finds out that Traynor knows his secret and intends to use the file to derail his campaign, he moves to eliminate Traynor, uncover Staley's identity, and then eliminate him as well. It is Traynor's legacy that Staley take whatever action is necessary to stop McGowan. Staley embarks on one final mission-to avenge the murder of Jonathan Traynor and make sure that Robert McGowan is finished in Washington once and for all.
David Stinson is a business lawyer with a large Oklahoma City law firm. He lives with his wife Becky in Edmond, Oklahoma. In February 1971, as a helicopter gunship pilot with a United States Army air cavalry squadron, he flew daily missions across the border in support of Operation Lam Son 719, the failed ARVN incursion into Laos that is the backdrop for The Traynor Legacy.
