OUTSIDE KNOXVILLE

Kaskaskia
Parson Bains could not have imagined what was ahead of him when he boarded the Kaskaskia in Beirut, Lebanon. Though he never thought of himself as a brave man, he became a hero to many people because he simply did what he thought was right when faced with many obstacles. He only wanted to serve his time in the Navy and get back to the real world and his true love Marci. But danger and intrigue seemed to surround him from the beginning. While trying to cope with one of the most dangerous jobs in the Navy, he had to confront stowaways, kidnapping, smuggling, a hurricane and murder.

Marci was Mexican/American and drop dead beautiful. Her wealthy family in Texas was highly respected and very powerful. She tried to busy herself with her studies and social activism but she is nadvertently thrust into a whirl of celebrity that she did not seek. Her strongest desire is to fade back to anonymity and reunite with Parson. It would be an eventful two years.

Vine Street 1919
Sam would sneak off every chance he got and go to J.D.'s to practice pool. He was to young to be hanging out there but he befriended Jimmy "The Fox" Darden and a two-fingered black man named Dallas and they let him stay. They quickly found out that Sam was a natural at the game. His skills became legendary. But Sam would eventually have to confront the dark and ugly racial divide of his home town and his family.

Roscoe Springfield was an imposing giant of a man. He was a proud black man one generation removed from slavery in South Carolina. He and his new bride moved to beautiful East Tennessee to start a new life. Soon he would be faced with raising twin boys in a racially hostile environment. A lie told by a white woman to hide her infidelity set off a series of events in one of the worst race riots in American History. It came to its climax on Vine Street in the Summer of 1919.

The Tellico
Surveillance
Parson Bains had dreamed of moving his wife and daughter back to the country and becoming a gentleman farmer. Life was good until the FBI approached him to help them with a special project. He soon discovered, much to his surprise, that his seemingly friendly neighbors were not only Cocaine dealers but the leaders of one of the most insidious racial hate groups in the country. They wanted Parson to infiltrate the group.