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In the Steeley novel Wings of Romance, Luke Rogers was an American who had, like Steeley and his friends, been lured into joining the Carabonian Air Force by Señor Marquez under false pretenses. Like Steeley, he had also been made an "Air Admiral".

Steeley and co. first met Luke soon after arriving at the air field of Campanella. Luke was busy fixing up a ramshackle Waco aircraft in order to escape. He told Steeley that he had resigned the day after he arrived and had spent 6 months trying to fix up an aircraft from among the many wrecks in the hangar. Luke gave Steeley and co. yet another confirmation that they had made a bad mistake to accept the job offer from Marquez. According to Luke, Steeley was the 7th person to be made Air Admiral in 6 months. Another Air Admiral, Jacob Krimm was still at the base. Besides that, the entire country was "crooked". Luke introduced them to a Scot, Alexander McNash, who had been hiding in the hangar for some time, waiting for a chance to leave the country with Luke. McNash was able to provide further background, including details of the atrocities of President Pedro Ramoza.

Knowing that they had bungled and moreover were stuck in Carabonia, Steeley and his friends helped Luke and McNash prepare their aircraft for escape. Steeley also gave Luke some money and asked him to contact his father-in-law, Silas P. Marven, to send an aircraft to pick them up. Luke agreed, and offered to fly the relief aircraft when that time came. The Waco, with Luke and McNash on board, took off successfully but crashed soon after at the perimeter of the airfield, thus cutting Steeley's only link to the outside world.

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