KERRVILLE - Kerrville sleuth Steve Rambam is on the trail again and hislatest assignment will take him to Ecuador, where the steamy political climateand the dense jungles produce an atmosphere hostile to Americans.

Rambam, the 32-year-old private investigator who lives on pal Kinky Friedman'sEcho Hill ranch, has embarked on another humanitarian effort, this timeto find a missing son of an Israeli...

``The boy's probably dead; he's been missing for six years,'' Rambamsays matter-of-factly. ``Given the situation in Ecuador, if his parentshaven't heard from him in all this time, there's little chance I'll findhim alive.''

Rambam's candor is standard equipment with this real-life detective,who was portrayed in Friedman's novels. A private investigator since age18 .. Rambam now heads a..service with offices in New York, Orlando, LosAngeles, Toronto and San Antonio.

Lately, he's been campaigning to raise the public consciousness aboutinadequate airport security, successfully smuggling a fake handgun throughSan Antonio airport checkpoints. In fact, Rambam and Kerrville attorneyScott Monroe are putting together a non-profit organization to encourageTexas legislators to heighten airport security.

While some of his detective work is glamorous, high-profile stuff, suchas coordinating security for foreign officials visiting America, most ofhis cases are rather traditional. The majority are missing persons, andmost of those are teen-agers.

The subject of Rambam's latest search is Horan Muebner, who was 23 whenhe disappeared from the Hotel Norte in Quito in 1983. Muebner, a student,was traveling around the world after completing three years' mandatory servicein the Israeli army.

Rambam dismisses any notion that Muebner chose to disappear. ``He wasa good kid, not involved with drugs, and he had lots of contact with hisparents throughout his travels,'' Rambam says... ...