Excerpt, Midnight Abduction by Nichole Severn
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Perfect for fans of Criminal Minds and Blacklist...
Uncover the lives and loves of the FBI elite as they take on
the toughest assignments. This is a new four-book miniseries featuring an
ensemble cast of characters spread across 4 books, featuring 4 urgent cases,
with one stellar team of crime solving experts.
The Tactical Crime Division—TCD—is a specialized unit of the
FBI. Because of the growing concerns and need for ever increasing response time
to criminal events, the FBI created a specialized tech and tactical team
combing specialists from several active divisions that include: weapons, crime
scene investigation, protection, negotiation and IT.
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
Ana Sofia Ramirez—She’s out for
redemption. Recruited by the Tactical Crime Division’s director from the
Bureau’s missing-persons’ division after her last case ended with a dead
victim, she’s more determined than ever to recover Benning Reeves’s son.
Benning Reeves—Single father
and small-town building inspector who’s come across evidence of a murder hidden
on one of his construction sites; the cost of discovery has led to the
kidnapping of his six-year-old twins.
Olivia and Owen Reeves—Benning’s
six-year-old twins.
Evan Duran—Tactical
Crime Division’s hostage negotiator, who’s fully invested in recovering Benning
Reeves’s son due to his own dark past of losing his sister as a child.
JC Cantrell—Tactical
Crime Division’s tactical-operations specialist, who’s good at planting bugs,
leading surveillance ops or coming up with a ruse to distract someone.
***
“Well, maybe I can give her a tour of TCD
head-quarters in Knoxville one day. You know, give her a chance to see what
federal agents really do on the job.” Ana stilled, the weight of her attention
pressurizing the air in his chest, but he didn’t miss the assumption there
would be a one day for them. That she wouldn’t disappear from their lives after
Owen came home, and his blood pressure spiked. She cleared her throat as though
she’d caught herself making promises she might not be able to keep. Just as she
had with Samantha Perry’s family. “You must be proud. She’s going to make a
hell of an agent one day.”
“That’s her plan, and probably why she opened up to
you the way she did. I can tell she admires you, what you do.” Benning
straightened, echoes of their earlier conversation replaying in his head on a
nonstop loop. He tossed the paper towel he’d used to clean his foot in the
trash beside the island. “So do I, to be honest. The work you and your team do
saves lives. I know I already said thank you, but I meant it.”
“Like I said, you don’t have to thank me.” She dropped
that mesmerizing gaze to the counter, sweeping the spread of flour into the
sink set into the island with one hand, and swiped beneath her nose with the
other. Touching her face had always been a nervous habit. “All part of the job.”
“Is that what this is for you, Ana? Just another job?
Because this case is definitely a lot more personal to me.” Benning maneuvered
around the counter, his bare chest nearly pressed against the exposed skin of
her arm. He set his hand over hers on the granite, her quick gasp searing
through him. Her warmth penetrated past skin and muscle, deep into his bones.
“After what you told me about the Samantha Perry case, I realize now how hard
it must’ve been for you to come back here, and you’re standing there as if none
of it affects you. But is that how you really feel?”
He wanted—no, needed—to know. Was this going to play
out exactly as it had between them the last time? Had he made a mistake
requesting her to work this case?
Her mouth parted. “I…”
Skimming his fingers along the back of her hand, he
trailed a path up her arm to her jaw, and all of his thoughts burned away.
There was only the two of them. The softness of her flawless skin and hardness
in her invisible guard. After everything that’d happened, after everything
they’d already been through in the short span of time she’d walked back into
his life, he’d struggled to keep the uncertainty, the rage, the fear, at bay so
he could stay strong for Olivia. To prove that he could protect her from any
threat, be the father she and her brother deserved. But Ana…stripped him of all
of that. With her, Benning felt raw, exposed, bare. She was real. She was here.
Not a memory—a fantasy—anymore, and it took every-thing inside him to pull
himself away from her. “You had some cookie dough on your chin.”
She’d left because she believed her emotions clouded
her judgment on the Samantha Perry case, and he wasn’t about to complicate
anything else be- tween them. Not when it was his son’s life at risk this time.
Ana turned her gaze up to his, a small tremor crossing her shoulders, and an
invisible anchor set-tled inside his chest in the dark, watery landscape of
this case. No matter what happened, Ana would bring his son home alive. He had
to believe that. He had to believe in her. Otherwise, he’d have nothing left.
“Thanks.”
A soft trill broke the silence spreading between them,
but she didn’t move.
“I think your phone is ringing.” He cleared his
throat, trying to drown the surge of awareness burning through him, and stepped
away. It was for the best. Because anything that happened between them would
only take away from their focus on finding his son, and that wasn’t a risk he
was willing to take.
***
