Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Code Name: Papa* by Aliyah Burke, USA Best-Selling Author - A Wonderful Story of Importance of Family...

Beckett Hanson, a veteran agent of a secret government group called EGIS— they dealt in things most others couldn’t or wouldn’t do to keep, not just the country, but the world safe— sat in the parked truck, avoiding the oppressive sun the best he could. This older vehicle had no air-conditioning to help combat the desert heat, but at least the flowing air had cooled him while he’d been driving. Now, parked near the corner of a dingy police station, in this puny no-name town with stagnant air lingering around, the sweat, again, trailed down his back. He scratched with frustration at the three days’ worth of growth on his face and then drummed his fingers along his thigh and glared out the window. 

“You’re there for an intercept and retrieval,” his boss finally admitted. 
Beckett frowned, lips flattening. Intercept? Retrieval? “Both? In the middle of an op? Who the hell am I getting, Michael?”  
...The next second, all thoughts of the heat vanished. At least the kind from the sun. A very loud and unfortunately familiar voice rang out with explicit threats to a certain part of male anatomy. Beckett’s steps faltered until he managed to shove the past where the voice had come from— behind him. He fisted his hands briefly, nails biting into his palms. Blinking as his eyes adjusted, he scanned the room. Two cops, both sporting serious scowls, and the person he knew was his retrieval. His heart thudded. After all this time… now, now she showed back up in his life? She looked less than thrilled to see him. Not that it shut her up. 
“Damn you!” she screamed, jerking against the bench to which they’d cuffed her. “Let me go!” How’d Bogie put it? Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she…

It took all he had not to stare at her and memorize every inch. Her. Indigo Grey. At one time his partner— in more ways than one— until she’d vanished. Off the grid. Gone dark. Now, almost eight years later, here she was. As beautiful as the day she’d left his life. Perhaps more so. Smooth dark skin, full lips, and her brown eyes that currently flashed with anger. 
“I’m here for the prisoner,” he stated once he reached the counter. How the hell had Michael found her out in this no-man’s land? Why had he even been looking for her? What the hell had she done to get herself tossed into this place? 
He was going to kill his boss.
~~~



Code Name: Papa

By Aliyah Burke


Beckett Hanson was getting along fine, working for a man for whom he'd gained a certain respect and loyalty, and, in fact, was on a job when Michael called him and told him to go immediately to an address and "intercept and retrieve" who turned out to be a former employee of their agency, EGIS.

We never learn how Michael knew she was there. Nor did he know that when Beckett saw her again, his heart would stop and his mind would immediately flash back to the love and desire he felt for this woman. He'd had to harden his heart and forget her when she took off and disappeared without saying a word to anyone...

Michael didn't tell Beckett that he'd been hunting for her for as long as she'd been gone, believing she'd stolen property from EGIS... 

Indigo Grey was being hunted. She was also on the hunt! Beckett had stepped into a very dangerous situation...and his heart wouldn't let him do anything but help her...


“You are his father, Beckett.”
“How old is he?” She gave him
 a bland stare. “Are you going
 to help me?”
“And if I say no?” Not even
 a shrug. “That’s your decision,
and we’re back to where we
 started. You doing what you
think you should, and me
 doing what I have to.”
Have to. “How old is he?”
A slow, burning anger began
 to boil in his stomach.
“Seven.” She shifted, the
handcuffs rubbing along the
 wood. “He was conceived
in Africa. Sudan.”
“Tell me you’re lying.”
He heard the begging in his
 tone. A son? He had a son?
 He clenched his fists.
 “Tell me you didn’t keep a
 child from me.” Was that
his voice sounding
all strained? Yes.
~~~
It doesn't take long for readers to fall deeply and totally into this story. The opening is snappy, fun, and mysterious. I was caught quickly and only began to enjoy it more and more as the book continued. And the ending and why the book is titled Code Name Papa put the icing on the cake!  I loved it!

And it doesn't take long for Beckett and Iggy to begin working together just as they'd done in the past. Iggy is a kick-ass woman that quickly won my heart... She had only one major person in her life--her son.

And he had been kidnapped! Nobody was going to stop Indigo from getting him back! And that didn't allow any distraction, especially from Beckett...





 
There were times when life just wasn’t fair at all. This, right here, would be one of them. Her eyes however, told a different story. This woman wasn’t running from him for any other reason than fear and desperation. But of what? Or whom was she running from? Surely, she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. Not really. 
The second he relaxed, she moved, nearly succeeding in bucking him off. Then she went for his gun and shit got serious fast. She might look the same, but no way this was the woman who’d once shared his bed or protected his back. Securing her hands above her head with his, he leaned over her. “Christ, Indigo. Knock it off. It’s just too goddamn hot for this.” 
He cuffed her again and hauled her to her feet. “Walk nicely or I’ll toss your ass over my shoulder.” Covered in dirt, blood, and sweat, she glared sideways at him, but remained quiet. He didn’t care. He wasn’t exactly happy right now, either. Drenched with perspiration, filthy, and seeing stars after the all-too-direct hit from her knee to his privates. Even so, he wasn’t the least bit surprised when she made another attempt to get away. 
He barely slowed, just hefted her and tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of wheat. With a firm smack on her ass, he marched back to the truck, his mood sinking like a lead balloon with each step. “Sit,” he barked once they reached the vehicle, and he set her down. She did, her expression mutinous. He stared at her and did a double take; faint bruising on her skin bothered him—she didn’t bruise easily—as well as blood from numerous cuts and scrapes. No doubt accumulated when she’d thrown herself from the truck while it was moving. 
Behind her on the floor, his phone rang. “Hello, Indigo.” He thought he’d try a different tactic. Didn’t work— she said nothing. He stared at her before taking her out of the vehicle and handcuffing her to him. “Let’s go.” He got back in, first this time, and pulled her along. “Shut the door.” An order he had to repeat twice more. Starting the engine, he picked up his phone and called Michael back.
“What the fuck happened?” the man demanded. 
“She bolted.” 
“You let her get away?” Okay, that was plain insulting...
~~~


Unless of course he is willing to help her! 

Beckett took it hard when he learned that the kidnapped boy was his son... But it pulled them more and more together until they were once again acknowledging that their love was still alive...





Only thing is when they finally got a call from the kidnapper, the payment was to eliminate a hit list with 10 names on it! The kidnapper obviously knew her past occupation, even if she was now a mother and member of the PTA...

Did Indigo really mean what she said about getting her son back? Would she go back to killing in order to free her son? And would Beckett allow her to place herself in such danger... Got to say that this Romantic Suspense is not only exciting, but provides readers a fascinating story of communication gone wrong between a couple, together with what happens when danger affects a member of a family, even a newly discovered one! Did I say I loved this book?! I so enjoyed meeting Aliyah Burke's as a new author and hope I get a chance to read her work again...

Highly recommended, especially lovers of romantic suspense!




GABixlerReviews









*When I was working on the "other" Code Name: Papa and heard there was another book, the old curiosity of the cat took me over... Note that the main characters are a part of an organization who "dealt in things most others couldn’t or wouldn’t do to keep, not just the country, but the world safe." Soooo, I had two books with the same time and a similar concept, both working for some type of agency that did things nobody else would do... Coincidence?? Anyway, I wanted to read both just to respond to my curiosity... Certainly glad I did!

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