Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Midnight Abduction - Nichole Severn (HI #1930 - June 2020)

Series: Tactical Crime Division (Book 3)

For the Tactical Crime Division, no case is left cold.

When Benning Reeves's twins are kidnapped, the frantic father knows who can help: the Tactical Crime Division and Ana Ramirez. Even though Ana once shattered Benning's heart, the special agent is the only one he can trust. But Ana is still tormented by the unresolved case that brought them together years before -- a case somehow entangled with Benning's children. It's up to the TCD and Ana to discover why…before it's too late.

Fast-paced suspense along with a second chance romance. The story opens as Benning's twin children, Owen and Olivia, are kidnapped from their home. Benning has something that the kidnapper wants, and the children are his insurance to get it. For some reason, the kidnapper quickly releases Olivia, but keeps Owen. Desperate to get his children back, Benning contacts the FBI and requests the only person he trusts to help him - Agent Ana Ramirez. He and Ana were a couple seven years earlier, but when the case she was working on ended badly, Ana walked away from Benning.

In the past seven years, Ana has acquired an impressive record of finding missing and kidnapped people. She has a laser-like focus on doing everything needed to find those victims. Ana is driven by the memory of her failure years before and blames herself for allowing her feelings for Benning to distract her from her job. Since that time she has kept people at a distance and keeping her emotions out of her work. She is stunned when she discovers that her new assignment is to recover Benning's son.

This story is action-packed from the beginning. The bad guy desperately wants the item that Benning found during one of his inspections and will do anything to get it. Things get complicated when Benning discovers that the item is no longer where he left it. It seems that every time Benning and Ana get a lead on how to find either Owen or the item, the bad guy is right there to stop them. They survive shootings, fires, explosions, stabbings, blows to the head, and just about any other injury imaginable while refusing to give in until they find Owen. As the case progresses, it also becomes evident that the bad guy has something personal against Ana, and it has something to do with the unsolved case from seven years earlier. By the time the final confrontation came, I was on the edge of my seat wondering how Ana would get out of it alive. The identity of the bad guy was a shock.

I enjoyed the rekindling of the relationship between Benning and Ana. It is obvious from the start that the sparks between them are as strong as ever. Ana is still consumed by guilt over letting her relationship with Benning distract her from that earlier case and tries very hard to keep Benning at a distance. Benning realizes early on that his feelings for Ana are just as strong as they were before, but getting past Ana's defenses won't be easy. Her journey to forgiving herself wasn't an easy one, and the final step came from an unexpected source. With that, Ana is now able to allow her love for Benning show. The ending was sweet, with Owen and Olivia joining Benning in a surprise for Ana.
 

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