Romance Novel Giveaways

IN THE GAME OF ESPIONAGE, SPY TAKES TRAITOR.
J.J. MCCALL TAKES OVER.

The FBI and Italian Mafia make strange bedfellows when a vicious Russian Organized crime figure, operating at the behest of Russian Intelligence, lands in The Big Apple. The Russian intelligence hench-man, infamously known as Mashkov, avenges the death of slain a Russian sleeper agent and accidentally hits the son of an Italian crime boss, sending J.J. and Task Force Phantom Hunter to the streets of New York. They are stepping into a possible war between Russian and Italian organized crime factions, while trying to dismantle the financial hub of the most insidious Russian illegals network in U.S. History.

Meanwhile, CIA Case Officer Grayson “Six” Chance is in Moscow trying to capture a fugitive American who has stolen White House intelligence and is planning to pass it to the Russians—putting Six in a moral dilemma he may not be prepared to handle.

And when J.J. finally learns the truth surrounding her mother's death in the line of duty, her life may never be the same.

If you enjoy this book, you will love Book 1--The Seven Year Itch (A J.J. McCall Novel) and Book 2 -- Son of a Itch (A J.J. McCall Novel).

1. J.J. McCall and Tony Donato are loosely based on a real life FBI Special Agents.
J.J. McCall is an African American, female FBI Special Agent. When I first conceived the idea for this FBI Espionage (counterespionage) series, I wanted to write a heroine modeled after an African American agent with whom I worked at the FBI. One of the things I remembered about the agent is that I admired her because she had an almost innate ability to walk into a room, command it, and then cut through the BS. We worked on a task force together, and she waded through all the white noise to get to the nitty gritty and take care of business almost immediately. But she did operated in a smooth, classy way.

In terms of the character, she’s great at her job but is fighting some demons with an alcohol addiction and a mystery surrounding her mother’s death which has been dogging her since her mother’s passing.

Tony Donato is also based on an agent that I worked with briefly in New York on a couple of special cases. He was Italian and the nicest guy, but a good agent. However, I’ll most remember him for the best ever cannoli he scored from a bakery in Brooklyn. They were the most divine pieces of baked goods I ever tasted. Yum. Yum. Yum.

In terms of Tony’s character, the complexity comes from his background. His father is a mob boss who was convicted and is serving time—at least until book 3. He broke away from the family and decided to become an FBI agent despite their protests…and of course that has caused major tension in the family, but it also shows how strong minded Tony is. He is J.J. McCall’s primary love interest.

2. A No Good Itch quite coincidentally mirrors a recent FBI bust of a Russian Spy Ring.

Russian spy cases such as the ones I talk about in my book really do STILL happen! Even after the so-called end of the Cold War.

"More than two decades after the presumptive end of the Cold War — Russian spies continue to seek to operate in our midst," said US Attorney Bharara after the FBI announced that they busted a spy ring on January 26th of this year.

One of the storylines in A No Good Itch is about a Russian Non-Official Cover (NOC) operation that is financing spies in the United States. J.J., Tony and their task force are headed to New York to take it down. Imagine my surprise when I woke up about a month after I published my latest novel to find that the FBI had busted a spy ring in New York that involved a Russian NOC. I couldn’t believe it on one hand—yet, on another I had just written about it.

What's so interesting about this case is the fact that a Russian intelligence operative, Yevgeny Buryakov, held a position in a Russian commercial entity—a Russian bank—rather than operating from a diplomatic establishment. But he passed the information to Russian spies under diplomatic cover.

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out through diplomatic channels and how the Russians will respond. This would be a groundbreaking case for the FBI in terms of arresting a NOC. If he's a Russian intelligence operative, the Russians are going to want him back; they won't want him to be prosecuted--which means a possible spy trade. Very spooky stuff and cool news in the spy world—stay tuned.

3. Son of a Itch (Book 2) was loosely based on a real case involving Russian spies who installed a listening device in a government building.

As a brief set-up to this particular story, in 1999, it was widely reported in the press that the FBI found a listening device in the walls of a State Department conference room. In Son of a Itch, a new breach is found and J.J. McCall develops theory centered around the reason for the 1999 operation. What if the 1999 operation was a precursor to an even bigger operation? And if so, who is responsible?

While I can't speak on the specifics of that case not reported in the media, I thought it would be interesting to mix in a little reality with the fiction--especially with a case that shocked and baffled a lot of people in the intelligence community.

4. The “Itch” in the title is just a play on words.

The “Itch” in the titles is really just a play on words because the character has the ability to detect lies—and hearing lies makes her feel a sensation akin to an itch.

When creating the J.J. McCall character, I wanted to somehow infuse her with the same ability to cut through the BS that was inherent in the real-life Special Agent that the character is based on. I wanted it to be something of a superpower, but not really a superpower because I don’t write paranormal, fantasy, or science fiction. I don’t have the imagination to world-build.

I also wanted her “gift” to be grounded in some reality.

Espionage, spying, and intelligence collection is all smoke and mirrors. When I thought about the major challenges counterintelligence agents face, one significant problem is differentiating the truth from a lie. When an FBI Agent pitches an officer in a foreign intelligence service and he refuses to speak with the FBI, does he really mean it? Or is he putting up a front because he’s afraid of getting caught by his counterintelligence service? When a new diplomat enters the United States and claims he’s legitimate, is he clean or is he an intelligence officer? Operational covers, legends, operations the spy world is built around lies. Counterintelligence is the search for the truth. Imagine a character who could detect a lie in this world?

Pretty cool.

So, I created a character that could mitigate the “lying” problem by detecting them. Then I wondered if I had made her job too easy. As writers, we can’t make anything easy on our characters or it’s not fun for the reader. Readers like to see characters that are challenged, that suffer before they succeed.

After some thought, I realized such a gift was limited in its use. First, she couldn’t be everywhere at once. Her gift would only be useful if she was speaking to a bad guy at the time they were lying about something related to a case or operation. Secondly, if you think about why people lie, we tell lies for a multitude of reasons. In addition to attempting to deceive others, we tell lies to protect other people’s feelings. We may lie to protect someone else from harm. All sorts of reasons. So, even though J.J. can tell whether someone is lying, she cannot answer the very important question of why without digging a little deeper. So this gives her an “edge” in this spooky world but limits her ability to leverage it.

5. J.J.’s ability to detect lies is based on an FBI class I took on interviewing subjects.

Years ago, I took a class taught by an FBI agent regarding interviewing subjects, and he taught us methods to detect whether someone might be engaging in deceptive behaviors. We watched videos of people undergoing questioning and interrogations. Sometimes when people tell lies it actually does make them itch and they scratch; others shift their eyes to the left or the right. Some blink; others don’t blink. With each person, the action might be a little different but there was a pattern between when they were telling a lie and the truth and the pattern was usually the same. I distinctly remember one instance in which we were watching the video of a subject being interviewed and the subject would scratch his nose only moments after telling a lie. Using these techniques, agents learned HOW interview subjects. They knew when to emphasize a particular subject or when to skip topics altogether. And this is really how J.J. McCall uses her powers in the series. It helps her to develop methods for questioning her subjects to get to the root of the truth, no matter what kind of lie the subject tells (little white lie versus a bold faced lie). And I think this ability makes her pretty unique and cool.

“THE SUPREME ART OF WAR IS TO SUBDUE THE ENEMY WITHOUT FIGHTING.” ~ SUN TZU

Fear, failure, and the fear of failure turned enemies into friends like nothing else in the convoluted world of intelligence and spying. No doubt the reason FBI representatives had been summoned to the Russian Embassy in Washington.

"We'll need a dump truck for the BS about to be heaped on us today," J.J. whispered to her co-case agent, Tony Donato. As the lead case agent behind the ruckus, she'd been ordered to attend the meeting, listen, and respond to nothing.

"Shhh," Tony whispered in reply. "The walls have ears."

Resident Andrei Komarov, the Russian equivalent to the CIA Station Chief in Moscow, led J.J., Tony, and Assistant Director of Counterintelligence John Nixon through the hallowed embassy halls until they reached a well-appointed conference room. It contained mahogany-paneled walls, large open armchairs, and an oversized table large enough to seat Komarov's ego and attitude, both massive in her past experience.

Komarov settled in at the head of the table, his face reddened and contorted. It was as if every word he was about to speak, no doubt carefully selected by the Foreign Minister, would sear his throat and exit his lips like sharpened razors carving him from the inside.

"We've all met before and are quite familiar with one another," Komarov began, shooting a slicing glare through J.J. "So, I'll feel free to dispense with the introductions and pleasantries since we all understand why we are here today." Her aggressive targeting of SVR officers for recruitment was legendary...or infamous, depending on which side of the table you sat. She suppressed the awe she felt. He was the personification of the Russian James Bond in looks, dress, and devoid of any semblance of accent.

J.J., Tony, and Nixon exchanged strained glances before she took a deep breath to brace herself. Komarov was about to progress through the four steps of surviving a massive operational failure.

Step 1: Admit nothing.

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S.D. Skye is a former FBI Counterintelligence Analyst in the Russia program and supported cases during her 12-year tenure at the Bureau. She has personally witnessed the blowback the Intelligence Community suffered due to the most significant compromises in U.S. history, including the arrests of former CIA Case Officer Aldrich Ames and two of the Bureau's own—FBI Agents Earl Pitts and Robert Hansen. She has spent 20 years in the U.S. Intelligence Community.

Skye is a member of the Maryland Writer’s Association, Romance Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers. She’s addicted to writing and chocolate—not necessarily in that order—and currently lives in the Washington D.C. area with her son. Skye is hard at work on several projects, including the next installment of the series.