Covert Game – Inside the Characters

Zara Hightower was always going to be a complex character. I knew she was brilliant. Off the charts brilliant. Beautiful, which she didn’t see as a resource, or use as a resource. Her main focus would always be her “sisters”. Their lives mattered even more than her own. She would do anything for them, including break the rules by bringing in contraband to them, or lying to them to give them hope. Her life had started and would likely end in a laboratory where she’d been raised, trained and abused for the sake of experiment. She never expected to live as long as she had, so she wanted to be a bright light to them so they would continue to live, to try and save themselves.



Some people are naturally self-sacrificing. Not in a martyrdom kind of way, but in a generous, loving way. This is Zara. Though she was deadly in her own right, her nature was more of a giving, loving one. So when someone kidnapped her and tortured her, it challenged her sense of self and her belief that somewhere out there in the world there was kindness.

Gino Mazza had a horrific start as a child. His family was killed on his 12th birthday. He’d been shot and left for dead, his family home set on fire. But, his best friend, Joe Spagnola saved him and Joe’s family took him in. Gino grew up learning a mafia lifestyle and taking chances. He became very wealthy and, when Joe left to join the Air Force, Gino went with him. He was accepted into the GhostWalker program, his natural psychic abilities enhanced. He became a doctor and an elite hunter. His family became his “brothers”, other GhostWalkers he’d learned he could trust. He was fiercely loyal.



When Zara was captured and the call that came in asking for help was from the GhostWalker’s enemy Dr. Whitney, Gino and the team wondered if she were a plant, sent to harm them. Gino would do anything to protect his team and even as he realized he might be required to kill Zara, the pictures of her haunted him. Her beauty, her innocence, her horrible life forged from experimentation and hard training.

Matching up a hero and heroine takes some strategy. You need one to be strong where the other is weak. They have to complement one another. I want people to see both the conflict between them and the commonalities. Gino and Zara are both GhostWalkers, which makes them special. They both had a tough upbringing. They’re both wicked-smart.

But, not only do they both have trust issues, Zara was tortured, her spirit broken and the man she has to rely on knows he may have to kill her. It’s a pretty big conflict, especially given that the man who tortured her plans to reacquire her at any cost. You see, Zara has a big secret she’s kept from everyone and her ability to determine who to trust will be the difference between the life and death of hundreds of people. Including her own.

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