Meet Hailey Langley, a Book Character of Author C. Becker

We have a special treat this morning! I invited romantic thriller writer C. Becker to visit the Coffee Chat, but she was busy writing her latest thriller. Instead, she sent a book character to chat with us.

Welcome, Hailey. I’m pleased to have you join us.

Hailey: Thank you. I’m looking forward to our chat.

Hailey:  I married my husband Mark sixteen years ago. We met and fell in love when I started college, but we didn’t marry until I graduated. Mark had the dreamiest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. He’d tilt his head like he was infatuated with everything I said. When we argued, he’d bring me roses. (Sniff). Last fall he was working a case and was caught in a burning building. His supervisor and best friend came to my house to tell me that he’d died. For six months I’ve been keeping myself together for my kids’ sake. Actually, I’m not holding it together. I’m taking anti-anxiety medication. My son’s acting out, which doesn’t make my life any easier. When I picked him up at the police station the other night, I ran into my former partner from the Special Crimes Agency (SCA) where I used to work. Parker was my first crush, and he’s calling me a lot lately. In my heart, I don’t feel Mark’s really gone, but my author is making my life harder by putting Parker into my life.
 
Ally: Oh, dear. I’m so sorry. Tell me about the rest of your family. Do you have siblings? Are you close to them?

Hailey:  I was an only child. My parents died when they tried to rescue me when I was kidnapped. My papa’s brother was the only other relative, but he died when my Papa was a teenager. My grandparents and Papa never knew how he died, but drugs have been rumored as the cause of death. Which is strange because my uncle didn’t use drugs.
 
Ally:  You’ve had quite a few loses in your life. Tell me about your profession. Do you like it? Is there a career that would have preferred?

Hailey:  My author gave me two careers. Before I met Mark, I was a secret agent at the Special Crimes Agency (SCA). After a case involving Parker’s parents went haywire, I quit my career and went to college to study biochemistry. I worked at the NIH a few years, finished my doctorate, and then took a job as a college professor. Sometimes I think about going back to the SCA. Mark was supportive of it after he learned I was a government agent like him. I keep up with my skills.
 
Ally:  Is there a defining moment in your background that made you who you are today?

Hailey:  When I was seventeen, I was kidnapped with three other classmates and trapped in a cabin in the mountains. My classmates and I tried to escape, but I tripped on a rock and sprained my ankle as we fled, and I couldn’t keep up. When they stole a truck and went to get help, I was left alone. The kidnappers blamed me for the ransom money they didn’t receive, so they assaulted me. I was almost dead when the SCA and FBI came. When I recovered, I decided to work at the SCA to hunt down criminals.
 
Ally:  Are you hoping to make an appearance in a sequel or series?

Hailey:  I hope my author is putting me in her entire Euphoria series. I have a lot of unfinished business to accomplish before the Euphoria series ends. As the protagonist in Finding Euphoria, I had to track down the structural formula for an illicit drug that a drug lord from Colombia was trying to manufacture. In this book, Saving Euphoria, I have to find out what happened to my husband Mark. C. Becker’s next book is being sent to her editor this month, and I took a sneak peek. I’m in there! My author has me flying to Colombia to rescue a little girl, and a drug lord chases me back to the U.S. when I return. Becker puts so much action in her Euphoria series. Thank goodness I was an agent and can protect my family. The bad guys are everywhere.
 
Ally:  Were you satisfied with the ending? Were you surprised?

Hailey:  I’d say more surprised than satisfied. I can’t tell you the ending, but I work with Parker the entire novel trying to find Mark and the end is a shocker!
 
Ally:  Who was your favorite supporting character?

Hailey:  In this book, my favorite supporting character is David, Mark’s best friend. I relied on him for keeping my sanity after Mark died. He helped take care of my two kids. We had pizza night on Friday’s. He offered to help pay my bills. I trust him completely…despite the tagline of the book being “Trust No One.” [Awkward pause.] Maybe I shouldn’t trust him. I think I’ll pass on the rest of this question.
 
Ally:  Just for fun, name three of your favorite things
.
Hailey:  Family, Running, Fisherman’s Wharf
 
Ally: It sounds as though the author killed off a friend. How did you feel about it?

Hailey:  Yes, one of my very best friends. I feel sick that C. Becker went this route, but I’m not surprised, because she also killed off my own flesh and blood in the first book. I’m afraid to complain because she may kill me in the third book. All I can say is C. Becker better find a way to make the Euphoria series have a happy ending. First, Becker had me find happiness despite my distressing life. Then in this book, I have to save whatever happiness I can. In the third book, I have to find a way to embrace the joy in my life.
 
Ally: And she also put you in danger. Did she discuss it or at least warn you first?

Hailey:  Heck, yeah, she puts me in danger. I feel like I’m a pawn in her Euphoria trilogy. I never have a say in anything she does. In Finding Euphoria, I was assaulted when I was seventeen years old. The author let me have a happy life for seventeen years, and then everything turned upside down. I got kidnapped by a drug lord when I’m snooping at his house (had no say in this dangerous idea), then I have the deadly drug Euphoria injected into me and I lapse into a coma. Afterward I have to save my husband from a building that has a gas leak and could explode in any minute. In this book Saving Euphoria C. Becker kills my husband in a fire and has the bad guys come after me. I get stabbed by a drug lord, and then I’m in a shoot-out where I have to save my son (after saving my daughter and two neighbors). Gosh, I fear book three, Embracing Euphoria, will have even more danger. I peeked at the manuscript and saw I was assembling a 3-D gun. I closed the book and cried. I want my normal life back!