Code Name: Baby
Christina Skye
Harlequin, Nov 2005, $6.99
ISBN: 0373770693

The Foxfire top secret Navy SEAL seven-man squad were all genetically changed using experimental nanotechnology and biological enhancements. Each has their own skills, but all are monitored by Lloyd Ryker from a distance. They work incidents that are impossible for normal people to survive.

One member, Lieutenant Trace O'Halloran, uses his mind to make sweeps of perimeters. He notices strange activity from a teammate Gabriel Enrique Cruz, who can control animals, but apparently lost control and has gone rogue. Trace's commander Wolfe Houston is stunned because Cruz died last year. Ryker sends Wolfe to track down Cruz, whose target apparently is Trace's sister Kit, a law enforcement dog trainer based in New Mexico, who is working with four special Labrador puppies, that unbeknownst to her have been genetically altered so that they work strategically as a team. Cruz wants to become the leader of Baby, Diesel, Butch, and Sundance. Wolfe and Kit know each other, so his assignment to capture Cruz seems easy, except that his friend's baby sister is an adult that he desires with all his heart; a distraction he cannot afford if he is to protect her and the canines.

The latest Foxfire tale (see CODE NAME: NANNY and CODE NAME: PRINCESS) is a fast-paced romantic thriller that never slows down hooking the audience from the moment Trace realizes what is going on. The storyline is action-packed, but the key protagonists and the canines seem genuine, even with the genetic modifications. Baby, the pack leading runt, steals the show in many ways, as fans of the series will appreciate this strong tale as Christine Skye makes her cast, human and canine, seem like real people and dogs just having extrasensory skills.

Harriet Klausner