Tim Smith is an award-winning author of numerous books, ranging from thrillers to contemporary erotic romance. He is also a freelance photographer and when he isn’t pursuing these two passions, he works in the human services field as a case manager for adults with disabilities.
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Today we’d like to introduce Nick Seven, a former CIA agent who lives in Key Largo, Florida.
Nick, how do you feel about the renewed interest in your adventures?
Nick: I think it’s about time more people had a chance to read about my exploits, even though they’ll never hear the real juicy stuff I did when I worked around the world tracking down terrorists. I could tell some good stories, but I’d have to kill anyone who read them.
Yes, your adventures are now limited to The Florida Keys, aren’t they? How did you end up there?
Nick: When I decided to quit the bureaucratic nightmare known as the CIA, I couldn’t decide where I wanted to settle. I could’ve gone to Italy, Germany, Bermuda, Rio, you name it, but I’d been to The Keys and something about the laid-back atmosphere hooked me like a marlin and reeled me in. Besides, I’ve always loved fresh seafood and the sunsets are to die for.
Okay, inquiring minds have to ask about Felicia, the beauty from Barbados you’re living with. In your first adventure, “Memories Die Last,” you two are reunited when the CIA drafts you back into action, but we can tell there’s a spark there. Anything you can add?
Nick: To put it bluntly, Felicia is sex on two feet – bronzed skin, long woven hair, sensual eyes, the cutest West Indies accent and a body a supermodel would kill for. She also has a right cross that’ll bring a wrestler to his knees. Felicia was a member of my team when I was assigned to England. There were some sparks at first but I couldn’t do anything about it because I’d recently gotten married to a young Scottish woman I’d fallen hopelessly in love with.
Nick: I think it’s about time more people had a chance to read about my exploits, even though they’ll never hear the real juicy stuff I did when I worked around the world tracking down terrorists. I could tell some good stories, but I’d have to kill anyone who read them.
Yes, your adventures are now limited to The Florida Keys, aren’t they? How did you end up there?
Nick: When I decided to quit the bureaucratic nightmare known as the CIA, I couldn’t decide where I wanted to settle. I could’ve gone to Italy, Germany, Bermuda, Rio, you name it, but I’d been to The Keys and something about the laid-back atmosphere hooked me like a marlin and reeled me in. Besides, I’ve always loved fresh seafood and the sunsets are to die for.
Okay, inquiring minds have to ask about Felicia, the beauty from Barbados you’re living with. In your first adventure, “Memories Die Last,” you two are reunited when the CIA drafts you back into action, but we can tell there’s a spark there. Anything you can add?
Nick: To put it bluntly, Felicia is sex on two feet – bronzed skin, long woven hair, sensual eyes, the cutest West Indies accent and a body a supermodel would kill for. She also has a right cross that’ll bring a wrestler to his knees. Felicia was a member of my team when I was assigned to England. There were some sparks at first but I couldn’t do anything about it because I’d recently gotten married to a young Scottish woman I’d fallen hopelessly in love with.
Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be and after my lovely bride was killed by a terrorist who was after me, Felicia really came to my emotional rescue. When the spooks in Washington conned me into coming back for one more case, there she was. We just picked up where we should’ve started a few years earlier. Good things come to those who wait, right?
In one of your adventures, “Never Trust Your Dreams,” you both are used as pawns by the CIA and Felicia is kidnapped by a rogue agent to force your cooperation. How did you respond to that?
Nick: It was déjà vu all over again, a nightmare I wasn’t about to relive. I’d already lost the one person I thought I’d ever love and there was no way in hell I was going to lose my second chance at happiness. Before Felicia came back I’d been going through life on auto-pilot, from one meaningless hook-up to another. She reminded that there’s more to it than that. In that same story I got framed for murdering a former girlfriend and had to outwit the cops and the girl’s filthy rich S.O.B. of a father. Funny, but I thought when I left covert intelligence my life would be a bit less eventful!
One reviewer said “Nick Seven is the kind of guy your mother wouldn’t let you play with.” Is that an accurate assessment?
Nick: That probably explains why I had such a lonely childhood. Seriously, I suppose some of my rougher edges turn off a few people, but when they take the time to know me I’m really a pussycat. I just don’t show it very well or very often.
Except with Felicia?
Nick: Geez, what is this, a Dr. Phil segment? Okay, I admit she’s managed to housebreak me, but I’m still the same tough guy I always was. Can we get onto another subject now?
Sorry for striking a nerve. You thought you’d gotten away from the intrigue after your first two adventures, but in the third one, “The Vendetta Factor,” you really got thrown for a loop when you were dragged into the middle of a Mafia turf war in Miami. How did you feel about that?
Nick: I think thoroughly pissed about covers it. All I did was help out a friend, a professional gambler named Rock Moretti, who used to own my club in Key Largo before opening a floating casino off Palm Beach. ‘I’m having some trouble,’ he says. ‘Come out to the boat and check things out. Nothing to it.’ Ha! How the hell did I know some Don in New York was putting the squeeze on him to sell out? Moretti didn’t share that piece of information with me and I didn’t find out until it was too late that another Don in Miami had a vested interest in keeping this other guy out of his back yard. Sometimes I think I’ll never learn.
That story gave you one of your most dangerous adversaries, didn’t it?
Nick: You mean the hit man, Tony the Crease? Yeah, he was a tough character, but Felicia and I managed to show him a couple of new tricks when he came after me. We actually ended up having a hell of a time with that adventure, but we never did settle the argument about whether Frank Sinatra or Julius LaRosa had the bigger impact on pop culture.
Frank Sinatra or Julius LaRosa? What was that about?
Nick: Read the book and find out.
So what does the future hold for you and Felicia?
Nick: Probably more adventures, whether we want them or not. I’m just trying to live my life in my personal corner of paradise, but this Tim Smith cat won’t let me do that. What did I ever do to this guy, anyway? As to Felicia, I sort of proposed when she came to live with me, but I get the impression that if I don’t keep out of trouble, she’ll pack her bags and haul ass back to Barbados – which she’s threatened to do more than once, by the way.
In one of your adventures, “Never Trust Your Dreams,” you both are used as pawns by the CIA and Felicia is kidnapped by a rogue agent to force your cooperation. How did you respond to that?
Nick: It was déjà vu all over again, a nightmare I wasn’t about to relive. I’d already lost the one person I thought I’d ever love and there was no way in hell I was going to lose my second chance at happiness. Before Felicia came back I’d been going through life on auto-pilot, from one meaningless hook-up to another. She reminded that there’s more to it than that. In that same story I got framed for murdering a former girlfriend and had to outwit the cops and the girl’s filthy rich S.O.B. of a father. Funny, but I thought when I left covert intelligence my life would be a bit less eventful!
One reviewer said “Nick Seven is the kind of guy your mother wouldn’t let you play with.” Is that an accurate assessment?
Nick: That probably explains why I had such a lonely childhood. Seriously, I suppose some of my rougher edges turn off a few people, but when they take the time to know me I’m really a pussycat. I just don’t show it very well or very often.
Except with Felicia?
Nick: Geez, what is this, a Dr. Phil segment? Okay, I admit she’s managed to housebreak me, but I’m still the same tough guy I always was. Can we get onto another subject now?
Sorry for striking a nerve. You thought you’d gotten away from the intrigue after your first two adventures, but in the third one, “The Vendetta Factor,” you really got thrown for a loop when you were dragged into the middle of a Mafia turf war in Miami. How did you feel about that?
Nick: I think thoroughly pissed about covers it. All I did was help out a friend, a professional gambler named Rock Moretti, who used to own my club in Key Largo before opening a floating casino off Palm Beach. ‘I’m having some trouble,’ he says. ‘Come out to the boat and check things out. Nothing to it.’ Ha! How the hell did I know some Don in New York was putting the squeeze on him to sell out? Moretti didn’t share that piece of information with me and I didn’t find out until it was too late that another Don in Miami had a vested interest in keeping this other guy out of his back yard. Sometimes I think I’ll never learn.
That story gave you one of your most dangerous adversaries, didn’t it?
Nick: You mean the hit man, Tony the Crease? Yeah, he was a tough character, but Felicia and I managed to show him a couple of new tricks when he came after me. We actually ended up having a hell of a time with that adventure, but we never did settle the argument about whether Frank Sinatra or Julius LaRosa had the bigger impact on pop culture.
Frank Sinatra or Julius LaRosa? What was that about?
Nick: Read the book and find out.
So what does the future hold for you and Felicia?
Nick: Probably more adventures, whether we want them or not. I’m just trying to live my life in my personal corner of paradise, but this Tim Smith cat won’t let me do that. What did I ever do to this guy, anyway? As to Felicia, I sort of proposed when she came to live with me, but I get the impression that if I don’t keep out of trouble, she’ll pack her bags and haul ass back to Barbados – which she’s threatened to do more than once, by the way.
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