Since I’m the writer, I control them and they never get errant. However, I’ve written a couple of characters who have a moment of conscience that goes against their assignment or demeanor and they redeem themselves.

For instance, in Come As You Are, Paul Ramos, a former Seal turned CIA operative, was involved in a massacre that pushed Tessa Carlyle to fake her death.  He redeems himself slightly by helping her get lost, but at the expense of the hero’s (Logan) military career.

Ramos is later in a position as VP of Venezuela and I won’t go into any details, but he recognizes that the man he has replaced (to uncover a conspiracy) was a better man than he could ever be, and that he was wrong to agree to this masquerade.  He tries to complete all the duties and programs the real VP wanted implemented before he vanished and using his training to do it.  He redeems himself the only way he can.

In Perfect Weapon, Gabe Cisco is an NSA agent whose job is to cover up the attack on the secret lab, capture the hero and heroine, and pretty much shove it all under the carpet in the name of National Security.  Cisco's a NSA strong arm, and also tasked with finding the attackers, learning who betrayed the security system, and prevent more murder.  His goal is admirable, but it isn’t until the hero leads him to the pieces and confronts him that he understands he’s on the wrong side.  He redeems himself by using his clearance to help the h&h catch the villain and allow the hero his revenge on the killers.

My bad guys rarely redeem themselves, but in Intimate Danger, henchmen Richora didn’t redeem himself in the general plot, but did by his forbidden love of the villain’s wife.  Neither would betray the villain out of fear and the affair decided the subplot moves of the bad guys.  That not only makes the conflicts personal to the bad guys, it creates a threat within the villain’s camp.

I love creating villains as much as any character.  In most books, especially thrillers, they drive the story.  When I’m stuck, I go right to villain point of view.  Since I usually have more than one to choose from, they have unscrupulous motivations that give me lots of options.  Villains have baggage and it affects them more than any other character because they are on the edge of reality.  They have to be a little Skitzoid to do what they do, and figuring out how they got to be such sick puppies is half the fun of creating fiction.

“What are the Heavies doing?”