BlackThorpe Security

BlackThorpe Security is a fictional business featured in two separate series written by Canadian Christian romance author Kimberly Rae Jordan, The McKinleys (a three-book series) and a subsequent series with the title of the firm itself.

The company is an international security firm: many of its employees are former military. It requires that its employees undergo extensive background checks, and further requires its managers and key employees to be armed at all times and be proficient in self-defense techniques. The name comes from its two founders: Marcus Black and Alex Thorpe (originally they had two other partners, who left due to differences in how the company should be run).

The two series revolves around the professional and personal lives of BlackThorpe employees and their immediate families. Notably, four main families are featured: in addition to the McKinleys, the other families are the Hamiltons (a wealthy family which has had multiple dealings with the firm), the Thorpes (Alex and his two sisters, who also work in the firm), and the Black/Morrell clan (Marcus Black and Justin Morrell, a key employee, are cousins). In addition, two key employees (who later become romantically involved with members of the families listed) are featured: computer hacker/whiz Trent Hause and personal security leader, language expert (and resident "serial dater") Nathaniel "Than" Miller. Notably, throughout both the McKinley and BlackThorpe series, the company is the target of attacks (both physical and cyber) by a competitor firm, which plays a key role in events along the way.

The McKinleys

Backstory

Doug and Caroline McKinley served as missionaries to Africa. At the time, they had two children, Eric and Brooke. However, Doug had an affair with another of the missionaries, Sherry Leighton; when the affair was discovered the McKinleys were returned to the United States, and afterwards terminated by the organization. Although Doug and Caroline were able to save their marriage, both Eric and Brooke rejected Christianity as a result; furthermore, unbeknownst to Doug his affair with Sherry resulted in a daughter, Alicia (Sherry would also renounce her faith as well). Also, Caroline was also pregnant at the same time, and gave birth to Victoria (Tori); Eric and Brooke saw Tori as a reminder of all the family had lost and generally ignored her while she was growing up.

The Hamiltons

Backstory

Leon Hamilton (who, at the time of the family's introduction, was deceased) had built a business empire, Hamilton Enterprises. With his wife Sylvia, the couple had three children: twin brothers Lincoln and Lucas, and sister Lindsay.

Leon's approach to life was that any problem could be solved as long as you threw enough money at it. He believed that since he was financially providing for his family, he could have "variety" in his personal life (as Lindsay would later describe it—with anger and disgust -- "woman after woman paraded through his life") and didn't care about the consequences. It would lead oldest son Lincoln to adopt the same approach to life, which in turn led Lindsay to a general disdain for the male species; on the other hand, Lucas would become an active Christian and start the company's charitable foundation.

Lincoln

Lincoln Hamilton is the oldest of the Hamilton siblings and is the twin brother of Lucas.

Lincoln has adopted, in many ways, the lifestyle of his father. He enjoys an adventurous lifestyle, having made a deal with his father years ago: so long as he works for the company five months out of the year (he designs multi-player role games for the Internet—games which Lucas advises Brooke aren't suitable for Danny) he can life his life the rest of the time as he wishes.

His lifestyle included a fling with Brooke, which produced Danny. Lincoln never formally acknowledged paternity (and his own family didn't know about Danny), but in his own unusual way provided for Danny by buying Brooke's paintings (at highly inflated prices).

While on another adventure island-hopping in the Caribbean, his plane crashes. His body is not found, and he is later declared missing and presumed dead. However, Lucas is not totally convinced of Lincoln's death and hires BlackThorpe to investigate. Lucas' hunch is correct: Lincoln is found with a leg that was broken and not set properly, and moreover has completely lost all memory of prior events.

However, the memory loss no longer has him trying to ignore his paternity of Danny and he wants a relationship with him. This leads to a family argument where Lincoln and Sylvia try to convince Lucas (who has bonded with Danny and has romantic feelings for Brooke) to step aside, only to have the always out-spoken Lindsay convince Lucas not to do so.

Lucas

Lucas is the middle of the Hamilton siblings, the twin brother of Lincoln.

Unlike Lincoln, he is portrayed in appearance as conservative. He has taken over for Leon as the CEO of Hamilton Enterprises. He is also a fairly strong Christian, having started a charitable foundation within the company (though, when paying for Tori's surgery, due to Tori being his sister-in-law he pays for it out of his personal funds).

Notably he has an approach of trying to fix issues, which begins almost immediately after he first meets Brooke in the wake of what was believed to be Lincoln's death; realizing that she was struggling financially (she wasn't running her air conditioner to save money), he discovers that Lincoln had been buying her paintings, and purchases the three she had left to sell. This approach, after Lincoln is discovered to be alive, causes tension between them. He is also a peacemaker of sorts (especially when dealing with the headstrong Lindsay) which nearly causes him to step aside and forego his romantic interest in Brooke. But they ultimately marry; Lucas ends up living in the same house where Brooke resides (not wanting to take Danny away from his network of friends).

Lindsay

Lindsay (full name: Lindsay Marie Hamilton) is the youngest of the Hamilton siblings, six years younger than her twin brothers.

One rarely has to guess what Lindsay thinks or feels about a subject as she is extremely outspoken, especially when it comes to her disdain of the male species in general (in large part due to the lifestyles of her philandering father and playboy brother, but also due to an ex-fiancé who she discovered—thanks to Lucas performing a background check, though Lindsay wasn't pleased when he did it against her wishes—planned to marry her only for her money). Notably, she sided with Lucas (in a very open outburst against Lincoln and Sylvia) when the latter two wanted Lucas to put aside his feelings for Brooke and Danny (in Forever My Love). On those times when she dates, she decides when and where the couple will go (as Than Miller learned, though he had actually expected her to turn him down).

Like Lucas, Lindsay is also a Christian, though by her own admission her spiritual maturity level is extremely low. But after the events surrounding Lincoln's presumed death and later reappearance, along with seeing Lucas find marital happiness with Brooke and Danny, to everyone's surprise (including her own) she decides to go on a church-sponsored mission trip to the Philippines (the backdrop of Guarding Her Heart). Unfortunately, to keep her mother pleased, she had to agree to let Than accompany her as her bodyguard on the trip.

The events of the trip—especially surviving an early-season typhoon making a direct hit on the mission compound—resulted in tremendous spiritual growth for Lindsay, as she saw a different side of the world than her upper-crust sphere. Upon returning home, she took more of an active role in Hamilton Enterprises' charitable foundation; her family remarked that she was less uptight and smiled more. She ends up dating Than (who, as a result of his experiences on the trip, became a Christian) and ultimately they are engaged and later marry.

The Thorpes

Backstory

Dennis and Pamela Thorpe are the parents of three children: twins Alex and Adrianne and sister Melanie. Alex is the co-founder of BlackThorpe, while Adrianne and Melanie also work for the company. The three siblings live together in a mansion-style house, configured so that each sibling has his/her own space but with a common living area; the house also has a guest apartment for visitors. All three are portrayed as Christians (though the level of spiritual maturity is not clear), but notably the three have virtually no romantic lives (Adrianne is the only one who actually dates, yet even then she does so rarely).

Alex

Alex (full name: Alexander Jordan Thorpe) is the oldest of the three Thorpe siblings, and the twin of Adrienne. He is one of the co-founders of BlackThorpe Security.

There is a reason which Alex has never disclosed as to why he doesn't date: unbeknownst to his entire family, he is actually married. As a young man, he dated Rebecca Mackenzie, in a relationship of which her family did not approve. He later joined the military, and prior to an overseas deployment, he and Rebecca eloped. Shortly after the honeymoon Rebecca discovered she was pregnant. But jaded by the abuse he saw children suffering in third world countries, along with Melanie's kidnapping, he asked Rebecca to have an abortion. Rebecca refused and the two separated; she would later have a son (Jordan Alexander Mackenzie) but never told her parents about the marriage, thus creating friction within her family. To cover up the matter, Rebecca tells Jordan that his father is deceased.

But at 14 Jordan learns that his father is very much alive, and without telling his mother he flies to Minneapolis to meet Alex. (Jordan learns the story after receiving a letter from a courier, part of an overarching story arc throughout the McKinley/BlackThorpe series about the company being under attack.) Rebecca ends up flying to Minneapolis afterwards and is convinced to stay at the Thorpe mansion due to the issues surrounding BlackThorpe, but since her marriage to Alex is at this point nothing but on paper, she wants to begin formal divorce proceedings. Jordan also learns about the events surrounding his birth and not surprisingly is angry with Alex; however, the two are able to overcome their differences and bond as father and son.

Eventually, Alex and Rebecca are able to reconcile and actually start living as a married couple. In an unusual twist, the second honeymoon turns out like the first, with Rebecca once again becoming pregnant, this time to a daughter (keeping with the J A theme her name is Joy Anna).

Melanie

Melanie is the youngest of the three Thorpe siblings. She is the director of the BlackThorpe Wellness Center (a facility sponsored by BlackThorpe, specializing in helping wounded veterans recover from their injuries), and a trained psychologist.

As a teenager, 14 years prior to the events of A Matter of Trust (BlackThorpe Security #3) where her story is revealed, she was abducted and held for eventual trafficking to the Middle East as a sex slave, one of 12 girls abducted from around the country. She was rescued from that fate. However, it has left an indelible mark: she dyes her naturally blonde hair a dark brunette color (with a pixie-style short haircut) and wears dark colored contacts, and is obsessed with diet, physical fitness, and personal self-defense (sleeping with a loaded weapon under her pillow). Most importantly, as the abduction came after having a relationship with a fellow teenager at church, she vows not to date again.

Melanie has been long-time friends with Tyler Harris, a double-amputee (below the knee) veteran who's prior marriage ended in divorce when his former wife Kelly walked out after his injuries. After recovery he also becomes a BlackThorpe employee, who often works with the center. He is the only child of a single mother who gave birth to him at age 14 (his conception was the result of rape; the assailant was later killed by police) and who had no parental support for her decision to choose life over abortion. Interestingly, both Tyler and Melanie share the same birthday.

Tyler is asked to assist with the recovery of Simon, also a wounded veteran who also suffers from survivor's guilt. During that time the center receives a $2 million donation from Henry and Shauna Wakeford, who have supported the Center in the past but not at this level (Melanie later learns that Shauna is Tyler's mother, and Henry—who goes by Hank—is his step-father and a British citizen; they donated due to how the Center helped in Tyler's recovery), and the Center expands its therapy to include dogs to assist those with PTSD. Meanwhile, Melanie receives messages from Jenni, another of the abductees; ultimately Jenni becomes suicidal and Melanie flies out to Seattle where she successfully talks Jenni out of ending her life.

Melanie and Tyler are both pressured by their parents to start dating, and eventually they do. But their entire relationship nearly ends when (after Justin is attacked and Alana is abducted by her ex-husband; their story is featured in Signs of Love, BlackThorpe Security #2) Tyler discovers her natural hair color and eyes. Melanie, having already told Tyler about Jenni, reveals that she was also part of that abduction ring. The events involving Justin and Alana shock Melanie: if Justin (a much larger and more muscular man) couldn't protect Alana, how would the much smaller Melanie have a chance? It causes her to see psychiatric help, ultimately she becomes less obsessed with diet, exercise, and protection, and returns to her natural hair color (and length) and eye color as well. In the end Tyler asks Melanie to marry him.

The Black/Morrell clan

Marcus Black (co-founder of BlackThorpe) and Justin Morrell (who handles personal security training) are cousins. Both of them have had responsibility for younger siblings (Marcus for sister Meredith, Justin for sister Beth) after Marcus' father massacred the rest of their families, then committed suicide (Beth and Meredith survived as they were in a cabin attic when the attack took place, but witnessed the suicide). Marcus later learns that his father had a second family (consisting of "Jeff" and two unnamed siblings); he provided for Marcus' family but did not for Jeff's, which led Jeff to team with the BlackThorpe attackers.

Other key BlackThorpe members

Trent Hause

Trent Hause is BlackThorpe's in-house computer expert.

The third child of his parents (ten years younger than his brother and seven years younger than his sister), because he was an unexpected child he was generally ignored by his family (they preferred to raise him via a nanny and housekeeper, and by allowing him to buy whatever he wanted). He chose to spend his parents' allowance on high-end computer equipment and would have gotten into serious trouble as a hacker, were it not for the family housekeeper and her husband taking an interest in him (and eventually leading him to faith in Christ).

Though he is the recipient of a trust fund, he never spends any of the money. Instead (to the disdain of his high-maintenance sister) he lives somewhat of a minimalist lifestyle (computers being his only major purchase).

He is portrayed as Eric McKinley's best friend. In When There is Love (McKinley #3) he realizes that his relationship with Eric's sister Tori is becoming more than just that of friends; ultimately the two begin dating and marry.

Than Miller

Nathaniel "Than" Miller is BlackThorpe's resident language expert.

He is the third of five children, and the youngest of two brothers, born to Steven Miller Sr. and Rosa. Steven was an Air Force veteran, stationed at (now closed) Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines, where he met Rosa, a Filipino national. Rosa taught all her children to speak both English and Tagalog; this started Than's ability to quickly learn foreign languages, as he is also fluent in French and Spanish, and conversant in Russian, Italian and Arabic (and later learns American Sign Language as Justin's niece and adopted son both have congenital hearing loss). Although the Millers are Christians, Than left the church in his teens and did not have a genuine faith.

Than is routinely teased as being the company's "serial dater", as he rarely has more than one or two dates with any woman (though his relationships with them don't go beyond dating). But after dating Lindsay Hamilton, he suddenly loses interest in other women.

In Guarding Her Heart (BlackThorpe #1) he is hired by Lucas to be Lindsay's bodyguard when she goes on a mission trip to the Philippines, which turns out to be beneficial when an early season typhoon hits the country. During the trip, he realizes that Lindsay doesn't need a man who isn't going to be committed solely to her, and also that he needs a faith for himself as well. Upon returning home, Eric and Trent share the Gospel with him and he becomes a Christian. He also begins a serious relationship with Lindsay, which ultimately leads to an engagement and marriage.