I’m often asked whether a particular character unintentionally becomes a scene-stealer or a much larger part of the book. This definitely happens, and in my upcoming book, Padlocked, it occurred in a big way.
Rafe Cabrera was meant to be a minor character, an interpreter for Hank Mullins, an American photojournalist covering the Spanish Civil War. However, Rafe turned out to be far more. He is a Spaniard whose family was targeted by Franco. He believed the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was a conflict of ideologies, but after the bombing of Guernica, he became convinced that the world was at war between good and evil. If you are not familiar with Guernica, Hitler used it as a proving ground for his blitzkrieg tactics in 1937. The village was razed to the ground with thousands of aerial bombs, killing approximately 1,700 civilians out of a population of 7,000.
Rafe’s parents fled to Southern France, where they hoped to be safe from fascism. However, they were in danger again after the Nazi Army invaded France, divided it, and placed Southern France under Vichy rule.
Rafe’s beliefs in a rising evil force caused him to join Hank to cover the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, which occurred before the Nazis invaded France. They become trapped behind the lines, at times finding themselves embedded with the Polish Army, the Nazis, and finally, the Ukrainians as they push the Nazis out of Poland with the Red Army. Under Nazi occupation, their morals are repeatedly challenged.
Rafe is a complex, earthy character with a colorful vocabulary and a fondness for quoting the Bible. His favorite passage is Revelation 12:7-9, in which Satan was cast out of heaven and sent to earth. Rafe is almost obsessed with the fact that the Bible does not say that Satan was cast to hell, but he and his angels with him were cast down to earth to continue the battle here. This belief is solidified when he becomes trapped in Nazi-occupied Poland and witnesses the atrocities there.