New interview with thriller authors Breakfield and Burkey

I have co-authors Breakfield and Burkey (Charles Breakfield and Rox Burkey) back in the house today. We’re chatting about their new technothriller, Enigma Tracer.

Bios:
Breakfield,is a 25+ year technology expert in security, networking, voice, and anything digital. He enjoys writing, studying World War II history, travel, and cultural exchanges. He also enjoys wine tastings, wine-making, Harley riding, cooking extravaganzas, and woodworking.

Burkey,a 25+ year applied technology professional who excels at optimizing technology and business investments for customers worldwide with a focus on optimized customer experiences. She writes white papers and documents with a marked preference for fiction.

Together they create award-winning stories that resonate with readers from young adult and beyond. They bring a fresh view to technology possibilities and threats in today’s world. Visit them https://www.EnigmaSeries.com

Welcome back to Reviews and Interviews! Please tell us about your new release.
Cyber heroes of R-Group and CATS team have new leadership—family heirs. Gracie Rodreguiz and her twin brother Juan Jr (JJ) battle more complex cyber threats than ever before for friends, businesses, and governments. Their resources include their supercomputer ICABOD.

A college roommate reached out to Gracie, for a way to intercept and bring to justice an environmental gangster. JJ, sends his CATS team to locations for courageous, hands-on root cause analysis and damage control activities. These groups continue the family tradition of competing from the moral high ground in a world where technology offers cyber thugs a place to operate anonymously.

Phillip Pliant is the wealthy opportunist plastics dealer and CEO of Pliant Industries. Out to get rich by any means, he creates a pervasive threat with manufacturing infrastructure in the Caribbean islands markets. Local cartels are his clients and the naïve city leaders have been bought, enabling the production of more than 3-dimensional building materials.

Our heroes learn Pliant has eliminated prior evangelists bent on exposing his operations. Their plans hit a wall from Pliant’s seasoned thugs. Gracie never considered that their lives would hang between winning and losing. They must uncover options before time runs out.

What inspired you to write this book?
We wanted a three-part series for launching the Enigma Heirs, and this is the first installment. The evil organization the R-Group is fighting has more than this plastics operation. Book two, Enigma Forced, is plotted and an active project planned for release in early 2024. We have lightly sketched book three, Enigma Jewels, for early 2025. Finding the evidence and the trails of the leaders of this cartel are more far-reaching than Gracie and JJ expected. These criminals fight to win at any cost.

We also wanted stories that shine a light, even as fiction, on human trafficking and drugs with hope for people through awareness and knowledge.

Excerpt from Enigma Tracer:
Finished with the last meeting of the day, Gracie flumped down in her soft office chair and breathed a deep sigh. She took a generous swallow from the cold glass of water, and said to no one in particular, “This two-job thing feels almost like Jekyll and Hyde. Someone should have warned me when I made my life choice.”

She’d barely shut her eyes when the phone erupted again. This time she smiled at the incoming caller ID. “Hi JJ, I’m glad you called. It’ll do me good to speak with my favorite twin. It’s been one of those kinds of days.”

She pictured his dark hair and swarthy complexion with the same wiry build as their dad. She favored the fair skin tone, dark blond hair and slender form of their mother. She briefly thought about her daily workouts, whereas children, he bested her half the time. She knew that the next time they saw each other, he’d suggest a rematch to see if she kept up her practice.

Sounding dejected, JJ admitted, “Would you be disappointed if I’d called to whine?”

“Only if I get to go first,” Gracie chuckled. “I take it you’re overwhelmed like me in our new roles.”

“I was doing fine in the modest cyber assassin role for the CATS team,” JJ confirmed, “And being in charge was a dream come true. That is until the dream morphed into a nightmare. To be fair, the people I manage are pros. They try to help guide me, but my response to most of their questions is a pathetic; what would you do? I think they realize I’m a fake.”

“Oh, JJ,” Gracie sympathized, “I think your role is much tougher than mine. I mean, running the R-Group, the logistics of placing operatives with the right skillset into covert operations and extracting them in one piece… It must be nerve-wracking.”

“Hey, wait a minute,” protested JJ. “I’m not the one who uses her full-time job at the World Bank as cover for managing R-Group resources poking into stuff around the world. You can’t possibly aid all the global customers begging for help with cyber threats from the Darknet. If you think I’m gonna trade jobs for your pressure cooker role, you’re several sandwiches short of a full picnic basket. I’m wiser cuz I’m older.”

Gracie smirked. “By minutes, JJ. Less than five.” She giggled. “Aren’t we funny? We’ve been groomed for these roles all our lives. Even though we’re complaining, we wouldn’t think of shirking our responsibilities. I like having someone to talk to, especially since you’re so much older and experienced.”

What exciting project are you working on next?
Breakfield and Burkey are deep into the next book of the Enigma Heirs series, Enigma Forced. We don’t believe in cliffhangers, so each book delivers a satisfying read with closure. However, when characters slip the arm of justice, they can return to fight another day.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
For Breakfield, being a writer means someone else calls you that, and then you get to quote them. He also likes being called svelte and handsome, but one out of three isn’t bad.

For Burkey, she wrote poetry in high school and enjoyed it as an expression of sentiment. She was featured in Reader’s Digest for one of her poems.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your workday like? If not, what do you do other than write, and how do you find time to write?
We both work full time so writing is budgeted between those responsibilities. But we both strive to wake up early and blaze on our respective keyboards for a couple of hours before those pesky work items intrude. After the work day, they will meet up, by phone or in person to discuss the current manuscript and other business items like marketing that writers also need.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
For Breakfield, it would have to be drawing a total blank on the spelling of a word or a concept that needs to be researched on the ‘Net and then forget to take the puppies out for their morning break and snack.

For Burkey, she is the consummate multi-tasker with two computers, on one or more conference calls, and texting with her children. When she dropped from a pot of coffee a day to a single cup, she gets more done.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Breakfield, has always understood that he wanted to be a Star Ship Captain, first and foremost with a fallback job as a fighter pilot like his dad. Instead, he became a techno-geek who loves to write.

Burkey wanted to be a ballerina and travel the world. She has much more of the world to see, and those adventures will add to our stories.

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
We enjoy being storytellers and have readers/listeners leave honest reviews on our books so they can enter their review link on our website raffle-copter program for a chance to win a $25 gift card in our monthly drawings.

Links:
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