I am thrilled to be writing The Infiltrix Series for Tule Publishing. It has been such an amazing adventure. The Package is already available. The Surveillance releases on February 19th and the third book, The Intel, is up for pre-order.
The covers are amazing, aren’t they? Thank you cover artist, Lee Hyat!
If you are new to my books, let me tell you my thrillers are full of mystery, twists, and against-all-odds deadly missions. People ask how I come up with my stories. I’ll give you my top-secret intel on my writing process.
Plot comes first.
For the Infiltrix Series, I wanted to write about a future where militant bad guys have taken over the United States. Everyone is terrorized. Freedoms are gone and no one can escape. It’s a scary country run by a violent dictator. A group of secret agents run spy missions to block the bad guys at every turn and to save lives. Setting the series in the future allows me to create my own spy gadgets (great fun!) and a slightly new country. The series is not too far into the future, however, because I want the reader to experience an edge of concern because the new world is a little too familiar.
Once I had the idea of what the series is going to be about, I started creating the characters. I like to develop characters who have the most to lose and then I throw them right into the middle of the danger. Does that sound mean? Maybe. What I learn about the character is that she/he will either sink or swim, run or fight. Their response tells me who the character is at that start of the book and who they might become by the end.
The hero for the Infiltrix Series is a female agent who lives in constant danger.
Heather is one of my most favorite characters. She is small, but mighty, smart, stubborn and a little reckless. As a highly-trained asset, she is fast on her feet, and can fight and disarm men who are double her size. She uses her wits, charms, and ability to throw her enemy off-guard. She is a gorgeous chameleon who lives deep undercover with the bad guys and changes her persona as quickly as her fashionable outfits. Her partner is a handsome foreign asset whose main duty is to have her back and keep her safe at all costs. Both characters suffer from war trauma and are trying to piece together the parts of the lives they lost. They are flawed and injured and are stronger when they work together, especially when techniques are used to erase their memories. A secret group of brilliant geeks, hackers, and a former SEAL round out the team Heather leads. The clock is always ticking and lives are at stake. It’s a wild ride.
I hope readers will love the characters as much as I do.
On high alert, Miguel got out of his car and cautiously walked to the front door. There was no movement in the bushes and no outside security lights clicked on. The digital lockbox was hanging open on the door handle. Someone had broken it to get inside the empty brewhouse. He took his pistol out of his waistband and aimed it at the door. After taking one slow breath, he kicked the door open.
He startled when he saw two large yellow eyes staring at him. He clicked on his flashlight and saw that it was only a large red-and-black dragon with fiery breath painted on the ceiling in the entrance. Its eyes did not blink. He exhaled. The building was dark inside except for the flicker of faux candlelight down the hall. He crept toward the light with his pistol raised and stepped into a room full of giant oak barrels. He smelled mustiness and old beer. And something else. Something that felt like…
The past.
He held steady as his eyes focused in the dim light. The woman he’d seen in the picture Worm had sent to him sat on a barstool with her back to the old barrels. The mechanical candle was on the floor beneath her feet bathing her lithe figure in a warm golden light. She wore beige slacks and a pale pink blouse. Her legs were crossed and the top foot bounced, as if she were nervous or impatient. A white strapless sandal was hooked on that bouncing foot. Her brown, wavy hair draped over her shoulders. It wasn’t a wig.
Her real hair in the picture looked like this: natural, thick, luxurious. A strange expression that resembled surprise or curiosity filled blue eyes that watched him. He hadn’t realized until that moment that he’d stopped moving, maybe even stopped breathing. There was no doubt. He was looking at Heather Slade.
“You came,” she said. Her voice was sultry, rich, and strangely familiar.
“Yes,” was the best he could do.
“Please, come in. I have secured the building with cameras and alarms. If anyone comes close to the doors or windows, we’ll know it and have time to react.”
He nodded. For some reason, his mouth wasn’t able to form words.
“I’m so glad you came. I worried that…” She didn’t finish the sentence but kept looking at him with that same odd expression on her face. Curiosity? Wonder?
He stepped closer. “You worried?”
She blinked. “Nothing. It’s…nothing.”
That foot was going a mile a minute, as if in time with his beating heart. He took a step toward her and stopped again.
He thought he was prepared for this moment. He’d stared at her 3D photo long enough to have memorized every angle, every curve of her face and long neck. He knew that her complexion was smooth and tight, as if wrinkles didn’t dare crease her skin. Except when she smiled. Ah, when she turned those lips up, tiny crinkles formed around her eyes like miniature blackbird wings. A man could soar through the clouds when she smiled. He knew all this. He’d prepared himself for how beautiful she was. He’d been ready for hours.
Still, he hadn’t thought about the opposite: how ugly he’d feel next to her perfection. Most days he didn’t think twice about the battle scars raked across his neck and scalp. Suddenly, he did.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, her voice soft and silky.
Déjà vu rang through him, not like a bell, more like a song of comfort, of coming home. He felt as if he knew this woman, which, of course, he did, in some fashion. But he also didn’t, because he couldn’t recall any of their mission together. The oddness of the situation was maddening.
“What is it?” she asked again.
“Sorry, Miss…Agent…Heather…Slade.” Mierda, he didn’t even know what to call her. “I’m
having a bit of difficulty—” He struggled with words as those deep-blue eyes pored over him. Her skin was just as flawless as in the photo, but there was something underneath the almost unreal perfection. If he had to put a name to it, he would say she shimmered.
“Difficulty?” she asked, still staring at him.
He ran his hand over his short hair, scraping over the latest wound. “This is going to be tough to explain, so I’m just going to say it. You should know the truth.”
She stood up. “You’re declining the mission?”
He frowned. “No.” At least, he didn’t think so. “I need to tell you something that, uh, might
change your mind about wanting me for the mission.”
A crease formed on her forehead. It didn’t seem to belong there, and he had the strangest desire to rub it off her skin. I am losing my mind.
“I don’t remember you. At all,” he rushed on. And because he was already neck-deep in the mud, the only thing left to do was dive under. “But I feel like we do know each other. Well. So well, that I am a fool for not remembering. I’m sorry.”
He winced, waiting for her response.
To his surprise, she smiled. “I know. Me too.”
“Pardon?”
“I don’t remember you either. Not really, anyway.”
They stared at each other for a long beat. How was it that they both couldn’t remember each other? Did she have a brain injury too? Or was this some elaborate joke?
“Are you making fun of me, Miss, uh, agent?”
“Of course not. It is as if we are seeing each other for the first time. That’s how it’s supposed to be, by design. But the more I study your features, hear your voice, it’s easier to stitch you to the guy I can’t see in my memories. The shadows.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I know.” She sighed. “No one does. But we did work together before, and we will again. It’s
part of the dangerous game we play to save the world.”
About the Author
Kimberley Troutte is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. She has been a Top 100 Amazon author and a Top 10 Romantic Suspense bestselling author for Amazon. Kimberley was a finalist in both the Vivian® and the RITA®–the highest awards for excellence in romance. She lives in Southern California with her husband, two sons, a wild cat, a large iguana, an old snake, and all the other creatures that hubby and boys rescue.
To learn more about her novels, please visit her at www.kimberleytroutte.com and sign up for the newsletter.
Hello readers! 
New month, new mysteries! Whether you’re looking for a mystery with political intrigue, procedural mystery, or a Nun in Seattle, we’ve got the perfect read.
I’m the author of the high-octane Infiltrix Series. The Asset will be available October 1st as the next book in the dangerous and continuing adventures of Heather Slade and her spy team. The other books in the thriller series are The Package. The Surveillance, and The Intel.
I’m thrilled to announce that Book 3 in
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