Spotlight & Giveaway: The Package by Kimberley Troutte

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Kimberley Troutte to HJ!

Hi Kimberley and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Package!

To start off, can you please tell us a little bit about this book?:

If Bourne was a kick-butt female asset in the future, she would be Agent Heather Slade.
Heather is a spy who lives undercover with deadly enemies. Her mission is to smuggle a
package of secrets aboard the evil President’s golden train with a handsome foreign agent
who seems vaguely familiar. He may be the one to help her remember her past and find
the child she has lost…if they survive the ride.
 

Please share your favorite lines or quote(s) from this book:

This is a snippet when Heather is preparing Miguel for the mission they are about to
embark on:
Heather stepped in front of him, facing the mirror. “What do you see?”
He paused, as if measuring his words.
“Go on, what do you see?” she pressed.
“A strikingly beautiful woman,” he said. Her cheeks did pink that time.
“Does this woman in a charmeuse pantsuit with a silk flower in her hair and smelling like
a million bucks scare anyone?”
He chuckled. “Yeah. Me.”
For the briefest of moments, her lips turned up. “Get serious.”
“Who said I’m not?”
“Well, I’m not supposed to scare anyone. I should look and smell like money. Soft.
Pampered. A daddy’s girl. Everyone underestimates me, Mike.” She turned around and
looked him in the eye. “Everyone.”
“I won’t.”

What inspired this book?

I have always loved spy stories and books with twists that surprise me. Espionage stories
with characters who put themselves in harm’s way for truth, justice, and a deep love of
humanity? Conquering evil against all odds? Those stories inspire me.

It is exciting to write a series that keeps me guessing as I write it! In the end, I hope
readers fall in love with the characters, get swept away in the adventure, and cheer for
them to save the future world.

How did you ‘get to know’ your main characters? Did they ever surprise you?

Agent Heather Slade is the most interesting female character I’ve written. She is a kick-
butt, highly skilled, smart, “think-on-her feet” asset who cares deeply about protecting
her team members and getting everyone out alive during the missions. Heather
undermines and spies on the highest levels of the government, while living deeply
undercover with the enemy. She is perfect looking on the outside, but a bit of a mess on
the inside. She works with an oddly familiar foreign asset in dangerous missions and
senses that he can help her piece together her stolen past.

During the second civil war, she was so badly injured that she required a full face
transplant and lost her memory. She senses that she lost everything in the war, including
a daughter she doesn’t remember. When I was writing about her, I was surprised that she
was worried about who she was in the “before the war times”. Heather has no idea who
she really is which colors her impressions of the world. Could she have been the enemy
before she lost her memory?

What was your favorite scene to write?

Gosh, there are so many favorites in this book. Here is the “Meet Cute” scene on the train:

Stretching her arm out, she swiped the device through the air. “All clear.”
“Bug catcher?” he asked.
She nodded. “Go in.”
He stepped in and was shocked at how large the cabin was. It was nicer than any hotel
suite he’d ever been in. Shiny wood, crystal, expensive leather, a queen-sized bed . . . the
attributes went on and on.
“Wow,” he mumbled.
“Yes, it’s impressive.” She took the appetizers out of his hand and put them and hers on a
table. “I need you to focus here, Mike. We have a problem.”
He faced her. “Tell me.”
She scrubbed her face with her hands. “Somehow, we need to sneak into the storage
compartment in the conductor’s car without being seen.”
“Why?”
“I left something in there last night.”
“Last night?” He crossed his arms. “Santa Fe was burning.”
“I know,” she said softly.
White-hot anger sliced through him. He narrowed his eyes at her. “A free press office
was burned to the ground!”
Did she have something to do with that?
Headquarters needed that office and the few remaining ones scattered around the Union.
Blockwell had systematically destroyed the press and silenced truth-tellers. The few
courageous journalists who hadn’t fled for the Free States were living with the enemy and
reporting Blockwell’s human rights crimes to the world.
She spun on her heel, heading toward the cabin door. “Let’s go.”
He cursed in Spanish, his body pumping with anger and confusion. Which side was she
on? Was killing brave journalists and shutting the truth up forever part of her plan? Was
she more like her father than HQ knew? His instincts were on high alert. Was he being
set up?
Putting his hand to the door, he blocked her exit. “Did you hear what I said?”
She didn’t answer his question, instead lifting her chin defiantly. “You’re not like the
other Revo assets, are you? Most take orders and do what they’re told without question.”
“Were you involved with the destruction of the free press office?” he growled.
“I didn’t burn the office.”
“What did you do last night?”
Letting out an impatient breath, she snapped. “We don’t have time for this discussion.”
He pressed his back against the door. “I’m stuck with you for thirty hours. Should be
enough time for you to fill me in on what happened in Santa Fe.”
She slapped her hand against the wall. “We might not survive the next ten minutes.”
That shook the anger out of him. “What?”
“We have to get to the storage compartment before everyone boards the train. We don’t
want to get caught down there without a cover story.”
Her flawless white cheeks were suddenly very pale.
“What’s in storage?” he asked.
She leaned closer and whispered in his ear. “The Patriot officer I knocked out and tied up
last night.”
“You knocked out an officer?” He pulled back to see if she was kidding. The look on her
face was the most serious thing he’d seen all week.
“Yes. And he’s probably not going to be thrilled about it when he wakes up. If he starts
yelling, you and I could be in some serious trouble.” She dug in her purse and pulled out
a small box. Opening it, she showed him a medical set with a needle and a vial.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Enough sleepy juice to knock him out for the rest of the trip.” She bit her lip. “I hope.”
She wanted to inject a bound-up officer with sleepy juice? On a Patriot train? She had to
be out of her mind.
“It’s imperative that we don’t get caught. Do you understand?” she said.
She was the billionaire donor’s daughter and he was a Mexican. He knew all too well
which one of them would take the heat if the mission went south. “Yeah, I do.”
They looked at each other for a beat, a silent pact passing between them. They were
doing this. Then she broke eye contact and dug into that purse again and pulled out
another box identical to the first. “Here. You should have one of these with you too. In
case we get separated.”
He put it in his pocket.
She lifted her chin and looked him in the eye. She was scared, but damned determined.
“Are you ready?”
He opened the door. “Lead the way.”

What was the most difficult scene to write?

The ending. For sure. 100%, the hardest, but I don’t want to give anything away that
might ruin the adventure for readers, so I will have to pass on answering this question.

Would you say this book showcases your writing style or is it a departure for you?

Typically, I write romantic suspense with lots of adventure. I adore writing about
brotherhoods and teams who fight together against evil in high-stakes life or death
situations. Banding together to become strong together against insurmountable odds?
Yep, that’s my jam.

THE PACKAGE has all of those juicy flavors but is a departure because it is a thriller,
not a romance. Oh, there is definitely a smoldering love story that continues throughout
all the books in the INFILTRIX series, but the mystery and twisty thrills take front stage.
I can’t wait for readers to go along with me for the wild ride.

What do you want people to take away from reading this book?

That love is eternal and the most powerful tool we have. Coming together, working side-
by-side, standing up for what is right hand-in-hand is how we win in the fight against
evil. Civil Wars hurt everyone and have lasting impacts, especially when the side who
doesn’t care about human rights wins. We can’t let that happen.

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I am currently writing book 4 in the INFILTRIX series.
The Package (Book 1) releases July 25, 2024
The Surveillance (Book 2) releases December 2024
The Intel (Book 3) TBD
The Mole (Book 4) TBD
The Extraction (Book 5) TBD

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: Winner will receive one ebook copy of THE PACKAGE plus one additional ebook of the winner’s choice from Tule Publishing

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Excerpt from The Package:

“Heather slipped past the ticket booth outside the Santa Fe railway station at a quarter to midnight. She wore a simple black turtleneck, dark slacks, black boots, and a baseball cap. Makeup and eye-catching diamonds were not required at this stage of the mission. With her senses on high alert, she fast-walked through one of the largest train stations in the Patriot Union, scanning the dark landscape. No night watchmen or heavily armed Patriot Defenders chased after her. The coast seemed clear. Still, looks could be deceiving. She’d been trained to stick to the edges of darkness and slide across the razor’s edge of sanity.
Her handler had called the mission an easy in-and-out. “Deliver the package and get out without being seen, Agent Slade. It’s as simple as that.”
Right, simple. Her handler had no idea what really happened in the field nor truly understood what Heather risked every time she maneuvered within the Patriot crowds. Nothing was easy anymore. There was no safe harbor. The tangible threat of her violent execution loomed around every corner.
Headquarters, or fondly referred to as simply “HQ,” had chosen her to lead this mission because she was[…]”

Excerpt From
The Package
Kimberley Troutte
This material may be protected by copyright.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

In the deadly future after the second civil war, the United States is divided and dangerous…

Agent Heather Slade is a beautiful well-crafted fake. A perfect lie. A highly-trained asset with no country, no memory, and no home. She spies for a secretive group of Revo agents from the democratic Free States and fights against the crushing power of the charismatic authoritarian leader who controls the militant Patriot regions. Risking her life, she infiltrates top levels of the brutal government and lives deeply under cover with her enemies.

Heather’s current mission is to smuggle a package from under the President’s nose onto a highly guarded golden train and bring it to safety in the Free States. Her partner on the perilous journey is a handsome but inexperienced foreign agent with secrets of his own. Why is Miguel Robles so hauntingly familiar? He might hold the key to finding the family she no longer remembers—if they survive the mission.

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Meet 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 her website and sign up for the newsletter.
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