Blurb:

Don’t miss out on this thrilling adventure. Buy “Enigma Jewels” now!

In the dangerous waters of the Caribbean, one man reigns supreme as the most cunning and elusive criminal of them all: Julian, the last remaining brother of a notorious dynasty. With a vast fortune at his disposal, Julian’s power and influence know no bounds. But now, the Enigma Heirs, R-Group, and CATS team have set their sights on bringing him down, determined to dismantle his entire operation and put an end to his illegal drug and human trafficking enterprises.

However, Julian’s obsession with acquiring precious jewels may have led him to a new venture: harvesting gems from sunken ships in the Caribbean. Treasure hunting is a cutthroat business where no one can be trusted, and Gracie and JJ find themselves facing their most formidable adversary yet. Julian, the cleverest of the trio, is always one step ahead, and as they delve deeper into his operations, they uncover a complex web of money laundering and secrets.

As they race against time to solve the puzzle and bring Julian to justice, Gracie and JJ must confront their pasts and the shadows that haunt them. With treacherous hazards at every turn, their pursuit of justice becomes a test of courage and resolve as they navigate the murky waters of deceit and peril.

Enigma Jewels is a gripping techno-thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. Award-winning authors Breakfield and Burkey weave a suspenseful narrative that will leave readers enthralled from the first page to the last. The Da Vinci Code and National Treasure fans will love this fast-paced and action-packed novel.

Enigma Jewels Interview:

Hello, Mr. Charles Breakfield and Ms. Rox Burkey! My name is Bunny! Thank you both so much for taking the time to respond to these interview questions concerning your book Enigma Jewels!

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Hey, Bunny, thank you for hosting us.

While reading this book you absolutely spark the interest of readers with the sunken shipwrecks and talk of treasure hunting. We can only imagine the amount of time that went into researching the various shipwrecks mentioned and their specific locations.

Was it a lot of fun researching? Did you end up getting sucked down a rabbit hole with it? Because it absolutely sounds like that would potentially happen as a desire to find more information, and learn more about each one would surely spark off.

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Researching is always a fun but intoxicating part of storytelling. Once Charles became immersed, no pun intended, in the still-unfound treasure ships, he explored for days. Rox had trouble getting him to return to dry land and his keyboard.

1. Have you ever gone on a treasure hunt before yourselves?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Charles got tangled up with an adventure offer in the region we use in Enigma Jewels. A friend, who happened to be a former Major in the Navy, had a line on a husband/wife team who wanted help. They claimed to have stumbled onto an old sea chest with a false bottom. Inside the false bottom was an ancient map from the 1700s, written in old-style Spanish.

After a lot of deciphering, the husband/wife team determined the map was actually three maps the treasure hunter would need to use in order. The cache of gold coins would be split into thirds if Charles joined. Each map contained the subsequent location. The last pointed back to the first. When the husband suffered a stroke, the wife began searching for a trustworthy team. The wife decided the Major would lead the operation. The Major asked Charles to help as part of the armed security. Boy, talk about intoxicating. Charles was all set to quit his day job and ride shotgun on their chartered boat to fend off pirates. Rox used a shiny twirling object in front of his eyes to talk him out of joining the adventure, suggesting staying alive might be more important.

2. Ever found any buried treasure?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Rox found a beaded purse when going through her mother’s things after her passing. The beaded purse, wrapped in tissue paper, was old and hand-made by someone adept at tiny hand stitching. The beads and thread dated to the mid to late 1700s, as confirmed by an antique dealer. The note card underneath the purse was from an admirer of her mother. His family dealt with antique sales imported from Europe. The young suitor promised it belonged to Marie Antoinette, who’s belongings were sold after her beheading.

C) Have you ever visited a shipwreck?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Yes, but nothing as glamorous as those in our story.

What was the inspiration behind completely burying the identity of Julian and his half-brothers? The twist that you write into Enigma Jewels with how far back it goes is absolutely jaw-dropping due to how unexpected it was. How did you come to the decision to pursue that particular angle of the storyline?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: When crafting our stories, our characters often tell us how or where the storyline needs to go. We oblige them. When Enigma Tracer, book 1 of The Enigma Heirs Trilogy, was in the works, our ecological gangster was deemed evil. He needed an infrastructure of support to do some of his dastardly deeds. Who better to trust than family, especially two step brothers trained at a young age by their corrupt father? Each son born of a different mother grew up in various locales to fulfill their father’s dream of a worldwide family consortium. Using this as the foundation, adding the problems in stopping drugs, human trafficking, and cryptocurrency, the rest came together.

We subscribe to the mantra Arthur C. Clarke once demanded of himself: Don’t give me more, give me better. We push and pull on the storyline to create interesting details to deliver stories that interest readers.

As Enigma Jewels unfolds in multiple places it appears that you anticipate readers’ desire for answers for particular characters. The manner in which this unfolds…was that intentional? You plant just the right amount of seeds to direct readers to start thinking about specific characters before reintroducing those characters into the story. It’s subtle but absolutely ingenious.

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Thank you for calling that out. We love delighting readers.

Flores comes off as a very nervous character. He sounds very old-school and uncomfortable with the progress and anonymity that crypto offers. What was the decision making process behind his particular character?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: We felt Flores was a very myopic, money-driven character. That sort of personality made it easy to let his character’s thirst for more coin for his business model drive his actions and reactions. All devious business models of criminals are focused on the transaction, not necessarily on how to get away with the crime. You can almost hear them crow, ‘Ha! We stole or sold someone else’s property or life, so let’s celebrate.’ Snart crooks avoid the consequences, get away, and do not get caught. Flores is not an advanced criminal.

As readers are reconnected with Sophia and Elena, we’re happy to discover that their characters are written as not having forgotten their friends. The spark of hope is planted for them to be found, but tempered by the knowledge of how human trafficking works.

First, we have to say that we appreciate and applaud you for how realistic you keep this storyline. The question that arises is – was it a difficult decision to turn the story in the direction that it takes with Sophia and Elena’s friends? (You don’t have to go into too much detail to avoid spoilers. 😉 )

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Sophia and Elena are mirrors of our humanity and feelings towards others. No matter how bad they’ve had it, we want them to get help and move forward. It is difficult to highlight how to show compassion for a situation that feels wrong.

We have to say that in the fall-out of the phone call between Gracie and JW we really have to applaud you for how you give a nod to the characters’ mental health. You allow them to take a break, catch their breath for a minute, and process what they’ve learned.

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Gracie and her twin brother, JJ, were trained from birth to take over the family business and run these two teams. JW is only a few years younger than the twins but has received the same level of training. You cannot train the next generation for every contingency in cyber warfare. We created a strong ethical bias and embedded a moral high ground in the R-Group to treat team members as valued human beings. We’ve all seen when individuals ignore or discount that attribute.

One of our favorite moments in Enigma Jewels was the second interaction between Julian and Flores. Julian is so laidback, calm, cool and collected while Flores is a step away from raging. Is it a calculated tactic on Julian’s part to get Flores riled up and off balance? If so, why exactly? As Flores goes to point out, Julian owes him for the “favor” he did for him in book two.

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Successful negotiations, particularly with dangerous people, are an art form. If it’s too easy or you appear intimidated, you’re not in a position of strength. There are several examples in Sun Tzu’s The Art of War where students are reminded not to get pushed into the enemy’s demands. Draw out the negotiations to play your hand to win.

When Nohea gets released and is looking for ways to “escape the trackers” I was looking forward to the drama that would be sure to follow. But you throw a twist in there that disrupts the anticipation. However, you once again show us readers that Julian is one of thinks ahead just like the CATS. How did this particular idea of Nohea’s concerning the vacuum cleaner come about?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: After being chipped, Nohea’s priority is to avoid being tracked. He’s a former military man turned enforcer who must please his boss. He can’t do that if the trackers keep the upper hand. The easiest answer is to disable the chip with a burst of static electricity. We did a little digging, and the old-style, belt-driven vacuum cleaners will actually do the neutralization without a problem. (of course, it’s gonna sting.)

The storyline and the background that you create for each of the characters throughout Enigma Jewels makes it truly fascinating. How difficult was it to come up with the various backgrounds for the half-brothers, especially?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Our experience with people we met from all over the world, coupled with our technology careers, makes it easy for us to craft characters. After our cyber training in ethical hacking, we are well-versed in several bad actor practices from the Darknet. Curiously, the course teaches what the bad actors have dreamed up, then gives you instructions on how to defeat it. We understand identity theft.

Throughout Enigma Jewels you incorporate sprinkles of humor to keep the story from being too dark and sombre. What was it like working these particular elements into Enigma Jewels?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Writing thrillers presents a real danger of being too dark and morbid. Life isn’t that way. You need some levity and humor to let the reader breathe emotionally, before you dive back in. We’ve always tried to put touches of levity in our stories to bring them closer to reality.

In the past two books, Harto has been depicted as a “soft” character. He’s not one that we’ve ever really thought to take seriously. But here…yet again…you throw a twist at us readers that is sure to have jaws on the floor! How did you come to the decision to show this particular side of Harto, now?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: We detest one-dimensional characters in our stories, as readers cannot relate to them. People are multifaceted, even when they try to show only one side. We like to slap the character upside the head and let them show us just how different they can behave. It becomes a Win/Win when they tell us what to do.

The drama is off and on mixed with predictable and unpredictable moments leading up to the final moments of this story. Readers can expect more than one surprise to crop up concerning the various characters in this story. What was the thought process behind this? Was it to wrap everything up before the end?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: There is nothing more disappointing than having a reader figure everything out halfway through the story. If life were that easy, we’d be bored. A quote from an author we admire states that the difference between fiction and nonfiction is that fiction has to make sense. That doesn’t mean it must be predictable.

The way that Enigma Jewels ends, are we to conclude that this is the end of the Enigma Heirs series?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: We crafted the Enigma Heirs Trilogy as three books depicting three brothers. Gracie and JJ are in charge of the R-Group and CATS teams. Other stories are possible though nothing concrete at this point. We are working on adding another cozy mystery in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles with the Underground Authors and their new time travel series Car 4488.

Sounds like readers will have much to look forward to concerning Breakfield and Burkey! Cue up the excitement fellow readers, because more good things are yet to come! We definitely know that we here at Scribbles can’t wait!

Will there be more books to come in connection to the Enigma series overall?

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Yes, Breakfield and Burkey are creating more books. Check out our website EnigmaSeries.com for all the stories, formats, free stuff, and YouTube videos.

Authors Breakfield and Burkey, you both work together to author this book, and the rest of the Enigma series. What is that like? You’re writing is so flawless that we can’t even tell who writes what. For us, that is a true sign of accomplished co-authoring!

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: Thank you so much, Bunny. Our writing is a practiced art that we continue to improve. We feel we’ve succeeded when our first-line editor can’t tell who wrote what chapter. Our job is to ensure the story reads like one voice and to build more fan like you.

Thank you again for your time responding to these questions! We look forward to reading more of your works in the future! Congratulations on the release of Enigma Jewels!

Authors Breakfield & Burkey: many thanks.

We here at Scribbles Worth sincerely thank authors Breakfield & Burkey for taking time out of their day to answer our questions about their book Enigma Jewels.

We enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to read and review Enigma Jewels, and you can check out the review here.

About the Authors:

Breakfield, as the CTO of the Enigma Series, leverages his decades of technology expertise, including security, networking, voice, and anything digital, to bring innovative technothriller elements into storytelling. He has deep knowledge of World War II history, has traveled extensively, and seeks cultural exchanges to learn what makes different people tick. Charles enjoys wine tasting, winemaking, Harley riding, cooking new recipes, and extravaganzas, and woodworking.

Burkey, as the COO of the Enigma Series, uses her extensive professional knowledge of optimizing technology and business investments to drive stellar customer experiences into the
ongoing stories of Enigma Series. Characteristics of people she has met over her career are woven into their stories. Rox enjoys her family, friends, puppies, reading, reviewing books, and
traveling whenever possible. Meeting readers at various events is one of her favorite pastimes.
Together, they have created award-winning stories that resonate with men and women, with a fresh perspective on technology possibilities within a fictional framework. They have two
technothriller series, The Enigma Series and Enigma Heirs. They ventured into writing cozy mysteries with the Underground Authors in the Magnolia Bluff Crime Chronicles. Their newest
short story collection complements their novella and individual short stories. For more information, we invite you to visit https://www.EnigmaSeries.com.