Chapter 1It is said that Thomas Edisonthoughtthe phone he invented – a technological marvel of his day – wasso profoundly annoying that he refused to have one in hishouse.
Whenthe j-phone – a technological marvel of our day – buzzed softlyin my ear, I thought it was profoundly annoying too. For a momenttheears heard the soft, gentle notes of ‘BeautifulDreamer’. Ifyou’re with your special dreamer – and I was waking up in bedwith Astrid by my side –, it should evoke a wistful smile and awarm feeling.
Except the call came at 3 a.m. and Ihad been sleeping contentedly. The lovely song just made megrouchy.I am an expert in dozens of weapons and, usually, it doesn’t pay tomake a weapons expert grouchy.
Mentally I turned off the song, thentossed the covers off and barefooted to the study where
