Chapter 7

Smith always prided himself on owning the body clock—that internal sense that wakes you up at your routine time without needing an alarm clock. Well, half the time, this worked, and the other half, when it didn’t, it had to do with his alcohol intake the previous night or any such draining activity that had nothing to do with guns and knives.

For the past night, he had experienced both, and he was still snoring until 7:00 a.m. What woke him was the sound of water from his bathroom. It wasn’t very often he had a woman over for the night, so the odd sound of water in the bathroom when he obviously wasn’t the one bathing was enough to wake him from his tired and intoxicated sleep.

Although now awake, Smith simply opened his eyes but remained on the bed, wishing he could somehow will his clothes on and get to work without lifting a muscle. His arms felt like lead, and his neck hurt terribly.

“Hey, sexy,” came the slightly raspy voice as the bathroom door opened, and th