Just the beginning line

It is official.

Ice Man has lost his cool!

Overheard Among Observers

At least 3 speakers. WHO, you say? Well, I'm not telling! And who are they talking about? Hmmm.

*******

"Delegating? Interesting."

"Dude's not interested in saving the world any more."

"Yeah, just his woman."

"He isn't his woman yet."

"Right. Just her mind."

"The mind can be so thoughtless sometimes."

"You're not as funny as you think."

"Only in the head."

"Unlike you, I haven't lost my heart."

"What the fuck are you laughing at?"

"It'd be funny if you two end up fighting like those two."

*********
I said, at LEAST three speakers, sandcrabs. Are you crabby now?

*Insert snicker

A Tiny Teaser

Eight Ball knows you want to read this.

Jed smashed his fist into the mirror. She'd done it to get to him. Now it was his turn.

An Excerpt From Ch 2 Alex and T

“T., SITREP.”

T. didn’t open her eyes. “You know well I have nothing new to report about that particular situation.”

“You don’t know Diamond like I do.”

T. suppressed a smile. “I hear a challenge in your voice, Jed.”

“And why would I challenge the inevitable?” Jed mocked back, his voice a soft rasp in her earpiece. “You know he’d catch up with you sooner or later.”

“Why would he do that?” she countered. “He’s probably now running around taking photos of the Siberian countryside without a single thought about the other night.”

“Right. A beautiful Russian woman freed me from certain death. You think I’d not be curious about her identity.”

T. finally opened her eyes. She stretched her back. Sleep wasn’t going to happen, not with Jed McNeil constantly riding her, trying to pry information, as usual.

“Darling, thank you for the compliment, but let’s not forget one thing. Alex Diamond walked away from his old life. He’s not about to resume it just because a stranger helped him escape a dangerous situation.”

“Is that part of your SITREP?”

T. yawned. “NOPAIN doesn’t work on me with no sleep either.” Non- Persuasion and Innovative Negotiation was her forte, and Jed loved to use it on her. It must be a male thing to try to show the other person that he could be just as good at something.

Jed laughed quietly. “Your avoiding my questions tell me enough. You’re worried. You did do something the other night to perk Alex’s curiosity.”

T. frowned. “Now you’re annoying me. You know he isn’t ready, and I’ve spent the last few days getting prepped for my next assignment. If Alex does ask questions, he’d find a dead end to Talia Fyodorevna, because she’d be in Switzerland still, in isolation.” She sat up straighter. “Wait, are you saying he’s in Switzerland right now looking for Talia?”

That wasn’t a good thing. Alex Diamond was a COS Commando and he’d find out what others couldn’t. It was just a question of time. The short silence that followed wasn’t reassuring her.

“I’m going to make a few phone calls,” T. said, “to make sure he’s distracted for a while. I can’t have him interfering with our current mission, Jed.”

“Exactly. Just in case he does get to you, you’ll get rid of him ASAP.”

“Of course.”

“And T.? Maximillian Shoggi is a desperate man. We’ve squeezed him close to breaking point.”

***************************

Comments? Questions?

His Jedness' Height: A Reader's Email

I see what you're saying, my sweet sandcrab.

178cm = 5.839 feet. Your math makes you think 5 ft 8in. Is mighty short, yes?

But let the Super Eight Ball Math Whiz take you through some math mistakes made by silly little auto-converters. They forget that there are 12 inches in a foot, you see. This mistake is made a lot while converting cm wrongly.

The 5.839 'feet' is a decimalised value, but since it is not 10 inches to a foot, you, my sandhopper, must multiply that .839 by 12 to arrive at the remaining inches. Thus, 70 inches = 5ft 10in = 5.833 feet. The inch-cm conversion factor is simply 1 inch = 2.54cm. So. Another way to put it. 178cm = 70.079 inches (6 feet =72 inches), or 5ft 10in. Or, if Jed's fucking around with you when he said about 178 and is really 179, then give him another half-an-inch.

Man. He really had y'all going there, hadn't he? From the amount of chatter about his 178cm in forums and email, you'd think those readers were talking about other inches on the dude. Aren't you more interested in Hell's "scimitar of love" instead? *insert grin*