Confused, bewildered I voice activated it's answering by simply saying hello."Surprised?" Miranda?"She spoke, but not from the room, her voice coming ...learly through the headset as once again soft hands began to gently begin running themselves up and down my legs reaching up to caress the tender, almost ticklish spot of my upper thigh."Hi baby," she purred into my earpiece."Miranda?" I spoke once again, a slight edge of confused irritation coming through, though she quickly interrupted me."Just. Germany. Austria. France. Belgium. Holland. The spike was getting thinner. And once the initial unravelling had been done, the spike, as opposed to the wedge was getting thinner at a rate of knots. Consequently the list of names was narrowing. The initial painstaking work that had been essential, was beginning to pay dividends. At long last it seemed that there was a result just around the corner. Eventually, all of the investigations were coming together and concentrated in Europe.. But it would be there, all the same.Oh, I knew that another, slightly improved version of David Hooks might -- just barely -- pass muster with Daddy, even with the UAB undergrad degree. Let's imagine that Dave were starting graduate work next September at -- say -- The Wharton School. Daddy wouldn't even mind if Dave was going to be on a needs-based fellowship there -- a cash stipend, intended to assist young men and women from the wrong side of the tracks to... well, to cross over to the right. "She might be a little lethargic for a couple of days, but otherwise,she's perfectly fine," Brett added for clarity. "It was close,though."Not wanting to think about what almost was, I quickly segued, "Anyway,I'm kind of tired. Which room is mine?" Oh ... uhm, whichever you want," Abby answer, stumbling a bit over thesudden topic switch. "There are two guest bedrooms upstairs. Theydon't see much use, but I cleaned them up and put fresh sheets on thebeds before you got here." Sounds great. .