"The bad news," Jack said to Griff is that -- with Sido's permission while she was in New Orleans -- I swept her entire home for bugs. I had of course checked her studio when it looked as if there was a might have been a break in there, but there were no bugs in her studio. There are still no bugs in the studio, but telephones in her office and kitchen contained surprisingly sophisticated illegal eavesdropping devices.

Two bottles of Tsingtao beer arrived at their table. "Tsingtao Tsingtao," Griff commented. There was something about the way the bottle looked and the beer tasted in his memory that instigated desire for a second beer before he had even begun the first. Also, he had entered the long time period with no personally on field football, and at such times adult behavior did not always rise to the forefront.

"Manuscript thieves had access to Sido's conversations," Jack continued. "Yes, we disabled these devices, but manuscript thieves probably now know not only where but also when Sido and Tyrone will take the Music Box Book of Hours to once upon a time Acadian territory."

Fried wantons and egg rolls arrived at their table. Won ton soup, sliced beef, pork, chicken, and shrimp sauteed with water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and pea pods; Mongolian beef; Sesame Chicken; hot and sour shrimp; and white rice would be arriving soon. "My agency has not approved a defense force, but we do have defensive resources," Jack continued.

"To begin with, Pete Lafitte is asking retired 10th Mountain Division soldiers to watch the trails in their area that lead to Jay Peak and Lodge la Belle Montagne. Tyrone is a Vietnam War Marine Veteran. You and Griff will be in Montreal, which is only an hour and a half away from Jay Peak. Football teams do not encourage downhill skiing by their linemen, but now that he is retired, AKA Harvey and Abigail will be at not-far-from Jay Peak Cannon Mountain, where he plans to learn how to snowplow while Abigail skis the trails. Meanwhile, as Huygens Hockey Team consultant, Yuri will be scouting Hockey players at undisclosed locations anywhere he wants to from Brooklyn to Canada."

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