Chapter 1: The Man

A metallic thwack sounded as Dave tossed his keys into the tray that sat on his night stand. He dropped his wallet into the tray as well and quickly checked the time on his IWC Pilot Chrono before dropping it into its slot in his watch tray. The tray automatically began to vibrate slightly in order to keep the watches it contained wound accurately. Dave sat on the edge of his bed and quickly changed into a comfy pair of gym shorts and neatly put away his clothes. He quickly dropped to the floor and ripped off fifty push-ups, then walked to the kitchen to grab a glass of orange juice. "Oh hey Missy!" he called, waving to his roommate Melissa Davidson. She waved back as she headed out the door. Dave smiled briefly then went down to the exercise room to start his warm-ups.

David Huang had just turned 21 several weeks earlier, a fact that he had celebrated with only a few close friends including his twin sister Jessica, who had flown in from Boston. Dave had just graduated several days earlier from the University of California, Irvine, with a degree in economics, and was somewhat at loose ends at the moment. Dave had lived in his hometown of Los Altos, California for 18 years until heading off to college in Orange County. His father was a Taiwanese immigrant and his mother was a Midwestern girl whose family ancestry was somewhat muddled but was primarily Scandinavian. Dave's appearance belied his Oriental surname. Dave had light brown hair and blue eyes, and the only traces of his Chinese heritage were the almond shape of his eyes, somewhat delicate facial features, and lack of body hair. His skin was a golden tan even in winter, and he appeared Mediterranean after a few exposures to the California sun.

Dave finished his stretching and started his workout with a few sets of chin-ups and dips. He was a strong athlete, lettering at Hayward High School in tennis, volleyball, and soccer. His 210 lbs filled out his 6'2" frame nicely, and he spent a couple hours a day in the comprehensive exercise room in his house. Dave's house in Corona del Mar was a 4 bedroom two-story home that overlooked the Pacific Ocean that he'd purchased once he'd decided to come to UCI. Dave and Missy were the only occupants, but he was happy to have gotten the home before the land boom in Orange County had started.

Dave continued his workout by doing several sets on the bench press, followed by incline and decline versions of the bench, shrugs and shoulder presses, and finished his workout with thirty minutes on the treadmill. He had found running to be an acquired taste. Although he had once thought the activity fairly boring, he now welcomed it, as it was a time for him to think about the day's events. Dave had just come back from lunch with a few friends. While he had several fairly close male friends that he'd met during his time at UCI, he dated fairly infrequently. While there was no shortage of girls that wanted to make his acquaintance, Dave was wary that people were after him for his money, and he had trouble with girls after the first or second date, his lack of trust usually sabotaging budding relationships even before they really got started. He'd had only a few relationships and none of them had been that serious. The longest he'd dated a girl was six months, and that had happened fairly shortly after he'd arrived in Irvine, and it was an experience he wasn't too eager to repeat.

Dave walked out of the exercise room onto the porch, and dove cleanly into the swimming pool, starting his daily routine of slow laps after his workout. While many people found swimming to be difficult after a weight routine, Dave found the repetitive activity to be relaxing after his cool-down run. Dave's only close female friend was his roommate and best friend Missy.

Missy was Dave's next-door neighbor in the Mesa Court, the freshman dorm at UCI. Although Dave had commissioned the house the previous summer, it wasn't finished and he was required to spend freshman year in the dorms in any case. Missy was a slim blond from San Diego with a sunny personality, and immediately befriended Dave upon meeting him during freshman orientation. Normally sporting a sweatshirt and jeans or warm-ups, Missy was an avid football and baseball fan and was quite studious. The common interest that had brought Dave and Missy together as friends was a love of food, and they enjoyed preparing meals in the rudimentary kitchens in the Mesa Court dorms or exploring local restaurants. When both of them had finished their freshman years, Dave had extended an invitation for her to move in as a roommate and they each had master bedrooms at opposite ends of the house.