Prologue

Erik Harold Karlsen woke early on Sunday morning, the excitement of going fishing driving him to get up and get dressed. After dressing in some jeans and a flannelette shirt, he laced on his shoes and went downstairs.

This wasn't any normal fishing trip; this was his first fishing trip on his new boat. He ate some toast and had a cup of coffee before he set the dishes in the dishwasher, grabbed his keys and left.

As he drove to the wharf where his boat was moored, he thought back on his 67 years of life. His father was a Norwegian national that had married an American woman. He had been visiting his family in Norway when war broke out, and he became stranded. He never got to find out that he was a father.

His mother had struggled on but had finally succumbed to heart complications the day after Erik's 18^th birthday. Wanting to get away, Erik sold the house and joined the navy. And there he stayed until he retired as an admiral. Now he relaxed and fished.

He never found time to have a family. None of the girls he was ever with seemed right to him and now it didn't matter.

He parked his car in the lot, got out and walked over to the security gate. A feature of modern life, Erik could remember when it wasn't needed. He punched in his code, walked through and heard the gate close behind him.

He walked down the wharf and stepped down into his boat. He checked the fishing gear he had stowed the day before going to the controls.

The last thing he remembered was flying through the air as flames enveloped him.

Water washed over his face as Erik slowly woke up. Something wasn't right, why was water washing over his face? He slowly stood and looked around. Definitely not what he expected.