THE shrill vibration of his phone sliced through the fragile silence of the early morning, jerking Nathan awake where he lay on the small couch in the corner of his own room. He groaned, scrubbing a hand over his eyes before blinking at the glowing screen on the nightstand. The caller ID glowed insistently, it was one of the senior managers at Oswald’s other company branch.

Suppressing a groan, Nathan thumbed the green icon and pressed the phone to his ear. The voice on the other end wasted no time with pleasantries, it was urgent. An unexpected hiccup with a high-profile international client, the press already sniffing around, stockholders threatening...