The TekWar Series

Not satisfied with the thrills of being one of Greater Los Angeles' toughest cops, Jake Cardigan turns to Tek, a computerized brain stimulant that transports the user to any reality he can imagine. He's soon addicted to this fantasy enabler—and it isn't long before Cardigan is accused of dealing. When he fails to convince the mechanized jury of his innocence, the state strips his badge and sentences him to fifteen years in suspended animation. Four years later, he's awakened. His sentence has been changed, but no one will tell him why.

Jake Cardigan has just returned from Mexico, where he fell in love, nearly died, and broke up the infamous Hokori cartel. But the drug kingpins whose fortunes rest on pushing Tek are still trying to do away with this devilish private eye. During a routine trip to the mall, a well-dressed man tries to stab Cardigan through the heart. After a quick scuffle, the would-be assassin is dead on the floor, and Cardigan is the one who winds up in handcuffs. The dead man was an executive at a hydroponics company—an ordinary worker drone with no apparent reason to kill the detective

A French diplomat is walking alone down a darkened Paris side street when a killer emerges from the shadows. He stuns the Frenchman, cuts his body into quarters, and leaves a note that reads: "This is for Brazil!" It is the ninth murder in this fashion in the last two months—a string of round-the-world killings that strikes fear into the hearts of all those connected with the bloody Brazilian wars of the past decade.