The trio of stories in TRIPLE SEC is like the high alcoholic liqueur: a bitter-sweet extract of orange rind thrice distilled for intensity. In “The Vital Instinct,” Nick is in love with Laura who is losing her memory. He discovers that one perfume alone, helping her to remember, rekindles their dying passion. But only Andre her jilted ex-lover who hates her but wants her has access to the formula of the defunct fragrance. In “Sign of the Archer,” Justin an archeologist gifted with clairvoyance is asked to join homeland security to become its living deterrent. His foresight is clouded by falling in love with Priya, an Indonesian model, who is his partner in anti-terrorism, as they both seek to safeguard a presidential visit. In “The Blue Hours,” a graduate student of journalism takes as his subject Juro, a renowned Japanese sculptor. In conversations held only at dusk, he learns how the sculptor has discovered an “identical” twin sister Mika after thirty years’ separation; and how forbidden love heightens passion at the cost