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having Bonnie come to her had made life worth living and let her come alive in so many ways.
    But now something was different.
    Bonnie, in her Bugs Bunny T-shirt, her red-brown hair shining in the lights of the ICU, as she stood by Joe’s bed, looking down at him.
    Her expression … Love. Perfect love.
    Why was she here?
    The fear became terror.
    To take him away, to ease the transition from this life to the next?
    “No, Bonnie!”
    Her daughter looked across the room at Eve standing behind the glass.
    She smiled luminously. But then turned back again to gaze down at Joe with that same expression of love.
    What did that smile mean? Could she help him to live?
    Or could she only help him to die?
    Eve’s palms pressed against the cold glass as tension and sorrow tore through her.
    “Joe!”
    *   *   *
    SWIRLING darkness.
    Someone calling.
    “Joe!”
    Calling him …
    But he didn’t want to leave the darkness. There was comfort here and yet also a strange excitement and anticipation.
    Was this death?
    He had never been afraid of it. He wasn’t now.
    But that voice calling …
    Eve.
    She was hurting, needing him. He should go back.
    And there was someone else …
    Bonnie.
    She was there in the darkness. Always before she had been the stranger, the one apart; but now she was close, as familiar to him as Eve, and much of the comfort was coming from her. Did she want him to stay in the darkness?
    But he could feel Eve’s terror and sadness.
    He had to stop them both and try to make Eve happy.
    As she made him happy …
    He had known from the first moment he had seen her all those years ago that he could not be happy if he was not with her.
    Strange … He had not believed that love could come out of nowhere and stay forever. He had been such a cynical son of a bitch. Smart, young FBI agent, sure of himself and everything around him, ready to take on the world.
    He’d been certain the Bonnie Duncan kidnapping wasn’t going to be a problem. The local Atlanta police were sure that she was the victim of a serial killer, and the little girl would never show up alive. Sad story, but Joe had worked on other serial killings and had experience in profiling as well. He was well qualified to take on the case. He’d go down to Atlanta and dive in and show the locals how the FBI could handle a case like Bonnie’s.
    But he wouldn’t get involved with the family of the victim no matter how sympathetic he was toward them. That was always a mistake. It was better to stand apart so that he could work without emotion. That would be far more efficient.
    Yes, after all, it was just one more case. A few months in Atlanta, and he’d be coming back to start another job. There was nothing about this Duncan case in Atlanta to interfere with his career, certainly nothing to interfere with his life …

CHAPTER
    2
    The Past
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Quantico, Virginia
    “I HEAR PACKER GAVE you the Duncan case.” Jenny Rudler smiled as she stopped by Joe’s desk. “I was hoping to get it. There’s been a lot of media attention since the kid was taken. I could use a high-profile case. It would help me break through the glass ceiling. But, no, the fair-haired boy was the chosen one.”
    “Does the FBI have a glass ceiling?”
    “You’re damn right it does.” She perched on the corner of his desk. “Why not tell Packer you need a partner?”
    And Jenny would be stepping all over him trying to break that ceiling. He didn’t need that. “Maybe next time.”
    Her smile faded. “Bastard. Damn, you’re cocky. You have it all, don’t you? Rich kid, Harvard grad, hero in the SEALs. Then you decide you want to be an FBI agent. So everyone is supposed to bow down and give you anything you want.”
    He held on to his temper. “That’s right. But I’ll make an exception in your case. I’ll settle for you just staying out of my way. I worked for everything I’ve gotten here at the Bureau. Back off, Jenny.”
    She