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intelligence organizations and the fact that their concern for people’s lives and safety often ran second to what was best for the advancement of an individual agent’s career. And he knew far too much about the human vipers that thrived in the intelligence community den.
    “Winter, the physical evidence against Bryce is overwhelming. His saliva was on Taylor’s face, his knife had Taylor’s blood under the handle, his boot prints were at the murder scene. Bryce declined any deals and waived a jury trial,” Alexa said. “I think he knew with one man to make the call, instead of twelve, exerting influence on that man was possible. So happens, he drew a judge whose soft underbelly is his family. Judge Fondren lost his wife and son-in-law in a car wreck a year back. Two days ago he got a call in the middle of the night telling him that his daughter and grandson had been taken. The caller told him that, unless he finds Bryce not guilty, Lucy and Elijah will be killed.”
    “If it was my family, I’d cut Bryce loose.”
    “If I can’t find them before Monday morning, he’ll set Bryce free. But . . .”
    “But what?”
    “They’ll kill them anyway,” she told him.
    “How do you figure that?”
    “The people who did this for Bryce have nothing to gain by setting them free, and everything to lose. Hailey changes his mind, or Lucy Dockery says she and her son were kidnapped to make sure Bryce got a walk, and the decision to release him gets reversed. If the people who took the Dockerys have kept them alive, they’ll only keep them that way until Bryce is free on Monday. They might keep her alive in case they need to get her to speak to the judge before he goes into that courtroom.”
    “The judge will raise hell when he doesn’t get his family back,” Winter said. “So either way, the kidnappers lose.”
    “These people aren’t amateurs. They’ll make sure Judge Fondren never gets a chance to do anything.”
    “They’ll kill him, too?”
    “I’m certain of it. And the world is left with a mystery surrounding a disappeared daughter of a dead judge and her missing child.”
    “But they’ll keep them alive until after court Monday.” Winter was thinking aloud.
    “Odds fifty-fifty. They may keep the child alive to control Lucy. A mother will do anything to save her child. Lucy’s smart, but she’s been diagnosed as chronically depressed since her husband’s death, and she’s in the hands of violent people. She isn’t going to know how to outrun this kind of situation.”
    “Sounds like you have it figured. Who’s your second choice for a partner?”
    She shrugged. “I lied, Massey. There is nobody else. I can’t turn to anyone in the Bureau. This one is strictly off the books. The judge says he’ll make anything I have to do kosher after the fact.”
    “You know I want to help you.”
    “I know what I’m asking,” she said. “This is life-or-death, or I wouldn’t be here.”
    “I have to think about my family.”
    “Will you at least talk it over with Sean?”
    “Talk what over with me?” Sean said. She had come into the room soundlessly, holding the pot of coffee.
    “Alexa wants me to help her find a woman and a baby who’ve been kidnapped.”
    Sean said nothing. She waited for one of them to go on.
    “They’ll be killed unless I can locate them,” Alexa said.
    “Lex is off the books,” Winter told his wife.
    “Off what books?”
    “Means no official involvement or support,” Winter explained.
    “I can’t do it alone,” Alexa said. “If I could, I wouldn’t be here.”
    “Will it be dangerous?” Sean asked. Her eyes were on Winter.
    “We’re dealing with people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill us if we get close,” Alexa answered. “People who know how and don’t mind doing it.”
    Winter said, “Alexa is sure they’ll kill the family if she doesn’t find them.”
    “Damn it,” Sean said. She shook her head slowly. “Alexa asked you to help her,