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There’s just so much out there. Truthfully, we don’t know even yet what we’re dealing with.”
    Frowning, she absorbed that. She leaned forward, washing him in her clean, soft scent. “What happened to your wife—is it connected with all this stuff?”
    Abby had disappeared four years ago. She had been taken by a ferocious alien criminal who was here stealing DNA and probably things about us that we don’t yet understand.
    She’d been asleep in bed at home in Menard. He’d been a detective on the Menard City Police at the time. He’d woken up one morning and she’d been gone. The police, the Texas Rangers, and the FBI had all searched, but to no avail.
    Even after the case had died, Flynn had not stopped searching. He’d been in love with Abby since they were kids. She’d been pregnant when she’d disappeared. He had continued on with a stubbornness so great that his efforts had eventually come to the attention of Diana Glass, who was running the highly classified special FBI unit that had eventually been transferred to the CIA and was now known as Detail 242.
    There had been no closure for Flynn. He still did not know if Abby was dead or in some awful way still alive. She lived in his mind and heart, all the time. He knew he should move on, but it was just very damn hard to do that. Loyalty ran deep in his blood. He did not give up. That was deep in his blood, too.
    â€œI don’t know what happened, not exactly,” he said.
    â€œYes you do.”
    Maybe that was true, and maybe it was something he just didn’t want to admit to himself. He suspected that there were slaveries beyond human understanding, and captivities that made hell seem a blessing.
    Again, her hand came to his. He let it remain there. “I won’t let that happen to you or your family,” he said.
    She leaned closer. Now she was right in his face. “What about getting beheaded, Flynn? Will you protect us from that, too?”
    Diners were entering—congressmen, a boisterous senator, some Chinese Embassy personnel, and a couple of high-end whores who sat together and whispered.
    â€œI’ll be there,” he told Cissy. “Don’t let your mom and dad know, obviously.”
    â€œObviously.”
    He stood up. She raised her eyes. He saw that they were swimming with the wetness of fear. He left her, then, a golden child behind a vodka martini in the comfortable, wood-paneled safety of the discreet old bar.
    Would he see her alive again?
    Maybe.

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
    DIANA LAY naked in the dark. He could see her form on the bed, and as always, his first reaction was desire, followed at once by loneliness. He stepped across the room and looked down at her.
    While you were sleeping …
    â€œI’ve got to get into the White House.”
    She sighed, then snorted. Her eyes opened. For a moment, she stared. Then she leaped out of bed.
    â€œHoly shit, Flynn, how did you get in here ?”
    â€œI live here.”
    â€œSort of. When you feel like sneaking up on me. Have you ever knocked on a door?”
    â€œMy razor’s in the bathroom, dear. I don’t have to knock.”
    â€œWell, stop sneaking around. Find a less annoying compulsion.” She fumbled for her bedside clock. “What time is it?”
    â€œSix in the evening. What’re you doing asleep, anyway?”
    She gave him a puzzled look. “You know I’m up all night just like you.”
    â€œYeah, but I don’t sleep all day.”
    â€œI was taking a brief nap. Anyway, you don’t sleep at all.”
    â€œWhen I have Abby back in my bed, I’ll sleep.” He saw the tightening around her eyes, the downcurling of her mouth. Why did he say things like that? Did he want to hurt her? “Meaning that I’ll never sleep … except with you.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
    She drew away.
    He sat down on the foot of the bed.