ng a steel door. He entered a state-of-the-art command center-a panic room

is best friend and most trusted ally, appeared on the main s

ing me from the great beyon

ackground check on someone. Anna Curtis. I want everything. Birth records,

be something special to get the 'vegeta

m. "Just do it. I

ten, Guy. Bryan Rowe is getting bolder. He's pushing for a vot

ave a new lead on my parents' accident," he said quietly. "It connects to an o

neuvers, Guy ended the call. He spent another hour working, then felt a wave

ain-made his jaw tight. A "vegetable" couldn't move itself. He sank i

nusual. She wasn't curled up but lay def

Her brow furrowed. She mumbled in her slee

o... my f

hot out in a powerf

squarely with his shin. Pain exploded up hi

t rolled over, settling back into

ange feeling. Disbelief. And something else. Amusement.

choed in his mi

tice. In that moment, he felt a startling kinship with this strange, dangerous woman who had been

e room. He saw Guy in the chair, leg pro

ips. He had to get back i

wn, arranging his limbs in their usual lifeless p

med through a gap in the curtains, he was