"Chauvinism," Rainie replied. "The feds have a history of underestimating women."

"I'm not going to comment on that," Quincy murmured, "given that I'm outnumbered, and outgunned, in this room. Now, for no good reason at all, tell me more about Mickie."

Kimberly flipped back through the background report. "I don't have anything more on Mickie. Once the investigating agent determined he had no criminal history, he seemed to have lost interest."

"Figures." Quincy frowned, mulling something over in his mind. Then his gaze rose to meet Rainie's. She'd been staring at the column of his throat, admiring his dark blue polo shirt and wondering why she hadn't gotten him out of a suit more often. The soft cotton fabric draped nicely over his chest, accentuating the hard planes of his runner's body, the deep color of his piercing eyes.

Why hadn't he woken her this morning? He could've taken at least one moment to brush her cheek and say… anything.

Belatedly she realized he was looking at her. A fresh flood of color rose in her cheeks. She looked away hastily, feeling not at all like herself. "Rainie?" he asked softly.

"Ummm, the youngest brother. Yes, let's look harder I at him."

Kimberly frowned. "Why Mickie? He's not even the right age. Our guy's much older."

"Age can be faked," Quincy said, his gaze still onI Rainie. "Plus, people are notoriously bad at estimati age. You put a man in T-shirt and jeans and people will! say he's early twenties. You put the same man in a d

suit, and people will say he's early thirties. While eyewitness testimonies remain the number one way of catching suspects, they are very easy to manipulate, especially by someone who's done any reading on the subject."

"But Mickie's an engineer," Kimberly protested. "Educated, no history of crime."

"Exactly," Rainie spoke up. "The UNSUB we're looking for is sophisticated. He has a complex plan, a gift for manipulation, confidence in approaching both a beauti-ful young woman – your sister – and a sophisticated older woman – your mother. Most likely he is educated, fairly worldly, and with a knack for problem solving."

"And he has money," Quincy added. "At the current pace of development, our UNSUB's most likely engaged in this pursuit full-time. So he must have a nest egg to live off of. He's also been traveling, demanding additional resources. Then there's this new development with you, Rainie. Kimberly told me about your meeting with Carl Mitz. If, as you suspect, your 'father' really is Tristan Shandling, then our UNSUB has paid off a DA and hired a lawyer as part of his plan, both actions requiring significant financial resources.

"Now, does a thirty-three-year-old engineer such as Mickie have that kind of money? Generally, I'd say no. But in this day and age of software millionaires and dot-com billionaires, who knows? Mickie could be a very wealthy young man."

Kimberly nodded slowly. "I hadn't thought of that. Okay, so we run a complete background check of youngest brother Millos, including his financial assets. One name down." She looked at the box of files. She sighed. "Fifty more names to go."

"With all due respect," Rainie spoke up, "I don't think this database project is going to get us anywhere." Quincy immediately frowned. He and his daughter swiveled to look at her. Rainie shrugged. "Think about it, Quincy. Is this guy's name somewhere in that box or in this database or in FBI files? Probably. Is it going to help us? No. Why not? Because he knows his name is in there, too."

She leaned forward, speaking intently. "What is the UNSUB's major vulnerability? Process of elimination. It's a personal case, not stranger to stranger, so given enough time and resources, he knows you'll be able to identify him. What's his strategy then? In the beginning, it's secrecy. He selects Mandy, the family member in the least amount of contact with the rest of the family. He disguises his appearance, he uses an alias, and he conceals her murder as an accident. And in the beginning, that works. He understands, however, that he can't hide his actions forever. The minute he attacks Bethie, you'll start connecting the dots. You'll start looking for him. And he prepares for that as well.

"Fourteen months after Mandys accident, he starts a fresh wave of maneuvers. First tactic: Diversion. He spreads around your address and telephone number to every psycho in the continental U.S. Next tactic: Confusion. He steals your identity, assumes your appearance, and begins to plant evidence that will get your fellow agents off his trail and on to you. Final tactic: Speed."

"Everything is now happening at once," Quincy said.

"Wednesday, Mom is murdered," Kimberly whispered. "Thursday, Grandpa is kidnapped. Friday, we're all on the run and Rainie is approached by some lawyer about her father. He's not going to give us time to think, anymore. He's not going to give any of us time to stop and consider and analyze. Because the minute we do, he knows he's in trouble."

Rainie was looking at Quincy. "This guy… he's a black hole, Quincy. We don't know who, why, how, when. He's not giving you any information. He's not making the mistake of underestimating you. Why?"

"Because I definitely know him."

She smiled. "Because he definitely knows you. You thrive on information, puzzles, games. It's your whole life. So step one was to keep his actions hidden for as long as possible. And step two is to keep you moving, instead of thinking. As long as you're reacting to him, you can't get ahead. Keeping you reacting is keeping you vulnerable. We have to break that cycle, Quince. We need an active game plan, a way of going on the offensive. And hiding out in Portland playing with databases isn't it. He'll find us here – probably a lot sooner than you think."

Quincy grew silent. Then his gaze rose slowly to meet hers. "What do you think of Carl Mitz's allegation that you have a father?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"Just because it's coincidence, doesn't mean…"

"I got that!" Rainie took a deep breath, then let it out. "I just… I have to be careful. Mitz seems legit. There are aspects of Ronald Dawson's background that also appear genuine. He was in prison for most of my life, we may very well find public record of the real estate deal that made his father a millionaire. On the other hand… Tristan Shandling's MO is to disguise himself as the person his victim wants most. And yeah, I am interested in Ronald Dawson. I'm desperately interested in Ronald Dawson, and frankly, that scares me to death."

"What if Mitz could arrange for you to meet Mr. Dawson in person?"

"No way." She shook her head adamantly.

That intent look was back in Quincy's eyes, and not his slow sexy look, but his all-knowing professional stare. "Active game plan," he murmured.

Rainie closed her eyes. She knew what he wanted. It hurt her, it killed her, but it didn't change the fact that once more, he was right. "Fine! I'll meet with Ronnie. I'll put my achy, breaky heart at risk. Never say I didn't do anything for you."

"But you can't meet with him," Kimberly blurted out. "If he's the UNSUB, he could attack you, or kidnap you, or worse."

"I don't think your father intends for me to meet with Ronnie alone," Rainie said dryly. "Not that he's opposed to offering me as some juicy little bait."

"I never – "

"Oh shut up, Quince. For God's sake, I'm the one who just said we needed to be proactive. If Dawson is our favorite stalker, then let's turn the tables on him. I'll contact Mitz and set up a lunch date, with Luke and the boys singing backup. I can drill Ronnie for additional information about his paternity claim. At the very least, I can get yet another description to add to our files. Tristan Shandling, the man of many faces."

"What if he tries something?" Kimberly protested.