"Go home. Wait."

"That won't be easy."

"No." It seemed as if they'd done nothing but sit around and wait lately. "But at least Spiro gave us a chance to hurry the process along."

"He's taking a big risk dealing with us. He's impatient to have it over."

"So am I, Joe." She closed her eyes and tried to relax. "So am I."

IT WAS NEARLY three o'clock in the morning and the lights were still burning in the professor's lab on Blue Mountain Drive.

Eve must be happy she'd found someone passionate enough to work so hard on the photo, Dom thought. Passion could be dangerous.

But it could also be exciting. Every move Eve made was raising the stakes.

He probably should have gotten rid of that photo years ago, but he had moved on and he had not thought it important enough. But what was happening in that lab was important.

Time changed everything. Technology, morals, good, evil. Who would have known how much his needs would change? His priorities were so different now or he would not be sitting outside the lab.

What was happening in there? Were they getting close?

He felt excitement tighten his muscles. Go ahead, Eve. Come closer. Try to find me. . . .

"MORE COFFEE?" C HARLIE asked.

Billy Sung adjusted the computer. "Not right now."

"You didn't eat dinner. I could go out and pick up some fast food."

"No." He was coming close. Screw those L.A. bozos with all their fancy equipment. He was as good as them any day of the week. Just a few more adjustments and he might--

"Are you getting it?"

"You bet I am." He rubbed his eyes and bent forward again over the picture. "I wasn't sure I had a chance, but I'll be able to--" He stiffened. "My God."

"You've got it?"

"Shut up. I have to check the shift." He brought the picture in closer.

The shift was coming in clearer and then clearer still.

There could be no mistake.

THE PHONE RANG on Eve's nightstand.

"We're on our way to see you," Charlie said.

"What?"

"Sung wants to see you. He's all excited."

She sat up in bed. "He did it?"

"Not yet. He says he'll be done any minute. He was muttering about shifts and spectrums and he's bringing you the photo. He won't let me see it while he's working on it, but I'll take possession the minute it's completely finished."

"Why the secrecy?"

"Search me," Charlie said sourly. "He evidently thinks I'm the right arm of Big Brother. He made a phone call and then he said he had to see you right away. He seems to think this is only between you and him, but this is FBI business and he can't fool around with--Where the hell are you going?" He came back on the phone. "I've got to go. Sung must have finished. He just bolted for the front door. We should be there in thirty minutes." He hung up.

"Sung was able to do it?" Joe asked.

"That's what Charlie said, but Sung wants to talk to me." She put down the receiver and swung her feet to the floor. "He'll be here in thirty minutes with the photo. I'm going to get dressed."

Joe sat up in bed. "Why should he want to talk to you?"

"I told you, he doesn't like the government."

"Bad enough to wake you in the middle of the night?"

She headed for the bathroom. "I don't care if Sung comes up here and crawls in bed with us as long as he brings me that photo."

"I'd have a few objections," Joe said. "By all means, let's wait for him downstairs."

"WHERE IS HE?" Eve glanced at her watch again. "It's been forty minutes."

"Maybe they had to go back to the lab for something."

"Wouldn't Charlie have called us?"

"Car trouble?"

"Stop being comforting. Do you have Charlie's digital number?"

Joe nodded and reached for his phone. "No answer." He hung up. "It's time to go looking."

"I'll go with you."

"Stay here. What if all that comforting bullshit is really true and they drive up right after I've left? If they come, give me a call and I'll hotfoot it back."

He was right. She had to stay. But, blast it, it was going to kill her to sit there and wait.

EVE' S PHONE RANG forty-five minutes later.

"There's been a crash," Joe said. "A car went off the road and down into the ravine."

Her hand tightened on the phone. "Is it them?"

"I don't know." He paused. "The car's pretty messed up. It was over a hundred-foot drop."

She closed her eyes. "Christ."

"The medics and rescue team are going down to see if anyone survived. It's not going to be easy. The incline's very steep."

"How could anyone survive a drop like that?"

"It's possible. The car hasn't exploded yet. I have to go now. I'll call you later. I'm going down with the rescue team."