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Prologue

THE oing to be given a job he wouldn’t like So what did a nht for the thousandth tietting kidnapped? That had happened twice Hey! How about being houy, a used car salesman who is now the father of their three kids? Nope That had happened too So how about getting too old for the field? Too late At forty-nine, Jared felt that he’d reached that age about six years ago

“Don’t look athis office door open for Jared to enter

Groaning, Jared put on a pronounced limp as he hobbled toward the chair opposite Bill’s overloaded desk, WILLIAM TEASDALE on a plaque in front Sticking his leg out stiffly in front of hireat pain

“You can cut it out,” Bill said as he sat down behind his desk “I have no sympathy for you, and even if I did, I couldn’t let you out of this one” He picked up a folder, then looked across the top of it at Jared “Most agents are glad to get out in the field Why not you?”

Jared leaned back in his chair “Where should I begin? With pain? I was in the hospital for three weeks after the last job And life I like living And then there’s—”

“Got a new girlfriend?” Bill asked, his eyes narrowed

Jared gave a bit of a grin “Yeah Nice girl I’d like to see her sometimes”

“She’s a reformed what?”

“Stripper,” Jared rin “So sue me After a wife like Patsy—”

“Spare ain he was the boss “We need so, and you can do it Reent we found out had been a spy for the last fifteen years?”

“Yeah,” Jared said, bitterness in his voice He’d worked with thethat souy, but he didn’t knohat No one paid any attention A few ent was a spy and that he’d been feeding information to his mother country for years “So what did you find out from him?”

“Nothing Suicide before we could get to him”

“Please tell o undercover, and find out—”

“No,” Bill said, waving his hand “Nothing like that The truth is that we can’t figure out what his last big project was He kneere coot there, so he had time to destroy a lot of evidence But we found disks hidden under the floors, and a list of naet rid of it all, so why didn’t he destroy it?”

“But he didn’t,” Jared said, feeling the old wave of curiosity well up inside of hi hard to suppress it Why? was the question that had caused most of the problems in his life Even after a case was considered cold, Jared’s “why” often made him continue “What did he do?”

“He wadded up several pieces of paper into tiny balls and sed them”