Kara was standing to one side of the little window with her back pressed to the wall, and Selene was doing the same on the other side, when the woman's voice came softly from the bathroom.

They shot each other startled looks, not relaxing until they heard the window close again. Kara closed her eyes.

"It could be a trick," Selene whispered. "We try to get him, they end up with three hostages instead of one."

"She's Ty's mother," Kara said. "I knew she'd try to protect him if she could. Jim didn't believe it, but...She probably finally figured out how dangerous her boyfriend is."

"Even so..."

"She has a chance to do something good for her son for the first time in his life. Selene, she put him in those leg braces. She did that. No, I don't think it's a trick. I think she means it."

Kara peered into the bathroom briefly, long enough to see that water was running into the bathtub and that the latch on the window was open. Then she pressed her back to the wall again. "The window's up high. It's a long way to pull him. I don't know if I'm strong enough. I'm going to have to go in and lift him out to you."

"No, Kara, no, that's too much."

"I'm going to do it, Selene, so just deal. When I push Ty out, I want you to take him and run to the car. If anything goes wrong-"

"He could catch you in there! Kara, what if-"

"What if," she repeated. "What's the worst that can happen? He kills me instead of a little boy who hasn't even lived five years yet? Come on, Selene, we both know it's worth the risk. Better me than him. We get Tyler out. Period. If anything goes wrong, you take him and you go. Take him to Jim and then tell him where I am."

Tears rose in Selene's pale blue eyes. "Kara, please don't do this."

"I'm doing it. You know damn well if it was your call, you'd do the same. I love that boy, Selene. Do this for me."

The tears spilled over, streaming down Selene's face, but she nodded. "You'd better get back out and be right behind me."

"If I'm not, don't come back for me. If he ends up right back in their hands, it will all have been for nothing. Promise?"

Sniffling, Selene nodded. "I promise." She dipped into a pocket and pulled out a little pink heart-shaped stone. "Take this. It'll help keep you safe."

"I'll be okay," Kara promised as she closed her hand around the stone. "Thank you, Selene."

"I love you, Kara."

"Love you, too, sis."

Jim was sitting in the study, listening to Alex tell him all he'd been doing, which was basically the same things the police had been doing, and feeling more and more restless. Where the hell was Kara? It just wasn't like her not to be there helping, supporting, giving everything she had to help everyone else get through this thing. With every minute that passed he was more and more certain something was terribly wrong.

He had to end this thing. Now. He eyed the telephone. "Give me that. I'm done with this crap. I'm calling the D.A. in Chicago and giving the word to drop those charges. I won't testify. Not at the cost of my son."

Mel nodded her agreement with his decision, and Alex reached for the cordless phone. He handed it to Jim and it rang in his hand, startling him so much that he damn near dropped it. Frowning, Jim hit the button and brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Yeah. Listen, I got this number off one of those posters that are up all over town. Someone just hung one up at the pizza joint where I work. I know where that missing boy is."

Jim felt his eyes go wider as he grabbed a pen. "Go ahead, tell me what you know."

"I delivered a pizza earlier. Wait, I still have the slip. Sunnyside Motel, room fifteen. That's in Brookdale-you know where that is?"

"Yeah. Got it. You saw the boy yourself?"

"Yeah."

"Was he all right?"

"Looked okay. He was watching TV."

"Who's with him?"

"A man and a woman. I didn't see anyone else, but I didn't go inside either."

"Okay. All right. Thanks, I can't tell you how much this means."

"Yeah. Uh...the poster said something about a reward?"

Jim frowned at Alex and Mel. "You offered a reward?"

"Yeah," Alex said. "Give me the phone, Jim. Go do what you have to."

Jim nodded and handed over the telephone. Then he raced to his pickup and took off, dialing his cell phone on the way.

"Look at this," Angela said, staring at Tyler. "You've got pizza sauce all over you." She wasn't seeing the pizza sauce on his face, though. She was seeing the light in his eyes, the way they crinkled at the corners when he smiled, the deep dimples in his cheeks. He really was a beautiful child. She wondered why she'd never noticed before. "You should take a bath."

Vinnie frowned at her. She met his eyes, careful to keep her own from showing even a hint of emotion. "He should be clean. I don't want him going home with a dirty face. No one should go out like that."

He smiled a little. "Sure. Sure, a bath is a good idea. Why not? We've got time yet. Go ahead, kid. Take a bath."

Tyler pouted, but he didn't argue. Angela picked him up and carried him into the bathroom. She set him on the toilet seat, then leaned in close to him. "I want you to sit right here. I want you to be very quiet, okay? Your friends are coming to get you, but we can't let Vinnie know. So you have to be quiet."

"Is it a surprise?" he asked, whispering back at her. His eyes got big and the twinkle in them made something knot up in her chest.

"Yeah," she said. "It's a surprise. Now you sit here and be very quiet. Not a peep, okay?"

"Okay," he whispered. "Does this mean I don't really have to take a bath?"

She smiled at him. "Not till you get home anyway." On impulse, she snatched a washcloth from the sink, dampened it and wiped the pizza sauce from his face. Then she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him close, knowing it would be the last time she would ever have the chance. "I love you, Tyler."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Really." Releasing him, she stepped back. Then she went to the window and slid it open and didn't look at Tyler again when she walked out of the bathroom and pulled the door closed behind her.

Vinnie looked up. "He gonna be okay all by himself?" he asked.

"Yeah. I'll check on him in a minute or two. He's a little shy. Hell, we're strangers to him, right?"

He looked at the door, frowning.

"I wanted a minute alone with you, Vinnie. I wanted to ask...how you're gonna do it."

His brows went up. "He won't feel a thing, I promise."

"How?" she asked again.

He sighed, maybe sensing her hesitation. "I got some sleeping pills. We tell him it's a vitamin or something, get it down him. Hell, we can dissolve a couple in that grape soda he keeps guzzling, for that matter. Make it even easier on the kid. Once he's out, he isn't gonna feel anything."

She blinked. "And then what? Once he's out, I mean?"

"C'mon, Angie, you don't need to know this stuff. I'll send you out to the car. You don't have to see it. Okay?"

She nodded slowly. "Okay."

He looked at the bathroom door again. "He's bein' awful quiet in there."

"I'll go back in," she said, getting up quickly.

Vinnie put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll do it."

Kara looked through the window and saw Tyler's eyes light up when he saw her face. She put a finger to her lips, to tell him to keep quiet, and he nodded with a broad smile. Then she put her legs through, sitting on the sill, and slid inside. It was a tight squeeze. It wouldn't be for Tyler, though.

As soon as she was in, she scooped Tyler off the toilet seat and hugged him hard. "Are you okay?" she whispered.

"Uh-huh. I missed you."

"Me, too. Now we have to be quiet."

"I know," he said. "It's a s'prise."

She carried him to the window. He patted her shoulder. "What about my braces?"

"We'll get them later. Come on now, up you go." She hefted him up, and Selene gripped him from outside and drew him easily out through the window.

Kara heard footsteps approaching the bathroom door. "Go!" she whispered urgently. "Go, Selene."

Selene turned and started across the grass toward the waiting car, even as the bathroom door swung open and Kara spun around, her back to the wall.

The man who stood there had to be Vinnie. He was tall, thin and very, very angry. "What the hell is this!" Even as he said it, he reached for her with one hand while drawing a gun with the other. He shoved her, and she hit the side of the tub so hard she thought her knee cracked. Then he was at the window, pointing the gun. "Stop!" he shouted. "I'll kill you, bitch!"

Kara launched herself at him even as a shot rang out. "Run, Selene! Don't stop, run!" she shrieked.

The man hit her, cracked her upside the head with the gun. Her head exploded in pain, and she went down hard, her ears ringing. But even as she did, she heard the sound of squealing tires and she knew Selene was away.

Tyler was safe.

The man leaned over her, swearing brutally. He gripped her by the front of her shirt and hauled her to her feet. "Some kinda hero, aren't you? You're gonna die for this, you realize that, right?"

"I don't care. Tyler's safe and you're going to prison. That's all that matters."

He hit her again-with his fist or the gun, she wasn't sure. But the lights went out, and Kara collapsed to the floor.

Jim was speeding toward the motel when he spotted Selene's little car-the one she and Kara had been driving-racing toward him. He flashed his lights, and the car pulled over to the side. Jim skidded to a stop, reversed until he was even with it, jumped out of his car and ran across the street.

Selene was already out, opening the passenger door, and then he saw Tyler as she gathered him into her arms. God, he was safe. He was safe! Jim's knees went weak, every muscle turned to water. He managed to go to his son, took him from Selene and held him hard.

"Dad! You're squishing me!"

He eased his grip a little, kissing his son's face, hugging him, rocking him back and forth. "You're okay. Thank God, thank God, you're really okay."

"Sure I'm okay. Why's everyone keep saying that?"

He pressed Tyler's head to his shoulder and met Selene's eyes. And the look in them made him go cold. "What happened?" he asked. "Where's Kara?"

"I didn't want to let her do it, Jim."

"Do what? Where is she?" Suddenly the ice-cold fear was alive again, clutching his heart in its frigid hands.

"We found Tyler with Angela and Vinnie in a motel. Kara slid in through the bathroom window to get Tyler, handed him out to me, but that man came in before she could get back out again. They have her, Jim. God, we have to get her back. You have to go."

"I'll get her," he said and he didn't think he'd ever uttered words and meant them more. "I'll get her back, I swear. How far?"

"The motel is two miles back that way, on the left. Room fifteen. It's in the first block of rooms, ground floor. There's a bathroom window in the back. One door and a big window in front. He has a gun. Took a shot at us as we ran for it."

"Vinnie shot a gun at us?" Tyler asked. His smile was gone. Clearly he was picking up the adults' fear. "Why did he do that?"

"I'll explain later, Tyler." Jim shifted him back into Selene's arms. "They didn't follow you? You're sure?"

"No. I think Vinnie had his hands full with Kara. And, Jim, you should know Angela helped us. She saw us in the back, unlocked the window and kept Vinnie out of the bathroom so we could get Tyler out."

He nodded, but the words didn't matter to him. That his one-time wife had finally, for one moment out of millions, put her son's well-being ahead of her own meant nothing to him. Real parents did it every day of their lives. If either one of them hurt Kara...

He shook off the thought. It wasn't possible to even consider it. "Take Tyler back to your mother's. Fill everyone in." Sirens sounded. "The police are already on their way. Go now."

She nodded, putting Tyler back into the car. Then she came out again, a scrap of paper in her hand. "Jim, wait. Here, this is the info on the car they were driving. Just in case."

He took the paper, barely glancing at it before cramming it into a pocket.

Selene got into the car and said, "Save my sister, Jim. Bring her back to us."

"I swear to God I will," he said, then ran to his pickup, got in and took off.

As he pressed the accelerator to the floor, he realized that in spite of everything-his past, his determination, his stubbornness-he was sick at the thought of anything hurting Kara. Devastated at the very notion of facing a life without her in it. Killing mad at those who were keeping her from him.

He wanted her, he realized. Not for Tyler's sake, not because she would be the perfect mother. But for himself. He wanted to be with her. Always.

And if that wasn't love, he didn't know what was.

Damn, he loved Kara Brand, after all. And he probably had for a while now. He'd been so busy telling himself he didn't-couldn't-that he hadn't noticed that he did. Fine time to figure it out, now that he might never have the chance to tell her, he thought. God, he hoped he would be able to make things right with her.

All along he'd been beating himself up, feeling guilty for not being able to give the woman what she so richly deserved. A husband who loved her. Was devoted to her. Could make her happy.