"Yeah," Lindsey said tersely as she tried to include everything that Tracy might need. A warm scarf. Winter jacket. Bulky wool sweaters to create layers.

"He's kind of intense, isn't he?" Tracy just would not shut up.

Son of a bitch. Lindsey had told Jenk she didn't want anything heavy. Damnit, she'd let herself have him because he so clearly wasn't looking for that either. Or so she'd mistakenly believed.

What kind of idiot could have one night of sex-and it was great sex, yes, okay, but still...What kind of fool could think that one night could be a basis for any kind of real relationship? And he so wasn't seeing her. One night wasn't seeing.

She tore the page off the pad and handed it to Tracy. "Bring only one duffel bag, and make sure it's light enough so you can carry it yourself."

Tracy laughed melodious peals of merriment as Lindsey pushed her chair back and headed for the door. But then the laughter stopped as she hit the hall.

"Oh, my God, you're not kidding, are you?" she heard Tracy say in shock.

Lindsey headed for Tom's office to ask him-beg him if necessary-to let her stay behind.

LOCATION: UNCERTAIN.

DATE: UNKNOWN.

Beth awoke, disoriented, in a bed that sagged in the middle, in a room she didn't recognize, a room with a window, its shade pulled and curtains closed.

Yet light leaked in around the edges.

This was significant in some way, but she couldn't for the life of her remember why.

The bedroom door was open a crack and a light was on out in the hall. She could see that the walls of the room were a faded yellow, the ceiling white and full of cracks, like a road map of a country where insanity ruled.

Her head was pounding and her mouth was dry and sour-tasting, which was odd because usually after she vomited, the headache from her hangover got much less intense.

One thing was clear-it must've been one hell of a night, because try as she might she could not remember a damn thing. How she got here. Who she went home with. Whether she'd puked before or after they'd gotten it on.

Her mother would love that-if she found out. Of course, her mother would be angry enough over her failure to come home last night. And if Beth couldn't remember exactly who she'd spent the night with, odds were good that she'd also forgotten to give Ma a call.

She was shivering despite blankets pulled up to her chin. The mattress was too soft, her back was killing her. She shifted, trying to get herself out of the center ditch, and...

She was tied down. To the cast-iron frame of the bed. Her right ankle and her right wrist. She tried to sit up, tried to pull free, but it wasn't silk scarves or even ropes that bound her. It was chains. Shackles.

She was dressed in ragged, bloodstained clothes that hadn't been properly washed in ages, and her arm had the nastiest-looking gashLord, it hurt.

"Feeling better, Number Five?"

The door opened wider, and he was standing there, with the hall light behind him, his face in shadows, and she remembered.

Most of it, but not quite all. How had this happened? Had she fought Number Twenty-One, and lost?

Terror rushed through her, choking her, making sparks appear before her eyes.

How it happened didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was he'd brought her upstairs.

Which meant that now he was going to do to her what he did to Number Four.

CHAPTER.

TEN.

SOMEWHERE OVER ARIZONA.

FRIDAY NIGHT, DECEMBER 9, 2005.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Mind if I, uh, sit?"

Well, there was a promising start to a conversation. Dave looked up from his book to see Mark Jenkins standing in the aisle of the plane.

Lindsey Fontaine was sitting in the window seat directly behind Dave. "No," she said. "Please do. This is, um...Do you have time to, you know, talk? For more than just a few minutes?"

Jenkins sat next to her. "Yeah, I've pretty much got until we land in New Hampshire. I mean, assuming the commander doesn't need me for anything."

They were talking quietly, but acoustics created some kind of bizarre pocket that made their voices sound as if they were speaking directly into Dave's ear. It was an interesting phenomenon, and it usually only happened on commercial flights, when there was a crying baby sitting behind him. He was about to turn around and comment on it-Don't get too personal back there, ha-ha-ha... when Lindsey said, "About last night..."

And Jenkins said, "I am so sorry."

"It was a mistake," Lindsey said.

"I agree. I was wrong to...I've been thinking about it all day, and I should have just told her that you were there-"

Dave was gathering up his things-his briefcase, his jacket-when Lindsey cut Jenk off. "I meant it was a mistake for us to sleep together. It was a mistake to think that we could have sex without it screwing up our friendship."

Oh, good. Now if Dave stood up and moved to another seat, Lindsey would know that he'd heard her say that. He'd overheard her earlier today, too, in Tom's office, asking to be excused from this op. She didn't want to go to New Hampshire.

Her reasons-she found it hard to handle the cold weather, she needed some time off-apparently hadn't been entirely truthful.

Jenk broke the silence. "Lindsey, look, I know I really messed up, but-"

"You didn't."

"-what we did last night was not a mistake. You're incredible-"

"In bed," she said. "You don't know me well enough to know whether I'm incredible at anything besides backrubs and-"

Dave put his fingers in his ears and scrunched down in his seat. This was information that he desperately didn't want to know. But still their voices cut through.

"I think I do." Jenk was certain.

"You have no clue who I am." Lindsey was, too.

Jenk obviously knew he couldn't win this one, that it would rapidly deteriorate to "Do too!" "Do not!" "Do too!" So instead, he said, "Then, let me get to know you. Talk to me. I want to know everything-"

"Do you?" She was pissed. "Or do you only want to know the things about me that fit into your little perfect fantasy? I've actually read the Kama Sutra. I took a course in human sexuality in college that was extremely enlightening-that's one for the double-plus column, huh?"

Dave tried desperately not to listen, but it was no use.

"And I love to camp," Lindsey continued. "Let's see, I've always wanted to learn to white-water raft-as a SEAL those are both probably big thumbs-ups, maybe even bigger than that first item. So, check and check. But oh, wait, I watch a lot of TV. You're not into that. Except, I've got TiVo. That turns it from a minus to a plus, because I'll have something to do all those weeks I'm home alone while you're off jumping out of airplanes."

"Lindsey, I know you're angry. If I were you, I'd be angry, too-"

"Oh, wait, here's something that I've already told you. Let's see what happens when I tell you again. I'm not looking for anything heavy right now. Okay, hmmm. That's not a plus, since your goal is two point five kids and a minivan. In fact, it's a pretty major minus, but you know what? Just ignore it. Just keep on ignoring it, Mark."

Now there was silence. Dave held his breath. Was Jenk going to figure it out, or did Lindsey have to put it into even plainer language?

Jenk finally spoke. "You're dumping me."

"No," she said, but this time he cut her off.

"Yeah. You are. Wow."

"Dumping implies-" Lindsey started.

"You honestly don't think we were great together? I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble thinking this isn't about me going to Tracy's rescue, like I failed your test or I'm too human to fit your high standards or-"

"Dumping implies a relationship," she told him hotly. "We had one night, which was, in my opinion, a major mistake. I told you up front that I wasn't looking for a relationship and you said, great, we're on the same page. Well, I'm still on that page. You've gone off into some fairytale somewhere, where you suddenly don't want Tracy anymore, where you've...you've...photoshopped my face into the wedding photo on some new page that says, And they lived happily ever after!"

"What?" He was completely confused.

"She told me what you said," Lindsey was completely indignant. "Tracy. She told me she hit on you and you turned her down-"

Jenk's voice was incredulous now. "Okay, wait. You're mad at me because I didn't sleep with Tracy?"

"Because of me!" Lindsey finished. "You told her you were seeing someone else, but you're not. We had sex, Mark. And the only reason you asked me to go home with you was because you thought Tracy was back with Lyle."

"That's not-" he started.

"Yes," she said firmly. "It is. And you know it."

He was silent for a moment. "So...what? I'm not allowed to change my mind?"

"No," Lindsey said. "You are. The same way I'm allowed to not change mine."

More silence, then Jenk said, "I thought maybe you..." He sighed.

"Would swoon?" she said.

There was more going on here than she was saying, because she was way too angry at Jenkins for...not sleeping with Tracy? Yes, there was definitely more to this situation than met the eye. Or the ear, in Dave's case.

"Because suddenly you see me fitting into the little slot you've carved out for your anonymous future wife?" Lindsey continued. "Everything I said must've been bullshit, right? Because everyone knows all women everywhere are really just holding their breath, thinking: Someday my prince will come. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't want to marry you, I don't want to move in, I don't want to go steady. I don't even want to date you. I wanted to have sex with you. That's all. I thought maybe we could be the kind of friends who hook up for a while and just have a good time. I was wrong. It was a mistake. A big one."

Silence.

"I wasn't asking you to marry me," Jenkins finally said. "What I was gonna say was I thought you liked me as much as I liked you. I guess I got my answer."

"I do like you," Lindsey said. "As a friend."

Those three little words sounded the death knell for that last bit of hope that surely remained in Jenkins's heart. Dave could practically hear the quiet hiss as the faltering flame went out.

"Okay," Jenk said. "It's not what I want, but...okay. That's...okay."

They were both silent then, but Dave knew the conversation wasn't over. Jenk still had to stand up and walk away.

He finally spoke. "I'm sorry if anything I said or did hurt you."

"I'm sorry if I hurt you, too."

Dave heard the sounds of Jenkins pulling himself to his feet. He pretended to be engrossed in his book, but he could see the young SEAL out of the corner of his eye. Jenk just stood there for a moment, as if he were going to say something more, but then he walked down the aisle to the back of the plane.

Ouch. Dave's stomach hurt. For both of them.

Then Lindsey kicked the back of his seat. "Did you enjoy that?" She was talking to him. Terrific.