"All five hundred and twenty have had a thorough background check, and been interviewed twice, by either Tucker, Johnson, or me."

It was unfortunate that such a large crew was necessary, but the service on a luxury boutique ship had to be impeccable to help justify the exorbitant cost, and that meant crew had to be available to handle any possible detail. But as extensive as a background check could be, could anyone really trust what was found online? It seemed to Larkin that no check was ever thorough enough. He knew, because he had manipulated his share of them.

Dean was satisfied with the crew that was in place, so Larkin supposed that would have to do. If anything went wrong ... well, Dean was expendable. Everyone was.

"WE HAVE A PROBLEM," Tiffany said flatly. "Sanchez checked the passenger list this morning. The suites have been switched around. Ryan and Faith aren't next to Larkin."

Cael sat up in bed, cell phone to his ear. "The paranoid son of a bitch," he muttered as he turned on the lamp, a mellow pool of light spreading across the floor. "Who has the two suites now?"

"An older couple, Albert and Ginger Winningham, have been put in the Neptune. That was the suite Ryan and Faith had, and the positioning was perfect. The suite on the other side, the Queen Anne, now has Sydney Hazlett and Jenner Redwine in it. The arrangement of rooms makes that suite more problematic, but do-able."

Cael went across the room to his computer and woke it from sleep mode, then pulled up the suite diagrams in question. All he had was the Platinum suite, which was the owner's suite, where Larkin would be, and the Neptune suite. The sitting room of the Neptune exactly corresponded to that of the Platinum.

"I don't have the Queen Anne," he said. "Can you shoot that to me?"

"Hold on."

He heard the tapping of keys, then a melodic tone on his computer signaled a message had just downloaded. He clicked on it, then opened the PDF that showed the floor plan of the suite in question.

"I see what you mean." The common wall between the two suites had the bedrooms situated on it. That was no problem from the Queen Anne side; if they had to use that suite, the room they'd be in didn't matter, but the fiber-optic surveillance they had to install was more likely to feed them useful information if it went into the Platinum's living room, rather than the bedroom. Still, as Tiffany had said, it was do-able. More difficult, but do-able. He'd need access to Larkin's suite, though, instead of just threading the wires through tiny holes between the two suites. The job had just become exponentially more dangerous.

His mind raced. Larkin was notoriously suspicious of everyone and everything, but lately he seemed to be taking his paranoia to new extremes. So, even though Cael hadn't seen this coming, he wasn't really surprised. He just wished he'd thought of the possibility beforehand so they'd have a fallback plan. He hated having to improvise, because that upped the odds that something would go wrong.

"The passengers in the suites can't be moved again," he said, thinking aloud. "Larkin put them there for a reason, and if we have Sanchez switch them around Larkin will know something's up." A plan was forming, one that involved one of his group switching out with one of the people in either the Neptune suite or the Queen Anne.

"The old couple's very well known. Anything involving them will attract a lot of attention, plus I gather they aren't in the best of health." Tiffany might not know exactly what he was thinking, but she was sharp enough to know it would involve the passengers currently assigned to one of those two suites.

"What about the other two guys?" Two gays, obviously, which meant Tiffany wouldn't be of much use. He himself was paired with Tiffany-professionally, not personally-so perhaps he could move Matt into the primary position on this job. Cael was a little uneasy with that. Matt was damn good at what he did, but his acting skills didn't extend to portraying a convincing gay. Besides, Matt had already been hired on with the crew, so moving him to the passenger list would send up all sorts of red flags. No, he'd have to do this himself.

"Wrong-o," Tiffany said, having already pulled up their info on her computer. "They're both women. Sydney-spelled with a *y' instead of an *i,' is an heiress. Jenner Redwine won the Mega-Millions lottery several years back. They're best friends, but not lesbian. At least, if they are lesbian, they're so deep in the closet they could pass as garment bags."

"Are they, or not?" A tinge of impatience laced his deep tone. Although he appreciated the garment bag analogy, he didn't have time for humor.

"Going strictly by instinct ... no. They're straight. And they're stand-ins for Sydney's father, who had to cancel. My reading is that Sydney was asked to take her father's place, and she asked a friend to go along for company. Hmmm. The suite that was originally booked was a two-bedroom, but the Queen Anne is just one bedroom."

"That could be a problem for them."

"No, it's okay. The king beds can be separated into twins. Besides," she retorted, "women don't have the same hang-ups about sharing a room that men do. With members of the same sex, that is."

He ignored the jab. Tiffany was always trying to ruffle his feathers-that was her nature. His attention to and concentration on the job was legendary, so of course she had to try to jolt him out of his mental tracks.

The sudden kink in their plans had kicked his mind into high gear. "Find out everything you can about Hazlett and Redwine. I want their travel plans, I want to know how they think, what kind of people they are."

"I'm on it."

"Ryan and Faith go to backup," he said. "We can't move them around again-that'll alert Larkin. You and I become primary."

"All right!" She sounded disgustingly cheerful. There was nothing Tiffany liked more than being in the front lines.

After hanging up, Cael did some research on his own. They had very little time to get a plan in place, so he had to lay as much groundwork right now as he could, which involved waking up some people who'd be unhappy about the hour. Tough shit. He was awake, doing his job, so they could wake up, too. He didn't have time to be considerate.

On this special charity cruise of the Silver Mist, before the luxury ship went into commission, he had chosen Ryan and Faith as primaries because they genuinely moved in some fairly rarified financial circles. It just so happened they both had a taste for adventure, and good skills. If Larkin hadn't shuffled the passenger list around, they would have been good to go.

Cael studied the faces he'd pulled up on the computer screen. Tiffany would do deep discovery on the two women, but he could get a feel for what kind of people they were. Hazlett was the prettier of the two, with dark blond hair and classically even features, but there was something soft in her expression. Redwine, on the other hand, was more cute than pretty, and the candid photos of her showed some attitude. The pictures he pulled up also showed that she changed her hair color about as often as she did her shoes. That could mean she had a streak of adventure in her, which meant she could be a liability. On the other hand, did Hazlett have the backbone to do what would have to be done?

It was a judgment call. Hazlett would be more pliable, more easily influenced, but her nerves might not stand up to the job. Red-wine's nerves would stand up fine, but she'd dig in her heels and cause problems the whole time.

He stared longer at Redwine's photo. Tiffany might dig up something that changed his mind, but he didn't think so. The job was what was important, and carrying off the ruse would take guts, which he didn't think Hazlett possessed. So ... Jenner Redwine it was. If she gave him any trouble, well, he'd just have to handle it-and her.

"Hello, sweetheart," he said softly. "We're about to become lovers."

Chapter Eight.

THE MORNING THE SHIP WAS SUPPOSED TO DEPART ON the two-week cruise, Sydney got up very early-she hated rushing around. She invariably did something stupid when she was rushed, like the time she'd put on one each of two different pairs of shoes, or when she'd once forgotten to put on any jewelry at all for a formal dinner. She tried to be composed and together, but it rarely worked. This time, she didn't want to be in such a rush that she forgot to bring all her luggage, or left her passport behind. On that thought, she double-checked to make sure it was in her bag.

This past week had been fun, drowsing by the pool, shopping, talking into the wee hours. Sydney had really enjoyed spending time with Caro. There were very few people with whom she could truly relax, and Caro was one of them. Her personality was laid-back, nonjudgmental, and she saw everything through a filter of good humor. It didn't escape Sydney how completely different her two best friends were, though she loved both of them.

Well, not completely different. Jenner did have a sense of humor, though it tended toward the wickedly ironic. On the other hand, there was nothing about Jenner that was laid-back; even when she was relaxing, she seemed to hum with energy. She was more wary than outgoing, somewhat prickly, and as fierce in her likes as she was her dislikes.

Maybe it was Syd's own unrelenting sense of inadequacy that had made her notice Jenner when they'd been seated at the same table at a charity dinner. To the casual observer, Jenner would have looked composed, contained, everything about her discreet and understated, from her gown to her makeup to her jewelry. Syd, on the other hand, was so hypersensitive to others' expressions, looking for any hint of derision or disapproval, that she saw the tiny flare of uncertainty in Jenner's eyes as she gave the silverware a brief, panicked glance. Immediately Syd knew that Jenner was out of her depth, that this was the first formal dinner she'd ever attended, and that she had no idea how to handle the admittedly excessive array of forks and spoons.

Normally, making the first move, whether it was initiating conversation or anything else, was agonizing for Syd and she had to psych herself up beforehand; that night, however, what she'd done had been so simple, and as easy as breathing, that she hadn't had to think about it at all. She'd caught Jenner's eye, subtly lifted the correct fork, and made a lifetime friend.

She'd been so afraid at first that her father wouldn't like Jenner. He was no one's fool, and after her disastrous engagement had ended he'd become ferocious in making sure no one else took advantage of her. Jenner's background wasn't exactly shining; winning the lottery wasn't regarded with the same amount of respect as was working twenty hours a day and making astute decisions that affected thousands of people, hopefully for the best. There was no skill or talent involved in winning the lottery; it was just a matter of luck. And she was newly arrived in south Florida, so no one knew anything about her other than the most superficial information; what concerned Syd's father most was whether or not Jenner would be a loyal friend, or if she was merely using Syd as a means of working her way into society.

To her surprise, the two of them had hit it off. Jenner didn't give a flip about society, she was who she was, and that included being Syd's friend-period. There was no rhyme or reason when it came to hitting it off with a person, she supposed. It just happened, sometimes, and she was so glad one of those times had been with Jenner.

Normally, the thought of two solid weeks filled with one formal event after the other would have almost paralyzed Syd with dread, but somehow being on a ship made things different. The whole atmosphere was just easier. Being on a ship meant being in a completely different world, where the outside couldn't intrude. There weren't any phone calls to field, and people were more preoccupied with relaxing and having fun than they were with how they or anyone else looked. She enjoyed cruises in general, and this one not only promised to be fun, but it would raise money for several very good causes. She only hoped Jenner had fun, too; Jenn was such a control freak-at least when it came to staying on top of business, because she wasn't that way with anything else-that getting away from it all would either be a great relief, or frustrating for her, and Syd had no way of knowing which way she would fall until they were actually at sea.

But even if Jenn did freak out at first, maybe then she'd relax and they could have fun. The world would be fine without her for fourteen days. There was no one else in the world Syd enjoyed spending so much time with; Jenner's take on the world was so pithy that it was hilarious. Then, too, Jenner had some of the qualities Syd admired but didn't possess: strength, self-confidence, the balls to look life in the eye and dare it to blink first.

Syd heaved a little sigh. She herself didn't have any balls-at all, not even peanut-size ones. Maybe one day.

The limo arrived at Caro's right on time to pick her up. While the driver, whose brushed gold name tag said he was "Adam," loaded her vast amount of luggage into the trunk, Sydney gave Caro a long, heartfelt hug, they made many promises that they'd get together again and wouldn't wait so long next time, then Syd bounced down the steps to the limo. She cast a quick, anxious look at the driver. She did have an enormous amount of luggage, and she wanted to apologize, to explain that she'd packed to be away from home for two weeks and there were all these social events on board the ship and-She bit back both the apology and the explanation. First, to his credit, Adam wasn't scowling or looking impatient or anything. Second, he was a tall, good-looking, well-built man, and that type always made her excruciatingly aware of her own shortcomings, one of which was the urge to apologize for everything.

She settled into the seat and placed her bag next to her, thinking that when she signed the credit card receipt for the limo she'd add to the tip that had already been figured into the cost. Anyone who handled that amount of luggage without complaint deserved an extra tip.

As the limo pulled away from the curb Sydney stared out the window at the sun-drenched hills, and the blue of the Pacific off to her right. It was another beautiful day; every day she'd been here had been perfect. The prospect of another fourteen days of beautiful weather loomed in front of her, making her smile.

She checked her watch, a diamond-studded Cartier her father had given her on her eighteenth birthday. She was going to be one of the first passengers on the ship, but if Jenner's plane was on time and her limo made good time through the traffic, it was possible she'd arrive at about the same time. Syd was relieved that she wasn't going to be late this time. She knew she had a terrible habit of not being on time, and she really tried not to be late, but like almost everything else, time seemed to be beyond her control. She never intended to be late, just the opposite, but ... She'd try to do better, especially while they were on the cruise.

She didn't pay much attention to the landscape as Adam drove at a leisurely pace through the upscale neighborhood that surrounded the gated community where Caro lived. It wasn't as if she knew her way around San Diego anyway, so the landmarks meant nothing to her. Instead, she let her mind wander as she thought about the days ahead, the sunbathing on their private balcony, the wonderful food she really shouldn't eat but would enjoy immensely because everyone knew cruise calories didn't count. Maybe she'd even drink a little too much now and then, and dance with a handsome Latin ballroom instructor. Uh-huh. Sure. She wasn't known for her ability to cut loose. So she wouldn't drink too much-she never had-and as she already knew how to ballroom dance, she probably wouldn't dance with an instructor, either. But she and Jenner would relax, enjoy themselves, maybe flirt a little even if it was only with someone who was safely in his seventies, and have a real vacation.

With a slight jerk, the limo halted at a stop sign, and the door locks clicked. Confused, Sydney glanced at the driver, because all his other stops had been smooth as silk, and why were the door locks just now engaging? Usually they automatically clicked down as soon as the car was put in gear.

The passenger door across from her opened and a dark-haired women slid into the seat, then closed the door with a firm bang. Sydney gaped at her, too startled to do more than make a few incoherent noises. The car started forward again, and once more the door locks clicked. Confused, she realized the first click had been when they unlocked, which meant he'd put the gear in Park.

"Adam-" she began, alarm pushing aside her startled confusion as the car picked up speed. She scooted to the edge of the seat, gripping the door handle as she reached forward to tap on the partition separating them. Surely he realized they'd picked up an unwanted passenger. He should be pulling to the curb, turning around and telling the woman- "Just sit still, Ms. Hazlett," the woman said in a calm tone. She took her hand out of the pocket of her tracksuit to reveal an ugly black gun. "If you do exactly as we tell you, you won't be hurt."

We.

The driver was in on it. He'd deliberately stopped so the locks would disengage and the woman could get in. Everything had been prearranged; he'd known she would be there.

For a long, dizzying moment, Sydney held her breath. She clutched her purse because it was literally all she had to hold on to. Kidnapping was always a possibility when someone had money and her father had a lot of money but security in their circles was mostly limited to home security. She knew a few people who employed personal security guards, but very few, because for the most part people just lived their lives as normally as possible. So far as she knew, her father had never had a kidnapping threat. And yet, here she was in a locked car with two strangers, one of whom was holding a gun on her.

Don't panic. Don't panic. She told herself that over and over. If she panicked, she would lose control and start crying and screaming, and somehow it seemed important not to do that. All she could think was how upset her father would be if she were killed, so she shouldn't do anything that would force these people to shoot her.

Everything would work out. They would ask for a ransom, her father would pay it, and they would let her go. This would all be over in no time.

She'd seen their faces. Wasn't that a bad sign? Hadn't she read somewhere that kidnappers who intended to let their victims go after they got the money always concealed their faces, so they couldn't be identified? If a kidnapper made no attempt to conceal his-or her-identity, they usually didn't intend to let the victim live.

"People are expecting me," she blurted desperately. "I'm supposed to go on a cruise. I was on my way there-" But they knew that, didn't they? After all, "Adam" was her driver. He'd been supposed to take her to the dock. She lurched into a different tack. "I have money. Cash-"

"We won't want your money," the woman said. She was tall, with short dark hair and the sort of leggy elegance of a model, though she wasn't particularly pretty. Her tone wasn't harsh or vicious, which Sydney would have expected given the gun in her hand.

"But ... I ..." Sydney's voice trailed off, because her mind went blank. If they didn't want her money, what did they want?

"Stay calm," the woman said. "Do exactly as we tell you, and when this is all over you and your friend will be allowed to walk away, completely unharmed. But if you pull any John Wayne shit, your friend will pay the price for it. Understood?"

Sydney's thoughts splintered again. They'd grabbed Caro? If they don't want money, then why? And even more ridiculously-John Wayne? Her?

"We already have Ms. Redwine," the woman continued. "In a little while, we'll set up a call for you to talk to her. That way you each will know the other is okay-for now."

Not Caro. Jenner.

A bubble of hysterical laughter rose in her throat, threatening to choke her. Oh, God, Jenner was the one they should be having the John Wayne talk with, not her.

"Calm down," the woman said sharply, seeing how rapidly Sydney's control was fraying.

Sydney gripped her bag so tightly her knuckles turned white, her chest heaving with the force and speed of her breathing. Her lips felt numb. "What do you want?" she whispered, and tears stung her eyes. Quickly she wiped them away, not wanting to appear any weaker than she was, even though she knew the woman had already seen them and knew very well what they meant. They wanted her to be afraid. They wanted her to be so terrified that she'd do whatever they said, when they said it. Well, congratulations-she was there already.

"Just do as you're told" was the only answer she got. "If you cooperate, you'll be treated well. This experience doesn't have to be unpleasant."

The limo made a smooth turn. Ahead, several hotels loomed on either side of the street, some taller than others, some sterile and generic, others more welcoming. Sydney stared blindly at them. There were always a lot of people around hotels; maybe she could attract someone's attention, though the windows of the limo were tinted so dark she didn't see how. And what if she did? What would happen then? Would this woman shoot her?

"We're going to walk into the hotel," the woman said in a low, even tone, "without incident, without any sign that we aren't the best of friends. I repeat: Do as you're told, and you and Ms. Red-wine won't be hurt. We're going to check in, and you're going to hand over your credit card and sign the registration paperwork the way we've both done hundreds of times before, then we'll all go up in the elevator. I'll be watching. I'll know if you do anything different, if you try to scribble a message or roll your eyes at the clerk ... anything. If you do anything out of the ordinary, Ms. Red-wine will pay the price."

That threat froze whatever idea Sydney might have had for trying to run, make a quick escape. Jenner's life depended on her, on what she did or didn't do. Oh, God, she'd never been able to act worth a damn. What if she couldn't even manage to check into a hotel without looking as if the bitch next to her was holding a damn gun on her? She wasn't an actress, she wasn't brave, and she didn't have an intrepid bone in her body. What if she screwed this up?

She couldn't. She couldn't let Jenner down. She had to get this right.

The limo turned, and came to a stop under a large, curved portico where hotel guests arrived and left by taxi, or left their own vehicles for the valet service. A burly hotel doorman in a burgundy uniform stepped forward and opened the passenger door. The woman slid out, and stood waiting, so close to the car that the doorman couldn't close the door, while Adam got out and silently opened Sydney's door. She swung her legs out and stood, carefully not looking at him. If the woman was armed, it stood to reason that he was, too, otherwise the woman wouldn't have gotten out of the car and left Sydney inside.

Adam stood just a shade too close to her, not so close that he would attract attention, but close enough that she had no hope of darting around him and making a break for it. If it hadn't been for Jenner, she might have tried something desperate like that, but they had her as effectively hogtied with their threats as if they had actually used rope to secure her.

The woman came around the car, smiling, and looped her arm through Sydney's. "Take care of the tip, Adam, please," she said pleasantly, then marched Sydney inside the hotel.

With no other choice, Sydney sucked in a deep breath, steadied her weak knees, and did exactly what the woman had told her to do. Her heart was pounding so hard and fast she thought she might faint, and her voice sounded high and squeaky to her own ears, but she handed over her platinum American Express card, she signed her name, collected the key cards-three of them-at the woman's whispered direction, and turned all three of them over to her. When the hotel clerk asked if she had luggage, the woman smiled and said, "Our driver is bringing up our bags," and that was that.

They went to the bank of elevators, the woman punched the "up" button, and casually glanced around, studying everyone and everything around them. The elevator arrived with a pleasant little tone, the doors smoothly opened, and they stepped inside, along with several other people. The woman punched the button for the top floor-the twenty-fifth-and they shot up. An older woman got off on fourteen. A young man exited on seventeen. When he was gone and the doors had closed behind him, Sydney blurted, "How do I know Jenner is all right?"

The woman squeezed Sydney's arm and glanced up at the camera in the corner of the elevator car. Frustrated, Syd turned so that only the back of her head faced the camera. "On TV, there's no sound on elevator surveillance tapes."

The woman smiled, a completely humorless stretching of her lips, and whispered, "This isn't TV."

On the twenty-third floor, another woman joined them.

They reached the twenty-fifth floor, exited the elevator, and the second woman fell into step with them. Sydney darted a frightened glance at her and was met with a cool look that sent chills down her spine. She was with them, then-whoever "they" were.

Silently she followed the first woman, with the second one pulling guard duty. They took a right, then walked all the way down a long hall to the double door at the end. A suite, then.

The woman took one of the key cards, swiped it, and opened the door. A firm hand on Sydney's back ushered her into the foyer, then turned her to the left, toward the parlor. Immediately the first woman went over to the window and closed the curtains, while the other one, behind Sydney, turned on the lights. She also turned the air-conditioning to a cooler temperature. Sydney stood beside the round dining table and watched them, feeling more impotent than she ever had in her entire life. What was going on?

The second woman had long brown hair pulled up into a pony-tail. She was prettier than the first woman, but her body was just as taut and muscled. She pulled off her jacket, and Sydney saw a knife in a sheath at the small of her back. A knife! What was this, Charlie's Angels gone bad?

But somehow the knife was more frightening than the gun. Guns made noise-well, unless they were silenced, and the gun she'd seen hadn't been-and brought people running. A knife was silent; her body might not be found for days.

She plucked up her courage. "Now will someone tell me what's going on?" She tried very hard not to let her fear show, but she heard her voice waver in the middle of the sentence.

The first woman said, "You don't need to know. You just need to do what you're told. My name is Dori, and this is Kim. Please sit down while we wait for Adam."

Sydney sat. She tried to calm herself, but it wasn't easy. Would they have told her their names if they intended for her to survive? She could describe them, she knew their names. Of course, the names could be fake, but the fact that they'd made no effort to disguise their faces still wasn't good.

The enormity of it all suddenly hit her like a slap in the face. She gulped and tried to control the violent shaking that seized her, tried to stop the tears that suddenly welled in her eyes and dripped down her face, but all of her willpower was useless against her sudden despair and she covered her face with her hands, sobbing. She didn't cry just for herself. She cried for her dad, who would be in so much pain and blame himself, if this kidnapping proceeded as she suspected it would and she ended up dead-or worse, she simply disappeared and he never knew what happened to her. And Jenner ... was she being held this way? Had she been met at the airport by more of these people, was she also taken to a hotel somewhere for God knows what purpose?

Dori and Kim left her alone for a couple of minutes, then a soft but strong hand gripped Syd's arms and pulled her up, to an unsteady standing position. Those hands remained in place, literally supporting her.

"First things first," Dori said, gently taking the bag Sydney had continued to clutch. She opened the bag and searched through the contents, removing both Syd's iPod and her cell phone, a nail file, two pens, a safety pin, and anything else that was remotely useful. In a moment of bad timing, the cell phone began to ring. Sydney jerked, startled by the tone, and automatically reached for it.

Dori silently took the phone and slipped it in her pocket.

Kim took Syd's arm and led her back through the foyer, past the double doors, toward the bedroom. "In a little while, we're going to call Ms. Redwine. Use the time to pull yourself together. You're going to give Ms. Redwine instructions, and if she does as she's told and you do as you're told, everyone will be all right. I give you my word."

She sounded sincere. It was all Syd could do not to laugh in her face. Was she supposed to trust these people? She'd do what they said, because she had no choice, but their "word" didn't mean a thing. What kind of fool would take comfort in the word of a criminal?

They stepped into a spacious corner bedroom. Light poured into the room, which was decorated in blue and beige-mostly beige. There was a king-size bed, a comfortable-looking chair by the window, and a private bath.

"In a day or two we'll let you call your father, since it's possible he'll hear that you aren't on board the ship."

Yes, Syd could imagine that happening. An e-mail or a phone call from someone aboard the Silver Mist could cause all sorts of complications.