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Romano leaned close to her. “Give me that safe deposit key. But don’t make it obvious.”

She stared at him, but he didn’t meet her eyes. His were wide, alert, moving back and forth as he scanned the parking lot.

Almost afraid to move, Lexi reached toward the back pocket of her jeans.

He turned to her all of the sudden, one arm snapping around her waist. Then he pulled her close, and his mouth covered hers.

He pressed her back to the wall, nudging her mouth open, kissing her in a way she’d never been kissed before.

His hand slid down over her back, and her eyes fell closed even as she realized that his remained open.

And he still held a gun in his other hand.

Her legs dissolved, and she put her arms around his neck.

She’d sink to the ground if she didn’t. His mouth on hers was hungry as it invaded and devoured.

When his hand clasped her buttocks, squeezed her there, held her hips to his, she felt her insides turn molten.

She tilted her head, kissing him back as her mind spun into madness.

Conscious thought fled. Feeling took over.

Sensation. The blood in her veins grew lava-hot, and every nerve ending quivered.

She slid her fingers into his long dark hair, even moved her hips against him.

He was eliciting responses from her very soul as he kissed her. The way his hand moved, kneaded, slid …

Into her back pocket, and then out again, with the key.

He straightened away from her, the key now in his fist, his eyes just as alert and sharp as before. His breathing was normal. Hers was ragged. She pressed herself to the wall behind her to keep from falling. Her heart hammered.

He turned, scanning the lot again, unmoved by the chaos he’d just brought crashing down on her.

“Now be casual. Open the passenger door and get in.”

She swallowed hard, lifting her chin. He was either a cold-hearted bastard or he was completely oblivious to the storm he’d just set loose inside her. She hoped for the latter, and walked along the passenger side of the car, toward the door. He kept pace on the driver’s side.

She reached the door, put her hand on it.

“Not leaving so soon, are you, Romano? The party is only beginning.”

The accent was British, and the shrill voice sent cold chills up Lexi’s spine. She froze, moving only her eyes to find the source of that fingernails-on-chalkboard tone.

The man was so pale he almost glowed in the dark. He stood right behind Romano, a gun pressed tight to the base of his neck. Romano’s gaze met hers over the top of the car. There was rage in his eyes, but she sensed it wasn’t directed at her. He said a single word, and it dripped with hatred.

“White.”

She wondered at the accuracy of his name, then realized it was probably meant to be ironic. An albino named White. He was the essence of white. The man behind him yanked the duffel from Romano’s shoulder and slung it down onto the pavement. “Your gun, my friend. Drop it.”

He did. Lexi heard the clatter of metal against blacktop. She tried not to sink into a well of panic, tried telling herself it was all right. There were other guns in that duffel. Lots of other guns.

White lifted his gaze, and when it met Lexi’s, she shuddered in revulsion.

Cold eyes. Colorless in the darkness, only igniting with neon fire when the sign flickered and buzzed.

But evil, unspeakably evil. She felt its touch when he looked at her.

The neon illuminated a scar across his cheek, making it seem fresh.

Goose bumps rose on her arms, and she felt a crackle of static race over her nape.

He had white hair and glowing reddish eyes.

“Put those lovely arms up high, Ms. Stoltz, and come around the car to stand beside your lover, won’t you?”

She opened her mouth to tell him she couldn’t, but no words came out.

Seemed she was scared speechless as well as motionless.

Her gaze jerked back to Romano’s, and he sent her a nearly imperceptible nod.

Somehow, she managed to raise her hands above her head and put one foot in front of the other until she stood beside Romano, facing the car with that monster behind them.

“Turn around,” the monster squeaked. His voice made her teeth hurt. Romano turned to face him. Lexi stood still, trembling until his hands touched her shoulders, turning her gently, telling her with his eyes that it would be okay.

The monster smiled. His eyes flashed red whenever the sign flickered His skin was alabaster. Shorter than Romano, though not by much, he was probably twenty pounds lighter. His long, narrow face ended in a pointed chin.

“Good to see you again, Romano. I barely trusted my instincts when my men described the agent who’d run off with Ms. Stoltz and left them bound, like calves at one of your American rodeos, on her living room floor. I almost convinced myself it was only wishful thinking. But it is you.”

“You shouldn’t be so glad about that,” Romano said softly.

“I enjoy a worthy opponent. Makes the game more interesting.”

“This is no game, White.”

“Of course it is. Shall I tell you the rules?” He laughed softly, pressed his gun’s barrel to Romano’s forehead. Lexi gasped aloud.

“You have something I want,” he said. “The key to Elliot Stoltz's safe deposit box. Give it to me, and I’ll kill you quickly. Otherwise …” He smiled again, a slow, meaningful smile that froze Lexi’s heart. “… it will be slow and extremely painful.”

“What safe deposit box?” Romano’s voice was low, dangerous.

The albino shook his head. “Lies will only earn your beautiful friend more pain, Romano.”

“If there was a box somewhere, do you think I’d keep the key with me? You forget, White, I’ve dealt with you before.”

“And you underestimated me then, too, as I recall. I did think it would take longer for you to take a lover, though. Is your dead wife a faded memory already?”

Lexi felt Romano stiffen beside her, and instantly thought of the woman in the photo. His wife was dead? What about the little boys?

“I’m going to kill this one, too,” White went on.

“Will you forget her as quickly?” His gun moved down over Romano’s face, his chin, his neck, finally stopping when it pressed to the center of his chest. Then White reached out with his free hand, ran it slowly over Lexi’s hair.

She cringed backward, pressed her back tighter to the car, averted her face, but he still reached her.

“I won’t kill her fast like I did your wife, though.

I’ll take my time with this one. Shall I make you watch? ”

Her stomach heaved and her lungs began to spasm.

Lexi whirled, dropping to her knees and retching on the asphalt.

She knelt there until she was spent, and when she finally stopped heaving, she knew she couldn’t stand up again if her life depended on it.

She collapsed against the duffel, sobs wrenching her body.

White shook his head disdainfully at her before returning his attention to Romano. “I never thought weak women were your type.” He sent her a last glance, then dismissed her with a shrug. “No matter. Where is the key?”

“Not here,” he said calmly, levelly.

Lexi felt her heart trip over itself. Its beat stumbled, fluttered.

It was often the first sign of an episode, and she prayed it would stay in control.

Her damned PSVT might get them both killed.

Moving slowly, so White wouldn’t know, she pawed the spilled contents of the duffel in search of her pills, as her heart switched to full blown tachycardia.

Within seconds she was sucking in breaths that didn’t seem enough to sustain her. She felt dizzy already.

“Where, Romano? My patience is running thin.”

He only shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re here alone,” he said. “I thought you never ventured out from under your rock without a half-dozen smaller snakes to do your dirty work.”

“You bested my little snakes. And not for the first time. This is personal now, though, isn’t it, Romano? Just you and I.”

Lexi put her hand into the bag, knocking other items out in her frantic search for her pill bottle, still panting. She closed her fist around something cold and metallic. A gun.

She blinked in stark disbelief. She couldn’t do it. Could she? Bending over herself so her long hair concealed the weapon, she took it out of the bag and turned it so the grip was in her palm and slid her finger carefully over the trigger.

“This is getting tedious,” White whined in his irritating voice. “I have methods for extracting information, you know. It won’t be pleasant.”

Lexi didn’t know if the gun was loaded. She didn’t know anything about guns, except that you were supposed to pull the hammer back before firing.

Only this one didn’t seem to have a hammer.

They had a safety switch though, didn’t they?

She felt around for such a switch and moved it.

If she waited much longer, she’d pass out from lack of oxygen.

This episode was the worst one yet. Her heart was beating so fast there was no space in between the beats.

The barrel of the gun jerked in time with her racing heart as she pointed it at White.

“It’s a shame. A waste of a good man. But you understand, I don’t need you to lead me to the formula when I have Ms. Stoltz. And she’ll be much more pleasant compan?—”

She squeezed the trigger.

Romano’s first thought when the shot exploded in his ears was that White had shot him. It took only an instant to realize that wasn’t the case. White swore aloud, jumped backward, and swung his gun barrel toward Lexi, who still knelt on the ground.

Romano brought his fists down on White’s gun hand, and the weapon dropped to the ground. White never missed a beat. He lunged away, running for all he was worth, around the building and toward the black van at the other end of the parking lot.