San Francisco crime reporter Tom Reed is burnt out. The breaking story of a jewel heist gone violently awry -- with the murder of a cop and the abduction of a female hostage -- is one most journalists would kill for. Tom hopes it will be his last.

But this time, there's more at stake than a Pulitzer. Because the woman taken by the two homicidal fugitives is Ann Reed, Tom's wife. And her capture wasn't random . . . it was personal.