title: The Heirloom
author: Petrick, Edita A.
description: Sometimes, what we hunt can capture us. When CIA Agent, Ted Bester, meets a woman who was publicly buried as an assassin's victim, he’s understandably skeptical of her far-fetched explanation. She expects him to believe she’s tied to the assassin's mind through a four hundred year old locket with an ancient curse on it. And she’s alive because the spell has protected her. It takes meeting a presence he can’t explain to convince Bester Amelia might be telling the truth. And if she’s right, Bester has a lot more to be worried about than a curse. The unorthodox link between Amelia and the killer shows that he takes inordinate pride in his perfect kill record, and Bester knows that it's only a matter of days before the killer learns that he has made a mistake. Then he’ll return to finish the job. Agency protocol dictates that Amelia should be used as bait to draw him in. Ordinarily, Bester wouldn’t have a problem with such a ruthless approach. This time it’s the last thing he wants to do, and hesitation could end up killing a lot more people than just the beautiful woman he’s drawn to.