At the onset of his career with the FBI, Alex Cross is instructed to track down a band of kidnappers who are snatching people and possibly selling them into slavery, a case that is complicated by a terrible threat to Cross`s own family and his frustrations with the Bureau`s outdated methods. 1,500,000 first printing. Amazon.com description: Product Description: Alex Cross finally took the plunge at the end of Four Blind Mice (2002) and joined the FBI. The training is a little beneath Cross, who has spent years working with the FBI on the toughest cases, but he dutifully attends classes until he`s pulled out to consult on a case. Wealthy women have been disappearing around the country. The latest, a judge`s wife, was snatched at a shopping mall. It appears these women (and soon several young men as well) are being abducted and sold to people who have selected" them and paid a hefty sum. The man behind it all is a Russian known only as the Wolf. Cross gets a break when one of the buyers releases the woman he paid to have abducted, but when they track him down, they find he`s committed suicide. Then a major bombshell in his personal life distracts Cross from the case: his ex-girlfriend Christine, the mother of his youngest son, has reappeared, and she wants custody. Cross` first major case with the FBI will have readers on the edge of their seats, swiftly turning the pages to the exciting showdown. Kristine Huntley"