You don't ignore a man's dying wish. Retired diplomat Sam Hough boards a transatlantic flight to Paris after making a seemingly innocent promise to find the five-year-old son of a dying friend, a son the friend has never known. With only the thinnest of clues, Sam quickly realizes that those who agree to help him soon disappear, those who don't disappear refuse to help him, and still others want to kill him rather than help find the boy. Clearly there are things his friend neglected to tell him. But what did he leave out--and why? Sam's search through the narrow streets of the great city's seamiest neighborhoods leads him into a maze of suspicion, betrayal, and growing danger--and to the rekindling of a long-lost romance. In its shadows, the city of light holds deadly secrets. Sam must race to resolve his mysterious quest before his promise turns into an epitaph.--Back cover