Long After Midnight

PROLOGUE

I can't do it." Kate's hand tightened on her father's with desperation. "I don't want to even talk about it. Do you understand? Don't ask me, dammit."

"I have to ask you." Robert Murdock tried to smile. "There's no one else, Kate."

"There could be a cure. New cures are developed every day."

"But not in my foreseeable future." Wearily he leaned back against the pillows of the hospital bed. "Be merciful. Do it, Kate."

"I can't." Tears were streaming down her face. "This isn't why I became a doctor. You don't mean it. If you were yourself, you wouldn't ask me."

"Look at me." She met her father's eyes. "I've never been more myself. Do I mean it, baby?"

He meant it. She searched frantically for a way to sway him. "What about Joshua? He loves you."

He flinched. "He's only six years old. He'll forget."

"You know better than that. Joshua isn't like other kids."

"No, he's like you." His tone was loving. "Bright and loyal and ready to fight the world. But he's too young to be forced to carry around any kind of baggage. If you don't want to do this for me, do it for my grandson, do it for Joshua's sake."