For the Negotiator, talk is never cheap. In a moment, he has to make connections with the crazed and the desperate and the lost. He has to promise, cajole and placate. Success is a rush. Failure would cripple a lesser man. Above all, he must stay detached.

Beck Winters is the Negotiator.

Despite everything he's seen and done, Beck's still sane, but only because he never allows himself to get close to anyone. Then during a hostage incident, he hears a voice over the phone line, Jennifer Barclay's voice.

Jennifer's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her plan has always been to avoid excitement. But that was before she was taken hostage...before the incident ended badly...and before she met the Negotiator.