“I don’t understand.”
“Suarez said that if I didn’t give him the file I’d be arrested for obstructing justice.” I stood up. “He also said if anything was missing from it, he’d have me kicked off the force.”
“What are you thinking?”
I dropped those three pages into the fire and watched as the flames enveloped them. “I’m thinking, let him.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book started, as most of mine do, with a handful of ideas that I found fascinating and compelling. Some were expanded upon and became essential to the finished book, and some did not, but they were all assuredly part of the process, and in that sense, they are in there. I would like to thank Mary Ellen McNish and Idrissa Dicko at The Hunger Project for their invaluable assistance and support and their fascinating insights during the early stages of this book.
Many people were essential to my research into the broader issues at the heart of this book. Bill Freese at the Center for Food Safety and Patty Lovera at Food & Water Watch have been great resources and incredibly generous with their time and expertise. Eric Holt-Jiminez at Food First and Steve Brescia at Groundswell International were invaluable in putting issues surrounding food, agriculture, and land into broader contexts and deepening my understanding of them in ways that go far beyond what is contained in this book.
I took great pains to make sure the science in this book is real and the slight extrapolations are entirely plausible. For that, I thank world-renowned allergist Hugh A. Sampson, M.D., for his incredible expertise and his generosity in sharing it. Thanks to my friend and fellow author Chris Holm for many things: tirelessly sharing his great knowledge of molecular biology and immunology; helping me write lab scenes both accurate and compelling; for “getting it” like a writer—appreciating what I was trying to accomplish, and helping me get there; and for enlisting the help of his colleagues, Jesse S. Buch and Regis Krah. (Thanks, Jesse and Regis!)
As for the technical research, pilots Rick Longlott and Rick Dupont were both hugely helpful with the details of the planes involved, especially the Helio Couriers. I spent considerable time staring openmouthed at film of those crazy little planes taking off and landing, under the guise of “research.” Thanks to Neal Griffin for his help with the details of law enforcement. Thanks to my sister Maeve McGoran and my brother-in-law Greg Allen for their help with the Florida scenes. And thanks to Dennis Tafoya for helping me work through countless plot points and details.
When I realized a large portion of this book was going to be set in Haiti, I was both excited and daunted. Early in my research into the ideas behind this book, people began telling me, “You really need to talk to Chavannes Jean Baptiste.” Chavannes is the founder of the Papaye Peasant Movement, an organization that for forty years has been supporting land reform and helping Haitians build healthy and fulfilling lives through sustainable small-scale agriculture. I am immensely grateful to Wendy Flick and all the great people at the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice, not just for organizing the trip to Haiti, but for making it possible for me to sit down and talk with Chavannes. And I’d like to thank Chavannes Jean Baptiste himself, and all the people at MPP, for their hospitality during our stay, for their knowledge and insights, and for all the great work they are doing for Haiti. Very special thanks to Mayheeda Edwards, translator extraordinaire while we were there, and priceless resource afterward. Thanks also to Marie-Renee Malvoisin, for her help in making sure the Kreyol passages were correct.
One of the great perks of being a writer is getting to hang out with other writers, and I am grateful to the wonderful communities of writers who have made me feel so welcome, to publications like Crimespree, Spinetingler, Crime Factory, and Criminal Element; conferences like Bouchercon, Thrillerfest, NoirCon, and all the others; and groups like the Mystery Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, the Writers Coffeehouse, and, most of all, The Liars Club. And especially for my great friend and mentor Jonathan Maberry, for all his support and for all he has done to foster community among the writers of the world.
Finally, I’d like to thank my wonderful editor, Kristin Sevick, as well as Bess Cozby and everyone else at Tor/Forge, Daniel Cullen for consistently excellent cover designs, my incredible agent, Stacia Decker, and everyone else at Donald Maass Literary Agency, and as always, my wife, Elizabeth, and my son, Will, (and Kismet, who is a very good little dog).
FORGE BOOKS BY JON MCGORAN
Drift
Deadout
Dust Up
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JON MCGORAN has written about food and sustainability for twenty years, as communication director at Weavers Way Co-op in Philadelphia and as editor at Grid magazine. During that time he has also been an advocate for urban agriculture, cooperative development, and the labeling of genetically engineered foods. He is a founding member of the Philadelphia Liars Club, a group of published authors dedicated to promotion, networking, and service work. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Chapter 90
Chapter 91
Chapter 92
Chapter 93
Acknowledgments
Forge Books by Jon McGoran
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DUST UP
Copyright © 2016 by Jon McGoran
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Shutterstock © Marco
Cover design by Daniel Cullen
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-8030-2 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-7308-7 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466873087
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First Edition: April 2016