This book was made possible by my two dedicated and hardworking assistants, Dianne Francis and Patricia Chichester. I write all my novels by hand, and there are only two people on the planet who can read my scrawl and put it into typed form, and for that I am very grateful. Dianne and Patricia are also my first readers and fact-checkers, and nothing goes to the publisher that is not perfect. Thanks, too, for keeping my schedule and my life organized.
Another early reader of the manuscript is my son, Alex, who as a screenwriter gets straight to the heart of the storyline and the characters. Screenwriters tell a story with an economy of words and they reveal their characters through dialogue, and I have learned much from Alex, making me feel good about the Yale tuition. Thanks, Buddy.
For a different perspective on the manuscript I always turn to my daughter, Lauren, a psychologist. Dr. Lauren is able to analyze my characters, and through them she can analyze the author and offer help for all of us.
And, penultimately, I want to thank the beautiful Ethel Kennedy, who is truly a radiant angel on earth. Ethel inspires me to be charitable and it’s starting to work.
The best is last, and that is my wife, Sandy, who is an example to me and to all who know her of courage and optimism. Perfect wife, perfect mother, and perfectly beautiful, inside and out.
The following people have made generous contributions to charities in return for having their name used as a character in this novel: Nikola Andersson—East End Hospice; Scott Kalish—Boys & Girls Club of Oyster Bay–East Norwich; Howard Fensterman—Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation; Dean Hampton—Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights.
I hope they all enjoy their fictitious alter egos and that they continue their good work for worthy causes.
To contact the author, please visit his website, www.nelsondemille.net
NOVELS BY NELSON DEMILLE
Available from Grand Central Publishing
By the Rivers of Babylon
Cathedral
The Talbot Odyssey
Word of Honor
The Charm School
The Gold Coast
The General’s Daughter
Spencerville
Up Country
The Gate House
JOHN COREY NOVELS
Plum Island
The Lion’s Game
Night Fall
Wild Fire
The Lion
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Mayday
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The Quest
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Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
PART I CHAPTER ONE
PART II CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
PART III CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
PART IV CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
PART V CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
PART VI CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOVELS BY NELSON DEMILLE
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Nelson DeMille
Cover design by Stanislaw Fernandes
Type Design by James Matejka
Cover copyright © 2015 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First ebook edition: May 2015
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ISBN 978-1-455-58231-0
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