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First published in the United States of America by St. Martin’s Press 2006
First published in Great Britain as an electronic edition by Penguin Books 2013
Copyright © David Lynn Golemon, 2006
Cover: Symbol by Lee Gibbons, Photograph © Alamy
All rights reserved
The moral right of the author has been asserted
This is a work of fiction. All the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously
ISBN: 978–1–405–91197–9
Author’s Note
Prologue
One
Two
Part One: The Event Group
Three
Part Two: Storms
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Part Three: Discovery
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Part Four: The Storm Breaks
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Part Five: Event File #457821:Extinction
Twenty-five
Twenty-six
Part Six: The Valley of the Shadow of Death
Twenty-seven
Twenty-eight
Twenty-nine
Part Seven: I Shall Fear No Evil
Thirty
Thirty-one
Thirty-two
Thirty-three
Thirty-four
Thirty-five
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
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As any author will tell you, the process of listing all the kind and generous people who helped or assisted in some way to the actual foundation of any written story can be a daunting task. So it’s always best to start at the top.
Heartfelt thanks go first and foremost to Thomas Dunne Books for taking a chance on a strange story from the desert. To Pete Wolverton (the best editor in the business), for guiding a novice novelist through the minefield of the written word. Pete’s suggestions added heart to my soul and the end result was magical. To Katie, an assistant editor who patiently dealt with an out-of-control geek and answered every stupid question thrown her way (the publishing world will hear from Katie), and to every one of the editors at Thomas Dunne, who I’m sure thought about a career change right in the middle of editing Event. Now, for my agent, Bob Mecoy, the first believer in this little monster tale, here’s to a long “E” Ticket ride, Bob!
I would like to thank a special man out in San Diego, Dr. Kenneth Vecchio of San Diego State University, for doing something for our boys overseas that not a lot of people think about; the special Abalone shell body armor mentioned in this book is real and on the wish list of this author to get it to the troops soonest! Along those same lines, kudos to Helicos BioSciences in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who are doing amazing things with their magical DNA sequencing machine, cutting precious time off a long and difficult process of sequencing.
With the exception of the M-2786 radio and the Cray Corporation’s Europa XP series computer, all military hardware mentioned in this novel is real and either on the drawing board or in action. Also thanks go to the U.S. Department of Energy, who was very helpful in answering some very unnerving questions.
To the Mathies family of Babylon, New York, for treating a writer like a human being. It will never be forgotten.
For all those people in Roswell, New Mexico, who are tired of the notoriety. Someday it will all pay off, I promise.
And finally to all those people and friends I have failed (forgotten, let’s be honest) to mention, thank you. Any mistakes or outright omissions are the author’s responsibility.
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