I wish to thank a number of people: Frank Horton for proofreading and fact-checking all my books before anyone else sees them; Bob Koch for his editorial comments and his technical advice on bizarre things like hiding meth labs and plastic weapons; Jerry Main for counsel on guns and bullets; Joe Smaldore, brother-in-law extraordinaire, for driving me all over D.C. to look at locations in the book, and in particular the trip to West Virginia to locate the home of Jubal Pugh; Bill Harman for introducing me to a man who will remain nameless but who provided an insider’s insight on the F-16s guarding the nofly zone around D.C.
I am grateful to everyone at Grove/Atlantic who helped with the production of this book, but particularly to my editor Jamison Stoltz who improved the book tremendously and to Morgan Entrekin, president of Grove/Atlantic, for giving me the opportunity to publish this novel.
Lastly, and as always, to David Gernert and everyone at The Gernert Company. David, I just can’t thank you enough for the work you did to find the right home for this book.