Acknowledgments

With thanks to top attorneys Phil Hoffman and Steven Rabinowitz, partners at Pryor Cashman, LLP, in New York for their wise counsel, and, at the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Stamford, Connecticut, Police Department, the real Captain Richard Conklin and tech wiz Mike Stempien.

We also wish to thank Mitchell Terk, MD, of Jacksonville, Florida, who advised us in the care of Claire Washburn, and thanks, too, to Michael A. Cizmar, Special Agent, FBI (retired), PMC (private military contractor), Afghanistan.

And our admiration for Mary Jordan, who keeps innumerable plates in the air without dropping a one, to our gifted researcher, Ingrid Taylar, West Coast, USA, and to Team Patterson at Little, Brown. You are #1.