The Warning, page 25
“Same here,” I said, my face relaxing into a smile.
“Maybe we’ll meet up in Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress. I guess it depends on how much of this Ishango stuff comes out.”
“Oh, it’ll come out,” I said. “We may get in trouble, but it’s our duty. This town has released too much radiation and evil. Now’s the time for us to let out the truth.”
Jordan sat back, wearing a thoughtful expression. “You’re right,” he said. “What happened in Mount Hope should serve as a warning to the rest of the world.”
“Yep,” I said. “They may even pay attention for a couple of days. That’s how long the news cycle is, right?”
“Right.”
“In the meantime, scientists will have a field day checking you out…Rho.”
He laughed.
“And I’ll be getting cancer treatments,” I couldn’t resist adding.
Jordan’s expression darkened. “Maggie, we won’t know what’s really going on until you finally see a specialist,” he said with a squeeze of my hand. “Which you’re going to do. I suspect everyone from Mount Hope will have to do the same. Who knows? By the time this is all over, you may be my Jaime Sommers.”
“I have no intention of being your Bionic Woman—or anyone else’s.”
“Well, I already think your powers are pretty super,” he said, and leaned in to give me a kiss. It felt more than nice.
“That may be the cheesiest thing you’ve ever said to me, Jordan Conners,” I said as he pulled back. “Anyway, I’m Han Solo, remember?”
I smiled and looked out the helicopter window to see the skyline of an actual city: Charleston. What a sight. We landed on the hospital’s helipad beside another helicopter with CNN emblazoned on its side plus vans marked with a 2, a 4, and a 5—the local news stations.
“I don’t know if you guys know what’s going on,” Brianna called out as the rotors slowed their spinning, “but with all of that water flooding in and out of that nuke plant, they’re saying the town may not be habitable for twenty thousand years.”
“Cripes,” Jordan said. “What a disaster.”
“Who’d have thunk that a facility so vital to the community would’ve been that susceptible to disaster?” I asked innocently.
“Twice,” Jordan added.
Brianna leaned toward us conspiratorially and said in a hushed voice, “I heard they’re already moving to seal off the plant in a giant cement sarcophagus. Crazy.”
“Crazy,” I agreed.
A phalanx of reporters and camera crews stampeded toward us, trailed by medical personnel.
“Are you ready to issue a warning to the world?” I asked Jordan.
“Yes,” he said, “except for two things. One…”
He pulled out his cell phone, saw the bars on the screen, and exclaimed, “Yes!” He punched in a number, and after a moment, his face erupted in sheer joy. “Mom! It’s Jordan! You okay?…Charlie too?…Great! Hold on!”
Then he cupped his hand over the phone and said, “Two,” and leaned in and planted the gentlest kiss yet on my lips. My face suddenly felt sunburned.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I know,” I returned, and we both started laughing uncontrollably.
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About the Author
JAMES PATTERSON is the world’s bestselling author and most trusted storyteller. He has created many enduring fictional characters and series, including Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Middle School, and I Funny. Among his notable literary collaborations are The President Is Missing, with President Bill Clinton, and the Max Einstein series, produced in partnership with the Albert Einstein Estate. Patterson’s writing career is characterized by a single mission: to prove that there is no such thing as a person who “doesn’t like to read,” only people who haven’t found the right book. He’s given over three million books to schoolkids and the military, donated more than seventy million dollars to support education, and endowed over five thousand college scholarships for teachers. The National Book Foundation recently presented Patterson with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, and he is also the recipient of an Edgar Award and six Emmy Awards. He lives in Florida with his family.
RAVES FOR
JAMES PATTERSON
“When it comes to constructing a harrowing plot, author James Patterson can turn a screw all right.”
—New York Daily News
“James knows how to sell thrills and suspense in clear, unwavering prose.”
—People
“Patterson has mastered the art of writing page-turning bestsellers.”
—Chicago Sun-Times
“Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried…There’s no stopping his imagination.”
—New York Times Book Review
“James Patterson writes his thrillers as if he were building roller coasters. He grounds the stories with a bare-bones plot, then builds them over the top and tries to throw readers for a loop a few times along the way.”
—Associated Press
“The page-turningest author in the game right now.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
“Patterson’s characters reflect his own blend of light and dark. His protagonists are all a bit wounded and vulnerable…Even Patterson’s most villainous bad guys tend to have had a painful childhood or some other psychic heartbreak along the way.”
—Vanity Fair
“Every once in a while, a writer comes along and fundamentally changes the way people read…With his mission still unfolding, James Patterson is the gold standard by which all others are judged.”
—Steve Berry, #1 bestselling author of
the Cotton Malone series
“Here is one of the most prolific authors today, and people in the crowds will say to him, ‘Jim, please write faster.’”
—Publishers Weekly
“Best-selling author James Patterson populates his murder-mystery novels with cold-blooded killers, smart detectives, and hard-charging attorneys, driven by plots entangled in guns, money, and drugs.”
—USA Today
“Reading James Patterson is almost like slowing down to look at a horrible traffic accident. You know you shouldn’t, but you do so anyway…Will keep you up at night.”
—New York Journal of Books
“James Patterson deftly confirms that he always ‘takes thrills to the next level.’”
—Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Patterson’s books might as well come with movie tickets as a bonus feature.”
—New York Times
“It’s no mystery why James Patterson is the world’s most popular thriller writer: his uncanny skill in creating living, breathing characters we truly feel for and seamless, lightning-fast plots. I do this for a living, and he still manages to keep me guessing from the first to last page.”
—Jeffery Deaver, New York Times
bestselling author of The Burial Hour
“A must-read author…a master of the craft.”
—Providence Sunday Journal
“No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent—which is what James Patterson has, in spades.”
—Lee Child
“James Patterson is the boss. End of.”
—Ian Rankin, New York Times bestselling
author of the Inspector Rebus series
THE BLACK BOOK
I have favorites among the novels I’ve written. Kiss the Girls, Invisible, 1st to Die, and Honeymoon are top of the list. With each, I had a good feeling when the writing was finished. I believe this book—THE BLACK BOOK—is the best work I’ve done in over twenty-five years.
Meet Billy Harney. The son of Chicago’s chief of detectives, he was born to be a cop. There’s nothing he wouldn’t sacrifice for his job. Enter Amy Lentini, an assistant state’s attorney hell-bent on making a name for herself—by proving Billy isn’t the cop he claims to be. A horrifying murder leads investigators to a brothel that caters to Chicago’s most powerful citizens. There’s plenty of evidence on the scene, but what matters most is what’s missing: the madam’s black book.
THE STORE
I didn’t have to stretch my imagination far to envision a future of unparalleled convenience, fueled by a powerful online retailer that knows everything about us. The Store knows what we buy, what we read, and where we are. It can deliver our every desire straight to our doors in record time. But customer service like this comes with a steep price tag: humanity. Some might turn a blind eye, but not Jacob and Megan Brandeis. I’m sending them undercover at the Store to expose its dark secrets that could overthrow the company…or get them killed.
THE FAMILY LAWYER
THE FAMILY LAWYER combines three of my most pulse-pounding novels all in one book. There’s Matthew Hovanes, who’s living a parent’s worst nightmare when his daughter is accused of bullying another girl into suicide. I test all of his attorney experience as he tries to clear his daughter’s name and reveal the truth. Then there’s Cheryl Mabern, who is one of my most brilliant detectives working for the NYPD. But does that brilliance help her when there’s a calculating killer committing random murders? And finally, Dani Lawrence struggles with deciding whether to aid in an investigation that could put away her sister for the murder of her cheating husband. Or she can obstruct it by any means necessary.
TRIPLE HOMICIDE
I couldn’t resist the opportunity to bring together my greatest detectives in three shocking thrillers. Alex Cross receives an anonymous call with a threat to set off deadly bombs in Washington, D.C., and has to discover whether it’s a cruel hoax or the real deal. But will he find the truth too late? And then, in possibly my most twisted Women’s Murder Club mystery yet, Detective Lindsay Boxer investigates a dead lover and a wounded millionairess who was left for dead. Finally, I make things personal for Michael Bennett as someone attacks the Thanksgiving Day Parade directly in front of him and his family. Can he solve the mystery of the “holiday terror”?
James Patterson, The Warning
