by Peter Hernon
Elizabeth noticed them first, the distant shapes almost obscured in the long shadows that had spread across the floor of the valley as the sun climbed higher over the hills.
Atkins had borrowed a pair of binoculars. He adjusted the eyepiece. The image snapped into sharp view—a line of brown-and-white cows that had come out of the woods single file and were grazing in the pasture. Farther off, he saw two horses with their heads down, a mare and a gray colt, feeding in the tall grass.
They were the first animals they’d seen in days.
Atkins finally let himself dare to believe it. Finally let himself go.
It was over.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author gratefully acknowledges the following:
Gutenberg-Richter Publications, for the illustrations previously published in The Earthquake That Never Went Away, by David Stewart and Ray Knox.
The St. Louis University Earthquake Center, website http://www.eas.sluedu/Earthquake-Center for the illustration.
Thomas Borgman, for the illustrations.
A number of seismologists, disaster planners, structural and mining engineers, nuclear weapons experts, and others provided invaluable help in researching this book. I here thank several who took extra pains. I tried to hew to scientific fact as much as possible, and I take full responsibility for reworking facts for the sake of fiction; the good people I acknowledge bear no responsibility for how I used the material they so graciously provided.
My thanks to Robert B. Herrmann, professor of geophysics at St. Louis University; James E. Beavers of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a structural engineer and expert on natural and technological hazards; Bob Neel and Jim Gover of Albuquerque, New Mexico, both alumni of the Nevada Test Site, who explained the art of detonating nuclear bombs underground; Reid L. Kress of the Robotics Systems Division at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and Arch Johnston, director of research at the University of Memphis Center for Earthquake Research and Information.
Thanks also to a great editor, David Highfill of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, and to my agent, Richard Pine of Arthur Pine & Associates. Thanks also to Howie Sanders and Richard Green in Los Angeles.
And special thanks to my wife, Janice.
About the Author
Peter Hernon lives near Chicago with his wife, Janice, and two daughters. He is an editor for the Chicago Tribune.
Nonfiction by Peter Heron
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary, although the existence of the New Madrid Seismic Zone and its potential for future activity are acknowledged by government and independent researchers alike. The characters are fictitious. They are not intended to represent specific persons or to suggest that the events described actually occurred.
8.4
Garrett County Digital
PUBLISHING HISTORY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS EDITION / FEBRUARY 1999
PUBLISHED SIMULTANEOUSLY IN CANADA
JOVE EDITION / NOVEMBER 1999
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1999 by Peter Hernon.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For information address:
GARRETT COUNTY PRESS
WWW.GCPRESS.COM
ISBN: 978-1-891053-62-7
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