by Ryan Quinn
“I see,” he said. And then, after a pause, his tone took on an air of regret. “I’m sorry for dragging you into all this.”
“It wasn’t your fault. And look, I came out of it OK.” She paused. “I’m sorry too. About Charlie.”
He nodded. “I keep wondering if we should have seen it coming. If we should have gotten him more protection. We’re still not entirely sure what happened. Near as we can tell, his last conscious act was to save Gnos.is from a major security breach.” Jones exhaled. “Rafa took that hard. Almost as hard as he took not knowing what had become of you.”
Kera nodded. “Is he here?”
“Yes. He must be swimming. He didn’t answer his phone.” Jones nodded in the direction of the path that led around the cabin and down to the lake. He let Kera go on her own.
Rafael Bolívar was standing on the dock, drying his hair with a towel. He wore khaki shorts and an unbuttoned white shirt that billowed around his torso in the light breeze. He was facing away from the shore, looking out over the water, and so he didn’t hear her approach until she stepped on the dock. When he turned and saw her, his arms fell to his sides.
“I was just passing through,” she said. “Thought I’d stop by.” The last word caught unexpectedly in her throat. She felt her guard crashing down—either because she was too tired to keep it up any longer, or because she didn’t care if he saw.
“Come here,” he said, walking toward her.
She gripped his back tightly when he hugged her, at first clenching her jaw tight against a surge of emotion.
“You’re all right?” he asked.
She nodded into his shoulder. She was afraid to speak, afraid that if she tried, she’d lose her composure.
“What happened?” he asked, pulling back to look at her. “After they got Canyon, you were angry. I understand that. We thought you were with Angela Vasser. But then they found her and there was no sign of you. Until . . . they said you were killed.”
“I was in China. They got that part right. But I found a way out.” She leaned into him and closed her eyes. One side of her face was against his, the other felt the warmth of the sun. “I wanted to see you.”
After a moment she heard him ask, “Are you really just passing through?”
She shrugged without opening her eyes. In her mind, the reason she’d come to the valley was to let them know she was all right. She’d intended to go after that. But standing there on the dock with him, she felt something new. There was no urgency; there was nothing in the world she had to do. She had nowhere to go, and there was nowhere she had to be.
“Stay awhile,” she heard him say.
She opened her eyes.
“Yeah,” she said. “OK.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
If the goal here is to assign credit where it is due, this page seems woefully insufficient. Merely acknowledging the people named below is actually the least I can do. Let it be known: I don’t take any of these smart and talented people for granted. Readers shouldn’t either.
Chris consistently goes above and beyond the call of duty in tolerating the bizarre and relentless daily routine of someone who is writing a novel. And he’s always smiling. His patience, love, and support are essential to my sanity and productivity. And my parents, Pattie and Dick Quinn, have always been and continue to be proud supporters of this venture. I love you all.
The first line of defense against humiliating errors, vagary, and fatal plot holes are my early readers. Not only did these people save me from myself, but they challenged me to make every page better. They are: Chris Fajardo, Kelly Quinn, Gretchen Newell, Jon Bergman, Phil Buiser, Marc Valera, and Zac Hug.
After that layer of editorial brush was cleared, my editor David Downing stepped in and did his thing. “His thing” is the real deal. I’ve had the pleasure to work with David on three novels. Each time, he has added real value, line by line, and I am forever grateful for his wisdom, humor, and talent.
Throughout this process, I’ve benefited immeasurably from the hard work of the outstanding people at Thomas & Mercer. They are doing big things. The following people deserve special recognition for their efforts in making this book possible: Gracie Doyle, Alan Turkus, Jacque Ben-Zekry, Kjersti Egerdahl, Alison Dasho, Timoney Korbar, Tiffany Pokorny, and Sarah Shaw. And a special shout-out to Lindsey Alexander, the superb copyeditor who handled the final manuscript with great care and a sharp eye.
SOURCES
If I was able to create any illusion that I know what I’m talking about when it comes to cutting-edge cybertechnologies, it is mostly due to the following books and articles.
Bamford, James. The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America. New York: Doubleday, 2008.
Bowden, Mark. Worm: The First Digital World War. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011.
Clarke, Richard A., and Robert Knake. Cyber War: The Next Threat to National Security and What to Do About It. New York: Ecco, 2010.
Greenberg, Andy. “How the NSA Could Bug Your Powered-Off iPhone, and How to Stop Them.” Wired, June 3, 2014. Online version, accessed September 2014: www.wired.com/2014/06/nsa-bug-iphone/.
Greenberg, Andy. This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World’s Information. New York: Dutton, 2012.
Greenwald, Glenn. No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2014.
Huslin, Anita. “If These Walls Could Talk . . .” Washington Post, May 28, 2006. Online version, accessed July 2014: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/27/AR2006052701153.html.
Matthews, Jason. Red Sparrow. New York: Scribner, 2013.
Mayer-Schönberger, Viktor, and Kenneth Cukier. Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
Wise, David. Tiger Trap: America’s Secret Spy War with China. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2015 Sean Marier
A native of Alaska, Ryan Quinn was an NCAA champion and an all-American skier while at the University of Utah. He worked for five years in New York’s book-publishing industry before moving to Los Angeles, where he writes and trains for marathons. Quinn is also the author of the bestseller End of Secrets, as well as The Fall, a finalist in the 2013 International Book Awards. For more, please visit ryanquinnbooks.com.