To my agent, Damaris Rowland, who made this book possible. To Melissa McClone and Kristen Dill, for listening, reading, critiquing, and supporting. To Lieutenant A.J. Carter (ret.), Martin Urda, M.D., and all the experts who patiently gave well-thought-out responses to the most unlikely scenarios. To my niece Marie for letting me “borrow” her tattoo. To Jean and Will, Andrew, and Mark, who as deadline approached probably thought that their mother had been kidnapped by demons— or possibly possessed. And to Michael. I’d be lost without you. 3 But his soul stood with his mother’s folk, That were of the rain-wrapped isle, Where Patrick and Brandan westerly Looked out at last on a landless sea And the sun’s last smile. — G. K. CHESTERTON, “THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE” They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains the hottest blood of all, and the wildest, the most urgent.
