The Zero Hour (54 page)

“That he did,” the man said. “He gave us an extraditable offense, Mr. Dyson. But you and your people helped us too.”

“The hell you talking about?” Dyson managed to choke out.

“See, now that we’ve got hard evidence of your role in international terrorism, the Swiss government will no longer protect you. It
can’t
. It’s given you up. You’re being extradited to the U.S.” The marshal cuffed Dyson and, with the others, led him away, out of the study and down the long main corridor of the mansion Malcolm Dyson called Arcadia. “A nice place you got here,” the lead marshal said, gawking. “Very nice indeed.”

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED

The burial service was held at a bleak cemetery south of Boston, where the Cronin family had several plots. Jared didn’t cry. Neither did he cry at the funeral. He was stoic, impassive, and talked hardly at all.

Teddy Williams cried, though, and they were genuine tears, and Sarah cried as well, and her tears were genuine too. The sky was gray, the clouds drifting by like cigar smoke.

After it was over, but before the small crowd dispersed, Pappas turned to Sarah and smiled sadly.

“How you doing, boss?” he said.

“The way you’d think,” she replied.

“True you’re being promoted to headquarters?”

She nodded again.

“The big time, huh? Onward and upward.”

“I guess.”

He lowered his voice so Jared couldn’t hear. “Jared’ll get through this okay. He’s a strong kid.”

“Yeah, he’ll be okay. It’s hard for him—all the more given how, you know, ambivalent he was about his father.”

“Same for you, I expect.”

“Yeah. But less so. I didn’t like the guy, but we had a son together. The most precious thing in my life. So you can’t exactly call it a mistake that I married him. I mean, I shouldn’t have, but I did, and something wonderful came out of all that hell.”

“Your luck with men’s bound to change.”

“Maybe,” she said, and turned and walked over to Jared, took his hand. Pappas took Jared’s other hand, and together the three of them walked toward the car. “I guess anything’s possible.”

CODA

Sweet Bobby Higgins was tried and eventually found innocent of the murder of Valerie Santoro.

Malcolm Dyson was imprisoned in the United States and died of a heart attack in prison.

The Manhattan Bank was declared insolvent, its stock worthless. The Federal Reserve Bank negotiated a deal with Citicorp to buy what remained of the Manhattan Bank’s assets. Warren Elkind committed suicide two days later.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The Network does exist, though under a different name and at another location in New York City. Some of the details, particularly those having to do with security, have been fictionalized or deliberately obscured.

But the vulnerability remains real. In 1992 a
New York Times
correspondent wrote of the real-world equivalent of the Network: “Were the flow to stop unexpectedly, financial empires would teeter and governments tremble.… If something were to go seriously awry in the nearly perfect world of electronic money, the whole system could come to a wrenching halt in the twinkling of a gigabyte.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I’m grateful to the extraordinary number of people who helped in the research of this novel.

In the Federal Bureau of Investigation—officially and unofficially, active and retired—quite a few counterterrorism experts gave generously of their time and expertise, particularly Robert J. Heibel, of Mercyhurst College, Special Agent (retired) Gray Morgan, Special Agent Deborah L. Stafford, retired Deputy Assistant Director Harry “Skip” Brandon, Peter Crooks, Hank Flynn, and James M. Fox, former head of the FBI’s New York office. They aren’t to blame, of course, for whatever factual liberties I’ve taken.

Just as accommodating was the Central Intelligence Agency, both officially and unofficially, but I can publicly mention only Vince Cannistraro, former head of CIA’s counterterrorism operations and analysis, and a formidable terrorism expert. Other experts in terrorism who helped were: Neil C. Livingstone, David E. Long, and Mark D. W. Edington. (A few people on the dark side of the terrorism industry were very helpful, but probably wouldn’t take kindly to being thanked by name.) I also thank my colleagues in the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and Elizabeth Bancroft of the National Intelligence Book Center.

In law-enforcement and police work: Curt Wood, commander of the Fugitive Apprehension Unit of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Correction; Beverly Deignan of MCI Cedar Junction at Walpole; former New York City Police Commissioner Robert J. McGuire; James R. Sutton; Lieutenant Colonel Neal Moss of the South African National Police; Paul McSweeney of Professional Management Specialists, Inc.; and, in the Boston police, Frank Williams, Bobby Silva, and most of all, Sergeant-Detective Bruce A. Holloway.

I received some crucial cyberassistance from Eric Wiseman, Simson Garfinkel, Bob Frankston, Tom Knight of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Marc Donner, Dan Geer, David Churbuck, Donn B. Parker, Peter Wayner, and my good friend Bruce Donald. In surveillance and satellite technology, I was helped by H. Keith Melton and Glenn Whidden; in forgery, Frank W. Abagnale; in medicine and forensics, Dr. Stanton Kessler of the Boston Medical Examiner’s Office, and my brother, Dr. Jonathan Finder.

For initiating me into the mysteries of the eight-year-old in the 1990s, I’m grateful to Tom McMillan and Christopher Beam. Thanks as well to Bobby Baror, Amram Ducovny, and two close friends: Rick Weissbourd; and Joe Teig, actor and cartographer.

I’m grateful as well for the early enthusiasm of my agent, Henry Morrison; Danny Baror of Baror International; Deborah Schindler; Caron K at Twentieth-Century Fox; and above all, Richard Green and Howie Sanders of the United Talent Agency, who lit the fuse.

The manuscript benefitted enormously from the astute editorial assistance of my brother, Henry Finder; from my chief technical expert, Jack McGeorge of the Public Safety Group, who knows almost everything; and from the superb editing of Henry Ferris at William Morrow.

Thanks, finally, to my wife, Michele, who was there from the start with love and support, and to our daughter, Emma, for elucidating to us the Meaning of Life.

St. Martin’s Paperbacks Titles
by Joseph Finder

High Crimes

Vanished

Power Play

Killer Instinct

Company Man

Paranoia

Praise for
New York Times
bestselling author Joseph Finder and his novels

THE ZERO HOUR

“Thrilling.”

—
The New Yorker

“Breathlessly exciting.”

—
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

“A labyrinth of suspense … brilliant … a master storyteller.”

—
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“A thinking person’s thriller with bite.”

—
Publishers Weekl
y (starred review)

HIGH CRIMES

“Fast and furious.”

—
The New York Times Book Review

“Exciting … deliciously absorbing … full of hairpin turns.”

—
The Washington Post

“A powerhouse tale.”

—
Chicago Tribune

“Provocative and chilling.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Rattling good entertainment.”

—
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

VANISHED

“If Jack Reacher met Nick Heller in a dark alley, my money’s on Reacher. But it would be ugly. Or would it? Actually, I think they’d go for a beer together and set the world to rights—because Joseph Finder has given me a terrific new hero to root for. This is an action-packed, full-throttle, buy-it-today-read-it-tonight series that you definitely shouldn’t miss.”

—Lee Child

“A humdinger.… a thriller to enjoy for its Washington locales, convincing familiarity with cutting-edge spy gadgetry, and taut action scenes.”

—
The Washington Post

“Cliffhangers galore, the fascinating tradecraft of corporate espionage, and an engrossing story will propel readers through this outstanding thriller. Highly recommended as a great summer read.”

—
Library Journal
(starred review)

“Written in staccato chapters that are emotionally supercharged and action-packed, this thriller will more than satisfy adrenaline junkies and have them guessing until the very end.”

—Publishers Weekly

“If you read only one book this summer, make it
Vanished
.”

—
Crimespree
magazine

“Moves at the pace of an injected neurotoxin … You’ll curse Finder for keeping you up into the early hours.”

—
Shots
magazine

“Even though I’d been warned that everyone who’d read it did so in one sitting, I cracked the cover at 10 p.m., figuring yeah, yeah, one sitting, right. When I passed out at 4 a.m., I was thinking, boy, if I could just keep my eyes open long enough to finish this!”

—Myles Knapp,
Contra Costa Times

POWER PLAY

“A white-knuckle tale of suspense.”

—
Chicago Sun-Times

“A fast-paced fun ride … a delicious, perfectly prepared mixture.”

—
Boston Globe

“A bloody, rollicking thrill ride … the plot moves at light speed.”

—
Richmond Times-Dispatch

“The action is swift … keeps the plot bubbling and the pages turning.”

—
The Wall Street Journal

“Thrilling … Start
Power Play
this afternoon and you’ll have the nightstand lamp burning at bedtime.”

—
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

KILLER INSTINCT

“Unstoppable.”

—
USA Today

“Masterful.”

—
Houston Chronicle

“Explosive … wickedly fun.”

—
Entertainment Weekly

“Master of a complex suspense formula … flawlessly executed violence, crisp dialogue, and taut pacing.”

—
The New York Times Book Review

“A roller coaster of a read.”

—
Cosmopolitan

“It starts off with a bang and doesn’t slow down until the last page.”

—
Ottawa Sun

COMPANY MAN

“It’s everything a thriller should be: suspenseful, entertaining—and, above all, thrilling.”

—Chicago Sun-Times

“Once again, Finder has produced a page-turning corporate thriller with enough twists and turns for any reader.”

—
Denver Post

“The thriller is rejuvenated by Joseph Finder with
Company Man.
That’s because Finder puts the emphasis on sharply created characters instead of potentially eye-glazing business minutiae.”

—
Chicago Tribune

PARANOIA

“The most entertaining thriller of the year.”

—
Publishers Weekly

“A high-octane thrill ride.”

—
San Francisco Chronicle

“Jet-propelled … this twisting, stealthily plotted story … weaves a tangled and ingeniously enveloping web … [with a] killer twist for the end.”

—
The New York Times

“Riveting … perhaps the finest of the contemporary thriller novelists, you may think you’ve read one mystery too many. Find Finder and you’ll think again.”

—
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

“Page-turning perfection … Finder has that rare knack for instantly pulling the reader into the story and then tops that with surprises within surprises.”

—
Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Imaginative and original, this is a gripping thriller with three characteristics too rare in the genre: humor, heart, and good writing.”

—
Detroit Free Press

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE ZERO HOUR

Copyright © 1996 by Joseph Finder.

All rights reserved.

For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

ISBN: 978-0-312-93492-7

William Morrow and Company Inc. hardcover edition / May 1996

St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / June 2011

St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

eISBN 978-1-4299-8580-2

First St. Martin’s Paperbacks eBook Edition: May 2011

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BURIED SECRETS

ISBN: 978-0-312-37914-8

Now available, in hardcover, from St. Martin’s Press

Look for these other novels from
New York Times

bestselling author

JOSEPH FINDER

HIGH CRIMES

ISBN: 978-0-312-37882-0

VANISHED

ISBN: 978-0-312-38883-6

POWER PLAY

ISBN: 978-0-312-34750-5

KILLER INSTINCT

ISBN: 978-0-312-34749-9

COMPANY MAN

ISBN: 978-0-312-93942-7

PARANOIA

ISBN: 978-0-312-94091-1

FROM ST. MARTIN’S PAPERBACKS