David Baldacci - Split Second

To Tina, Martha, Bob, Tom, Conan, Judy, Jackie, Emi, Jerry, Karen, Katharine, Michele, Candace and all the rest of the Warner Books family, for always going the extra mile for me.

To Aaron Priest, my guiding light in more ways than one.

To Maria Rejt, for her insightful comments.

To Lucy Childs and Lisa Erbach Vance, for all you do behind the scenes.

To Donna, Robert, Ike, Bob and Rick, for all your help and invaluable input.

To Neal Schiff, for your added wisdom and help.

To Dr. Monica Smiddy, for all your thoughts and specialized knowledge. Your overwhelming enthusiasm was much appreciated.

To Dr. Marina Stajic, for all your help. It was fascinating talking with you.

To Jennifer Steinberg, for once again finding lots of answers.

To my wonderful friend Dr. Catherine Broome, for patiently answering all my questions.

To Bob Schule, for being such a great friend and first-class consultant, for reading the early drafts and giving me lots of good advice.

To Lynette and Deborah, for keeping the "enterprise" straight on course.

And lastly, my apologies to any passengers on the Amtrak Acela train who overheard me discussing with various experts poisoning techniques for the story line and were probably scared out of their wits with my seemingly diabolical intent.