Дэвид Балдаччи: Daylight

When she approached her rental car, she stopped and stared.

Blum was in the driver’s seat with the engine running and watching her expectantly.

Pine started walking again and opened the passenger door. She gripped the top of the car roof and leaned forward into the opening, the crown of her head pointed at Blum, who just sat there and said nothing.

Her belly heaving, her lungs gasping, Pine held on to the car’s metal roof like it was her last tether to earth. She took one last deep, shuddering breath, and her tensed body relaxed. She lifted her head and looked at Blum.

“Are you ready to go, Agent Pine?”

Pine stripped off her soaked jacket and hurled it into the back seat.

Without a word she climbed in, shut the door, and clicked her harness into place.

Blum put the car in gear. And they left that place behind.

And moved onward.

Which was the only place left for them to go.

To Michelle, Atlee Pine rides again. Thanks for being my role model for her!

To Michael Pietsch, here’s to three more years in partnership!

To Ben Sevier, Elizabeth Kulhanek, Jonathan Valuckas, Matthew Ballast, Beth deGuzman, Anthony Goff, Rena Kornbluh, Karen Kosztolnyik, Brian McLendon, Albert Tang, Andy Dodds, Ivy Cheng, Joseph Benincase, Andrew Duncan, Morgan Swift, Bob Castillo, Kristen Lemire, Briana Loewen, Mark Steven Long, Thomas Louie, Rachael Kelly, Kirsiah McNamara, Nita Basu, Lisa Cahn, Megan Fitzpatrick, Michele McGonigle, Alison Lazarus, Barry Broadhead, Martha Bucci, Rick Cobban, Ali Cutrone, Raylan Davis, Tracy Dowd, Jean Griffin, Elizabeth Blue Guess, Melanie Freedman, Linda Jamison, John Leary, John Lefler, Rachel Hairston, Suzanne Marx, Derek Meehan, Christopher Murphy, Donna Nopper, Rob Philpott, Barbara Slavin, Karen Torres, Rich Tullis, Mary Urban, Tracy Williams, Jeff Shay, Carla Stockalper, and everyone at Grand Central Publishing, for being the best of the best.

To Aaron and Arleen Priest, Lucy Childs, Lisa Erbach Vance, Frances Jalet-Miller, and Juliana Nador, for just getting better and better.

To John Richmond, best wishes as you begin a new Chapter in life. You will be much missed!

To Mitch Hoffman, for hitting all the right targets on this one.

To Anthony Forbes Watson, Jeremy Trevathan, Trisha Jackson, Alex Saunders, Sara Lloyd, Claire Evans, Sarah Arratoon, Stuart Dwyer, Jonathan Atkins, Christine Jones, Leanne Williams, Stacey Hamilton, Charlotte Williams, Rebecca Kellaway, and Neil Lang at Pan Macmillan, for being the most wonderful, fun, and nice people.

To Laura Sherlock, for being a rock star of PR.

To Praveen Naidoo and the stellar team at Pan Macmillan in Australia, for bringing Walk the Wire in at number one!

To Caspian Dennis and Sandy Violette, for being amazingly smart and the most delightful friends!

To the charity auction winners Lindsey Axilrod (Read Alliance), Linda Holden-Bryant (Soundview Preparatory School) and R. Jeffrey Sands (Mark Twain House & Museum), thanks for supporting such great causes, and I hope you all enjoy seeing your character names on the page getting into all sorts of trouble!

And to Kristen White and Michelle Butler, for really going above and beyond!