Hard Stop

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to Mary Farrell for indispensible help and understanding. Thanks to Marty and Judy Shepard, wonderful editors, publishers and human beings. Likewise, Marion Garner of Random House Canada, and her associate Anne Collins, who put a lie to the notion that there are no great editors left in the world.

Beloved readers Randy Costello and Sean Cronin were again critical to getting the book off the ground, with special thanks to Sean for instruction in lethal weapons of personal destruction. Thanks to Bob Willemin for a tour of the financial lunatic fringe, and to Rich Orr, Cindy Courtney and Norman Block for legal guidance (all fiction-related, mind you).

Abiding thanks to Anne-Marie Regish for astounding logistical accomplishments, and my Mintz & Hoke partners Bill Field and Ron Perine for the airspace and generous support.

Heidi Lamar and Laurence Willis helped me understand what you can and cannot do with secure data streams and laptop computers. Susan Ahlquist continues to fiercely attend to production detail. My brother Whit, with tweaks from Randy Costello, cleaned up my Spanish. Paige Goettel was responsible for the profane French, so if you’re offended, blame her.