Wild Fire

Acknowledgments

As in past novels, I want to thank US Airways captain Thomas Block (retired), contributing editor and columnist to many aviation magazines, and co-author with me of Mayday, as well as being the author of six other novels. Tom’s assistance with technical details and editorial suggestions was, as always, invaluable, although he put a value on it and sent me a bill, which I was, of course, happy to pay. Tom and I met about fifty-five years ago, and the only person I’ve known longer is myself.

Thanks, too, to Sharon Block (Tom’s wife), former Braniff International and US Airways flight attendant, for her careful reading of the manuscript, and her excellent suggestions.

I wish to thank my good friends Roger and Lori Bahnik for keeping me company in the North Country wilderness and for being such excellent guides through the bear-infested woods.

Once again, many thanks to my friend Kenny Hieb, retired NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force detective, for his expert advice and assistance.

Also, thanks again to my longtime friend John Kennedy, deputy police commissioner, Nassau County Police Department (retired), labor arbitrator, and member of the New York State Bar, for his advice and suggestions.

When verisimilitude and literary license clash, license usually wins, so any errors regarding legal or police procedural details are mine alone.

Special thanks go to Bob Atiyeh, a private pilot with an instrument rating, who shared with me his knowledge of general aviation procedures, flight plans, SBOs, FBOs, and everything else I needed to know and had no clue about.

Thanks always to my excellent assistants, Dianne Francis and Patricia Chichester. There is a special place in Heaven for authors’ assistants, and truly Dianne and Patricia have earned it.

And last, but always first, my fiancée, Sandy Dillingham, whom I thank for giving me the gift of a new life. I love you.

There is a new trend among authors to thank very famous people for inspiration, non-existent assistance, and/or some casual reference to the author’s work. Authors do this to pump themselves up. So, on the off chance that this is helpful, I wish to thank the following people: the Emperor of Japan and the Queen of England for promoting literacy; William S. Cohen, former secretary of defense, for dropping me a note saying he liked my books, as did his boss, Bill Clinton; Bruce Willis, who called me one day and said, “Hey, you’re a good writer”; Albert Einstein, who inspired me to write about nuclear weapons; General George Armstrong Custer, whose brashness at the Little Bighorn taught me a lesson in judgment; Mikhail Gorbachev, whose courageous actions indirectly led to my books being translated into Russian; Don DeLillo and Joan Didion, whose books are always before and after mine on bookshelves, and whose names always appear before and after mine in almanacs and many lists of American writers-thanks for being there, guys; Julius Caesar, for showing the world that illiterate barbarians can be beaten; Paris Hilton, whose family hotel chain carries my books in their gift shops; and last but not least, Albert II, King of the Belgians, who once waved to me in Brussels as the Royal Procession moved from the Palace to the Parliament Building, screwing up traffic for half an hour, thereby forcing me to kill time by thinking of a great plot to dethrone the King of the Belgians.

There are many more people I could thank, but time, space, and modesty compel me to stop here.

On a more serious note, the following people have made generous contributions to charities in return for having their names used for some of the characters in this novel: James (Jim) R. Hawkins, who contributed to Canine Companions for Independence; Marion Fanelli and Paul Dunn-Cradle of Aviation Museum; Carol Ascrizzi and Patty Gleason-Make-A-Wish Foundation; Gary Melius, on behalf of his friend, John Nasseff, and Lori Bahnik-Boys amp; Girls Club of Oyster Bay-East Norwich; and Leslie Scheinthal-Variety Child Learning Center.

Many thanks to these caring and public-spirited men and women. I hope you’ve enjoyed your alter egos and that you continue to support worthwhile causes.