The Zero Hour

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joseph Finder is the New York Times bestselling author of ten previous novels, including Vanished and Buried Secrets. Finder’s international bestseller Killer Instinct won ITW’s Thriller Award for Best Novel of 2006. Other bestselling titles include Paranoia and High Crimes, both of which became major motion pictures. He lives in Boston.

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