The answer is simple: I didn’t have a choice then, any more than I’ve got one now. Not if the rising of a new world, committed to the destruction of the old, is to be stopped.
You don’t know who I am, and you don’t need to. This isn’t my story.
It’s Alex’s, because he’s our only hope.
The survivor.
OTHER BOOKS BY HEATHER GRAHAM
Flawless
The Hidden
The Forgotten
The Silenced
The Dead Play On
The Betrayed
The Hexed
The Cursed
Waking the Dead
The Night Is Forever
The Night Is Alive
The Night Is Watching
Let the Dead Sleep
The Uninvited
The Unspoken
The Unholy
The Unseen
An Angel for Christmas
The Evil Inside
Sacred Evil
Heart of Evil
Phantom Evil
Night of the Vampires
The Keepers
Ghost Moon
Ghost Night
Ghost Shadow
The Killing Edge
Night of the Wolves
Home in Time for Christmas
Unhallowed Ground
Dust to Dust
Nightwalker
Deadly Gift
Deadly Harvest
Deadly Night
The Death Dealer
The Last Noel
The Séance
Blood Red
The Dead Room
Kiss of Darkness
The Vision
The Island
Ghost Walk
Killing Kelly
The Presence
Dead on the Dance Floor
Picture Me Dead
Haunted
Hurricane Bay
A Season of Miracles
Night of the Blackbird
Never Sleep with Strangers
Eyes of Fire
Slow Burn
Night Heat
Haunted Destiny
OTHER BOOKS BY JON LAND
The Alpha Deception
*Betrayal (nonfiction)
*Black Scorpion: The Tyrant Reborn
*Blood Diamonds
*The Blue Widows
The Council of Ten
*Day of the Delphi
*Dead Simple
*Dolphin Key
The Doomsday Spiral
The Eighth Trumpet
*The Fires of Midnight
The Gamma Option
*Hope Mountain
*Keepers of the Gate
*Kingdom of the Seven
Labyrinth
*The Last Prophecy
The Lucifer Directive
The Ninth Dominion
The Omega Command
The Omicron Legion
Pandora’s Temple
*The Pillars of Solomon
*The Seven Sins: The Tyrant Ascending
*Strong at the Break
*Strong Cold Dead
*Strong Darkness
*Strong Enough to Die
*Strong Justice
*Strong Light of Day
*Strong Rain Falling
*Strong Vengeance
*Takedown (nonfiction)
The Tenth Circle
The Valhalla Testament
The Vengeance of the Tau
Vortex
*A Walk in the Darkness
*The Walls of Jericho
*Published by Forge Books
About the Authors
HEATHER GRAHAM is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than one hundred novels and novellas. A recipient of the RWA’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the International Thriller Writers’ ThrillMaster and Silver Bullet Awards, she has been honored with awards from Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, RT Book Reviews, and more. You can sign up for email updates here.
JON LAND is the USA Today bestselling author of forty novels, including Strong Enough to Die, Strong Justice, Strong at the Break, Strong Vengeance, Strong Rain Falling (winner of the 2014 International Book Award and 2013 USA Best Book Award for Mystery-Suspense), Strong Darkness (winner of the 2014 USA Best Book Award and the 2015 International Book Award for Thriller), and Strong Light of Day (winner of the 2016 International Book Award for Best Thriller-Adventure and the 2016 Beverly Hills Book Award for Best Mystery). Land is a graduate of Brown University. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and can be found at jonlandbooks.com or on Twitter @jondland. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Epigraph
From an Anonymous Journal
Prologue: Patterns
One: Alex
1. Coin Flip
2. Go, Team, Go!
3. The Second Coming
4. Stranger in a Strange Land
5. Impact
6. Frozen
7. Ambulance Ride
8. Waiting
9. Diagnosis
11. Foreign Language
Two: Visitors
12. A Spark
13. Dr. Payne
14. Home Sweet Home
15. Artifacts
16. Home Invasion
Three: Ames
17. Intern
18. Patterns
19. Emergency Response
Four: Ashes to Ashes
20. Payne and Pain
21. Written in Blood
22. Escape
23. Get Alex
24. The Closet
25. 911
26. Rigolo
27. Love Bug
28. Where the Heart Is
29. To Protect and Serve
30. Reappearances
31. The Ash Man
32. Goodbyes
Five: Trackers
33. The Bunker
34. Guardian
35. The Memory Room
36. A Big Stick
37. The Scent
Six: MONTER_Y MO_T_R INN
38. Blue Plate Special
39. Sleepover
40. Janus
41. Late for Practice
42. Artist in Residence
43. By the Numbers
44. Problem Set
Seven: Meng Po
45. Message
46. Dancer’s House
47. Knock Wood
48. Flash Drive
49. Origins
50. The Dancer
51. Ping
52. Confession
53. Wild Card
54. Diagnosis
55. Blinds
56. The Impossible
57. Dr. Chu
58. The Chrysalis
59. The Signal
60. The Men at the Door
61. Misdirection
Eight: Battleground
62. Drone Things
63. Trash
64. AC/DC
65. Chase
66. War
Nine: End of the Road
67. The Woods
68. Ground Zero
69. Gone
70. Marshaling the Forces
71. On the Road
72. T-H-E-N-D C-O-M-E-S
73. All Free Tomorrow
74. Phoning Home
75. The General
Ten: Laboratory Z
76.
San Ramon
77. Bishop Ranch
78. Mr. Wizard
79. The Other Side
80. Aliens Go Home
81. Pings
82. The Carousel House
83. Shock Wave
84. Waiting
Eleven: Rebels
85. Playground
86. Fifth Column
87. Good News and Bad News
88. Wilder
89. Sketchbook
90. Prescription
91. Outer Limits
92. Push of a Button
93. Divided Loyalties
94. The Embarcadero
95. Boat Ride
96. CT Scan
97. Attack Mode
98. Leakage
99. A Sinking Ship
100. Lifeboat
Twelve: Alcatraz
101. Zero-Sum Game
102. Beacon
103. The Fort
104. Descending Spiral
105. Meltdown
Epilogue: The Road Ahead
From an Anonymous Journal
By Heather Graham and Jon Land
About the Authors
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
THE RISING
Copyright © 2016 by Heather Graham and Jon Land
All rights reserved.
Cover photographs by Shutterstock
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Tor® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-3791-7 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-3648-8 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466836488
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First Edition: January 2017