Biowar

PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF STEPHEN COONTS

LIBERTY

“Frighteningly realistic.”—
Maxim

“Gripping...Coonts’s naval background and his legal education bring considerable authority to the story, and the narrative is loaded with detailed information about terrorist networks, modem weaponry, and international intrigue... the action is slam-bang.”

—
Publishers Weekly

AMERICA

“The master of the techno-thriller spins a bone-chilling worst-case scenario involving international spies, military heroics, conniving politicians, devious agencies, a hijacked nuclear sub, lethal computer hackers, currency speculators, maniac moguls, and greedy mercenaries that rival Clancy for fiction-as-realism and Cussler for spirited action... [Coonts] never lets up with heart-racing jet/missile combat, suspenseful submarine maneuvers and doomsday scenarios that feel only too real, providing real food for thought in his dramatization of the missile-shield debate.”

—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Fans of Coonts and his hero Grafton will love it. Great fun.”

—
Library Journal

“Coonts’s action and the techno-talk are as gripping as ever.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“Thrilling roller-coaster action. Give a hearty ‘welcome back’ to Adm. Jake Grafton.”—
The Philadelphia Inquirer

HONG KONG

“Move over, Clancy, readers know they can count on Coonts.”

—
Midwest Book Review

“The author gives us superior suspense with a great cast of made-up characters...But the best thing about this book is Coonts’s scenario for turning China into a democracy.”

—Liz Smith,
The New York Post

“A high-octane blend of techno-wizardry [and] ultraviolence... [Coonts] skillfully captures the postmodern flavor of Hong Kong, where a cell phone is as apt as an AK-47 to be a revolutionary weapon.”

—
USA Today

“Entertaining...intriguing.”—
Booklist

“Will be enjoyed by Coonts’s many fans...Coonts has perfected the art of the high-tech adventure story.”—
Library Journal

“Coonts does a remarkable job of capturing the mood of clashing cultures in Hong Kong.”—
Publishers Weekly

“Filled with action, intrigue, and humanity.”

—San Jose Mercury News

CUBA

“Enough Tomahawk missiles, stealth bombers, and staccato action to satisfy [Coonts’s] most demanding fans.”—
USA Today

“[A] gripping and intelligent thriller.”

—
Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Perhaps the best of Stephen Coonts’s six novels about modern warfare.”—
Austin American-Statesman

“Coonts delivers some of his best gung-ho suspense writing yet.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Dramatic, diverting action...Coonts delivers.”—
Booklist

FORTUNES OF WAR

“Fortunes of War
is crammed with action, suspense, and characters with more than the usual one dimension found in these books.”

—USA Today

“A stirring examination of courage, compassion, and profound nobility of military professionals under fire. Coonts’s best yet.”

—
Kirkus Reviews
(starred review)

“Full of action and suspense... a strong addition to the genre.”

—
Publishers Weekly

FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER

“Extraordinary! Once you start reading, you won’t want to stop!”

—Tom Clancy

“[Coonts’s] gripping, first-person narration of aerial combat is the best I’ve ever read. Once begun, this book cannot be laid aside.”

—The Wall Street Journal

“Kept me strapped in the cockpit of the author’s imagination for a down-and-dirty novel.”—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

SAUCER

“Coonts knows how to write and build suspense.”

—
The New York Times Book Review

“A comic, feel-good SF adventure...[delivers] optimistic messages about humanity’s ability to meet future challenges.”

—
Kirkus Reviews

“Tough to put down.”—
Publishers Weekly

Also in this series

Stephen Coonts’ Deep Black
(Stephen Coonts & Jim DeFelice)

Novels by
STEPHEN COONTS

Liars and Thieves
Liberty
Saucer
America
Hong Kong
Cuba
Fortunes of War
Flight of the Intruder
Final Flight
The Minotaur
Under Siege
The Red Horseman
The Intruders

Nonfietion books by
STEPHEN COONTS

The Cannibal Queen
War in the Air

Books by
JIM DEFELICE

Coyote Bird
War Breaker
Havana Strike
Brother’s Keeper
Cyclops One

With Dale Brown:

Dale Brown’s Dreamland
(Dale Brown & Jim DeFelice)
Nerve Center
(Dale Brown & Jim DeFelice)
Razor’s Edge
(Dale Brown & Jim DeFelice)

NOTE:
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

STEPHEN COONTS’ DEEP BLACK: BIOWAR

Copyright © 2004 by Stephen Coonts.

Excerpt from
Liars and Thieves
copyright © 2004 by Stephen Coonts.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

ISBN: 0-312-98521-5

Printed in the United States of America

St. Martin’s Paperbacks edition / May 2004

St. Martin’s Paperbacks are published by St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Authors’ Note

The National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Space Agency, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Security Council, Centers for Disease Control, U.S. Special Operations Command, Air Force, and Marines are, of course, real. While based on an actual organization affiliated with the NSA and CIA, Desk Three and all of the people associated with it in this book are fiction. The technology depicted here either exists or is being developed.

Some liberties have been taken in describing actual places and procedures to facilitate the telling of the tale.

1

Athens, New York, was founded in the great rush of enthusiasm following the Revolutionary War, when Americans first came to understand that their destiny in the world involved more than religion and capitalism. Its inhabitants saw the experiment in freedom and democracy as a link with the great Greek and Roman republics, which had produced not merely riches or military might—though both were important—but intellectual and artistic achievements unparalleled in human history. The men and women who settled in upstate New York were as optimistic as any. If, like the majority of their countrymen, their lives tended more toward hardscrabble than polished marble, they nonetheless were aimed in the right direction.