Crash Read online

  While low interest rates have made carrying the extra debt bearable for more Americans, these days will end eventually. The Federal Reserve has nudged them up from near zero in a bid to reach the old levels, despite a pushback from the White House. A chilling statistic from a Federal Reserve survey found that 35 percent of U.S. adults couldn’t pay their bills if faced with a $400 emergency.

  WHAT’S NEXT? Either massive defaults occur—think of the chaos if Washington can’t pay interest and principal on Treasury bonds—or Americans see their taxes double. Or both. The doubling of taxes is predicted by the former U.S. comptroller general, David Walker.

  If companies, states, and individuals go bust, the nation has a big problem. And America has an even bigger problem if the federal government can’t cover its obligations. The United States, its full faith and credit, and its universally used currency, underpin the entire world’s economy.

  That’s the nightmare scenario we explore in Crash.

  ALSO BY DAVID HAGBERG

  Twister

  The Capsule

  Last Come the Children

  Heartland

  Heroes

  Without Honor*

  Countdown*

  Crossfire*

  Critical Mass*

  Desert Fire

  High Flight*

  Assassin*

  White House*

  Joshua’s Hammer*

  Eden’s Gate

  The Kill Zone*

  By Dawn’s Early Light

  Soldier of God*

  Allah’s Scorpion*

  Dance with the Dragon*

  The Expediter*

  The Cabal*

  Abyss*

  Castro’s Daughter*

  Burned

  Blood Pact*

  Retribution*

  The Shadowmen*+

  The Fourth Horseman*

  24 Hours*+

  End Game*

  Tower Down*

  Flash Points*

  Face Off*

  First Kill*

  WRITING AS SEAN FLANNERY

  The Kremlin Conspiracy

  Eagles Fly

  The Trinity Factor

  The Hollow Men

  Broken Idols

  Gulag

  Moscow Crossing

  The Zebra Network

  Crossed Swords

  Moving Targets

  Winner Take All

  Kilo Option

  Achilles’ Heel

  WITH BYRON L. DORGAN

  Blowout

  Gridlock

  NONFICTION WITH BORIS GINDEN

  Mutiny

  *Kirk McGarvey adventures

  *+Kirk McGarvey Ebook original novellas

  ALSO BY LAWRENCE LIGHT

  Too Rich to Live*

  Fear & Greed*

  WITH MEREDITH ANTHONY

  Ladykiller

  NONFICTION

  Taming the Beast

  SHORT STORIES IN:

  Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine

  Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

  Thriller 2

  Wall Street Noir

  NONFICTION PERIODICAL ARTICLES IN:

  Barron’s

  Bloomberg Businessweek

  Chief Investment Officer

  Columbia Journalism Review

  Financial Planning

  Fortune

  Investopedia

  HuffPost

  Money

  TheStreet.com

  The Wall Street Journal

  Yahoo! Finance

  *Karen Glick thrillers

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  DAVID HAGBERG was a former U.S. Air Force cryptographer who traveled extensively in Europe, the Arctic, and the Caribbean and spoke at CIA functions. He spent more than thirty years researching and studying U.S.-Soviet relations during the Cold War. Hagberg has received numerous award nominations for his writing and published more than seventy novels of suspense, including Face Off and First Kill of the New York Times bestselling Kirk McGarvey series. You can sign up for email updates here.

  LAWRENCE LIGHT is an award-winning financial journalist who now works as an editor and writer for CBS MoneyWatch. Previously, he has served as editor in chief of investing site AdviceIQ.com, investing editor of The Wall Street Journal, finance editor of Forbes and Money magazines, and the corporate finance reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, where he was part of the team that won the National Magazine Award. He started his news career as a police reporter at Newsday, where he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Light is also the former executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America, where he now serves as treasurer and is a national board member. He has been an Edgar judge several times and most recently served as as chief judge for paperback originals. His short stories have appeared in numerous outlets such as Wall Street Noir, Thriller 2, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, or sign up for email updates here.

  Thank you for buying this

  Tom Doherty Associates ebook.

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  For email updates on Lawrence Light, click here.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  One: Opening Bell Day One

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Two: Mid-Morning

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Three: The Russians

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Four: Warning Signs

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Five: Project W

  Chapter 26

  Six: Confrontations

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Seven: Glimmerings

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Eight: Kidnapped

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Nine: The Flash Drive

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Ten: Closing Bell Day One

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81
<
br />   Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Eleven: Crisis Arising

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Twelve: Rescue

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Thirteen: Opening Bell Day Two

  Chapter 116

  Afterword

  Also by David Hagberg

  Also by Lawrence Light

  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.

  CRASH

  Copyright © 2020 by David Hagberg and Lawrence Light

  All rights reserved.

  Cover design by Michael Graziolo

  A Forge Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates

  120 Broadway

  New York, NY 10271

  www.tor-forge.com

  Forge® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-1-250-24989-0 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-250-24988-3 (ebook)

  eISBN 9781250249883

  Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].

  First Edition: April 2020