Book excerpt: “A breathtaking, fascinating look at what could happen—given the possibility of an atomic ‘given.’ A wrap-up you'll never forget.”—Robert Ludlum The countdown begins when welder Jack Hummel is abducted from his suburban Maryland home ans whisked to the South Mountain MX missile site—a top-secret nuclear complex now taken over by paramilitary terrorists. All that stands between the Uzi-armed commandos and the launch button is a half-ton titanium block. They want Jack Hummel to cut through it—so they can unleash a devastatingly brilliant plot that threatens global disaster. Now a Delta Force veteran and a think-tank defense wizard must get inside South Mountain—by defeating their own super-security systems and a darkly ingenious enemy leader . . . . . . while Jack Hummel's torch burns closer and closer to the launch key . . . while the clock ticks closer to midnight—and Armageddon. Praise for The Day Before Midnight “Rockets toward a shattering climax like an incoming missile.”—Stephen Coonts, author of Flight of the Intruder and Final Flight “Nonstop action and mounting tension.”—The New York Times Book Review “Slam-bang action and relentless suspense.”—The Washington Post “The novel crackles and jolts.”—Chicago Tribune “The one to beat this year in the nail-biter class . . . an edge-of-the-seat doomsday countdown thriller.”—Daily News, New York