The Sky Is Falling (32 page)

They were doing the eleven o’clock broadcast.

“…And here at home, a guardsman in Spokane, Washington, is charged with the murder of a sixteen-year-old prostitute and is suspected in the deaths of sixteen others… In Sicily, the body of Malcolm Beaumont, the seventy - year - old heir to a steel fortune, was found drowned in a swimming pool. Beaumont was honeymooning with his twenty - five - year - old bride. They were accompanied by the bride’s two brothers. Now, here’s the weather with Marvin Greer.”

When the broadcast was over, Dana went in to see Matt Baker.

“Something is bothering me, Matt.”

“What is it? Name it and I’ll slay it.”

“It’s the story about that seventy-year-old millionaire who drowned in a swimming pool while he was honeymooning with his twenty-five-year-old bride. Don’t you think that was awfully convenient?”

THIS IS A WORK of fiction, but the secret underground city of Krasnoyarsk-26 is real, one of thirteen closed cities engaged in nuclear production. Krasnoyarsk-26 is located in central Siberia, two thousand miles from Moscow, and since its creation in 1958, it has produced more than forty-five tons of weapons - grade plutonium. Although two of its plutonium-producing reactors were shut down in 1992, one remains active, currently producing half a ton of plutonium a year, which can be used to make atomic bombs.

There have been reported thefts of plutonium, and the United States Energy Department is working with the Russian government on increased security measures to stop nuclear material from being sold to other countries.

As a legendary storyteller, novelist, and screenwriter,
SIDNEY SHELDON
remains one of the world’s top bestselling authors, and is the only writer to have won an Oscar, a Tony, and an Edgar. He is also the recipient of the prestigious French Prix Littéraire de Deauville award. All seventeen of Sheldon’s previous novels have reigned at the top of the
New York Times
bestseller list. His second,
The Other Side of Midnight
, held the
Times
’s then-record of fifty-two weeks on the list. Sheldon is the creator of TV’s classic hit programs
The Patty Duke Show, I Dream of Jeannie
, and
Hart to Hart
. Additionally, he has won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer
, starring Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. Sheldon has twice won the Screenwriters Guild Award for Best Musical — for
Easter Parade
and
Annie Get Your Gun
. The
Guinness World Records 2004
heralds him as the most translated author in the world. Sheldon lives in Beverly Hills and Palm Springs, California, with his wife, Alexandra.

To receive notice of author events and new books by Sidney Sheldon, sign up at www.authortracker.com.

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

The Sky Is Falling

Tell Me Your Dreams

The Best Laid Plans

Morning, Noon & Night

Nothing Lasts Forever

The Stars Shine Down

The Doomsday Conspiracy

Memories of Midnight

The Sands of Time

Windmills of the Gods

If Tomorrow Comes

Master of the Game

Rage of Angels

Bloodline

A Stranger in the Mirror

The Other Side of Midnight

The Naked Face

Jacket design by Bradfor Foltz
Jacket photograph by Taylor Sherrill