Author’s Notes

I try to put as little fiction as possible into my novels. That’s partly because I owe it to readers like you to get my facts right. But it’s also because one of the things I enjoy most about being an author is talking to fighter pilots and scientists, poking around ROVs, visiting museums and labs, researching Russian submarines, and so on. I can’t put all the fascinating things I find into my books, of course, but I do post a lot of them on my website: www.rickacker.com. I also have sample chapters from my other books, interviews, and other good stuff there, so be sure to stop by. You can also find me on Facebook and Twitter.

Here’s the truth behind some of the key story elements in this book:

Allie’s whistleblower lawsuits: Real false claims lawsuits usually involve less international intrigue than Allie’s cases, but there’s nothing fictional about the law involved or how lucrative these cases can be. Every year, qui tam whistleblowers like Allie uncover billions of dollars of fraud—and receive anywhere from 15 percent to 50 percent of the recovered money. Whistleblower awards are generally in the millions of dollars, and I’ve been involved in cases where the whistleblower received over $100 million. You can learn more about false claims litigation by visiting the website of Taxpayers Against Fraud (www.taf.org) or the U.S. Department of Justice (http:// www.justice.gov/usao/pae/Documents/fcaprocess2.pdf).

The sunken Soviet submarine: The wreck of the Typhoon-class submarine is based on two real naval disasters. The first was the loss of the Russian submarine Kursk on August 12, 2000, which killed all 118 sailors on board. While the cause of the Kursk disaster has never been definitively proven, the most likely culprit was a chain reaction explosion caused by unstable VA-111 Shkvall torpedoes on the doomed sub. The same type of torpedo is used on Typhoon submarines. The second incident occurred on January 8, 2005, when the USS San Francisco smashed into an undersea mountain, killing one man and badly damaging the submarine. The accident was caused by a combination of bad charts, crew mistakes, and the fact that the submarine was not using its sonar, which is typical when a naval submarine is traveling submerged and does not want to be detected. The fictional Typhoon in this book sank when, like the San Francisco, it hit a seamount. The impact caused its VA-111 torpedoes to explode, ripping the sub’s bow open like the Kursk’s.

Cho’s spying: Despite the fact that the Korean War ended nearly sixty years ago, relations between North and South Korea remain extremely tense, and both countries routinely spy on each other. North Korea’s Reconnaissance Bureau is particularly active and has sent numerous agents into South Korea with missions ranging from assassination to sabotage to infiltrating the South Korean military and government. The Reconnaissance Bureau’s actions reportedly reach the level of outright terrorism, including an attack on a South Korean diplomatic delegation to Burma in 1983, the bombing of Korean Air Lines flight 858 in 1987, and the sinking of the South Korean ship Cheonan in 2010.

Wente, Slanted Door, and Gary Danko: These are all real Bay Area restaurants, and all are excellent. However, if you go to Gary Danko, don’t expect the view Allie described to Connor. She got that detail wrong because, of course, she wasn’t actually there.