The Day After Tomorrow Read online

  DON’T MISS THE

  HOTTEST THRILLER

  OF THE YEAR!

  “AN ENTERTAINING PAGE-TURNER . . . . The kind of book that hooks you . . . . Guaranteed to keep readers of suspense thrillers up into the wee hours feverishly reading to discover the outcome.”

  —Houston Post

  “HIGH-SPEED STORYTELLING, zigzagging from Paris bistros to the Zurich lairs of the rich and famously evil.”

  —Detroit Free Press

  “SPELLBINDING . . . and the last line is a kilter.”

  —Milwaukee Journal

  “A PAGE-TURNING WHOPPER . . . . A veritable encyclopedia of planes, trains, automobiles, plastic explosives, hairbreadth escapes, and passionate clinches.”

  —Entertainment Weekly

  “TAUTAND SUSPENSEFUL . . .COMPELLING ADVENTURE.”

  —San Francisco Chronicle

  “IT STARTS OUTWITH A BANG, REMAINS ACTION-PACKED THROUGHOUT . . . . It’s got evil science of a gleaming, high-tech sort; it’s filled with stylish European locales, and . . . there’s a love interest of the sexiest sort”

  —Boston Review

  “HARROWING . . . Two pages into the novel, the hero tries to choke a stranger to death. The pace picks up from there . . . . Expect to see this book tucked into carry-on baggage, propped up on beach blankets, and tossed on poolside tables for months to come.”

  —Buffalo News

  “A ONE-SITTING NOVEL . . . DELIVERS IN FULL— AND THEN SOME!”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “[YOU’LL] BE HOOKED FROM PAGE ONE!... Folsom keeps his complex plot spinning with tremendous brio and momentum.”

  —Kirkus Review (starred review)

  “A COMPLEX, LAYERED THRILLER. Each development yields some answers but also deepens and widens the mystery.”

  —San Diego Union-Tribune

  “YOU WILL BE PLUNGED IN, SUDDENLY AND CERTAINLY HOOKED;... Fun, and the ultimate triumph over evil is both ironically appropriate and spectacular.”

  —St. Petersburg Times

  “NEVER A DULL PAGE . . . . Guaranteed to keep you reading past midnight”

  —San Gabriel Valley Newspapers

  “SKILLFULLY WRITTEN AND IMAGINATIVE . . . . The conclusion is too ingenious, too artfully sustained until the book’s final page—its final two words—to say anything more.”

  —Alta Vista Magazine

  “A BLOCKBUSTER PACE that races at breakneck pace through Europe. . . . But be forewarned, don’t even dare peek at THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW unless you plan to set aside a long weekend, turn off the phone, and stock the fridge, because you won’t be going anywhere until after the final chase through the Alps.”

  —Book Page

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 1994 by Allan Folsom

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Vision

  Hachette Book Group

  237 Park Avenue

  New York, NY 10017

  Visit our website at www.HachetteBookGroup.com.

  www.twitter.com/grandcentralpub.

  Vision is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing. The Vision name and logo is a trademark of Hachette Book Group USA, Inc.

  First eBook Edition: November 2008

  ISBN: 978-0-446-54989-9

  Contents

  DON’T MISS THE HOTTEST THRILLER OF THE YEAR!

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  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

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  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

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Chapter 119

  Chapter 120

  Chapter 121

  Chapter 122

  Chapter 123

  Chapter 124

  Chapter 125

  Chapter 126

  Chapter 127

  Chapter 128

  Chapter 129

  Chapter 130

  Chapter 131

  Chapter 132

  Chapter 133

  Chapter 134

  Chapter 135

  Chapter 136

  Chapter 137

  Chapter 138

  Chapter 139

  Chapter 140

  Chapter 141

  Chapter 142

  Chapter 143

  Chapter 144

  Chapter 145
>
  Chapter 146

  Chapter 147

  Chapter 148

  Chapter 149

  Chapter 150

  Chapter 151

  Chapter 152

  Chapter 153

  Chapter 154

  Chapter 155

  Chapter 156

  Chapter 157

  Chapter 158

  Chapter 159

  Acknowledgments

  A Preview of Day of Confession

  For Karen...

  1

  * * *

  Paris, Monday, October 3.

  5:40 P.M.

  Brasserie Stella, the rue St.-Antoine.

  PAUL OSBORN sat alone among the smoky bustle of the after-work crowd, staring into a glass of red wine. He was tired and hurt and confused. For no particular reason he looked up. When he did, his breath left him with a jolt. Across the room sat the man who murdered his father. That it could be he was inconceivable. But there was no doubt. None. It was a face forever stamped in his memory. The deepset eyes, the square jaw, the ears that stuck out almost at right angles, the jagged scar under the left eye that worked its way sharply down across the cheekbone toward the upper lip. The scar was less distinct now but it was there just the same. Like Osborn, he was alone. A cigarette was in his right hand and his left was curled around the rim of a coffee cup, his concentration on a newspaper at his elbow. He had to be at least fifty, maybe more.

  From where Osborn sat, it was hard to tell his height. Maybe five foot eight or nine. He was stocky. Probably a hundred and eighty pounds. His neck was thick and his body looked hard. His complexion pale, his hair was short and curly, black, speckled with gray. Stamping out his cigarette, the man lit another, glancing Osborn’s way as he did. Then, putting out the match, he went back to his paper.

  Osborn felt his heart skip a beat and the blood start to rise in his veins. Suddenly it was Boston and 1966 again. He was barely ten and he and his father were walking down the street. It was an afternoon in early spring, sunny but still cold. His father, dressed in a business suit, had left his office early to meet his son at the Park Street subway station. From there they crossed a corner of the Common and turned down Winter Street in a flurry of shoppers. They were going to a sale at Grogin’s Sporting Goods. The boy had saved all winter for a new baseball mitt, a first baseman’s glove. A Trapper model. His father had promised to match his savings dollar for dollar. Together they had thirty-two dollars. They were in sight of the store, and his father was smiling, when the man with the scar and the square jaw struck. He stepped out of the crowd and shoved a butcher knife into his father’s stomach. As he did, he glanced over and saw the boy, who had no idea what was happening. In that instant their eyes met. Then the man moved on and his father crumpled to the pavement.

  He could still feel the moment, standing so terribly alone on the sidewalk, strangers massing to look, his father staring up at him, helpless, uncomprehending, blood beginning to seep through fingers that had instinctively sought to pull the weapon out but had, instead, died there.

  Twenty-eight years later and a continent away the memory roared back to life. Paul Osborn could feel the rage engulf him. In an instant he was up and across the room. A split second later the two men, table and chairs, crashed to the floor. He felt his fingers close around a leathery throat, a stubble of beard at the neck pressed against his palm. At the same time he felt his other hand pounding savagely down. His fist a runaway piston, wrecking flesh and bone, determined to batter the life from it. Around him people were screaming but it made no difference. His only sense was to destroy forever the thing he had in his grasp.

  Suddenly he felt hands under his chin, others under his arms, jerking him up and away. He felt himself hurtling backward. A moment later he crashed into something hard and fell to the floor, vaguely aware of dishes falling around him. Then he heard someone yelling in French to call the police! Looking up, he saw three waiters in white shirts and black vests standing over him. Behind them, his man was getting up unsteadily, sucking in air, blood gushing from his nose. Once up, he seemed to realize what had happened and looked toward his attacker in horror. Refusing a proffered napkin, he suddenly bolted through the crowd and out the front door.

  Immediately Osborn was on his feet.

  The waiters stiffened.

  “Get the hell out of my way!” he shouted.

  They didn’t move.

  If this were New York or L.A. he’d have yelled that the man was a murderer and for them to call the police. But this was Paris, he could barely order coffee. Unable to communicate, he did the only thing he could. He charged. The first waiter moved to grab him. But Osborn was six inches taller, twenty pounds heavier and running as if he were carrying a football. Dropping his shoulder, he drove it hard into the man’s chest, spinning him sideways into the others so that they fell in a resounding comic crash, helplessly pinned one on top of the other, in a small service area halfway between the kitchen and the door. Then Osborn was through the door and gone.

  Outside it was dark and raining. The rush-hour crowd filled the streets. Osborn dodged around them, his eyes scanning the sidewalk ahead, his heart pounding. This is the way the man had run, where the hell was he? He was going to lose him, he knew it. Then he saw him, a half block ahead, moving down the rue de Fourcy toward the Seine.

  Osborn quickened his pace. His blood was still up but the violent explosion had spent most of his murderous rage and reason was beginning to set in. His father’s murder had taken place in the United States, where there was no statute of limitations on murder. But was that true in France as well? Did the two countries have a mutual extradition treaty? And what if the man was French, would the French government send one of its own citizens to the U.S. to be tried for murder there?

  A half block ahead, the man looked back. As he did, Osborn dropped back into the throng of pedestrians. Better to let him think he got away, calm a little, lose his caution. Then, when he’s off guard, grab him alone.

  A light changed, traffic stopped, so did the crowd. Osborn was behind a woman with an umbrella, with his man no more than a dozen feet away. Again he saw the face clearly. No doubt at all. He’d seen it in his dreams for twenty-eight years. He could draw it in his sleep. Standing there, the rage started to build once more.

  The light changed again and the man crossed the street ahead of the crowd. Reaching the far curb, he glanced back, saw nothing and continued on. By now they were on Pont Marie, crossing the lie St.-Louis. To their right was the Cathedral Notre Dame. A few more minutes and they’d be across the Seine and onto the Left Bank.

  For the moment Osborn had the upper hand. He looked ahead, searching for a side street or alley where he might be able to take his man out of public view. This was tricky business. If he moved too fast, he risked drawing attention to himself. But he had to move up or gamble losing him altogether should the man suddenly turn down an unseen street or hail a cab.

  The rain came down harder and the glare from the passing yellow Parisian headlights was making it difficult to see. Ahead, his man turned right on boulevard St.-Germain and abruptly crossed the street. Where the hell was he going? Then Osborn saw it. The Métro station. If he got in there, he’d be swallowed up in a moment. Osborn started to run, rudely brushing people aside as he went. Suddenly he darted across the street in front of traffic. Honking horns made his man look back. For a moment he froze where he was, then rushed on. Osborn knew he’d been seen and that the man realized he was being pursued.

  Osborn all but flew down the steps into the Métro. At the bottom he saw his man take a ticket from an automated machine. Then push through the crowd toward the turnstiles.

  Looking back, the man saw Osborn’s running dash down the steps. His hand went forward, his ticket inserted in the turnstile mechanism. The press bar gave, he went through. Cutting a sharp right, he disappeared around a corner.

  No time for ticket or turnstiles. Elbowing a young woman out of the way, Osborn vaulted the
turnstiles, dodged around a tall black man and headed for the tracks.

  A train was already in the station. He saw his man get on. Abruptly the doors closed and the train pulled out. Osborn ran a few feet more, then stopped, chest heaving and put of breath. There was nothing left but gleaming rails and an empty tunnel. The man was gone.

  2

  * * *

  MICHELE KANARACK looked across the table, then extended her hand. Her eyes were filled with love and affection. Henri Kanarack took her hand in his and looked at her. This was his fifty-second birthday; she was thirty-four. They’d been married for nearly eight years and today she’d told him she was pregnant with their first child.

  “Tonight is very special,” she said.

  “Yes. Very special.” Kissing her hand gently, he let it go and poured from a bottle of red Bordeaux.

  “This is the last,” she said. “Until the baby. No more drinking while I’m pregnant.”

  “Then the same for me.” Henri smiled.

  Outside the rain beat down in torrents. The wind rattled the roof and windows. Their apartment was on the top floor of a five-story building on the avenue Verdier in the Montrouge section of Paris. Henri Kanarack was a baker who left every morning at five and didn’t return until nearly six thirty at night. He had an hour commute each way to the bakery near the Gare du Nord on the north side of Paris. It was a long day. But he was happy with it. As he was with his life and the idea of becoming a father for the first time at the age of fifty-two. At least he had been until tonight, when the stranger had attacked him in the brasserie and then chased after him into the Métro. He’d looked American. Thirty-five or so. Well built and strong. Dressed in an expensive sport coat and jeans, like a businessman on vacation.

  Who the hell was he? Why had he done that?

  “Are you all right?” Michele was staring at him. What was Paris coming to when a baker could be attacked in a brasserie by a total stranger? She wanted him to call the police. Then find a lawyer and sue the brasserie’s owner.

  “Yes,” he said. “I’m all right.” He wanted neither to call the police nor sue the brasserie, though his left eye was all but swollen shut and his lip was puffed up and red/blue where the wild man’s blow had driven an upper tooth through it.