He’s read her last message a hundred times. I’m with Lincoln now, and this is almost over.
The deck heater kicks on, humming quietly as it struggles against the cold. His phone is on the table beside him. Jameson called thirty minutes ago to say the team had recovered Shaw Walker and were on their way to a pickup point, but since then the phone has been maddeningly silent.
When it finally does ring in its standard-issue corporate chime, he doesn’t reach for it right away. He lets the tune play for several seconds before he leans over to see who’s calling. If it’s Jameson, it’s probably another update. If it’s Chris… well, that would be bad news.
The call is from her.
He picks up. Waits.
“Hey,” she says after a few seconds. Her voice sad, hoarse. He thinks she’s been crying.
“You all right?” he asks gruffly.
“I’m not hurt.”
“Jameson said you’re bringing Shaw home.”
“Yeah.”
“Was it worth it, True?”
She takes a few seconds. When she does answer, she speaks slowly, trying to find the right words. “You told me that Nungsan was like a black hole that we’ll always be circling around. You were right. It’ll always be there. But we don’t have to look at it all the time. I don’t have to. Not anymore. Alex, are you going to be there when I get home?”
He thinks about this, thinks about his options, and tells her the truth: “Where the hell else would I be?”
“Okay, then. I’m on my way.”
Acknowledgements
I want to thank all those who helped with The Last Good Man. First and most essential, my freelance editor, Judith Tarr, who read an early and incomplete version of the manuscript. Her feedback helped me to move ahead with the story and, when I had a complete draft, Judy went over the manuscript again, providing insightful suggestions throughout.
Early beta readers were Larry Clough, Mark English, and Nancy Jane Moore. My agent, Howard Morhaim, provided additional suggestions, as did Andy Baguio. After I completed another round of revisions, Alex von der Linden took on the heroic task of reading the manuscript during the holiday season. Vonda N. McIntyre provided detailed feedback on a near-final draft, and Cat Rambo did an incredibly helpful line edit.
I also want to acknowledge those who helped with research questions: Yasser Bahjatt, Nyan Aung, Aung Phone Myint, Ramez Naam, and Ken Liu.
Everyone mentioned here has my thanks and my gratitude. They tried to steer me in the right direction. All remaining errors and deficiencies are my own.
I’m grateful as well for all those who share their knowledge via the Internet. Without you, this novel could not have been written.
And last but certainly not least, thank you to my readers. I’m so deeply grateful for your continuing support and encouragement.
Also by Linda Nagata
Lieutenant James Shelley commands a high-tech squad of soldiers in a rural district within the African Sahel. They hunt insurgents each night on a harrowing patrol, guided by three simple goals: protect civilians, kill the enemy, and stay alive—because in a for-profit war manufactured by the defense industry there can be no cause worth dying for. To keep his soldiers safe, Shelley uses every high-tech asset available to him—but his best weapon is a flawless sense of imminent danger… as if God is with him, whispering warnings in his ear.
Both The Red: First Light and Going Dark were selected as finalists for the John W. Campbell Memorial award. The Red was nominated for the Nebula award, and was named as a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2015.
The Red is “…one of the best pieces of near future Mil-SF ever written. What’s so good about it? The action rocks and the characters are engaging as hell. But this isn’t just adventure fiction, it’s Mil-SF and very well done, straight out of DARPA’s dreambook, not somebody’s fantasy.” —Ernest Lilley, SFRevu
“The Red delivers intense action, leavened by a genuinely sympathetic portrait of soldiers caught up in battles they never chose. Best of all are Nagata’s well-informed representations of future military tech. This is hard science fiction at its finest, full of devices like bionic limbs, exosuits, autonomous drones, and brain implants that are being developed in labs today. But you’ve never seen them like this, at play in a realistic field of battle, controlled by people you actually care about.” —Annalee Newitz, io9.com
For more information and to read sample chapters, visit the author’s website: MythicIsland.com.
Books by Linda Nagata
The Red Trilogy
The Red: First Light (Nebula Award nominee and finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award)
The Trials
Going Dark (finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award)
Stories of the Puzzle Lands (gritty dark fantasy)
The Dread Hammer — Book 1: a tale of love, war, murder, marriage, and fate
Hepen the Watcher — Book 2: a tale of exile, rebellion, fidelity, and fire
The Nanotech Succession — a collection of four stand-alone novels set in a shared science-fiction story world, beginning in the present day and reaching into the far future. Following the timeline of the story world the books are:
Tech-Heaven (prequel)
The Bohr Maker (winner of the 1996 Locus Award for Best First Novel)
Deception Well
Vast
Other Story Worlds
Light and Shadow (a short-fiction collection)
Limit of Vision
Memory (finalist for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award)
Goddesses & Other Stories (a short-fiction collection including the 2000 Nebula Award winner for best novella)
Skye-Object 3270a (young adult/middle grade)
Additional information on all of Linda Nagata’s books, including sample chapters and links to print and ebook versions, can be found at the author’s website: MythicIsland.com.
About the Author
Linda Nagata is a Nebula and Locus-award-winning writer, best known for her high-tech science fiction, including the Red trilogy, a series of near-future military thrillers. The first book in the trilogy, The Red: First Light, was a Nebula and John W. Campbell Memorial-award finalist, and named as a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2015. Book 3, Going Dark, was a runner-up for the Campbell Memorial award. The Last Good Man is her newest novel. It’s available in ebook and print editions from Mythic Island Press LLC, and as an audiobook from Audible.