The Awakening (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798891307360)

Billionaire industrialist Andrew Garth vanishes during a Caribbean cruise, leaving his partners scrambling for control of the $500 billion company they have just acquired together. The company has a patent on a world-changing technology the partners plan to use to manufacture computer chips for implantation in humans. They soon have the backing of Washington power brokers, who intend to make chip implants mandatory for all Americans -- for purposes of surveillance and control. The backlash from conservative states pushes the United States toward a second civil war, which some believe may involve the use of nuclear weapons. Garth, who is keeping himself hidden, recruits fellow industrialist Peter Turlington, and the two begin construction of a vast underground city capable of harboring thousands of people in secret for many years, protected from nuclear fallout and roving megalomaniacs. Garth and Turlington become the target of assassins while authorities muster a colossal effort to locate them and the hidden subterranean city they have built.