F. Paul Wilson - Fatal Error

FATAL ERROR

ALSO BY F. PAUL WILSON

Repairman Jack*

The Tomb

Gateways

Legacies

Crisscross

Conspiracies

Infernal

All the Rage

Harbingers

Hosts

Bloodline

The Haunted Air

By the Sword

Ground Zero

Young Adult*

Jack: Secret Histories

Jack: Secret Circles

Jack: Secret Vengeance

The Adversary Cycle*

The Keep

Reborn

The Tomb

Reprisal

The Touch

Nightworld

Other Novels

Healer

Implant

Wheels Within Wheels

Deep as the Marrow

An Enemy of the State

Mirage (with Matthew J. Costello)

Black Wind*

Nightkill (with Steven Spruill)

Dydeetown World

Masque (with Matthew J. Costello)

The Tery

The Christmas Thingy

Sibs*

Sims

The Select

The Fifth Harmonic

Virgin

Midnight Mass

Short Fiction

Soft and Others

The Barrens and Others*

Aftershock & Others*

The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium*

Editor

Freak Show

Diagnosis: Terminal

A Repairman Jack Novel

F. PAUL WILSON

A TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES BOOK NEW YORK

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

FATAL ERROR: A REPAIRMAN JACK NOVEL

Copyright 2010 by F. Paul Wilson

All rights reserved.

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

ISBN 978-0-7653-2282-1

First Edition: October 2010

Printed in the United States of America

0 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Thanks to the usual crew for their efforts: my wife, Mary; David Hartwell, Becky Maines, and Stacy Hague-Hill at the publisher; Steven Spruill; and my agent, Albert Zuckerman.

Special thanks to Christopher Corbetta reader known as Fenian1916 on the repairmanjack.com forumfor the title.

And special thanks to my cyberconsultants: Clint Collins, Ronald P. Crowe, Jr., Scott Garrett, Paul Hewitt, and Jason Tabor.

The penultimate Repairman Jack novel.

As mentioned in the past few books, Im ending the series with number fifteen (though Jack will be a major player in Nightworld).

Ive always said this would be a closed-end series, that I would not run Jack into the ground, that I had a big story to tell and would lower the curtain after telling it.

The end of that story is just around the corner.

Fatal Error picks up in the winter following Ground Zero, and its finale coincides with that of Reprisal. If/when you read Reprisal, youll understand what happened between Glaeken and Rasalom in North Carolina. (See The Secret History of the World at the end of this book for how everything fits together.) As with the last couple of novels, Fatal Error doesnt tie up as neatly as wed all like, but it sets the stage for an ass-kicking finale to the series.

One more Repairman Jack novel remains. Working title: The Dark at the End. Appropriate, I think, considering it ends just before Nightworld begins.

In Nightworld, the Adversary Cycle and Repairman Jack saga will merge and... close. The Secret History concludes with Nightworld. More stories remain to be told, but the timeline stops there.

Hang in there, folks. Its been a long ride, and weve still got a lot of wonder, terror, and tragedy ahead. I promise youll be glad you made the trip.

F. Paul Wilson the Jersey Shore

Munir stood on the curb, facing Fifth Avenue with Central Park behind him. He unzipped his fly and tugged himself free. His reluctant member shriveled at the cold slap of the winter wind, as if shrinking from the sight of all these passing strangers.

At least he hoped they were strangers.

Please let no one who knows me pass by. Or, Allah forbid, a policeman.

He stretched its flabby length and urged his bladder to empty. That was what the madman had demanded of him, so that was what he had to do. Hed drunk two quarts of Gatorade in the past hour to ensure hed be full to bursting, but he couldnt go. His sphincter was clamped shut as tightly as his jaw.

Off to his right the light at the corner turned red and the traffic slowed to a stop. A woman in a cab glanced at him through her window and started when she saw how he was exposing himself. Her lips tightened and she shook her head in disgust as she turned away. He could almost read her mind: A guy in a suit exposing himself on Fifth Avenuethe worlds going to hell even faster than they say.

But it has become hell for me, Munir thought.

He saw her pull out a cell phone and punch in three numbers. That could only mean she was calling 911. But he had to stay and do this.

He closed his eyes to shut out the line of cars idling before him, tried to block out the tapping, scuffing footsteps of the shoppers and strollers on the sidewalk behind him as they hurried to and fro. But a childs voice broke through.

Look, Mommy. Whats that man?

Dont look, honey, said a womans voice. Its just someone whos not right in the head.

Tears became a pressure behind Munirs sealed eyelids. He bit back a sob of humiliation and tried to imagine himself in a private place, in his own bathroom, standing over the toilet. He forced himself to relax, and soon it came. As the warm liquid streamed out of him, the waiting sob burst free, propelled equally by shame and relief.

He did not have to shut off the flow. When he opened his eyes and saw the glistening, steaming puddle before him on the asphalt, saw the drivers and passengers and passersby staring, the stream dried up on its own.

I hope that is enough, he thought. Please let that be enough.

But he was not dealing with a sane man, and he had to please him. Please him or else...

He looked up and saw a young blond woman staring down at him from a third-floor window in a building across the street. Her repulsed expression mirrored his own feelings. Averting his eyes, he zipped up and fled down the sidewalk, all but tripping over his own feet as he ran.