Speakers of the House do have a security detail (chapters 2, 21, 44). Ex-presidents have the same, but they have the option of refusing Secret Service protection. The oath of office quoted at the end of chapter 39 is one every senator repeats. Danny Daniels moving from the presidency to the Senate not only is possible, but actually happened in 1875 when Andrew Johnson was the first to do it (chapter 21).

  This novel is centered on the Smithsonian Institution (not the Smithsonian Institute as it’s sometimes called). It was created after an unknown British chemist, James Smithson, left $500,000 in his will for that purpose. His bequest is even stranger given that Smithson never once visited the United States. It would be seventeen years after Smithson died before Congress finally created the institution. All of the political doubts detailed in the prologue about whether to honor Smithson’s request are real.

  The Smithsonian is governed by a seventeen-member board of regents, appointed as outlined in chapter 10. The chief justice of the United States acts as chancellor (chapter 23). Each museum has its own citizens advisory board that works closely with that museum’s administration. Presently, I serve on the one for the Smithsonian Libraries. The Cullman Library inside the National Museum of Natural History (chapter 15) and the library inside the National Museum of American History, where Martin Thomas worked, are two of those.

  The tunnel beneath the National Mall between the Castle and the natural history museum exists (chapter 16). The only difference is I added a bend in the path. In reality, it’s a straight line for 730 feet. The spiral staircase winding through the north tower of the Smithsonian Castle is there (chapter 19) and its provenance, as detailed, is accurate. I made one change, adding an exit on the second floor, which no longer exists. Owls did in fact once occupy the northwest tower (chapter 19). The Castle’s rotunda is as described (chapter 19), including the enormous gilded case that holds the institution’s ceremonial objects (chapter 23). The key is real (chapter 11), found in the Castle attic in the late 1950s, and subsequently incorporated into the induction ceremony for all incoming secretaries (chapters 19, 23, 25). The original stays on display in the rotunda’s gilded case, with a copy presented to each successive secretary (chapter 25). All of the intrigue surrounding the key was my invention.

  A few other Smithsonian notes: The quote by James Smithson in chapter 13 is from one of his letters. Smithsonite is named for Smithson (chapter 23, 58), and is a relatively useless mineral compound. A small chunk of it, though, adorns my desk. Jefferson Davis served as a Smithsonian regent and later as secretary of war (chapter 25). But there was no 1854 Smithsonian expedition to the American Southwest (chapter 25). The post of Castle curator is real (chapter 11), currently occupied by Richard Stamm, who became a character in the novel.

  Joseph Henry acted as the first Smithsonian secretary from 1846 to 1878. During the Civil War he worked with the navy to evaluate inventions and proposals (prologue) acting, in essence, as Lincoln’s science adviser. His lack of enthusiasm for the Union cause (prologue) is fact, as is his insistence that the Smithsonian remain neutral.

  But he was never disloyal.

  The story about him being arrested and charged as a spy, as told in chapter 62, is probably just that, a story. The account was published in Carl Sandburg’s biography of Abraham Lincoln, about sixty years after Lincoln’s death. Most agree that Sandburg probably embellished the tale, as he provided no source for his version. Lincoln did participate in the experiment as an observer, but he was not with Joseph Henry on the roof of the Castle, as Sandburg related. Instead, he was on the roof of the Soldiers’ Home about four miles northeast of the Castle, while Henry stood on the roof of the Castle’s tower. We know this because two other accounts of the event exist, which are much less colorful and neither as well known nor as oft repeated as Sandburg’s.

  The mistake about Smithson’s age, engraved on his tomb inside the Castle, is real (chapter 60). How Smithson’s bones eventually made it to Washington, DC, is accurately told (chapter 58). The report quoted in chapter 58 on the 1973 opening of Smithson’s tomb is taken nearly verbatim from an actual Smithsonian document. The silk lining did catch on fire and workers extinguished it by filling their mouths with water from a nearby fountain. The opening of the tomb was not without controversy. To this day no one knows exactly why it was done and the explanations given at the time were weak. How Cotton and Rick Stamm reopen the tomb (chapter 62) is exactly how it would be done.

  Today the Smithsonian Institution consists of nineteen world-class museums, a zoo, and nine research centers. At the heart of most of these facilities is a library. By and large, those libraries do not sit out on an exhibit floor. No signage points the way to them. Instead, they are tucked off to the side, out of the way, but working hard every day.

  Like a heart.

  The human heart beats sixty to eighty times a minute. You don’t feel it, or notice it, or really even pay it much attention—until it stops.

  The same is true for the Smithsonian Libraries.

  Its collections are amazing. Over two million books, manuscripts, maps, prints, paintings, research data, and physical artifacts. Anything and everything you could possibly imagine. The subjects are likewise all-encompassing, including aerospace, anthropology, astronomy, astrophysics, art, biology, botany, history, sociology, zoology, and much more. For 2016, nearly $17 million will be spent keeping the doors open, ensuring all of that information remains readily available to researchers, scholars, and the public at large. Nearly 10 percent of that budget has to be raised from individual and corporate contributions. And unlike in the novel, there is no vault of gold waiting to be found.

  Instead, it takes all of us to keep it running.

  For over 170 years the Smithsonian Libraries have proudly supported the mission of the Smithsonian Institution. Once that happened solely from physically visiting one of the libraries. Now the Internet provides constant access. In 2016 there were over than 1 million Web visitors and nearly 17 million Web content downloads.

  That’s a lot of use.

  Right now, as you read these words, amazing things are happening at a Smithsonian library. Each one is truly a world-class place of learning—where people come to both test and expand their ideas—where we can all turn for answers. So the next time you wander through Air and Space, or the American history museum, one of the portrait galleries, the National Zoo, or any of the other museums or research centers, remember—

  At the heart of every one of those is a Smithsonian library.

  To make a contribution or learn more about the Smithsonian Libraries, visit www.library.si.edu.

  ALSO BY STEVE BERRY

  COTTON MALONE NOVELS

  The 14th Colony

  The Patriot Threat

  The Lincoln Myth

  The King’s Deception

  The Jefferson Key

  The Emperor’s Tomb

  The Paris Vendetta

  The Charlemagne Pursuit

  The Venetian Betrayal

  The Alexandria Link

  The Templar Legacy

  STAND-ALONE NOVELS

  The Columbus Affair

  The Third Secret

  The Romanov Prophecy

  The Amber Room

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  STEVE BERRY is the New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author of twelve Cotton Malone novels and four stand-alones. He has 21 million books in print, translated into 40 languages. With his wife, Elizabeth, he is the founder of History Matters, which is dedicated to historical preservation. He serves on the Smithsonian Libraries Advisory Board and was a founding member of International Thriller Writers, formerly serving as its co-president. Visit his Web site at www.steveberry.org, or sign up for email updates here.

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Epigraphs

  Prologue

  Present Day

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Chapter Seventy-Five

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  Chapter Seventy-Seven

  Chapter Seventy-Eight

  Chapter Seventy-Nine

  Chapter Eighty

  Chapter Eighty-One

  Chapter Eighty-Two

  Chapter Eighty-Three

  Chapter Eighty-Four

  Chapter Eighty-Five

  Writer’s Note

  Also by Steve Berry

  About the Author

  Copyright

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

  THE LOST ORDER. Copyright © 2017 by Magellan Billet, Inc. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  Ornament designed by Michael Criscitelli

  www.minotaurbooks.com

  Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rothstein

  Cover illustrations: coin © Tom Hallman; portrait of Jefferson Davis © Bettman Collection / Getty; portrait of Abraham Lincoln by George Peter Alexander Healy, 1869 © Archive Images / Alamy

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Names: Berry, Steve, 1955– author.

  Title: The Lost Order / Steve Berry.

  Description: First Edition.|New York: Minotaur Books, 2017.

  Identifiers: LCCN 2016050194|ISBN 9781250056252 (hardcover)|ISBN 9781466862623 (e-book) ISBN 9781250131416 (signed edition) ISBN 9781250141385 (international edition)

  Subjects: LCSH: Malone, Cotton (Fictitious character)—Fiction.|Political fiction.|BISAC: FICTION / Espionage.|GSAFD: Suspense fiction.|Spy stories.

  Classification: LCC PS3602.E764 L67 2017|DDC 813/.6—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016050194

  e-ISBN 9781466862623

  Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected]

  First Edition: April 2017

 


 

  Steve Berry, The Lost Order_A Novel

 


 

 
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