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CONTENTS Cover Title Copyright Dedication Also by James Patterson To the reader Part 1 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 Part 2 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 Part 3 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 Part 4 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 Epilogue The Other Epilogue This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781409069812 www.randomhouse.co.uk Published by Century, 2010 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 Copyright © James Patterson, 2010 James Patterson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work This novel is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser First published in Great Britain in 2010 by Century Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA www.randomhouse.co.uk Addresses for companies within The Random House Group Limited can be found at: www.randomhouse.co.uk/offices.htm The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Hardback ISBN 9781846054648 Trade paperback ISBN 9781846054655 The Random House Group Limited supports The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the leading international forest certification organisation. All our titles that are printed on Greenpeace approved FSC certified paper carry the FSC logo. Our paper procurement policy can be found at: www.rbooks.co.uk/environment Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Mackays, Chatham, ME5 8TD Many thanks to Gabrielle Charbonnet, my conspirator, who flies high and cracks wise. And to Mary Jordan, for brave assistance and research at every twist and turn. Also by James Pat terson ALEX CROSS NOVELS Kiss the Girls Along Came a Spider Cat and Mouse Pop Goes the Weasel Roses are Red Violets are Blue Four Blind Mice The Big Bad Wolf London Bridges Mary, Mary Cross Double Cross Cross Country Alex Cross’s Trial (with Richard DiLallo) I, Alex Cross DETECTIVE MICHAEL BENNETT SERI ES Step on a Crack (with Michael Ledwidge) Run for Your Life (with Michael Ledwidge) Worst Case (with Michael Ledwidge) PRIVATE SERIES Private (with Maxine Paetro, to be published May 2010) STAND-ALONE THRILLERS Sail (with Howard Roughan) Swimsuit (with Maxine Paetro) Don’t Blink (with Howard Roughan, to be published August 2010) NON - FICTION Torn Apart (with Hal and Cory Friedman) The Murder of King Tut (with Martin Dugard) ROMANCE Sundays at Tiffany’s (with Gabrielle Charbonnet) THE WOMEN’S MURDER CLUB SERIES 1st to Die 2nd Chance (with Andrew Gross) 3rd Degree (with Andrew Gross) 4th of July (with Maxine Paetro) The 5th Horseman (with Maxine Paetro) The 6th Target (with Maxine Paetro) 7th Heaven (with Maxine Paetro) 8th Confession (with Maxine Paetro) 9th Judgment (with Maxine Paetro, to be published April 2010) FAMILY OF PAGE - TURNERS MAXIMUM RIDE SERIES The Angel Experiment School’s Out Forever Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports The Final Warning Max MAXIMUM RIDE MANGA Manga Volume 1 (with NaRae Lee) Manga Volume 2 (with NaRae Lee) Manga Volume 3 (with NaRae Lee, to be published July 2010) DANIEL X SERIES The Dangerous Days of Daniel X (with Michael Ledwidge) Daniel X: Alien Hunter Graphic Novel (with Leopoldo Gout) Daniel X: Watch the Skies (with Ned Rust) Daniel X: Demons and Druids (with Adam Sadler, to be published July 2010) WITCH & WIZARD SERIES Witch & Wizard (with Gabrielle Charbonnet) For more information about James Patterson’s novels, visit www.jamespatterson.co.uk To the reader THE IDEA FOR the Maximum Ride series comes from earlier books of mine called When the Wind Blows and The Lake House, which also feature a character named Max who escapes from a quite despicable School. Most of the similarities end there. Max and the other kids in the Maximum Ride books are not the same Max and kids featured in those two books. Nor do Frannie and Kit play any part in the series. I hope you enjoy the ride anyway. “Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth.” — Henry David Thoreau PART ONE MEETING DOCTOR GOD 1 I’M A GIRL OF EXTREMES. When I love something, I’m like a puppy dog (without all the licking). When I’m cranky, I’m a wasp (like, a whole hive of ‘em). And when I’m angry, I’m a mother bear with a predator after her cubs: dangerous. I say this because lately my life seemed to be all about extremes. Like right now, for instance. I was soaring twenty thousand feet in the air with the five people I loved most in the world — and no, we weren’t on a plane, hang-gliding, or hot air ballooning. We preferred to use good old-fashioned wings. The technology’s been around for eons. If you’ve ever dreamed you could fly, I can confirm that it’s all that and better. Even if you’re desperately flying through a subway tunnel to save your life, it’s still off the charts. But today, flying over Africa … it was as good as it ever gets. Maybe the best part was that for the first time in a dog’s age, we weren’t on the run from madmen. We were on a mission — to do good. “Max!” Iggy called over to me. “Why did they name themselves Chad? I mean, Chad. It’s like naming a whole country Biff or Trey. I don’t get it.” “Ig, don’t be ignorant,” I scoffed. “It’s not like all the people there named themselves.” “Why not? We named ourselves,” Nudge noted, as if I needed to be reminded that we were raised in a lab under the supervision of science geeks. “Only ’cause we’re special.” I gestured to her twelve-foot wingspan. “Hey, check that out!” I pointed to a Martianlike rock formation in the distance. Fang turned his head and gave me one of his classic half smiles — you know, like the kind of smile Mona Lisa would have had if she were a guy. A teenage guy with longish scruffy hair, dark eyes, and a leather jacket. Mmmmm. The whole trip had been as exhilarating as one of Fang’s killer smiles. Even the hundreds of miles of shifting, mysterious desert dunes had been amazing. We’re world travelers and all — we’ve lived in wilds as extreme as Death Valley and Antarctica — but there was something downright otherworldly about what I’d seen below as we crossed over — oh, crap, I’d forgotten the names of all of the different countries. “Mauritania, Algeria, Mali, Niger, and Chad together are about sixty-eight percent desert,” Angel recited, reading my mind. Literally. She’s powerful like that. “Whatever. It’s too much freaking desert,” Angel’s brother, Gazzy, complained. “I wouldn’t mind seeing a few cows chomping away on some grass right about now.” “A-plus-plus on the geography quiz, Angel. Gazzy, Iggy, extra credit when you check your attitudes at the door.” Even without parents, somehow I’d picked up the language. Seems to work when you’re the leader. “Listen, I know some of you are a little cranky from the long flight, but this is our chance to finally help people. Real people,” I emphasized, as if we’d grown up in a plastic bubble or something. Well, we kind of had. Do dog crates in labs count? “Real people,” Fang clarified. “As in, not just a bunch of wack-job scientists.” “Yup. Did it ever occur to you guys,” I continued grandly, “that when we were told we had to save the world, it might have actually meant saving people — like, one at a time? Sending a message around the world about people in need is great and all, but actually feeding people, giving people medical help and stuff? We’ve never done that before.

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