A blackened stone fireplace provided much of his heat, and there was a small kitchen where he prepared his simple meals. Next to the large window that overlooked the darkened grounds was an old desk stacked with journals filled with his precise handwriting. Looking back at him were dusty shelves crammed with books covering an array of subjects. He looked around the cottage's sparsely furnished interior. Never a day went by that he didn't wonder what might have been. He would have given his life to have seen her, even for a moment, as a young woman. He had no more pictures of her after that.
Then he turned to the photos of his daughter of the baby and toddler she'd been. One by one he looked at the few pictures of the woman who'd been his wife. He hesitated and then lifted the top off. He poured a bit of water from a bottle over his face, letting the cool drops push away the heat-filled pain of his recurrent nightmare.As he got up from the bed, his leg brushed against the old box he kept there. He awoke and sat straight up, the sweat trickling down his cheeks before finally creeping onto his long, bushy beard. As his wife fell, he raced to his little girl's side to shield her. It was the split-second bulge of the pupils that signaled death before one's brain could even register it. Then a second bullet found its target and his wife's eyes widened slightly. A bullet sliced through his wife's wrist, and he heard her scream. The young girl next to her was their daughter. He couldn't see who was shooting, and he had no weapon to return fire. He was running hard, bullets embedding in things all around him. You can read an excerpt of "The Camel Club" below. With the help of a retired Secret Service agent, the Camel Club attempts to stave off a catastrophe that could be the undoing of the United States. After witnessing a murder, the club is thrust from society's fringes into the very core of governmental power. How much power is too much and what could be going on beyond the view of the American public? The book's main character, Oliver Stone - a name chosen by the author out of admiration for movie director Oliver Stone's exploration of conspiracy theories - leads the Camel Club, a group of "members whom society has forgotten." Stone and his crew study current events and speculate about crooked government schemes. 27, 2005 — - Like David Baldacci's other novels - "Absolute Power" and "The Simple Truth" - "The Camel Club" examines the reach of governmental control.
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