Exchange

"The prelude to the Exchange announced itself with a gust of ionized air, a shift that made Sharon Mack's skin tingle. Eleven fifty-eight. Two minutes early by Sharon's watch. Hot sunlight poured from a cloudless sky onto strip-mall parking lots running along both sides of Highway 25 on the outskirts of Rockport, Illinois. Under the supervision of surveyors, a team of hastily drafted civilians stretched the yellow and black warning tape at the boundary of the Exchange Zone--the EZ. A curved line of white stakes stretched left and right--marking the calculated fringe of Bear Country."--Page 4 of cover.