I

Few people could honestly say they knew Jack Williams personally. But within the inner circle of the dot-com world, his name was well known. Both of Jack's parents perished in a terrible car crash. At the time of the accident, Jack was only five years old. Because the authorities could find no living relatives, Jack spent the better part of his youth living as a frightened, lonely orphan, continuously moving from one foster home to another. Despite his early disadvantages, over the next twenty years Jack Williams became one of the richest, most influential businessmen in America. ******************************** For countless eons, the banished angel has known nothing but absolute darkness. The only sounds he hears are the ravings of his own scathing voice. But most frustrating of all is the utter stagnation of his unfathomable, black world. Nothing in it ever changes. Nothing, that is, until the fateful time when he first sees the light. ********************************* After meeting with three of the most respected surgeons in the country, thirty-eight-year-old billionaire Jack Williams realizes that his twenty-year run of good luck has finally run out. Believing that fate has dealt him a certain deathblow, his main concern is how Ann, his wife of only ten months, will react when he tells her the news: he has less than a year to live. ********************************* The length of his confinement had never been cause for concern. An immortal being, the demon's time is infinite. His only fear: he may never manage to escape from his depressing, black abyss. His most fervent desire: to seek out those who had shunned him and take his revenge. ********************************* Frank Berger is shocked and irate. He's just heard the news: his best friend has an inoperable brain tumor. "Screw what those goddamn quack sons of bitches told you! I'm telling you there's no such thing as an impossible situation! There just has to be a way of beating this thing, and I promise you, buddy, I'll leave no stone unturned until I damn well find it!" ********************************* As the demon excitedly slithers his way toward his unexpected but more than welcome visitor, the majestic, pulsating light suddenly disappears. Looking round and round, up and down, he becomes enraged when he sees nothing but utter blackness. But his dismay quickly turns to glee when, only moments later, millions of these arcane, inexplicable lights begin streaking across his impious domain. ********************************* Only days after learning about Jack's inoperable brain tumor, Frank believes he's discovered possibly the only way to save his friend's life. What Frank had no way of knowing is that his ingenious plan to save one man's life will place our planet and every living thing on it at considerable risk. ********************************* The monster does not know how, does not know why, but all the same he strongly senses that these fleeting lights must be the keys to the gateway of his freedom. "Yes, yes, yessssssssss!" the demon screams. If these strange lights can come and go from this dreadful place seemingly at will, is it unreasonable to assume that I should be able do the same?