Mohammed at Mono Lake

Jason blanched. The room was stone silent. A 10? Jason wasn't an expert on magnitudes, but he remembered from undergrad that a magnitude 10 quake would release as much energy as the entire United States consumes in a year, ten million times the energy released by the nuclear bomb test that destroyed the island of Bikini in 1946. It would be devastating. It would make 9/11 and Katrina look petty. It would all but wreck the fourth largest economy in the world, California's, and it wouldn't be much help to the largest. It would also most likely take down the politician intently staring at him from across the room.

Following a major terrorist attack and a Category Five hurricane swamping New Orleans, the third great catastrophe predicted by FEMA-a major earthquake in California-is signaling its arrival. The level of seismic unrest in California is increasing faster than ever before.

Young scientist Jason Burns has a wild, high-risk plan to avert the natural disaster, but the president withdraws his support at the last minute. The real action begins when a renegade federal officer appointed to take control of panic-stricken Los Angeles secretly enlists Burns and his friends to complete their plan. The unlikeliest of heroes, Burns's ultimate solution not only affects California but also has resounding implications for the entire world.