Semua Bab Elding: Bab 1 - Bab 6

When you’re struck by lightning, the joules of energy that run through your body can be lethal. With a direct lightning strike, your body becomes part of the main lightning discharge channel. One portion of the current moves along just over the skin, known as a flashover, whereas another portion of the current moves through your body, inflicting unspeakable damage, and sometimes death.The heat emitted by lightning is 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit. That is five times hotter than the surface of the sun and, with a direct hit, you suffer heart asystole and respiratory arrest. Both happened to me. My heart stopped for five minutes and I was jolted back to life by the paramedics.When I got struck by lightning, something else happened;while it didn’t hurt at all, it did leave a permanent Lichtenburg figure on me, which never went away. I was a medical mystery. It also awakened something in me that was beyond anyone’s imagination, including my own.My name is Alex Jennings and I was 17 when

I had never been confident or cocky, or even really funny, but my personality changed the day I died, and I wasn’t afraid of anything anymore. I had a purpose and I would complete it, it was as easy as that. The gun and silencer had been a gift. So was the knife I carried on the inside of my boot. The biggest and most expensive gift I had received was my Kawasaki Ninja H2.As I thought more about what I wanted to do, another thought occurred to me … somehow, I had to make money while doing this. So from that point on, after I had eliminated my targets, I also stole all their money, rerouting it through five different banks, and into an offshore account.My mother was a doctor and she worked long hours. Sometimes I wouldn’t see her for two days in a row. When that happened, I would stop at the hospital, and sometimes, if I was lucky enough to catch her in a non-busy moment, we’d have dinner or lunch in the cafeteria, and other days, when she was busy with patients, I’d leave a message

Levi kept his word and so did I. I kept my grades up and I followed his exercise plan which was rigorous. I started jogging ten miles a day. He sent me self-defense videos, videos on assembling firearms, and reading material on psychology.He sent me studies on gunshot residue, fingerprints, and behavioral studies that the FBI used. I had no idea how he’d gotten his hands on that, but I studied it like my life depended on it. Levi pushed me hard but I pushed myself harder.When he was in Boulder, we would go deep into the woods and he would teach me how to fight, how to handle a knife, and he taught me how to shoot. I was a fast learner and I did him one better. I jogged twelve miles a day and I spent about four hours a day practicing alone. He brought me a wooden dummy on one of his visits and after three months, I broke the first one.For my eighteenth birthday, Levi visited us in Boulder and he brought his daughter, Tala, with him. He spoke of her often and by the time I met her, i