Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Books 7-12 (447 page)
Read Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan Books 7-12 Online
Authors: Tom Clancy
“We are not going to kill you, and we are not going to take you back to America,” he told them. The surprise in their faces was stunning.
“What, then?”
“You think we should all live in harmony with nature, right?”
“If you want the planet to survive, yes,” John Brightling said. His wife’s eyes were filled with hatred and defiance, but also curiosity now.
“Fine.” Clark nodded. “Stand up and get undressed, all of you. Dump your clothes right here.” He pointed at a corner joint in the runway.
“But—”
“Do it!” Clark shouted at them. “Or I will have you shot right here and right now.”
And slowly they did. Some disrobed quickly, some slowly and uncomfortably, but one by one they piled their clothing up in the middle of the runway. Carol Brightling, oddly, wasn’t the least bit modest about the moment.
“Now what?” she asked.
“Okay, here’s the score. You want to live in harmony with nature, then go do it. If you can’t hack it, the nearest city is Manaus, about ninety-eight miles that way—” He pointed, then turned. “Paddy, fire in the hole.”
Without a word, Connolly started flipping switches on his box. The first thing to go was the fuel tank. The twin charges blew a pair of holes in the side of the tank. That ignited the diesel fuel, which blew out of the tank like the exhaust from a rocket, and propelled the tank straight into the power house, less than fifty meters away. There the tank stopped and ruptured, pouring burning #2 diesel fuel over the area.
They couldn’t see the freezer area in the main building go, but here as well, the diesel fuel ignited, ripping out the wall of the freezer unit and then dropping part of the building on the burning wreckage. The other buildings went in turn, along with the satellite dishes. The headquarters-residence building went last, its poured concrete core resisting the damage done by the cratering charges, but after a few seconds of indecision, the core snapped at the ground-floor level and collapsed, bringing the rest of the building down with it. Over a period of less than a minute, everything useful to life here had been destroyed.
“You’re sending us out into the jungle without even a knife?” Hendriksen demanded.
“Find some flint rocks and make one,” Clark suggested, as the Night Hawk landed. “We humans learned how to do that about half a million years ago. You want to be in harmony with nature. Go harmonize,” he told them, as he turned to get aboard. Seconds later, he was strapped into the jump seat behind the pilots, and Colonel Malloy lifted off without circling.
You could always tell, Clark remembered from his time in 3rd SOG. There were those who got out of the Huey and ran into the bush, and there were those who lingered to watch the chopper leave. He’d always been one of the former, because he knew where the job was. Others only worried about getting back, and didn’t want the chopper to leave them behind. Looking down one last time, he saw that all the eyes down there were following the Night Hawk as it headed east.
“Maybe a week, Mr. C?” Ding asked, reading his face. A graduate of the U.S. Army’s Ranger School, he didn’t think that
he
could survive very long in this place.
“If they’re lucky,” Rainbow Six replied.
EPILOGUE
NEWS
The
International Trib
landed on Chavez’s desk after the usual morning exercise routine, and he leaned back comfortably to read it. Life had become boring at Hereford. They still trained and practiced all their skills, but they hadn’t been called away from the base since returning from South America six months earlier.
Gold Mine in the Rockies,
a front-page story started. A place in Montana, the article read, owned by a Russian national, had been found to contain a sizable gold deposit. The place had been bought as a ranch by Dmitriy A. Popov, a Russian entrepreneur, as an investment and vacation site and then he’d made the accidental discovery, the story read. Mining operations would begin in the coming months. Local environmentalists had objected and tried to block the development in court, but the federal district court judge had decided in summary judgment that laws from the 1800s governing mineral exploration and exploitation were the governing legal authority, and tossed the objections out of court.
“You see this?” Ding asked Clark.
“Greedy bastard,” John replied, checking out the latest pictures of his grandson on Chavez’s desk. “Yeah, I read it. He spent half a million to buy the place from the estate of Foster Hunnicutt. I guess the bastard told him more than just what Brightling was planning, eh?”
“I suppose.” Chavez read on. In the business section he learned that Horizon Corporation stock was heading back up with the release of a new drug for heart disease, recovering from the loss in value that had resulted from the disappearance of its chairman, Dr. John Brightling, several months earlier, a mystery that remained to be solved, the business reporter added. The new drug, Kardiklear, had proven to reduce second heart attacks by fully 56 percent in FDA studies. Horizon was also working on human longevity and cancer medications, the article concluded.
“John, has anybody gone back to Brazil to—”
“Not that I know of. Satellite overheads show that nobody’s cutting the grass next to their airport.”
“So, you figure the jungle killed them?”
“Nature isn’t real sentimental, Domingo. She doesn’t distinguish between friends and enemies.”
“I suppose not, Mr. C.” Even terrorists could do that, Chavez thought, but not the jungle. So, who was the real enemy of mankind? Himself, mostly, Ding decided, setting the newspaper down and looking again at the photo of John Conor Chavez, who’d just learned to sit up and smile. His son would grow into the Brave New World, and his father would be one of those who tried to ensure that it would be a safe one—for him and all the other kids whose main tasks were learning to walk and talk.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1 - Echoes of the Boom
CHAPTER 3 - The Problems with Riches
CHAPTER 8 - Underlings and Underthings
CHAPTER 10 - Lessons of the Trade
CHAPTER 11 - Faith of the Fathers
CHAPTER 12 - Conflicts of the Pocket
CHAPTER 13 - Penetration Agent
CHAPTER 16 - The Smelting of Gold
CHAPTER 17 - The Coinage of Gold
CHAPTER 22 - The Table and the Recipe
CHAPTER 26 - Glass Houses and Rocks
CHAPTER 28 - Collision Courses
CHAPTER 30 - And the Rights of Men
CHAPTER 31 - The Protection of Rights
CHAPTER 32 - Coalition Collision
CHAPTER 39 - The Other Question
CHAPTER 40 - Fashion Statements
CHAPTER 44 - The Shape of a New World Order
CHAPTER 45 - Ghosts of Horrors Past
CHAPTER 47 - Outlooks and All-Nighters
CHAPTER 50 - Thunder and Lightning
CHAPTER 54 - Probes and Pushes
CHAPTER 58 - Political Fallout
CHAPTER 60 - Skyrockets in Flight
“Heart-stopping action ... Clancy still reigns
.”
—
The Washington Post
“Nobody can touch his gift for describing combat.”
—
People
THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON
President Jack Ryan faces a world crisis unlike any he has ever known, in Tom Clancy’s extraordinary novel of international suspense....
A high-level assassination attempt in Russia has newly elected Ryan sending his most trusted eyes and ears—including antiterrorism specialist John Clark—to Moscow, for he fears the worst is yet to come. And he’s right. The attempt has left the already unstable Russia vulnerable to ambitious forces in China eager to fulfill their destiny—and change the face of the world as we know it....
“Builds to an excitingly cinematic climax as Ryan toils
to bring the world back from the brink of nuclear war.”
—
Entertainment Weekly
“Megasuspense ... thrilling.”
—The Indianapolis Star
NOVELS BY TOM CLANCY
The Hunt for Red October
Red Storm Rising
Patriot Games
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Clear and Present Danger
The Sum of All Fears
Without Remorse
Debt of Honor
Executive Orders
Rainbow Six
The Bear and the Dragon
Red Rabbit
The Teeth of the Tiger
SSN: Strategies of Submarine Warfare
NONFICTION
Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship
Armored Cav: A Guided Tour of an Armored Cavalry Regiment
Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing
Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit
Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force
Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier
Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Forces
Into the Storm: A Study in Command
(written with General Fred Franks, Jr., Ret., and Tony Koltz)
Every Man a Tiger
(written with General Charles Horner, Ret., and Tony Koltz)
Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces
(written with General Carl Stiner, Ret., and Tony Koltz)
Battle Ready
(written with General Tony Zinni, Ret., and Tony Koltz)
CREATED BY TOM CLANCY
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Checkmate
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Fallout
CREATED BY TOM CLANCY AND STEVE PIECZENIK
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center : Games of State
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center : Acts of War
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Balance of Power
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: State of Siege
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Divide and Conquer
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Line of Control
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mission of Honor
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center : Sea of Fire
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center : Call to Treason
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: War of Eagles