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Home , Clear and present danger, Command Authority, Dead or Alive (novel), Debt of Honor, Full Force and Effect, Grant Blackwood

Thirty years ago, was a insurance broker with a passion for naval history. Years before, he had been an English major at ’s Loyola College and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His first effort, , sold briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it “the perfect yarn.” From that day forward, Clancy established himself as an undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and razor-sharp suspense. He passed away in October 2013.

Mike Maden grew up working in the canneries, feed mills, and slaughterhouses of California’s San Joaquin Valley. A lifelong fascination with history and warfare ultimately led to a Ph.D. in political science, focused on conflict and technology in international relations. Like millions of others, he first became a Tom Clancy fan after reading The Hunt for Red October; he began his published fiction career in the same techno-thriller genre with Drone and continued with the sequels, Blue Warrior, Drone Command, and Drone Threat. Maden is honored to be “joining The Campus” as a writer in Tom Clancy’s , Jr., series. 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 TOM CLANCY 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 S30 N31

9780735215924_LineOfSight_TX.indd i 3/14/18 12:03 AM ALSO BY TOM CLANCY 01 FICTION 02 The Hunt for Red October 03 Red Storm Rising 04 The Cardinal of the Kremlin 05 06 07 08 09 The Bear and the Dragon 10 11 (with ) 12 Against All Enemies (with Peter Telep) (with ) 13 (with Mark Greaney) 14 (with Mark Greaney) Tom Clancy (by Mark Greaney) 15 Tom Clancy (by Mark Greaney) 16 Tom Clancy Under Fire (by Grant Blackwood) Tom Clancy Commander in Chief (by Mark Greaney) 17 Tom Clancy (by Grant Blackwood) 18 Tom Clancy True Faith and Allegiance (by Mark Greaney) Tom Clancy (by ) 19 Tom Clancy Power and (by ) 20

NONFICTION 21 22 : A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship Armored Cav: A Guided Tour Inside an Armored Cavalry Regiment 23 Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing 24 : A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force 25 Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier 26 Into the Storm: A Study in Command 27 with General Fred Franks, Jr. (Ret.) and Tony Koltz 28 Every Man a Tiger: The Air Campaign with General Chuck Horner (Ret.) and Tony Koltz 29 Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces S30 with General Carl Stiner (Ret.) and Tony Koltz N31 Battle Ready with General Tony Zinni (Ret.) and Tony Koltz

9780735215924_LineOfSight_TX.indd ii 3/14/18 12:03 AM 9780735215924_LineOfSight_TX.indd iii 3/14/18 12:03 AM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 TOM CLANCY 10 11 12 13 14 15 MIKE MADEN 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS 23 NEW YORK 24 25 26 27 28 29 S30 N31

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08 G. P. Putnam’s Sons Publishers Since 1838 09 An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC 10 375 Hudson Street New York, New York 10014 11 12 13 Copyright © 2018 by The Estate of Thomas L. Clancy, Jr.; Rubicon, Inc.; Jack Ryan Enterprises, Ltd.; and Jack Ryan Limited Partnership 14 Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages 15 diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for 16 complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are 17 supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books 18 for every reader.

19 Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data 20 [Insert CIP TK] 21 Printed in the of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 22 23 book design by amanda dewey

24 This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents 25 either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, 26 businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. 27 28 29 30S 31N

9780735215924_LineOfSight_TX.indd vi 3/14/18 12:03 AM 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 today is a powder keg and the leaders are like men 10 smoking in an ­arsenal. . . . A single spark will set off an explo‑ 11 sion that will consume us all. I cannot tell you when that 12 explosion will occur, but I can tell you where. Some damned 13 foolish thing in the will set it off. 14 — a​­ t t r i b u t e d t o o t t o v o n b i s m a r c k 15 a t t h e c o n g r e s s o f b e r l i n , 1878 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 S30 N31

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UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 14 15 Jack Ryan: President of the United States 16 Scott Adler: Secretary of state 17 Mary Pat Foley: Director of national intelligence 18 Robert Burgess: Secretary of defense 19 Jay Canfield: Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 20 Arnold Van Damm: President Ryan’s chief of staff 21 22 23 T H E C A M P U S 24 Gerry Hendley: Director of The Campus and Hendley 25 Associates 26 John Clark: Director of operations 27 Dominic “Dom” Caruso: Operations officer 28 Jack Ryan, Jr.: Operations officer / senior analyst 29 Gavin Biery: Director of information technology S30 Adara Sherman: Operations officer N31

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01 Bartosz “Midas” Jankowski: Operations officer 02 Lisanne Robertson: Director of transportation 03 04 OTHER CHARACTERS 05 06 Dr. Cathy Ryan: First Lady of the United States 07 Kemal Topal: Turkish ambassador, 08 T a r i k B r k i c´ : Commander, Al‑Qaeda in the Balkans 09 Shafiq Walib: Captain, Syrian Arab Army 10 Aslan Dzhabrailov: Lieutenant, ground forces of the Russian 11 Federation 12 A i d a C u r i c´ : Owner, Happy Times! Balkan Tours 13 E m i r J u k i c´ : Happy Times! chief operating officer and tour guide 14 Dragan Kolak: Officer, ­Intelligence-​­Security Agency 15 (­OSA-​­OBA), Bosnia and Herzegovina 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30S 31N

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9780735215924_LineOfSight_TX.indd xii 3/14/18 12:03 AM 01 02 03 04 05 1 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 SEVEN CORNERS, VIRGINIA 15 r. Guzman rubbed her tired eyes. She became a doctor to 16 heal the sick, not to file endless reports. But here she was, 17 Dtyping away after hours. 18 Again. 19 No matter. It was the price she paid to run the free clinic for 20 the poorest of the poor in the area, mostly immigrants. 21 She checked her watch. The delivery was late. As soon as it 22 arrived, she’d finish up this last budget report and head home 23 for some needed ­shut-​­eye. 24 A noise in the back room startled her. She glanced up from 25 her laptop, listening. 26 Nothing. 27 Probably just the rats again, she told herself. Gross. 28 She made a mental note to pick up some more traps at 29 Lowe’s tomorrow on her way in. S30 She settled back down into her spreadsheet, her bleary eyes N31

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01 focused on the empty columns she still needed to fill with 02 numbers. Her fingers froze. 03 She smelled the acrid tang of sweat and dope before she felt 04 the blade against her throat. 05 The man stood behind her. Grabbed a fistful of her hair. 06 “The drugs are in the safe. I can’t open it,” she said in Span‑ 07 ish, her first language. 08 The voice behind her laughed. “Don’t want the drugs, bitch,” 09 he said in English. “We gonna party.” 10 Guzman whispered a prayer and cursed her stupidity. She’d 11 left the back door unlocked for the delivery. That meant no 12 alarm. That’s how he got in. 13 And with no alarm, no help was on the way. 14 The man grabbed her shoulder and spun the chair around. 15 He stood over her, flashing a gold tooth in a ­nicotine-​­stained 16 smile. His bare, ropey arms were slathered in tattoos, but it 17 was his shaved skull that shocked her. His entire head, from the 18 neckline up, was a tangle of blue ink, with ms splashed across 19 his throat and 13 emblazoned on his forehead. 20 She recognized him. He had come in last week, a wreck. 21 Hep C and gonorrhea. He gave a name—­ ​­Lopez—​­but no ID. 22 She assumed it was fake. Didn’t matter. He was sick, she was a 23 doctor. She treated him. Even if he did give her the chills. 24 But now? 25 “You don’t have to do this,” she said, steeling her voice. 26 “Don’t have to. Want to.” He smiled. He stepped closer, 27 thrusting his belt buckle close to her face. He laid the blade flat 28 against her cheek. “So do you. If you want to live.” 29 “Not like that.” 30S A soft whistle from behind. 31N

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The gangbanger whipped around, pulling a chrome Ruger 01 .357 out from beneath his shirt. Fast. A real gunslinger. 02 But a larger hand was faster. It grabbed the ­four-​­inch barrel 03 and yanked it up toward the ceiling, then outward and away. 04 Fast, but not fast enough. 05 Tendons snapped in the banger’s wrist, but his index finger 06 smashed against the cocked trigger. A magnum round fired 07 with a deafening roar into a ceiling tile, superheating the barrel 08 in the big man’s right hand. He didn’t let go. 09 The big man’s left hand crashed into the banger’s jaw, buck‑ 10 ling his knees. He crumbled to the floor, out cold. 11 It had all happened in a flash. 12 Dr. Guzman didn’t have time to scream, let alone help. She 13 stared ­wide-​­eyed at the man standing in front of her now. Six­ -​ 14 ­one, one hundred and ninety pounds of lean muscle. Black hair, 15 blue eyes. 16 Still in shock, all she could manage, was, “Who are you?” 17 The man tucked the Ruger into his waistband. 18 “My sister Sally sent me. With those.” He pointed at a back‑ 19 pack on the floor a few feet away, where he had set them down. 20 “Antibiotics. Said you were running short.” 21 “Dr. Sally Ryan?” 22 “Yeah.” 23 “Then you must be Jack Ryan.” 24 He shrugged and smiled. 25 “Junior.” 26 27 28 29 S30 N31

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9780735215924_LineOfSight_TX.indd 2 3/14/18 12:03 AM 9780735215924_LineOfSight_TX.indd 3 3/14/18 12:03 AM 01 02 03 04 05 06 2 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 IDLIB, 15 16 he Syrian fighter stood on the roof of the apartment build‑ 17 ing, shielding his aging eyes from the western sun as he 18 Twatched the children playing in the street seven floors be‑ 19 low. They sweated and laughed in the long shadows of the fad‑ 20 ing light, swarming after the ball like bees chasing a dog, 21 ignoring the calls of their anxious mothers to come in and clean 22 up. He smiled. 23 Kids everywhere, the same. 24 The truce was a mercy. “Thanks be to God,” he whispered 25 to himself. He checked his watch, a nervous habit. By the fad‑ 26 ing light he knew the muezzin’s voice would ring out over the 27 loudspeakers, calling for the maghrib. 28 He had raged when his battalion commander, an Iraqi, first 29 announced the truce with that butcher Assad and his paymas‑ 30S ters, the godless Russians. But the last nine weeks had given 31N them time to rest and regroup with smuggled weapons, food,

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fuel, cash. Now they were ready for anything up close, and 01 their Stinger missiles kept the dreaded Russian jets and heli‑ 02 copters out of the skies. The senior Al‑Nusra commanders 03 were all stationed here; even the emir was living in Idlib, just 04 three blocks away. This was the safest place in Syria, as long as 05 the truce lasted. 06 The war seemed far away now. A distant, painful memory. 07 So much blood. And for what? Life was better than death, was 08 it not? 09 He craved a cigarette, even after all these years, but ciga‑ 10 rettes were haram, and men in his unit had been executed for 11 smoking them. But perhaps a strong coffee after maghrib, he 12 thought, his eyes tracking the ­black-​­clad women scurrying 13 into the street, clapping their hands and shouting, trying to 14 herd the laughing children back to their homes. 15 The adhan began, a strong voice calling the faithful. Its fa‑ 16 miliar words warmed his soul. The mosque would be full 17 tonight. 18 He picked up his rifle and headed for the stairs. Perhaps the 19 war was indeed over and these children would finally know 20 peace. 21 Thanks be to God. 22 23 24 NINE MILES SOUTH OF IDLIB 25 A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Captain Walib’s face 26 despite the A/​C unit blasting overhead. The Syrian captain 27 stared at the monitor in front of him, his right hand poised near 28 the master launch button. 29 The monitor verified the ready state of the ­fire-​­control com‑ S30 puters on the six TOS‑2 Starfire launch vehicles stationed N31

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01 nearby, each composed of a seventy­ -​­tube box missile launcher 02 fixed on a heavily armored T‑14 Armata chassis, and all 03 linked to his command console. 04 He and Major Grechko sat at their stations inside the 05 cramped BMP‑3K armored personnel fighting vehicle, Walib’s 06 mobile command post. Technically, the Russian major was 07 only an adviser on today’s operation. But in reality Grechko 08 was evaluating Walib’s combat command capabilities along 09 with the new TOS‑2 Starfire system. 10 Walib stole a quick glance at Lieutenant Aslan Dzhabrailov 11 sitting near the doorway. The young, broad­ -​­shouldered Chechen 12 was the platoon leader of the commandos guarding his unit. 13 There was a fierce intelligence in the man’s pale gray eyes and a 14 ­well-​­used ­ten-​­millimeter Glock on his hip. The Chechens were 15 savage, brutal fighters—­ ​­a breed apart, the best in the war, at 16 least on his side. Dzhabrailov was a man to be feared. 17 The major checked the GLONASS receiver—­ ​­the Russian 18 version of ­GPS—​­one last time, along with the laser guidance 19 beam. “Targeting confirmed. Free to fire, Captain.” 20 Walib smoothed his mustache with his thumb and forefin‑ 21 ger, hesitating. 22 “Something wrong, Captain?” Grechko asked. 23 Walib was a Syrian patriot. He had no problem killing ter‑ 24 rorists, especially foreign ones. The Syrian “civil war” was 25 fought by everyone but Syrians these days. But they were all 26 just proxies for and Russians, who happily sac‑ 27 rificed the Syrian people on the altar of their superpower 28 ambitions. 29 He hated them all, especially today. 30S “There are no civilians in Idlib, Captain,” Grechko said. 31N “Only Al‑Nusra bandits, the women who breed them, and the

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children who become either bandits or breeders. This is a war 01 of demographics. We must fight accordingly.” 02 This wasn’t the war Walib had volunteered to fight. He 03 never imagined the terrible weapons under his command 04 would be used to slaughter innocents. 05 But if he disobeyed Grechko’s order, the Russian would pull 06 his ­nine-​­millimeter Grach pistol out of its holster and splatter 07 his brains against the BMP’s steel hull, and simply order one of 08 Walib’s lieutenants in the other vehicles to fire. 09 Nothing would be accomplished except that Walib would 10 be dead in exchange for a few minutes of respite for the doomed 11 civilians. 12 He hated himself. He hated this war. 13 But he hated dying needlessly even more. 14 “Just checking the spin on the ­number-​­eleven gyro,” Walib 15 said. A convenient lie. “Good to go.” 16 “Then you’re free to launch. Proceed at once.” Grechko’s 17 drooping bulldog eyes narrowed. 18 “Yes, sir.” Walib flipped the safety cap on the launch button 19 and jabbed it before he could change his mind. 20 Instantly, the French­ -​­designed, solid­ -​­fuel motors on the 122­ -​ 21 ­millimeter rockets fired. The roar was terrifying, like the shout 22 of God himself, even inside the idling command vehicle.­ Each 23 half second, another ­nine-​­and‑a‑­half-​­foot-​­long missile screamed 24 out of its tube. A full­ -​­throated chorus of death. 25 ­Thirty-​­five seconds later, all 420 missiles had launched, 26 lofting nearly fifteen tons of thermobaric munitions into the 27 air. The TOS‑2 master fire­ -​­control computer coordinated the 28 launch timing and trajectories so that all of the warheads ar‑ 29 rived on target simultaneously, avoiding warhead fratricide and S30 increasing the explosive effects. N31

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01 Grechko stared greedily at his monitor displaying a live 02 video feed from the Israeli­ -​­designed Forpost‑M aerial drone 03 circling high over Idlib, which also provided the laser guidance 04 beam for the missiles. 05 “Any second now,” Grechko said, grinning. “Time to burn 06 out those cockroaches.” 07 But Walib didn’t want to see it. He was already outside, 08 barking orders to his men, who were scrambling to prep for 09 rapid “shoot and scoot” redeployment, the only defense against 10 ­counter-​­battery fire, real or imagined. 11 Walib marched through the billowing clouds of exhaust and 12 debris still swirling in the air, rage and shame welling in his 13 eyes. 14 Lieutenant Dzhabrailov stood outside the command vehi‑ 15 cle, studying the Syrian captain with keen interest. 16 17 IDLIB, SYRIA 18 19 The laser­ -​­guided TOS‑2 Starfire rockets struck inside a kill 20 box two hundred eighty meters ­square—​­about eight densely 21 populated city blocks. A much tighter pattern was possible 22 with the new guidance system, but it would have resulted in 23 far fewer casualties. 24 The cascade of crashing warheads released clouds of com‑ 25 bustible fuel mixed with finely powdered aluminum, PETN 26 ­high-​­explosive, and ethylene oxide gas into the open streets. 27 The incendiary clouds also penetrated through the cracks and 28 crevices of nearly every mosque, apartment building, and shop 29 in the eight­ -​­block area. Basements, attics, kitchens, toilets, and 30S bedrooms filled with the toxic mixture in nanoseconds, leav‑ 31N ing nowhere to hide.

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Timed scatter charges of conventional explosives within the 01 warheads detonated next, igniting the explosive fog into a blaz‑ 02 ing plasma cloud. The few people standing outside and nearest 03 to the points of impact were instantly incinerated. 04 They were the lucky ones. 05 The shock wave produced by the explosion caused the first 06 surge of destruction, producing thousands of pounds of pres‑ 07 sure per square ­inch—​­enough to crush the hull of a World War 08 II submarine. Those who weren’t initially killed by the striking 09 force of the overpressure waves suffered terribly. Limbs were 10 torn away or broken; alveoli and bronchioles ruptured in the 11 lungs; emboli formed in coronary and cerebral arteries; bowels 12 perforated; inner ear structures were crushed; eyes were ripped 13 from their sockets. 14 The crushing force of the expanding overpressure waves 15 smashed walls, broke windows, shattered doors. The city itself 16 became a form of shrapnel, hurling shards of burning brick, 17 glass, wood, and iron through the fiery winds, lacerating soft 18 tissues and exposed flesh. 19 Yet this still wasn’t the worst of it. 20 The powdered aluminum in the expanding plasma cloud 21 slowed its burn rate, resulting in the total consumption of the 22 atmospheric oxygen. This created both a massive vacuum and 23 a fireball of nearly 3,000 degrees Celsius—­ ​­twice the melting 24 point of steel. But it was the vacuum that caused the most 25 destruction. 26 The buildings and other structures still standing held no 27 protections against the fast­ -​­forming negative pressure, equal to 28 its opposite in energy and violence, generating fiery, hurricane­ -​ 29 ­force winds. Shrieking survivors were crushed beneath tons of S30 crumbling debris, buried alive in basements, crucified beneath N31

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01 falling rafters and collapsing floors. Anyone still alive in the 02 rubble spent their last few minutes suffocating to death, gasp‑ 03 ing like carp for oxygen that no longer existed. 04 There were no more laughing children in the streets. 05 The last of the thermobaric munitions burned out just as 06 the explosions of gas mains, petrol , and other urban 07 flammables began, stoking the burning rubble and the ­still-​ 08 ­living bodies beneath into an inferno of unquenchable fire. 09 Within seconds, thousands had died, and thousands more 10 suffered. Within a few hours, many of the wounded survivors 11 would perish as well. 12 It was the explosive equivalent of a tactical nuclear device, 13 but entirely conventional, and perfectly legal, according to in‑ 14 ternational treaties. 15 It was also Hell on Earth. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30S 31N

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9780735215924_LineOfSight_TX.indd 10 3/14/18 12:03 AM 01 02 03 04 05 3 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 THE WASHINGTON, D.C. 15 ack Ryan, Jr., spooned up the last of the Burgundy beef stew, 16 earthy and rich, scraping the bowl as he fished out the last 17 Jpiece of savory meat. 18 “More, son?” Dr. Cathy Ryan asked. 19 “Always, but two helpings are enough,” Jack Junior said. 20 This was his favorite meal, and his mother made it better than 21 anybody. It was just Jack and his parents ­tonight—​­the twins 22 were on an ecological field trip to the Virginia wetlands for the 23 next three days and his older sister was on ER duty at the hos‑ 24 pital, so she couldn’t join them. 25 Jack and his parents were seated at the round table in the 26 first family’s private dining room, formerly known as the Prince 27 of Wales guest room before Jacqueline Kennedy converted it to 28 its current function for her own young family. Cathy Ryan re‑ 29 decorated it in a transitional Craftsman style, favoring the S30 N31

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01 clean lines and sturdy functionality of an original American art 02 form. 03 “I hope you saved room for the apple pie,” she said, standing. 04 “Are you kidding me?” Jack said. His mother’s apple pie was 05 his all­ -​­time favorite dessert. His suspicions grew. “What’s the 06 occasion?” 07 “Does a mother need a special reason to cook for her son?” 08 she said. 09 “When a mother is as busy as you are, yes, she does need a 10 special reason.” 11 “I haven’t had a chance to see you in forever, and I know 12 you’re off to Europe in a few days. I knew the only way I could 13 get you over here was to bribe you with a ­home-​­cooked meal. 14 Besides, it’s something I love to do.” She glanced at her hus‑ 15 band, a pair of reading glasses perched on the end of his nose, 16 his mind buried in a file folder on the dining room table. “Isn’t 17 that right, honey?” 18 Senior grunted. “What? Yeah. Dinner was great.” 19 Cathy ­fake-​­frowned. “Hey, Bub. What’s more interesting 20 than us?” 21 Senior kept staring at the file. “I’d tell you, but you don’t 22 have the clearance.” 23 Cathy Ryan leapt out of her chair and plopped into her hus‑ 24 band’s lap, wrapping her arms around his neck. She leaned in 25 close to his ear, whispering heavily. “Vee hav vays of making 26 you talk, Mr. President.” 27 Senior laughed, shut his file, and pulled off his glasses, 28 wrapping his arms around his wife’s slender waist. The two 29 exchanged a glance. He whispered in her ear. She giggled and 30S swatted him. A lot of years, a lot of love. They were as steady 31N and solid as the Stickley oak table they all sat around.

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Junior watched them canoodling like a pair of frisky teenag‑ 01 ers. The most famous power couple in the world. His father 02 was arguably the greatest president of his generation, exercis‑ 03 ing selfless leadership on behalf of the national interest through 04 every crisis in a town notorious for ruthless, self­ -​­aggrandizing 05 ambition. His mother was a brilliant physician in her own right, 06 and bore the responsibilities of being First Lady with dignity 07 and grace. She was his father’s rock. 08 But to Jack, they were just Mom and Dad. 09 He felt like a little kid again sitting around the familiar ta‑ 10 ble, but in a good way. Hard as they worked, family always 11 came first for them. Whatever strength or honor or virtue he 12 possessed, Jack knew, he got it from these two. He envied 13 them. He and Yuki had to put a hold on their budding ro‑ 14 mance; their schedules and careers were both too demanding, 15 and Skype just wasn’t cutting it. It was becoming a painfully 16 familiar pattern in his personal life. He already felt the void of 17 Yuki’s absence, brief though their affair had been. His mother 18 and father were married by the time they were Jack’s age. Hell, 19 John Clark, the eternal warrior, was married and had been for 20 many years, and one of his daughters was married to Ding. 21 Even Jack’s cousin Dom and Adara were together. Nobody on 22 The Campus seemed to suffer ­performance-​­wise by being in a 23 stable relationship. 24 So what was wrong with him? 25 All three Ryans stood and cleared the table, hauling the 26 dishes to the kitchen. Senior made a pot of decaf coffee while 27 Cathy served up the pie and Jack fetched the ­vanilla-​­bean ice 28 cream out of the freezer. It was a small kitchen but perfectly 29 adequate for the First Family on the few occasions they cooked S30 for themselves. With some of the finest chefs in the country N31

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01 available around the clock, and the two senior Ryans working 02 more than ­full-​­time jobs, cooking at home was a rare luxury. 03 Ten minutes later, Junior scraped up the last piece of Granny 04 Smith apple from his plate and forked it into his mouth, savor‑ 05 ing the sweet and tangy bite—­ ​­just the way he remembered it. 06 “I wish you’d shave that awful beard,” his mother said. “I 07 miss your face.” 08 “Just keeping it real,” Jack said. He didn’t tell her that he 09 changed his looks just to keep people guessing. He was, after 10 all, the son of these two famous people, and because they had 11 worked hard to keep their kids out of the limelight, he wasn’t 12 nearly as well known as some might think. 13 But he wasn’t completely anonymous, either, so he took the 14 extra step every six months or so to comb his hair in another 15 direction or grow it out long, or let a beard or mustache do the 16 camouflage work. Sometimes he even wore contacts to change 17 the color of his eyes. 18 After the last ragged op, he thought about going for the 19 ­clean-​­cut look of a stockbroker, which he sort of was. But no 20 facial hair made him feel a little exposed, even if it was some‑ 21 times safest to hide in plain sight. He decided to keep the 22 beard, but trimmed it close. 23 Senior’s attention was buried back in his classified file folder. 24 “Another piece of pie?” Cathy asked her son. 25 “No, thanks. I’m stuffed.” Junior smiled. “It was perfect. 26 Thank you.” He sipped the last of his coffee and set his cup 27 down. “Well, I need to get going. Got a plane to catch to­ 28 morrow.” 29 “You’re off to the former Yugoslavia, right?” Cathy asked. 30S “ first, then to Ljubljana, Slovenia.” 31N

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“I’ve heard it’s beautiful over there.” 01 “It’s on the southern border of Austria, near the Adriatic 02 coast. You get the Alps and the ocean for one low price.” 03 “Send pictures, for sure. I’m curious, though. What finan‑ 04 cial interest does Hendley Associates have over there?” 05 Senior again glanced up over the glasses perched on his 06 nose. His wife didn’t know about The ­Campus—​­the “black 07 side” special ops team that Jack also served with. All she knew 08 was that Jack was an analyst with the “white side” financial 09 firm, Hendley Associates, which funded The Campus special 10 operations through its highly successful investments and fidu‑ 11 ciary services. 12 “There’s a company over there that wants to offer an IPO on 13 the NASDAQ, and they hired us to do the preliminary 14 financials.” 15 “­Sounds . . . boring,” Cathy said. 16 “Numbers tell a story, if you know how to read them,” Se‑ 17 nior offered. He looked at Jack. “Financial analysis has its own 18 particular rewards in that regard . . .­ and risks.” 19 Junior smiled at the double entendre. Gerry Hendley was in 20 charge of the personnel decisions, and he didn’t always inform 21 the President when his son was deployed on a dangerous op. 22 Neither did Jack. 23 “The only risk in Slovenia, from what I hear, is eating too 24 much cream cake.” 25 Jack’s father smiled. “Good to know.” He returned to his 26 reading. 27 Only a handful of people knew that it was the President’s 28 idea to create the firm, or that it was his friend and former 29 senator, Gerry Hendley, who ran both sides of the company. S30 N31

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01 The Campus was a private intelligence organization created to 02 carry out black ops missions that regular government agencies 03 couldn’t or wouldn’t do, serving at the President’s discretion. 04 In a perfect world, The Campus shouldn’t have to exist, but 05 the dysfunctional swamp of unscrupulous ­self-​­interest known 06 as Washington, D.C., was considerably less than perfect, even 07 in the estimation of its slimiest inhabitants. In the President’s 08 mind, D.C. was one giant Hungarian cluster dance, with oc‑ 09 casional interruptions of clarity and purpose, but only when 10 the national interest was properly communicated to and under‑ 11 stood by the preening peacocks on the Hill. 12 “So, I was wondering if you might do me a favor while you 13 were over there,” Cathy said. 14 “Sure. Name it.” 15 Cathy stepped over to a chair in the corner, where a brown 16 leather folder was perched. She picked it up and carried it back 17 to the table. She pulled out a file folder and set it down in front 18 of Junior before sitting down herself. 19 “I was cleaning out some of my old medical files from Johns 20 Hopkins and came across this.” 21 Jack opened the file dated 1992. Inside the stiff green cover 22 was a picture of his mother, twenty­ -​­six years younger, in her 23 white doctor’s coat, holding a little girl in her arms, with lumi‑ 24 nous blue eyes and blond hair, grinning at the camera. Well, 25 one blue eye. The other was heavily bandaged. 26 “Her name is, or was, Aida Curic´. She was just three years 27 old at the time, when they brought her to me for eye surgery 28 for a shrapnel wound. It was during the war.” 29 “Which war?” Jack asked. “From what I remember reading, 30S Yugoslavia had several after the breakup in 1991.” 31N Senior closed his file. “Your mother is referring to the

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Bosnian civil war, when Serbs, Croats, and Muslims fought one 01 another for ­independence—​­and survival. You know the term 02 ‘ethnic cleansing’?” 03 Jack nodded. “Sure. One group of people trying to extermi‑ 04 nate another one. Evil stuff.” 05 “Well, Bosnia is where the term was invented. Civil wars are 06 the worst. It was the bloodiest conflict on European soil since 07 World War Two—­ ​­even worse than the invasion a few 08 years ago. By some estimates, one hundred and forty thousand 09 Yugoslavians perished because the UN and the Europeans 10 dragged their feet. It took NATO airstrikes to finally end it.” 11 “If my two history wonks can spare a moment, I’d like to 12 finish my story about Aida, if that’s okay.” 13 “Sorry,” both Jacks said. 14 “Anyway, by some miracle I managed to save her eye and her 15 vision. After the war her parents took her back home to Bosnia, 16 but they stopped writing to me shortly afterward.” Cathy be‑ 17 gan to tear up. “I’ve seen those blue eyes of hers in my dreams 18 a thousand times, and I can’t tell you how many candles I’ve lit 19 for her over the years. Sometimes when I stared into your sis‑ 20 ter, Sally’s eyes, I saw hers. I don’t know why Aida had such an 21 effect on me, but she did, and I finally had to let her go. But 22 seeing this file again yesterday stirred something up in me and 23 I can’t stop thinking about her.” 24 Cathy opened up her leather folio again and produced a 25 sealed envelope. “I was wondering if you had any spare time 26 while you were over there, if you could find a way to get down 27 to and look for her and give her this for me.” 28 She handed it to Jack. Only Aida’s name written in his 29 mother’s graceful and meticulous hand was on the blank S30 envelope. N31

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01 “Did you try Googling her for an address?” Jack asked. 02 Cathy shrugged. “Sure, but Curic´ is a common name, and it 03 wasn’t very helpful. Facebook wasn’t any ­better—​­or Twitter, 04 for that matter.” 05 “The FBI is the world’s greatest detective agency, and you’re 06 married to the boss. Why not call them?” 07 “This is personal business. I’m not going to ask my husband 08 to deploy public resources for my personal benefit.” 09 “Well, I’m not on the government payroll, so I’m happy to 10 do it. I’ve always wanted to visit Sarajevo. I hear it’s an amazing 11 city with a lot of history.” 12 Senior nodded. “Yeah, a lot of history, for sure.” 13 As President Durling’s national security adviser, Senior had 14 seen the photos and read the firsthand accounts of the atroci‑ 15 ties on all sides when the wars broke out in 1991. He’d urged 16 Durling into action, but the Europeans told the Americans to 17 back off, promising to handle things on their end. Three years 18 later, a suicidal Japanese pilot slammed into the U.S. Capitol 19 building during a joint session of Congress, killing hundreds, 20 including President Durling, the justices of the Supreme Court, 21 and many others, soon followed by a new war 22 breaking out. By then, there wasn’t anything the newly sworn 23 President Ryan could do about the Yugoslavia situation. Still, 24 many had suffered and died needlessly, and Senior still felt 25 guilty that the United States hadn’t tried to stop it unilaterally 26 when it first began. 27 Senior repeated himself, almost in a whisper. “A lot of 28 history.” 29 “Are you sure you don’t mind, dear?” Cathy asked her son. 30S “I hate to be a bother.” 31N “It’s not a bother at all, Mom. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

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