Tom Clancy - Op Center 12 Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Acknowledgements

  ONE - Charleston, South Carolina Monday, 4:57 A.M.

  TWO - Charleston, South Carolina Monday, 5:01 A.M.

  THREE - Washington, D.C. Monday, 7:33 A.M.

  FOUR - Alexandria, Virginia Monday, 8:11 A.M.

  FIVE - Washington, D.C. Monday, 8:29 A.M.

  SIX - Durban, South Africa Monday, 3:10 P.M.

  SEVEN - Washington, D.C. Monday, 9:11 A.M.

  EIGHT - Washington, D.C. Monday, 10:40 A.M.

  NINE - Beijing, China Monday, 10:46 P.M.

  TEN - Beijing, China Monday, 11:18 P.M.

  ELEVEN - Taipei, Taiwan Monday, 11:49 P.M.

  TWELVE - Washington, D.C. Monday, 1:01 P.M.

  THIRTEEN - Washington, D.C. Monday, 1:13 P.M.

  FOURTEEN - Beijing, China Monday, 2:27 A.M.

  FIFTEEN - Arlington, Virginia Monday, 2:44 P.M.

  SIXTEEN - Washington, D.C. Monday, 3:18 P.M.

  SEVENTEEN - Taipei, Taiwan Tuesday, 4:22 A.M.

  EIGHTEEN - Washington, D.C. Monday, 5:00 P.M.

  NINETEEN - Beijing, China Tuesday, 4:40 A.M.

  TWENTY - Washington, D.C. Monday, 7:00 P.M.

  TWENTY-ONE - Beijing, China Tuesday, 8:11 A.M.

  TWENTY-TWO - Arlington, Virginia Tuesday, 8:12 A.M.

  TWENTY-THREE - Washington, D.C. Tuesday, 8:48 A.M.

  TWENTY-FOUR - Beijing, China Wednesday, 5:22 A.M.

  TWENTY-FIVE - Beijing, China Wednesday, 5:23 A.M.

  TWENTY-SIX - Zhuhai, China Wednesday, 11:00 A.M.

  TWENTY-SEVEN - Washington, D.C. Wednesday, 2:00 A.M.

  TWENTY-EIGHT - Washington, D.C. Wednesday, 2:16 A.M.

  TWENTY-NINE - Beijing, China Wednesday, 2:00 P.M.

  THIRTY - Yu Xian, China Wednesday, 2:11 P.M.

  THIRTY-ONE - Taipei, Taiwan Wednesday, 7:32 P.M.

  THIRTY-TWO - Beijing, China Wednesday, 8:00 P.M.

  THIRTY-THREE - Beijing, China Wednesday, 8:22 P.M.

  THIRTY-FOUR - Alexandria, Virginia Wednesday, 8:41 A.M.

  THIRTY-FIVE - Beijing, China Wednesday, 8:44 P.M.

  THIRTY-SIX - Washington, D.C. Wednesday, 9:38 A.M.

  THIRTY-SEVEN - Washington, D.C. Wednesday, 9:51 A.M.

  THIRTY-EIGHT - Zhuhai, China Wednesday, 10:00 P.M.

  THIRTY-NINE - Beijing, China Wednesday, 11:08 P.M.

  FORTY - Washington, D.C. Wednesday, 12:00 P.M.

  FORTY-ONE - Beijing, China Wednesday, 12:33 A.M.

  FORTY-TWO - Washington, D.C. Wednesday, 2:55 P.M.

  FORTY-THREE - Shanghai, China Thursday, 4:42 A.M.

  FORTY-FOUR - Beijing, China Thursday, 5:11 A.M.

  FORTY-FIVE - Zhuhai, China Thursday, 7:18 A.M.

  FORTY-SIX - Zhuhai, China Thursday, 8:02 A.M.

  FORTY-SEVEN - Xichang, China Thursday, 8:55 A.M.

  FORTY-EIGHT - Xichang, China Thursday, 9:14 A.M.

  FORTY-NINE - Xichang, China Thursday, 10:22 A.M.

  FIFTY - Xichang, China Thursday, 10:28 A.M.

  FIFTY-ONE - Xichang, China Thursday, 10:31 A.M.

  FIFTY-TWO - Zhuhai, China Thursday, 10:49 A.M.

  FIFTY-THREE - Xichang, China Thursday, 11:00 A.M.

  FIFTY-FOUR - Washington, D.C. Wednesday, 11:11 P.M.

  FIFTY-FIVE - Xichang, China Thursday, 11:20 A.M.

  FIFTY-SIX - Xichang, China Thursday, 11:33 A.M.

  FIFTY-SEVEN - Xichang, China Thursday, 11:40 A.M.

  FIFTY-EIGHT - Xichang, China Thursday, 11:49 A.M.

  FIFTY-NINE - Xichang, China Thursday, 12:02 P.M.

  SIXTY - Zhuhai, China Thursday, 12:18 P.M.

  SIXTY-ONE - Beijing, China Friday, 10:00 A.M.

  SIXTY-TWO - Washington, D.C. Friday, 10:22 A.M.

  SIXTY-THREE - Washington, D.C. Friday, 10:43 A.M.

  SIXTY-FOUR - Washington, D.C. Friday, 3:48 P.M.

  Other titles by Steve Pieczenik

  THE BESTSELLING NOVELS OF Tom Clancy

  THE TEETH OF THE TIGER

  A new generation—Jack Ryan, Jr.—takes over in Tom Clancy’s extraordinary, and extraordinarily prescient, novel.

  “INCREDIBLY ADDICTIVE.”

  —Daily Mail (London)

  RED RABBIT

  Tom Clancy returns to Jack Ryan’s early days—in an extraordinary novel of global political drama.

  “AN OLD-FASHIONED COLD WAR THRILLER.”

  —Chicago Sun-Times

  THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON

  President Jack Ryan faces a world crisis unlike any he has ever known.

  “INTOXICATING . . . A JUGGERNAUT.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  RAINBOW SIX

  Clancy’s shocking story of international terrorism—closer to reality than any government would care to admit.

  “GRIPPING . . . BOLT-ACTION MAYHEM.”

  —People

  EXECUTIVE ORDERS

  Jack Ryan has always been a soldier. Now he’s giving the orders.

  “AN ENORMOUS, ACTION-PACKED, HEAT-SEEKING MISSILE OF A TOM CLANCY NOVEL.”

  —The Seattle Times

  DEBT OF HONOR

  It begins with the murder of an American woman in the back streets of Tokyo. It ends in war.

  “A SHOCKER!”

  —Entertainment Weekly

  THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER

  The smash bestseller that launched Clancy’s career—the incredible search for a Soviet defector and the nuclear submarine he commands.

  “BREATHLESSLY EXCITING!”

  —The Washington Post

  RED STORM RISING

  The ultimate scenario for World War III—the final battle for global control.

  “THE ULTIMATE WAR GAME . . . BRILLIANT!”

  —Newsweek

  PATRIOT GAMES

  CIA analyst Jack Ryan stops an assassination—and incurs the wrath of Irish terrorists.

  “A HIGH PITCH OF EXCITEMENT!”

  —The Wall Street Journal

  THE CARDINAL OF THE KREMLIN

  The superpowers race for the ultimate Star Wars missile defense system.

  “CARDINAL EXCITES, ILLUMINATES . . . A REAL PAGE-TURNER!”

  —Los Angeles Daily News

  CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER

  The killing of three U.S. officials in Colombia ignites the American government’s explosive, and top secret, response.

  “A CRACKLING GOOD YARN!”

  —The Washington Post

  THE SUM OF ALL FEARS

  The disappearance of an Israeli nuclear weapon threatens the balance of power in the Middle East—and around the world.

  “CLANCY AT HIS BEST . . . NOT TO BE MISSED!”

  —The Dallas Morning News

  WITHOUT REMORSE

  The Clancy epic fans have been waiting for. His code name is Mr. Clark. And his work for the CIA is brilliant, cold-blooded, and efficient . . . but who is he really?

  “HIGHLY ENTERTAINING!”

  —The Wall Street Journal

  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 REGIM
ENT

  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.)

  EVERY MAN A TIGER

  (written with General Charles Horner, Ret.)

  SHADOW WARRIORS: INSIDE THE SPECIAL FORCES

  (written with General Carl Stiner, Ret., and Tony Koltz)

  Created by Tom Clancy

  SPLINTER CELL

  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

  TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE

  TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE: HIDDEN AGENDAS

  TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE: NIGHT MOVES

  TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE: BREAKING POINT

  TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE: POINT OF IMPACT

  TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE: CYBERNATION

  TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE: STATE OF WAR

  TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE: CHANGING OF THE GUARD

  TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE: SPRINGBOARD

  Created by Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg

  TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS: POLITIKA

  TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS: RUTHLESS.COM

  TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS: SHADOW WATCH

  TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS: BIO-STRIKE

  TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS: COLD WAR

  TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS: CUTTING EDGE

  TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS: ZERO HOUR

  TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS: WILD CARD

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  TOM CLANCY’S OP-CENTER: WAR OF EAGLES

  A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with Jack Ryan Limited Partnership and S & R Literary, Inc.

  PRINTING HISTORY

  Berkley edition / June 2005

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions. For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-00371-8

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  a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.,

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  Acknowledgments

  We would like to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Martin H. Greenberg, Ph.D.; Larry Segriff; Denise Little; John Helfers; Brittiany Koren; Victoria Bundonis Rovin; Roberta Pieczenik, Ph.D.; Carl La Greca; and Tom Colgan, our editor. But most important, it is for you, our readers, to determine how successful our collective endeavor has been.

  —Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik

  ONE

  Charleston, South Carolina Monday, 4:57 A.M.

  When Jesse Wheedles was a young man stationed at the Charleston Naval Base, he had a very precise and accurate job description. The Athens, Georgia, native was chief mess management specialist. He was proud of that position. Wheedles was more than just a cook, more than just a bagger who put together MREs—meals ready to eat—for consumption by sailors in transit. Wheedles was a craftsman. His job was to make certain that whatever their rating, whatever their taste, when someone sat down in his mess hall, he or she had the best soup, hottest entrée, and finest cookies and coffee in the United States Navy.

  He had a paper napkin signed, “Amazing food!” by Undersecretary Sabrina Brighton proving just how well he had succeeded.

  Wheedles wondered what life would have been like had he stayed with the navy. After his hitch, he took over the family restaurant, a roadside diner that was struggling to survive in the face of fast food and coffee bars. They hung on ten years, after which his dad sold the property to a developer, divided the profit among his three sons, and called it a day.

  Wheedles lost his share of the $90,000 in an Internet start-up.

  Now both the former mess chief and the naval base were doing something else. The base had been there for nearly ninety-five years, ever since President Theodore Roosevelt visited Charleston for its bicentennial celebration and decided that it would be a more suitable location for a naval facility than Beaufort. His decision didn’t sit well with the citizens of that city, who sent a wreath and their condolences when the base finally closed.

  Southerners forgave, but they did not forget.

  The military presence here had a long and significant history. During the American Revolution it had been the site of a major British siege. The fall of Charleston resulted in the single greatest loss of troops for the American cause and had effectively left the Southern colonies in the hands of the Crown. The proud port had also been one of the lifelines of the Confederacy, dry dock for the submarine H. L. Hunley, and the home base for ironclad blockade runners.

  Fort Sumter, the flash point of the Civil War, was located here. The martial history of Charleston, built and shaped by sinew and soul, was too important to end with the cold, blind judgment of a computer.

  But so it had.

  The facility had been shut down in 1996 as part of the Base Realignment and Closure Program. That was a day of great mourning for the city. There was concern at the time that the loss of the fleet and four thousand support jobs would kill the harbor and drag Charleston with it. But federal agencies and commercial enterprises sailed to the rescue, filling the base with tenants and barely causing a skipped
beat in the economic pulse of the city.

  The redevelopment project even saved the struggling career of thirty-seven-year-old Jesse Wheedles. Thanks to his former navy CO who was on the harbor renewal advisory board, Wheedles got a job as the morning manager of Teddy R’s, a new waterfront restaurant that catered to freighter and tanker crews arriving or departing on the early morning tide. It was a great position, because he got to do something he enjoyed and was good at, and he loved arriving before sunup to turn on the grill and get the deep fryer bubbling. He loved the feeling of literally firing up his day almost as much as he enjoyed the taste of the night sea air. Unlike the navy, where everyone had been groomed and uniformed in a kind of hive look and personality, the men who came to his restaurant were multicultural. They looked, spoke, and even smelled different. He welcomed the opportunity to experience a little bit of Bulgaria or Hong Kong, of Venezuela or Great Britain right on his doorstep. Wheedles was also delighted by the fact that when he left work at two in the afternoon there was still warm daylight to enjoy with his wife and young twins.

  There was just one thing Wheedles had never anticipated: that one day a freighter might explode in the predawn blackness, destroying a significant section of the dock, Teddy R’s, and ending his life.