True Faith and Allegiance Read online

  ALSO BY TOM CLANCY

  FICTION

  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

  Dead or Alive (with Grant Blackwood)

  Against All Enemies (with Peter Telep)

  Locked On (with Mark Greaney)

  Threat Vector (with Mark Greaney)

  Command Authority (with Mark Greaney)

  Tom Clancy Support and Defend (by Mark Greaney)

  Tom Clancy Full Force and Effect (by Mark Greaney)

  Tom Clancy Under Fire (by Grant Blackwood)

  Tom Clancy Commander in Chief (by Mark Greaney)

  Tom Clancy Duty and Honor (by Grant Blackwood)

  NONFICTION

  Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship

  Armored Cav: A Guided Tour Inside 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

  Into the Storm: A Study in Command

  with General Fred Franks, Jr. (Ret.), and Tony Koltz

  Every Man a Tiger: The Gulf War Air Campaign

  with General Chuck Horner (Ret.) and Tony Koltz

  Shadow Warriors: Inside the Special Forces

  with General Carl Stiner (Ret.) and Tony Koltz

  Battle Ready

  with General Tony Zinni (Ret.) and Tony Koltz

  G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

  Publishers Since 1838

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  375 Hudson Street

  New York, New York 10014

  Copyright © 2016 by The Estate of Thomas L. Clancy, Jr.; Rubicon, Inc.; Jack Ryan Enterprises, Ltd.; and Jack Ryan Limited Partnership

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  Ebook ISBN 9780698410664

  Maps by Jeffrey L. Ward

  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, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Version_1

  CONTENTS

  Also by Tom Clancy

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Principal Characters

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS

  UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

  Jack Ryan: President of the United States

  Scott Adler: Secretary of state

  Mary Pat Foley: Director of national intelligence

  Robert Burgess: Secretary of defense

  Jay Canfield: Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

  Dan Murray: Attorney general

  Andrew Zilko: Secretary of homeland security

  Arnold Van Damm: President Ryan’s chief of staff

  Stuart Collier: CIA operations officer

  Benjamin Kincaid: U.S. Department of State consular official

  Barbara Pineda: Analyst, Defense Intelligence Agency

  Jennifer Kincaid: CIA operations officer

  Thomas Russell: Assistant special agent in charge, FBI Chicago Division; director of Joint Terrorism Task Force

  David Jeffcoat: Supervisory special agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation

  U.S. MILITARY

  Carrie Ann Davenport: Captain, United States Army; copilot/gunner of AH-64E Apache

  Troy Oakley: Chief warrant officer 3, United States Army; pilot of AH-64E Apache

  Scott Hagen: Commander, United States Navy; captain of USS James Greer (DDG-102)

  Wendell Caldwell: General, United States Army; commanding officer of United States Central Command

  THE CAMPUS

  Gerry Hendley: Director of The Campus and Hendley Associates

  John Clark: Director of operations

  Domingo “Ding” Chavez: Senior operations officer

  Dominic “Dom” Caruso: Operations officer

  Jack Ryan, Jr.: Operations officer / senior analyst

  Gavin Biery: Director of information technology

  Adara Sherman: Director of transportation

  Helen Reid: Pilot of Campus Gulfstream G550

  Chester “Country” Hicks: Copilot of Campus Gulfstream G550

  OTHER CHARACTERS

  Dr. Cathy Ryan: First Lady of the United States

  Dr. Olivia “Sally” Ryan: Daughter of President Jack Ryan

  Xozan Barz
ani: Kurdish Peshmerga commander

  Sami bin Rashid: Security official, Gulf Cooperation Council

  Abu Musa al-Matari: Yemeni national / Islamic State operative

  Vadim Rechkov: Russian citizen in U.S. on a student visa

  Dragomir Vasilescu: Director of Advanced Research Technological Designs (ARTD)

  Alexandru Dalca: Researcher for ARTD; open-source investigations expert

  Luca Gabor: Romanian prison inmate; identity intelligence expert

  Bartosz Jankowski: Lieutenant colonel (Ret.) U.S. Army; call sign “Midas”; ex–Delta Force operator

  Edward Laird: Former CIA executive; intelligence community contractor

  “Algiers”: Algerian ISIS operative

  “Tripoli”: Libyan ISIS operative

  Rahim: Leader of ISIS cell “Chicago”

  Omar: Leader of ISIS cell “Detroit”

  Angela Watson: Leader of ISIS cell “Atlanta”

  Kateb Albaf: Leader of ISIS cell “Santa Clara”

  David Hembrick: Leader of ISIS cell “Fairfax”

  1

  The man sitting in the restaurant with his family had a name familiar to most everyone in America with a television or an Internet connection, but virtually no one recognized him by sight—mainly because he went out of his way to keep a low profile.

  And this was why he found it so damn peculiar that the twitchy man on the sidewalk kept staring at him.

  Scott Hagen was a commander in the U.S. Navy, which certainly did not make one famous, but he had earned distinction as the captain of the guided missile destroyer that, according to many in the media, almost single-handedly won one of the largest sea battles since the Second World War.

  The naval engagement with the United States and Poland on one side and the Russian Federation on the other had taken place just seven months earlier in the Baltic Sea, and while it had garnered the name Commander Scott Hagen significant recognition at the time, Hagen had conducted no media interviews, and the only image used of him in the press featured him standing proudly in his dress blues with his commander-white officer hat on his head.

  Right now, in contrast, Hagen wore a T-shirt and flip-flops, cargo shorts, and a couple days’ stubble on his face, and no one in the world, certainly no one in this outdoor Mexican café in New Jersey, could possibly associate him with that Department of the Navy–distributed photo.

  So why, he wondered, was the dude with the creepy eyes and the bowl cut standing in the dark next to the bicycle rack constantly glancing his way?

  This was a college town, the guy was college-aged, and he looked like he could have been drunk. He wore a polo shirt and jeans, he held a beer can in one hand and a cell phone in the other, and it seemed to Hagen that about twice a minute he glared across the lighted patio full of diners and over to Hagen’s table.

  The commander wasn’t worried, really—more curious. He was here with his family, and his sister’s family, eight in all, and everyone else at the table kept talking and eating chips and guacamole while they waited for their entrées. The kids had soft drinks, while Hagen’s wife, his sister, and his brother-in-law downed margaritas. Hagen himself was sticking with soda because it was his night to drive the clan around in the rented van.

  They were here in town for a club soccer tournament; Hagen’s seventeen-year-old nephew was a star keeper for his high school team, and the finals were the following afternoon. Tomorrow Scott’s wife would drive the rental so her husband could tip back some cold brews at a restaurant after the match.

  Hagen ate another chip and told himself the drunk goofball was nothing to worry about, and he looked back to the table full of his family.

  There were many costs associated with military service, but none of them were more important than time. The time away from family. None of the birthdays or holidays or weddings or funerals that were missed could ever be replaced in the lives of those who served.

  Like many men and women in the military, Commander Scott Hagen didn’t see enough of his family these days. It was part of the job, and the times he could get away, get his own kids someplace with their cousins, were few and far between, so he knew to appreciate this night.

  Especially since it had been such a tough year.

  After the battle in the Baltic and the slow sail of his crippled vessel back across the Atlantic, he’d put the USS James Greer in dry dock in Norfolk, Virginia, to undergo six months of repairs.

  Hagen was still the officer in command of the Greer, so Norfolk was home, for now. Many in the Navy thought dry dock was the toughest deployment, because there was a lot of work to do on board, ships did not regularly run their air conditioners, and many other creature comforts were missing.

  But Scott Hagen would never make that claim. He’d seen war up close, he’d lost men, and while he and his ship had come out the unquestionable victors, the experience of war was nothing to envy, even for the victorious.

  Russia was quiet now, more or less. Yes, they still controlled a significant portion of Ukraine, but the Borei-class nuclear sub they’d sent to patrol off the coast of the United States had allowed itself to be seen and photographed north of the coast of Scotland on its return voyage to port in Sayda Inlet, north of the Arctic Circle.

  And the Russian troops that had rolled into Lithuania had since rolled back over Russia’s border to the west and to the Belarusian border to the east, ending the attack on the tiny Baltic nation.

  The Russians had been embarrassed by their defeat in the Baltic, and it would certainly surprise everyone in this outdoor Mexican restaurant in New Jersey to know that the average-looking dad sitting at the big table under the umbrellas had played a big part in that.

  Hagen was fine with the anonymity. The forty-four-year-old was a pretty low-profile guy, anyway. He didn’t hang out with his family in his uniform and regale them with tales of combat on the high seas. No, right now he goofed off with his kids and his nephews, and he joked with his wife that if he ate any more chips and guacamole before dinner, he’d sleep in tomorrow and miss game time.

  He and his wife laughed, and then his brother-in-law, Allen, got his attention. “Hey, Scotty. Do you know that guy over there on the sidewalk?”

  Hagen shook his head. “No. But he’s been eyeing this table for the past few minutes.”

  Allen said, “Any chance he served under you or something?”

  Hagen looked back. “Doesn’t look familiar.” He thought it over for a moment and then said, “This is too weird. I’m going to go talk to him and see what’s up.”

  Hagen pulled the napkin from his lap, stood up, and began walking toward the man, moving through the busy outdoor café.

  The young man turned away before Scott Hagen could make it halfway to him, then he dropped his beer in a garbage can and walked quickly out onto the street.

  He crossed the dark street and disappeared into a busy parking lot.

  When Hagen got back to the table Allen said, “That was odd. What do you think he was doing?”

  Hagen didn’t know what to think, but he did know what he needed to do. “I didn’t like the look of that guy. Let’s play it safe and get out of here. Take everybody inside to the restaurant, use the back door, and go to the van. I’ll stay behind and pay the bill, then take a cab back to the hotel.”

  His sister, Susan, heard all this, but she had no clue what was going on. She hadn’t even noticed the young man. “What’s wrong?”

  Allen addressed both families now. “Okay, everybody. No questions till we get to the van, but we have to leave. We’ll get room service back at the hotel.”

  Susan said, “My brother gets nervous if he’s not sailing around with a bunch of nukes.”

  The James Greer did not carry nuclear weapons, but Susan was a tax lawyer, and she didn’t know any better, and Hagen was too busy to correct her because he was in
the process of grabbing a passing waiter to get the bill.

  Both families were annoyed to be rushed out of the restaurant with full plates of food on the way, but they realized something serious was going on, so they all complied.

  Just as the seven started moving toward the back door, Hagen turned and saw the young man again. He was crossing the two-lane street, heading back toward the outdoor café. He wore a long gray trench coat now, and was obviously hiding something underneath.

  Hagen had given up on Allen’s ability to manage the family, and Susan wasn’t proving to be terribly aware, either. So he turned to his wife. “Through the restaurant! Run! Go!”

  Laura Hagen grabbed her daughter and son, pulled them to the back door. Hagen’s sister and brother-in-law followed close behind with their two boys in front of them.

  Then Hagen started to follow, but he slowed, watched in horror as the man on the sidewalk hoisted an AK-47 out from under his coat. Others in the outdoor café saw this as well; it was hard to miss.

  Screams and shouts filled the air.

  With his eyes locked on Commander Scott Hagen, the young man continued walking into the outdoor café, bringing the weapon to his shoulder.

  Hagen froze.

  This can’t be real. This is not happening.

  He had no weapon of his own. This was New Jersey, so even though Hagen was licensed to carry a firearm in Virginia and could do so legally in thirty-five other states, he’d go to prison here for carrying a gun.

  It was of no solace to him at all that the rifle-wielding maniac ahead was in violation of this law by shouldering a Kalashnikov in the middle of town. He doubted the attacker was troubled that in addition to the attempted murder of the one hundred or so people in the garden café in front of him he’d probably also be cited by the police for unlawful possession of a firearm.

  Boom!

  Only when the first shot missed and exploded into a decorative masonry fountain just four feet to his left did Scott Hagen snap out of it. He knew his family was right behind him, and this knowledge somehow overpowered his ability to duck. He stayed big and broad, using his body to cover for those behind, but he did not stand still.

  He had no choice. He ran toward the gunfire.

  The shooter snapped off three rounds in quick succession, but the chaos of the moment caused several diners to knock over tables and umbrellas, to get in his way, even to bump up against him as they tried to flee the café. Hagen lost sight of the man when a red umbrella tipped between the two of them, and this only spurred him on faster, thinking the attacker’s obstructed view could give Hagen a chance to tackle the man before getting shot.