EndWar: The Missing Read online

  THE BIG SHOW

  The entire valley grew eerily quiet, just the whispers of the falling snow and the branches rustling slightly in the wind. It seemed as though the birds and other animals had gone silent, anticipating what would happen. The phone beeped, and the comm operator connected him directly to General Mitchell. “Sir, canisters are away.”

  “Excellent work, Captain. Stand by. I’m ordering the kinetic strike now.”

  Lex flicked his gaze up into the dark, snow-filled sky, and while he couldn’t see them, he imagined the twelve rods of tungsten blasting off from their space-based orbital platform via their rocket motors. They’d plunge toward the atmosphere until gravity accelerated them to thirty-six thousand feet per second as they headed for a collision course with the Earth’s crust—or more precisely Fort Levski. Each rod packed all the destructive effects of an Earth-penetrating nuclear weapon.

  One rod would wreak havoc.

  Twelve would devastate the entire valley . . .

  Lex wouldn’t have to imagine that part. He and his men had a front-row seat.

  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

  Dead or Alive

  (written with Grant Blackwood)

  Against All Enemies

  (written with Peter Telep)

  Locked On

  (written with Mark Greaney)

  Threat Vector

  (written with Mark Greaney)

  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 Chuck 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)

  Tom Clancy’s HAWX

  Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon

  Ghost Recon

  Combat Ops

  Choke Point

  Tom Clancy’s EndWar

  EndWar

  The Hunted

  The Missing

  Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell

  Splinter Cell

  Operation Barracuda

  Checkmate

  Fallout

  Conviction

  Endgame

  CREATED BY TOM CLANCY AND STEVE PIECZENIK

  Tom Clancy’s Op-Center

  Op-Center

  Mirror Image

  Games of State

  Acts of War

  Balance of Power

  State of Siege

  Divide and Conquer

  Line of Control

  Mission of Honor

  Sea of Fire

  Call to Treason

  War of Eagles

  Tom Clancy’s Net Force

  Net Force

  Hidden Agendas

  Night Moves

  Breaking Point

  Point of Impact

  CyberNation

  State of War

  Changing of the Guard

  Springboard

  The Archimedes Effect

  CREATED BY TOM CLANCY AND MARTIN GREENBERG

  Tom Clancy’s Power Plays

  Politika

  ruthless.com

  Shadow Watch

  Bio-Strike

  Cold War

  Cutting Edge

  Zero Hour

  Wild Card

  WRITTEN BY

  PETER TELEP

  THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA)

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  For more information about the Penguin Group, visit penguin.com.

  TOM CLANCY’S ENDWAR®: THE MISSING

  A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with Ubisoft Entertainment SARL

  Copyright © 2013 Ubisoft Entertainment. All rights reserved.

  EndWar, Tom Clancy’s, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S. and/or other countries.

  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.

  BERKLEY® is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA)

  The “B” design is a trademark of Penguin Group (USA)

  For information, address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

  a division of Penguin Group (USA),

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

  eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-61598-0

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  Berkley premium edition / September 2013

  Cover art courtesy of Ubisoft.

  Interior text design by Kristin del Rosario.

  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.

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Acknowledgments

  Epigraph

  PRELUDE TO WAR

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTY-FOUR

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THIRTY-SIX

&nbs
p; THIRTY-SEVEN

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  THIRTY-NINE

  FORTY

  FORTY-ONE

  FORTY-TWO

  FORTY-THREE

  FORTY-FOUR

  FORTY-FIVE

  FORTY-SIX

  FORTY-SEVEN

  FORTY-EIGHT

  FORTY-NINE

  FIFTY

  FIFTY-ONE

  FIFTY-TWO

  FIFTY-THREE

  FIFTY-FOUR

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’m deeply indebted to a great number of people who have contributed their expertise to this manuscript:

  Mr. James Ide, chief warrant officer, U.S. Navy (Ret.), has continued his work as my first reader, researcher, and collaborator—from concept to outline to polished manuscript. He is a true friend and a skilled writer and has kept me honest for many years.

  I’m indebted to all the folks at Ubisoft who created the EndWar game, and to everyone else at the company, most notably Mr. Sam Strachman of Ubisoft Paris. Sam has worked with me on several other book projects, including Ghost Recon: Choke Point, and offered his keen advice, insights, and terrific sense of humor.

  My agent, Mr. John Talbot, and editor, Mr. Tom Colgan, have supported and encouraged me for many years, and I’m truly grateful for yet another project we can share.

  Finally, my wife, Nancy, and two lovely daughters, Lauren and Kendall, challenged me to finish this novel before the Mayan calendar ran out (just in case).

  Be convinced that to be happy means to be free and that to be free means to be brave. Therefore do not take lightly the perils of war.

  —THUCYDIDES (460–395 B.C.)

  Only the dead have seen the end of war.

  —PLATO (428–348 B.C.)

  PRELUDE TO WAR . . .

  The unthinkable happens in 2016. A nuclear exchange in the Middle East kills six million people and cripples the world’s oil supply. Crude oil prices spike at eight hundred dollars a barrel.

  One year later, the threat of worldwide nuclear war is eliminated when the United States and Europe deploy a comprehensive space-based antiballistic missile shield. Russia soon follows with an advanced missile defense system of its own. Intercontinental ballistic missiles are rendered obsolete.

  Russia becomes the world’s primary supplier of energy and experiences a massive economic boom. With its newfound riches, Russia quickly reestablishes itself as a major superpower and restores her military might.

  Western Europe, with the notable exceptions of the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland, unifies to create the European Federation. This new nation is destined to be a formidable twenty-first-century superpower.

  In 2020, the United States is on the verge of finishing construction on the Freedom Star, a controversial orbital military platform that will upset the balance of world power. The European Federation withdraws from NATO in protest.

  Tensions between the European Federation, the United States, and Russia build. Russia invades Canada in an attempt to seize the oil sands and is thwarted by the United States. Smaller scale air, sea, and ground conflicts continue but threaten to escalate into an all-out conflict, sapping the resources of every nation and tearing apart the planet.

  The EndWar has begun.

  ONE

  Caucasus Mountains

  Near North Ossetia, Russia

  November 2022

  Major Stephanie Halverson jerked the side stick controller, guiding her F-35B Joint Strike Fighter in a hard right turn, the pressure suit tightening around her hips against the agonizing g-forces.

  Her pulse raced. Surface-to-air missiles were locking on. Identification: Russian S-500, the latest and most potent mobile SAM system in the world, with radars capable of tracking more than three hundred individual targets and engaging twenty simultaneously.

  Screw this, she thought. I’m breaking radio silence. “Neptune Command, this is Siren. I’ve got multiple SAMs inbound! What the hell’s going on?”

  Earlier in the evening she’d launched from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, was in-air refueled just prior to leaving Turkish airspace, some 200 miles from her target, and had bridged the 720 miles to North Ossetia in the blink of an eye.

  “Neptune, this is Siren, do you read me?”

  The Sixth Fleet tactical air commander on board the aircraft carrier USS George H. W. Bush CVN-77 loitering off the coast of Cyprus did not respond.

  Swearing, Halverson released IR flares and clouds of white-hot chaff—countermeasures that might save her from one or two of the missiles, but secondary beeps indicated that more SAMs were being launched.

  Jesus God, how many now? Glowing in her Helmet-Mounted Display System were infrared and wireframe representations of the mountain range, the suspected SAM sites below, and the military cargo train about to cross the new bridge towering over the broad expanse of Darial Gorge.

  Superimposed against this scene were six inbound missiles, each one’s speed and trajectory marked by scrolling numbers beside the yellow squares on her screen.

  A proximity alert beeped above the missile warning, and in its cool, emotionless voice, the computer delivered the bad news:

  More missiles were now locked on her heat signature. The computer IDed them as Vympel R-84s, two pairs, each with thirty kilograms of HE—enough to easily blast apart her aircraft. The pilots who’d express-mailed them were smiling behind their visors and muttering, “Do svidaniya.”

  She flicked her glance from the radar scope to a databar indicating that four Sukhoi Su-35 long-range Interceptors bearing 281 degrees were, in fact, streaking toward her. The two lead fighters had fired their Vympels.

  She studied the SAMs and the air-to-air missiles, their numbers and ETAs, and held her breath.

  The enormity of the moment was almost too much to bear. She was one pilot with ten missiles on her back. She shuddered and thought, I’m dead.

  But damn it, this wasn’t her fault. The mission was supposed to be reconnaissance only, a solo test flight into enemy territory of the AN/AST Radar Warping System and Algorithm (RWSA), along with its associated software. The RWSA’s lightning-fast onboard computers were supposed to absorb and amplify an enemy’s radar beam and return it at a deflected angle. The idea was based on the planet Mercury’s so-called orbital wobble when its orbital line of sight neared the sun. Einstein, in his general relativity theory, deduced that the massive gravitational field of the sun bent Mercury’s reflected light beam, tricking an earthbound observer to see the tiny planet along a bearing where it didn’t actually exist. Similarly, the new radar warping device was supposed to cause enemy fire control radars to calculate distorted missile/gun firing points in space-time where Halverson did not exist.

  In layman’s terms, they were supposed to be shooting at her ghost, if they detected her at all. Had Einstein been wrong? Or was this new toy’s software just corrupt?

  The alarms kept beeping, reminding her that there was a lot more at stake than just one plane and one pilot.

  The Radar Warping System was being prepared for the Joint Strike Force’s latest prototype: the X-2A Wraith, a sixth-generation fighter and reconnaissance jet designed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works in California. The Wraith was capable of reaching speeds of Mach 6, or nearly 4,600 miles per hour, and Halverson ought to know: She was the Wraith program’s chief test pilot. She could never be more proud, because the Wraith was a piece of military hardware that would change the entire scope of the war. No nation could match its speed, stealth, or firepower.

  And only a select few knew about it, its coming-out party mere weeks away.

  With clouds of expanding chaff blooming behind her fighter, Halverson pulled up hard, panting into a helmet shaped like an insect’s head, the oxygen line hissing as her shoulders were pinned to the seat.

  Wait a minute.

  She thought about what she was flying, her fighter’s range of capabilitie
s. She’d almost forgotten this wasn’t another prototype like the ones she’d been testing for the past year between combat missions in Europe.

  She looked to the train. To the radar scope. To the Russian Interceptors closing in . . .

  The F-35B Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) fighter variant could hover like a helicopter via its shift-driven lift fan. The contra-rotating fan with twenty thousand pounds of lift was located just behind the cockpit and built within the fuselage.

  That was it. Crazy idea. Insane.

  Probably her only hope.

  Still no response from Neptune. She knew the protocol. She was on her own now, responsible for doing what was necessary to ensure that her aircraft and its prototype equipment did not fall into enemy hands.

  The waning moon flashed across her cockpit as she came around, then shoved the stick forward, diving straight for the maglev train, her speed, distance, and bearing all calculated and displayed against the infrared images of her sensors. The gorge and bridge grew brighter, shifting from a pale green to an almost blue-silver.

  Somewhere behind her, two of the SAMs exploded in her chaff, just as she released another cloud, then rolled right, fully inverted, and dove at an even steeper angle, the sky flickering at her shoulders.

  She came upright, then glanced down between her legs, the sensors allowing her to stare right through the fuselage at a computer-generated image of the train below.

  Throttling up, the Pratt & Whitney afterburning turbofan roaring, she painted the center of the bridge with her laser, then fired—

  A single wingtip-mounted Sidewinder exploded away from her jet, tendrils of smoke glistening in saffron light. She had two such laser-guided Sidewinders onboard and could use them to strike hardened targets, as opposed to the usual air-to-air ordnance she carried. Given that this was a recon mission and her load-out was light, she was lucky to have the ability to hit a hardened surface target.

  Flying now like an old kamikaze pilot about to swoop down and T-bone the train’s lead car, Halverson gasped as the tracks ahead of the train exploded, metal twisting like spaghetti at irregular angles, the maglev train barreling toward the wreckage, its operators already seeing what was happening and slamming on the brakes.