SummaryA man named Mohammed sits in a café in Vienna, about to
propose a deal to a Colombian. Mohammed has a strong
network of agents and sympathizers throughout Europe and
the Middle East, and the Colombian has an equally strong
drug network throughout America. What if they were to form
an alliance, to combine all their assets and connections?
The potential for profits would be enormous-and the
potential for destruction unimaginable. In the Brave New World of terrorism-where anybody with a
spare AK-47, a knowledge of kitchen chemistry, or simply
the will to die can become a player-the old rules no longer
apply. No matter what new governmental organizations come
into being, the only truly effective ones are those that
are quick and agile, free of oversight and
restrictions . . . and outside the system. Way outside the system. In a nondescript office building in suburban Maryland, the
firm Hendley Associates does a profitable business in
stocks, bonds, and international currencies, but its true
mission is quite different: to identify and locate
terrorist threats, and then deal with them, in whatever
manner necessary. Established with the knowledge of
President John Patrick Ryan, "the Campus" is always on the
lookout for promising new talent, its recruiters scattered
throughout the armed forces and government agencies-and
three men are about to cross its radar. The first is Dominic Caruso, a rookie FBI agent, barely a
year out of Quantico, whose decisive actions resolve a
particularly brutal kidnap/murder case. The second is
Caruso's brother, Brian, a Marine captain just back from
his first combat action in Afghanistan, and already a man
to watch. And the third is their cousin . . . a young man
named Jack Ryan, Jr. Jack was raised on intrigue. As his father moved through
the ranks of the CIA and then into the White House, Jack
received a life course in the world and the way it operates
from agents, statesmen, analysts, Secret Service men, and
black ops specialists such as John Clark and Ding Chavez.
He wants to put it all to work now-but when he knocks on
the front door of "the Campus," he finds that nothing has
prepared him for what he is about to encounter. For it is
indeed a different world out there, and in here . . . and
it is about to become far more dangerous.
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