Tom Clancy: Command Authority

John Patrick “Jack” Ryan : President of the United States

Dan Murray : attorney general of the United States

Arnold Van Damm : President’s chief of staff

Robert Burgess : secretary of defense

Scott Adler : secretary of state

Mary Patricia Foley : director of the Office of National Intelligence

Jay Canfield : director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Admiral James Greer : director of intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency

Judge Arthur Moore : director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Keith Bixby : chief of station, Kiev, Ukraine, Central Intelligence Agency

Admiral Mark Jorgensen : chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Eric Conway : Chief Warrant Officer Two, United States Army, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior pilot

Andre “Dre” Page : Chief Warrant Officer Two, United States Army, OH-58D Kiowa Warrior copilot

Barry “Midas” Jankowski : lieutenant colonel, United States Army, 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta

Harris “Grungy” Cole : captain, United States Air Force, F-16 pilot

Gerry Hendley : director of The Campus / Hendley Associates

John Clark : director of operations

Domingo “Ding” Chavez : operations officer

Sam Driscoll : operations officer

Dominic “Dom” Caruso : operations officer

Jack Ryan, Jr. : operations officer / intelligence analyst

Gavin Biery : director of information technology

Adara Sherman : director of transportation

Sir Basil Charleston : director general of Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)

Anthony Haldane : international financier, ex–Foreign Office

Victor Oxley aka Bedrock : 22nd Special Air Service Regiment—Officer, British Security Service (MI5)

David Penright : officer, SIS (MI6)

Nicholas Eastling : SIS officer, Counterintelligence Section

Hugh Castor : managing director, Castor and Boyle Risk Analytics Ltd

Sandy Lamont : senior business analyst, Castor and Boyle Risk Analytics Ltd

Valeri Volodin : president of the Russian Federation

Roman Talanov : director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation

Stanislav Biryukov : director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of the Russian Federation

Sergey Golovko : ex-director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) of the Russian Federation

Oksana Zueva : leader of the Ukrainian Regional Unity Party

Tatiana Molchanova : television newscaster, Novaya Rossiya (New Russia)

Dmitri Nesterov, aka Gleb the Scar : vory v zakonye (“thief-in-law”), operative of the Seven Strong Men criminal organization

Pavel Lechkov : Seven Strong Men operative

Caroline “Cathy” Ryan : First Lady of the United States

Edward Foley : husband of Mary Pat Foley, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Dino Kadic : Croatian assassin

Felicia Rodríguez : Venezuelan university student

Marta Scheuring : “urban guerrilla” of the Red Army Faction

Malcolm Galbraith : owner of Galbraith Rossiya Energy Holdings, Scottish entrepreneur

The flag of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics flew high above the Kremlin in a rain shower, a red-and-gold banner waving under a gray sky. The young captain took in the imagery from the backseat of the taxi as it rolled through Red Square.

The sight of the flag over the seat of power of the largest country in the world jolted the captain with pride, although Moscow would never feel like home to him. He was Russian, but he’d spent the past several years fighting in Afghanistan, and the only Soviet flags he’d seen there had been on the uniforms of the men around him.

His taxi let him out just two blocks from the square, on the north side of the massive GUM department store. He double-checked the address on the drab office building in front of him, paid his fare, and then stepped out into the afternoon rain.

The building’s lobby was small and plain; a lone security man eyed him as he tucked his hat under his arm and climbed a narrow staircase that led to an unmarked door on the first floor.

Here the captain paused, brushed wrinkles out of his uniform, and ran his hand over his rows of medals to make certain they were perfectly straight.

Only when he was ready did he knock on the door.

“Vkhodi!” Come in!

The young captain entered the small office and shut the door behind him. With his hat in his hand, he stepped in front of the one desk in the room, and he snapped to attention.

“Captain Roman Romanovich Talanov, reporting as ordered.”

The man behind the desk looked like he was still in his twenties, which greatly surprised Captain Talanov. He was here to meet a senior officer in the KGB, and he certainly did not expect someone his own age. The man wore a suit and tie, he was small and thin and not particularly fit, and he looked, to the Russian soldier, like he had never spent a day of his life in military service.

Talanov showed no hint of it, of course, but he was disappointed. For him, like every military man, officers in the KGB were divided into two classes. Sapogi and pidzhaki . Jackboots and jackets. This young man before him might have been a high-ranking state security official, but to the soldier, he was just a civilian. A jacket.

The man stood, walked around the desk, and then sat down on its edge. His slight slouch contrasted with the ramrod-straight posture of the officer standing in front of him.

The KGB man did not give his name. He said, “You just returned from Afghanistan.”

“Yes, comrade.”

“I won’t ask you how it was, because I would not understand, and that would probably just piss you off.”

The captain stood still as stone.

The jacket said, “You are GRU Spetsnaz. Special Forces. You’ve been operating behind the lines in Afghanistan. Even over the border in Pakistan.”

It was not a question, so the captain did not reply.

With a smile, the man slouched on the desk said, “Even as a member of the most elite special operations unit in military intelligence, you stand out above the rest. Intelligence, resilience, initiative.” He winked at Talanov. “Loyalty.”