Red Rabbit - Tom Clancy [0]
by
Tom Clancy
CONTENTS
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1 - Rumblings and Dreams
CHAPTER 2 - Visions and Horizons
CHAPTER 3 - Explorations
CHAPTER 4 - Introductions
CHAPTER 5 - Getting Close
CHAPTER 6 - But Not Too Close
CHAPTER 7 - Simmering
CHAPTER 8 - The Dish
CHAPTER 9 - Signals
CHAPTER 10 - Bolt From the Blue
CHAPTER 11 - Hand Jive
CHAPTER 12 - Handoff
CHAPTER 13 - Collegiality
CHAPTER 14 - Danger Signal
CHAPTER 15 - Meeting Place
CHAPTER 16 - A Fur Hat for the Winter
CHAPTER 17 - Flash Traffic
CHAPTER 18 - Classical Music
CHAPTER 19 - Clear Signal
CHAPTER 20 - Staging
CHAPTER 21 - Vacation
CHAPTER 22 - Procurements And Arrangements
CHAPTER 23 - All Aboard
CHAPTER 24 - Rolling Hills
CHAPTER 25 - Exchanging the Bogies
CHAPTER 26 - Tourists
CHAPTER 27 - Rabbit Run
CHAPTER 28 - British Midlands
CHAPTER 29 - Revelation
CHAPTER 30 - Flavian Amphitheater
CHAPTER 31 - Bridge Builder
CHAPTER 32 - Masqued Ball
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.
G. P. Putnam's Sons
Publishers Since 1838
a member of Penguin Putnam Inc.
375 Hudson Street New York, NY 10014
Copyright © 2002 by Rubicon, Inc.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Published simultaneously in Canada
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Clancy, Tom, date. Red rabbit / Tom Clancy.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-399-14870-1
ISBN 0-399-14914-7 (Limited Edition)
1. Ryan, Jack (Fictitious character)—Fiction. 2. John
Paul II, Pope, 1920—Assassination attempts—Fiction.
3. Intelligence officers—Fiction. 4. Americans—
England—Fiction. 5. Assassination—Fiction.
6. Popes—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3553L245R39 2002 2002067958
813'.54—dc21
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 This book is printed on acid-free paper. ©
BOOK DESIGN BY LOVEDOG STUDIO
To Danny D and the men of Engine 52 and Ladder 52
Heroes are often the most ordinary of men.
- HENRY DAVID THOUEAU
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Leanart, Joni, and Andy, for holding my hand behind the Old Curtain, and the crash-course in smuggling.
Alex, of course, for holding the other one at all times.
Tom and the lads at Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress. So fine a body of men is difficult to find, and a rare pleasure to discover.
The FSOs at the United States Embassy, Budapest, for so graciously handling an unannounced walk-in.
And to Michael, Melissa, Gilbert, and CDR Marsha, in anticipation of your superior professionalism.
The most momentous thing in human life is the art of winning the soul to good or to evil.
- PYTHAGORAS
Without recognizing the ordinances of Heaven, it is impossible to be a superior man.
- CONFUCIUS
PROLOGUE
THE BACK GARDEN
THE SCARY PART, Jack decided, was going to be driving. He'd already bought a Jaguar—pronounced jag-jou-ah over here, he'd have to remember—but both times he'd walked to it at the dealership, he'd gone to the left-front door instead of the right. The dealer hadn't laughed at him, but Ryan was sure he'd wanted to. At least he hadn't climbed into the passenger seat by mistake and really made an ass of himself. He'd have to remember all that: The "right" side of the road was the left. A right turn crossed oncoming traffic, not a left turn. The left lane was the slow lane on the interstates—motorways, he corrected himself. The plugs in the wall were all cockeyed. The house didn't have central heating, despite the princely price he'd paid for it. There was no air-conditioning, though that probably wasn't necessary here. It wasn't the hottest of climates: The locals started dropping dead in the street when the mercury topped 75. Jack wondered what the D.C. climate would do to them. Evidently, the "mad dogs and Englishmen" ditty was a thing of the past.
But it could have been worse. He did have a pass to