Tom Clancy's Op-center Balance of Power - Tom Clancy [0]
by
Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Jeff Rovin for his creative ideas and his invaluable contributions to the preparation of the manuscript. We would also like to acknowledge the assistance of Martin H. Greenberg, Larry Segriff, Robert Youdelman, Esq., Tom Mallon, Esq., and the wonderful people at The Putnam Berkley Group, including Phyllis Grann, David Shanks, and Elizabeth Beier. As always, we would like to thank Robert Gottlieb of The William Morris Agency, our agent and friend, without whom this book would never have been conceived. But most important, it is for you, our readers, to determine how successful our collective endeavor has been.
- Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik
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About The Creators
Tom Clancy
is the author of 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, and Executive Orders. He is also the author of the nonfiction books Submarine, Armored Cav, Fighter Wing, Marine and Airborne. He lives in Maryland.
Steve Pieczenik
is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist with an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. He has a Ph.D. in International Relations from MIT. and served as principal hostage negotiator and international crisis manager while Deputy Assistant Secretary of State under Henry Kissinger, Cyrus Vance, and James Baker. He is also the bestselling novelist of the psycho-political thrillers The Mind Palace, Blood Heat, Maximum Vigilance, and Pax Pacifica.
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ONE
Monday, 4:55 p.m.
Madrid, Spain
"You were way out of line," Martha Mackall said. She was openly disgusted with the young woman standing beside her and it took a moment for her to calm down. Then she bent close to Aideen's ear so the other passengers wouldn't hear. "You were out of line and reckless. You know what's at stake here. To be distracted like that is inexcusable."
The statuesque Martha and her slight assistant, Aideen Marley were holding a pole in the aisle near the front door of the bus. Aideen's full, round cheeks nearly as red as her long hair, she tore absently at the moist towelette she clutched in her right hand.
"Do you disagree?" Martha asked.
"No," Aideen said.
"I mean, good lord!"
"I said no," Aideen repeated. "I don't disagree. I was wrong. Totally and completely wrong."
Aideen believed it, too. She had behaved impulsively in a situation that she probably should have ignored. But like Aideen's own overreaction a few minutes before, this dressing-down from Martha was excessive and punitive. In the two months since Aideen had joined Op-Center's Political and Economics Office, she'd been warned more than once by the other three staff members to avoid crossing the boss.
Now she saw why.
"I don't know what you needed to prove," Martha went on. She was still bent close to Aideen. There was anger in her clipped tone. "But I never want you doing it again. Not when you're touring with me.
Do you understand?"
"Yes," Aideen said contritely. God, she thought, enough already. Aideen had a flashback to a brainwashing seminar she'd once attended at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City. The prisoners were always dunned by their captors when they were at their weakest emotionally. Guilt was an especially effective doorway. She wondered if Martha had studied the technique or came by it naturally.
And almost at once, Aideen wondered if she were being fair to her boss. After all, this was their first mission together for Op-Center. And it was an important one.
Martha finally looked away-but only for a moment. "It's unbelievable," she said, turning back. Her voice was just loud enough to be heard over the powerful engine. "Tell me something. Did it ever occur to you that we might have been detained by the police? How would we have explained that to our Uncle Miguel?"
Uncle Miguel was the code name for the man they were here to see. Deputy Isidro Serrador. Until the women arrived for their meeting at the Congreso