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Chapters (54)
  1. Title Page
  2. Table of Contents
  3. Prologue
  4. PART ONE
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. PART TWO
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. PART THREE
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-one
  28. Chapter Twenty-two
  29. Chapter Twenty-three
  30. Chapter Twenty-four
  31. Chapter Twenty-five
  32. Chapter Twenty-six
  33. Chapter Twenty-seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-one
  38. PART FOUR
  39. Chapter Thirty-two
  40. Chapter Thirty-three
  41. Chapter Thirty-four
  42. Chapter Thirty-five
  43. Chapter Thirty-six
  44. Chapter Thirty-seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-one
  49. Chapter Forty-two
  50. Chapter Forty-three
  51. Epilogue
  52. ALSO BY ROBERT LUDLUM
  53. Critical Praise for Robert Ludlum
  54. Copyright Page

“Served in SEAL Team Four, picked up a goddamn Navy Cross in his first tour of duty,” said the undersecretary of state. His eyes fell on a yellowing slip from the file, and he passed it around.

Office Fitness Report Remarks
20 November 1970

Lieutenant Junior Grade Janson’s performance in Joint SEAL/Special Force Detachment A-8 has been outstanding. His able judgment, tactical knowledge, creativity, and imagination has allowed him to plan Swift Strike operations against enemy units, guerrilla personnel, and hostile installations that were accomplished with minimal losses. Lt. j.g. Janson has demonstrated extraordinary ability to adapt and to respond to rapidly changing circumstances, and is unaffected by the hardships of living under the toughest field conditions. As an officer, he demonstrates natural leadership skills: he does not merely demand respect, he commands it.

Lieutenant Harold Brady, Rating Officer

Lt. j.g. Janson demonstrates potential of the highest caliber: his field skills and ability to improvise in conditions of adversity are nothing short of stellar. I will personally be keeping a close watch to see whether his potential is fully realized.

Lieutenant Commander Endorsing Officer

“There’s dozens just like it. Guy serves one tour after another, continuous combat exposure, no breaks. Then a big gap. Hard to build your resume as a POW. Captured in the spring of 1971 by the Viet Cong. Held for eighteen months, in pretty abysmal conditions.”

“Care to specify?” Charlotte Ainsley asked.

“Tortured, repeatedly. Starved. Part of the time, he was kept in a cage—not a cell, a cage, like a big birdcage, six feet high, maybe four feet around. When we found him, he weighed eighty-three pounds. He grew so skeletal that the manacles slid off his feet one day. Made about three escape attempts. The last one succeeded.”

“Was treatment like that typical?”

“No,” the undersecretary said. “But trying so relentlessly and resourcefully to escape wasn’t typical, either. They knew he was part of a counterintelligence division, so they tried pumping him pretty hard. Got frustrated when it went nowhere. He was lucky he survived. Damn lucky.”

“Not lucky he got captured,” the National Security Advisor said.

“Well, that’s where things get complicated, of course. Janson believed that he’d been set up. That the VC had been given information about him and he’d been deliberately led into an ambush.”

“Set up? By whom?” Ainsley’s voice was sharp.

“His commanding officer.”

“Whose own opinion of his darling protégé seemed to have cooled a little.” She flipped to the final sheet headed OFFICER FITNESS REPORT REMARKS and read out loud: