My Dad first introduced me to an intelligent CIA analyst named Jack Ryan after he listened to an audio book which was his favorite way of passing time due to his paralysis. I quickly learned about Jack’s adventure and his daring as he helped Soviet Navy Captain Marko Ramius defect to the west with the Red October. From that moment on I was hooked. Jack then managed to foil the Red Storm plan which would have caused the US and Russia to go to war. I then got to look into Jack’s past a little and see how he dealt with an act of terrorism in the United Kingdom perpetrated by a splinter group of the IRA. I then had the chance to read how Jack took on the KGB while attempting to save the CIA’s top mole in the Kremlin, The Cardinal. From there it was dealing with drug wars and a clear and present danger to the US and I learned a little how making a snap decision in anger can have terrible consequences. Then there was the terrorist plot to explode a nuclear device at the Super Bowl in Denver, the sum of all fears. I took a break from the exploits of Jack Ryan to learn a little more about a man named John Kelly, who later took the name of John Clark. John avenged the death of a friend without remorse…. In 1994 Jack Ryan was thrust into the Presidency by a terrorist act, which in retrospect was an uncanny prediction of events seven years later, committed by an Asian national looking for revenge and paying his debt of honor. Then I followed Jack Ryan as he adjusted to his new position of POTUS, his executive orders and the trials of his new administration committed once again by foreign nationals. Once again I diverged from focusing on Jack Ryan to check in on John Clark as he established himself as the head of a counterterrorism unit known as Rainbow Six, and oh what adventures he had. The back to follow the exploits of Jack Ryan, newly re-elected as POTUS, he must work to prevent war between the Bear and the Dragon, Russia and China, in in the process find that a third nation was playing everyone against each other. At this point I took another trip back to Jack’s past, when Admiral James Greer first hired Jack Ryan and the time that Jack interacted with the undercover world of CIA operatives, some known as Red Rabbit. By now Jack’s son, Jack Jr. had gotten the itch and very quietly entered the family “business” mainly as an analyst for a non-descript company, that happened to secretly assist in dealing with those who presented a danger to the United States. Young Jack was thrown into the teeth of the tiger. It was certainly a delicate meeting between father and son when the truth of Jack Jr’s involvement in “ops” came out. It took seven years before more of Jack Jr’s exploits came to light, but I relished each and every one of them, from wanting an extremist terrorist dead or alive, to helping John Clark and Jr’s father deal with an old enemy who is locked on causing trouble and scandal for Jack Ryan Sr’s re-run for President, to dealing with another terrorist group’s threat vector against the company Jack Jr works for. There was a brief interlude to explore a plot against the US where I was introduced to characters I hoped would provide for many exciting tales in the future. Along the way there were many colorful characters, Mary Pat and Ed Foley, Domingo Chavez, Dan Murray to name a few. Now there is one more story to be told by the Master, I eagerly await it’s publication, for as of today there will be no more from the mind of a man who could spin a tale and take you on a journey like no other. Sure there may be imitation, which as they say is the sincerest form of flattery; however, it won’t be the same….. May you Rest In Peace Tom Clancy, and may your family find solace in this time of grief.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 17:45:30 +0000
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