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Zusatztext The Cold War is over. And chaos is setting in. The new President of Russiais trying to create a new democratic regime. But there are strong elementswithin the country that are trying to stop him: the ruthless Russian mafia!the right wing nationalists! and those nefarious forces that will do whateverit takes to return Russia to the days of the Czar. Op-Center! the newlyfounded but highly successful crisis management team! begins a race againstthe clock and against the hardliners. Their task is made even more difficultby the discovery of a Russian counterpart...but this one's controlled bythose same repressive hardliners. Two rival Op-Centers! virtual mirrorimages of each other. But if this mirror cracks! it'll be much more thanseven years bad luck. Informationen zum Autor A little more than thirty years ago Tom Clancy was a Maryland insurance broker with a passion for naval history. Years before, he had been an English major at Baltimore’s Loyola College and had always dreamed of writing a novel. His first effort, The Hunt for Red October , sold briskly as a result of rave reviews, then catapulted onto the New York Times bestseller list after President Reagan pronounced it “the perfect yarn.” From that day forward, Clancy established himself as an undisputed master at blending exceptional realism and authenticity, intricate plotting, and razor-sharp suspense. He passed away in October 2013. Klappentext The Cold War is over. And chaos is setting in. The new President of Russia is trying to create a democratic regime. But there are strong elements within the country that are trying to stop him: the ruthless Russian mafia, the right wing nationalists, and those nefarious forces that will do whatever it takes to return Russia to the days of the Czar. Op-Center, the newly-founded but highly successful crisis management team, begins a race against the clock and against the hardliners. Their task is made even more difficult by the discovery of a Russian counterpart . . . but this one's controlled by those same repressive hardliners and represents everything Op-Center stands for. Two rival Op-Centers, virtual mirror images of each other. But if this mirror cracks, it'll be more than seven years of bad luck . . . PROLOGUE Friday, 5:50 P.M., St. Petersburg "Pavel," said Piotr Volodya, "I don't understand." Pavel Odina squeezed the steering wheel tightly. He looked unpleasantly at the man sitting next to him in the passenger's seat of the van. "You don't understand what, Piotr?" "You forgive the French," Piotr replied, scratching a woolly sideburn, "so why not the Germans? Both of them have invaded Mother Russia." Pavel frowned. "If you Can't see the difference, Piotr, you're a fool." "That's not an answer," said Ivan, one of four men seated in the back. "It happens to be true," grinned Eduard, who was seated beside him, "but Ivan is right. It isn't an answer." Pavel shifted gears. This was the part of the nightly, half-hour commute to the Nepokorennykh Prospekt apartments that he hated most. Just two minutes out from the Hermitage, they had to slow as they neared the bottleneck at the Neva River. They were mired in traffic while his political nemeses were proceeding at full speed. Pavel pulled a neatly-rolled cigarette from his shirt pocket and Piotr lit it for him. "Thanks, Piotr." "You still haven't answered me," Piotr said. "I will," Pavel insisted, "when we've gotten onto the bridge. I Can't think and curse at the same time." Pavel swung the van suddenly from the center lane to the left lane, jolting the men to the other side. Having fallen asleep when they left the Hermitage, both Oleg and Konstantin awoke with a jolt. "You're too impatient, Pavel," Ivan said. "What are you in such a rush to get home to, yo...
