Rainbow Six (1997)

Table of Contents

 

 

Number-one bestselling author Tom Clancy goes beyond anything he has done before in
Rainbow Six
. It is his most shocking story to date—and closer to reality than any government would care to admit . . .

 

At its heart is ex-Navy SEAL John Clark, now the newly named head of Rainbow, an international task force dedicated to combating terrorism. In a trial by fire, Clark is confronted with a violent chain of seemingly separate international incidents. But there is no way to predict the real threat: a group of terrorists like none the world has ever encountered, a band of men and women so extreme that their success could literally mean the end of life on earth as we know it . . .

 

“ACTION-PACKED . . . chock-full of munitions experts, sharpshooters and all-around daredevils . . . meticulously researched and carefully plotted.”
—The New York Times Book Review

 

“ATTENTION ON DECK! Ex-Navy SEAL John Clark and his son-in-law Domingo “Ding” Chavez, who locked and loaded in previous Clancy blockbusters
Clear and Present Danger
and
Without Remorse
, are back in action, defending freedom and playing fast and loose, as always, with any rules that get in the way . . . a gripping plot . . . bolt-action mayhem.”
—People

 

“CLANCY IS A NATURAL STORYTELLER . . .
Rainbow Six
shows how much [he] has improved his character development. He still provides the thrills. But we also identify with Clark and his Rainbow colleagues.”
—USA Today

 

“MR. CLANCY IS IN HIS ELEMENT. His description of special-forces operations is as exciting as anything a reader will find . . . When the door blows open and the shooting starts, nobody does it better.”
—The Dallas Morning News

 

“[A] FAST-PACED, RETRO-CLANCY TALE . . . A leaner, meaner novel that allows Clancy’s undeniable story-telling talents to come to the fore.”
—The Cleveland Plain Dealer

 

 

“A RIPPING READ . . . a strong premise and world-class action sequences . . . All of Clancy’s fans . . . will revel in the writer’s continued mastery at action writing;
Rainbow
’s engagements . . . are immensely suspenseful, breathtaking combos of expertly detailed combat and primal emotion.”

 

“VINTAGE CLANCY.”
—San Antonio Express-News

 

“
RAINBOW SIX
MOVES FAST AND FURIOUSLY AND KEEPS YOU IN SUSPENSE FROM BEGINNING TO END.”
—Bookpage

 

“ONCE I GOT INTO
RAINBOW SIX
, I COULDN’T PUT IT DOWN . . . As always, Clancy tells a dandy story. His fans will storm the bookstores to snatch up
Rainbow Six
, and they will get their money’s worth . . . splendid technical detail and expert pacing.”
—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

 

“I PRONOUNCE MYSELF A BORN-AGAIN CLANCY FAN . . . taut, well-constructed and eminently readable . . . Clancy manages to keep things moving. Heck, the book starts with a hijacking and things only get more interesting.”

 

“EXPLOSIVE.”
—Kirkus Reviews

 

 

 

“HEART-STOPPING ACTION
. . .
CLANCY STILL REIGNS.”

 

 

“A SHOCKER CLIMAX SO PLAUSIBLE YOU’LL WONDER WHY IT HASN’T YET HAPPENED.”

 

 

“BREATHLESSLY EXCITING.”—
The Washington Post

 

 

“THE ULTIMATE WAR GAME . . . BRILLIANT.”

 

 

“A HIGH PITCH OF EXCITEMENT.”

 

 

“
CARDINAL
EXCITES, ILLUMINATES . . . A REAL PAGE-TURNER.”—
Los Angeles Daily News

 

 

“A CRACKLING GOOD YARN.”—The
Washington Post

 

 

“CLANCY AT HIS BEST . . . NOT TO BE MISSED.”

 

 

“HIGHLY ENTERTAINING.”
—The Wall Street Journal

NOVELS BY TOM CLANCY

CREATED BY TOM CLANCY AND STEVE PIECZENIK
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Mirror Image
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Games of State
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Acts of War
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Balance of Power
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: State of Siege
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Divide and Conquer
Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: Line of Control

CREATED BY TOM CLANCY AND MARTIN GREENBERG
Tom Clancy’s Power Plays: Politika
Tom Clancy’s Power Plays:
ruthless.com
Tom Clancy’s Power Plays: Shadow Watch
Tom Clancy’s Power Plays: Bio-Strike

NONFICTION
Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship
Armored Cav: A Guided Tour of an Armored Cavalry Regiment
Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing
Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit
Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force
Carrier: A Guided Tour of an Aircraft Carrier
Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Forces

Into the Storm: A Study in Command
(written with General Fred Franks)
Every Man a Tiger
(written with General Charles Horner)

This is a work of fiction. The events described here are imaginary; the
settings and characters are fictitious and not intended to represent
specific places or living persons.

 

RAINBOW SIX

 

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with
the author

 

PRINTING HISTORY
G. P. Putnam’s Sons edition / August 1998
Berkley edition / September 1999

 

All rights reserved.

Copyright © 1998 by Rubicon, Inc.

Photograph of the author by John Earle.
This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part,
by mimeograph or any other means, without permission.
For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

 

The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is
http://www.penguinputnam.com

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-00229-2

 

BERKLEY®
Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,
a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
BERKLEY and the “B” logo
are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.

 

 

 

FOR ALEXANDRA MARIA
lux mea mundi

—HOMER

John Clark had more time in airplanes than most licensed pilots, and he knew the statistics as well as any of them, but he still didn’t like the idea of crossing the ocean on a twin-engine airliner. Four was the right number of engines, he thought, because losing one meant losing only 25 percent of the aircraft’s available power, whereas on this United 777, it meant losing
half.
Maybe the presence of his wife, one daughter, and a son-in-law made him a little itchier than usual. No, that wasn’t right. He wasn’t itchy at all, not about flying anyway. It was just a lingering . . . what? he asked himself. Next to him, in the window seat Sandy was immersed in the mystery she’d started the day before, while he was trying to concentrate on the current issue of
The Economist,
and wondering what was putting the cold-air feeling on the back of his neck. He started to look around the cabin for a sign of danger but abruptly stopped himself. There wasn’t anything wrong that he could see, and he didn’t want to seem like a nervous flyer to the cabin crew. He sipped at his glass of white wine, shook his shoulders, and went back to the article on how peaceful the new world was.