Page 143 of Tom Clancy Line of Sight

Jack and Kolak fell into their seats, literally, and buckled up. Jack knew they needed to clear the area before those warheads—

A blinding white light erupted beneath the climbing Eurocopter, screaming for altitude.

But they weren’t high enough.

The thermobaric munitions burned away the oxygen in the surrounding atmosphere, creating an enormous vacuum, robbing the rotors of their lift capability. The chopper bucked and yawed as the pilot fought for control in the turbulence.

Just as she stabilized, a concussive wave slapped the thin-skinned aircraft hard, hurling it toward the ground.

69

WASHINGTON, D.C.

The President sighed with relief as the applause and cheers rang out from the VTC monitors in the Situation Room.

“And still over four minutes to spare,” Arnie said, smiling. “Not bad.”

The second Tomahawk was still providing a live video feed of the thermobaric explosion. The entire compound was leveled, and whatever wasn’t destroyed was burning.

“We have a problem, Mr. President,” the Russian president said.

Ryan’s relief disappeared. “What problem?”

“My intelligence chief just reviewed the Tomahawk video feed. It cannot be determined with certainty, but it appears that there were forty rockets on the launcher.”

“Yes, that is correct. Why is that a problem?”

“It is a problem because eighty thermobaric rockets were stolen.”

President Ryan turned to his chief of staff, whose shocked face mirrored his own.

Where the hell were those other missiles?

“Jack? This is your dad. Come in, please.”

No answer.

“Jack? Jack?”

“He’s not responding, sir,” the comms tech said.

“Keep trying, please,” Ryan said.

“Mr. President, what do you suggest?” the Russian president asked again.

“One moment, please,” Ryan said. He put the Russian on mute, the only person on the VTC who wasn’t part of his inner circle.

“Any thoughts, people?”

“Another launcher?” Admiral Dean offered.

“Maybe,” Ryan said. “But we have no indication of that.”

“Or we just missed the other forty missiles. Maybe they were stacked in that building where we couldn’t see them,” Arnie said.

“Or maybe they’re being saved for a future operation,” Foley suggested.

“No. Whoever planned this attack only had one launcher, and they had one giant opportunity. I know what I’d do with an extra forty warheads if I couldn’t launch them.” Ryan unmuted the Russian president.