General Andropov acknowledged Kalinin’s order. “It is a wise decision, Mr. President. We will make America pay for what they’ve done.”
COMPLETE CAST OF CHARACTERS
KEVIN HARDISON, chief of staff
BOB MCVEIGH, secretary of defense
DAWN CABRAL, secretary of state
CHRISTINE O’CONNOR, national security advisor
BILL DUBOSE (Colonel), senior military aide
SHEREE HINTON, White House intern
ANDY WHEELER (General), Supreme Allied Commander, Europe
BRIAN RETTMAN (Admiral), Chief of Naval Operations
DAVE THAMES (Commander), Commanding Officer
JOE WHITE (Lieutenant Commander), Executive Officer
MURRAY WILSON (Captain), Commanding Officer
DAVE BEASLEY (Lieutenant Commander), Executive Officer
KELLY HAAS (Lieutenant Commander), Supply Officer
CHARLIE EATON (Lieutenant), Navigator
MIKE LAWSON (Lieutenant), Weapons Officer
JAYNE STUCKER (Lieutenant), Junior Officer
CHRIS SHROYER (Lieutenant), Junior Officer
PAT LEENSTRA (Electronics Technician Second Class), Quartermaster
JOHN MCNEIL (Commander), SEAL Team Commander
JAKE HARRISON (Lieutenant), SEAL Platoon Officer-in-Charge
ROB MAYDWELL (Special Warfare Operator First Class), breacher
WAYNE BROWN (Special Warfare Operator Second Class), communicator
RICHARD MENDELSON (Special Warfare Operator Second Class), sniper
JOE ALEO (Commander), Medical Officer
BRAD WALLER (Commander), Commanding Officer
GEORGE SKEENS (Lieutenant), Junior Officer
DAVID RANDLE (Captain), Commanding Officer
BRENT SITES (Captain), Combat Direction Center (CDC) Operations Officer
BILL HOUSTON / call sign Samurai (Lieutenant Commander), F/A-18E pilot
DAVE HERNANDEZ / call sign TexMex (Lieutenant), F/A-18E pilot
RICH TILGHMAN (Captain), Commanding Officer
DOLORES GONZALEZ (Captain), Combat Direction Center (CDC) Operations Officer
JOE MARTIN (Captain), Delta Force team leader
PATRICK TERRILL (Staff Sergeant), Delta Force team member
MIKE PECK (Major), B-1B pilot
LEO FALARDEAU (Lieutenant), MH-60R pilot
JOHN MARTIN (Lieutenant Commander), P-8A Tactical Coordinator
TIM JOHNS (Cryptologic Technician Networks Second Class), U.S. Cyber Warfare Command
STU NELSON (Staff Sergeant), Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician
JOHN BROWN (Captain), Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal company commander
JESSICA CHERRY, director of the Central Intelligence Agency
JOHN KAUFMANN, Central Intelligence Agency interrogator
KATRINA WETZEL, U.S. ambassador to the People’s Republic of China
NATASHA GRAHAM, U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation
BARRY GRAHAM, aide to the U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation
MARK JOHNSON, Russian translator (American embassy)
ELENA KRAYEV, Russian translator (CIA agent)
YURI KALININ, president
BORIS CHERNOV, defense minister
ANDREI LAVROV, foreign minister
SERGEI IVANOV, national security advisor
MAKSIM POSNIAK, director of security and disarmament, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
SEMYON GOREV, director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)
ANDREI TUPOLEV, ambassador to the United States
DANIL SOKOLOV, ambassador to the People’s Republic of China
SERGEI ANDROPOV (General), chief of the general staff
ALEXEI VOLODIN (Colonel General), Commander-in-Chief, Aerospace Forces
VIKTOR GLUKOV (Colonel General), Commander-in-Chief, Ground Forces
OLEG LIPOVSKY (Admiral), Commander-in-Chief, Navy
LEONID SHIMKO (Admiral), Commander, Northern Fleet
PAVEL KLOKOV (Admiral), Commander, Pacific Fleet
VITALY VASILIEV (Major General), Commanding Officer, 448th Missile Brigade
DMITRI PAVLOV (Captain First Rank), Commanding Officer
MIKHAIL EVANOFF (Captain Second Rank), First Officer
LUDVIG DOLINSKI (Captain Lieutenant), Central Command Post Watch Officer
VADIM ALEYEV (Major), Sukhoi Su-35S pilot
ANTON BELIKOV (Captain Lieutenant), Spetsnaz platoon leader
ROMAN SAVVIN (Sergeant First Class), VDV paratrooper
ANTON FEDOROV, detonator designer
VAGIT ALEKPEROV, president of LUKoil Oil Company
BOGDAN MELIKOV, supervisor at Omsk Oil Refinery
BELARUSIAN
ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO, president
EDWARD AYMAR (Colonel), Commander, 11th Guards Mechanized Brigade
XIANG CHENGLEI, president of China and general secretary of the Party
XIE HAI, president’s executive assistant
DEEPAK MADAN, president
ANKUR KUMAR, minister of defense
RAHUL GUPTA, minister of external affairs
NAVEEN CHANDRA, ambassador to the United States
JOHAN VAN DER BIE, secretary-general
SUSAN GATES, United Kingdom prime minister
FRANÇOIS LOUBET, French president
EMMA SCHMIDT, German chancellor
DALIA GRYBAUSKAITĖ, Lithuanian president
ALEX RUDENKO, Opposition Bloc politician
RANDY GUIMOND, Russian SVR agent
AUTHOR’S NOTE
I hope you enjoyed reading Blackmail as much as I enjoyed writing it.
This was the most enjoyable book for me to write thus far. My first book—The Trident Deception—was tortuous, as I was still learning how to write, and it went through many revisions before reaching the final version. (Over two hundred pages ended up on the cutting room floor, and the ending is quite different than the one my publisher bought. It’s a long story, but the short version is that in the original novel, everyone died at the end — Wilson and Christine included. However, my publisher wanted a sequel, and that’s hard to do if everyone dies. So I resurrected Christine and Wilson. If the scenes in The Trident Deception where it appears they die come across as convincing, that’s because they originally died in those scenes.)
Each book continues to be a learning experience as I get feedback from readers, gaining a better understanding of what works and doesn’t from a thriller reader’s perspective. Due to how early my publisher requires my manuscripts (Empire Rising was turned in before The Trident Deception was published), Ice Station Nautilus was the first book where I had a chance to incorporate reader comments, and Blackmail incorporates additional feedback. I hope you like how it turned out.