TOM CLANCY’S OP-CENTER
TOM CLANCY’S NET FORCE
OP-CENTER
NET FORCE
MIR ROR IMAGE
HIDDEN AGENDAS
GAMES OF STATE
NIGHT MOVES
ACTS OF WAR
BR EAK ING POINT
BALANCE OF POWER
POINT OF IMPACT
STATE OF SIEGE
CYBER NATION
DIVIDE AND CONQUER
STATE OF WAR
LINE OF CONTROL
CHANGING OF THE GUAR D
MISSION OF HONOR
SPR INGBOAR D
SEA OF FIR E
THE ARCHIMEDES EFFECT
CALL TO TR EASON
WAR OF EAGLES
Created by Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg
TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS
POLITIK A
COLD WAR
RUTHLESS.COM
CUTTING EDGE
SHADOW WATCH
ZERO HOUR
BIO-STRIKE
WILD CARD
Tom Clancy’s
®
COMBAT OPS
WRIT TEN BY
D A V I D M I C H A E L S
THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
TOM CLANCY’S GHOST RECON®: COMBAT OPS
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with Ubisoft Entertainment S.A.
Copyright © 2011 by Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. All rights reserved. Tom Clancy, Ghost Recon, the
Soldier Icon, Ubisoft, and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the U.S.
and in other countries.
Interior text design by Kristin del Rosario.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank my editor, Mr. Tom Colgan, for this great
opportunity.
Mr. Tom Clancy and all of the folks at Ubisoft who cre-
ated the Ghost Recon game certainly deserve my gratitude,
as well as the following individuals:
Mr. Sam Strachman of Longtail Studios helped me
develop this story from the ground up. His contributions
were great, and his willingness to take risks with the story
and characters was deeply appreciated.
Mr. James Ide served as my military researcher and story
expert. He reviewed every page, relying on his extensive
military background to provide criticism, advice, and sug-
gestions that greatly improved the manuscript.
Finally, Nancy, Lauren, and Kendall Telep offered their
eternal patience and support. Every manuscript is a battle,
and I’m fortunate to have these ladies in my platoon.
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
— Titus Andronicus, Act II, sc. 3, l. 38
The sword is ever suspended.
—Voltaire
PROLOGUE
“You think I’m guilty?” I ask her.
She smirks. “My opinion doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.”
“How do you expect me to formulate an opinion
when I don’t know your story?”
I sigh through a curse.
My name is Captain Scott Mitchell, United States
Army. I’m a member of a Special Forces group called the
Ghosts. When I’m on the job, out on a mission, I don’t
exist. I’d thought we operated with impunity.
But when I was ordered back home and confined to
quarters, I realized everything had changed. The same
organization that helped conceal my operations and
erase all evidence of the people I’d killed had been forced
16
GH OS T RE C O N
to make an example of me. They had changed. I had
changed. And we could never go back.
People don’t have to talk. They can invite you to kiss
them . . . or even kill them with their eyes. Talk is cheap,
but I’ve crawled through enough rat holes to learn that
for some, life is even cheaper.
I had permission. I did what I had to do. They say I
had a choice, but I didn’t. I have never done anything
more difficult in my life.
And now they want me to pay for my sins.
I haven’t slept in two days. The growing humidity
here at Fort Bragg makes it harder to breathe, and when
I go to the window and run a finger across the glass, it
comes up sweaty. The humidity is all I have to keep me
company.
My father taught me that it’s easier to cut wood with
the grain rather than against it, and I carried that simple
metaphor into the Army. I promised myself to remain
apolitical, do the missions, go with the grain, not because
I was trying to cop out but because I just wanted to be a