Clancy, Tom - Jack Ryan 07 -The Sum of All Fears by Clancy Tom

Author:Clancy, Tom [Clancy, Tom]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 20

Competition

A t the halfway point of the NFL season, the Vikings and

Chargers were still the class of the league. Shrugging off their

overtime loss to Minnesota, San Diego took their revenge the

next week at home against doormat Indianapolis, whom they

buried 45-3, while the Vikings had to struggle against the

Giants in a Monday Night game, emerging on the sweet side

of a 21-17 score. Tony Wills passed a thousand rushing yards

in the third quarter of the season's eighth game, and was

already consensus rookie of the year, plus becoming the

official NFL spokesman for the President's Campaign A gainst

Substance A buse (CA SA ). The Vikings stumbled against the

Forty-Niners, losing 24-16, which evened their record with

San Diego's 7-1, but their nearest competition in the NFL

Central - 'Black and Blue' - division was the Bears at 4-3.

Parity in the National Football League had come and gone.

The only serious challenge in the A merican Conference came,

as always, from the Dolphins and Raiders, both of which

were on the Chargers' dance card for the tail end of the

season.

None of this was the least comfort to Ryan. Sleep came hard,

despite the enveloping fatigue that seemed to define what his

life had become. Before when thoughts had plagued his

night, he'd come to the windows facing the Chesapeake Bay

and stood, watching the ships and boats pass a few miles

away. Now he sat and stared. His legs were weary and weak,

always tired, until standing took a conscious effort. His

stomach rebelled at the acid produced by stress and

augmented by caffeine and alcohol. He needed sleep,

slumber to relax his muscles, dreamless oblivion to loosen

his mind from the day-today decisions. He needed exercise.

He needed many things. He needed to be a man again.

Instead he got wakefulness, a mind that would not stop

turning over the thoughts of the day and the failures of the

night.

Jack knew that Liz Elliot hated him. He even thought he knew

why, that first meeting a few years before in Chicago where

she'd been in a bad mood and he'd been in one also, and

their introduction had been one of harsh words. The

difference was that he tended to forget slights

- most of them, anyway - and she did not; and she had the

ear of the President. Because of her, his role in the Vatican

Treaty would never be known. The one thing he had done

that was untainted by his work at the A gency

— Ryan was proud of what he'd done in CIA , but knew that it

was narrowly political or strategic, aimed at the betterment of

his own country, while the Vatican Treaty had been for the

betterment of the whole world. That one proud insight.

Gone, credited to others. Jack didn't want sole credit. It had

not been exclusively his work, but he did want fair mention

as one of the players. Was that asking too much? Fourteen-

hour days, much of them spent in cars, the three times he'd

risked his life for his country - for what? So that some

political bitch from Bennington could tear up his evaluations.

Liz, you wouldn't even be there except foi me and what I

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.