Two men possess vital data on Russia's Star Wars missile defense system. One of them is CARDINAL--America's highest agent in the Kremlin--and he's about to be terminated by the KGB. The other is the one American who can save CARDINAL and lead the world to the brink of peace--or war. Jack Ryan returns, making decisions based on his conscience and his strict virtues, and at the same time, Clancy introduces Ryan's counterpart-the enigmatic Mr. Clark. While Ryan's choices revolve around ethics, Clark's life is governed by cold reason. Their relationship develops into an intriguing contrast in Clancy's later novels, and Mr. Clark gets his start in Cardinal.
