He doesnt have to like you, and youre not going to be Director. But you will be here, Trent told him. Deputy Director, maybe, the congressman thought to himself.

Well see. Fellows said. What if things turn out differently in November? Fowler may just screw it up yet.

You have my word, Sam, Trent replied. If that happens, it happens.

There is one wild card, though, Ritter pointed out.

Ive already discussed that with Bill Shaw, Moore said. Its funny. The only law he actually broke was illegal entry. None of the data he got out of her was technically classified. Amazing, isnt it?

Ryan shook his head and left work early. He had an appointment with his attorney, who would soon be establishing an educational trust for seven kids living in Florida.

The infantrymen were cycled through Fort MacDills special-operations center. Told that their operation had been a success, they were sworn to secrecy, given their promotions, and sent on to new postings. Except for one.

Chavez? a voice called.

Yo, Mr. Clark.

Buy you dinner?

There a good Mexican place around here?

Maybe I can find one.

Whats the occasion?

Lets talk jobs, Clark said. Theres an opening where I work. It pays better than what you do now. Youll have to go back to school for a couple of years, though.

Ive been thinkin about that, Chavez replied. Hed been thinking that he was officer material. If hed been in command instead of Ramirez, maybeor maybe not. But he did want to find out.

Youre good, kid. I want you to work with me.

Chavez thought about that. At least hed get a dinner out of the idea.

Captain Bronco Winters was dispatched to an F-15 squadron in Germany, where he distinguished himself and was soon a flight leader. He was a calmer young man now. Hed exorcised the demons of his mothers death. Winters would never look back. Hed had a job, and done it.

It was a cold, dismal fall after a hot, muggy summer in Washington. The political city emptied out for the presidential election, which shared that November with all of the House seats and a third of the Senate, plus hundreds of political-appointment slots in the executive branch. In the early fall, the FBI broke several Cuban-run spy rings, but strangely that was politically neutral. Although arresting a drug ring was a police success, arresting a spy ring was seen as a failure because of the existence of a spy ring in the first place. There was no political advantage except in the Cuban refugee community, whose votes might as well already have been cast anyway, since Fowler was talking about opening a dialogue with the Cuba they had left. The President regained the lead after his own convention, but ran a lackluster campaign and fired two key political advisers. But most of all, it was time for a change, and though it was close, J. Robert Fowler carried the election with a bare 2 percent advantage in the popular vote. Some called it a mandate; others called it a sloppy campaign on both sides. The latter was closer to the truth, Ryan thought after it was all over.

All over the city and its environs, displaced appointees made preparations to move homewherever home wasor to move into law offices so that they could stay in the area. Congress hadnt changed very much, but Congress rarely did. Ryan remained in his office, wondering if hed be confirmed as the next DDI. It was too soon to tell. One thing he did know was that the President was still President, and still a man of honor, whatever mistakes hed made. Before he left, pardons would be issued to those who needed them. Theyd go on the books, but no one was expected to notice, and after things were explained to the Fowler peopleTrent would handle thatit wasnt expected that anyone ever would.

On the Saturday after the election, Dan Murray drove Moira Wolfe to Andrews Air Force Base, where a jet was waiting for them. It took just over three hours before they landed at Guantnamo. A leftover from the Spanish-American War, Gitmo, as its called, is the only American military installation on Communist soil, a thorn stuck in Castros side that rankled him as much as he rankled his oversized neighbor across the Florida Strait.

Moira was doing well at the Department of Agriculture, executive secretary to one of the departments top career executives. She was thinner now, but Murray wasnt concerned about that. Shed taken up walking for exercise, and was doing well with her psychological counseling. She was the last of the victims, and he hoped that this trip would help.

So this was the day, Cortez thought. He was surprised and disappointed at his fate, but resigned to it. Hed gambled greatly and lost greatly. He feared his fate, but he wouldnt let that show, not to Americans. They loaded him into the back of a sedan and drove toward the gate. He saw another car ahead of his, but made no special note of it.

And there it was, the tall barbed-wire fence, manned on one side by American Marines in their multicolor fatiguesthey called them utilities, Cortez had learnedand on the other by Cubans in their battle dress. Perhaps, just perhaps, Cortez thought, he might talk his way out of this. The car halted fifty meters from the gate. The corporal to his left pulled him out of the car and unlocked his handcuffs, lest he take them across and so enrich a Communist country. Such trivial nonsense, Flix thought.

Come on, Pancho, the black corporal said. Time to go home.

Even without the cuffs, both Marines grabbed him by the arms to help him walk to his mother country. There at the gate he saw two officers waiting for him, impassively for now. They would probably embrace him when he came across, which wouldnt mean a thing. In either case, Cortez was determined to meet his fate like a man. He straightened his back and smiled at those waiting for him as though they were family members waiting at the airport gate.

Cortez, a mans voice called.

They stepped out of the guard shack, just inside the gate. He didnt know the man, but the woman . . .

Flix stopped, and the motion of the two Marines nearly toppled him. She just stood there, staring at him. She didnt speak a word, and Cortez didnt know what to say. The smile vanished from his lips. The look in her eyes made him shrink within himself. Hed never meant to hurt her. To use her, yes, of course, but never really . . .

Come on, Pancho, the corporal said, heaving the man forward. They were just at the gate.

Oh, by the way, this heres yours, Pancho, the corporal said, tucking a videocassette in his belt. Welcome home, asshole. A final push.

Welcome home, Colonel, the senior of the two Cubans said. He embraced his former comrade and whispered: You have much to answer for!

But before they dragged him off, Flix turned one last time, seeing Moira, just standing there with the man he didnt know, and his last thought as he turned away was that once again shed understood: silence was the greatest passion of all.

Novels by Tom Clancy.

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.

RED STORM RISING.

PATRIOT GAMES.

THE CARDINAL OF THE KREMLIN.

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER.

THE SUM OF ALL FEARS.

WITHOUT REMORSE.

DEBT OF HONOR.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS.

RAINBOW SIX.

THE BEAR AND THE DRAGON.

RED RABBIT.

THE TEETH OF THE TIGER.

SSN: STRATEGIES OF SUBMARINE WARFARE.

Nonfiction.

SUBMARINE: A GUIDED TOUR INSIDE A NUCLEAR WARSHIP.

ARMORED CAV: A GUIDED TOUR OF AN ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT..

FIGHTER WING: A GUIDED TOUR OF AN AIR FORCE COMBAT WING.

MARINE: A GUIDED TOUR OF A MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT.

AIRBORNE: A GUIDED TOUR OF AN AIRBORNE TASK FORCE.

CARRIER: A GUIDED TOUR OF AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER.

SPECIAL FORCES: A GUIDED TOUR OF U.S. ARMY SPECIAL FORCES.

INTO THE STORM: A STUDY IN COMMAND.

(written with General Fred Franks, Jr., Ret., and Tony Koltz)