Command authority : Jack Ryan ; bk. 13
(Book)

"A Jack Ryan novel"--Jacket.

In Command Authority, Jack Ryan, a former CIA agent, is now into his second term as the president of United States. His son, Jack Ryan Jr. is working as a financial analyst in London. When Russia take-over the oil company of a Scottish billionaire on the flimsy ground of non-payment of taxes, Jack Jr. knew that something fishy was going on. He decides to investigate and get to the bottom of the matter. In Washington, DC, an ex-FSB agent and an old Russian friend is mysteriously poisoned with radioactive agent during a luncheon with President Ryan. Though a clear set up, Russia accused the CIA's hand in the poisoning and started oiling its war engines. Valeri Volodin, the Russian president is determined to establish Russian hegemony in the region. With his nefarious designs bankrolled by the money earned from the export of gas and oil, Valeri is hopeful of steering Russia back to the Old Way. To achieve this, he's willing to sell his soul to the devil. When NATO forces foiled Russia's bid to conquer Estonia, Russia turned south to the Ukraine and the autonomous territory of Crimea, with the plan to go as far as Kiev. With the rumblings of conflict growing louder, President Ryan has to act. He knows that the US cannot intervene directly as Ukraine is not a NATO member. He has to find a way to stop the Russian invasion, and time is running out. Meanwhile, Jack Jr. stumbles onto a decades old case that has a connection with the present imbroglio. It is a case President Ryan investigated thirty years ago when he was a young CIA operative in London. It was supposed to be a simple support mission to investigate the death of an operative who had been looking into suspicious banking activities at a Swiss bank. He uncovered not only financial deceit, but also the existence of a KGB assassin, code-named Zenith. He was never able to find the killer. Now, thirty years later, Jack Jr. is determined to unearth the mystery as it will enable President Ryan to counter President Valeri Volodin, without resorting to violent means. Who was the killer? Is the Russian president Valeri Volodin the secretive KGB assassin?