Chapter By Chapter> Tom Clancy’s Op-Center: MIrror Image chapter 41

Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter (or possibly multiple chapter for this one) of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

In our previous chapter we found out what’s on the train, and that Junior may not be part of the conspiracy but he’s an easy sucker for it.

That’s the danger of hero worship. Idolizing someone is fine; so is wanting to be like someone else. Having a role model is a good thing…provided the role model is a good one. Orlov the younger has issues with his father and Kosigan is clearly the type of man willing to take advantage of anyone to achieve his goals. Even restoring the USSR would fit in with his goals given how important the military and KGB were back then. Power, control, respect (“respect” is earned, not forced, but tell that to any gangbanger, street punk, extremist, or power monger), and whatever else will help him move up in the world is okay with him. Communists like to believe it’s all for the people, but ask the people who suffer from it if they agree. If they’re not afraid to be shot, kicked off the bread line for any bit of food, or are afraid of anything else, they’ll tell you know and that’s why they come to America.

Speaking of which, we’re back to America and Op-Center. Let’s see what our heroes are up to, since thus far in this book they’ve been better at being heroes than the last book. I wonder what changed between books. For them not much time passed since the Korean bombing, but it’s been a few years for the reader and the author.

Chapter 41: Monday, 7:10 PM, Washington, DC

It’s a good thing Op-Center got approval for Striker to go underground in Russia…given that they’re already starting the operation. What follows is Paul and Mike going over the various strategies to get Striker out of there if something goes wrong. Normally this is a narrative “mistake” because once the audience or reader knows the full plan the drama requires something to go wrong. We know Orlov the older is already suspicious of stuff, though Op-Center doesn’t, but it’s following the strange operations Op-Center is trying to cover up that’s exposing Commie Op-Center to the conspiracy coup. Speaking of which, they’re also trying to figure out how to not alert Grozny to their attempt to interfere despite the terrorist insisting they don’t or face more bombings. Nice that they didn’t forget the incident that backfired and got Op-Center more involved instead of less.

One of the evacuation plans involves a prototype stealth plane, the Mosquito. There are also contingencies for keeping it out of Russian hands, but the interesting thing is that it was stored in South Korea as it was intended to be available for the aforementioned bombing during an attempt to stop Reunification talks of the two halves of Korea in the first book. I don’t recall if that was brought up in the first book, but it is a nice callback. Meanwhile any history on Paul and his motivations is rather short, which I’m okay with. I don’t mind the flavor text so long as it doesn’t go on past the point of keeping my interest. Every other bit of history and procedure benefits the story and I’m always okay with that.

However, the chapter ends with a report that the train they’ve been following, the one with Orlov Jr, is doing something. We know he ordered it to stop along the route and that he’s foolishly thinking he needs to help the war because he doesn’t know about the plot to overthrow the current government. It’s still not completely clear whose side he’d be on. As to what they’ve discovered, we’ll have to wait a while.

Next time two short chapters await us and neither of them follow the train. What we’ll get from them we’ll find out next time.