Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda
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| Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda |
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| Author | David Michaels |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Spy novel |
| Publisher | Penguin Group |
| Publication date | November 1, 2005 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 326 pp (first edition, paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-425-20422-7 (first edition, paperback) |
| Preceded by | Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell |
| Followed by | Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Checkmate |
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda is a 2005 novel in the Splinter Cell series and a sequel to the 2004 novel Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. Both novels were written by Raymond Benson under the pseudonym David Michaels. This is the final Splinter Cell novel to be written by Benson. The book was released on November 1, 2005 and was successful, reaching number 9 on the NY Times mass market paperback best-seller list.
Operation Barracuda, like its precursor, is told in the first-person from the view of NSA black-ops agent Sam Fisher.
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[edit] Plot summary
Taking place almost a year after the first novel, the plot picks up with Third Echelon attempting to search and bring to justice the members of The Shop, an international arms dealing ring that played a large part in the first novel. While Sam Fisher is working to collect information on The Shop in Ukraine and Russia, Third Echelon is continuing its investigation into how the Shop had previously managed to gain the identity of a number of Splinter Cells and murder them, another plot element from the first book.
However, when a German scientist named Jeinsen, who defected to the United States from East Germany long ago, goes missing and then reappears dead in Hong Kong, heads begin to turn. Jeinsen had developed a new submarine vehicle for the United States Navy, that could theoretically carry a nuclear weapon. Sam Fisher is sent to learn why the scientist was in Hong Kong and who killed him; it is suspected that a local group of Triads named the Lucky Dragons had involvement. What Third Echelon does not yet realize is that Jeinsen, the Lucky Dragons, The Shop, and a traitor inside their own government are all part of a much larger picture involving a rogue Chinese general named Lan Tun, with ambitions to invade and conquer Taiwan.
With Sam Fisher not even aware that he is the world's only hope of stopping an international crisis, he has to balance his job and a new romantic relationship that he is hoping will finally bring happiness to his life.
Ultimately, General Tun threatens to use the submarine vehicle to detonate an MRUUV (a very deadly nuclear bomb) off the coast of California, destroying LA with a massive tsunami, unless America abandons Taiwan when it is invaded by China. Fisher manages to foil the plot, and all the conspirators involved including the traitor, the general, and the Shop are viciously gunned down.
[edit] Characters
A Splinter Cell operative and main protagonist of the story. A professional Third Echelon operative, trained in all manner of covert activities, ranging from espionage to assassination.
- Irving Lambert
Head of Third Echelon and Fisher's controller.
- Carly St. John
A technical analyst for Third Echelon, she is very skilled in her work. She is later killed by Mike Wu (aka Mike Chan) because she was about to uncover the source of the information leak at Third Echelon.
- Andrei Zdrok
An international arms dealer and head of the shadowy organization known as The Shop. He was receiving information about Fisher's mission and objectives from an ex-CIA operative named Mason Hendricks, who he nicknamed The Benefactor. Zdrok is captured by the Lucky Dragons at Tun's headquarters in Fuzhou. Fisher punches Zdrok in the face with brass knuckles, breaking his facial bone plate. Zdrok later dies in the hospital.
- Mason Hendricks
A veteran CIA operative who resided in Hong Kong for a long time, Hendricks assisted Fisher in some operations there. He was presumed dead when Purple Queen night club was attacked by a mafia. Hendricks resurfaced later and was seen with Zdrok, revealing his treachery. He was presumably gunned down in Tun's headquarters.
- Yvan Putnik
A highly skilled Russian Mafia hitman working for The Shop. He attempts to kill Sam multiple times. When Sam is walking with Katia Loenstern, a stray bullet from Putnik hits her and kills her. Sam is enraged and eventually kills Putnik at Tun's headquarters.
- Anton Antipov
Antipov is Zdrok's right hand man in The Shop. It is revealed that he is an ex-KGB colonel and has a reputation for being a sadist. He is eventually found and interrogated by Fisher, who executes him with a bullet to the head.
- Oskar Herzog
An ex-judge from East Germany and a member of Zdrok's committee. Herzog is later killed in the attack on Tun's headquarters.
- Stefan Prokofiev
A Russian army general and member of Zdrok's committee. His area of operations is Russia. Fisher breaks into his house in Moscow to retrieve blueprints from a safe, but is found by Prokofiev's wife. He convinces her that her husband is cheating on her by showing her pictures of Prokofiev going out with a model in Ukraine. Enraged, his wife shoots him when he arrives home, severing his spine and shooting him in the head. Amazingly, he survives, but is paralyzed for life.
- Jon Ming
Head of the triad called the Lucky Dragons, Ming lured Jeinsen into giving him the guidance system to a nuclear warhead. Ming was planning to sell it to The Shop, but decided against it when he learned Zdrok had sold the MRUUV he had acquired from Jeinsen to General Lan Tun, a hard-liner Communist in the Chinese army. Ming and the other Triads all hated Communism and Tun. Fisher allies with Ming and when Fisher is captured in Tun's headquarters, Ming breaks him out. Unfortunately, Tun had already left the base. Ming's whereabouts are unknown at the end of the book.
- Gregory Jeinsen
A scientist who defected from East Germany in 1971 and was smuggled out in a laundry car. Jeinsen took up a job developing weapons for the United States but, unsatisfied with his pay, defects to China. A Mr. Wong who is really Jon Ming, tells him to deliver the guidance system to a nuclear warhead to Hong Kong. Jeinsen is killed so that Ming can erase the link between him and Jeinsen.
- Lan Tun
A hard-liner communist in the Chinese army. He hatches a plan to invade Taiwan, which he believes is rightfully China's and plans to use a nuclear weapon (purchased from The Shop) planted in the ocean near Santa Monica to extort the United States into not retaliating. Tun's plan is later foiled when Fisher hacks into the warhead and sends it out to sea. Tun's is driven out of Taiwan and his ship is destroyed, with Tun and many sailors aboard.
- Mike Wu
Older brother of Eddie Wu and member of the Lucky Dragons posing as a Third Echelon technical analyst. He kills Carly St. John as she is about to discover his true identity. He takes of and is captured at his brother's apartment. He had wanted to sell the MRUUV to Zdrok because Ming wouldn't do so.
- Eddie Wu
Member of the Lucky Dragons and younger brother to Mike Wu. He and his brother planned to sell the MRUUV to Zdrok after Ming refused to do so. He is captured at Tun's headquarters.
- Katia Loenstern
Sam's Krav Maga insrtuctor and girlfriend. She is later accidentally killed by Yvan Putnik when the latter attempted to assassinate Sam Fisher.
