Cybernation

tom clancy's net force: night moves tom clancy's net force: breaking point tom clancy's net force: point of impact

tom clancy's net force: cybernation

Created by Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg

tom clancy's power plays: poutika

tom clancy's power plays: ruthless.com

tom clancy's power plays: shadow watch

tom clancy's power plays: bio-strike

Nonfiction written with John Gresham

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 Frank)   EVERY MAN A TIGER (written with General Charles Homer)

Tom CLANCYS

NET      FORCE

CYBERNATION

Created by

Tom CLancy and Steve Pieczentk written by Steve Perry

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

FICTION

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either

are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and

any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business

establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

TOM CLANCY'S NET FORCE: CYBERNATION

A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with Netco Partners

PRINTING HISTORY

Berkley edition / November 2001

All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2001 by Netco Partners.

NET FORCE* is a registered trademark of Netco Partners.

This book, or parts thereof, may not be

reproduced in any form without permission.

For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group,

a division of Penguin Putnam Inc.,   375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

For more information on Steve Pieczenik, please visit www.stevepieczenik.com.

Visit our website at www.penguinputnam.com

ISBN: 0-425-18267-3

BERKLEY*

Berkley Books are published by The Berkley Publishing Group,

a division of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

New York, New York 10014.

BERKLEY and the "B" design

are trademarks belonging to Penguin Putnam Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10   987654321

"The issue before us is one of no ordinary character. We are not engaged in a conflict for conquest, or for aggrandizement, or for the settlement of a point of international law. The question for you to decide is, Will you be slaves or will you be independent?"

-President Jefferson Davis Confederate States of America Jackson, Mississippi December 26, 1862

PART ONE

The Lime* Are Down

PROLOGUE

Friday, December 23, 2012-7:03 AM. Scranton, Pennsylvania

Cameron Barnes jabbed one finger at the phone's keyboard, hitting the "O" button over and over. "Dammit, what the hell's wrong! C'mon, C'mon-!" From the kitchen, Victoria said, "What?" "I'm not talking to you, I'm talking to the stupid phone!"

Victoria stuck her head through the doorway. "Excuse me?"

"The phone, the phone is out of order. No dial tone, nothing."

"Use your digital." "I already tried that. Same thing." "Maybe your battery is-" "No, the battery is not dead, I checked it!" "Well, don't take my head off! It's not my fault!" "I'm sorry. But, look, I have to make this call-if the customer doesn't hear from us by seven-thirty, we're screwed. I'm gonna lose my commission!"

4     NET  FORCE

"Use my cell."

He started to ask, but she beat him to it. "In my purse."

Cam found her purse, pulled the little folding phone out, opened it. He tried voxax first, telling it the name to call, but that didn't work. Neither did the buttons.

He was going to lose his commission. Eight hundred bucks. Shit!

Austin, Texas

Rocko Jackson stared at his computer screen and cursed. "Son of a bitch! Don't you do this to me now!"

In the cubicle next to his, Tim Bonifazio stood and peeped over the short divider.

" 'S'up, white boy?"

"The damned system must be locked up again. I can't get it to access the net."

"Hold on a second, lemme check. It's probably just your station, you know how the mainframe hates you."

Tim disappeared from sight After a second, Rocko heard, "Uh-oh!"

"Aha, so the mainframe hates you, too, don't it?"

"No, man, it hates everybody. My laptop and wireless modem ain't working, neither."

"So what are you saying, the net is down?" He laughed.

"That's what it looks like from here."

"I don't even want to hear that."

Silicon Valley, California

Rachel Todd arrived at the conference room at the same time as Dal Ellner and Narin Brown. Rachel said, "What is going on, guys?"

CYBERNATION 5

Both Dal and Narin shook their heads. "Got me," Narin said. "All I know is nobody can get on the web. Not with hardwired, laptops, digital phones, nothing. Even old man Johns's virgil isn't working. It's like the net just... died, or something."

"Can't be," Dal said.

"Maybe not, but I know of at least fifteen major ISPs-   from local to New York to London to Hong Kong-that are flat out inaccessible."

"This is bad," Rachel said.

"Bad? It's catastrophic! Every hour we're off-line costs us half a million bucks! In a couple of days, we'll be in the toilet!"

"Us and everybody for as far as the eye can see," Narin said.

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

Cheyenne Mountain, Wyoming

"Lieutenant, you want to tell me what the hell is going on?"

 "Unknown, General Harmon, sir. All network operations are snafued."

"You mean we are deaf and blind here?"

"No, sir, we have landlines that still work, we can call in launch codes manually if we have to."

"And how do we open the silo doors?"

"Hand cranks, sir."