Anons, this came to me via quite a coincidence. 1/2 way through. Eyes on, completely relevant.
Too many pieces falling into place lately, don't want to voice fears (bigger than we can imagine), but pray for our operators.
Plot summary
President of China Wei Zhen Lin has been dealing with mounting political opposition over his country's economic recession. He tries to commit suicide in order to avoid his inevitable arrest when he is prevented by General Su Ke Qiang, the leader of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Aware that his life now depends on the hawkish military leader, Wei resolves to recoup his country's economic losses by retaking disputed territories in the South China Sea by military force, as well as Hong Kong, Macau, and finally Taiwan.
Expecting the United States to react to China's actions militarily, Su secretly orders cyberattacks on the country’s military infrastructure through sub rosa cyber espionage and cyber warfare militia Ghost Ship and its head, Dr. Tong Kwok Kwan. The Chinese Navy then aggressively harasses and sinks ships passing through the South China Sea. U.S. President Jack Ryan tries to resolve the conflict by covertly sending in a contingent of Marine fighter pilots in order to reinforce the Taiwanese Air Force. However, Su discovers this and further sanctions more cyber attacks on the U.S.
Meanwhile, The Campus deals with a breach in their organization when a hit job on a cell of former Libyan intelligence officers in Istanbul attracts the attention of a mysterious hacker codenamed Center, who is later revealed to be Dr. Tong. They later find out about one of his associates, Zha Shu Hai (codenamed FastByte22), who is a fugitive from the United States and is pursued by CIA non-official cover operative Adam Yao in Hong Kong. While a SEAL Team Six unit sent by the Department of Defense captures Zha first after a crossfire with his 14K Triad bodyguards, Campus operatives Jack Ryan Jr. and Domingo Chavez, as well as I.T. head Gavin Biery, manage to gather intelligence from his hand-held computer, locating one of Center's command servers in Miami. Ryan and fellow Campus operative Dominic Caruso try to go there against orders from operations head Sam Granger, only to be nearly killed by Russian mobsters sent by Center. After dispatching their would-be attackers and hastily escaping from Miami, the cousins are suspended from their duties.
Upon hearing news about Zha, Center relocates the Ghost Ship headquarters to Guangzhou. He later orders his hit squad, composed of a few Chinese special operations forces, to assassinate FastByte22 in a CIA safehouse in Georgetown in order to silence him. Center then arranges for Yao to be killed by a car bomb; however, the CIA officer survives the blast and goes off the grid, investigating Center on his own.
Ryan later realizes that his girlfriend and CIA analyst Melanie Kraft had bugged his phone with a remote access trojan, explaining how Center knew of his whereabouts. Kraft had been blackmailed into spying on her boyfriend on behalf of corrupt FBI special agent Darren Lipton under orders from Center. While tailing Kraft on her way to work, Ryan witnesses and later intervenes on an attempt by Center's hit squad to assassinate her. After calling in retired Campus operative John Clark to take care of Kraft, he leaves for Hong Kong to find Yao.
Center orders his hit squad to attack The Campus's headquarters in order to erase all their intelligence on Ghost Ship, killing Granger in the process. Clark and Kraft later intervene in the attack, killing all but two of the operatives. They also capture ex-SVR officer Valentin Kovalenko, who was unwittingly working for Center at the time.
In China, Ryan tracks down Yao, who had discovered the location of the Ghost Ship headquarters in Guangzhou. After he informs his father, the building is later destroyed in a coordinated airstrike by American fighter jets, killing Center and his colleagues. The two then flee to Hong Kong and rescue a Marine pilot who was shot down during the strike.
…