Editing Red Rabbit (section)

==Plot summary==
In 1982, [[Pope John Paul II]] privately issues a letter to the [[Polish People's Republic|communist Polish government]], stating that he will resign from the papacy and return to his hometown unless they cease their repression of counterrevolutionary movements in Poland, particularly the [[Solidarity (Polish trade union)|Solidarity]] trade union. Called the Warsaw Letter, it is later forwarded to [[Moscow]], enraging Committee for State Security ([[KGB]]) director [[Yuri Andropov]]. He decides to plan the Pope's assassination, which he believes will reinvigorate [[communism]] in Eastern Europe, perceived by many to be in a state of decline. Known only by the number 15-8-82-666 for security reasons, the assassin is then selected as a [[Turkish people|Turk]] Muslim (understood to be [[Mehmet Ali Ağca]]), who would then be eliminated by Bulgarian [[Committee for State Security (Bulgaria)|KDS]] officer Boris Strokov afterwards for [[Plausible deniability|deniability]]. The operation is later unanimously approved by the [[Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Politburo]].

Meanwhile, Oleg Zaitzev, a communications officer in the KGB tasked with sending and receiving encrypted dispatches to and from KGB stations across Europe, pieces together the plot to kill the Pope, and becomes deeply troubled with the prospect of murdering an innocent person for political purposes. He later decides to make contact with the local [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] station chief, Edward Foley, as well as his wife and agent Mary Pat, intending to defect and then be extracted out of the Soviet Union with his family, in exchange for providing information on the assassination plot as well as the names of KGB deep-penetration agents in the American and British governments.

The Foleys instruct Zaitzev to bring his family to [[Budapest]], [[Hungarian People's Republic|Hungary]], under the guise of taking a vacation. They are then to be assisted by British [[Secret Intelligence Service]] (SIS) officers stationed in the city, because the CIA station there is compromised; as a result, [[Jack Ryan (character)|Jack Ryan]], former Marine and the CIA liaison to SIS in London, is sent there to represent the agency. One early morning, the Zaitzevs are spirited out of the hotel they were staying. Accompanied by Ryan, they are then smuggled to [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]], where they immediately fly to the United Kingdom. SIS agents plant dead bodies that are physically identical to the family in their hotel room, which is then set on fire, thus deceiving the KGB.

After settling down in a safehouse outside [[Manchester]], Zaitzev reveals what he knows about the assassination plot, which alarms the SIS and the CIA. Ryan is later sent to [[St. Peter's Square]] in [[Vatican City]] to accompany the British SIS officers on the ground to ascertain how the attack on the Pope will play out, as well as to try capturing the shooter. At the Pope's weekly audience, Ryan manages to capture Strokov; however, the Pope is shot by the real shooter, Ağca. Nevertheless, the pontiff recovers from his wounds. It is then revealed that Strokov was executed by the British as retaliation for murdering Soviet defector [[Georgi Markov]] on British soil four years ago.