The rest of the officers knew it was fruitless to argue any longer. To say no would mean a quick removal from their post, so all nodded their readiness.
“Good!” said Pusko. We will meet again in three days for another assessment. Let me know immediately if there are any problems,” he said, dismissing the men.
They all filed out of the room without much fanfare. Few spoke. Most had lingering doubts that the plan would work at all.
Chapter 6
Opening Moves
The change had been miraculous. Almost from that first night, Freda had been back to her old self. The smile and laughter were back and the energy had returned with a vengeance. Petyr had been amazed the next morning when he woke to see her sitting up in the tent watching a young fawn that was looking back in at her through the screened flap. She had actually been humming a song to calm the animal. Propping himself up on his elbow, he watched in wonder as the fawn just stared at her, occasionally wiggling its ears.
The look on Freda’s face had been almost heartwarming. Her smile was bright and she was clearly exhilarated by the experience, but even more so when the mother deer walked up and joined her offspring for a moment before urging it off toward the water. The rest of the time at the lake was a whirlwind of hiking, visits to some neighbors and just sitting together on the old pier.
Mr. Polski had been amazed at the transformation. His worries had vanished when she had greeted him with a big hug. She had even hugged Rudy when she got home. Later on, Mr. Polski had thanked Petyr, and urged the two of them to continue to go out and do things together.
It was now three weeks later and they had been to a morning swimming meet for their school. Both had hopped on a bus to get them back across the city so they could spend the afternoon closer to home. They hadn’t noticed that the bus was going toward the center of the city instead of toward the outskirts. Suddenly the bus screeched to a halt and the driver got out of his seat and turned to the passengers. “Everyone out! This bus is a part of a strike for our workers,” he called out loudly.
Looking up, Petyr noticed that the bus was one of several on the street blocking traffic. Once outside they could hear shouts around one of the corners and went that way to see what was happening.
There was a crowd of several hundred people gathered in a small square. Many carried signs saying “MPK is unfair.” A number of people were beginning to chant, “Treat us with respect!” Petyr could tell that many in the crowd were angry. This was far more than he or Freda needed to be a part of. “Let’s get away from here,” he told her.
They returned to where the busses were blocking the street and began making their way around the small square and away from the noise. That was when Petyr noticed their upstairs neighbor. He was standing on the lip of a wall looking into the square. On several occasions he looked as if he were giving orders to a group of men, who then rushed into the crowd. Watching from a distance, he saw that the crowd seemed to get more agitated right after he sent the men in. Then came the shock of his life. Petyr saw his own father join the man and talk for a moment, before he too went into the crowd.
Freda noticed the pained expression that suddenly appeared on his face. “What’s the matter?” she asked.
He turned to look at her. “Let’s just go. I don’t want to be here,” he said sadly. The two turned and headed away from the angry crowd. After a few blocks they heard gunfire erupt from the direction of the square. Soon the wail of police sirens was heard. They rushed past the two as they walked and kept going toward the square.
“Petyr, something’s the matter. We are too close for you not to let me know what’s troubling you,” Freda said, concerned.
When he turned toward her, she could see his eyes were moist. She reached up and placed her hand against his cheek. “I saw my father in there. He was with our neighbor upstairs. I have seen them going out before in the evening,” he said sadly. “You’ve seen the news. All those protests and people saying we are discriminating against the Russians. I overheard father talking about this on the phone. The neighbor looked like he was directing those people over there, and Father was taking orders from him,” Peter said. The realization had cut the young man to the core. “How could he do this? We are Poles. It’s as if he wants the Russians to come in and take over,” he said. Now the tears were rolling down his cheeks.
Freda pulled him into a hug. “I don’t know, Petyr. We’ve talked enough about this that I know how you feel, but no matter, we can’t talk about this to anyone. If he is helping them, we can’t let them know that we know or suspect. Let’s just get home and we’ll decide what to do later,” she said reassuringly.
Petyr nodded and the two continued their walk home. It would take several hours because the transportation had been shut down, but by that time, Petyr had calmed down and they decided to talk to Freda’s father about it. He would know what to do.
“Fifteen hundred feet keel depth, Captain,” said the Officer of the Deck.
“Very well, OOD, dive the boat. Take her down to one hundred fifty feet,” the Captain ordered.
“Aye, sir. Open the vents. Ten degree down on the dive planes. Level the ship at one hundred fifty feet,” ordered the OOD. Outside the ship great gusts of air seemed to spring up along the submarine’s hull as the vents to the ship’s main ballast tanks were opened and the air began rushing out of them. Slowly, the Virginia class submarine South Dakota sank deeper into the sea until she disappeared from sight. Within a few minutes the ship was running silently away from Norfolk.
Captain Jason Broadmore sat back in his seat and watched his people do their jobs. The South Dakota was one of the newer ships of the class and had all the bells and whistles. He was proud of his ship and now it appeared he would take her into harm’s way. His orders had been explicit. Get your ship underway and be on the lookout for Russian submarines. The next part of his instructions had been the surprise. They were to prepare the ship for unrestricted warfare against the Russians. True, everyone was talking about it, but now he had written orders to get ready for it. It was an order he never thought he would receive. Getting the ship underway at night had added to the surprise.
“Conn, sonar, I have a poss sub bearing 085,” came the report from the sonar room.
Holy shit! I never expected it to be this fast. He pressed the button on the bitch box, “You sure, sonar? It’s awfully close to shore, isn’t it?” the Captain asked.
The answer was quick and to the point. “That’s affirmative, Captain. We’re picking up nuclear plant noises. The computer says it is Oscar Number four. That would be K-119, the Voronezh. We picked up something just as we began the dive. It sounded like hull popping noises, like she was coming up for a look-see. There’s no doubt now, Captain. She’s out there. Give us a few and we should have a range,” said the Sonar Chief.
The Captain turned to his OOD. “Make the ship super quiet. Let’s see if we can sneak around him and see what he’s doing,” he said as he rushed toward the sonar room.
***
Back at the Norfolk Naval Base, a crew of men backed a truck up to the head of the pier that the South Dakota had just left. Lowering a ramp off the truck to the water’s edge, the men slid a long black tube-like structure into the water. Made of a rubberized material, it floated just on the surface. Then the men hooked a receptacle on the end still attached to the truck and turned on a machine. Slowly, the thing in the water began to grow. It spread itself along the water and began to ride just on top of it. Three men in a motor boat came around the pier and hooked a line on the end of the object. As it filled with air, a taller shape began to inch upward on the forward part of the object.