It came again – that feeling that someone had tossed an icepack on the back of Mack Williams' neck.
"Should we notify the Russians?" Cynthia Hewitt asked.
"Won't do any good, " Mack said. "By the time we convince them that they're in danger, St. Petersburg and our crew would already be incinerated."
"And given our current political climate with them, " Secretary Mauney added, "Moscow would blame a nuclear attack against St. Petersburg on us."
"Precisely, " Vice President Surber added.
"Which means we can expect a nuclear retaliation against the United States, " Defense Secretary Lopez said.
The secretary of state nodded his head in agreement. "We've got to sink this freighter, and we must do it now."
"And lose the evidence that we need to prove our case to the Russians that we did not sink an innocent civilian freighter?" the national security advisor asked. "We need that evidence for the world to see."
"Admiral Ayers, " the president said, "can Charlotte stop this freighter and board it without sinking it?"
"Yes, sir. We have a contingency plan for that option."
"Let's hear it."
"We disarm our Mark-48 torps and fire into the ship's propeller. If we get a lucky shot, we disable the prop, leaving her dead in the water. We surface our SEAL team and board the ship."
"What happens if they blow the ship before our SEALs can take control?" Vice President Surber asked.
"That could happen, " Admiral Ayers said, "but they may take a little time to figure out what happened. Hopefully, it's enough."
"How close are they to St. Petersburg, Admiral?"
"Close, sir. About thirty miles west of Kotlin Island. Put it this way; they're close enough that if they blew a nuclear device now, depending on the size of the device, it could devastate St. Petersburg. Depending on weather patterns, nuclear fallout could kill hundreds of thousands living along the Gulf of Finland. That includes the city of Helsinki, which is less than two hundred miles to the west, and beyond that, the city of Stockholm, another couple of hundred miles to the west and across the Baltic Sea. The weather will determine who dies, Mr. President. But unlike the Bikini Atoll tests or our tests in Nevada in the early sixties, this is a highly populated area. Hundreds of thousands will die, sir, and we have no control over the weather.
"We've got a narrow window, Mr. President, " Ayers continued. "Whatever you order, sir, we've got to act fast or we simply won't have enough time."
"I say sink her, Mr. President, " the vice president said. "We're looking at nuclear holocaust if that ship blows."
"And we might be looking at nuclear war if we don't produce that plutonium to convince the Russians we didn't sink one of their civilian ships, " the secretary of defense said.
Mack thought about that. Lord, make my decision the right one.
"Secretary Lopez, send the orders. Have the Charlotte unarm the Mark-48s. Attack her propeller. Stop her in the water. SEAL team is ordered to board and secure the ship.
"That is all."
CHAPTER 31
The USS Charlotte
Gulf of Finland
Skipper, "Let's go, XO!" Puck shouted to Todd Swanson. "Follow me! Officer-of-the-deck, take the conn!"
"I have the conn, aye, sir."
Puck bounded out of the control room, with his executive officer in tow. In the radio room, his radio officer was waiting for him with message in hand. Puck ripped the message from the officer's hand and flattened it out in front of a high-wattage reading light.
EMERGENCY ACTION MESSAGE
FROM: NATIONAL MILITARY COMMAND CENTER – WASHINGTON, D.C.
TO: USS CHARLOTTE
SUBJECT: ACTION MESSAGE REMARKS:
Intelligence assessments reports Egyptian freighter Al Alamein probably transporting weapons-grade plutonium stolen from Russian arsenal.
Intelligence further reports Chechen nuclear physicist may be onboard.
Al Alamein may be transporting active thermonuclear device and may be planning suicide nuclear attack on St. Petersburg, Russia.
USS Charlotte ordered to disable Al Alamein with unarmed torpedoes.
SEAL team ordered to seize control of vessel and any nuclear contraband potentially on board.
Proceed with extreme caution and stealth. In the event of large nuclear blast, the Al Alamein is now within range to destroy St.
Petersburg.
Execute orders immediately.
Captain Puckett handed the message to Todd Swanson. "XO, sound the alarm. Man battle stations. Let's get moving!"
The Al Alamein Gulf of Finland
From the bridge of his ship, Captain Hosni Sadir brought his binoculars to his eyes and scanned the eastern horizon, just out front of the bow of his ship. A gray haze hung low over the water in the distance.
Sadir dropped the binoculars and pointed out. "It's out there somewhere. Kotlin Island. We should be able to see it soon. It's actually part of St. Petersburg, you know."
"How far are we, Kapitan?" Salman asked.
"Less than twenty miles to Kotlin Island."
"I cannot contain my excitement, " Salman said. "We could throw the switch now, and with the power of our bomb, we would destroy everything within a hundred miles. We could wipe out the city of St. Petersburg even now."
Hosni saw the fire in the young physicist's eyes. "You have done well, my friend."
"We have done well, Kapitan."
Hosni brought the binoculars back to his eyes. The haze was fading now. Still, no sign of the low-lying land mass that would mark the entrance to the waterways surrounding St. Petersburg. "Soon, my friend, 9/11 shall be but a footnote on the ash heap of history!" He handed the binoculars to Salman.
"We are going to kill millions of them, Kapitan." Salman peered through the binoculars. "Allah has brought us this far. We're so close and we can now accomplish our mission. Perhaps we should pull the switch now."
Hosni touched Salman's shoulders. "Patience, my young friend. Care for a cigarette?"
"Thank you, " Salman said, as Hosni flicked a red Camel from his pack and handed it to Hosni.
"Light?"
"Thank you, Kapitan."
Hosni ignited his butane lighter and held the flame out. Salman sucked in. "We will burn them alive either way, Salman, whether we pull the switch now or tomorrow." He took a satisfying draw. The nicotine jump-started his adrenaline. "But let history show, Salman, that we sailed the Al Alamein right into the Neva River, brought her up to the very banks of St. Petersburg, and then pulled the switch. I want to see with my eyes all that we shall vaporize."
St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral St. Petersburg, Russia
At the front right of the crowded courtroom, Pete Miranda sat between Zack Brewer and his detailed interpreter and Russian defense counsel, Lieutenant Vaslov of the Baltic Sea Fleet. Across the aisle, Major Peter Andropov, the Russian Army prosecutor, sat steely eyed writing notes on a pad.
"They should be back at any moment, " Zack whispered over the slight roar coming from the back of the courtroom.
"What do you expect?" Pete asked.
"I expect they will rule on our motion or at least address it in some way. I don't expect them to dismiss the case."
"Some sort of face-saving position?"
"Exactly, " Zack said.
Lieutenant Commander Zack Brewer was an amazing naval officer, Pete thought. The JAG officer carried a courageous air like Daniel from the Bible. And like Daniel, Zack marched into the lion's den, and with some fancy legal footwork about the Geneva Conventions, at least delayed an inevitable mauling.
Still, Pete resolved that a mauling was inevitable – that he was going to die. Something told him that his entire crew, and even his JAG officer defense counsel, were all in mortal danger. He was ready if that should happen, but the thought of never seeing Coley and Hannah again was a dagger in his soul.