Under the sound of the helicopter’s powerful thumping blades, Clay finished his conversation and removed his headset. He leaned against the door watching Palin who sat uncomfortably with his hands still behind his back, eyes lowered at the floor. The marines watched him intently with grips tight on their weapons. Palin looked smaller than before. He sat quietly and did not struggle. To Clay, he looked almost despondent.
Palin slowly lifted his head to look around the small cabin and the marines sitting around them. Their faces looked like chiseled stone. He looked at Clay and their eyes met. They maintained eye contact for a long time.
Clay could not help but notice something in Palin’s gaze. Outwardly he looked small and helpless but at the same time his eyes revealed no fear. When Palin looked away, Clay turned his head away too and looked out the window. After a few minutes, the blue ocean ended and was quickly replaced by white sand beaches as the helicopters raced north along Florida’s Atlantic coastline.
The Naval Air Station in Jacksonville was the largest Navy base in the southeast region and third largest in the United States. Referred to as “NAS JAX”, the base was the largest hub in the region and specialized in antisubmarine warfare and some of the best aviator training on the planet.
The three helicopters arrived in just under two hours and landed at a remote area of the base on the southwest corner to avoid attention. Several Humvee vehicles surrounded the landing area with their headlights on, and two dozen armed soldiers stood waiting. As soon as the Seahawk touched down, they rushed and yanked open the door. Clay quickly jumped down and watched the four marines climb out and strong arm Palin as he stumbled down the steps.
“Easy!” Clay yelled above the sound of the rotors.
The marines paid no attention as they escorted Palin off the pad and over to one of the vehicles as the rest of the soldiers fell in around them. Clay ran to keep up but was suddenly pulled aside by an officer.
“Mr. Clay?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Come with me please.” The officer directed Clay to a different vehicle and opened the door for him. After he climbed in, the officer ran to the other side and slid behind the wheel.
Clay tried to find Palin in the glare of the bright headlights but could not determine which vehicle they had put him in. The Humvees pulled out in unison and headed in a different direction, toward a small section of dimly lit buildings.
Clay’s driver turned left and instead drove to a small two-story building at the edge of a dark, thick forest which extended for many miles. Had it not been for a single bright light and two soldiers standing guard in front of the metal door, Clay would have thought the structure was no longer in use. The officer brought the Humvee to a stop and they both got out. He noticed Clay instinctively looking into the back seat. “Someone will bring your things shortly.”
Clay nodded and followed him to the entrance where the officer waved an ID at the guards. The guard on the right turned around and punched a code into an unseen console. The giant metal door slid to the side with a loud hissing sound.
They both stepped inside into a brightly lit entryway where they were met by four more soldiers. Two of the soldiers held their rifles while the other two each held up a long cylindrical Geiger counter. One scanned Clay and the other scanned his officer escort. Clay produced his military ID and both were run under a computerized scanner. While he waited, Clay looked around the large room. There were four cameras each in different locations and a large single hallway extending to a door at the far end. Both men retrieved their identification cards and walked to the end of the hall. The door was an elevator door which opened as they approached. They stepped in and joined another armed soldier who maintained a hold on his weapon with one hand and pushed the down button with the other. The tiny room jerked slightly and began its descent.
Clay stood calmly behind the soldier examining his outfit and gear. All of his previous visits to NAS JAX had been to some of the base’s larger facilities where he had made a number of friends. In fact, his last visit was just five weeks prior where he spent the day in discussions with submarine engineers on another communication problem. He had never before seen the building he was now in and it was quite clear that was by design. In fact, Clay wondered how many of the other 23,000 base personnel knew about it.
They descended for what Clay assumed to be three or four levels. When the doors opened it was clear that the building’s real heart was underground. In the background, several people hurried past back and forth. In front of them a female officer was waiting as they stepped off. She turned to lead them without a word. Both men followed.
After two right turns, they arrived at a large conference room, where to Clay’s surprise Admiral Langford was waiting along with Captain Foster; the commander of NAS JAX. They crossed the room as both of Clay’s escorts saluted and disappeared.
“Here he is,” Langford said extending his hand. “John, meet Captain James Foster, he runs the base here.”
“Hello Lieutenant.”
Clay saluted and then accepted Foster’s handshake. “It’s a pleasure to meet you sir. I’ve been here many times but have never had the pleasure.”
Langford got right to business, gesturing toward the large conference table in the middle of the room. At the far end was a giant flat monitor mounted to the wall. “Clay we’re about to have a call with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Advisor. We are also going to include a few experts in various fields. Obviously we need you to recount exactly what happened this morning on the Pathfinder so we can understand what we are dealing with here.”
Clay nodded. “Yes sir.”
“Do you need anything before we start?” asked Langford. “We have a few minutes yet.”
“No sir,” replied Clay. “I’m fine.”
“Excellent. Why don’t we have a seat?” They walked over and sat down. “I hear you have a fix on the Triton II?”
“Yes sir, though it’s probably a lead more than a fix. We don’t know precisely where it is yet. We did not have time to investigate before all of the excitement.”
“Understandable,” Langford said. “Were those dolphins any help?”
“Yes,” said Clay. “They claim to have found it but that’s the part we still need to follow up on. I suspect that it’s going to be a difficult recover-”. Clay was suddenly cut off by his cell phone ringing. It was Will Borger’s number. He looked at Langford. “Do I have time to take this sir?”
Langford looked at this watch. “You have four minutes. Make it fast.”
Clay stood up and walked to the back of the room while Langford and Foster continued their earlier conversation. He accepted the call and held the phone to his ear.
“This is Clay.”
“Hi Clay, its Will,” came Borger’s voice on the other end.
“Hey Will, what is it? Do you have something?”
“Yeah, more on our giant hula hoop at the bottom of the ocean.”
Clay looked at Langford and Foster who were still talking. “Let’s hear it.”
“We’ve been able to improve the video quality pretty significantly after fine tuning the program.”
“Okay,” said Clay. “And?”
Borger looked at Caesare who was sitting next to him. “Well,” he continued, “the thing looks to be moving.”
“Moving?!” asked Clay. “Moving how?”
“Moving as in spinning,” said Borger. “The thing is spinning. If my calculations are correct, I’d say this thing is making a complete rotation about every three minutes, maybe less.”
“Jeez!” Clay exclaimed. “Are you kidding?”