“Mississippi, I believe.”
“Hmm… it’s starting to make a little more sense now.”
“How’s that, sir?”
“Are you a student of history, Commander Wayne?”
“Somewhat, sir, but I wouldn’t call myself a historian.”
“Well, if you look at the history of our military, you will find that World War Two began the age of the conscripted soldier in the U.S. Before that, there was no draft. The career military man was a volunteer — one of an elite group of warriors. Whenever conflict broke out, the biggest fear any of those warriors had was not that they would be killed or injured in combat, but that they would be left out—they would not get their chance to participate in the fight! Camaraderie, duty, and honor compelled each and every one of them to get in there and fight shoulder to shoulder with their fellow men at arms. Anyone who didn’t make it to the front considered himself a failure. General Patton tried to instill that sense of duty and honor in his conscripted soldiers when he told them on the eve of battle to be proud of their service. He told them someday their grandchild would ask, ‘Grandfather, what did you do during the war?’ He said they would be able to tell their grandchild they fought in the Big One. No one, he said would want to be left out and have to answer, ‘I shoveled shit in Louisiana.’”
“Yes, sir…” said Lannis. “I remember that speech… from the movie.”
“Well, Commander, for a generation now, we have once again had an all volunteer force, and that class of elite warriors has returned. They have a sense of duty; they have a sense of honor; and they will not be denied.” The president turned to the chairman. “Would you agree, General?”
“We have a great many service members like that, Mr. President.”
“Interestingly,” President Thornton continued, “most of them are Republicans and most of them come from the Deep South — a testament to their fighting rebel ancestors, and in many cases, a testament to their fighting ancestors in Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. What is George Adams’s family background? Where did they come from, Commander?”
“I don’t know, Mister President. He has reddish-blond hair and freckled skin, so Irish or Scottish would be a good guess.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if he was Scottish. The thing that worries me about that fact is the Scots and their descendants, many of whom settled in the Deep South, love to attack! Many northern veterans of World War Two will testify about landing on Japanese beaches in the South Pacific and hearing their fellow soldiers from the South let out a shrill rebel yell as they dashed out of landing craft and stormed enemy positions in the face of withering machine-gun fire.”
“It’s a good thing we have men like that, sir,” said Lannis, knowing inside that he certainly was not one of them.
“To these elite warriors,” the president continued, “Democrats who cry foul and complain our troops are being unjustly put in harm’s way just don’t understand. And perhaps we don’t. Like most other Democrats, I like to think that we, as a society and as a species, have evolved past the need for wars. But in reality, it looks like we never will.”
“No, sir, unfortunately not,” said everyone at the table.
President Thornton turned once again to the chairman and said, “General Daramus, the country needs men like George Adams. However, we need them to do the right thing. We need them to serve their country with order and discipline, not jacking around like some loose cannon whenever they feel like it. Right now, we need other men like George Adams to find him and stop whatever it is he’s planning. Find him and stop him at all costs!”
“Yes, sir, Mister President,” the general responded. “We’ll find him and stop him, sir!”
Chapter 26
The U.S. Navy made every effort to keep the crew list of the Louisiana secret, especially those suspected of still being aboard. On the morning of August 29, however, the president’s press secretary entered the president’s office and dropped a copy of the Philadelphia Inquirer on his desk. The headline said it alclass="underline" INQUIRER OBTAINS USS LOUISIANA CREW LIST. The Inquirer published the entire original crew list, with asterisks identifying those believed to be among the hijackers. Because the crew list was still highly classified, the Inquirer’s source would remain anonymous.
In the following days, the immediate families of the crew received death threats from people claiming to be associated with al-Qaeda and had to be moved to secure locations. Some extended family members were assassinated, and the protection program had to be expanded. There was great denunciation of the Inquirer by conservatives while liberals continued to support the Inquirer’s actions under the banner of freedom of the press.
At SUBLANT headquarters in Norfolk, Lannis stood in the admiral’s outer office waiting for permission to enter. Admiral Yates had called him with little notice for a midday update. The intercom buzzed and Petty Officer Humphrey answered.
“Yes, sir. I’ll send him right in.” He turned to Lannis. “You can go in now, Commander Wayne.”
Without a word or a nod, Lannis entered the admiral’s office. The admiral stood looking intently at a large, laminated map of the world, which covered most of one wall.
“Good afternoon, Admiral.”
“Commander Wayne, how goes the search?” The admiral continued studying the map, concentrating on the south Atlantic off the western coast of Africa. Intensive Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) operations continued in that area and around the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean.
“There has been no contact with the Louisiana, sir. We have U.S., British, Russian, and Indian ASW forces conducting coordinated searches of her most likely path as well as some less likely paths.”
“Yes, but paths to where?” the admiral asked rhetorically.
“The Indian Ocean. From there, the Louisiana’s missiles can hit any Muslim country in the world.”
“But we don’t know that’s his plan for sure, do we?”
“No, sir, but it’s the worst case, so we’re doing what we can to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
“Well, it may be a wasted effort. Don’t forget, George Adams is a pretty smart guy. He knows that if he tries to make it past a chokepoint like the Cape of Good Hope, he’s bound to get nabbed. Start thinking of other routes and other destinations where he might be headed.”
Stepping up to the map, Lannis grabbed a nearby pointer and began to indicate other locations around the world. “Yes, sir. We’ve also got a fleet of attack boats, here, in a defensive line south of Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, and we have another ASW task force operating, here, in the far north Atlantic to prevent the Louisiana from transiting under the ice to the Pacific.”
“That’s good, but George still has several advantages. First, it’s a big ocean out there, and we don’t really have a clue where to look. Second, the technology built into the Louisiana is the best in the world. We designed her to be practically impossible to find. Third, is the training of her crew. George may have only a third of the crew to work with, but knowing him, he’s got the best fifty submariners in the navy!”
Lannis set the pointer down and stepped away from the map, realizing from the admiral’s comments that it was useless for him to continue to act as if he had the situation under control.