“Well, I don’t agree with a lot of Thornton’s policies, but he was very effective at countering the nuclear contingent. Can you imagine what would’ve happened to the Muslim world if someone like George W. Bush had been the next president?”
“I doubt there would be much left of it.”
“I doubt there would be anything left of it!” said George. “At any rate, even if a great ‘Muslim Martin’ emerges tomorrow, it’s going to take a lot of years before Muslims and the West reach a level of parity similar to what African-Americans have achieved with whites. The process just has to run its course. I just hope our little mission can help get us there without things having to get worse first.”
“I hope so, too. George…?”
“Yes?”
“Can I communicate with you now?”
“What do you think we’re doing?”
“No, silly, not like that!”
“Oh.”
Chapter 42
“Captain, we’ve got trouble!”
Not again. George looked up from the navigation plot.
Lieutenant Johnson had just returned from another reconnaissance mission. George had slowed the Louisiana as they approached the ninth island in the Kermandec chain to launch Johnson’s reconnaissance mission toward the island and into the region beyond.
“What have you got, Lieutenant?”
Lieutenant Johnson, usually quiet and reserved, was bursting with excitement. Words tumbled out of his mouth almost too fast to understand. “Sir, we searched ahead all the way to the ninth island. We were there just about dawn, and we heard it clear as a bell!”
“Slow down, Lieutenant. You heard what?”
“Oh, sorry, Captain. Seaman Teague was on the sonar, and he heard a diesel boat that had been running on the surface during the night, and then they dived and went quiet. Well, pretty quiet… but not quiet enough! We were close enough to record the entire transition. As soon as Seaman Teague gets down here with the tape, we can analyze it in the Louisiana’s sonar computer. We should be able to get a positive ID on her, sir.”
“Good job, Lieutenant. Remind me to put in a good word for you next time I see the admiral.”
They all laughed. “Thank you, sir,” Lieutenant Johnson joked. “But at this point, I don’t think any number of good words would put me in good stead with any admiral!”
Just then, Seaman Teague ran into the control room with the tape. The XO grabbed the tape and handed it over to Petty Officer MacKenzie. “Run this through for analysis, Mac. We need an answer right now.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
MacKenzie loaded the tape into the sonar computer and began to run it through for audio analysis. It didn’t take long. Within a minute the computer display showed, “Kilo-class SS.”
“Whoa,” said the captain. “Who could that be way out here? Chinese? North Korean?”
“Those would be my guesses,” said the XO. “Most likely another Chinese boat coming to take the place of the one we disabled.”
Within another minute the type class had been narrowed down to a specific submarine: “Yunes. Nationality: Iran.”
The crew was stunned.
The captain and XO stood side-by-side studying the computer display. “What’s an Iranian Kilo doing way out here in the middle of the Pacific?” mused the captain. “This makes no sense. Iranian submarines rarely leave port, and when they do, they’re almost always used for coastal patrol in the Persian Gulf. What do you make of it, XO?”
“It’s highly unusual, but certainly not impossible for an Iranian Kilo to be out here,” responded the XO. They do have transoceanic range. I’m just surprised the Iranians would have the training and the logistics necessary to pull this off.”
“Let’s say that they do. You know, there is a theory that an Iranian Kilo, in fact the Yunes, has made a transoceanic voyage once before. The question, then, is why is she out here now?”
The XO looked at George, well aware of the evidence pointing to the Yunes as the submarine that delivered the nuclear warhead used in Washington DC. “Maybe they were sent out to stop us. If they believe we’re headed for the Indian Ocean to wipe out the Muslim world, that puts them squarely in the crosshairs.”
“Could be,” replied the captain thoughtfully. “It would make sense to send out their most capable submarine and crew as a first line of defense. Right?”
“Right.”
The captain met eyes with the XO, and in that instant they could read each other’s minds.
George made his decision. “Well they’re sitting between us and Kermandec Number Nine, so we’ve got to take them out. XO, this one is yours. You and MacKenzie are launching at midnight! That will give us a few more hours to close on their position, and the shorter range will give you more loiter time on station.”
“Aye-aye, sir. We’ll brief and make the preparations!”
The XO and MacKenzie started out of the control room. The captain called after them down the passageway, “XO, load the sub-fighter with armor-piercing rockets. We can’t afford to have the Yunes bobbing on the surface radioing our position to the world. She’s too close to the final transfer point. I want the Yunes put on the bottom. Understood?”
“Yes, sir! Perfectly clear!”
Chapter 43
The captain and XO stood in the Yunes’s tiny, cramped control room. The captain was putting on a foul weather jacket and raising the hood in preparation for going aloft to join the officer of the deck (OOD) and the lookout on the bridge at the top of the Iranian submarine’s sail.
“Captain, we are halfway across the Pacific. We are making good time. In another week, we will reach the coast of South America. We can then sail north in shallower waters until we reach our rendezvous point off Southern California.”
“That is good. Has there been any indication that the Americans are aware of our deployment?”
“They know that we deployed, Captain. But there is no indication they know where we are. By deviating to the south we have avoided their underwater listening posts. We should be able to deliver the nuclear weapon to the al-Qaeda operatives on schedule for the destruction of Los Angeles.”
“It is a privilege to serve Allah in this glorious way. It was quite frustrating to serve merely as a decoy when the North Koreans delivered the weapon used in Washington DC. Now we have the opportunity to show that Allah will crush the unbelievers.”
“Yes, Captain, it is truly an honor.”
“I must go aloft to supervise preparations for the dive. Make preparations below.”
“Yes, Captain.”
The XO and MacKenzie glided silently through the South Pacific waters in SF-1.
“How are your systems working, Mac?”
“Excellent, XO. Everything is up.”
“Good. Keep an ear out for the Yunes. They’re probably the bastards that delivered the DC nuke. I’m planning a little special treat for her.”
“Special treat, sir?”
“Well, based on our calculations, we should find her just before dawn. She’ll still be running on the surface using her diesels, so she shouldn’t be very difficult to find.”
“Yes, sir. I expect to pick her up from twenty or more miles away.”