“Aye-aye, sir.”
“Comm, signal the Nuku’alofa on the encrypted channel and let me know when they respond.”
“Aye-aye, sir.” Within thirty seconds, the communications petty officer reported, “Authenticated response received, sir.”
“Very well. Maintain current course and speed. We should rendezvous with the Nuku in approximately ten minutes. I want the remaining teams ready to transfer over with their warheads on the double. We’ve got to get them off of here as quickly as possible.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
The warheads were pre-positioned for the offload, so the XO made the announcement throughout the boat for the teams to assemble and prepare to go topside. The captain continued to monitor their approach to the Nuku. She was perfect for their needs because she would not raise any suspicions as she cruised back to Auckland — just a typical old South Pacific rust bucket. Once aboard her, the teams would be hidden until ready to disperse to their selected safe locations.
“All ahead slow. Prepare to surface.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
“Surface, surface, surface.”
The Louisiana blew main ballast and surfaced approximately one hundred yards from the Nuku. A team of deckhands went topside to catch and secure the lines, which would be thrown over from the cargo ship. Captain Adams made his way up the conning tower to the topside bridge. As the Louisiana pulled up beside the Nuku, the captain reversed the screw momentarily to stop the submarine’s momentum and bring them to rest a few feet away.
From his height at the top of the sail, George looked across at the deck of the Nuku. Dwight stood at the rail.
“Welcome to Kermandec Number Nine,” said Dwight. “You’re a sight for sore eyes, Cuz.”
“I never thought I’d see the day I said you looked good, but it’s good to see you, Dwight. But what are you doing here?”
“I’m joinin’ your team in hiding, George. I can’t go back to GenCon.”
“Why not? What happened?”
“After my men delivered the RV to the Ka‘abah in Mecca, the Saudis tracked their vehicle and blew it up with a missile. Killed three of my men. Then they analyzed the pieces of the van and managed to link it back to GenCon. The FBI was startin’ a full blown investigation, so I got out of Dodge while the gettin’ was good!”
“Wow! It’s good to have you, but sorry to hear about your men. They died in a good cause, though. Hopefully their deaths will help to save millions. I assume they successfully planted the RV before the bastards got them?”
“Yeah, they did — at the Ka‘abah right in the middle of the tight security surrounding the hajj. It scared the pants off the Saudis. In fact, it scared them so much they executed the head of security in Mecca, and his cousin, too!”
“I’m glad it was successful. All of the world’s Muslim nations now know we can hit them whenever and wherever we want. The point has been well made, and we have your men to thank for it.”
A stairway had been lowered along the side of the Nuku from the deck to a floating platform at the bottom. While George and Dwight talked, the crew had already started the transfer.
“George! What are you doing up there? Come on!”
George looked down to the Louisiana’s deck below where Leona stood looking at him in exasperation. “I’ll be right down.”
George climbed down the ladder from the bridge. Apparently, Leona had forgotten all formalities during this hectic transfer, and she was calling him by his first name in front of all the crew! As he arrived on the deck, ready to quietly admonish her, she grabbed him by the arm and said, “Come on, George. We’ve got to go!”
The captain looked around at the crewmembers on the deck, expecting to see astonishment on their faces at this revelation, but only seeing knowing smiles. Apparently everyone knew his well-kept secret all along! Seeing Sergeant Ramirez, the captain motioned for him to stay close and stand by.
George pulled Leona aside. “You have to go aboard the Nuku, Leona. I’m not leaving yet, but I’ll join you later.”
“Later? What do you mean later?”
“A few of us have to take the Louisiana back out for one quick trip. Then we’ll be back.”
“A quick trip? What do you need to go back out for? We’ve got everything we need off the boat. Just leave it. What are you going to do?”
“Leona, there’s at least one fast attack boat that’s been chasing us from Cape Horn. If they’ve alerted the Pacific Fleet of our whereabouts, there may be a half dozen more attack boats closing in. We don’t want the trail of the Louisiana to lead them right to the Nuku. So I have to create a diversion, that’s all. As soon as that’s done, I’ll join you.”
The captain indicated to Sergeant Ramirez to come over. “Sergeant, please take care of Petty Officer Harris and see that she gets safely onto the Nuku.”
“Yes, sir!”
Leona was in tears. “George, you can’t do this. You can’t leave me here and go back out again. I believe in this mission, but I also joined because it meant we were going to be together.”
“Leona, nothing has changed. We will be together. Trust me. I’ll be back before you know it.”
Chapter 45
The last team and warhead had been offloaded. The captain, the XO, Petty Officer MacKenzie, and the bull nuke (the senior enlisted nuclear-trained crewmember) remained onboard the Louisiana. The two sub-fighters were docked topside.
“XO, get SF-2 ready — you and the bull nuke are leaving.”
The captain turned to the bull nuke. “Get back to engineering and set turns for all ahead full. That should be sufficiently noisy for the Texas to hear us. Then get back up here on the double. You and the XO have to launch before our speed gets over ten knots.”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
“But Captain,” responded the XO, “this is a critical operation. I think I should stay here with you.”
“No, you’re needed ashore, XO. Petty Officer MacKenzie, you’re with me.”
“Aye-aye, sir,” they both answered.
The XO hurried down the passageway to the escape hatch. He climbed into SF-2 and started the launch procedure. As soon as the bull nuke returned from the engine room, they closed the hatch and lifted off the deck of the Louisiana. The captain and Petty Officer MacKenzie were the only two souls left onboard.
The captain set the sonar so that the audio was broadcast over the loudspeaker in the control room. “Take the rudder and stern planes, Mac. I’ve got the dive planes.”
“Aye-aye, sir!”
“Twenty minutes or so at heading zero-niner-zero should get us back over the center of the trench.”
“Captain Sewell!” shouted the sonar operator. “I’ve got him! He’s north of track, but by the angle off and distance, I estimate he must have turned north within the last two hours or so.”
“Captain, aye!” The Texas had finally caught up with the Louisiana and Buffalo’s old friend, George Adams.
“What’s he doing, Navigator?” Buffalo asked as he turned around from the conning station to look at the navigator’s plot.
“Sir, his track would indicate he’s running north-northeast, right along the Kermandec Trench.”
“Interesting.” Buffalo noted. “Right along the line in the sand. I think that pretty much confirms his target. Operations, I want a firing solution as soon as you have it.”