A burly lieutenant who had been standing in the background stepped forward. His voice matched his appearance.
"Begging the captain's pardon, but my people are ready. We would like to go on this with Mr. Carter."
Carter looked at him. His name was Jakes. "I'm taking no one with me, Lieutenant."
"Begging your pardon, sir. But aboard this boat that's not your decision. Besides, you couldn't carry enough explosives to be one-hundred-percent certain you'd destroy their operation."
Captain Petti looked at him. "You understand we might have to leave you, Paul?"
"Aye-aye, sir."
"How about your people? Any volunteers?"
Jakes grinned. "Hell, sir, we had to draw lots to see who'd come with me… there'll only be one other. It was the only way I could hold down the fights. They all wanted in on it."
"Carter?" the captain said, looking at Carter. He was giving him a choice.
Carter turned to the lieutenant. "Can you swim?"
"A little, sir," Jakes said, his grin widening.
"I can't, so I'd better have you along."
"Yes. sir!"
They did not bother submerging for the short trip across to Natu Faui, nor did they run at their full speed of nearly sixty knots. Officially they were only capable of forty-five knots, and they kept to that speed.
Carter described the area to the west of the cavern where he had picked up the outrigger canoe. If all went well, the Starfish would rendezvous there exactly ninety minutes from the time Carter, Jakes, and his one crewman entered the water. They would all be working on a very tight timetable. Less could go wrong that way.
"This is incredible, Carter," Captain Petti said. "But not surprising, considering everything else that's been happening lately."
"And that's just the half of it," Carter said not unkindly.
"I know. Good luck."
"Thanks."
Carter went with Jakes below to the UDT operations room, where he was introduced to a wiry kid from Minnesota who knew all there was to know about demolitions. His name was Arte Haikkinen, third-generation Finnish.
They donned their wet suits and scuba gear, and Jakes explained the operation of the demolitions they would carry, as well as the operation of the wet room from which they would be leaving the sub.
"On our signal, the captain will order the boat slowed, but there'll still be a hell of a current. Go with it. Don't even try to fight it. You might wind up with a broken back."
"They'll be watching us pretty closely," Haikkinen volunteered.
"Right. As we pass by the opening to their sub pen, they'll be watching us real close. We're getting off a mile before that."
"Any questions, or are we all straight?" Jakes asked.
"Are we going to stand here and talk about it, or are we going?" Carter asked.
They checked each other's gear, strapped on the explosives, and the amber light over the wet room flicked on. Jakes picked up the phone. "We're ready," he said, then hung up.
They entered the wet room, which was not much larger than a telephone booth, dogged the hatch, and flooded it. The bottom hatch dropped open automatically, but Jakes held them from going until the amber light above the door flicked to green, then he shoved Haikkinen down.
Before he could turn around, Carter shoved himself powerfully through the hatch. He had done this more than once before, so he was prepared for the tremendous shock of the very fast current that instantly swept him down and away from the sub.
Within a few moments Jakes was overhead, and Haikkinen was at his side. They made sure they were all right, then headed off to the east, the submarine already far out of sight.
The water was warm. They were at about forty feet, so they were far below the wind and waves on the surface. And although he was tired, Carter found himself falling into an easy, relaxed rhythm that seemed effortless yet ate up the distance.
They closed with the shore and allowed the incoming tide to help them along, finally coming to what appeared to be the opening to the cavern.
Carter motioned for Jakes and Haikkinen to remain submerged while he rose to the surface well within the cavern.
His head broke the surface, and he was looking directly into the eyes of a man standing on the catwalk. Carter didn't move, and a second or two later the soldier flipped his cigarette into the water and turned around. He had not seen a thing!
Slowly Carter let a little air out of his buoyancy control vest, and he sank beneath the surface. They were in the right cavern. Jakes's navigation had been perfect.
It was much deeper in the channel that ran into the center of the sub pen. At one point they were seventy-five feet down, and still they had not reached the bottom.
They started up after Carter felt they were well beneath the wall and probably a bit to the west.
Twenty feet from the surface they could see lights above, and a little farther to the west, the hulk of the submarine.
Carter stopped Jakes and Haikkinen and pointed toward the sub. They both nodded.
Quickly they angled upward until they were directly beneath the keel of the huge nuclear sub. Jakes motioned for them to remain where they were, and he worked his way aft to the rudders.
A minute or so later Jakes was back. He did not have his pack of explosives with him. Haikkinen worked his way forward and up the side of the hull to a series of what appeared to be vents. They were probably in the vicinity of the sub's nuclear reactor. After the explosion, whether or not the cavern was destroyed, it would be radioactive for years to come.
He attached the package of high explosives to the side of the sub, swam back to Carter and Jakes, then they all headed back to the bow, where they slowly and carefully surfaced.
The mound of supplies that had been piled on the dock was gone. There were no soldiers in sight. Only the harsh overhead lights illuminated the scene.
The installation was probably on alert because of the presence of the U.S. submarine. The troops would all be at battle stations.
Carter suspected the only ways out of this place were by submarine or through the passageway to the catwalk and from there to the cliffs.
He thought about the young Chinese men manning their electronic surveillance instruments deep within the bowels of the hillside. When the sub blew out here, they wouldn't have a chance.
But then they had not given the natives a chance. Nor had they shown any mercy to the civilian employees at the satellite receiving station on Hiva Faui.
"What's the matter, Carter?" Jakes asked.
"Wait here," Carter said, and he swam around the bow, wriggled out of his scuba gear, and climbed up on the dock.
"Carter… Carter… get back here," Jakes whispered urgently.
Carter looked down at him. "Give me five minutes. If I'm not back by then, get the hell out of here."
He slung the explosives over his shoulder, and with his Luger in hand he crossed the dock and scrambled up the stairs that led to the operations room.
At the top he kept low, below the level of the large plate glass windows, until he made it to the door.
Carefully he straightened up so that he could just see inside the room. There were several consoles of electronic equipment along one wall, and along the other were a couch and chairs, and a couple of tables. But there was no one inside.
Carter got up, opened the door, and slipped inside.
It was very quiet in the room. He stood for several moments holding his breath, listening to the sounds of running machinery elsewhere in the installation.
There was a noise outside on the steps. Carter spun around and dropped below the windows, the safety of his Luger off.