"What?" ter Horst said.
"Torpedo in the water bearing zero zero four! Torpedo is drawing left to right, range increasing!"
"Torpedo type?" ter Horst snapped.
Van Gelder turned to the sonar chief.
"Open-cycle axial piston engine," the chief called out. "Harmonics of sixty hertz plus strong lines at 750 and 1725."
"Captain," Van Gelder said, "it's a modified American Mark 48, one of their piggyback mine-deploying weapons."
"Here?"
"Yes, sir," Van Gelder said.
"Any contact on the sub? Acoustics, wake turbulence, anything?"
"Not since that mechanical transient," Van Gelder said. "Seawolfs and Virginias are very quiet, sir, and pump-jets don't leave much wake."
"I know. That transient must have been them loading the torpedo tube."
"Torpedo bearing rate and speed guesstimate put its launch point five thousand yards from us," Van Gelder said.
"We'll use that for the sub," ter Horst said. "Begin a target-motion plot. I'll bet it's a Seawolf on a mining mission. They make bigger targets than Virginias, but they have a bigger weapons load-out too."
"Torpedo changing course," Van Gelder said. "Constant bearing now, signal strength increasing. It's aimed right at us!"
"Not at us, Gunther," ter Horst said. "At the bottom somewhere on our course. Somewhere in the safety lane."
"Concur, sir," Van Gelder said, slightly embarrassed. "Time to sidestep," ter Horst said. "Helm, port thirty rudder, steer zero nine zero."
"Aye aye, sir," the helmsman acknowledged smartly.
"Good thing it's not an ADCAP," Van Gelder said. "We're badly boxed in by the coastline and the sloping continental shelf and by the limits of the safety corridor."
"I know," ter Horst said. "It would be hard for us to run … But the same thing holds for them, only more so, though I'd rather not find out for sure if the active mines outside the corridor ignore us."
"They won't ignore the Seawolf," Van Gelder said. Ter Horst smiled. "We know they're there, but they don't know we're here."
"We have the advantage acoustically, sir, at least for now."
"That's right, with both of us so near the bottom. They're downhill from Voortrekker, so in looking at each other they have the upslope in their face while we have a clean field of view. They're in the sweet spot of our bow sphere while we know they haven't deployed a towed array — we'd hear it dragging intermittently."
"We have the weather gauge, so to speak," Van Gelder said.
"Leave the clever puns to me, Number One."
"Yes, Captain."
"I bet they're distracted by that Daphne."
"The Americans may plan to take her out once they reach deeper water," Van Gelder said.
"We'll just see about that," ter Horst said. "Rig for ultraquiet, rig for depth charge. Go to action stations and close up for attack."
"Recommend we use conventional warheads," Van Gelder said, "given our location."
"Concur," ter Horst said. "Warm up the weapons, tubes one through four. We'll start with one of our slower-running stealthy fish, set to home on wake and flow noise once we have a better TMA. We'll go active with it only if we miss and need a reattack."
"Sir, that warhead's fairly small."
"It's a trade-off, Gunther. I'd rather have the first shot be a total surprise. It'll do real damage, and then we finish them off with something bigger. Who knows, maybe they'll be forced to the bottom from flooding or have a mobility kill. We could capture all their crypto gear, even take some crewmen alive for a thorough interrogation." Ter Horst smiled sadistically.
"Er, concur, Captain," Van Gelder said.
"Sir," the sonar chief said, "torpedo has gone past our baffles, receding off the port quarter now."
"Very well, Sonar," Van Gelder said.
"Helm, steady as you go," ter Horst said. "That ISLMM may have another way point up its sleeve."
"My head is zero nine zero, sir," the helmsman said. "Captain," Van Gelder said, "we should preset a range limit on our unit, to protect the Daphne."
"Yes, do it, and program the unit to detonate under target's hull. Warm up the decoys in tubes five and six as well. No point in being foolhardy— our friends out there have eight big tubes themselves."
"Captain," Van Gelder said, "enemy torpedo has changed course again, zero nine zero true. Doppler shows it still receding … Torpedo engine noise has ceased. Both mines must have been planted."
"Helm," ter Horst said, "starboard thirty rudder. Steer two six five, put us back on track. Number One, mark the mines' position, then deploy a message buoy with a warning smartly, Flash Double Zed priority."
"Aye aye, sir," Van Gelder said, "radio room is working … Second torpedo in the water!"
"Shit," ter Horst said. "Starboard thirty rudder, steer three zero zero."
"Sir," Van Gelder said, "it's another mobile mine. It's drawing right to left this time."
"Ah, not a problem, then … It's going to turn back soon."
"You're right, Captain. Here it comes."
"The Americans are so predictable." Ter Horst laughed. "Helm, return us to dead center in the outbound safety lane. Port thirty rudder, steer two zero five."
"Port thirty rudder, aye aye, sir. Steer two zero five, aye aye."
"Number One, prepare to launch an unmanned undersea vehicle probe. Use tube eight. I'm going to play doctor with that Seawolf."
"Captain?"
"The UUV's my proctoscope."
Van Gelder worked his panel. "UUV away."
"Now, Gunther," ter Horst said, "once our probe visually identifies the target, what do you think about shooting while we're all still in the safety lane?"
CHAPTER 20
"Sir," COB said, "I've lost contact with that Daphne class, Master 26."
"What happened?" Jeffrey said.
"They just topped an outcropping south of the Umkomaas River outflow gully and the broken terrain beyond is making too much current turbulence."
"Very well, Chief of the Watch," Jeffrey said. "Start a snake pattern with the LMRS, try to recover the trail … Captain, in the meantime we can probably find the rest of the no-fire corridor by avoiding any CAPTORs."
"Concur, Fire Control," Wilson said. "Helm, steady as you go."
"My course is two zero five, sir," Meltzer said. "Sir," COB said, "still no sign of Master 26."
"Very well," Jeffrey said. "Make the LMRS follow a balloon track instead, take a good look at the minefield to our front."
For a few minutes no one spoke.
"Commander," COB said, Ì'm getting two possible routes for the safety lane based on CAPTOR locations versus fixed-emplacement bottom mines."
"I see what you mean," Jeffrey said, studying the data. "One of the routes may be a culde-sac, a trap."
"But which is which?" Wilson said. "Do we take the straight path or the turn to port?"
"If I were an Axis coastal defense commander," Commodore Morse said, "I'd do the opposite of what I thought the Allies would expect me to do."
"Yes?" Wilson said. "Or would you? Mightn't you also take account of that, and then do what the Allies do expect you to do, to psych them out?"
"We could flip a coin," Jeffrey said. "That's probably what they did."
"Still no sign of Master 26," COB said.
"Very well," Wilson said. "Helm, all stop, hover on manual."
"All stop, aye, sir," Meltzer said. "Maneuvering acknowledges."
"Now," Wilson said, "one thing the Axis will do is try to rush our thinking. Instead we'll just sit tight while Lieutenant Monaghan and I study the bottom charts … Helm, rotate sixty degrees to starboard on auxiliary propulsors. It's time to check our baffles again. I don't want us rear-ended by the next enemy boat that passes through. If one does sortie soon, we'll get in trail and follow them … XO, take the deck and the conn."