USS Boise, currently in transit across the Atlantic Ocean to relieve Pittsburgh on its Northern Run, would take station between Iceland and the UK to cover the southern routes through the GIUK Gap, while Pittsburgh was being repositioned between Greenland and Iceland to cover the northern routes. Of course, that meant Pittsburgh needed to reach the GIUK Gap before Kazan. Considering Pittsburgh’s maximum speed and that Kazan would likely be traveling at no higher than ahead full, that would not be a problem.
“Helm, ahead flank,” Buglione ordered. “Left full rudder, steady course three-zero-zero.”
Assuming Kazan was headed west, Buglione intended to take Pittsburgh on an arc around the Russian submarine, hopefully transiting far enough away from Kazan that the Russian crew wouldn’t detect Pittsburgh repositioning ahead of it.
Buglione was confident Kazan would not escape into the Atlantic Ocean. At least, not without an American submarine trailing it.
28
MCLEAN, VIRGINIA
Jake Harrison followed Khalila Dufour into the National Counterterrorism Center, taking in the scene: the main floor was filled with sixty analysts at their desks, working diligently while supervisors observed from glass-enclosed offices on the second floor. The NCTC, located in the Liberty Crossing Building and staffed by fourteen government agencies, including the FBI and CIA, served as the logistical hub for the collation and dissemination of terrorist-related information within the U.S. intelligence community.
Upon their return to the United States, Khalila and Harrison had headed to the NCTC to connect with Pat Kendall, who was already working on leads from their trip to Damascus.
“Welcome back,” Kendall said as she stood, her eyes staying intentionally fixed on Harrison, ignoring Khalila’s presence. “Glad to see you’re still in one piece.” Her gaze shifted to Khalila, who offered a fake smile.
“I reviewed your trip report,” Kendall said, “but noticed that only Khalila signed it. It’s missing your digital signature, Jake. Normally the junior officer drafts the report and all involved sign it, but I’m guessing Khalila wrote this herself.”
Khalila replied, “Harrison isn’t familiar with the required format and content, so I thought it was easier to write this one myself.”
“Sure,” Kendall said as she handed Harrison a printout. “Take a look and let me know if anything important is missing.”
Harrison reviewed the report, which Khalila had indeed written during their return flight across the Atlantic. She had mentioned nothing about the protocol of the junior officer writing it, nor had she offered him the opportunity to review it.
The report, which covered the meetings with both arms dealers, was accurate aside from the death of Issad Futtaim’s assistant, whom Khalila had slain without cause. The report instead said Aboud drew his weapon after Futtaim was assassinated, prompting Khalila’s attack.
After assessing the omission, Harrison decided to address the matter with Khalila later. “Nothing important is missing,” he said, handing the report back to Kendall, who stuffed it into a manila folder.
“It’s a pity you weren’t able to extract the contents of Futtaim’s computer,” she said. “However, it looks like we got it all anyway.” When Harrison inquired, Kendall explained. “A lot of businesses — arms dealers included, apparently — don’t keep printed files anymore. It’s all electronic, which means they have at least one backup and sometimes two or three, so a hard drive failure on their computer or main server doesn’t wipe everything out. Futtaim was no different.
“He likely had a local backup in his office that you might have found if you’d had more time, but it turns out Futtaim had a wireless backup in the cloud. A backup that our friends in the Directorate of Analysis were able to locate and download.”
Kendall brought up a directory of files on her computer. “Unfortunately, it looks like the key file we’re interested in is partially encrypted.” She opened one of the files, which appeared to be a ledger of transactions. The date of each transaction wasn’t hidden, but the item procured, the amount, the purchaser, the shipping destination, and additional comments were garbled.
“Not to worry,” Kendall said. “It won’t take long for the folks in Analysis to crack it, once they identify the encryption scheme.”
29
USS PITTSBURGH
“Helm, ahead two-thirds.”
Commander Buglione looked up as Pittsburgh’s Officer of the Deck, Lieutenant Ed Reese, ordered the submarine to slow from ahead flank. Buglione glanced at the navigation display, noting that Pittsburgh was about to enter its new operating area west of the GIUK Gap. Pittsburgh had been repositioned to cover the northern routes through the Gap, while USS Boise had recently arrived on station, covering the southern routes.
As Pittsburgh prepared for Kazan’s arrival, Buglione wondered whether his old submarine was up to the task. In the Barents Sea, it was obvious that Pittsburgh had been counter-detected by Kazan’s crew, and that America’s Los Angeles class submarines no longer held an acoustic advantage against Russia’s newest submarines; at least not against Kazan.
As a teenager, Buglione had read Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October, which featured the Los Angeles class submarine USS Dallas. Back then, the Los Angeles class boats, often referred to as 688s, were the most technologically advanced submarines in the world and the pride of the Submarine Force. Nowadays, 688s were referred to as the old boats, creaking by until they were replaced by the state-of-the art Virginia class submarines, which were already entering their fourth flight of design improvements.
Inside the submarine, Pittsburgh had somewhat kept up with the times, sporting the latest versions of tactical systems. But the old boats’ weaknesses were external to the hull. Pittsburgh and the other remaining 688s still had their legacy sonar hydrophones. It was relatively easy and cheap to replace internal systems with updated microprocessors, displays, and algorithms. Replacing the entire spherical array with the newest technology or incorporating hull flank arrays, like the Virginia class submarines, was cost-prohibitive. Still, Buglione was convinced his crew was better trained than Kazan’s, and that would make the difference.
After the Quartermaster reported they had entered their operating area, Lieutenant Reese called out, “Sonar, Conn. Report all contacts.”
Two minutes later, Sonar reported no submerged contacts; only a few merchants more than ten miles away.
Buglione turned to Lieutenant Reese. “Make preparations to proceed to periscope depth.”
Now that Pittsburgh had arrived in its new operating area, it was time to see if Kazan had been detected by SOSUS arrays. If not, Pittsburgh would remain at periscope depth until they were provided queuing information — which passage Kazan was proceeding through.
After four hours at periscope depth, Pittsburgh received the message Buglione had been hoping for. Kazan had been detected by SOSUS arrays entering the northernmost channel in the GIUK Gap. Buglione stopped beside the Quartermaster at the navigation table, estimating the course to a new station five thousand yards from the channel exit. He was joined by Lieutenant Reese, who likewise estimated Pittsburgh’s new course.