He saw the fear and uncertainty in her eyes. "Relax. It's fine."
"That may be easy for you to say," Susan murmured, "but this is unexplored territory for me."
"I can trust Tony," Steve reassured her, "and the Agency has thousands of contacts who front for the CIA, including a number of newspapers, so he'll get it done — even if it takes a couple of days to set it up."
Susan gave him a long, suspicious look. "When the article doesn't appear in the paper — when Matsukawa inquires about the interview — then what?"
"The paper denies it requested an interview," Steve answered matter-of-factly, "and blames the misunderstanding on a hoax. Routine procedure."
She gave him a double take. "I need a drink."
"I'm buying,". he offered and rose to his feet.
Susan started to rise, then abruptly grabbed his hand. "Sit down," she demanded, "and don't turn around. He's over by the aquarium."
Steve sat down and studied her wide eyes. "Is he next to it or out in the open?"
"Next to it," she answered and withdrew crew cut's 9-millimeter Taurus from under her jacket. "He's standing by the southwest corner."
"Okay," he said calmly and forced himself not to turn and look. "Let's walk toward the aquarium and see if he tries to—"
"He knows I saw him," Susan interrupted. "He's heading toward the monorail!"
Steve drew his Beretta and leaped up. "Come on!"
They raced after the fleeing man, then dove for the ground when he turned and fired at them. The hordes of people waiting to board the monorail began screaming and running away.
When the hit man headed for the monorail station, Steve and Susan chased him, and again had to sprawl on the grass when he began firing at them.
"You sonuvabitch," Steve swore to himself and squeezed the trigger three times, then stopped when he saw the man stagger backwards and clutch his upper leg.
Susan and Steve jumped up and ran after the wounded man as he limped toward the now-vacated station.
Reacting from instinct, Susan paused and took aim a second before the Asian turned to fire. She pumped two rounds into his upper torso, then fired again and missed.
Steve reached the hit man as he tried to drag himself into the monorail station. He kicked Susan's stolen Smith & Wesson out of the man's hand and aimed squarely at his face. "Don't move or I'll blow your fuckin' head off!"
Chapter 32
The windswept seas had calmed and a gentle rain washed the flight deck of the carrier. An unusual atmospheric disturbance had recently passed over the Strait of Malacca, leaving the ship and her escorts in dismal weather conditions.
On the flag bridge, Rear Admiral Isaac Landesman monitored the brightly clad men on the flight deck as they prepared for the second launch of the day. He had a great deal of respect for the youngsters who regularly worked twelve to sixteen hours a day, seven days a week, during flight operations.
Landesman would not admit it to anyone, but he was concerned about the foul weather and the experience level of some of the new pilots. Sixteen of the twenty-three aircraft scheduled for the next launch cycle carried live ordnance, and four of the planes with bombs and rockets were being flown by "nuggets" — qualified but inexperienced aviators.
While the pilots started their engines and the flight crews went through their checklists, the battle group commander raised his binoculars and studied the hazy horizon. He moved his head slowly, scanning the freighters and tankers before he stopped and watched two ASW helicopters in the distance.
Both of the SH-60 Seahawks appeared to be using their dipping sonars in an effort to detect foreign submarines. While one of the slate-gray helos was actually listening for intruders, the other one was trailing a wire and communicating with the attack sub La Jolla.
Isaac Landesman continued his vigilant sweep of the shipping lanes, focusing on the Japanese Maritime Defense Force flagship Hayasa and her escorts as they sailed toward the southern end of the strait.
Flanked by two Asagiri-class destroyers, the Aegis destroyer was 1,500 yards behind the minesweepers Hikoshima and Yurishima. Estimating the distance of the ships to be approximately four nautical miles, the Admiral noticed that the replenishment oiler was not with the small flotilla.
When the first aircraft began to taxi forward to the number-two catapult, Landesman lowered his binoculars and concentrated on the flight-deck personnel. He watched the yellow-shirted catapult officer walk to the deck-edge operator and kneel to talk to him.
A moment later, Landesman saw a flash in his peripheral vision. He turned his head and froze in stunned silence. Trailing a white plume of smoke from its launch canister on the Hayasa, the antiship missile was headed straight for Kitty Hawk. Landesman started to shout an order at the instant he heard, "Man your battle stations! Man your battle stations! This is not a drill!"
Landesman watched helplessly while the Harpoon missile's radar altimeter and computer guided the surface-to-surface missile at the desired sea-skimming height. The maneuver was designed to thwart the Vulcan Phalanx 20-millimeter Close-In Weapons System mounted aboard many ships.
The powerful CIWS defensive system incorporates two radars that provide information to an on-board computer to constantly correlate the target track and the CIWS projectile stream. Angular error is automatically calculated to correct the next burst as the system rapidly eliminates the difference between the tracks of the incoming and outgoing weapons.
CIWS is a last-ditch defense that spews a heavy volume of fire from a six-barrel Gatling gun. If an antiship missile is barely above the water, it makes radar acquisition more difficult for the Vulcan Phalanx system.
Seconds after the launch, the missile's frequency-agile homing radar locked on to the carrier and commanded a sudden pitch-up to place the weapon in an excellent position to strike the carrier from above. The maneuver also defeated the rapid-firing CIWS gun.
The air-warfare officer aboard the Aegis guided-missile cruiser Chancellorsville was paralyzed when the alarms sounded and he recognized that a missile had been fired at Kitty Hawk. He was in radio contact with the tactical-action officer aboard the Hayasa and was about to key his microphone when the console speaker blasted out a frantic call.
"Jiko! Jiko!" the excited voice screamed, then repeated himself in English: "Accident! Accident!"
A statement from an overzealous junior officer had been misinterpreted, resulting in the launching of the powerful anti-ship missile.
Although Chancellorsville's air-warfare officer missed a few of the Japanese words, the agonizing confession continued in a thin and high-pitched voice. "Accidental launching! Accidental launching! Machigai! Mistake — our mistake."
The AWO suddenly recalled when crew members of the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga accidentally fired two Sea Sparrow missiles that hit the Turkish destroyer Muavenet during a NATO exercise in the Aegean Sea. The incident killed five men, including the Captain of the warship.
The stunned air-warfare officer broadcast an order to the other American ships.
"Weapons hold! Weapons hold!" the officer shouted while he tried to sort through the situation. "I repeat — weapons hold! Stand by."
The Japanese antiship weapon rocketed skyward before the Texas Instruments active radar system changed the setting of the cruciform rear fins. The missile made a high-g pitch-over and targeted its large prey.
Christ Almighty, Landesman thought while the missile arched down toward the congested flight deck, what the hell are they doing? They have to be crazy!
The Admiral saw a blur of desperate men race for the sanctuary of the ship's island structure a second before the Harpoon hit an F/A-18 Hornet loaded with fuel and ordnance. The blinding flash and thunderous explosion shattered the windows on the flag bridge and blew twenty-eight sailors over the side of the stricken flattop.