“Well, then, we fire them all.” Jack slapped the next torpedo in line with his hand. “And we keep firing until we either hit something or run out of torpedoes. We’re not quitting!”
Jack was right. Durand and Juan leaped into action and within half a minute they had the next torpedo loaded and ready to fire.
“Fingers crossed it runs hot, straight and normal,” Durand ventured as he fired the second torpedo.
“And it actually blows up, this time,” Juan threw in for good measure.
Chapter 66
Countdown to impact: 0.10 minutes.
Chapter 67
“Fire missile!” Ketov commanded.
The roar of the Triumf launch could be heard throughout the Kazan. To a man, the crew knew it had earned its NATO reporting name. It was indeed a Growler and now their lives were in the hands of one anti-aircraft missile bristling with sensors and guidance systems linked together in one Integrated Air Defense System or IADS.
The Triumf IADS was capable of detecting and painting a target on stealth aircraft that would normally not be visible to conventional radar. It would use its long range scanners to build a picture of the target and its track its flightpath, calculating the most ‘survivable’ route to intercept.
Once it engaged its target, the Russian Triumf was deadly accurate.
It would need to be.
Chapter 68
The shockwave slammed the three men into the bulkhead. Hard.
Water jetted from the maze of exposed pipes attached to the torpedo compartment bulkhead and the U-Boat shuddered violently as it smashed into the wet-dock.
Captain Jameson and Dave stumbled through the listing torpedo room hatch, both bleeding profusely from head wounds. Neither man had been prepared for the explosion.
Looking around the compartment, it quickly became obvious that the damage hadn’t been caused by the scuttle charges, which then prompted the question… what did cause the explosion and shock wave?
Jameson wiped the blood from his face and drew a bead on Durand and Coulson.
“What did you do?”
Jack shuffled away from Durand slightly and showed his palms to the captain. “It wasn’t me,” he declared.
Chapter 69
At a combined closing speed of over 1,000 miles per hour, the Tomahawk and the Growler erupted in a fireball that lit up the sky for miles.
The warhead had not yet armed itself and even its titanium casing could protect it from being totally destroyed and vaporized in the mid-air blast.
Chapter 70
Jameson’s face darkened. “You sank a two and a half billion dollar nuclear attack submarine with a Nazi torpedo from the Second World War? Have I got that right?”
“It was his idea, sir.” Durand pointed at Coulson.
“Coulson?”
“I like to think of it as a team decision, sir,” answered Jack.
“Oh, yeah, and you’re such a team player aren’t you, Jack.” A familiar voice echoed behind them.
They all turned to the flood compartment hatch where Sam was crouching to get through.
“Tell me you didn’t blow the shit out of something while I was out of it?” Sam pleaded.
“Sorry Sam. We could have used some help, but we got by,” said Jack.
“What did you say?”
“I said we managed without you,” Jack repeated.
“Not that… you called me Sam.”
“So I did, Sam. So I did.” Jack walked over to Sam and offered his arm for Sam to lean on as he started to lose his balance with the movement of the deck.
“We’re going to end up scuttling before long, so we’d better make a move before the water gets any deeper,” Sam suggested.
“Okay, let’s grab all the blankets, warm clothing and flashlights we can round up and meet in the control room. I doubt they’ve sealed us in as they weren’t expecting us to live long enough to try to get out of here,” Jack said as he guided Sam back through the hatch. “It’s going to be cold and dark up there.”
“If this is a typical day at the office for you, Coulson, I’m glad we won’t be working together any more. I’m getting too old for this shit.”
Chapter 71
“What’s that?” Jack pointed to the empty U-Boat pen where the Barracuda had been berthed. His view was unobstructed from the conning tower as he climbed through the hatch ready to give Sam a hoist by his good arm.
Something yellow with bright running lights all around it broke through the surface of the water and lit up the bunker.
“It’s Nellie!” cried Juan and Dave in unison.
“Nellie?”
“The AUV. We thought the Russian torpedo had nailed it. Apparently not. Like her 007 namesake, she’s full of surprises,” Jameson explained.
Juan and Dave looked at each other excitedly. Juan’s negativity seemed to slide off him like he was wearing a Teflon suit.
“Okay, let’s hear it.” Jameson rolled his eyes.
“We can use her to get a signal to PACOM.” Juan’s voice was squeaking with excitement. “The subroutine little miss back-stabber embedded in her code can be modified to send a signal to PACOM if you give me the frequencies and authentication codes we need for them to pay attention.”
“Don’t you need computers and cables and stuff to do that?” Jameson asked.
Dave pointed to the dock where Muller’s men had dumped the equipment they’d ripped out of the Barracuda to make way for the bell. “All we need should be right there. We just need to plug a console into one of Nellie’s uplink ports and we’re good to go. She’s got enough power in reserve to get out into open water and transmit for hours.”
Jack was impressed. “Maybe you science guys are good for something after all.”
Chapter 72
AD Preston’s door burst open but before he could yell at the young man waving a printout in his hand, he was interrupted.