Clark had called them to offer his congratulations. The CEO of the wildcatting company was thrilled, as were the families of the survivors. By any measure they had overcome extreme conditions and perilous odds and won the day.
So why did he still feel like shit?
“Feeling better now?” Ding asked. He had to shout over the roar of the big twin V8 diesel engines powering the thundering Kamewa hydrojets.
“You have no idea.”
“Then why does your face look like you just swallowed an ashtray?”
“I screwed the pooch, Ding. You know I did.”
“Why? Because you hesitated?”
“Dom got shot, you could’ve been shot — and I had a combat knife shoved into my gut.”
“Nobody got hurt.”
“In spite of me, not because of me.”
“At least you own it. That’s what’s important.”
“If I hadn’t hesitated, if I had reacted faster, maybe I could’ve prevented all of it.”
“Was it the knife that froze you?”
“No. At least I don’t think so. It was the girl. Both women, really. I saw their coveralls and I saw the oil stains, and I ‘knew’ they were hostages.” He didn’t have to remind Ding that when they examined the women’s bodies, they discovered that the dark oil stains were actually the dried blood from the hostages they had slaughtered with the same knife used on Jack.
“From what you told me, they played their parts to perfection. They obviously planned that stunt from the beginning in case they ever got cornered.”
“Well, it worked pretty damn good, didn’t it?”
“So what lesson did you learn from this?”
“Always shoot the blonde, I guess.”
Ding laughed. “Don’t let Adara hear you say that. She’ll kick your ass.”
Jack nodded, smiling. Adara was a CrossFit monster. She was stronger than most men and knew how to throw a punch.
“I just don’t want to ever let the team down like that again, no matter what.”
“You won’t, if you keep pushing yourself.”
“That’s the plan. I just hope it’s good enough.”
“We all make mistakes. None of us is perfect, but we can always get better.”
“Thanks, Ding.”
“The day I stop trying to improve is the day I walk. You better do the same.”
“I’ll keep pushing. You know that.”
“But there’s still one lesson from all of this I need you to drill into here.” Ding stabbed Jack’s chest with his finger. “Never forget that you never know about people. Never. You feel me?”
“Yeah, I feel you.”
“Good. Now let’s head back down to the galley for some hot coffee. I’m freezing my personality off up here.”
“You go ahead. I’m fine right where I am.”
“Suit yourself. We should be docking in an hour.” Ding clapped Jack on the back and headed below deck.
Jack turned back to the rail and faced the horizon, his arms crossed against the chill. He was trying to let Ding’s words sink in, but his mind drifted back to the night’s events, walking through them step by step, replaying the mistakes one by one, the feeling that he should’ve done better washing over him like a cresting wave. It hurt like hell, but it was the only way he knew how to prep for the next mission, whatever it might be.
4
Commander Holly Symonds stood on the bridge, a pair of high-powered Fujinon binoculars wedged against her eyes. Her executive officer was below deck in the Combat Information Center, monitoring this morning’s missile launch on the vast array of radar and tracking displays. She was on comms with him and kept fully apprised. Symonds preferred the early-morning sunlight and the sting of the stiff breeze gusting over the slate-gray water to the darkly lit, air-conditioned CIC and the electrical hum of its glowing LED displays.
In a real combat situation she would be down there directing tactical operations, but this was a routine test flight by the North Koreans. Not that anything the North Koreans ever did was routine. Clearly they had gone out of their way to not hide today’s launch, which definitely wasn’t par for the course. Choi Ha-guk’s sociopathic predecessor had tested twenty-five rockets in the previous four years — more than the Hermit Kingdom had launched in the previous eighteen. That was a worrisome trend to the Navy brass, and anyone else within targeting distance. Today’s test did nothing to allay those concerns.
The USS Benfold was one of the Navy’s most advanced multiplatform surface combat ships. By deploying the Aegis Combat System — integrating AN/SPY-1 phased array radar, AN/UYK-1 high-speed computers, and a wide variety of missile launch platforms — the Arleigh Burke—class destroyer could track and defeat up to one hundred airborne, surface, and subsurface threats simultaneously.
But the Aegis Combat System was also the world’s most advanced antimissile defense platform. South Korea remained vulnerable to potential long-range missile attacks from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Until the THAAD — Terminal High Altitude Area Defense — system was fully deployed in South Korea, the United States shielded its ally with the Aegis antimissile defenses as needed.
Given today’s SLBM — submarine-launched ballistic missile — test by the DPRK, the USS Benfold was deployed as a symbol of that continued commitment despite the fact that Choi Ha-guk was unlikely to start a nuclear war today. Nevertheless, the South Koreans were nervous, and rightly so, as the North Korean ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs continued their aggressive expansion.
“Submarine doors opening, Commander,” her executive said in her headphone. “Preparing to launch.”
“Roger that.” Symonds twisted the furled focus ring on her binoculars. By the naked eye the missile would have to rise some five hundred feet above the surface before she could see it at this distance, but the high-powered binoculars would shave some of that off. A night launch would have been spectacular and easier to track with her eyes. No matter. The Benfold’s automated video tracking cameras would record the launch and feed the data back to the DIA for analysis.
The sonar operator on duty this morning had ears like a vampire bat, but Commander Symonds had another tactical advantage today. The Los Angeles—class fast-attack submarine, USS Asheville, had successfully deployed an autonomous, torpedo-shaped underwater surveillance drone fitted with an array of sensors, including video cameras. The stealth drone had successfully tracked the Gorae from its dock at Sinpo to its current location. The Gorae was believed to be the first and only ballistic missile — capable submarine in the DPRK fleet. Incredibly, the Asheville’s drone was providing a live video feed of the diesel-powered sub and the images were piped directly into the Benfold’s CIC. This was a first for the Navy — eyes-on surveillance of a North Korean SLBM launch in action. Naval intelligence would feed on this data for years.
Little was known about the indigenously built Gorae, but it bore a striking resemblance to Soviet-era boats of a similar type and size. It was believed to have the capacity to launch only one SLBM at a time — the KN-11, aka Pukkuksong-1. It had successfully done so just a few months earlier after a number of failed attempts on sea-based barges. Today it was stationed only a mile offshore from the naval base at Sinpo, submerged in just fifty feet of water — an easy target for the drone’s cameras.