“It seems such a waste,” Asad said.
“But we agreed that it was necessary to sacrifice one weapon to rearrange the armaments.”
“Yes, Hana. There are six spare weapons and six weapons racks, and every tube was full. I saw no other safe way to create an empty rack to allow weapon movement.”
“Then it was not a waste but a necessity,” Salem said, “because I am seeing our objective more clearly as it approaches. The Harpoon missiles are the tip of our sword, and we must bring all of them to bear.”
Salem pointed at the nearest Harpoon in its encapsulated, waterproofed sheathe.
“This one looks like the most logical missile to place into the empty tube.”
“Yes, Hana, it is.”
“Well then, let’s prove to ourselves that we know how to reload a weapon. Load this Harpoon into the tube.”
Salem watched his team move with deliberate patience while adjusting hydraulic valves to move the weapons rack to the open breech door. Hamdan positioned a hydraulic ram behind the Harpoon and used it to slide the weapon into the tube. The missile loaded, Asad mated an electronic ribbon from the tail of the weapon to a connector inside the breech door, and he verified with Yousif in the operations room that the ship’s tactical systems recognized the Harpoon.
“The weapon is loaded and in communication with the system,” he said.
“So we can launch this weapon?” Salem asked.
“Yes.”
“That took us eleven minutes.”
“That’s not bad for our first time, Hana. We were moving slowly through the procedure on purpose while learning.”
“Quite acceptable for a first time,” Salem said. “But the manual says that a reload can be achieved in less than two minutes. You’ll have several chances to practice while withdrawing the torpedoes from the tubes and inserting the Harpoon missiles into them. Call me when you’re ready to insert the final Harpoon, and I will time you. Two minutes will be your goal.”
Renard was still calming his nerves after a hostile submarine launched a torpedo from a mile away. Remy’s assurance that the torpedo lacked high-speed screw noise had felt like a stay of execution.
Since his scare, he had been struggling to understand the Leviathan’s actions. He thought he understood but wanted Jake’s insight before volunteering a theory.
“Bizarre, don’t you think?” he asked.
“Heck, yeah,” Jake said. “Could have been a hot run, a dud, or a command shutdown at launch. Could have been something entirely different.”
“It was likely not a hot run,” Renard said. “If the torpedo had started its engines within the tube, we likely would have heard the screws.”
“True. Just brainstorming ideas before ruling them out,” Jake said.
“Yes, of course. I understand. I also doubt it was a dud weapon. If they had a target in mind, they could have launched a backup weapon by now.”
“Agreed.”
“I do, however, find your command shutdown idea intriguing. Why would they launch a weapon and then shut it down before the engine starts?”
“Changed their minds?”
“Unlikely.”
“A warning?”
Renard inhaled the taste of tobacco and exhaled.
“To whom?” he asked. “To us? They are in no position to warn anyone of anything.”
“Then they jettisoned the weapon.”
“Indeed,” Renard said. “And by all appearances, it was a functional weapon.”
“Training?” Jake asked. “Just to be sure they can get a weapon out of a tube?”
“Perhaps that and more. Perhaps they wanted to be certain that they could reload a tube. The net gain is then five weapons. The one is sacrificed, but they earn the assurance that they can reload the six in the reload racks. That would be a very mature move.”
Renard saw a spark in Jake’s eye he hadn’t seen for years. Afraid or not, his protégé immersed his powerful and experienced mind into the moment.
“But take it one step further. There’s meaning in which weapons are in the tubes and which are in the reload racks. We have no way of knowing which tube was opened, which weapon was jettisoned.”
“No,” Renard said. “We do not.”
“But we could hear them empty and load each tube, right?
“Indeed. Remy is certain that he identified this as he counted breech doors opening and shutting. I trust his ears and mind.”
“Me, too. So they took three weapons out, put four weapons in, and did a whole lot of moving weapons about the room. We know their starting load out, and we can now estimate their present load out.”
“I see,” Renard said. “That could be useful. I see your thought process. They cannot touch the Popeye missiles in the larger tubes, leaving the four torpedoes and two Harpoon missiles that were loaded.”
“With a jettison, they removed four weapons and then promoted four to the tubes as their primary salvo. If we assume they moved each weapon only once, then they shifted from a torpedo-dominant load out to a Harpoon-dominant load out.”
Renard flicked ashes into a tray, returned the Marlboro to his mouth, and pressed his hands against the machined metal surrounding the elevated conning platform.
“Consider that it would be folly to unload two Harpoon missiles just to load different ones into different tubes,” he said. “If so, then we have our conclusion.”
“They have all six Harpoons loaded.”
“If our assumptions hold,” Renard said. “This is interesting and worthy of sharing. We’ll transmit this information to the fleet.”
“What’s it mean?” Jake asked. “If I’m a submarine commander, I always go with torpedoes. They are impossible to stop, and there’s something more damaging about the torpedo hitting under the keel and its shockwave moving through water.”
“But you’re thinking like a man trained on a nuclear-powered vessel that can approach the speed of a destroyer. Think in terms of a battery-powered vessel, and you see the advantage in the distance and speed of a Harpoon. The Leviathan doesn’t have the speed to chase a ship, but its Harpoon missiles can extend its attack radius and reduce its time to target from launching.”
“What about land attack?”
“A good question,” Renard said. “The Harpoon in general is capable of it with modifications such as a booster for added range, but the six aboard the Leviathan are generic anti-ship weapons.”
“But anything that can hit a ship can hit a building,” Jake said. “Even a sea-skimming missile like Harpoon could take out something on the coast of New York City, if the Leviathan got close enough to launch.”
“Possible, but they won’t get close enough to launch the Popeyes, much less the Harpoons.”
“They don’t know that.”
Renard glanced at a Subtics monitor and saw icons representing the Mercer, the Zafar/Leviathan tandem, and the awaiting Georgia.
“True,” he said. “But their window of blissful ignorance is closing. They will know about their failure in two days.”
CHAPTER 18
Salem awoke to find Hamdan, the leader of the soldiers, standing over him.
“I am displeased,” Hamdan said.
“How so?”
“You’re taking us into missile range of major American cities, but you insist on striking a solitary warship.”
“You have known since the beginning that nobody but I can know the full scale of our operation.”
“This decision was made by men far away in the comfort of their homes and mosques. I believe that by serving by your side in combat, I have earned the right to know.”