While his sonar expert’s words swam around his head, Volkov realized the Wraith’s sonar system had sent the order only once. Confirming his suspicions of foul play, he heard the dolphin’s fourth acknowledgement.
Someone else was sending commands.
“Dmitry!” the trainer said. “I don’t understand. What can I do?”
“Send the order again.”
Second order sent. Fifth acknowledgment received.
“Anatoly, come here, please,” Volkov said.
The sonar expert placed his headset on his console and walked to the commanding officer’s seat. Volkov leaned toward him and gestured him downward to whisper.
“I don’t know how they’re doing it, but the Israelis are giving our dolphins orders. They must have recorded one of our outgoing orders.”
The technician’s eyes became wide.
“That would explain their strange behavior.”
“Set up a sonar search plan to listen for our return-to-ship order. Either the Splendor is playing it from its sonar system, it’s playing it from a drone, or another asset has been deployed against us.”
As Andrei sent another response, Anatoly stood and nodded.
“I’ll get right on it,” he said.
“Before you do, be sure to get a range check on the dolphins,” Volkov said. “I think you’ll find that they’re swimming towards the Israelis, or at best in circles. But wait until I leave the room with Vasily. I’m going to escort him to the torpedo room to calm him.”
“He’s about to break down.”
“He can’t put it in words, but he’s quite aware that his dolphins are in grave danger.”
“Even if I hear the Israelis duping our dolphins, what can be done? If they can draw the dolphins close to the Splendor, they could kill them with a single blast of sonar energy.”
“I know. That’s what I intend to prevent.”
“At the risk of our ship? You can’t just overpower the Israeli calls with acoustic energy from our ship. You’d give away our position. They’d then shoot a torpedo, and we’d all be dead.”
Volkov grunted.
“I wouldn’t risk the ship for that, but I will risk a drone.”
In the torpedo room, Volkov watched the trainer pace along the center corridor.
“Andrei is sick,” the trainer said. “He’s sick. That’s it. He’s sick. He’s sick.”
“He’s not sick,” Volkov said.
“He can’t make it back to the ship if he’s sick. He’s my baby. I’ve lost my baby.”
“He’s fine, Vasily.”
“He’s sick, Dmitry.”
Grabbing the man’s shoulders, Volkov thought he held the thin frame of a child.
“Steady, my friend. I know what’s happening. I can fix it.”
“You can fix what?”
“Promise me that you’ll trust me.”
“Why do I have to trust you? What’s wrong? What’s wrong with my babies? You’re scaring me, Dmitry.”
“I believe the Israelis managed to record our return-to-ship signal and are rebroadcasting it to confuse your babies.”
The trainer gave a look of horror.
“They’ll be killed!”
“No, they won’t. I have a plan.”
“You just said they’re being called to an Israeli submarine. What do you think will happen? They’ll be baked alive when that submarine kills them with the sonar system! Or they could just detonate a torpedo near them. Jake did that and almost killed them when he was fighting against us. There’s so much that can be done to hurt them.”
“You’re overreacting,” Volkov said.
“How can you say that?”
“If the Israelis knew the signal they intercepted was a return-to-ship signal, why would they keep broadcasting it?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Because they don’t know what it means. They’re broadcasting it to confuse our dolphins. But they have no idea what response to expect.”
“But if they swim towards the Israelis and Andrei keeps responding, they’ll figure out that they’re getting closer. They’ll figure it out and kill them!”
Volkov looked over the trainer’s shoulder at his lead torpedo technician and nodded. The man approached.
“Keep it quiet because we know the Israelis are listening. Backhaul tube three and reload it with a drone. And I mean quietly — if you want to live. We can’t be heard.”
The man obeyed and rallied a team.
“What’s going on?” the trainer asked.
“I’m going to use that drone to overpower the Israeli signal and get our dolphins back.”
“You will? You’re sure it’s not too late?”
Volkov lied.
“I’m sure.”
After returning to the control room, Volkov glared at his sonar technician.
“Is my drone ready yet?”
“You told the team to be quiet. They’re moving slowly.”
“Damn.”
“Shall I tell them to hurry?”
“No. I’m sure they’re moving as fast as they can.”
Volkov had lost count of Andrei’s responses, and another one filled the room as the latest iteration of his hypnotic mammalian mantra.
“They’re getting father away, aren’t they?”
“The power level of Andrei’s responses is falling, but it could be a matter of angles as much as distance.”
“I know that,” Volkov said. “But my gut tells me we’re losing them.”
“Shall I perform another range check?”
“They’ve ignored your last two attempts?”
“My last three.”
“Then they either can’t hear us, or they’ve found a closer sound source they consider their mothership.”
“I still don’t hear any sign of a fake source,” Anatoly said. “If there really is one as we believe, it’s far away, or it’s broadcasting at very low power.”
“Just enough power to illicit Andrei’s response.”
As Volkov pondered his own words, he lowered his head.
“Dear God. The Israelis are hearing Andrei, too. They know exactly where he is based upon the direction to his sound and the time delay between their transmission and his response.”
“But they wouldn’t risk walking the dolphins to their ship, would they? Not after what they did to the Leviathan. That would be too risky.”
The insight offered hope.
“No, you’re right. They’re still retreating while protecting the Leviathan, but they’re dragging our dolphins away with them. Back to Haifa, to be captured.”
The sonar expert pressed a muff to his ear and lowered his head. Volkov pursed his lips while awaiting his report.
“The drone is ready.”
“Finally,” Volkov said.
He aimed his chin at the technician beside his sonar guru.
“Is he ready to handle the damned thing?”
“Yes. It’s his first time, but an expert from Jake’s crew trained him. He’ll do fine.”
“He has to. Launch drone one from tube three.”
“Drone one is swimming out of tube three,” Anatoly said. “Drone one is clear of our hull and deployed. We have wire connectivity and confirmation of propulsion.”
“Set drone speed at its maximum of ten knots, straight for the dolphins.”
“The drone is at maximum speed, heading for the dolphins.”
For five minutes, Volkov watched the display above his seated guru’s head as the crosshair of his Wraith slipped away from the imaginary line between the dolphins and his drone.
Satisfied any reactionary Israeli torpedo targeting the drone would pass behind him, he sought his cetaceans.
“That’s good enough,” he said. “Send the return-to-ship command through the drone at its maximum transmit power.”