She seemed formal, strong, and feminine. Jake found himself unable to reject her.
“Of course, major. We’re in no hurry. Take your time. I’ll ask my guys to give you space to talk. They’ll have to remain within range of hearing you, but I’d be impressed if any of us know two words of Hebrew.”
“Thank you, Mister Slate.”
Jake stepped toward the plotting table and gestured for his Aman officer to head to the conning platform.
As the conversation between the Israelis started, the French mechanic joined Jake by the chart.
“And if you’ll excuse me, I’ll rest my tired bones,” Henri said. “I’ve moved the prescribed amount of water forward to distribute our weight properly, and I’ve called for my relief.”
“Sure,” Jake said. “Your relief won’t have to do anything, unless something really terrible goes wrong.”
“If something really terrible goes wrong, I don’t think it will matter who’s sitting in my chair.”
“I can’t argue that. Get some rest, my very old friend.”
As Henri departed, the Aman officer waved to Jake.
“I’m having trouble.”
Jake craned his neck at the frozen images on the monitors.
“Don’t worry. They’ll come back in a few seconds. The laser system is shifting frequency to penetrate whatever color of water we’re moving through now. It happens once in a while.”
The Aman officer turned back to his monitors, which came to life seconds later. He entered an animated discussion in a language that was unbreakable code to Jake, who called out to Remy in French.
“Do you hear anything out there?”
“No. Why are we speaking French?”
“Because it takes my mind off the fact that they’re not speaking English.”
“Okay. As you wish. It’s quiet out there other than the usual merchant shipping noise. All my contacts are tracking at twelve knots or faster and at ten miles away or farther.”
Jake pretended to study his chart while testing his patience against the duration of the lively discussion in Hebrew. As he thought about reneging on his promise of foregoing a deadline for the Israeli meeting, he heard the Aman officer’s verbal volume drop as his conversation switched to English.
“We’re finished, Jake. Major Dahan thanks you for the opportunity to let us speak together as a team.”
“Do you have anything to report from your discussion?”
“Major Dahan will assess all the details with her team on the Goliath and will determine if there’s any news worth sharing. She may also request to speak to her commander via radio link, if it can be made possible.”
“So be it,” Jake said.
He returned to his console and found Cahill and Volkov looking back at him on two of the monitors.
“Did they look agitated to you, mate?” Cahill asked.
Jake scanned the Specter’s control room for his Aman officer and noticed his Israeli rider had departed. He turned his face back to the screens.
“Is the major still there?” he asked.
“She’s gone. Just ran downstairs. Dmitry’s rider is gone, too. It’s like they’re returning the favor of letting us speak in private.”
“I agree,” Jake said. “I don’t know if they looked agitated or just looked Israeli.”
“What do you think they were talking about?” Cahill asked.
“Probably the political outcome of our blockade run and any subsequent military actions.”
“You think the naval vessels being deployed are relevant?”
“Hard to say,” Jake said. “I’ll go with a cautious hope that they aren’t. Pierre told us to ignore them and to head home.”
“It might be good to get a radio link with him,” Cahill said.
Jake’s mind filtered out the English-to-Russian translations running in the background of Volkov’s audio while he recalled his employer’s latest orders.
“Unless you picked up something else on the low-bandwidth feed, he didn’t think it was urgent enough for us to risk exposure. We’re apparently keeping the Aman people with us until we reach land, and he wants us to head back submerged and undetected.”
“I’ve got nothing from Pierre to contradict that. But staying submerged kind of takes the fun out of me having loaded you.”
“Even underwater, we still move all three ships faster together than separately.”
“I know, mate. Supposedly twelve knots sustained, even with your heavy arses in me cargo bed. Let’s give it a try then, stepping up in increments. Ready for four knots?”
“Yes,” Jake said. “Let’s leave Israel to its own fate. Unless something pops up to catch us by surprise, this mission is over.”
CHAPTER 16
Cahill reclined in his rack reading a novel as he anticipated growing drowsy and drifting into a restful slumber. He entertained thoughts of waking to a quiet morning and a leisurely breakfast.
Then the awareness of a possible recurring nightmare chilled him, and he feared the crushing, drowning depths of sleep. He forced himself to start reading another chapter to delay the risk of a tormenting dream.
The knock at his stateroom door changed his plans.
“This is Major Dahan. I request to enter your quarters.”
His heart jumped into hyper-drive, and his breathing accelerated. Rustling his blanket, his feet sought the floor.
“One moment please. I’m in me skivvies. Is it terribly urgent?”
“No.”
He hated her brevity.
“Just a moment, then. Let me put on some clothes.”
He wrestled into his chinos and tiptoed across the deck to his sink where he swished mouthwash and spat. He then angled to the door, stepped back, and opened it.
Her hair seemed impeccable and her subtle makeup unnoticeable but effective. Her eyes dazzled him with a natural brown glint, and her sharp features cast shadows that added mystery to her allure.
“What can I do for you, major?”
“I have news I wanted to give you myself. The prime minister is mobilizing his armored battalions in the Golan Heights. He means to extend his borders into Syria and defy the world to challenge him.”
“How’d you learn about this?”
“It’s in Pierre’s latest data feed,” she said. “I’m sure his source is satellite data, either American or European.”
Cahill wondered why she alerted him before his crew did.
“I should’ve heard this from the watch section.”
“My staff recognized the significance immediately,” she said. “It’s one of several scenarios we’ve been watching for. I had my sergeant ask your team to let me tell you about it first.”
“Why?”
“You would have contacted me anyway. I wanted to tell you about it before you had a chance to speculate.”
“Speculate about what?”
“About what we can do about it.”
The maneuver irked him.
“You mean what I can do about it. Me and me ship. You can’t do anything about it. Jake and Dmitry can’t do anything about it. Only the cannons at the back of the Goliath can stop tanks.”
Her defiant air evaporated, and her features softened as she appeared vulnerable. It intensified his desire.
“I know it’s all about your cannons, and I know you’re under no obligation. But the contract with Pierre is open-ended. If you can help convince him, he’ll let you turn back and stop this madness.”
“Jake’s our leader at sea.”
“Jake’s too indebted to Pierre to defy him, but I’ve seen you stand up to him. You have the strongest voice with Pierre.”
He questioned if she insinuated guilt as a motivator.