Kristen wrinkled her nose at the pong of chilidogs and cigarettes, but she put her disdain aside as the Seawolf began a slow turn to starboard. The faint sound was intermittent now as the towed array swung around slowly. Just how Brodie knew there would be an Akula stalking them, Kristen could only guess, but this was clearly no coincidence.
The Akula III was the latest and deadliest Russian fast-attack boat with a thick double hull even a MK-48 ADCAP would have a hard time penetrating. The CIA had reported the sale of three Akula IIs to India a year earlier. But she’d seen recent reports that the Russians, even though the submarines had been built for the Indian Navy, pulled out of the deal at the last minute. Since then, the CIA had released no new information Kristen was aware of indicating where the three submarines had ended up.
Kristen lost the Russian, then picked him up a minute later and nodded her head in confirmation of the earlier report. “He’s definitely an Akula,” she reported confidently. “Classic plant noises.”
The three sonar operators looked at one another as if she might be joking, and one asked, “Just what is a ‘classic’ Akula plant noise, Miss?”
Kristen answered without looking over at them. “Starting with their Akula II boats, the Russians started using a 190 Megawatt OK-650B pressurized reactor with liquid metal instead of water to transfer the reactor heat to the steam turbines. The liquid metal allows for extreme reactor temperatures, although it’s a bit unstable by our standards. Anyway, this increased heat requires powerful cooling pumps.” She glanced over at them briefly, finishing the lesson. “The water being pushed by those pumps was the loud flushing sound we heard.”
One of the sonar men leaned next to his companion beside him and whispered softly so no one would hear him, “Did she just make that up?”
The other man shrugged his shoulders, not certain.
They were both rewarded with gentle slaps on the back of their heads by Miller. “Get back to work you two,” he snapped. He then reported to Brodie that the Akula III following them had not detected the Seawolf’s turn.
“Just the same, keep your ears on,” Brodie ordered. “I’m taking her down, Chief.”
The Seawolf was now moving south in the same direction they’d come from, and for the next two hours Brodie conducted a methodical sensor search of the entire area around the submarine, making certain they weren’t being followed. The boat moved through the depths, changing course constantly and following a straight and level course only long enough for the towed array to straighten out, the sonar shack to search the area, before repeating the entire evolution over again. Finally, after a lengthy detailed search, Brodie was satisfied, and the Seawolf settled on a course due south, away from the Sea of Japan where everyone had assumed they were heading.
The boat stayed on ultra-quiet operational status, and all off duty officers were summoned to the wardroom. Kristen, with a splitting headache after over two hours of supreme concentration, gave up her seat and slipped out of the sonar shack. She headed for the wardroom and ran into Charles Horner along the way. “What’s going on, Charlie?” Kristen whispered as they took a down ladder to the lower deck. As the communications officer, he saw virtually everything sent electronically to the Seawolf, so he always knew what was going on.
But not this time.
He shook his head. “I don’t have a clue. The captain was called to the communications center on Sasebo for three different classified teleconferences yesterday, and it was after those he came back with our sailing orders.”
Kristen knew it was useless to speculate, but one thing was certain — their purpose for staying on the surface for so long was to make everyone who might be keeping tabs on the Seawolf believe she was heading back to resume monitoring the Korean crisis. But for those now looking for the Seawolf in the Sea of Japan, they would be disappointed. They’d already passed back through the Tsushima Straits and were entering the East China Sea, moving further and further away from the crisis on the Korean Peninsula.
Kristen entered the wardroom and found that everyone else was just as puzzled as she. Before leaving port, they were told they were returning to the Sea of Japan. But now it was clear this had been disinformation for whatever spies were working against the Americans in Sasebo. Kristen came in, thanking Terry for holding her seat for her, and sat down as Gibbs entered with some hot coffee and tea.
The conversation around the table was devoted to speculation about where they were going. The reigning theory was the south coast of Hainan Island where the Chinese Navy had their underground submarine base. The US Navy had kept the comings and goings of the base under constant surveillance with at least one fast-attack boat always off the coast. Kristen preferred not to speculate, having never guessed the entire time she’d been on the sail with Brodie that it had all been part of an elaborate ruse.
The door opened and Brodie came in with the XO right behind him. Brodie was unusually abrupt and all business. There was no pleasant hello or any of his usual repartee. Instead, Graves clicked on the overhead projector while Brodie connected a laptop computer to the video port for the projector and interactive screen. Gibbs stepped out discreetly, apparently wise enough to know that whatever was about to be discussed was more information than he wanted. Kristen felt a sudden increase in the tension around the table as Brodie sat down and started the briefing with a large satellite image of the Sea of Japan and the Korean Peninsula.
“Okay, let’s get down to it,” Brodie began. “Currently in Japan or in the waters around Korea, there are three carrier battle groups, seven fast-attack boats, three guided missile boats, and two marine amphibious readiness groups.” So far he’d said nothing they didn’t already know. “This represents the greatest concentration of US Naval power anywhere in the world as of this moment. To achieve this massing of combat power, we’ve stripped forces from other theaters, sending carriers from the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf to reinforce the Pacific Fleet.”
Brodie then gestured toward Kristen, but there was no hint of a smile or the slightest familiarity in his voice or eyes. “Thanks to our own Lieutenant Whitaker, the National Command Authority is now convinced this recent atomic saber rattling by the North Koreans has nothing to do with national pride or a desire to reunite the two Koreas. But is in fact a ploy to secure permanent energy concessions from the Russian Federation.” The map changed to a greater map of Asia, centered on Russia.
“It’s believed this entire façade was orchestrated by our Russian friends in order to draw our attention, as well as our carrier battle groups, away from somewhere else and force us to do exactly what we have done, leave the rest of our vital interests stripped of their normal naval support.” Brodie paused for a moment, letting everyone consider this possibility.
“Now, the information Lieutenant Whitaker was able to provide after her brief time with the late Dr. Dar-Hyun Choi, was corroborated by a CI working for the CIA in Kaliningrad. The CI has since been arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service, which is the latest name for our old friends the KGB…”
“Excuse me, sir?” Martin interrupted.
“Yes, Mister Martin?”
“What’s a CI?” Martin asked nervously.