Danilov hoped that somehow she would be able to sense that thousands of miles from her bedside her man had wished her a loving good night. In recent months he liked to believe that couples could develop a special sensitivity — that certain awareness when their mate was thinking of them. There were times he had been sure in the last few days that Anna was actually transmitting her innermost thoughts to him. Now he was responding in kind.
Right this moment, he was acknowledging her letter, silently attempting with all his power to let her know that he was as proud as she was of young Boris, who had just become a doctor. He was their second son, and the last child, born in 1966 when the family was still in Leningrad. Arriving after Eugenia, his fate was already unknowingly sealed by his older sister. No matter what he did. no matter how hard he tried to please his father, there was little room in Danilov’s heart to offer equal love to a second son. Anna’s letter was much different in approach from the earlier ones because she had begun by saying, “I’m going to tell you who your son, Boris, is and why I have loved him so specially in his short lifetime.”
As he lay in his bunk remembering each line of her letter, he wondered why he’d never realized how much Boris was like him. Anna claimed that Sergoff had first emphasized that to her. One night during a dinner party, when the admiral had left the room, Sergoff considered a photograph of the admiral as a young officer in Sebastopol for a few moments. Then he pointed out to Anna how much the boy resembled his father. It was a remarkable likeness. Anna Danilov recognized how similar their mannerisms were, the short temper, an inability to suffer fools that had made the boy so many enemies at school, not to mention neatness, vanity, orderliness — they were both perfectionists.
Boris Danilov imitated his father because he so wanted the man’s approval. The boy worshiped his father and yearned for a love that was not forthcoming because it was his older brother who had been chosen to follow in the father’s footsteps. Anna had written: “Boris’s fate was that you only had room in your disciplined heart for one boy to succeed you and one daughter to be a princess.” That was why his son — the best student, the one who never broke his father’s rules, the one who ate everything on his plate — finally determined to become independent. Yet even when he had announced that he had an appointment to a special school for the sciences, with the vague hope of shocking his father, his natural ability had still gone unrecognized.
Anna Danilov’s time was limited and she was now urging her husband to accept what mattered to her the most — love.
Most important, Abe, when you are next in Moscow why don’t you contact some of your friends at the air force ministry and ask about your second son, Boris. You will learn that he is one of the finest students in space medicine. He tells me that two of his class will be selected to become cosmonauts — and he is at the head of the class! Find out who your son is. Learn to love him and his accomplishments, and the pride you show will be returned by a boy who so wanted to please you for so many years.
Before Abe Danilov whispered good night once more, he also sent a message that said how hard he would try to follow her wishes. He understood what she was saying. It was urgent that he settle his business and return home as quickly as possible. She was right. He’d known it for years. But somehow he’d never been able to put it into words.
While not a word was heard from Moscow concerning the voyage of Imperator, concrete actions were taken despite the little they knew of her capabilities. There were wise men in the Kremlin power structure who, while trusting Abe Danilov implicitly, felt that he was rushing headlong into the unknown without the power to match it. Imperator’s power had already been demonstrated. With accurate, submerged-cruise-missile capability and a destructive laser system, there was little doubt that Imperator promised many more surprises.
Six additional high-speed attack submarines were dispatched to positions beneath the icecap to await further orders from Abe Danilov. A Spetsnaz commando unit, trained exclusively in cold regions warfare, was detached to an airbase near Murmansk. They were placed on an arctic jump alert to defend an underwater demolition unit. For some reason, a forward-thinking individual had suggested the necessity of control of air space over the arctic regions.
Tension is a serpent that attacks slowly, so slowly that its effect is unnoticed until it has taken a firm grasp on its victim. Its ability to gradually invest the human body is comparatively similar on a mass level.
The patience of a large segment of the American people was becoming strained by international events. They had learned to be skeptical of their own government during Vietnam, and that distrust had never completely evaporated. Each time a potential international conflict developed far from home, there were certain members of political circles, the media, and the citizenry who automatically cried wolf before they understood all of the facts. Their opposite number would normally identify a complex plot aimed specifically at the United States regardless of the location or nations involved.
Few Americans have been schooled in the significance of the Far North. Anything beyond the Arctic Circle is considered frozen and therefore of little value. Little credence was given to the fact that all of Norway, not just her southern half, was as much a part of NATO as the Mediterranean countries. Furthermore, claimed the detractors, there was little strategic value in ice and snow, not to mention an ocean that was covered by ice and therefore unnavigable.. The government, and those few who really understood the Arctic in the Soviet scheme, attempted to explain the USSR’s reasoning for their current position.
Tension, invisible at first, managed to infest the general populace. Here was another potentially dangerous situation that once again could burst into warfare with the Soviet Union, and most people immediately anticipated nuclear war. It was much like being a passenger in a huge plane — since only the crew could understand its operation, there was a sense of futility among the passengers, feeling they had no control over their own destiny.
The physical reaction to such anxiety was no different in the Soviet Union. Television news also carried selected messages concerning this growing confrontation. Their news was controlled in that there was only one aggressor, and that aggressor would be challenged directly in this situation. Such bravado brought only one message to the Soviet citizen: The United States possessed nuclear weapons and the desire to use them if the situation demanded such action. While the news belonged to the state, the Soviet citizen shared much the same dessert as his American counterpart — futility, which spawned tension!
And the leaders on both sides had yet to reveal the sinking of Fahrion. It was an incident that neither side could be proud of and one that was pushing them both irretrievably to the edge of conflict.
7
ADMIRAL REED’S Houston led the way through the Bering Strait with Olympia abeam, the latter to continue along the coast on the surface. Her damage was superficial but there was no reason to dive until repairs were complete. Helena remained astern of Imperator to block any Soviet sub attempting to sneak through the strait for a stern attack. Friendly aircraft, unseen overhead but certainly there, added to his security. Reed was certain there would be no further trouble from the Russians after their Badgers had been downed so easily.