“Request permission to open hangar doors, port and starboard shelters.”
Wilson replied, “Open hangar doors, both shelters.”
The order went out and Wilson watched from the camera mounted on the aft Missile Compartment deck as both nine-foot-diameter hatches swung slowly open in the murky water, faintly illuminated by the fading light above. A mass lockout would normally have been conducted at night, but the SEALs had a long transit ahead and would need a head start to arrive in Moscow on schedule. By the time they reached shore after their two-mile swim, however, darkness will have fallen.
The fourteen SEALs exited the two shelters and collected on the missile deck as the hangar doors swung shut in preparation for the next mass lockout.
Draining the hangars was easier than flooding them down, as the water drained into additional ballast tanks installed in the missile tubes beneath the seven-pack Tomahawk launchers, keeping Michigan neutrally buoyant. The shelters were quickly drained and made ready for the next group of SEALs.
“Request permission to enter the port and starboard shelters,” the Battle Management Center requested.
Wilson gave permission, and the second batch of SEALs and President Kalinin entered the Dry Deck Shelters. Once inside, the flood-down process was repeated. Wilson watched the SEALs and Kalinin exit the hangars and the twenty-nine men kicked off from the missile deck, disappearing into the darkness.
83
THE BLACK SEA
In a semicircular cove along the shore, Lieutenant Harrison emerged from the water in the darkness, his MP7 held ready. Beside him, the other twenty-seven SEALs, clad entirely in black, worked their way up the gentle slope until they reached the beach, then moved quickly into the nearby foliage. In the distance, the rubble of an open-air villa loomed atop a thirty-foot-high rock outcropping overlooking the Black Sea.
This was the second time Harrison had entered the cove containing the summer villa. Two months ago, he’d led a SEAL squad on an extraction mission, pulling Christine O’Connor from the water, destroying the villa in the process with a shoulder-fired rocket launcher. According to satellite intelligence, the cove had remained abandoned since the attack, offering ideal ingress along the Black Sea’s cliff-lined shore.
After moving into the lush foliage, Harrison removed the closed-circuit rebreather facemask, letting it hang around his neck; he’d need it for the third leg of their journey. Beside him was Commander McNeil and President Kalinin. The Russian had insisted on swimming on his own during the underwater trek toward shore. He was in remarkably good shape, but he hadn’t gone far before two SEALs had to pull him along the rest of the way.
As Harrison waited to begin the second segment of his transit, he heard the faint beat of approaching rotors. Two Kasatka stealth helicopters descended, touching down on the narrow strip of sand. After the awaited green signals were flashed from both helicopters, Commander McNeil ordered the SEALs forward.
Harrison’s platoon boarded one helicopter and Lieutenant Acor’s boarded the other, with McNeil and Kalinin climbing into Harrison’s Kasatka. The helicopter rose rapidly from the beach, flying low over the cliffs framing the secluded cove.
In addition to the fourteen SEALs and President Kalinin, there was a Russian Zaslon operative aboard, who greeted President Kalinin, then asked for the man in charge. He was pointed toward Commander McNeil, who was sitting between Harrison and Senior Chief Stone. The Russian Spetsnaz approached them.
“Commander?” the Spetsnaz asked. McNeil nodded and the Russian handed him a pouch of security cards, which could be clipped to their equipment. “These cards will provide access through all security barriers and into the National Defense Control Center. I need to confirm your ingress route.”
Harrison pulled out a laminated printout of the building schematics, with the selected route annotated.
The Russian examined it. “This is correct. We’ve made arrangements; at 3 a.m. exactly, the cameras along this route will freeze, delivering a static image to the security center. Your transit to the command center will not be detected. Zaslon and FSB units will cordon off the area around the Ministry of Defense building at 3 a.m., so your entry must be timed to match.”
The Spetsnaz handed two military radios to McNeil, who handed one to Harrison. “These radios will communicate with the Zaslon commander, who will be along the perimeter with our unit. If you run into difficulties and need help, we will do what we can. Be advised that the signal will be blocked once you descend to the control center; you will be too deep underground. Do you have any questions?”
McNeil turned to Harrison and Stone. After both men shook their heads, McNeil replied, “Nothing at this time.”
The Russian said, “I have one more piece of information I was directed to pass along. Can I see your schematic again?”
Harrison opened it.
“Your national security advisor is on the third floor underground, but we do not know exactly where she is. This is her cell block,” the man pointed to a row of rooms along one corridor, “and these are the standard interrogation rooms. She may be in one of these if they are interrogating her through the night.” Finally, he pointed to another room. “This is the chemical interrogation cell.”
“Chemical interrogation?” Harrison asked.
“For those who refuse to talk, we have methods to extract what we want.”
McNeil and Harrison exchanged glances. The SEAL commander didn’t have to say a word. Christine wasn’t part of the mission. Once Kalinin was back in power and the Ministry of Defense building was secured, they would search for her.
Harrison tried to keep his thoughts focused on the mission and not Christine as he settled in for the long flight to Moscow, with one refueling stop along the way.
84
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
The Moskva River, which winds its way through the heart of Moscow, is fed by numerous small tributaries. During Moscow’s centuries-long expansion, many of these tributaries were paved over, the water flowing into the Moskva River through underground tunnels. One of the well-known tributaries, the Neglinnaya River, flows through a five-mile-long series of tunnels beneath Moscow streets, with one branch running directly beneath Red Square, just outside the Kremlin. The Neglinnaya was too far north to be of use, but there was a smaller tributary flowing into the Moskva River near the main Ministry of Defense building. The tributary tunnel, running northwest beneath the streets, would be their entry point.
It was 2 a.m. when the Kasatka stealth helicopters reached Moscow, leaving the countryside behind as buildings began passing by on both sides of the low-flying aircraft. When they approached the center of the twelve-million-strong megalopolis, the helicopters intersected the Moskva River, then followed its winding course toward the main Ministry of Defense building. When the Krymsky Bridge appeared in the distance, the doors on each side of the helicopter cabins opened and both choppers slowed.
Harrison and the other SEALs had donned their rebreathers and were ready for the drop. Senior Chief Stone held Kalinin by one arm, having explained the water entry procedure to the Russian president. The Zaslon operative communicated with the Kasatka pilots over his helmet communication gear, then began counting down the time, starting with five fingers extended, retracting one at a time.