Cheryl continued on as Mixell reached behind his back with both hands, retrieving the pistol and suppressor.
A trained opponent would have reacted instantly after spotting the firearm, attempting to disarm him. But your average civilian…
Cheryl stood frozen as he screwed the suppressor onto the barrel, processing what she was seeing and what was about to happen. She took two stilted steps backward, then fled toward the door.
Too late.
He finished attaching the suppressor and put two bullets into her back, dropping her to the ground.
Mixell was sometimes mesmerized by what a human body could do when sufficient adrenaline entered its bloodstream. As red stains spread across her back from the bullet wounds, Cheryl pushed herself to her feet and staggered toward the door.
He aimed and put a round into the back of one knee, the bullet shattering her kneecap as it exited. She collapsed to the ground and Mixell put another bullet into her other knee.
She wouldn’t be moving anywhere now. At least not very fast.
Cheryl crawled slowly toward the door, another few feet before finally halting. She lay on the barn floor, whimpering, as Mixell approached.
He aimed the pistol at her head, holding it steady for a moment. Then he unscrewed the suppressor and returned it and the gun to his back pockets. Cheryl wasn’t going anywhere, and she’d be dead in a few hours.
Mixell checked her pockets, verifying she didn’t have her phone on her, then retrieved her keys so he could move her truck.
Stopping at the barn entrance, he turned the lights off, then closed and locked the door.
47
K-571 KRASNOYARSK
In the Persian Gulf, the Yasen-class submarine lurked just beneath the water’s surface as Captain Second Rank Gavriil Novikov’s crew manned Combat Stations. Hydroacoustic had detected the American carrier strike group shortly after it entered the Persian Gulf, and it was passing by to starboard now, just within range of Krasnoyarsk’s torpedoes. Novikov knew that the strike group had deployed an anti-submarine warfare helicopter screen; the rhythmic beat of the helicopter rotors on the water’s surface had been detected by Hydroacoustic. What Novikov didn’t yet know was — how far away were the torpedo-carrying helicopters?
Thus far, there had been no indication Krasnoyarsk had been detected. The strike group maneuvered at random intervals, a wise tactic in the vicinity of enemy submarines, but was still maintaining a northwesterly course. More indicative of whether Krasnoyarsk had been detected was the lack of attack by the helicopters. Instead, they continued their leapfrog searches, the aircraft in the rear retrieving its dipping sonar, then flying to the front and dropping its hydrophone back into the water. Once an initial search had been conducted, the next helicopter at the rear performed the same maneuver, leapfrogging over the other aircraft to the front of the line as the helicopters kept pace with the carrier strike group.
“Captain, Combat Stations are manned,” the submarine’s Watch Officer, Captain Lieutenant Petr Dolinski, reported, “with the exception of the Conning Officer.”
Novikov acknowledged Dolinski’s report, then announced, “This is the Captain. I have the Conn. Captain Lieutenant Dolinski retains the Watch. All stations, make preparations to proceed to periscope depth.”
After every station acknowledged, Novikov ordered, “Diving Officer, make your depth twenty meters.”
The Diving Officer acknowledged, and Krasnoyarsk tilted upward, rising toward periscope depth. Novikov had his face pressed to the attack periscope, the aft of the submarine’s two scopes. Despite the crowded Central Command Post, now at full manning, it was quiet while the submarine rose from the deep.
Shortly before the Diving Officer reported that the submarine had reached the ordered depth, Novikov announced, “Scope clear,” as the periscope pierced the water’s surface.
He started turning the scope swiftly, completing several sweeps in search of nearby ships. “No close contacts!”
Normally, conversation would have resumed in the Central Command Post once the hazardous ascent to periscope depth had been safely conducted, but they were in the vicinity of an American carrier strike group with its anti-submarine screen deployed. Plus, the strike group was likely accompanied by one or possibly two submarines.
Now that Novikov had confirmed that there was no threat of imminent collision or attack, he completed a more detailed visual scan, searching for the American ships and aircraft. To starboard, he spotted five gray specks on the horizon. Although Hydroacoustic could hear the anti-submarine helicopters, they were too small and distant to be seen, even with the periscope on high power.
Reaching up, he pressed the periscope Down button, retracting the scope back into its well. The American surface ships, and potentially the anti-submarine helicopters, were outfitted with periscope detection radars. Expose too much of the periscope or leave it up too long, and the radar algorithms would detect the static object protruding above the relatively calm surface of the Persian Gulf.
Now that Novikov had verified the American anti-submarine helicopters weren’t close enough to attack Krasnoyarsk, he examined the contact fusion plot. The five American surface ships were traveling close together, with the aircraft carrier in the middle and two escorts on each side. There were six anti-submarine helicopters aloft, three on each side of the carrier, but no aircraft ahead or behind. That meant that the carrier strike group indeed had a submarine escort, one in front and another trailing; the MH-60Rs would not be allowed into areas where friendly submarines were operating.
The tactical picture was clear. The question now was — attack with torpedoes or missiles?
Several years earlier, an American aircraft carrier — ironically, USS Theodore Roosevelt — had been attacked by a Russian submarine, which had launched its entire complement of twenty-four anti-ship missiles. The carrier had been seriously damaged and knocked out of service. But temporary repairs had been quickly made, returning the ship to action in time for the climactic battle in the Arabian Sea.
Novikov would not make that same mistake. He had only sixteen anti-ship missiles loaded, plus Theodore Roosevelt’s escorts would not be taken unaware, like they had before, with a surprise attack. Although Krasnoyarsk carried fewer missiles than the previous Russian assailant, it was loaded with forty wire-guided heavyweight torpedoes, and a single torpedo would send any surface combatant, aside from an aircraft carrier, to the bottom. A ship the size of their primary target, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, would be more difficult to sink, requiring two or more torpedoes to break its keel.
Complicating the attack was the engagement range. To avoid detection by the carrier strike group’s helicopters, Novikov had kept Krasnoyarsk at the very limit of the submarine’s Futlyar torpedoes. At this distance and against a closely packed group of ships, the Futlyar torpedoes could not be guided past the escorts to hit the aircraft carrier instead with certainty. Plus, Krasnoyarsk’s torpedoes, as they sped toward their targets, would be detected by the anti-submarine helicopters, and the surface ships would likely begin maneuvering before the torpedoes reached them. As a result, there was no guarantee that each torpedo would hit its designated target.
That, however, was a complication Novikov was happy to deal with. To get to the aircraft carrier, he’d likely have to sink its escort ships.