Jerry knew he had to say something, and finally confessed, “I’m sorry that I worried you.”
She pounded his shoulder with her fist, just once. “It’s no better finding out after the fact what you were doing. I don’t know how Navy wives do it.”
“But you’re a Navy wife,” he countered.
“And it’s hard work.” She punched his shoulder again, but more lightly. “Next time you go on a mission like that—if there is a next time — you have to tell me ahead of time, so I can brace myself.”
Jerry protested, “Emily, I didn’t know myself until I got to New London, and we left port the same day. Besides, it was classified.”
“That’s no excuse.”
Jerry felt a tap on his shoulder and it was Hardy. “Can I break in?” the president asked, smiling. He gave Emily a peck on the cheek, and said, “Carly looks more like you every time I see her.”
He turned to include Jerry as well. “After lunch, during the memorial service for Toledo, you’re sitting with us.”
Hardy glanced at Carly, who was interested in a brooch that Joanna was wearing.
Emily read his mind and explained, “Jerry’s sister Clarice came out from Minnesota. She’ll watch Charlotte while we’re in the chapel. She’s really being an angel,” Emily remarked, “but this afternoon is nap time,” she said firmly.
“What about the meeting tomorrow with the Toledo families?” Jerry asked.
Hardy nodded. “It’s on for 0900. I put my foot down and declassified the whole bloody thing. We’ll show them the photos, and tell them what happened — everything. We owe them that much, at least. Devil take the complications.”
The president checked his watch. “Do you think Captain Weiss would let me look around if I asked nicely?”
“It could be arranged, Skipper. I know the duty section would get a charge out of it.”
“Then let’s get going.”
GLOSSARY
ADCAP: Advanced Capability (a variant of the Mark 48 torpedo)
ADM: Admiral
ARDM: Auxiliary Repair Medium Dry Dock
ASAP: As Soon As Possible
ASW: Antisubmarine Warfare
BND: Bundesnachrichtendienst, Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service
BZ: Bravo Zulu, U.S. Navy shorthand for “Well Done”
CAPT: Captain
CDR: Commander
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency
CINC: Commander-in-Chief
CO: Commanding Officer
COB: Chief of the Boat
COMINT: Communications Intelligence
CPA: Closest Point of Approach
CSO: Chief Staff Officer (of a submarine squadron staff)
CTML: Conventional Twelve-Mile Limit (the edge of a nation’s territorial waters)
Datum: Last known location of a submarine
DCI: Director of Central Intelligence (Agency)
DEVRON: Submarine Development Squadron
DNI: Director of National Intelligence
EAB: Emergency Air Breathing system
EB: Electric Boat
EDT: Eastern Daylight Savings Time
ENS: Ensign
EPM: Emergency Propulsion Motor
ESM: Electronic Support Measures (detecting radar transmissions)
ETA: Estimated Time of Arrival
EU: European Union
Fortify: Code name for the plan to reinforce Europe
GRU: Russian Military Intelligence
HUD: Heads Up Display
HUMINT: Human Intelligence (spies)
JCS: Joint Chiefs of Staff
Ka-27M: Helix antisubmarine warfare helicopter
LCDR: Lieutenant Commander
LT: Lieutenant
LTJG: Lieutenant, junior grade
MAD: Magnetic Anomaly Detector
MGK-608M: Modernized Sever fixed acoustic array
NAE: Naval Acoustic Electromechanical (a type of acoustic countermeasure)
NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NSA: National Security Advisor (position)
or
NSA: National Security Administration (organization)
NSC: National Security Council
OOD: Officer of the Deck
Overcharge: Code name for the plan to destroy the Russian launch facility
PBXN-103: A powerful high explosive
PMK-2: Russian propelled-warhead mine (MPT-1UM torpedo)
RADM: Rear Admiral
RGB: Radiogidrakustichesky buoy, Russian designation for a sonobuoy
SCI: Sensitive Compartmented Information (a special type of classified information/data)
SCIF: Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility
SIGINT: Signals Intelligence
SSAN: Nuclear-powered auxiliary submarine
SSBN: Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine
SSN: Nuclear-powered attack submarine
SSTG: Ship’s Service Turbine Generator
SUBFOR: Submarine Forces Commander
SUBRON: Submarine Squadron
SVR: Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki, Russian intelligence agency, successor to the Cold War KGB
Tensor: Code name for information related to the Russian Drakon weapon
UCC: UUV Control Center
UKSK: Universal’nyy Korabel’nyy Strel’bovoy Kompleks, Universal Shipboard Firing Complex UMGT-1: Russian 40cm electric torpedo
UUV: Unmanned Underwater Vehicle
VADM: Vice Admiral
XO: Executive Officer
FORGE BOOKS BY LARRY BOND
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Cold Choices
Exit Plan
Shattered Trident
Lash-Up
Fatal Thunder
Arctic Gambit
FORGE BOOKS BY LARRY BOND AND JIM DEFELICE
Larry Bond’s First Team
Larry Bond’s First Team: Angels of Wrath
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Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising: Shadows of War
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
LARRY BOND is the author of Fatal Thunder, Lash-Up, and numerous New York Times bestselling thrillers, including