“Seismic detectors have picked up a disturbance in the vicinity of Eternity Base. The cause hasn’t been determined, although my source suspects an earthquake.”
He could see that he had Parker’s full attention now. “An earthquake? Do you mean our team could be in danger?”
“Well, it’s kind of funny,” Cordon replied. “My source told me that an earthquake was the only logical explanation he could think of, but one of his colleagues said it looked more like the signature for a nuclear blast.”
Cordon felt no sympathy as Parker blanched. “Nuclear blast?”
“Yes, sir. Of course no such thing is possible down there, so. .” Cordon paused. “Are you all right?”
“Oh, my God!” Parker turned to his computer and hit some keys. “Come here. I need to show you something.”
Riley felt at home in the dark. Gravity told him which way was up, and that was all he needed. He’d found the shovel still lodged in the ice where Swenson had been digging, and he continued the work. The explosion seemed to have loosened the ice, as it broke free more easily. Riley estimated he had made almost fifteen feet so far. The surface couldn’t be far ahead.
Thirty feet below, the mag light made the tiniest glow as Devlin, Conner, and Sammy cleared away the ice. Riley shoved the steel tip of the shovel upward, and a large block broke free. Riley swung up again and sparks flew as steel hit steel.
“I need the light,” he yelled. A small pinprick of brightness appeared below and grew stronger as Sammy climbed up to join him. Riley reached down for the light and examined the ceiling. It was apparent now why the shaft had filled with ice. The hatch was breached, half open. Riley played the light around. Both hinges on the far side of the hatch had succumbed to time and pressure; they had popped. The problem was that Riley had no idea how much ice was on top of the hatch. He handed the light back to Sammy.
He unhooked himself from the rung and, after warning Sammy, stepped down one rung and then pushed his feet against the near wall and allowed himself to fall across the three-foot-wide tube. He was braced now, in the classic chimney climb position. Inch by inch, Riley edged himself up until the edge of the hatch was at eye level. Cautiously, he kept his balance with one hand while he used the other to probe through the foot-and-a-half opening into the ice. Small pieces fell out, bounced off his stomach, and tumbled below.
“I’m going back down,” Sammy called out as she beat a hasty retreat.
After five minutes, Riley was in a position where he could brace his feet on the hatch itself. It took him a few more minutes to realize that he could dimly see. There was light from above, penetrating the ice.
The Kitty Hawk was one of the oldest aircraft carriers still on active duty with the U.S. Navy. Built in the early sixties, it had been extensively refitted in 1991 and then assigned to the Third Fleet operating out of Pearl Harbor. It was at present steaming east in the center of Battle Group 72, a collection consisting of the Kitty Hawk, two Aegis cruisers, two destroyers, four frigates, two resupply ships, and two submarines hidden underneath the waves.
They’d just completed a joint training exercise with the Australian navy. Admiral Klieg, the battle group commander, was taking this opportunity to correct several of the deficiencies he’d detected in some of his ships during the exercise. Early this morning he was on the bridge of the Kitty Hawk, watching as his ships reacted to a practice alert, when his staff operations officer brought him a classified message for his eyes only.
Klieg examined the flimsy message under the red glow of the battle station lights. He took a minute to think, then he addressed the waiting operations officer. “Call off the present training exercise. All ships, battle cruising formation. Flank speed.”
“Heading, sir?”
“Due south.”
The SUSV was two and a half hours out from Eternity Base and had traversed twelve miles in that time. Since the explosion the cab had been silent, each man lost in his own thoughts and worries. It was Kim who broke the silence.
“Sir, you said I would know the plan when I needed to. Could you tell me when that will be? We have already lost half our party. If we lose you, I will not know what course of action to take. Nor will I know what to do with that.” Kim nodded over his shoulder at the sled bobbing along in their icy wake.
Pak’s real reason for not including Kim in the entire plan was that he hadn’t believed it would work, and he knew his XO would have thought the same thing. In fact, Pak still didn’t believe they would be able to accomplish the entire mission despite the fact that they had been successful so far, albeit with the loss of five men, seven if he counted Captain Lim and his copilot.
But now, Pak realized, he had to brief Kim. They were committed, and there was definitely no turning back. And, for the first time, he felt they had a chance to succeed.
“We are on our way to a rendezvous with a ship — the Am Nok Gang — that will pick us up off the coast. We will determine the exact location of pickup when we reach the shore and can establish radio contact with the vessel. The frequency to make contact is 62.32. Our call sign is Tiger; theirs is Wolf.
“We will load aboard the ship and immediately head for our target. It will take us an estimated four more days of sailing to reach the target.”
“Which is?” Kim pressed. He knew of the Am Nok Gang. It was one of two dozen merchant ships the North Koreans used for infiltration purposes while maintaining a facade of legitimate maritime operations.
“Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.”
Kim blinked. “The Seventh Fleet!”
Pak gave a weary smile. “We are not to destroy the target, at least not at first. The plan is that the mere threat will allow our government to blackmail the U. S. government to do, or perhaps I should say not do, two things. One is not to deploy their reinforcing units to South Korea in the face of higher levels of readiness. The second is not to use nuclear weapons once the border has been breached.”
Kim thought about it. “Do you believe that the United States would accede to such blackmail?”
Pak shrugged. “The United States stood still when a handful of their citizens were taken hostage. The threat of tens of thousands of people killed in a nuclear explosion might make them change their mind and question the worth of their allegiance to the South. They blinked when they suspected we had nuclear weapons. Even if it doesn’t cause them to do as we wish, destroying their facilities at Pearl Harbor — now that Subic Bay is closed — will greatly reduce their ability to project forces into the Pacific.”
“But how are we supposed to smuggle this bomb into Hawaii? How are we supposed to hide, especially once the threat is made?”
“According to the operations plan, that is up to our initiative. As you know, the Am Nok Gang has high-speed infiltration craft in its hold. If we can get close enough to the Hawaiian Islands, we can make it.
“We do have an advantage: the Americans do not know we have the bomb. They will think the explosion at the base was an accident and that both the bombs were destroyed and the news people killed. They will not be looking for us until we are already in position.”