По заказу УДАЛЕННЫЙ ТЕКСТ.
MSG END:
Luke shredded the document. Later he would personally take the remnants to the disposal chute.
He sat back and looked to the ceiling. This news provided a few pieces of the jigsaw. He was aware of Sultan’s odd deployment and now it made more sense. It had been no secret that the Soviets had been run ragged. With Eighth and Sixteenth main directorates of the KGB involved GCHQ was the suspect.
He shook his head and smiled. So, mutiny aboard Arkhangelsk with a female taking the Captaincy and was later killed. Luke knew he’d like to know the story behind that one.
Chapter 7
DOUGIE PLACED HIS PINT of London Pride on the table and took a seat.
“How are ya, Doug?”
“Fine Kev. Been in long?”
“No, this is my first one,” he said sipping his pint. Dougie watched a shapely young woman in tight jeans walk by.
“You’ll go blind you know?” Dougie shrugged.
“Looking’s free.”
“Look at this Doug,” Kevin closed his copy of The Sun newspaper and showed his friend the headlines. There was a photograph of a submarine and a bold headline.
“The Ghost got em. Iran and Russia furious.” He opened up the paper, there were diagrams and maps of the action. Above was the banner “It was 4 on 1 and the score was 3 nil.”
“I saw it on the news, they had it coming to them. It’s the Russians that say it was the Holy Ghost, our lot’s saying nothing.” Kevin prodded the page with a finger.
“Yeah, it’s kicked off now, for sure. They reckon there’s one hundred and twenty blokes gone down with the subs and that ship.”
“I heard on Radio 4 that they’d picked up an Israeli Navy broadcast from the area just after the battle. The yanks and the Saudis picked it up.”
“You never know with this sort of thing, fucking wheels within wheels and all that stuff,” said Kevin.
“You wouldn’t get me in one of them bloody submarine things. Why do they call it the Holy Ghost anyway Kev?”
“I read it here,” Kevin read from the newspaper.
“The original warship named Holy Ghost was commissioned by Henry V and joined the Royal fleet on 17 November 1415. She saw action in at least two battles during the Hundred Years War. She participated in a naval battle off Harfleur in 1416. The modern HMS Holy Ghost is the Navy’s most powerful nuclear submarine and is an upgrade of the Trafalgar class. She’s armed with Spearfish torpedoes and Harpoon sea skimming missiles.”
“Well, they were going to cut the oil supplies off, serves em right, bollocks to the Ragheads.” Dougie put his empty pint down.
“Ere Kev, get em in.”
THE SEA SWELLED IN the early morning light, a periscope appeared then turned through three hundred and sixty degrees. The sea burst aside and a black sail appeared, then a large curved hull. Water ran off her sides, HMS Holy Ghost was back. The hatch opened and fresh air rushed inside the boat. Her black form pushed aside a huge bow wave as she made her way towards the Plymouth breakwater. A rating climbed out of the hatch, attached a black flag to the flagpole on the sail and ran it up into the air. The skull and bones flew proudly in the stiff breeze. The Jolly Roger is flown by British submarines returning from a successful patrol, were enemy vessels have been sunk. The rating saluted the flag and then returned below. Two officers appeared in the sail and conned the boat into the harbour and up to her mooring.
In the control room, Luke was making his log entries. Ratty stored his records to disk and then left. Savita was loading her records to disk as she wrote up her Weapons Officer’s report. Lieutenant Pearl Turner came in to see Lt Commander Cartwright to carry out an overdue medical inspection. She set down her bag.
“Take your shirt off Lt Commander.” Cartwright made a face but did so.
Luke finished his log entries, he stood and turned to leave, then turned back.
“How’s it going Lt Commander Kapoor?” he asked more casually than he felt, “your first time in action.”
“It had its moments didn’t it Sir?” She smiled with those deep brown black pools.
He smiled back.
“It did, didn’t it? I wouldn’t want to do that on every patrol. Still, we’re done now and home. Nearly home I suppose, where are you off to?”
Was he showing an interest she thought? “I’m going to my parents in Coventry first, then to my sisters. She has a cottage in the Malvern Hills, it’s beautiful.” But it would be a lot better if you were there, she thought but didn’t say.
“Sounds great. I’m off back to Manchester, same old, same old.” Part of her said, go on invite him, part of her screamed no, you’ll just make a fool of yourself.
He smiled, “Well I must go. See you soon, have a great time at your sister's place.” He turned and reluctantly left the control room. Lt Commander Cartwright got up to leave his medical now over, he walked aft and climbed the ladder to the sail. Pearl Turner started to pack her bag.
“Are you OK Savita?”
“Yes.”
“Liar.” Savita looked up at her questioningly.
“You’ve a face like a love struck puppy.”
“No.”
“Yes, you have.”
“How do?….”
“I have eyes girl.” Savita looked down. She knew she’d been rumbled.
“It’s difficult Pearl.” She shook head and shrugged.
“Because of his position?” Savita nodded.
“He’s the Captain.”
“What did you want to say to him?”
“To ask him if he wanted to come to my sisters,” she blurted it out. Pearl smiled.
“You both danced around that issue like two teenagers.” Pearl leant over and put her face close to Savita’s.
“What’s more, it’s mutual Savita.” She looked at Pearl in disbelief.
“It is, I know. Believe me, I know men. You should have asked him, he’d have jumped at the chance.”
“I daren’t ask him.”
“Then you’ll never know, you chicken. OK that’s me done, I’ll see you when we get back. Have a good one Savita.” She walked off and made a noise like a chicken clucking. Savita turned back to her console. She’d rarely felt so small and so inadequate.
AFTER TEN MINUTES OR so, she heard someone climbing down from the sail. Luke walked into the control room and smiled at her, she returned a beaming smile but her stomach was a nest of butterflies. She coloured up and swallowed.
“You’re working late Lt Commander.”
“I’m nearly finished now Sir.” Take that smile off your face you silly cow.
“I came back for something, something I needed.” Come on Savita. Ask him you chicken. I can’t, I daren’t. Luke walked over to his conn station. She swallowed and closed her eyes for a few seconds.
“Captain,” she said softly, hesitantly, “I was thinking……”