“Transmit three secure active bursts on that bearing.”
Three lines sought acoustic returns on a Subtics monitor. Three blips glowed three miles away on a bearing of one-six-two.
“Shit,” Jake said. “Warm up tube one. Three-mile range, bearing one-six-two. Target speed zero.”
“High-speed screws!” Remy said.
“Get a bearing rate.”
Remy clasped his muffs and squinted.
“Forward. It’s leading us, Jake. It’s a good shot!”
“Torpedo evasion!” Jake said. “Countermeasures now!”
The submarine shuddered, and compressed air popped as the hull expelled gaseous canisters. A voice Jake recognized through his adrenaline as that of Lieutenant Commander Jin made ready his retaliatory torpedo.
“Shoot tube one!” Jake said.
The rapid equalizing of pressure through the vented torpedo tube hurt Jake’s ears as an ejection pump thrust a slug of water cradling his weapon into the sea.
He remembered that returning fire disoriented an attacker who controlled his weapon via a command wire. Then he realized his attacker didn’t need a wire. Someone had surprised him and shot from point blank range.
His pulse racing, Jake accepted that his counter fire shot was spite against an enemy who had already won.
CHAPTER 8
Restraining his coiled power wore out Brody’s patience, and he banged his horns against his pen’s steel gate. If Defense Secretary Rickets wanted to straddle his broad shoulders and ride him to victory, he’d first have to prove he could hold on.
“Let me invade Taiwan,” he said.
“No,” Rickets said.
“You’re being weak,” Admiral John Brody said.
“You’re being irrational. America won’t tolerate the risk, and neither will I.”
Brody suppressed an urge to swear.
“You mean your political career won’t tolerate it,” he said. “You’re positioning yourself as a moderate conservative presidential candidate, the guy who can land a soft jab on China’s face but hold back the haymaker.”
“This isn’t about obliterating an enemy. We’re too intertwined with China economically. It’s about wielding measured power to strengthen a diplomatic outcome.”
“Damn it,” Brody said. “I can end this.”
“The conclusion is already known. Korea is backpedaling. Israel has taken the hit but will push back. Japan is just being harassed, and China won’t attack them. These were only distractions using diversion and puppets. All China cares about is Taiwan.”
“Then why are my forces elsewhere?” Brody asked.
“You have to address the other fronts,” Rickets said. “You need to keep the pressure on, the air sorties going, the counter-harassment games in the Sea of Japan. You are the demonstration of strength.”
Brody wanted his career to culminate in more than a demonstration.
“Then close the diplomatic deals on those fronts so I can redeploy to Taiwan,” he said. “I can win there.”
“It’s not about winning,” Rickets said. “It’s about American lives.”
“American lives are being lost now.”
“Not in the numbers they would be if you engage China. Losing pilots or a squad of marines is one thing. Losing hundreds of lives when a naval vessel is attacked is another, and that’s what’s going to happen if you take China on directly.”
“That’s what my warriors signed up for,” Brody said.
“America isn’t on board.”
“I’ve drawn up plans that minimize the risk. The commandant is ready to support with his marines. The time to attack is now, while China thinks they’ve got us spread thin elsewhere.”
“They do have us spread thin elsewhere,” Rickets said. “That’s why I’m letting the Taiwanese defend themselves.”
Brody checked himself. He questioned if he was letting an urge for personal glory cloud his judgment. He wondered if political ambition was driving him too hard to position himself as the Great American Conqueror.
“I might agree,” he said, “if you can convince me they can succeed.”
“The nukes will enable it.”
Brody sensed a new air of smugness. He glared at Rickets in a silent conversation of facial expressions.
“You gave them the nukes, didn’t you?” he asked.
Rickets glanced at the floor, smirked, and looked up.
“That’s an interesting theory. I admit I had plenty of opportunity to do so, but you probably already knew that.”
Brody sensed he had stumbled onto a truth that struck like an ice pick on steel before its shock receded into the acceptance of a warm bath — a truth both obvious and necessary in retrospect of the complexities that led him to the precipice of nuclear hostility.
Rickets had not just spent years moving nuclear fuel to Taiwan, enabling the island to fend for itself, but he had overseen its growth in strength.
Somehow, Brody thought, Rickets also controlled Taiwan through the subtle and murky machinations of a politician — through the fragile economics of favors traded, promises made, and expectations insinuated. And a Frenchman named Pierre Renard served as his governor of such arrangements.
Rickets’ wielding of power over a nation with a perfect delicateness intimidated Brody, and he struggled to hide his doubt.
“So, the fact remains that they are armed and ready to strike,” Brody said. “There’s a conflict brewing that will change the shape of warfare forever.”
“That’s why I called you here,” Rickets said. “We’re getting ready for the minefield egress operation, and nukes will be used. I want an update. Renard is standing by.”
Rickets raised a remote from the arm of his chair, and the speakers bracketing the monitor chirped. A dark screen yielded to the sagging cheeks of the Frenchman Brody remained uncertain he could trust.
“Good morning, gentlemen,” Renard said.
“You look tired,” Rickets said.
“I shall rest soon. I have time set aside before the patrol craft make for sea.”
“When are they leaving?” Rickets asked.
“The operation is on schedule,” Renard said. “The first patrol craft will leave port at dawn.”
“Taiwan controls the airspace?” Rickets asked.
“The hold is tenuous but should last,” Renard said.
“Good.”
“Only eighteen patrol craft are available. One was lost on a reconnaissance mission, and another — the one in the greatest state of disrepair — was cannibalized to make the others seaworthy.”
“You estimate needing twelve craft to hold the line at the choke points?”
“Yes,” Renard said. “Four to the south to the Philippines and eight to the north along the Ryukyu Island chain. I expect losses in the minefield egress, but I predict fourteen to fifteen survivors.”
“That’s acceptable,” Rickets said.
“There are no further deviations,” Renard said. “You have the most updated operations schedule.”
“Admiral Brody,” Renard said.
Brody wiggled in his seat.
“Yes, I’m listening,” he said.
“The official nuclear exclusion zone remains unchanged,” Renard said. “But I can share with you the less restrictive zone where the Taiwanese truly intend to operate. You’ll want to assure that your assets are clear of the coordinates which I will send you immediately after our discussion is ended.”
An international criminal telling him where he could deploy the United States Navy pushed Brody over the edge.
“A maverick doesn’t tell the Chief of Naval Operations where he can deploy his forces.”
“He’s on our side, admiral,” Rickets said.
“No,” Brody said. “This smells wrong because it is wrong. You’re letting him dictate the outcome of a Sino-American war.”
“I’m letting him prevent a Sino-American war.”