“Do you see it, Liam?”
“Yes, and I’ve prepared the cannons with four splintering rounds.”
“Shoot four splintering rounds. I’ll be right up.”
On the bridge, Cahill harmonized his body’s kinesthetic sensations with the sight of the growing waves. As the storm grew from the west, he feared that the water’s undulations would slow his evasion.
Walker’s greeting revealed to Cahill that he had let his face show his emotions.
“Easy, Terry. It looks ugly, and it tosses us about, but we can still make enough speed to evade. I’ve been through worse in a frigate.”
Thirty seconds later, the Goliath’s four rounds impacted the target, and Cahill awaited the assessment.
“Modest damage at best,” Renard said. “The ship has hardly slowed. I recommend four more rounds.”
Four rounds and a minute later, the enemy combatant near the Kim fell dead in the water.
“That’s good enough for that target,” Renard said. “Your data feed tells me that you just launched your one hundredth round. You have plenty more and should make use of them.”
“I’d like to keep at least a hundred for me exit.”
“Of course, but that gives you three hundred to use now. That could hobble more than half the surface combatants that stand against you.”
“Fine,” Cahill said. “It looks like a plague of locusts from me perspective. You’ll have to tell me where to send me rounds.”
“That poses no problem,” Renard said. “In fact, if you’ll allow, I’ll take control of your cannon.”
“I was half afraid you’d say that, and half hoping. It’ll feel weird, but it’s your ship and you have the bird’s eye view. Go ahead, mate. It’s all yours.”
Every five seconds, each railgun obeyed Renard’s wireless will and spat out a round. The prolonged attack became hypnotic until a gun fell silent.
“Port cannon is jammed,” Walker said.
“Is our port weapons bay watch on it?”
“He says he sees the problem. It was with the feeder. He’s clearing it now.”
Three minutes later, the port railgun sprang to life.
“That took too long,” Cahill said. “I don’t want to consider what three minutes without a cannon would mean in a defensive struggle. Make note in the deck log to investigate the failure mode and come up with a quicker way to resolve it next time.”
Jake surprised him with his voice.
“Good news. Your incoming torpedo is out of fuel. You should stop running.”
“Slowing to five knots,” Cahill said.
He tapped the icon to slow the Goliath, and the roller coaster ride subsided.
“What are you doing shallow again?” he asked.
“I already took care of business.”
“I didn’t hear an explosion.”
“Be patient.”
“I hate to interrupt the reunion,” Renard said. “But Terry needs to submerge, and you two need to rendezvous to continue the mission. The cannons have inflicted enough damage for now. I don’t expect that you’ll experience challenges from surface ships any time in the near future.”
“Right,” Jake said. “I’ll snorkel towards you, Terry, and you come towards me at five knots. We’ll reconnect, right about, here.”
“Where?”
“I’m tapping my navigation chart. The coordinates will be in your system soon.”
“Got them,” Cahill said. “I agree, I’m submerging now.”
He tapped symbols to shift propulsion power to his MESMA plants, spin down his gas turbines, and close his head valves. Then he energized his huge, high-displacement, centrifugal trim and drain pumps to suck water into the Goliath’s tanks.
As he pointed the transport vessel towards Jake, the deck rolled and bounced in the seas. He braced himself against a console and shouted up towards the microphone.
“This is a great plan,” he said, “as long as you’re sure there are no more submarines in the area. How’s it look down there? Are you sure we control the water?”
His sonar operator announced a loud explosion to the northwest and concluded that the Specter had sunk the ship that had shot at him.
“That was a Romeo-class submarine that shot at you,” Jake said. “And now it’s a tomb. Yeah, Terry, we control the water. Get down here with me, and let’s save the Kim.”
CHAPTER 20
Jake drifted on the edge of consciousness as he reclined in the captain’s chair.
“Battery charge is complete,” Henri said.
“Secure snorkeling.”
“Snorkeling is secured.” Henri said.
“Make your depth one hundred and fifty meters.”
The deck dipped while Henri sent the submarine downward.
When the ship leveled, Jake stepped down to the navigation table and surveyed his location relative to the globe and to Cahill. The Goliath drove at five knots above him, a mile off his starboard quarter, and the Specter pushed through the water twenty miles east of the best estimate of the Kim’s location.
“Now the hard part begins,” he said.
“Best to let Terry know about your intentions,” Henri said.
“He’ll be along just for the ride, but you’re right.”
Jake leaned into the elevated conning platform’s rail and twisted his arm up to the underwater communication handset. He tugged it from the cradle and pulled it down to his lips.
“Commencing search pattern alpha, course two-seven-zero, base speed five knots. Over.”
“Roger, search pattern alpha. Over,” Cahill said.
“Specter, out.”
“Search pattern, alpha?” Henri asked. “Is there a search pattern beta?”
“Sort of. There’s only one search pattern, but alpha means it’s our first search leg. If I change my mind and search for the Kim on a different base course, it’s pattern beta, and so on.”
“I hope we don’t need a beta.”
“Me neither,” Jake said. “We’re going to make ten knots sixty degrees off base course to the left until we’ve covered ten miles sideways. Then back sixty degrees to the right until we’ve covered ten miles sideways to the other side. We’re on secure active with the drones ahead of us in a triangular search, and we’ll repeat the pattern until we find the Kim.”
“God willing, the Kim is all we find.”
“We must have broken through and depleted the North Korean defenses by now. We’ve run into enough hostile submarines for one day. We deserve a break and a peaceful conclusion to this.”
“Let’s get started, then. Course two-one-zero?”
“Course two-one-zero,” Jake said.
The deck rolled, and Jake walked back to his seat.
Ninety minutes later, fatigue and random thoughts began to invade his mind when Julien surprised him.
“Active return from drone one.”
“Secure all active transmissions,” Jake said. “Let’s see it.”
The icon appeared on his display thirteen miles from his ship.
“That’s a little further downstream of the ocean current than expected, but it’s reasonable,” he said. “Sweet. We deserved to get lucky.”
“Are you sure the Kim’s crew is expecting us?” Henri asked.
“They are, but there’s nothing they need to do.”
“I mean I don’t want them shooting at us.”
“They know we’re coming,” Jake said. “They know our sonar frequencies, and they’ll respect our safety for sticking our necks out to save them. But I doubt they’ll even hear anything until the Goliath is right underneath them, and by then they’ll have no option but to enjoy the ride.”