“I’m sure Pierre has seen to it.”
The doubt in Henri’s tone irked him, but Jake ignored it as an annoying trait of his French friend. He allowed himself to feel the relief of finding the Kim.
“He has,” he said. “If they’re hearing our drone’s sonar, which is by no means a given with their staffing situation, they’re probably celebrating their rescue. This is a good thing. This is the pot at the end of the rainbow we’ve been fighting to get to.”
“Should I confirm their location?” Julien asked.
“Not yet,” Jake said. “Give it ten minutes. Let’s make sure this resourceful Korean crew didn’t figure out a way to regain propulsion. We already know from the data link that they managed to take out surface combatants to help the Gwansun. These guys are scrappy.”
“I think I would hear their propeller,” Julien said.
Jake looked to the youngster and then to the toad-head seated beside him. The sonar guru wiggled his wrist and shrugged.
“Maybe,” Remy said. “With a drone’s limited hydrophones, it’s a coin toss, and it depends on the ship’s speed. I agree with Jake that it’s best to wait and use the drone’s active sonar to verify that our colleagues aren’t moving.”
“Ten minutes will go fast,” Jake said.
They did, and Julien’s verification proved that the prize Jake sought remained motionless.
“I need to clue Terry in on the location,” he said.
He returned to the navigation chart and plotted an intercept course to the Goliath, which Cahill kept on a baseline course and speed to allow predictability of his location.
Jake ordered the triangle of the Specter and its drones aimed down the shortest distance between himself and Cahill’s path. Then he waited until closure between the ships allowed communications at the lowest power.
“Line me up for underwater comms, lowest power, aimed at the Goliath.”
“I’ve lined you up with underwater comms, lowest power, aimed at the Goliath,” Henri said.
“Target found, prepare for coordinates. Over,” Jake said.
“Roger, target found,” Cahill said. “Awaiting coordinates. Over.”
Jake recited the numbers, and Cahill repeated them for verification.
“Commencing spiral out defensive search. Over.”
“Roger, spiral out defensive search. I will pick up our cargo. Great job finding it. Over.”
“Good luck loading it. Out.”
He returned the handset to the cradle.
“Spiral out?” Henri asked.
“An old defensive tactic to get away from a bad guy. I’m using the pattern to make sure there’s nobody around to bother Terry while he works. Join me by the chart.”
He moved to the navigation chart and felt Henri beside him. He tapped the location of the Specter and then the Kim.
“We backtracked to catch up with Terry. So now we’re sixteen miles from the Kim. I’m going to head towards it directly until I’m five miles away. Then I’m going to drive an ever widening circle around it.”
Jake fingered a spiral around the Korean submarine.
“Not a true spiral, I trust?”
“No, more like an expanding octagon. It’s pretty simple, and you don’t have to get it perfect, especially with the drones out in front. I’m hoping it’s just a precaution, but Terry’s going to be making noise, and I need to cover his back.”
“This could take hours.”
“I figure six to eight hours. In fact, this is predictable. I’ll enter the future turns into the system and see what it says.”
He grabbed a stylus for precision and tapped icons to bring up a menu to enter the Specter’s track. Drawing the future as a series of turns, he stopped and frowned at the mishmash of canted lines.
“That was ugly,” Henri said.
“I never was an artist. Here, you draw it.”
The Frenchman took the stylus and etched a better course.
“Nice,” Jake said. “That’s what we’ll follow. Seven hours of hunting and hoping we prove there’s nothing out there.”
“I think you should rest during the early hours,” Henri said. “The chances of something hostile being close to the Kim are low, and you’ll need to be fresh when you lead us out of here.”
“Fair enough. Bring in the understudies for three hours?”
“Right. Remember that they’re backups from our perspective, but each man was a top talent in the French Navy before joining us. You’ve trusted them, and they’ve lived up to that trust thus far.”
“Okay, bring in the backups.”
“I will. Are you going to sleep?”
“I don’t think I can yet. Maybe in about half an hour. Too much coffee.”
“Me too. Join me in the wardroom for some food?”
Realizing that the stress of combat had left him hungry, Jake salivated at the thought.
In the tiny galley space, he withdrew a paper plate of ravioli from a microwave oven, pushed through the door into the wardroom, and set the food before Henri. He then retraced his steps to a Crock-Pot and ladled pasta-covered meat chunks onto his plate.
After heating his food, he carried his lunch to the captain’s chair and sat. The first bite burned his mouth, and he cooled it with a swig of apple juice.
“Something’s bothering you,” Henri said.
Jake ignored the comment until he chewed and swallowed.
“You always think there’s something bothering me.”
“Yes, but I’m always right about it. I’ve known you too long for your moods to escape me.”
“Okay. So I’m always bothered and you’re always right about it. What are we going to do with this laser-guided insight?”
“Talking it through seems to help.”
Jake downed a huge mouthful and wiped his mouth.
“Well, I may as well let you know that Linda forced me to see a shrink to deal with my anger.”
“A shrink?”
“A psychologist.”
“She forced you?”
“More or less.”
Henri grunted and jabbed a fork into his food.
“Well, shit. Don’t go all silent on me just because I shared something personal with you.”
“I’m impressed, I admit.”
Jake studied Henri while he chewed.
“Holy shit. You’re not jealous are you?”
Henri stared back at him.
“Why would I be jealous? I’m hardly a certified talk-therapy professional. That statement was paranoid.”
Jake let Henri ingest several bites before jabbing back.
“Paranoid, but accurate. You don’t want anyone probing my head but you, do you?”
The Frenchman aimed a fork of ravioli at Jake’s nose.
“I support you, and I admit to taking pride in safeguarding your well-being. If you can benefit from professional support at home, that’s great. But out here, nobody can look after you like I do. I keep this ship in one piece, and I keep you sane so that you can lead us to success and home again.”
“No offense intended. I get it.”
He let Henri fill his mouth before continuing.
“Mom.”
The Frenchman looked away, and Jake thought he noticed him suppressing a smile while he swigged apple juice.
“Call me what you want. You still haven’t answered my question. What’s bothering you?”
“It doesn’t take a genius. I just sank five submarines. How many more men did I just kill?”
“Yonos only carry a crew of two.”