Cahill watched the tactical display absorb input from a data feed. The remnants of the North Korean armada drove towards him at flank speeds — or the best speeds possible for those his guns had hobbled.
“But now I’ve got bigger problems. We’re back to having no Kim and no chance of drawing away the enemy with another distraction. They know where I am, they can speculate me intention, and they’re coming. We’re out of bloody time. Perhaps you can rally Jake and the Gwansun to join me in a three-ships-verses-the-world scenario? Put them in a semi-circle around me, and let me use me cannons.”
“No need,” Renard said. “Jake’s at snorkel depth and has shared the location of an enemy submarine he found drifting with the current. But now that you’ve told me your cargo was a Romeo, I’m certain that Jake’s discovery is the Kim.”
“You’ll let him know?”
“I’ve already sent out the data feed. You’ll have the Kim’s coordinates, too. You’ll be happy to know that the Gwansun is also coming to help. It’ll have your back, so to speak, while Jake has your front and sides, during loading and egress.”
“So what now?”
“Cycle your depth a few times en route to the Kim to compound the stress on any survivors on your Romeo. Then dump the Romeo, grab the Kim, and bring it home.”
CHAPTER 23
Jake paced behind his sonar team.
“How many contacts now?” he asked.
“I’ve lost count,” Remy said.
The Specter and its drones patrolled in a horseshoe pattern in front of the Kim as the Goliath approached it. Numerous North Korean warships gathered around him.
“Some have stopped,” Remy said. “Some are still coming. I’ve never seen anything like this. None are close enough for high-percentage torpedo shots.”
“Enough guessing,” Jake said. “If they’re far away, I can risk exposing my antenna. Let’s see what Pierre sees. Henri, bring us to periscope depth.”
He walked to the conning platform and sat in his chair as Henri angled the deck upward. The ship rocked in the shallows as the French mechanic verified the connection with Jake’s mentor.
“They’re concentrating their forces,” Renard said. “I predict that they’ll soon make a run at you. They may release their slower ships first, or they may make a common slower speed, but it’s obvious that they’re working together, finding strength in numbers. I am concerned.”
Jake studied the tactical display. Two dozen ships formed a line to the south, and three times that many formed a wall to the north.
“If they’re going to go all out to sink any submarine they find, that means one of two things.”
“Either there are no more enemy submarines in the area,” Renard said, “or they just don’t care about killing their own.”
“Can’t Terry just blow his way out?”
“If there are no remaining enemy submarines, then yes. But that’s a bold assumption. If there are any, he’ll race right into their torpedoes.”
“Let me sweep ahead. Now, before Terry’s loaded the Kim. No North Korean submarine can make good speed without making noise. You don’t need me protecting the loading operation. The Gwansun can protect him.”
Jake glared at the display in silence.
“Pierre?”
“I’m thinking. You’ve made a good point. Two additional South Korean submarines have deployed and have swept a corridor under friendly airspace for Terry. He’s got about ninety nautical miles to cover to reach safety. That’s less than three hours at his best surfaced speed.”
After performing mental calculations, Jake refined the plan.
“He could outrun the western half of the ships. He could also outrun the eastern half that he’s already damaged. Can’t he just shoot anything that shows threatening speed and power his way out?”
“Indeed he could, as long as you keep submarines out of his way.”
“Then let’s do it. I need to get started.”
“Very well. Let me explain what I was thinking about when you noticed my silence.”
“I’m listening.”
“Start with a twenty-mile wide search, forty-five degrees off the egress course. Tighten your search to fifteen miles on your second pass, and then to ten thereafter. Terry should have the Kim loaded in an hour, and he’ll catch you by your third or fourth ten-mile wide search. At that point, I will want you to do something quite unconventional.”
“What’s that?”
“When Terry overruns you, you’ll launch three torpedoes. You’ll set one right down the middle and then one each forty-five degrees to either side of the egress course. When the angled shots reach three miles wide off course, you’ll turn them parallel to the others. You’ll set a ceiling of twenty meters on all weapons so that you don’t hit Terry.”
“Insurance policies? They’ll hit anything in his way for the remainder of his sprint to friendly waters.”
“Right.”
“You’ll let the South Korean submarines in friendly airspace know to stay out of range?”
“Of course.”
“And I shoot any submarine I run into?”
“Correct. And shoot any surface combatant as well. In fact, shoot anything that you remotely suspect may be a warship. Be liberal with your munitions in clearing the way.”
Henri called out.
“Shall I set us on course?”
“Yes. You heard the search pattern. Forty-five degrees left of the egress course, which is one-zero-zero.”
“So course zero-five-five?”
“Yes. Get it started, and I’ll check on you in a minute.”
“Keep an eye on your low-bandwidth communications,” Renard said. “The way this mission has gone, we may yet need to chat before you get home, and I’ll give you updates about Terry.”
“I will. I know the drill from here.”
“I’m sure you do. Good luck, my friend.”
Jake aimed his nose at Remy.
“Where’s the acoustic layer, Antoine?”
“Too deep to matter for Sangos and Yonos. One hundred and sixty meters if you want to hunt Romeos.”
“I need to hunt everything,” Jake said. “We’ll porpoise between one hundred fifty and one hundred seventy meters during this search. Henri, can you handle that, every ten minutes?”
“Of course.”
“This goes for the drones, too. Until I say otherwise, every depth order I give to Henri is also an order for drone depth. Got it, Julien?”
“Got it.”
“Henri, make your depth one hundred and fifty meters.”
Henri drove the Specter downward and leveled it on Jake’s ordered depth, speed ten knots, course zero-five-five.
Towards the end of the first leg, Julien announced a target.
“I’ve got a contact on drone two bearing zero-two-two, range twelve miles from our ship.”
Expecting excessive action, Jake had reloaded his tubes.
“Designate the contact on drone two as Master Seven. Prepare tube one to engage Master Seven, maximum transit speed.”
“Would you like a ceiling or a floor?” Remy asked.
“No. Anything that gets hit out here deserves to be hit, even a fishing ship. Nobody in these waters is innocent.”
“Tube one is ready,” Remy said.
“Henri, take us to one hundred and seventy meters. I’ll shoot from below the layer to mask my sounds from the target.”