The deck dipped and leveled.
“Shoot tube one.”
“Tube one, normal launch,” Henri said.
“Very well. We’ll continue searching on this depth for the rest of this leg. We’ll come above the layer when we turn to the right.”
During the next search leg, Henri announced that Renard had sent a low-bandwidth update stating that Terry had loaded the Kim and was sprinting home on the surface.
“Right on schedule,” Jake said.
“Torpedo one is in terminal homing,” Remy said.
“Very well.”
“Torpedo one has detonated.”
“Can you hear sounds of Master Seven sinking?”
“No, the distance is too great. But I’m sure you hit something.”
“I’m not being selective.”
Jake considered himself to be in undersea warfare’s blood lust equivalent of running through a hostile jungle with his rifle at his hip. He would break anything in his way.
“Would you like me to have the team backhaul tube one and reload it with a heavyweight torpedo?” Henri asked.
“Not yet. Wait until we’re below the layer.”
“It’s time to head deep now anyway,” Henri said.
“Make your depth one hundred and seventy meters.”
“Steady on depth one hundred and seventy meters,” Henri said. “Shall I backhaul and reload tube one?”
“Yes, backhaul and reload tube one.”
“I’ve got a contact on drone one bearing one-nine-nine, range eleven miles from our ship,” Julien said.
“Henri, secure from backhauling and reloading tube one.”
The Frenchman handled Jake’s request, minimizing the chance of the Specter creating metallic noises.
“Designate the contact on drone one as Master Eight,” Jake said. “Prepare tube two to engage Master Eight, maximum transit speed.”
“Would you like a ceiling or a floor?” Remy asked.
“No. I can infer from its position below the layer that the contact is a Romeo, but it can evade to any depth.”
“Tube two is ready,” Remy said.
“Henri, take us back up to one hundred and fifty meters. I’ll shoot from above the layer.”
The deck rose.
“Steady on depth one hundred and fifty meters.”
“Shoot tube two.”
The second weapon chased its prey while its launch platform continued scanning the water for North Korean targets. At the end of the leg, Jake ordered the Specter back to course zero-five-five.
“I’ve received an update on the Goliath’s position from Pierre,” Henri said. “Shall I read off the coordinates?”
“Yes.”
Jake grabbed a pencil and scratchpad. When he had the numbers, he headed to the navigation table and tapped them into the system. A line from the Kim’s loading coordinates to the update of Cahill’s position showed the Goliath on course and on schedule to overrun Jake within an hour.
He stared at the navigation chart, hoping that Cahill’s chances of bringing the Kim home increased with each mile the Goliath closed towards friendly water.
“It’s time to go deep,” Henri said.
Jake agreed, and the ship settled below the layer.
“I can hear our torpedo running now,” Remy said. “Its seeker just went active, and I can hear it.”
“Is Master Seven running yet?”
“No. Wait! Yes. Just now.”
“Track it and have your apprentice steer the weapon.”
“Our torpedo has acquired Master Eight,” Remy said. “No need for steering. The weapon will handle it from here.”
“You’ve got them on the run, Jake,” Henri said. “Shall I continue backhauling and reloading tube one?”
“Yes. Continue backhauling and reloading tube one.”
The destruction of Master Eight seemed businesslike to Jake.
When he found and destroyed Master Nine on a subsequent search leg, he looked at his trail of broken hulls and dead bodies as a cleansing operation. The macabre weight of wasted humanity bypassed his awareness and sank deep into his subconscious mind.
During several legs, he had reloaded his tubes and charted Pierre’s updates about the Goliath’s movements.
“I’ve got another update from Pierre,” Henri said.
“Read it off.”
Jake tapped the coordinates into the navigation chart.
“Antoine, you should be able to hear the Goliath soon.”
“Wouldn’t you rather have me searching for bad guys?”
“Fine. Just let me know when you can’t help but hear it. There will be a point where I’m no further use to Terry.”
“Of course, I will,” Remy said.
“You haven’t heard anything for a while.”
“I think we’re in the clear, to be honest. The North Koreans couldn’t have predicted our exact route home, and they had to spread their submarines out to cover all the angles. I think we’ve taken care of everything in Terry’s way already.”
“I hope you’re right. Keep looking. We’ve got ten minutes before he overtakes us.”
Henri hailed Jake.
“You should prepare the three escort weapons.”
“It’s a bit early, but it can’t hurt to get started.”
He wrote down numbers on his scratchpad to simplify his communications task with his team. Reconsidering the complexity of his intent, he decided to handle it with his own fingertips.
“Antoine, I’m taking control of tubes one through three.”
He tapped in the courses of the three weapons, and he ordered their ceilings of twenty meters. He chose a medium transit speed to give his heavyweight Black Shark torpedoes a slight speed advantage over the Goliath while extending their range.
Julien surprised him with his announcement.
“I’ve got a contact on drone two bearing three-five-two, range thirteen miles from our ship.”
“Designate the contact on drone two as Master Ten,” Jake said. “Prepare tube four to engage Master Ten, maximum transit speed. No ceiling. No floor.”
“Tube four is ready,” Remy said.
“Jake,” Henri said.
“What? I’m shooting a weapon.”
“Given the low speed of our adversaries and the distance, Master Ten will be no threat to the Goliath.”
“That’s a good observation, but I disagree. Anyone can get lucky. Antoine, shoot tube four.”
“I’ve shot tube four.”
“What’s the torpedo room say, Henri?”
“I’ll check.”
He could tell he had upset the Frenchman by shooting, but he knew he had carried out Renard’s intent by being aggressive.
“Tube four, normal launch.”
“Very well. Cut the wire to tube four. Backhaul and reload tube four with a heavyweight torpedo.”
Jake refocused his attention on the three torpedoes he would control. The Goliath reached three miles behind him.
“Antoine, give me a no-shit listen to the Goliath. I’d like to know that you hear Terry before I shoot weapons in front of him.”
“I hear the Goliath,” Remy said. “The bearing matches the solution in the system.”
“Shooting tube three,” Jake said.
“Tube three, normal launch,” Henri said.
“Shooting tube one,” Jake said.
“Tube one, normal launch,” Henri said.
Jake counted down thirty seconds to allow the weapons to travel to the right and in front of Cahill respectively. Then he launched tube two to travel on the left of the Goliath’s track.
The weapons reached out beyond the transport vessel, and Jake inserted steers into their programming that turned them on the egress course.