“That’s impressive, but isn’t it counter-productive to use the system? Doesn’t its use announce when a submarine is leaving?”
“It would, except that we exercise the system three times a day at random intervals.”
“Now I’m impressed.”
“Let’s see how you feel once the Goliath-Specter tandem is free. The egress should start in twelve minutes. If you need to freshen up after your travels, now is a good time.”
Jake left the main floor and made a quick pass through a rest room. He stopped in a kitchenette to gulp black coffee and inhale a bagel before returning to Ye’s side.
The tactical view held new images that attracted his attention. White lines like the spokes of half a wheel fanned out southward from the islet, and a red submarine appeared to the north with Mandarin characters beside it.
He pointed.
“The Akula?” he asked.
“It’s three hours old, but that’s the latest location information we have on it.”
“There’s nothing else submerged in the vicinity?”
“Nothing known.”
“Let’s keep it that way.”
A captain announced something in Mandarin, and Ye answered.
“I’ve given permission for Mister Renard to begin.”
“Do we have communications with him?”
“Yes. Hold on.”
The admiral wiggled his thumb over his controller, and Renard’s voice entered the command center.
“We’re passing through the tightest section of the tunnel now. Damn!”
“What’s wrong?” Ye asked.
Jake heard harsh metallic groans.
“Pierre?” Ye asked.
“Yes. Sorry. It’s fine. The container atop my conning tower hit the roof, but we’re through it now.”
“We’ll lose laser communications soon. Are you through the tunnel yet?”
“Yes. We just cleared.”
“Excellent,” Ye said. “We’ll be watching from here.”
The radio line fell silent, and Jake pointed at the white lines that fanned from the islet.
“Which path are they taking?” he asked.
“It’s up to Mister Renard. The intent is to preserve randomness in case our communications are intercepted.”
“So, we just wait?”
“There’s nothing more we can do. He’ll raise a mast and call if he needs help.”
“I suppose he will.”
Jake pointed again.
“What are those ships?” he asked.
“Each one is a Tai Chiang-class stealth patrol craft.”
“Good to hear you’ve got some firepower out there guarding their backs.”
“They’re searching in passive mode only, though. I don’t want them announcing the egress.”
As Jake exercised patience during the Goliath-Specter tandem’s slow and uneventful escape, his head slumped deeper below his shoulder blades. After two hours had passed, he sat in front of a console and watched the navigation chart.
Four hours later, a captain’s report spurred him to life. Ye sprang from his seat at a console and moved to the captain’s side. Jake let the officers analyze the data before requesting a translation.
After a minute, the admiral volunteered it.
“Submerged contact, moving at seven knots. We picked it up on active return from the hydrophone array.”
“That’s them, right?”
“It should be, but I’ve vectored a stealth patrol craft to intercept as a precaution.”
Moments later, another officer made an announcement in Mandarin, and Jake noticed levity in the room. The Frenchman’s voice then issued from the loudspeakers.
“We’ve passed the array,” Renard said.
“Send your coordinates,” Ye said.
“One moment.”
The captain monitoring the hydrophone array’s input nodded.
“We have you on the hydrophone array,” Ye said.
“I assumed so. That’s quite a powerful system. I hardly need my sonar system to hear it.”
“Let’s wait before celebrating. I want to make sure you weren’t followed. Continue to do the rendezvous point.”
Fifteen minutes later, the icon representing Renard’s movement reached a predetermined dot in the ocean. The admiral stretched his arms and yawned.
“That’s a successful egress,” he said. “The helicopter is waiting to take you and your colleague to the Specter.”
Jake had forgotten about his traveling companion, who he had allowed to sleep during the night. One of the officers gave the admiral an update.
“Correction,” Ye said. “Your colleague is in the helicopter with all your baggage. Whenever you’re ready, you may join him.”
An hour later, Jake watched the color fall from the priest’s face as the aircraft lurched.
“Father Andrew?” he asked.
The helicopter dipped, shook, and recovered, and the Iraqi Chaldean holy man cringed.
“Father Andrew!”
“Yeah?”
“You look terrible. Are you nauseous?”
The priest nodded.
“Give me your hand. I know an old acupuncture trick. Acu-pressure, in this case.”
Jake grabbed the wrist with one hand and then pressed his other hand’s thumb into the crease over the priest’s vein. He released and repeated the pressure ten times before shifting to the holy man’s other hand.
“It’s a little better,” Andrew said. “What are you doing?”
“Stimulating your pericardium to combat nausea. You have motion sickness.”
“I’m starting to think I should have stayed home.”
“No. I wanted you here for a reason.”
“Bishop Francis told me you made a huge donation to our charitable fund for the Iraqi refugees.”
“I wasn’t trying to rent a priest for three months, if that’s what you mean.”
Andrew stared at him, measuring an appropriate response.
“Well, okay, that’s exactly what I was doing,” Jake said. “But it was for a good cause.”
“Two good causes, if God will allow me to count what we’re doing now.”
“If God will allow? The Vatican renounces the annexation of Crimea, right? I see no question that we’re doing the right thing.”
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t personally think it was the right thing. But how you do it will be important.”
“Right. That’s exactly why I brought you. You’re the sheriff of my conscience.”
The Taiwanese officer seated beside Jake pointed at the horizon.
“Do you see those lights?”
“Yeah. It looks like a merchant ship.”
“It’s a freighter — one of ours. The Goliath-Specter tandem is surfaced near it. I must now give you a message from Mister Renard. He wants you to search for him within a radius of one nautical mile around the freighter as a test of a camouflage system.”
“Seriously?”
The officer handed him a pair of night vision binoculars.
“Seriously.”
Jake centered the optics on the freighter as filters ratcheted down the incoming light from the ship’s running lights. He then worked the lens in a circle around the vessel, seeking the familiar form of the Specter aboard the Goliath. Widening the circle, he sought his target again, and then a third time.
He lowered the binoculars and shook his head.
“There’s nothing out there but that freighter.”
The Taiwanese officer reached for a dial to channel Renard’s voice into the cabin.
“Good morning, Jake. Can you hear me?”
“Hear you, yes. I’m starting to think you told the pilot to fly to the wrong place, though.”
“Look again, only much closer to the freighter.”
He raised the optics and sought signs of his mentor’s presence within the wake of the cargo vessel.