“Of course,” he said. “You see the picture now. What other option might you suggest?”
“Well, sir, it could be a ploy. He could want us to think he’s running to his minefield while he in fact turned from his minefield right at its border.”
“True,” he said. “But where he might truly be going in that case, is the difficult next question.”
“I can’t answer that, sir. No country in this sea would dare harbor him, though some may look the other way if he hides in their waters.”
“He was already in Turkey’s territorial waters when he began his fool’s journey. There’s no place safer for him than where he started his errant behavior. That’s what doesn’t make sense.”
“Could this be a trap?”
“It could be, but why go to the trouble? He shouldn’t even know that we’re still battle-worthy, much less coming for him. But if he does, he could have easily ambushed us by staying where he was. There’s no trap he can create that could make us easier targets.”
A shadow consumed the executive officer’s face as he fell into deep thought. Then his eyes narrowed.
“Maybe he’s just taunting us to boost his crew’s morale — to give them something to do other than wait.”
“Perhaps. But we need more information beyond that which he’s told us. I’m going to have a chat with our trainer to see where our prized hunters are to see if they can help.”
The lithe man seated beside the sonar operator kept his eyes on the screen that showed incoming sounds.
“Where are they?” Volkov asked.
“Their last update was four minutes ago,” the trainer said. “They’re already in the minefield.”
“And we’re almost five miles from the boundary, allowing for positional uncertainty. “
Volkov glared at the trainer.
“What’s wrong, sir?”
“I just realized that we should have found the Specter by now — if not with our sonar system, then with the dolphins.”
“They’re trying their lowest frequency whistles to extend the range of their echolocation. Though we’ve seen it work, that’s unnatural for them. They prefer higher frequencies to find closer contacts.”
Moving his eyes to the chart, Volkov saw the whale icon representing his bottlenose dolphins lurking five miles ahead of the Specter’s future position within the rhomboid minefield.
“They should be within detection range already.”
“There’s no guarantee they’ll see the Specter that far away.”
“Ironically, I’ve developed stronger faith in your dolphins than you, based upon their recent performances.”
Minutes passed, and Volkov grew impatient.
“Less than three miles between them and the Specter.”
“Yes,” the trainer said. “I admit this is problematic, but if it’s out there, they’ll find it.”
The loudspeaker played a burst of chirps and whistles. Adrenaline flooded Volkov’s body, and he grabbed a railing for balance against the rocking deck.
“That’s them,” he said. “What’s their report?”
“Submerged contact,” the trainer said.
“Verify their location and find out what they know about the contact. You’re free to communicate without my intervention.”
“Thank you.”
“You’ve proven yourself, and so have they. There’s no further need for me to approve your communications.”
During an exchange of dolphin sounds, Volkov learned that the mammals swam on the bearing where he expected to see the Specter. His prey’s track followed its northerly course and held the speed of five knots it had undertaken outside the minefield.
“Here comes the range from them to the Specter,” he said.
The Krasnodar’s control room fell silent except for the dolphin’s incoming sound.
“The distance is near,” the trainer said.
“Less than a mile?”
“Yes.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely.”
The sonar operator raised his hand and yelled.
“Metallic transient noise from the bearing of the Specter.”
“Can you identify the cause of the transient?” Volkov asked.
“A dropped tool hitting the deck, perhaps. It’s something blatant — a horrible mistake by one of the crewmen.”
Volkov felt himself divided. Part of him indulged in the belief that fate had gifted him his vengeance while part of him sensed deception.
His response to his inner split covered the extremes of possibility as he projected his voice to announce it.
“Get the dolphins away from the Specter. Assign the Specter a location one mile south of the dolphins. Prepare the Shkval underwater rocket in tube six for the Specter.”
His crew hustled to react and had the Krasnodar ready to launch within thirty seconds.
“Shoot tube six.”
The rapid pressure change popped his ears.
“I hear our weapon clearing the ship,” the sonar operator said. “Its rocket is igniting, and I hear the exhaust bubbles coming from the nose cone. The rocket is now at full thrust, and our weapon is turning towards the Specter.”
Volkov expected his super-cavitating underwater rocket to accelerate to two-hundred and fifty knots, and his rapid calculation gave the weapon three minutes to run its eight-mile course. As he attacked, his instincts toyed with him, telling him to turn from a potential retaliatory torpedo while also telling him to do the opposite.
He chose the opposite.
“Secure snorkeling,” he said. “We’re going deep and slow.”
His gray-bearded veteran ordered the submarine’s diesels silenced, and as the rumble subsided, Volkov heard the induction mast slide into his ship.
“The ship is secured from snorkeling,” the veteran said. “We’re slowing to four knots, the maximum speed we can make on the fuel cell.”
“Very well,” Volkov said. “Make your depth fifty meters, left full rudder, steady course two-two-zero.”
“Coming to fifty meters, course two-two-zero, sir.”
“Reload tube six with a drone.”
“A drone, sir?” the veteran asked.
“I’ll explain later. See to it.”
As the deck dipped and rolled, he watched his executive officer walk around the chart to his side.
“May I ask why you wish to go deep, sir?”
“One of two outcomes will be known within minutes. Either we’ll be rid of the Specter, or we’ll be certain of a ruse. If it’s indeed the ruse, we’ll be facing a newfound and alarming uncertainty of the Specter’s location.”
“You would then counter by going deep and depriving the Specter of the easy knowledge of our position.”
“Yes, and also deprive the Goliath.”
The executive officer pursed his lips.
“The Goliath could hardly keep pace with us while submerged, and it’s remained undetected for half a day,” he said. “To overtake us, it would practically need to have predicted our path and maneuvered ahead of us.”
The executive officer’s comment deepened Volkov’s concern about the complexity of a possible trap. He flagged the combat transport ship as a danger greater than that of its long-range cannons. Against his ship’s damage-limited ability, the Goliath posed the additional threat of a credible hunting submarine.
“Perhaps,” he said. “But let’s await the outcome of our Shkval before bogging ourselves down in speculation.”