The Hydra’s commander canted his head and frowned.
“I understand, sir.”
“Wait,” Floros said. “Don’t mention that they’re going to be screens against torpedoes. They’ll recognize that danger, but there’s no need to be blatant about it. They’ll also know that they need to be ahead of the frigates for their guns to be of any value. They’ll understand the gravity of their duty, but they’ll do it.”
“Understood, sir. I’ll pass the word.”
Floros allowed himself minutes of mind-clearing inactivity while the droning of multiple conversations on the frigate’s bridge became lulling background sounds.
On the display, icons shifted as he watched the warships maneuver per his will.
“The gunboat commanders have taken protective positions around the frigates,” the Hydra’s commander said.
“Very well,” Floros said.
Moving his gaze to the larger scene of the Aegean Sea, he liked the view. The southern wall of his task force blocked the Goliath’s escape, and the Hydra loomed to the north with freedom to hunt his trapped prey.
Guarding against hubris, he took several breaths to consider his next step. He thought about how to search for a unique and wounded animal, and the best solution he could ascertain was tightening a slow noose around the Goliath.
He judged his tactics simple but promising.
Then a new face entering the bridge through its rear door caught his attention, and the Hydra’s commander turned to intercept the officer. Moving with a swagger, the new presence wore a confident and earnest look.
Floros recognized the frigate’s helicopter pilot as he bent forward into a discussion with the commander. Unwilling to wait for the conversation to run its natural course, he walked to the men and interrupted them.
“What’s the issue?” he asked.
“He wants to hunt the Goliath, sir.”
Floros met the pilot’s stare.
“More than one admiral has deemed that suicidal.”
“They’re wrong, sir,” the pilot said. “They didn’t rethink the tactics. I’ve been out there seeing my brothers get shot down. I want to avenge them, and I know what to do.”
“Go on.”
“It’s all about keeping a low altitude during repositioning. For speed, we usually climb to pull the dipping sonars out of the water. If I instead use the winch, it will take me longer, but I won’t have to make myself vulnerable to the railguns.”
“The winches are slow, if I recollect correctly.”
“You do recollect correctly, sir, but it’s the only way I can take back control as a hunter. Given how we’ve got the Goliath penned in, I figure I can move just fast enough to give me a shot at rousting it, forcing its crew to make a mistake.”
Floros nodded and turned to the display. As he walked to it, he felt the pilot follow him.
“Do you really hope to roust the Goliath alone?”
“It’s a matter of probabilities. I’ll be moving slowly, but it’s a small area of water to search. Your guess is as good as mine.”
“If I gave you another helicopter to join the search with you, is there a pilot in the task force you’d consider worthy?”
The aviator put his finger on the central southerly frigate.
“Papadakis. He’s good.”
“Very well, you can have him. Set up a search pattern accounting for your slowed repositioning, and take off as soon as your aircraft is ready.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t thank me,” Floros said. “It’s I who’ll be thanking you after you destroy the Goliath.”
CHAPTER 16
A small crowd formed around the Specter’s central plotting table.
“I’m relying on dolphins to save the Goliath,” Jake said. “This is ludicrous.”
“I beg to differ,” Renard said.
“You’re on the loudspeaker now, and my tactical team is listening. You’re facing a submarine full of doubters, except for maybe Antoine.”
“Antoine is wise,” Renard said. “I’m sure he remembers fighting against Andrei and Mikhail in the Black Sea.”
“We all fought against them in the Black Sea,” Jake said. “But I’m not sure we didn’t give them too much credit.”
“Ask Antoine about his respect for them,” Renard said.
In a rare moment his sonar guru stood from his Subtics console during combat, Jake glanced across the table at the owner of the toad-shaped head. He noticed Remy was short and squat, likening his shape to an amphibian.
“I can’t speak to their effectiveness,” Remy said. “But I can verify that Dmitry communicated with them a lot in the Black Sea. He believed in them, and so did we enough to the point of trying to kill them.”
Jake recalled shooting torpedoes at the dolphins, and the clarity of hindsight caused him to doubt the tactical value of that attack. But the Frenchman’s reply over the loudspeakers rescued him from wasting time on the historic analysis.
“And Dmitry still believes in them,” Renard said. “They just assisted him greatly in his dealings in the Arabian Sea, and I credit him with our use of them now. Flying them to you was his idea, and I’m still stunned by how quickly he thought of it.”
“And he could be laughing at me while I depend upon Flipper for the lives aboard this ship and the Goliath.”
“Damn it, man,” Renard said. “Stop doubting him. He proved his commitment in the Arabian Sea, and he cared enough about your fate and Terry’s to open my mind to the dolphins’ use.”
“Maybe,” Jake said “Call me a doubter. I need just a bit more evidence that these dolphins are going to help me and not send me down a suicidal path.”
Jake recalled that his believing in Christ was an ongoing voyage of examining evidence. The study had unfillable holes, but he had the remainder of his life to explore all he could and nudge his belief towards the truth with each new step of discovery.
In contrast, Cahill’s probability of survival ticked away as Jake assessed Volkov’s recommendation of relying on dolphins. Complete trust would need to follow partial evidence, and the next statement from his French boss affirmed it.
“I respect your doubt,” Renard said. “But you’ll have to erase that doubt and test them while you use them.”
The advice reminded Jake of the utility test his Christian colleagues proclaimed in assessing of Jesus’ claims. His religious advisors had noted that knowledge’s limits forced people into a parallel path of learning through study while also feeling the presence of their god through experiential exploration.
By attempting to follow the teachings, Jake expected to receive insights gained only by effort. So far, the incremental baby steps left him unconvinced but encouraged, as his attitude seemed to improve with a lessening of his chronic anger. Though sensing a deep, old cauldron of fury boiling within himself, he noted its temperature had lowered as his heart reached for a savior.
He committed to the same approach, albeit on a compressed timeline, with his faith in the Russian animals.
“I don’t see that I have much choice,” he said. “I can’t power my way quickly through a half dozen submarines that are waiting for me with a perfect ambush. They probably even have drones, too. I’m good, but I’m only human. I need some magic help.”
“Try the dolphins,” Renard said. “I’m sure you’ll find that they are magic.”