“They’ll only go faster if we don’t stop them. What the hell’s holding up Pierre’s air cavalry?” Jake’s noticed the deck’s rocking in the shallows and the gentle rumbling of the diesel engines while he charged his battery.
Over the loudspeakers, the Frenchman responded. “This is delicate flying. But the first two helicopters will be in position within three minutes. They have your periscope and Dmitry’s on infrared.”
“All they have to do is fly down the middle.”
“I see that you’ve never flown a helicopter.”
“I did once during summer training at the academy. It was like riding an angry bull.”
“Then you have respect for the effort.”
“I do, but good pilots can handle it. I’m just concerned what will happen if they don’t release the nets fast enough.”
“A valid concern. Which is why the nets aren’t bolted to the aircraft. They’ll be spooled out manually.”
Jake envisioned airmen unrolling nets yard-by-yard from lockers aboard hovering helicopters and dropping them into the sea. He’d heard horror stories of submarines snagging rigging and dragging fishing ships underwater. An uncareful aircrew would turn their Lynx into the Goliath’s sea anchor. “I imagine it could work.”
“It will. Our fish is large and predictable, and the location is precisely between you and Dmitry.”
“I don’t suppose you’ll tell me where you found the nets on short notice.”
“The gillnets I’m using are common commodities in Muscat’s fishing fleet. I specified the longest nets the helicopters could carry, and the rest was accomplished by a sense of duty on the part of the Omani team.”
Jake silently appended the Frenchman’s thought to include the thorough financial award structure he knew he’d created for every task. He respected his boss for his career of recruiting traitors and outcasts into people he could motivate. “Two hundred meters should be good enough.”
“The Goliath by design is limited to one hundred meters of depth. You’re tracking it at twenty. We have more than enough netting to succeed.”
“Good job getting them out here so fast. We’ll have to wait to see if this works.”
“You sound dubious. Work the plan, and trust the results.”
Glancing at the incoming sonar data and then at his control room team, Jake convinced himself the Goliath maintained its course and speed. Ignoring his concern about colliding with his quarry, he indulged in spectatorship by opening a window on the plotting table to the periscope’s view.
Through a night vision filter, he watched the lead of two helicopters hovering two miles away. Cooler than the humid air, a thin rectangular form fell from the closer Lynx.
Renard confirmed what Jake saw. “The first helicopter is deploying its first net.”
“Yeah, I see it. How many nets do they have?”
“Two each. That’s all they could fit.”
“Four nets should be enough to make a difference.”
“So far, so good, they report. I’m having the second helicopter deploy its first net now.”
While the aircraft fished for the Goliath, Jake watched them unfurl their snares with glacial lethargy. “How long’s this going to take?”
“A good five minutes. It’s a gravity feed limited by a hand-cranked spool.”
The screen below the American’s nose showed the Goliath reaching the snares in ten minutes. Facing uneventful moments, Jake freed his mind and aimed it beyond the rogue flagship. “Antoine, how easy will it be to hear the nets hitting the Goliath?”
Remy shrugged. “Not too hard. Even with the limpets, the rubbing and scraping will be loud.”
“Put one of the other guys on it, and start searching for threats around us.”
The toad head rotated towards Jake. “What sort of threat? I need to optimize my search.”
“Keep it local. Submarines from Iran, Pakistan, India.”
“That’s it? Just three large fleets with submarines built by at least five countries?”
“Now that you mention it, throw in Malaysia. They’re pissed at us for good reason.”
The sonar expert frowned and faced his monitor. “I’ll just listen for fifty-hertz electric plants.”
“That’s too broad. You’ll hear surfaced contacts.”
“I can sort them out.”
“I know you can, but it will take time and distract you.”
“You have a better idea?”
Jake pulled an ancient tactic from the submarine archive. “Use active.”
The toad-head rotated back towards Jake. “How active? Secure chirps?”
“No. Go all out, full power.”
“Seriously?”
Making use of free expert advice, Jake stole a glance at Cahill, who nodded his concurrence and boosted the confidence in his decision. “Yeah. We’re close enough to the Goliath that it won’t matter that we’re announcing ourselves. Anyone out there will think our sonar bursts are coming from the Goliath.”
Remy needed extra convincing. “But the Goliath doesn’t have an active sonar. At least not a tactical search system.”
“Anyone who knows that is working with the hijackers and won’t shoot us for fear of hitting them.” Jake raised his voice and continued. “Do you have any heartburn with this, Pierre?”
“It’s unconventional, but I agree. Something could be out there waiting in ambush, and this is the only way to counter such a threat. But I’ll have Dmitry keep his active sonar secure, since only one of you needs to do this.”
“Thank you, Pierre.”
“All out active it is.” Remy tapped icons, and moments later, powerful tones boomed outside the hull.
Jake discerned the clockwise march of sheets of sound moving from left to right as the Specter pounded the gulf in a methodical sweep in hopes of uprooting hidden dangers. “Shit, that was loud.”
“Bloody loud.”
Silent seconds passed as the sonar guru studied the echoes. “Nothing. I see only the Goliath, which is blocking the Wraith’s return. It’s blocking a large sector, actually.”
Jake found the sonic pounding less intrusive during the second active search sequence. “I’m sure we’ll get used to this.”
“Part of me hopes not, mate. It’s not right to run with our active sonar blaring.”
“This whole day’s about things not being right. We need to make them right. Somehow.”
“You still want to end this fast, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“I’d agree with you, except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Once you blow holes in me ship, you can’t un-blow them. We need to try the other options first.”
“No need to argue. The boss is on your side, and I know when to shut up and follow orders.”
“But you looked spewing mad, mate.”
Jake assessed his anger. “I thought I was hiding it.”
“Not really. You’re pretty transparent.”
After the Specter’s third active sweep seemed to slide into a tolerable background cadence, Jake welcomed the distraction of a young sonar technician. “I hear the first net hitting the Goliath.”
Jake aimed his voice towards the youngster. “What do you hear, specifically?”
“Metallic banging. It sounds like there are weights spread all across the net.”
“Good. That makes sense.”
“The second net has caught now.”
The night vision scene from the periscope showed the lead Lynx dipping towards the water, compelling Jake to raise his voice towards the overhead microphone. “What’s going on, Pierre?”