“Depends how much resolution you need.”
“I just want to know where it is.”
The analyst aimed his eyes off screen. “I got a free fifteen-second window coming up. I’m checking on the ship’s expected location, and… I’m inserting coordinates and scheduling the shot. Done, with ten seconds to spare.”
“That’s why you’re my go-to guy.”
“Keep the whiskey coming. Okay. I see your ship, and I’m overlaying coordinates. You want them?”
“Just tell me if it’s gained any time on its arrival in Karachi.”
“Nope. It’s fallen about another five miles behind schedule.”
As she groped for a reason why the Frenchman would move his fleet ahead of schedule, her phone rang.
Pierre Renard was calling.
“I need to go.” She closed her computer session and lifted her cell phone. “Pierre?”
“Yes, it’s me. Pardon me for skipping pleasantries, but I must speak with you about an urgent matter.”
She considered sharing her knowledge of his fleet’s movement, but the beast made her withhold it as tactical edge in the conversation. “What’s going on?”
The permanently poised Frenchman sounded perturbed. “I’m afraid I have dreadful news. The Goliath has been compromised.”
The terrified inner girl quaked. Backlash scenarios of having aided and groomed a failed mercenary fleet flashed in her mind. Expulsion from the CIA, public humility, a broken engagement, and criminal investigations. Her house of cards shuddered.
She inhaled a rapid breath as the beast encircled the wounded child. Angered, the inner animal forced her focus on survival. It surprised her by cycling through options to sacrifice Renard to protect herself.
After a methodical, deep breath, she calmed herself and gave the Frenchman a chance to explain himself. “Tell me what happened and what you’re doing about it.”
“An unknown assault force overpowered my security team and boarded the Goliath. They’ve taken it underway. I was able to get Jake and Dmitry to their ships to pursue with very supportive helicopter support from the Omanis.”
“Shit. The Omani’s know about this?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Who else knows?”
“Nobody, I assure you. I considered calling Admiral Khan, but I wanted to call you before I would solicit Pakistani assistance.”
Her head spun. “Wait. What assistance do you need? Put a torpedo in it and call it a day.”
The Frenchman’s hesitance signaled resistance. “Well… let’s just say I’d rather find a less violent solution.”
“Solution to what? You don’t know what this is. People don’t steal frontline warships for joyrides. Whatever this is, it’s huge, and it’s going to blow up if you don’t stop it.”
“You know I’m skilled at surgical sabotage. I implore you not to be hasty in calling for extreme violence.”
“Sinking a problem of your own creation isn’t extreme.”
Irking her, he hesitated again. “I see we’re of diverging opinions. I was contacting you as a courtesy, not as a request for orders.”
“You know damned well you had to call me. Did you think you could lose your toy without me knowing about it?”
“It’s not a toy. And no, of course not.”
“Good. Then remember who you’re talking to.”
“And I implore you to do the same, young lady. Regardless of your opinions, the fact remains that I’m under no obligation to destroy my own property. If you won’t help me, I’ll deal with matters myself, including calling Admiral Khan if I must.”
She knew the risk the retired Pakistani admiral posed. As the Frenchman’s longtime friend, the man’s loyalty would beget actions she feared.
He could influence war machines from his nation to come to Renard’s aid. Such movement would trigger alerts within the American intelligence machine that pointed back to her and the mercenary fleet she claimed she controlled.
The beast considered outflanking Renard and threatening the Pakistani admiral to ignore the Frenchman, but then it realized appeasement offered a safer route. The Goliath’s owner had proven his past adaptability to adversity, and he represented possibilities to sidestep this disaster.
But she decided he would need boundaries. “For the sake of argument, let’s say I help you. What do you need from me?”
“I need your standard surveillance, centered on the Goliath and scanning outward one hundred and fifty nautical miles. I need to know what’s happening on the Goliath in high-resolution in real time, and I need to know what high-value assets are within weapons range of it.”
“You know I can’t do that, not without identifying a mission for the Goliath that would warrant dedicated use.”
Again, he hesitated. “I understand the rules, but I had to state my needs. Can you at least give me the scanning surveillance?”
“It would be spotty, nothing like you’re used to. But I could get you something.”
“That would help. However, the greatest support you could offer me is timing.”
She snorted. “Shit, Pierre. Everyone wants more time.”
“No. I meant a specific time, or a specific place, to bound my mission parameters. I need your help defining a terminus.”
“You mean, you want me to give you a timeline where I define the final deadline?”
“Yes. You have the intelligence assets and the analytical skills. What’s the ultimate endpoint of this mission the hijackers have taken against me? Who are they? Why are they doing this? I have educated guesses, but you can make quicker sense of it.”
The beast wanted her to remind the Frenchman she could have the Fifth Fleet snap the Goliath in half before sunrise, but the inner animal also saw value in recapturing the mercenary flagship. Submergible guns with a one-hundred-and-twenty-mile reach offered unique options.
“You’re right. I could help. But what confidence can you give me that this ends the right way?”
“We’ve attached enough limpets to the Goliath to track it anywhere.”
“Can you keep it submerged?”
“Yes, with air support. It’s the only way.”
“How far are the Omani’s willing to help?”
“They’ve promised support while I’m in the Gulf of Oman, and fortunately that covers a lot of water in all directions.”
“How can you be sure they’ll honor their word when weapons start flying back at them. The Goliath can defend itself.”
His delay suggested he considered sharing a secret. “I’ve offered to broker and subsidize arms purchases to fill gaps in their military arsenals, and I’ve offered bounties for kills and major damage on the Goliath. I’ve also offered compensation for casualties for any Omani staff.”
“For a man who knows subtlety, you don’t hold back when you’re being blunt.”
“No, I don’t. And let me be blunt now. I need to know your answer. Will you help me?”
The beast answered for her. “If I do, it’ll be on my terms. You don’t make a move or contact anyone without telling me first. If you do, I’ll get the Fifth Fleet involved.”
“Agreed. In fact, if I can’t resolve this before the Goliath reaches weapons range of an American warship, I’ll beg you for such intervention.”
“I’ll learn what I can, and I’ll call you back.”
She hung up and invoked her computer session, bringing the geek face into view.
“What can I do for you, Miss McDonald?”
“I need to know if any American naval assets are within three hundred miles of the Goliath. No, wait, scratch that. Any military asset or passenger vessel within three hundred miles.”