Rick Campbell
The Bin Laden Plot
CHARACTERS
KEVIN HARDISON — chief of staff
MARCY PERINI — secretary of state
TOM GLASS — secretary of defense
NOVA CONOVER — secretary of homeland security
THOM PARHAM — national security advisor
GLEN MCGLOTHIN (Captain) — senior military advisor
CHRISTINE O’CONNOR — director (DCIA)
MONROE BRYANT — deputy director (DDCIA)
PJ ROLOW — deputy director for operations (DDO)
TRACEY MCFARLAND — deputy director for analysis (DDA)
BECKY ROCK — deputy director for support (DDS)
JAKE HARRISON — paramilitary operations officer
KHALILA DUFOUR — specialized skills officer, National Clandestine Service
ASAD DURRANI — collection management officer
NIZAR MUSSAN — paramilitary operations officer (Bluestone Security)
MARZOUQ ASHOUR — specialized skills officer (Salmiya, Kuwait)
ELIZABETH GHERLONE — supervisor
SARA INMAN — torpedo expert
BRENDA VERBECK — secretary of the Navy
JOHN RODGAARD — director of National Intelligence
BILL GUISEWHITE — director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
MURRAY WILSON (Captain) — Commanding Officer
TOM MONTGOMERY (Lieutenant Commander) — Executive Officer
RYAN JESCOVITCH (Lieutenant) — Weapons Officer
BRIAN RESOR (Lieutenant) — Officer of the Deck
BRITTANY KERN (Lieutenant) — Officer of the Deck
KAREN BASS (Lieutenant) — Officer of the Deck
JIM MOORE (Sonar Technician Chief) — Sonar Division Chief
ANDREW BUBB (Sonar Technician Second Class) — Narrowband Operator
JON PETERS (Commander) — SEAL Team Commander
TRACEY NOVIELLO (Lieutenant) — SEAL Platoon Officer-in-Charge
RUSS BURKHARDT (Special Warfare Operator Senior Chief) — SEAL Platoon Leading Chief Petty Officer
JOHN SHEAKOSKI (Special Warfare Operator First Class)
MICHAEL KELLER (Special Warfare Operator Second Class)
KURT HACKER (Special Warfare Operator First Class)
JOHN PICKERING (Special Warfare Operator Second Class)
DAVE NAREHOOD (Special Warfare Operator First Class)
RICH MEYER (Special Warfare Operator Second Class)
DENNIS GALLAGHER (Commander) — Commanding Officer
RICHARD WORTMAN (Petty Officer Second Class)
JAY NEAL (Seaman)
JOE SITES (Admiral) — Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)
ANDY HOSKINS (Captain) — secretary of the Navy’s military aide
JASON JOHNSON (Cryptologic Technician Chief) — Pentagon watchstander
AYMAN ABOUD — Persian rug dealer
BASIM IQBAL — Kuwait Security Service agent
MALIK AL-RASHIDI — Director, Kuwait Security Service
LONNIE MIXELL (alias Mitch Larson) — former Navy SEAL
GARY NAGLE — former Navy SEAL
JOHN MCNEIL — former Navy SEAL / secretary of the Navy protective agent
GRETCHEN MCNEIL — John McNeil’s wife
ANGIE HARRISON — Jake Harrison’s wife
MADELINE (MADDY) HARRISON — Jake Harrison’s daughter
BRIAN HUMM — Alvin operations officer
KEN HILLSLEY — Alvin pilot
CAROLINE RICE — Fairfax County, Virginia, detective
ADELLE MURPHY — housekeeping supervisor at the Intercontinental Hotel
CAITLIN JOHNSON — gymnastics coach
1
USS STETHEM
In the Strait of Hormuz, the thirty-mile-wide opening to the strategically important Persian Gulf, USS Stethem cruised through the warm water, her navigation lights revealing the presence of the U.S. warship twelve miles off the coast, hugging the edge of Iranian territorial waters. To the south, white masthead lights announced the passage of numerous merchant ships transiting the busy choke point.
Hours earlier, after being battered by a storm as the destroyer passed through the Gulf of Oman, Stethem had entered the Strait, where the narrow waterway turned sharply southwest. The sun had recently set, and an outward calm had returned to the warship. In the darkness, the topside decks were deserted aside from two men on the fantail taking a smoke break, the occasional red glow from the ends of their cigarettes faintly illuminating their faces.
Petty Officer Second Class Richard Wortman, leaning against the hangar bulkhead on the helicopter deck, took another puff of his cigarette while his newfound friend rattled on about his girlfriend back home. Seaman Jay Neal, who happened to be from a town less than an hour from Wortman’s, was a new addition to the crew, having reported aboard just before Stethem’s departure for its Gulf deployment several weeks ago.
Wortman’s gaze shifted from the masthead lights in the distance to the bluish-green trail behind the destroyer, created by bioluminescent algae disturbed by the ship’s passage. It was times like this that reaffirmed his decision to join the Navy. He replayed an old recruiting slogan in his mind — It’s not just a job, it’s an adventure. He reflected on the challenge of learning how to operate and maintain complex weapon systems, the excitement of foreign port visits, and the tranquility of cruising the Gulf aboard a warship as the sun set over the Middle East. Things your average corn-fed midwestern kid would never experience.
Neal pointed to starboard. “Hey, that’s pretty cool. What is it?”
Wortman spotted a second bioluminescent trail in the distance, narrow and moving swiftly through the water, curving toward Stethem. It took a few seconds to realize what it was.
“Torpedo in the water!”
No one besides Neal could hear him from the helicopter deck, but he reacted instinctively, calling out the warning. He grabbed Neal by the arm and pulled him toward the nearest watertight door on the starboard side of the ship.
The bridge lookout or sonar technicians on watch must have detected the torpedo at about the same time, because Wortman heard the roar of the ship’s four gas turbine engines spring to life, followed by a surge as the ship’s twin shafts accelerated, churning the water behind them. An announcement came over the ship’s intercom, ordering Stethem’s crew to General Quarters and battle stations.
It was all happening too fast — and too late.
The luminescent trail closed on Stethem while Wortman and Neal were still topside, culminating in a muffled explosion that bucked the destroyer’s deck upward, launching both men several feet in the air. When Wortman landed on the deck, sharp pain sliced through his right leg.
After the upward buckling, the destroyer’s midships sagged into the bubble void created by the explosion, putting additional stress on the ship’s keel. The most devastating effect of the torpedo explosion followed: the water-jet plume, traveling upward as the bubble collapsed, shearing through the already weakened keel, tearing through steel bulkheads and decks.