“Anywhere this boat’s cleared to go I’m cleared to go. So, we go nowhere until I know what’s going on. I can surface and let the skimmer take you.” She could understand why he was annoyed.
“Can you make secure contact with your headquarters or the Pentagon?”
“Come on, follow me.” She followed him down the main companionway into the control room. She looked around at the crew sat by their computer screens, the place was full of displays, buttons and dials.
“Lieutenant Commander Lemineux, stream the communications buoy.”
“Aye Sir.” The buoy was streamed to the surface and held connected to the ship by a cable.
“Secure satellite acquisition, Sir.”
“Can I speak Captain?” asked Anupa.
“Speak? Yes, if you want. You’re through to COMSUBPAC at Pearl Harbor.”
Anupa took the microphone.
“Can you put me through to CIA Langley. ID 3672-HE-8-NJ.”
“Yes Sir,” said a surprised female voice. After a few minutes she was patched through to MI6 headquarters, Vauxhall Cross London.
“Anupa Silva. Middle East. CLE 7DDS2.6FE4.17.”
“Cleared, who do you want,” said the Midlands accent.
“The Head Shed.”
“OK, you’re through.”
“Rudolph, it’s Crutch.” She listened and smiled.
“I’m in the Octopuses garden in a yellow submarine,” she grinned.
“Sir, the Captain needs SQ clearance level three. Captain, USN, Blake Nathan.” After a couple of minutes, she took down a note.
“That’ll do Sir, we don’t need a script just now. Thanks Sir. Bye.”
She handed Nathan a note with letters and numbers written on it.
“There you are, Nathan. You’re now security cleared to MI6 and CIA level 3.”
He put it in his pocket. “I suppose it’ll be useful one day. Thanks. Now, where are we going?”
“Is there somewhere private?” Nathan rolled his eyes.
“Yes, my cabin. This way.”
She sat on a free chair.
“So, I’m now cleared, spill it.”
“The Persian Gulf. I need to be inserted ashore covertly, near the port of Bandar Abbas, Iran. Do you know it?”
“Never been there, but I’ll put you ashore. Across the Pacific and Indian Ocean, it’s a good distance, you’ll be aboard for more than two weeks.”
“I’ve got work to do and I can stay in contact obviously.”
He shrugged, “Your choice. I’ll get the COB to set you up with a cabin and show you around. Come and go where you please,” he smiled, “but don’t press any buttons.”
She gave him a faint smile. “I’ll try not to be a problem Captain.” He stood.
“Let’s find the COB.”
Several minutes later Nathan walked into the control room having left Anupa with the COB. A cabin had been allocated and he was showing her around the boat, telling her the do and don’ts.
“Lieutenant Kaminski, we’ve a long trip ahead, one that you can get your teeth into.” Nikki Kaminski was the boat’s Navigation officer.
“Where’s that Sir?”
“The Persian Gulf, Bandar Abbas; you choose the route. And the bottom bunk across from you, is now occupied. A British woman, she’ll be with us until the Gulf.”
“Is she Royal Navy?” Nathan smirked.
“Not really. She’s Air Breathing No Load. You’ll get to know her, the name’s Anupa. She dived down and came in through the lock.” He’d told Nikki that their visitor was an air consuming, non-contributor.
“A bubblehead Sir?”
“Kind of.”
NIKKI AND ANUPA SAT in the galley drinking tea and coffee.
“I couldn’t do that,” said Nikki, “a foreign land, people who may be hunting you down. Any real help is miles away. No thanks.”
“Remember, I can fit in as a local, I look the part and I can speak some Farsi. I have a contact in country, although I don’t know how reliable he is yet.” Nathan walked into the Galley.
“Anupa. I’d be making last minute preparations, tomorrow night we can make the first attempt. It’s a new moon and the tides are right.”
“Ok, I’ll be ready.”
“We’ll go for oh three hundred hours. That OK with you Lieutenant?”
“Yes Sir. We’ll be ready before that.”
“Aye, aye Sir,” grinned Anupa. The Captain looked at Nikki and her cabin mate.
“You’ll miss her Nikki. You two have become like a hand in glove.”
“There will be more space in the cabin now.”
“Yeah Right. I’m off doing the boat’s rounds.” Nathan left for the Engine room.
Nikki looked at Anupa, the British woman had a smirk on her face and stared back saying nothing.
“What?”
“Don’t take the piss, Nikki.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Captain. Are you…?”
“Of course not. Why?”
“You lying cow.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I’m a woman, I know. And don’t forget, I’m a spy too.”
“Well?” Nikki said nothing. Anupa whispered.
“I’ll take that as a yes, I know you must keep it quiet. Conduct unbecoming and all that.”
“You’re mistaken Anupa.” Her face told a different story. Anupa patted her on the wrist and grinned.
“COME TO PERISCOPE DEPTH, speed three knots.” The deck angle tilted up at the bow. Then levelled.
“Periscope depth Sir.” Nathan activated and raised the photonic mast, this replaced the old periscope. He looked into a monitor at his station, selecting full rotation from the touchscreen. The scope raised itself, carried out a brief 360 rotate and then lowered itself. On-screen Nathan rotated the view, all clear. He could pick off the bearing, range to any targets, and zoom into the target if necessary. The scope could switch to night mode when needed. He saw the lights of Bandar Abbas; they were muted as the scope had switched to night mode.
The port and city lay around six miles away to the north. To his rear a few hundred yards away he could see the island of Hormuz. The boat headed to the west. They’d chosen the area of Bostanu to the west of the city as the drop off point. To the seaward side of the city and to the boat’s port was the island of Qeshm. Nathan saw its occulting navigation light and he headed down the channel. Slowly, slowly the Jackson made its way to the west.
The Virginia visionary, his best Sonar operator stood watch. CPO Dan Benson was part fish.
“Sir, I have a possible contact west of us in the channel. There’s a good amount of civilian traffic, so it’s tough to be sure.”
“Keep monitoring it Benson. COB, let Innes and Silva know where we are. They need to be ready soon.”
“Sir.” The COB walked aft towards the sail. Long minutes went by as Jackson made her way down the channel at four knots.
“Sir, I can confirm subsurface contacts, two of them heading this way at eight knots. Suspected Ghadir class boats, library indicates eighty per cent chance. I agree.” These were locally built midget or coastal submarines, around one hundred feet long, displacing one hundred and fifty tons. Tiny and slow thought Nathan, but they did pack two torpedoes. He knew they were probably principally tasked with anti-ship operations but were unwelcome. They needed to be treated with respect after all this was their homeport.
“Sir, their track and separation take them one either side of us, around five hundred yards away. Depth two hundred and fifty feet.”
“All stop, maintain periscope depth.” He didn’t want a contact in here, it would be mission over. Nathan waited for the two small boats, they’d be cruising toward them at one hundred and fifty feet below. Silence was the watchword.