“The map shows the navigation route from their base on the East Coast of the North American continent, more or less towards the north of Norway, and then they turn south”, Dimitri said, tapping on the map with his finger.
“These triangles along the route are reporting points. The submarine must report home when it arrives at any such point along the route. Of course, we will catch it between two reporting points, and I think that will be here.”
Dimitri tapped his finger on a certain point on the map.
“Exactly here, northwest of Norway, approximately two hundred nautical miles south of this not very small island called Svalbard. From this place they turn south on their navigation route and sail away.”
“And what are these tables?” Yevgeni asked again.
“This is their duty roster, their work schedule. It says which submarine goes out to sea for navigation and when, and their times of arrival at the reporting points. This is simply perfect. I think we have just received the most important brick in the wall that we are about to build.”
Yevgeni motioned for his colleagues to leave the derelict hangar. I think I have good reason to contact the Minister of Defense and to report to him on the great headway that we have made, Yevgeni thought. This is the first time that the conversation between us is on my own initiative, but maybe it will be better to wait until the end of the test tomorrow. Who can guarantee that the results will meet expectations? Yevgeni continued to walk besides his teammates as these thoughts raced in his mind.
In a hangar at the ordnance section, Nazarbayev received them with his broad smile. But the Colonel’s face showed signs of fatigue; he hadn’t had any sleep for two days and nights.
“My friend the Colonel”, Yevgeni said to him. “I need you strong and alert tomorrow morning. Have you finished your work here?”
“Yes, I can say that we have finally completed the work. Here, the bomb is ready, and in one or one-and-a- half hours it will be loaded on to the boat. Don’t ask me what we went through tonight. We dismantled the bomb, but we couldn’t empty it of the explosive, as it was really corroded inside. If I’d used your idea and welded the cone to its top, half of the base would have been demolished in an explosion.”
“But I see that the steel cone is installed on the top of the bomb”, Yevgeni said quizzically.
“Yes, you see it is connected, not welded. We used special adhesives for metal that I hadn’t known existed. They are as strong as welds”, Colonel Nazarbayev explained.
Yevgeni approached the Colonel and gave him a brief hug.
“Well done. Come with us. We are going to see the trawler and then you can go and catch a few hours’ sleep. We are finished here”, said Yevgeni.
Lieutenant Alexey led the team, which was now joined by Colonel Nazarbayev, to an out-of-the-way pier almost hidden from view, where the trawler was moored. The boat was painted black, with a diagonal white stripe adorning its prow. On its stern, its name was printed in Cyrillic letters, and in Latin letters underneath; its name was “Zlatoya Klatzo”, meaning “Golden Ring”.
Dimitri approached Yevgeni.
“Listen, I’m pleasantly surprised. This is quite a new boat and it looks in very good condition. I also see that it has a modern radar. The Minister’s letter has worked wonders. By the way, isn’t more fitting to name it Fire Ring rather than Golden Ring?”
Commander Vitaly Dobrinin, whom Marshal Budarenko’s team had met just a short time ago, greeted them on the trawler’s gangplank like old friends. General Okhramenko took the lead and led them to the communications room, where a few technicians were still working. The General ordered them to leave the room and shut the door behind them. The team members saw four metal cabinets, each the size of an average washing machine.
“Now”, the general said, “they are finalizing their link to the antennas that they installed at dawn, and we will be ready for tomorrow.”
Yevgeni motioned Dimitri to come closer to him and the General.
“Tell me, Dimitri”, Yevgeni said, “When a submarine arrives at the reporting point, to those triangles on the map, you said that they report to their home base on the East Coast of the United States. Is that correct?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“General Okhramenko”, Yevgeni said quite severely, “we have not finished our work. Please get a receiver or a listening device from the intelligence section here for those strangely low frequencies that Dimitri mentioned. I can’t be sure that the American submarine will navigate exactly according to the schedule printed in the tables here. Perhaps the data is erroneous, and perhaps it is fabricated, and in any case, it can be changed at any time when the submarine is at sea. We must hear for ourselves, with our own ears, the real-time reports from the submarine. Isn’t it obvious that this instrument is not sufficient for our needs?”
The General, who was clearly not comfortable being managed by a Colonel, especially one who looked like a university professor, was quite impatient.
“I don’t understand you, Colonel; what is not enough for you?”
“Who will operate this instrument? Your communication people or your electronic warfare people?” Yevgeni countered with his own questions. “There must be an intelligence officer here who knows how to listen to naval messages in English. Our friends from Naval Intelligence know exactly who should sit here. It is important that this person is in position during the test tomorrow, even though it is not an integral part of the test.”
Yevgeni and Dimitri left the radio room, followed by the General. Yevgeni seemed preoccupied. He looked at Dimitri.
“Tell me, do you think that everything is ready for tomorrow and we aren’t forgetting something? It’s going too smoothly. I am not supposed to be calm in such situations, and it worries me.”
Dimitri was quite confident. “It is only because you are an incurable pessimist”, he said.
“You know what the definition of a pessimist is”, Yevgeni answered. “A pessimist is an optimist with experience. By the way, do you think we should initiate a call to the Marshal today and keep him updated about our progress?”
“I see that you miss our daily meetings with him. No, don’t call him, for two reasons. The first is that tomorrow we will be much wiser, and the second is that our friend, the sixth man, is probably reporting to Moscow every few hours. Forget it. Don’t call him today.”
“Yes, you’re right”, concluded Yevgeni. “Let’s wait for tomorrow.”
Chapter 9
An hour had passed since Brigadier General Dimitri and Colonel Yevgeni had boarded K-219, the Navaga class nuclear submarine. In the ship’s belly, they were standing beside Captain Yashin, who was sitting in the captain’s chair, raised on a metal platform, and looking into the periscope. The submarine had made its way out of the port, slowly sailing from its pier, still above water.
Unlike the chilly atmosphere of their first meeting at Rear Admiral Leonov’s headquarters, the submarine Captain now displayed camaraderie, and even friendship, towards his guests. While leaving the port, the Captain had even invited the two officers to spend some time with him on the submarine’s upper deck. From the height of the deck, five stories above the water, they looked on with amazement and awe as the submarine’s huge hull cut through the water with great power and grace.
Now, the preparations for the dive were frenzied. The sound of a whistle, intermittent and hoarse, filled the dense air of the submarine’s belly with urgency. The duty seaman, who sat at his position closest to the commander’s post, wearing headphones, read various numbers loudly and quickly; data received and summarized from the submarine’s various sections. Loudspeakers were installed the length and width of the ship, and the call Dive-Dive-Dive was broadcast throughout. The submarine commander leaned over the periscope eyepiece, carefully examining the sea into which his awesome war machine was about to sink.