Patrick Robinson
The Shark Mutiny
This book is respectfully dedicated to everyone who opposes the reduction of U.S. Naval budgets, especially those politicians willing to reverse the process.
CAST OF PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS
SENIOR COMMAND
The President of the United States (Commander-in-Chief U.S. Armed Forces)
Vice Admiral Arnold Morgan (National Security Adviser)
Robert MacPherson (Defense Secretary)
Harcourt Travis (Secretary of State)
General Tim Scannell (Chairman of the Joint Chiefs)
U.S. NAVY SENIOR COMMAND
Admiral Alan Dixon (Chief of Naval Operations)
Admiral Dick Greening (Commander-in-Chief Pacific Fleet [CINCPACFLT])
Rear Admiral Freddie Curran (Commander Submarines Pacific Fleet [COMSUBPAC])
Rear Admiral John Bergstrom (Commander Special War Command [SPECWARCOM])
USS SHARK
Commander Donald K. Reid (Commanding Officer)
Lt. Commander Dan Headley (Executive Officer)
Lt. Commander Jack Cressend (Combat Systems Officer)
Lt. Commander Josh Gandy (Sonar Officer)
Master Chief Petty Officer Drew Fisher (Chief of Boat)
Lt. Shawn Pearson (Navigation Officer)
Lt. Matt Singer (Officer of the Deck)
Lt. Dave Mills (ASDV helmsman)
Lt. Matt Longo (ASDV navigator)
U.S. NAVY SEALS
Commander Rick Hunter (Team Leader, Assault Team Two)
Commander Russell “Rusty” Bennett (Overall Commander, Assault Team One)
Lt. Commander Ray Schaeffer (Team Leader, Assault Team One)
Lt. Dan Conway (Second in Command, Assault Team One)
Lt. John Nathan (High Explosives Chief, Assault Team One)
Chief Petty Officer Rob Cafiero (Base Camp Chief, Assault Team One)
Petty Officer Ryan Combs (machine gunner, Assault Team One)
Combat SEAL Charlie Mitchell (Electrics, Assault Team One)
Lt. Dallas MacPherson (Second in Command and Explosives Chief, Assault Team Two)
Lt. Bobby Allensworth (personal bodyguard to Commander Hunter)
Chief Petty Officer Mike Hook (explosives assistant to Lt. MacPherson)
Petty Officer Catfish Jones (combat assistant to Lt. Allensworth)
SEAL Riff “Rattlesnake” Davies (machine gunner, Assault Team Two)
SEAL Buster Townsend (Assault Team Two)
NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY, FORT MEADE
Admiral David Borden (Acting Director)
Lt. Jimmy Ramshawe (Security Ops Officer)
THE COURT-MARTIAL
President: Captain Cale “Boomer” Dunning
Judge Advocate Generaclass="underline" Captain Sam Scott
Judge Advocate/Observer: Captain Art Brennan
Trial Counselor: Lt. Commander David “Locker” Jones
Defense Counselor: Lt. Commander Al Surprenant
CHINESE HIGH COMMAND
Admiral Zhang Yushu (Senior Vice Chairman Peoples’ Liberation Army/Navy Council)
Admiral Zu Jicai (Commander-in-Chief, Navy)
CIVILIAN OIL TANKER MASTERS
Commodore Don McGhee (Global Bronco)
Captain Tex Packard (Galveston Star)
FIANCÉES
Kathy O’Brien (Admiral Morgan)
Jane Peacock (Lt. Ramshawe)
Maps
PROLOGUE
It was pretty damn hot for baseball. Only a light breeze ruffled the sweltering bluegrass paddocks in this big thoroughbred breeding farm along the old Ironworks Pike, out near the village of Paris. And young Dan Headley couldn’t hit Rick Hunter’s fastball to save his life.
“Easy, Ricky…take something off it…I can’t hit that….” But again and again the baseball came screaming in, low and away, and slammed into the base of the red barn wall behind the hitter. And the tall 16-year-old pitcher kept howling with laughter as his best buddy swung and missed yet again.
“You gotta concentrate, Danny.”
“On what?”
“The baseball, stupid.”
“How can I, when I can’t even see it? Nobody could see it.”
“Pete Rose coulda seen it,” said Rick solemnly, referring to the former Cincinnati Reds legend.
“Pete Rose coulda seen a howitzer shell.”
“Okay, one more?”
“Nah. I’m all done. Let’s go back and get some lemonade. I’m sweating like a bull.”
Rick Hunter pulled off his glove, stuck the ball into the pocket of his jeans, and tied the sleeves of his warm-up jacket around his waist. He jumped over the post-and-rail fence into a wide paddock containing a half dozen mares and foals. Dan Headley followed him, swinging the Louisville Slugger bat, looking over at the foals, at the Kentucky-bred baby racehorses, the best of whom may one day hear the thunder of the crowds at Belmont Park, Royal Ascot, Saratoga and Longchamp. Perhaps even Churchill Downs.
“Still beats the hell outta me why you don’t just stay here and get rich,” said Dan. “Raisin’ the ye’rlings, sellin’ ’em for fortunes, just like yer daddy…. Jeez, Rick. You got it all made for you, right here.”
“Danny, we been havin’ this particular conversation for the biggest part of three years. And my answer ain’t varied none. I just ain’t interested. ’Sides, in my judgment, this bull market for thoroughbreds ain’t here forever.”
“Well, it’s been here for more’n ten years. Ain’t showing no sign of flagging.”
“It’ll collapse, ole buddy. Bull markets always do in the end. And right then there’s gonna be a whole lot of penniless ole hardboots around here…guys who thought their good luck was some kinda birthright.”
“Yeah, but that ain’t why you plan to leave. You’re leavin’ because it bores you…even with all that money swilling around. But why the hell you want to be an officer in the U.S. Navy instead of riding around here like some goddamned czar…master of the Hunter Valley, right here in the thoroughbred breeding capital of the world…well, like I said. Sure beats the hell outta me.”
“Well, you’re planning to leave with me, right?”
“Sure I am, Ricky. But, Christ, my daddy’s just the stud groom here. Your ole man owns the whole place. And you don’t even have any brothers and sisters. It’s all gonna be yours. All two thousand acres of it. And all them goddamned blue-chip broodmares.”
“Come on, Danny. You understand the horse-breeding business better’n I do. You could make a real go of it yourself, if you wanted. Your daddy’s got a coupla mares of his own. Everyone has to start somewhere.”
“Ricky, I couldn’t save enough money for a place like this in a thousand years. I’d just end up another stud groom. Anyone could see why I’d rather be Captain Dan Headley, commanding officer of a U.S. Navy battle cruiser, than Danny Headley, stallion man at the Hunter Valley.”
“Raisin’ horses bores you too, don’t it?” said Rick, grinning, in the sure knowledge that he had a soul mate.
“Some. But I just don’t have the advantages.”
“Wouldn’t change nothin’ in my opinion. You just want adventure…I guess like me. Fast horses take too long to raise. We just ain’t got the time, right?”
Dan grinned. He was much shorter than the towering Rick Hunter, and he had to walk about half a stride faster to lay up with his lifelong friend. They moved steadily across the magnificent grassland, walking on a slight uphill gradient, watching the foals edging toward them, eager, curious, the mares moving at a much slower pace behind.