a SOSUS station nearby”
Newman said. “It can be done. I I “We’ll know within a few hours then”
McGarvey said. “If she turns north, she’s headed for the Bosporus. If she continues east, her target will be En Gedi. But that’ll depend on the number of crew she’s carrying” He looked up. “Has the president spoken with Gorbachev”
“Not yet” Trotter said. “He wants the proof first. But there’s another problem we’re facing here. The Soviet Navy’s Black Sea fleet is running maneuvers south of Crete”
“The Nimitz and her task group are in the region as well” Newman said.
“Then we’d better hurry McGarvey said. “Or a shooting war just might begin”
“I’m coming up to Rome with you” Trotter said.
FINE “Has Lev Potok been notified” Trotter shook his head. “Do it, John.
Now Because I’d be willing to bet anything that this is a continuation of Baranov’s plan to hit the Israelis. This time we might not be able to stop them”
It was just noon local time when the seven-thousand ton submarine settled gently to the silty bottom of the Bay Of Messini on the south coast of the Greek Peloponnisos. She listed a few degrees to port because of the sloping bottom here. I “We have seventy meters over our keel Fedorenko called softly from his position beside Kurshin at the wheel.
“Nicely done” Captain Makayev said. “Secure the boat from all but essential systems” He hit the comms switch. “sonar, what does it look like on the surface”
“I’m tracking numerous small boats, probably pleasure craft, Captain.
They’re all over the place up there. It’s like a circus. “Good” Makayev said softly.
Kurshin turned and looked at Makayev and Fedorenko. They were both good men, he thought. In the past day and a half, he had developed a respect and trust for their expertise. It was too bad, he thought, that in the end the reward they were expecting in Moscow would be nothing more than nine ounces. But then, as Baranov had unnecessarily explained, they could not afford to have so many witnesses. Like Dr. Velikanov, one of them sooner or later would say the wrong thing at the wrong time. It could not be allowed. “We are deep enough here” he asked Makayev. “No one will see us from the surface, even from an airplane, even if they were searching here, which I do not expect F-Y are. II “Are you sure”
Makayev, like all of them, was tired. They’d been operating without sleep for nearly forty-eight hours since Rome. He was becoming irritable, but his control was marvelous. He shrugged. “In this business, Comrade Colonel, one can never be sure. But even their ASW aircraft would not be able to detect our presence with their magnetic anomaly equipment, there is too much small-boat traffic on the surface for them to succeed. This is summer, the tourists will be at it all day”
Fedorenko had been doing something at one of the overhead control panels. He turned around. “They will be concentrating their search in the Aegean by now. Kurshin looked at him sharply. “Gennadi is correct, Comrade Colonel” Makayev said. “Their SOSUS equipment certainly detected our passage through the Malta Channel. We have already discussed this”
“They cannot know for certain that their boat has been hijacked. Again Makayev shrugged. “it is elementary, I think. They will have found that little Italian cruiser by now … above or below the surface. They will know that something is amiss. They also know that our fleet is up there.
If I were them, I would be thinking very strongly about the Bosporus”
It was practically the same thing Baranov had told him.
But the beauty of the operabon was they could not be sure. Nor did Gorbachev or the Politburo know anything. If and when the president used the hodirie to call Moscow, he would learn nothing. An investigation would be immediately launched, of course. But by that time the operation would have been completed. Israel would have been ruined as a military power in the region, and Gorbachev himself would fall. Kurshin got up from his seat at the helm. “We’ll load and drop the missile now”
Makayev glanced up at the chronometer on the bulkhead. “It is twelve hours before our rendezvous. Time now to rest”
“No” Kurshin barked. “We’ll drop the missile first” He so@ened his tone.
“In case something happens, Captain. In case the Americans get lucky”
Both Makayev and Fedorenko looked at him, their stares harsh.
Finally Makayev unbent a little. “As you wish” he said. He turned and hit the comms switch”
Aleksei, are you ready for us”
“Yes, Captain. I will need at least two men”
“We’re on our way” Makayev turned again to his starpom. “The colonel and I will attend to our little chore. Make certain that Aleksandr keeps a close watch on his sonar equipment, we do not want any surprises”
Fedorenko nodded. “When we are finished we will have something to eat, and then get some rest. We have another long night ahead of us” Kurshin followed Makayev into the attack center forward, and then through the hatch and down the ladder into the weapons control center. Aleksei Chobotov stood just aft of the starboard torpedo tubes. Behind him was the weapons storage and transfer compartment. He had managed to pull one of the Tomahawk missiles out of its storage rack and position it over one of the tube slides. It was large, much bigger than Kurshin had envisioned. At a length of twenty-one feet, in the nuclear warhead version, the missile weighed more than four thousand pounds.
“You have finished reprogramming the TERCOM (Ten-ah Contour Matching) system” Kurshin asked. Chobotov’s eyes were shining. “if the disk you provide(me was accurate, Comrade Colonel, the missile is ready to fire”
“What is the target” Makayev asked. Kurshin ignored the question. “All the seals are back ii place”
“Yes, sir. As long as she doesn’t stay in the water to(long, it should be all right. Of course there is no way to be certain, but fuck your mother, the Americans build fine equipment”
“What about the rocket motor”
“It is actually a turbofan jet, Comrade Colonel, with solid fuel booster. They will survive. “And the nuclear warhead”
Chobotov involuntarily glanced over at the sleek missile He shivered.
“it is armed”
“No danger of a radiation leak”
“None. I I Makayev had stepped past Kurshin. He reached up an(tentatively touched the missile’s casing. A look of mild surprise crossed his features. “It’s warm”
“I noticed that too, Captain” Chobotov replied. “Bu there is no reason for it, except that our hands are perhaps cold”
Makayev turned back and nodded. “With good reason” he murmured. He looked at Kurshin, something in his eyes and then nodded again. “Then let’s get the bastard over, board”
Despite the fact they were working with unfamiliar equipment, Chobotov knew his stuff. He and Kurshin hand-guided the missile down onto its loading rack while Makayev operated the hoist controls. It was automatically slid to a loading gate on the starboar(side, where Chobotov switched the loading grapples to the uppermost of the three torpedo tubes, the inner door of which was already open.
The missile slowly slid into place, coming to rest with a soft click, and a whir of machinery as the rack was withdrawn. Chobotov closed and sealed the door and, back at the auxiliary control board, pressurized the tube. The comms speaker squawked. “Captain, I have an orange light on Starboard A tube”
“We’re getting set to launch” Makayev radioed back. “Stand by”
” Roger. I I Chobotov’s right hand hovered over the button for the outer door. “No chance that the missile’s engine will fire” Kurshin asked.
“No, sir. I switched that circuitry into the passive-locked mode. There is no chance.”
Kurshin stood just behind the missile officer. He reached up and shoved the younger man’s hand against the button. There was a sudden whoosh of air, and the submarine shuddered very slightly. Chobotov looked over his shoulder at him. “There” Kurshin said. “She is on the bottom just like US”
McGarvey was a nonperson as far as the CIA’s Rome station was concerned. It was a matter of insulation,
