Battlecraft (2006)

from the docking well, across the flight deck to the island, and up three decks to an unused small wardroom on the aft end. After dumping it all on a table, they sat down next to each other to begin.

'Okay,' Jim said, pulling a pen from his shirt pocket. 'The first form is for the navigational system. Box one: name and number of vessel.' He filled in uss dan daly, lhx-i , then went the rest of the way through the heading as Veronica laid out the maintenance sheets for reference.

'I hope we can get this done quickly,' she said. 'Everyone is anxious to revenge those Hornet guys who were blown out of the sky.'

'You don't have to worry about that,' Jim said. 'The skipper says if anything big starts going down, the Battlecraft will charge straight into the fight even if we have to bolt it back together as we fly out of the docking well.'

'Great!' Veronica said. 'Now. What's the first thing on this rather complicated agenda?'

'The brand-new automatic pilot,' Jim said. 'Let's start with the first page of the AP maintenance log.'

She pulled it out, and as he read the questions on the form aloud, she carefully perused the dates and actions taken. As they went through the routine, they looked up now and then, their eyes locking. Both would avert their gazes, but at one point when Jim asked her about the replacement of a cathode-ray tube, they continued to gaze at each other without looking away. There are some things that adults of opposite genders can instinctively recognize in each other. And the most remarkable is mutual attraction. He leaned over and kissed her lightly on the lips, and she pressed back. They embraced and exchanged a sexier, deeper lip-lock.

'Oh, God,' Jim said as they reluctantly drew apart. 'What the hell are we doing?'

Veronica smiled. 'That's kind of obvious, isn't it? I think we both knew something was building up between us.'

'That isn't what I mean exactly,' he said, gently touching her face with his hand. 'I was thinking more along the lines of where this romance is going to go.'

'It's completely futile, of course,' she said. 'Hopeless, really.'

'And against regulations.'

'Anything between us has the chance of that proverbial snowball in hell,' Veronica commented.

'Doomed from the start,' Jim said, sighing sadly.

'Not a ghost of a chance.'

'But from this point on we're going to pursue these feelings straight into a full-blown romance, aren't we?' Jim asked.

'Damn right,' Veronica said.

They kissed again, this time longer and with more feeling.

.

CARRIER BATTLE GROUP

1030 HOURS LOCAL

THE SH-60 Seahawk helicopter rose off the deck of the carrier a little over two miles off the starboard beam of the Dan Daly. The nose of the aircraft tipped downward with the pilot's pressure on the cyclic, making it move forward toward its destination.

Within three minutes, the chopper reached the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship and went into another hover before lowering to a gentle landing. Immediately CIA field supervisor Sam Paulsen stepped from the aircraft followed by his assistant, Mort Koenig. They hurried over to the island, where Commander Tom Carey waited for them. After brisk greetings and handshakes, he led them into the interior of the structure and up three decks to the ready room assigned to the crew of the ACV Battlecraft.

The moment they entered the ready room, Lieutenant Bill Brannigan bellowed, 'Atten- HUT!' He and Lieutenants Jim Cruiser and Veronica Rivers snapped into rigid positions of attention.

'Stand at ease!' Carey said, surprised at the military formality of the officers. He went to the front of the room while his visitors took seats off to the side. 'Please sit down.' He indicated the CIA men with a nod of his head. 'This is Mr. Paulsen and Mr. Koenig. That's all you need to know about them right now. The first thing I want to do is take the rap for the order directing the Battlecraft to break off contact at the start of the confrontation yesterday. I know you are all anxious to avenge the loss of those three aviators, and I am also fully aware that Lieutenant Brannigan was getting ready to kick ass properly and effectively. But the fact the attacking vessel was obviously a warship belonging to a sovereign nation threw me for a loop. This could have been what might be classified as a friendly fire incident and I didn't want the foreign vessel blown out of the water even if her skipper was a stupid bastard sailing the seven seas with his head up his ass.' He nodded to Brannigan. 'Did you get a good look at her?'

'Yes, sir,' Brannigan replied. 'She was a fast-attack ship; British Province-Class to be exact. I looked her up in the Jane's Warships of the World'

'Well, shit,' Paulsen said. 'That could cover more than one navy in this part of the world. Did you see her ensign?'

'She showed no national colors,' Brannigan said. 'We caught a fleeting glimpse of a scarlet flag with a white device of some sort. It didn't look like any national colors that I recognized.' He glanced at Veronica Rivers. 'What about your observations, Lieutenant?'

'I just saw blips on my weapons scopes, sir,' Veronica reported. 'I read the launch against the Hornets; then they turned on us. They brought us under fire and we went into a quick evasion mode waiting for orders. However, I was locked on solid on the attacker when the order to disengage was received.' She paused, almost glaring at Carey. 'We could've blown the son of a bitch out of the water in less that a half minute, sir.'

'I realize that, Lieutenant,' Carey conceded. He turned his eyes on Paulsen. 'Do you have any comments?'

'Well,' Paulsen said, 'only that we're keeping a tight lid on this until the State Department can sort through the mess. Meanwhile, we're not going to be sitting on our asses. I have official permission to inform you folks you're authorized to go out armed and angry. Therefore, in the future you are to retaliate against any hostile action with extreme prejudice-- I say again--extreme prejudice no matter the attacker. Losses of American lives will not be tolerated no matter the circumstances.'

The two SEAL officers and Veronica exchanged looks of grim satisfaction.

'All right then,' Carey said. 'Now I have some highly classified matters to discuss with Mr. Paulsen and Mr. Koenig. Since this a need-to-know situation at this point in time, you are all dismissed. Sorry if I don't give you more information on their backgrounds, but I'm sure you appreciate the situation as it now stands. My two colleagues and I are staying aboard the Dan Daly until this operation is brought to completion.'

Brannigan gestured to his lieutenants. 'Care to have some coffee in the wardroom before you go back to work?'

'Sounds like a winner, sir,' Veronica commented.

Paulsen waited until the three left the room, then turned his attention to Carey and Koenig. 'I haven't mentioned our secondary mission here to anyone yet. But I think you guys probably already know what it is.'

'I would say finding out about Mike Assad's location and health,' Carey said.

'That may be a real problem,' Koenig said. 'He's disappeared off the face of the earth.'

Paulsen pulled a packet of papers from his briefcase. 'Here's the latest poop we have on him, and it ain't much, guys. He made his so-called escape in Rawalpindi on sixteen October as planned. He must have been delayed somewhat, because he didn't turn up anywhere until twenty October, when he was picked up by the local cops in the Northwest Frontier Province.'

'How did you get the word on that?' Carey asked.

'We've got informants scattered hither and thither within Pakistani police organizations,' Paulsen explained. 'Their reports filtered in from different points and the one from the Northwest Frontier rang a bell. The prisoner picked up from a routine bus inspection matched Mike's description.'

'As I recall, Mike looked pretty nondescript in his duty costume,' Koenig said. 'That could have been just about anybody.'

'Well, this prisoner managed to escape from the local lockup,' Paulsen said. 'And he took along some field gear, ammunition, and a pistol that belonged to the cops.'

Carey laughed loudly. 'Oh, man! That's Mike Assad all right! Only a SEAL could pull off that caper.'