just isn't an option. If we're prevented from reaching the Cape Verdes physically ourselves, our side loses all the intel, which was half our cause for coming here.'
'And if we're sunk too near this coast,' Morse said, 'not only are we a treasure trove for the other people, but when they explore the wreck, they'll find Otto's body.'
'Mine too, sirs, respectfully,' Ilse said. To Jeffrey she looked slightly pale at the thought, even in the reddish light. 'If the fish find us before they do, they'll still have dental charts.'
Jeffrey shivered. 'That would ruin everything.'
'Cheer up, XO,' Wilson said. 'That's also part of the job sometimes, passing up a lesser target in favor of a greater one.'
'Yes, sir,' Jeffrey said.
'Commander,' Sessions called, 'no new sonar contacts.'
'Very well,' Jeffrey said. 'Captain, our baffles are clear.'
'Very well,' Wilson said. 'Helm, make your course two zero five, ahead one third, make turns for four knots.'
Meltzer acknowledged.
Jeffrey fidgeted. It seemed forever before the torpedomen could get the first ISLMM cranked into the tube.
ABOARD VOORTREKKER
'Sir,' Van Gelder said, 'Sonar has detected a mechanical transient dead ahead, close to the bottom.' 'Range?' ter Horst said.
'Difficult to say. The signal strength was weak.' 'Educated guess?'
'It could be distant, or it could be close but with an unfavorable contact aspect angle.'
'What did it sound like?'
'A clunk, sir. A torpedo being loaded, maybe.'
'Probably some kind of sound short on that Daphne,' ter Horst said. 'Those boats are ancient, and even with the prewar modernization refit by our German friends, their crew training standards aren't up to yours and mine.'
Van Gelder nodded. 'We're close enough to home it doesn't matter. Still, they ought to be more careful.'
ABOARD CHALLENGER
'Make tube seven ready in all respects,' Wilson said. 'Tube seven, firing point procedures, improved sub- launched mobile mine.'
'Solution ready,' Jeffrey said. 'Ship ready. Weapon ready.'
'Very well,' Wilson said. 'Open the outer door tube seven, and shoot.'
'Unit from tube seven fired electrically,' Jeffrey said. 'Unit swimming out.'
'Unit is running normally,' Sessions said.
ABOARD VOORTREKKER
'Hydrophone effects!' Van Gelder shouted.
'What?' ter Horst said.
'Torpedo in the water bearing zero zero four! Torpedo is drawing left to right, range increasing!'
'Torpedo type?' ter Horst snapped.
Van Gelder turned to the sonar chief.
'Open-cycle axial piston engine,' the chief called out. 'Harmonics of sixty hertz plus strong lines at 750 and 1725.'
'Captain,' Van Gelder said, 'it's a modified American Mark 48, one of their piggyback mine-deploying weapons.'
'Here?'
'Yes, sir,' Van Gelder said.
'Any contact on the sub? Acoustics, wake turbulence, anything?'
'Not since that mechanical transient,' Van Gelder said. 'Seawolfs and Virginias are very quiet, sir, and pump-jets don't leave much wake.'
'I know. That transient must have been them loading the torpedo tube.'
'Torpedo bearing rate and speed guesstimate put its launch point five thousand yards from us,' Van Gelder said.
'We'll use that for the sub,' ter Horst said. 'Begin a target-motion plot. I'll bet it's a Sea-wolf on a mining mission. They make bigger targets than Virginias, but they have a bigger weapons load-out too.'
'Torpedo changing course,' Van Gelder said. 'Constant bearing now, signal strength increasing. It's aimed right at us!'
'Not at us, Gunther,' ter Horst said. 'At the bottom somewhere on our course. Somewhere in the safety lane.' 'Concur, sir,' Van Gelder said, slightly embarrassed. 'Time to sidestep,' ter Horst said. 'Helm, port thirty rudder, steer zero nine zero.'
'Aye aye, sir,' the helmsman acknowledged smartly.
'Good thing it's not an ADCAP,' Van Gelder said. 'We're badly boxed in by the coastline and the sloping continental shelf and by the limits of the safety corridor.'
'I know,' ter Horst said. 'It would be hard for us to run…But the same thing holds for them, only more so, though I'd rather not find out for sure if the active mines outside the corridor ignore us.'
'They won't ignore the Sea-wolf,' Van Gelder said. Ter Horst smiled. 'We know they're there, but they don't know we're here.'
'We have the advantage acoustically, sir, at least for now.'
'That's right, with both of us so near the bottom. They're downhill from Voortrekker, so in looking at each other they have the upslope in their face while we have a clean field of view. They're in the sweet spot of our bow sphere while we know they haven't deployed a towed array — we'd hear it dragging intermittently.'
'We have the weather gauge, so to speak,' Van Gelder said.
'Leave the clever puns to me, Number One.' 'Yes, Captain.'
'I bet they're distracted by that Daphne.'
'The Americans may plan to take her out once they reach deeper water,' Van Gelder said.
'We'll just see about that,' ter Horst said. 'Rig for ultraquiet, rig for depth charge. Go to action stations and close up for attack.'
'Recommend we use conventional warheads,' Van Gelder said, 'given our location.'
'Concur,' ter Horst said. 'Warm up the weapons, tubes one through four. We'll start with one of our slower- running stealthy fish, set to home on wake and flow noise once we have a better TMA. We'll go active with it only if we miss and need a reattack.'
'Sir, that warhead's fairly small.'
'It's a trade-off, Gunther. I'd rather have the first shot be a total surprise. It'll do real damage, and then we finish them off with something bigger. Who knows, maybe they'll be forced to the bottom from flooding or have a mobility kill. We could capture all their crypto gear, even take some crewmen alive for a thorough interrogation.' Ter Horst smiled sadistically.
