Straits of Power

breath while you grappled hand to hand, both sure that one of you would certainly die in that encounter. They don’t need Challenger to run their errands. But I think the Allies do need Challenger to do a different job, finish the job for which the president sent us into this theater, by using the most up-to-date information we possess.”

“We’re going in circles. I simply cannot concur with your willingly violating Israeli sovereignty at the behest of a German agent we barely know. Mohr could just be using you to clinch the effectiveness of his overall virus attack by us becoming another team, Challenger, with Mohr himself as their first team, to reinforce the Kampfschwimmer. You believe him, and deliver him, but he still works for Berlin. He inserts the virus instead of immunizing against it. Nothing you’ve said, nothing, precludes that from being the true scenario…. And while he’s at it, he could compromise Challenger while you violate Israel’s sovereignty. Mohr plans to ruin your stealth, maybe by something with this so-called patch he wants to give you, and Israel gets rather irate at America. You aid the Axis cause. You might even get sunk that way, by accident or on purpose. Remember, Israel shot USS Liberty to pieces for snooping during the 1967 war.”

Jeffrey couldn’t refute that logic. The whole business could be a different sort of trap, with Istanbul merely a way point, and the bristling coast of jumpy Israel as Challenger’s grave.

“Lieutenant, find Mr. Salih. I want his read on Herr Mohr.”

“Yes, sir.” Felix left.

“Captain, I must warn you, I think you’re making a terrible error in judgment.”

“I understand, Mr. Parker. I’ve listened carefully to everything you’ve said.”

“Then why are you ignoring it?”

“I’m not. I’m weighing all the factors I have in front of me. We do know that the Afrika Korps plans an offensive. We do know that the offensive only makes sense if they have some way of crippling Israel’s command and control. We knew that before we left Norfolk. In his last message, the one he got out through that brothel contact, Peapod said he held the key to Pandora. Now that we’re here, and Klaus Mohr’s here, he’s offered us that key in specific detail.”

“That’s what I mean. I’ll say it again. It’s too pat. You can’t trust Mohr by going solely on what you now know. To invade Israel based on the word of an untested defector goes beyond irresponsible. It’s criminal negligence. Letting him co-opt your ship for his own purposes is entirely outrageous!”

Before Jeffrey could answer, someone knocked. “Come in!”

It was Felix. “Salih said he thinks Mohr is sincere, and unless he’s somehow been misled by Berlin, or brainwashed, we should trust him.”

“There,” Parker said. “Misled or brainwashed. Even Salih is hedging. How can we know Mohr isn’t a Trojan horse and doesn’t realize it himself?”

“Because it’s his equipment the Germans are working with!”

“But—”

“No more buts. Mohr is the smartest man in the German computer-espionage shop. Nobody there understands his hardware and software better than he does. No one misled him on anything. Gamal Salih says to trust him, and I trust Salih. My own instinct at this point says to make the choice to trust him. No known fact tells me not to trust him.”

“I—”

“Lieutenant, please take Herr Mohr and wait in the XO’s stateroom.”

Felix and Mohr went next door.

“Mr. Parker, you’re welcome to put your official disagreement on record. My XO will show you how to have an entry made in the ship’s formal log. I have no problem with you disagreeing with me. However, this ship is not a democracy. I am the ship’s commanding officer. I have used you and everyone else as sounding boards and sources of information. And I’ve made my decision. Challenger is the ideal platform for sneaking up to Israel and dropping off operatives with no one noticing. And for God’s sake, I’m not a fool. I intend to put Mohr through his paces very rigorously between now and then. He won’t have a single moment to himself. No one can keep up an act under the pressure and scrutiny I intend to apply…. And you’ll note that I’m not breaking laser- buoy silence to get out a warning that the Afrika Korps will move on Tuesday, important as such news is, precisely because it might be some sort of a trick. Our National Command Authorities have other ways to monitor that and warn Egypt and Israel if they don’t see it themselves.”

Jeffrey reached for his phone handset and called the control room. “Give me the navigator.” Sessions answered.

“At top quiet speed, by the most direct route, how long to the coast of Israel?”

Sessions was taken aback. “Which point on the coast, sir?”

“Oh, the middle somewhere. For now, use Tel Aviv.”

“Wait one, please…. Twenty-seven hours, sir.”

“Thank you. That’s all.” Jeffrey hung up. “Twenty-seven hours.” That would be midafternoon tomorrow, Sunday. I think it’s a working day, with Israel’s overstrained economy on a war footing.

Jeffrey got up and went through the connecting head and brought Mohr and Felix back. Jeffrey’s stateroom was crowded again.

“Herr Mohr, I gather from what you said about there being so many attack teams that the portable equipment can be operated without you.”

“Yes.”

“Can the particular gear set you brought with you with your patch be worked by a properly trained commando team, without you actually being there?”

“If nothing goes wrong with the hardware, and the team is properly competent. To train them will be grueling, with a significant chance of failure. Why can’t I go with them? I strongly advise it. I have practice at such things now from the extraction process in Istanbul.”

“Because anywhere in Israel, especially with no proper papers, you’d stick out like a sore thumb. You’re much too valuable to take such risks. The SEALs, at least, with their builds and complexions, can try to pass as Mediterranean Jews. It’s also a precaution just in case you are a double agent. I’m sure you understand that.”

Mohr nodded. “If I’m not there, I can’t do something to draw attention to the SEALs and reveal the presence of Challenger.”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Come in!”

The SEAL chief Costa squeezed into the compartment. “Excuse me for interrupting, Captain.” His face was etched with concern. He nodded at Felix to acknowledge his superior officer, but then met Jeffrey’s eyes.

“What is it, Chief?”

“We’ve got big trouble, sir.”

“Go on.”

“We’ve been cleaning off the computer-module cases. There was a lot of dirt and dried blood caked together on the outsides.”

“And…”

“One of the cases took a bullet through a corner.”

Mohr went white.

Parker smirked. “I guess that settles it. No trip to Israel.”

“Quiet,” Jeffrey said. “Chief, which module?”

Costa described it.

“That one is the power unit,” Mohr said.

“Chief, I need to ask you a very important question.”

“Sir?”

“Can you tell from the damage whose bullet it was?”

Mohr and Felix looked at each other meaningfully. Both knew what Jeffrey was getting at, and how significant the answer would be: Both sides’ MP-5s and pistols all used the same ammo, 9-millimeter rounds. Which side in the