U.S.S. Seawolf

happen, and it has been our pleasure to answer a call for help from your Captain Judd Crocker.

We have thus towed your Seawolf into the Navy yard at Canton and have been engaged in making her seaworthy again. We do think there has been some problem with the nuclear reactor and we are making tests to ensure it is running correctly, without radiation leaks, before the submarine leaves Chinese waters, sometime later this month.

Meanwhile, the crew are guests of the Chinese Navy, and we send this note of friendship to you in the hope that you would extend the same courtesies to our people, should the occasion ever arise.

The statement was designated as coming from the High Command of the People’s Liberation Army/Navy, and it bore the personal signature of the Commander-in-Chief of, the Navy, Admiral Zhang Yushu.

“Very nice,” said Admiral Morgan, nodding. “Extremely cooperative. That’s the secret of good international relations. Never look for trouble when there is no malice intended.”

The ambassador was dumbfounded. He sat staring at the Lion of the White House unable to believe his ears.

“We are trying, sir…” he began, but words almost failed him. “My government admires you very much here in America. Soon you will have your ship back. And I assure you your men are all very happy now.”

He sipped his tea, moistening his dry mouth. He was simply not able to comprehend the depth of the admiral’s change in attitude.

“That’s it for you, Ling, old pal. Now you pop off back to the embassy and keep me posted on the progress of repairs to Seawolf, there’s a good guy.…KATHY!!!..see the ambassador out, will you?”

A half hour later, the admiral was back in the Situation Room for the 1100 meeting. All the key men, both political and military, were there. And they were quite startled when the chairman announced that he had been working on a press statement to be issued from the Navy Office.

“You don’t think this merits a presidential broadcast?” asked Dick Stafford, the President’s speechwriter.

“It merits whatever we say it merits, Dick,” replied the admiral. “However, there are a couple of ground rules we have to stick with. The first is that any sign of panic, fear, weakness or worry betrayed by any of us will cause the press to go fucking berserk. We’ll get scare stories…U.S. Navy fears Chinese have kidnapped Seawolf and crew.

“Any such reports will convey our total disbelief in the Chinese statement, put them on full alert for a possible United States attack or rescue attempt, and cause them to put whatever they are doing on an even faster track than it is now. Any such reports, from our standpoint, would be counterproductive in the extreme.”

“And…?” said Dick Stafford.

“I want the entire thing played right down. Today we are going to make a press statement before someone makes it for us — I mean the Russians know about this, probably someone in Taiwan, there’s news correspondents in China, probably in Canton. Something’s gonna leak real soon…that the biggest nuclear attack submarine in the U.S. Navy is somehow tied up in a Chinese dockyard, and no one knows where the crew is, and no one’s talking. That’s the biggest newspaper story in the world this year, trust me.”

“What kind of announcement, Arnold?” asked the President.

“A small general press release from the Navy Department in the Pentagon. Nothing fancy. Nothing scary. Here, I just wrote it, lemme read it out:

“’The U.S. Navy submarine Seawolf experienced minor mechanical difficulties during a patrol more than 100 miles off the coast of mainland China. The Navy of the People’s Liberation Army responded to a call for help from the American captain and assisted the 9,000-ton ship to a dockyard, where routine repairs are being carried out.

“’All of the American crew are safe, and are currently guests of the Chinese Navy until they complete the work. Seawolf is expected to resume her patrol in the Far East, visiting Taiwan, in the next 10 days.

“‘The U.S. Navy Department is grateful for the Chinese cooperation, a direct result of the strong military and commercial ties forged by President Clinton. And a personal message of thanks has been sent by Admiral Joseph Mulligan, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, to Admiral Zhang Yushu, the Commander-in-Chief of the Chinese Navy.’”

The President smiled. Admiral Morgan shook his head and added, “I never told that many lies in that few words in my life. Here, Dick…get ahold of this before someone strikes me dead.”

“Damned clever, that,” said General Scannell. “If the newspapers don’t smell a rat and they print that story as is, the Chinese will merely believe their subterfuge has worked.”

“Precisely,” said Admiral Morgan. “And that may buy us three or four extra days. With so many lives on the line we ought to be able to command them to print it. But under the Constitution we do not have that right. As usual, democracy favors the assholes.”

This caused a burst of laughter to break out from all around this right-wing table of right-wing thinkers. And it was the President himself who restored the grim reality of the situation.

“Arnold, can we know what the military plan is right now? I agree, by the way, with your media strategy…my own involvement would only heighten the chances of the press whipping up a frenzy we don’t need.”

“Sir, I should perhaps inform everyone that you and I burned a little midnight oil last night after John Bergstrom had left. As a result of that, I appointed a rather controversial figure to command our rescue operation…Colonel Frank Hart, who will serve as the SEALs staff officer and mission controller on board the aircraft carrier.”

A few eyebrows were raised at this, although the admiral had run it by Harcourt Travis and Bob MacPherson in the early hours of the morning.

“My reasons were obvious. Colonel Hart, an ex-SEAL team leader and former Marine Corps officer, has a lot of experience in dealing with foreign governments on military matters. He is a born decisionmaker, he is used to working alone, and he understands this type of operation better than any one of us. He may have to think very fast once we get moving. He may even have to abort the mission in a split second before a lot of people get killed. We must have someone of his caliber. And he’s my choice. He ought to be here by now…where the hell is he?”

“And the actual operation…can we know?” asked Harcourt.

“Yes. John Bergstrom is putting together a team of approximately fifty of his combat-ready SEAL troops, taking men from several different active platoons. They leave for our base on the island of Okinawa midday Tuesday. The first minute we locate the jail where the guys are being held, we send in a twelve-man recon team, using a submarine and an SDV. In thirty-six hours they’ll have that jail well documented.

“As soon as they’re safe aboard, we check that Seawolf’s reactor is running. Then we launch the Hornet to take out the submarine. When that mission is achieved, under the cover of the mass panic in Canton, we send the SEALs into the jail. They overpower the guards, smash up the comms, blow up the helicopter and get the guys out, by Zodiac, SDV and submarines.”

“You think we can actually pull this off? Seriously, Arnold?” asked Harcourt.

“Well, we need three things for success. First, we gotta find the goddamned jail. Second, we must have the nuclear reactor running. Third, we must have commanding officers who will get the three submarines close in, possibly making the last three miles on the surface.”

“And what if they are discovered by a Chinese Navy patrol?”

“We’re hoping the disaster in Canton will totally overwhelm the entire Chinese Navy. If we get detected long-range, it’ll still take them more than two hours to get anywhere near us, because Canton will be right out of action and it’s a long way to Zhanjiang. It will still take ’em a damn long time to get to us…just means the SEALs will have to fucking hurry.”

“What are the odds against success?”

“The odds are not against. Ten bucks gets you twenty we’ll make it. It’s the surprise element. That and the fact that the Navy dockyard in Canton is going to be a nuclear wipeout.”

“What does Admiral Bergstrom think?” asked the President.

“He thinks we can pull it off. Otherwise he would refuse to send his precious SEALs in.”

“Joe?” said the President, looking directly at Admiral Mulligan.

“We’ll make it, sir. We’re sending in the best we got.”