“I also expect them all to make it home safely, eventually. Though it may be necessary for them to stay deep for a few weeks, should we be compelled to make our final attack.”
“As we always planned,” said the Admiral. “It is quite apparent to me the
“Not if it’s being handled by a master, like Ben,” said Ravi. “And he has become a master, nothing less. We’ve moved that ship through dangerous waters, when we knew half the U.S. Navy must be looking for us. But so far as I know, they never got a sniff.”
“Those are presumptuous words for a submariner,” said the Admiral, smiling. “But I’m delighted to hear them…Shall we look at the American evacuation now?”
“Please go right ahead. I’ll just take notes as we go.”
“Right, first, Bahrain. That’s the U.S. Fifth Fleet HQ. Two weeks ago, the
“Second. Kuwait. That’s a very big U.S. Army Command and training base. They have upwards of 12,000 military personnel in there. We have observed some movement of U.S. Air Force fighter planes leaving there for Diego Garcia, but no substantial troop movement by sea.
“Third. Saudi Arabia. That’s the U.S. Air Force Command base they just reopened. They have 10,000 personnel in there, just like old times. Plus a large but shifting number of reconnaissance and fighter aircraft. We have discerned no appreciable change in anything.
“Fourth. Qatar. There’s been a substantial movement of troops from there. We are only seeing two thousand of the original four thousand U.S. personnel. There was a big evacuation of aircraft too. We could tell that because of the huge empty shelters they recently built. We saw no troop movement by sea, but certainly many hundreds of them left by air.
“Fifth. Oman. The docks have always been heavily used by the U.S. military. So has As-Seeb International Airport. They usually have around four thousand personnel in the country, and we have observed no change whatsoever.
“Sixth. United Arab Emirates. Small U.S. Air Force garrison here. No change.
“Seventh. Djibouti. Busy U.S. Special Forces training area. We’ve assessed three thousand personnel at various times. No change.
Eighth. Diego Garcia. Navy Base and serious airbase. They have B-52 heavy bombers and stealth bombers. No change in the number of aircraft. And it’s a very transitional place for warships. No discernible change.”
“They probably think we have a real nerve asking them to vacate Diego Garcia, since it is several thousand miles from the Gulf,” said Ravi. “But this list is very disappointing. The United States plainly does not take our threat seriously. They’re merely trying to buy time.”
“By the way, how many carriers do they now have in the area?”
“One in the northern Arabian Sea, none in the Gulf, and one heading, I believe, to Diego Garcia.”
“Is that
“Correct.”
“They are not really behaving like a nation that is about to have half its business coast obliterated, are they?”
“No, Ravi. They are most certainly not.”
“And do we yet have any information as to the attitude of their President McBride?”
“We’ve heard nothing. Which may mean he is working behind the scenes to destroy us. But more likely he doesn’t believe our threat.”
“I’d go with the latter, Admiral,” said Ravi. “He’s a known liberal and pacifist. And those kinds of people usually stick their heads in the sand. The danger to us is when people like Admiral Morgan get into positions of power, because they are likely to lash out. Or at worst, lash back at any perceived enemy.”
“So where do you think that leaves us.”
“Admiral, I think we’re ready to move into the second phase of the plan.”
“I thought you might take that view, General. And I agree with you. We have the power right now to make them do what we want. Or at least we should have. Have you decided on your next communique?”
“Absolutely. I know precisely what to do. But first I must send Ben on his way. He is well briefed and will not personally be headed into any danger zone. This next step is probably the easiest, and certainly the most likely to get major results.”
Admiral Badr smiled. “Go to it, my son. And may Allah go with you.”
The
Every two hours, out here in these lonely semitropical Atlantic waters, he brought the submarine to periscope depth, put up his ESM mast, and accessed the satellite, requesting a signal. The entire operation took him less than seven seconds, by which time he submerged again. But there had been nothing at 1200, nothing at 1400, which he knew was 1830 on the Strait of Hormuz. And now he was growing anxious.
Another thirty minutes went by, and again he ordered the planesman to blow main ballast and take the
At least that’s what it meant. What it actually read, coded, was…
Ben Badr knew that he had six days for the voyage, a little over 2,100 miles. That meant his father considered an average speed of 12 or 13 knots to be reasonable in these desolate mid-Atlantic seas. Desolate of warships, that is. He would cross the very center of the ocean, deep, at maybe 17 knots, and then slow down within a 1,000 miles of the U.S. Naval Base in Puerto Rico. He was not going that far anyway.
He went down to the navigation office where Lt. Ashtari Mohammed looked lonely without Shakira. She had left the correct charts on her wide desk, and they quickly checked the spot that would be their holding area for the next strike.
The target numbers, 16.45N 62.10W, were already in place in the missile room, preprogrammed into the computers in the nose cones of the Scimitar SL Mark 1s. Ben Badr made a careful note of the holding area, 16.50N 57W, and wrote it down for Lieutenant Ashtari. The selected area was 380 miles east of the target, approximately a half hour from launch to impact. No problem.
Ben Badr returned to the control room and issued his orders: “…
General Tim Scannell knew he had just been dealt the unmistakable bum’s rush. He had called the President of the United States on the private line between his second-floor Pentagon HQ and the Oval Office, and for the first time in living memory, a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had been put through to a White House Chief of Staff instead of the Chief Executive.
Big Bill Hatchard had been polite and accommodating, but that didn’t mask the fact that the phone call between the military’s executive chief and the C in C of all U.S. armed forces had been intercepted. And worse, Bill Hatchard had wanted to know precisely what the call was about. In the opinion of General Scannell, an unacceptable intrusion, but Hatchard had made it subtly clear that he either was told the reason for the call, or the CJC was not going to speak to President McBride.
And General Scannell, for the only time in a long and distinguished combat career, was forced to surrender.
