Scimitar SL-2

imminent death was less among these men than it might have been among those of another religious persuasion. Nonetheless, Ben Badr was surrounded by grave faces, and he was aware of the need to hold their attention.

“In many ways,” he said, “nothing very much has altered. Of course it would have been preferable to fire our missiles from two or three hundred miles out, but as we now know, that will no longer be possible. However, our target has not moved, and we are perfectly capable of creeping in, to a 25-mile range, taking our visual bearings, and launching our Scimitar missiles straight at the volcano.

“The only change in our attack pattern is a need to be nearer the target, but the computerized missile will still obey our command. We just have to aim it straight and true. A nuclear missile doesn’t need to be dead accurate, as long as it hits within a couple of hundred yards of the target. The blast will do the rest.”

“But there are two changes, Admiral,” said Ahmed Sabah. “One is the length of time we shall be on the surface, the other is our departure.”

“Of course,” said Ben Badr. “We will most certainly be detected by the American warships, but I believe we will have a few precious minutes to get deep after the two launches. And no matter how good they are, it remains extremely difficult to locate and attack a quiet submarine that is running very slow, hundreds of feet below the surface.”

“How deep, sir?” asked Commander Shafii.

“One thousand feet, minimum. If they are using depth charges we will go to twelve hundred. It’s blind chance, and terrible bad luck to get hit at that depth. Especially if we have a 5-or 10-minute start on them. And we’ll try to make our missile launch at least two miles from the nearest warship.”

“Will they launch missiles at us the moment they catch a sight of it?” asked Ahmed.

“I’m hoping they’ll concentrate their energies on trying to shoot down the Scimitar,” replied Admiral Badr. “They may get a couple of ASROC away, but even then we still have a few minutes to get deep. They’d be very lucky to hit us, especially if they were hell-bent on shooting down the Scimitar at the same time.”

“I think we’ve got a serious chance of escape,” said Ahmed Sabah.

“Yes,” replied the Hamas Admiral. “An excellent chance.”

“Sir, how about an attack from the air? I mean, torpedoes launched from helicopters?” said Commander Abdolrahim.

“That, Hamidi, is a game of cat-and-mouse. We will put up a mast for our fix. Then go deep again and stay there, before we run up to our ranged launch point, take our bearings, and fire, twice. The helicopter may be close, but it is unlikely to be close enough in my view. And again, all U.S. energies will be concentrated on the Scimitars. We still have a great chance, believe me. And we have one other huge advantage…Allah goes with us, not with the Infidels.”

And with that, Ben Badr called the entire ship’s company to prayer, using, expertly, the words of the muezzins that echoed from a thousand Middle Eastern mosques four times a day:

Allahu Akbar…(God is most great.)
Ash hadu an la ilaha Allah…(I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but God.)
Ash hadu an-an Muhammadar rasulul-lah…(I bear witness that Mohammed is the Prophet of God.)
La ilaha ill Allah…(There is no Deity but God.)

Each man, with the exception of the helmsman and the sonar chief, made his declaration of intent and enacted the twelve positions of prayer, making two prostrations in which their foreheads touched the steel of the deck.

The second salam signified “Peace and Mercy to You,” and Admiral Badr, aware of the men’s fear of the next few hours, began by quoting from the Koran…“Never think those slain in the way of God are dead. They are alive and well provided for by their Lord.”

And he reminded them that the Prophet Mohammed, close to despair, once cried out to God…“O Lord, I make my complaint upon thee of my helplessness and my insignificance before mankind. But thou art the Lord of the poor and the feeble. And thou art my Lord. Into whose hands wilt thou abandon me?”

And Ben Badr, summoning all of the emotion of the 1,400-year-old worldwide brotherhood of Muslims, quoted again from the Koran, from God…“Remember me. I shall remember you! Thank me. Do not be ungrateful to me. You who believe, seek help through patience and prayer.”

Each member of the crew, now standing, palms outstretched to God, now wiped them across his face to symbolize the receipt of God’s blessing.

Admiral Badr prayed silently, then he too wiped his face, and indicated that prayers were concluded. He once more confirmed to the helmsman the course of west nor’west and ordered his senior staff to the missile room, where they would begin the task of checking the nuclear warheads on the two great Scimitars.

By this time, Admiral Gillmore was in receipt of the data from all four of the tracking frigates. Their data showed the precise position of the submarine’s periscope, which all four of the U.S. radars had swept, at 0030, 24 miles off the most promiscuous area in the North Atlantic outside of the rutting stags, breeding on Scotland’s Isle of Skye.

U.S. Navy Commanders are accustomed to keeping accurate charts and would cope with the downed world GPS system better than anyone else. And George Gillmore studied his screen carefully…Now this character understands he can’t fire long range…Therefore he’ll turn in toward his target…Maybe west nor’west… Maybe due west back along his old course…But no other direction is any good to him…

He immediately ordered the Elrod and Nicholas to take the west-nor’west track, with the Klakring and the Simpson proceeding more westerly. He also ordered the carrier to alter course, bringing its formidable air power from the northwest coastline of Tenerife westward into the 80-mile-wide open seaway that divides that island from La Palma.

But the Barracuda kept moving forward, slowly, softly, through the dark ocean depths, unseen, unheard, her transmissions shut down. She made no sound through the water. Her great turbines were doing little more than idling, betraying no vibration lines. The Russians had spent years and years building their two state-of-art underwater hunter-killers, and thus far, no one had detected either of the Hamas Barracuda s with any real certainty or accuracy.

Admiral Gillmore thought he knew damn well where the Barracuda was, and so did his four frontline frigate Commanders. At least they did one hour ago. But no one could prove the submarine’s direction, and until the Americans locked on to a new surface radar paint, or obtained an active radar contact, that submarine would remain elusive.

And all through the next fifteen hours it ran on undetected. Despite the constant Seahawk helicopter patrols across every yard of water between the seven islands, despite the probing searches of the ASW specialist S-3B Viking aircraft. Despite the quivering sensitivity of the frigates’ electronic towed arrays, and the high-powered blasts of their active sonars. And despite two serious attempts to trap the submarine between highly alert electronic sonobuoys, dropped into the water from the helos.

Not all the probing of the dipping low-frequency sonars could locate the Barracuda, as it steamed silently west nor’west, way below the thunder of the noise above the surface, where the distinctive howl of the Viking’s GE turbofans were sufficient to waken the dead.

Only twice, towards the end the long journey up to the coast of Gomera, did Ben Badr risk a fleeting five- second thrust of his ESM mast, and both times they picked up radar transmissions from the Vikings that were operating out beyond the 25-mile circle around the volcano. Each time, the ESM computerized accurate bearing and classification. By the time they came into the inshore waters, “behind” the east coast of Gomera, Admiral Badr privately thought that this had rapidly begun to turn into a suicide mission.

Again he called his most trusted men into his office — Mohtaj, Shafii, Ali Zahedi, and Ahmed Sabah.

Did they still have a chance? At getting away, that is, not firing the Scimitars. Answer, probably not. They were driving forward into the very teeth of the U.S. Navy’s steel ring of defense. And right now they each