America

'Indeed, if they know what to do and how to do it, they can. I bet they won't bother. Go.'

'Yes, sir.'

Vladimir Kolnikov was standing behind his helmsman, Turchak, monitoring the bulkhead-mounted vertical displays when he caught the faintest flicker of light from the massive, shimmering shape of La Jolla on the Revelation display. Automatically he glanced at the photonics image, the computer-constructed image derived from television and inputs from the sensors on the photonics mast, which was elevated several feet out of the sail so it could look ahead. America's sail floodlights were still illuminated, which helped give the image clarity but. . no, the flickering light was not present on that image.

'See that light!' he hissed at Turchak, who looked up from the screen where he had been monitoring the performance of the sub's autopilot. Like Kolnikov, Turchak's eyes went from display to display.

'La Jolla is using her underwater telephone,' Eck announced softly. 'It's encrypted, I think, but I'm recording it if you want someone to try to decode it.'

'Who—?' asked Turchak, obviously mystified.

'The P-3,' Kolnikov said, disgusted with himself that he didn't realize instantly what the energy source was. 'He's talking to the patrol plane. They'll pick up the audio on their sonobuoys.'

'He knows we're behind him,' Turchak said, as if he were a judge pronouncing a sentence.

Aboard the P-3, the sonobuoy operators did receive the message. After running it through the decoder, the TACCO took the printout forward for the pilot to see.

Duke Dolan read the message, then passed it back. 'That's certainly clear enough,' he said.

'Yeah, it is,' said the TACCO. His name was Ruben Garcia. 'I think we should indeed clear the area, but let's stay where we can hear the sonobuoys. If La Jolla doesn't get this guy, we can come back and look some more.'

'This message says America's following close behind La Jolla. You hear her?'

'Well, no, but—'

'Hell!' said Duke Dolan and threw up his hands. 'We got plenty of gas and nothing better to do today, so why not?' He motioned to the flight engineer for climb power. As the props bit more deeply into the atmosphere, he lifted the Orion's nose and began a climb to the west. He said over his shoulder, 'Better tell the Sentry to relay the message to SUBLANT. La Jolla waved us off.'

'The P-3 is leaving,' Eck told Kolnikov and Turchak. 'His noise is fading.'

'Which way?'

'He went out to the west.'

'If this guy knows we're back here,' Turchak said, 'he'll torpedo us as we break off contact.'

'I've been thinking about that,' Kolnikov said. You should have sunk this guy when we had the advantage of surprise.'

'/ should have! Just killed them all and nuked off into the sunset. Yeah. Isn't that right, Heydrich?'

Heydrich got up from his chair and wandered out of the compartment.

In the Pentagon the secure telephone on the desk of Vice-Admiral Navarre rang. He answered it and found himself talking to SUB-LANT, a two-star admiral. 'Sir, I thought you should know. We have received a message from a P-3 sent to investigate the area where the cruise missiles were fired from this morning. La Jolla heard the firings and went to investigate. She put a voice message in the water that the Orion picked up. She reports that she has contact with America and asked the P-3 to leave the area.'

'When was this?'

'Just moments ago, sir. The P-3 asked to remain close enough to monitor the sonobuoys in the water, just in case, and I agreed. He is going to pull off about fifty miles and orbit high.'

'This wasn't the way we planned to hunt for America. What went wrong?'

'Sir, the message directing our boats to come to periscope depth went out as an advisory, not mandatory.'

'I'm going to tell you again, just this once. We will never find America with passive tactics: She's too quiet. I want P-3s to get there as soon as possible and echo-range with those sonobuoys. When they have her illuminated, they can call the attack subs in. Not before.'

'Yes, sir. But that didn't happen this time. We didn't get the plan out. Now La Jolla says she has a contact on America. We have another boat in the vicinity that can reach the area in several hours at high speed. Colorado Springs. She was at communications depth to receive our original situation update… so I authorized her to proceed into the area.'

'Did La Jolla ask for help?'

'No, sir. In fact, the skipper requested that everyone stay out. But America is so stealthy, I just don't feel it wise to bet everything that La Jolla can sink her.'

Navarre didn't know what to say. A hell of a day… American submarines hunting American submarines.

'I've got a real bad feeling about this,' he said finally. 'We're after a rogue grizzly bear. I think the only safe tactio is to let P-3s illu-

minate America and our boats shoot from long range. If we do it any other way we're going to lose boats.'

'Sir, the problem is, La Jolla says she's on her. We have no way to pull her off, even if we wanted to. The question is what is the best way to help La Jolla prosecute this contact.'

'You're the man on the hot seat,' Navarre said. 'Keep me advised,' he added and hung up the phone.

SUBLANT was going to pile in the forces until America went down. And damn the cost! What else could he do?

On one of their trips to look out the windows, Jake thought he saw someone across the lawn, at the edge of the woods. He paused and waited. Ilin joined him eventually and they both watched. After five minutes they saw a moving figure — perhaps the same one, perhaps someone else — well back in the trees.

'If they crash in here with guns blazing they'll kill us both,' Jake said. 'You realize that?'

'I've watched your television shows.'

'On the other hand, if it's you they're after, they can pot you any old time going into or out of the embassy. Heck, they can just go back there now and wait for you to show up.'

'If they were after me,' Ilin replied dryly, 'they could have shot me this morning when the limo drove out of the embassy gate. It's you they want.'

'You are a real ray of sunshine.'

'Just explaining why I don't think they will teargas the house and knock down the door. I saw that on television last week. California must be a marvelous place. Three beautiful women with gorgeous hair, magnificent chests, and submachine guns. They didn't even bother with body armor. Only cretins would shoot at women like that.'

There were half a dozen cans of beer in the kitchen fridge, so Jake thought, Why not? He passed one to Ilin and opened one for himself.

After the SuperAegis satellite was lost, why did your people send you to the liaison team?'

Ilin snorted. 'To keep an eye on Mayer, Jadot, and Barrington-Lee.'

'So what have you decided?'

Janos Ilin shrugged. 'I look for a gesture, a glance, a wrong move. I listen for a slip of the tongue. So far, nothing.'

'Who put the satellite in the water?'

'I don't know. The FBI may find out, but not by questioning people. Someone will retire to a life of leisure. Or spend too much money. A spouse seeking a divorce will voice suspicions. Something like that.'

'I think you know a lot you aren't telling me,' Jake said, making contact with Ilin's eyes and holding them.

Ilin searched Jake's face, then reached into his pocket for cigarettes. He took his time getting one out, lighting it. 'Knocking out the tracking stations at precisely the right time and putting the rocket in the water — someplace — was a sophisticated operation. Several people were involved, perhaps a half dozen.'