Batman looked quizzical. “Nothing out of order at all. We ask for a clearance vector, they give it, although most of their transit is just over the Black Sea. Really, absent a UN embargo of some sort, we’ve got no authority to regulate their commerce.”
“Other than shooting them out of the air.”
“We almost splashed one Falcon,” Batman said. “Would have too if he’d continued inbound on Admiral Latterly’s helo. And if there’s any question about the decision to go weapons free on it, I’ll take full responsibility. I told that pilot to keep the bird away from my carrier and away from Latterly’s helo?and that’s exactly what he did. I looked at the data tapes, and it looked like the Falcon was trying to put him into a scissors. You know how deadly that can be between a big bird like the Turkey and a gnat like the Falcon.”
“Concur?and I would’ve done the same thing. There’s no point in having to put the entire burden on the boys out there?we’ve gotta give them the tools they need to fight with. And that includes guidance from us and accepting responsibility for the consequences.”
“The rest of the tactical picture is degenerating as well. Despite humanitarian aid from the Ukraine, there appears to be some tensions between the Turkish and Ukrainian militaries. Nothing specific?no shots fired?but the routine training flights are harrying each other, playing grab-ass, lighting each other up and shutting down?that sort of thing.”
Tombstone frowned. “I don’t like it. Why would Turkey be pissed at the one nation that stepped forward immediately to help them?”
“And there’s worse news.” Batman circled the laser pointer around the display. “We’re in dirty water now, Tombstone. Our S-3 Vikings have been running sonobuoy barriers out along our street of advance, and yesterday they talked me into laying a pattern near La Salle. You’re not going to like what they found.”
“Submarines? Which ones?”
“Nasty ones. Ship-killers?a couple of Kilos just north of La Salle, and a third that’s confirmed out of port but remains unlocated. All diesel boats, all black holes in the water when they’re running on batteries.”
“You’re keeping up surface surveillance flights?”
“Of course. But you know how these guys are?they run silent and submerged all day, come up and suck down some air when it’s dark. Our best detections have been off radar and flare, not off acoustics. But we’ll keep trying.”
“Jesus, what else?” Tombstone rolled his shoulders back, trying to relieve the tight knot gathering along his shoulder blades. The base of his head was beginning to pound, a headache creeping up his spine and circling around to clamp down on his temples.
“We’ve got one more COD flight inbound today. A special one, on direct orders of CNO.”
“Who’s flying out?God?”
Batman frowned. “Almost. It’s the State Department. And there’s worse news. Rumor has it that a certain reporter acquaintance of yours is prowling around Istanbul. You can guess who. We’re already getting requests to on-load teams of reporters.”
Tombstone swore softly. “Pamela, of course. It figures, there’s shooting going on, she’s in the middle of it.”
He looked up and glared at his friend. “No comment?nothing. As far as I’m concerned, she can watch CNN to get her updates.”
5
“I trust your people are situated comfortably,” Admiral Magruder said.
He kept his voice calm and neutral, determined not to let a rocky initial meeting with the State Department influence the whole course of their relationship. When he looked at the rumpled diplomat sitting in front of him, however, it was difficult to believe that these people were anything but trouble. Particularly on a front-line warship.
“The interminable noise?how in the world do you stand it?” Bradley Tiltfelt said. “I can’t believe that your own quarters are quite as noisy as mine are, Admiral.” He tendered a skeptical, knowing look at the new Sixth Fleet commander.
Tombstone gestured over his shoulder. “I’m directly below the waist catapult. But I suppose it’s just something you become accustomed to, Mr. Tiltfelt. After twenty years of listening to Tomcats launch, the noise makes me drowsy.”
Tiltfelt’s look deepened into sardonic amusement. “I find that difficult to believe.”
Tombstone shrugged, suddenly tiring of the interminable pleasantries.
Late yesterday Mr. Bradley Tiltfelt and five assistants had arrived on board USS Jefferson, proclaiming with wide smiles and firm handshakes that they were there to help. The reaction from his staff and Batman’s had been guarded. They’d already been evicted from their quarters, forced to double up among themselves and with the ship’s company, and otherwise inconvenienced by the arrival of the civilians.
“Admiral, if we might perhaps get some preliminaries out of the way ” Tiltfelt suggested delicately. “First, I want you to know how much I appreciate your having us on board.”
It’s not like I had a choice. “Glad to have any assistance possible, sir,” Tombstone said, surprising himself a bit at the smooth tone in his voice. Perhaps it was something you learned when you got more senior, this ability to dissemble and mislead on command. “The sooner there’s a resolution to this, the happier we’ll all be.”
“Yes. Of course. Which brings me to my first point. Admiral, I want you to know that the State Department takes this matter most seriously. In our view, there should be an immediate in-depth investigation into this entire incident. No holds barred, sir. And we expect some answers?at least preliminarily?along with appropriate disciplinary action within the next forty-eight hours.”
Tombstone nodded pleasantly at what at first appeared to be the suggestion that the State Department was more firmly on board with his thinking than he thought possible. The last phrase jerked him out from his comfortable assumptions. “Disciplinary action? I’m afraid I don’t understand. If you mean perhaps a reexamination of the relationship between Turkey and the United States, then that’s hardly our province.”
Tiltfelt shook his head from side to side emphatically. “Don’t try to misunderstand me, Admiral. I’m talking about the unprovoked attack by your aircraft on a Turkish freedom-of-navigation operation. This sort of unchecked aggression simply cannot form a solid basis for mature international relationships.”
“Mature international?you want me to put my guy in hack for taking a shot at that Falcon? Hell, they missed.”
“Did you think that you could cover it up forever?” Tiltfelt demanded. He snorted in disgust. “I think not. Matters are at too delicate a stage of resolution for inappropriate retaliation.”
“They’re not in any stage of resolution as far as I know,” Tombstone shot back. “The last I heard, Turkey did the unthinkable. My pilot was simply following orders.”
A deep expression of sadness and disappointment crossed Tiltfelt’s face. “How often have we used that expression for war crimes?” he asked the room in general. “Admiral, this situation simply must be stopped before it gets out of hand.”
“It’s already out of hand,” Tombstone roared, forgetting his resolution to play their game with the same cold canniness the State Department was famous for. “Dammit, that was a nuclear weapon. And you expect me to let them back within tactical range of this ship?”
“I expect you to do more than that, Admiral.”
For the first time, Tiltfelt bared the iron hand that lay beneath his smooth, soft words. “And I think you’ll find your superiors back me up on this.”
“On what?”
“On an immediate diplomatic resolution of this unacceptable state of affairs. It is clear to me that Turkey has
