Fatal Thunder

20 EVASION

The videoconference image was blurry, and angled upward. It looked like something taken by a handheld cell phone rather than a mounted camera, but the picture quality was really irrelevant. The audio was perfectly clear, even if the situation wasn’t.

Commodore Simonis was first introduced to Hong Kong’s garrison commander, a gray-haired general named Tian. Thin and distinguished-looking, Tian spoke not a word of English, so a thirtyish army lieutenant named Li translated. Li had explained that translating was not his primary occupation, but he was doing a creditable job.

“When will the devices arrive?” Tian asked through the translator.

Simonis replied, “North Dakota is launching them as we speak, and they should take about three hours to reach Victoria Harbor and four to Shenzhen Harbor. I’ll give you a definite arrival time once her captain sends me the information.”

“How will we know where they are?” The general’s expression showed some confusion, as if he was still trying to understand how the UUVs operated.

“They don’t really need to be tracked, General. They have accurate navigation systems that use GPS updates, so they don’t require human assistance to reach their destinations. But they are equipped with a sonar transponder, which can be heard by any sonar operating at the proper frequency.”

That prompted a short sidebar with Lieutenant Li, as the lieutenant searched for the correct Chinese word for “transponder.” Li was still explaining it to the general when another senior officer, wearing a naval captain’s rank, hurried in. He bowed quickly to Tian and reported in rapid-fire Mandarin. The general nodded and then stood, indicating that the captain should take the seat in front of the camera.

As the new arrival sat down, Tian took a chair in the background, but remained visible. Li explained, “This is Captain Zhang, Commander of the Hong Kong Garrison Naval Brigade.” Squat and weather-beaten, Zhang looked like he belonged on a ship’s bridge. To Simonis’s eyes, he also looked a little wall-eyed, as if he couldn’t quite grasp the situation. The translator was more matter-of-fact. Zhang didn’t speak any English, either.

He explained through Li. “I have just closed the harbors to incoming traffic and ordered all ships in the harbor to either leave immediately or remain stationary until they are given permission to move.” He shook his head, as if to clear it. “This is more than what we do for typhoons.”

“That’s very good,” Simonis responded. “The UUVs need the harbor to be as clear as possible.”

Through Li, Zhang asked, “How will we control them?”

“You don’t have to,” Simonis answered. “They are completely autonomous — think of them as underwater robots. When they reach the harbor, they will extend a satellite antenna and ask for new instructions. My staff is preparing a search plan for each vehicle. One will search Shenzhen Harbor while the other looks in Victoria Harbor.”

This triggered an extended exchange between Zhang and his interpreter. When Li spoke to him again, he asked, “But how will your submarine, North Dakota, send them to the robots? Isn’t she submerged, pursuing the Indian rogue submarine?”

“We will direct the UUVs from here, Captain.” Simonis had to keep remembering that although Li was doing the talking, his audience was Zhang and his boss, the general. “Although North Dakota carried the two UUVs, any submarine can take over control, once they’ve loaded the software into its combat system. Any American submarine,” he added.

“A submarine in my squadron, Oklahoma City, was unable to take part in the search for Chakra because of a fault in her propulsion plant. She will monitor the search and transmit instructions to the UUVs by satellite. They’re downloading the software right now, and will be ready to send commands to the vehicles in plenty of time.”

Li asked, “Wouldn’t it be simpler to transmit the instructions from here? We have some very good computers.”

Simonis noted that Li asked the question without prompting from Zhang. Was he just curious, or did he have something he wanted to suggest to his boss?

“That’s not possible,” Simonis said truthfully. “The software is designed to operate with a display console in our submarines’ control room. It won’t work on a standard computer.” Simonis had no illusions about what would happen if the Chinese got their hands on that code.

Having deflected the inquiry, Simonis got back to business. “My immediate need is for the best information you have on obstructions and wrecks in the two harbors, Captain. Although the vehicles can avoid objects they encounter on their own, larger or more complex obstacles can confuse them, and certainly slow them down. It’s best if obstructions are entered in their navigation systems ahead of time. It will also help to reduce the number of false alarms.”

The commodore added, smiling, “I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of junk that’s accumulated on the floor of the two harbors.”

The three Chinese officers spoke together for several minutes; then the general addressed someone out of view of the camera. Li said, “We have surveys of different parts of both harbor bottoms taken over the years. None are complete.”

Zhang asked through Li, “What is the resolution of the vehicle’s sonar?”

“In area search mode, a foot. Excuse me, thirty centimeters. In high-resolution mode, it’s a little over three centimeters. The vehicles will be searching for an object only fifty-three centimeters in diameter and about seven meters long. If it sees something that matches this basic description, it will switch its sonar to high-resolution mode, go lower, and take sonar images of the object from several different angles. Then it will come to shallow depth and transmit them to us, along with the object’s location.”

Simonis waited while Li translated, and Captain Zhang asked, “Can the vehicle also retrieve the torpedo? Does it have a claw or other handing tools?”

“No, you will have to use divers, but the UUV will be able to tell them the object’s location within centimeters of its true position. I’m sure visibility near the bottom is terrible, but they won’t have to waste time searching.”

Li nodded his understanding, and relayed the information to Zhang, who also nodded, and answered affirmatively.

“You are welcome to anything that will speed the search. We will send the bottom information to you, but, in truth, your survey will be more detailed than anything we have.”

General Tian spoke up in the back. He sounded impatient, and Li relayed, “Do you have any more information on how long we have to search? When will the warheads explode?”

Simonis scowled. “That’s the big question. If we assume that the bombs are all supposed to go off at the same time, then we may have several days. It’s likely that Hong Kong was the first port on their target list. It’s our good luck that Chakra was discovered so soon after placing her torpedo, and we can begin searching so quickly.”

Li scowled and shook his head. So did Zhang, as soon as Li passed on Simonis’s words. “It’s hard to talk about ‘good luck’ when there is a nuclear bomb buried somewhere in your harbor, and that the good luck came at the expense of a submarine and her crew.”

“I’m a submariner, Captain, and I’ve lost a boat myself. I understand exactly how you feel. We all want to stop these criminals before any more blood is shed. My staff is calling on experts from all over my country to make the search as efficient and swift as possible. For instance, we know the weapon used was a Russian UGST-M torpedo, so we know its range. We know Chakra can’t go into very shallow water. That allows us to rule out some parts of both harbors.”

Zhang listened through Li, and asked, “Can one of my staff participate in the search planning?”

“Yes, of course,” Simonis answered immediately. He felt a small twinge of hope. After seeing and hearing Patterson getting the door slammed in her face earlier, he hadn’t expected the Chinese to be civil, much less willing to collaborate.

A side console flashed a text message from Patterson. “Good job, Commodore.” He knew she been listening in from Washington, but that was the first time she said anything.

Li said, “Can you please send us complete information on these UUVs? It will help our staff understand their capabilities.” Neither Tian nor Zhang had asked that question.

Simonis answered immediately, “Of course, I’ll have my staff send you the relevant information.” He hoped the Chinese wouldn’t object to only getting the “relevant” data. He could see Jacobs off to one side, taking notes.

Again unprompted, Li asked, “How often must the vehicles be recharged?”

“At their normal search speed, they have three days’ endurance — seventy-two hours, minus the time they spend reaching the harbors. Hopefully we’ll find the torpedo before it becomes an issue.”

Zhang fired a string of Mandarin at Li that sounded like an impatient question, and then Tian joined the conversation. There seemed to be a dispute between the two senior officers and the lieutenant.

While the three spoke with each other, a new text appeared from Patterson. “Lieutenant Li is actually a major, appears to be from intelligence — POTUS.”

There were two important facts included in that text. One explained why Li was so interested in anything to do with the UUV. The other was that not just the national security advisor, but the president himself, was monitoring his conversation with these Chinese officials.

It said something about the urgent nature of the meeting that the Chinese either hadn’t considered that they could be overheard, or just didn’t care. And, it was more than a little creepy to know that the commander-in-chief was “looking over his shoulder” in cyberspace. No pressure, thought Simonis.

Another text appeared. “They’re telling Li to focus on the problem, and not go into business for himself.”

Simonis had to read that one as Li was speaking again. “So all we have to do is sit and wait while the vehicles search our harbor, and hopefully when one finds the torpedo, we send divers down to recover it.”

“Well, we do have to work together on the search plan, but yes, once the vehicles begin their search, all we can do is monitor their progress and wait.”

Li relayed Simonis’s response, listened to Zhang, then said, “The captain wants to know if a minesweeper can hear the sonar transponder. That way he can follow the vehicles with divers standing by on board. That will save some time.”

Simonis frowned, but nodded. “Tell Captain Zhang that depending on the frequency of their system, yes, they should be able to detect the pinger. And his plan is fine as long as the minesweeper stays at least a hundred meters away from the UUV’s position. When it’s rising to make a report, if there’s a surface craft nearby, it will move that far away before transmitting. So staying too close will just slow it down.”

Li began to relay Simonis’s explanation, but then the commodore added, “Above all, we don’t want the minesweeper accidentally colliding with the UUV, or even just bumping into it. And if it becomes disabled in some way, don’t attempt to recover or repair it. The UUVs are equipped with anti-tamper circuits that will fry the electronics and wipe the software if the correct handling procedures aren’t followed.”

That got Li’s attention. Hopefully it would reduce the chance of the vehicle meeting with some sort of “accident” after the torpedo had been found. Both Tian and Zhang asked more questions as Li explained, but evidently Zhang was satisfied. “The captain says he will keep the craft much farther away than one hundred meters. What are we to do with the UUVs after the torpedo is found?”

“We are sending a surface ship to the area. It will wait outside the harbor until the weapon is found and the harbors are cleared, then come in and recover the two vehicles. What are your plans for the torpedo?” Finding the weapon was just one part of the problem, the part they’d spent the most time on. Simonis was equally concerned about what to do after the weapon had been located.

“There has been a great deal of discussion about this. There is great anxiety that the torpedoes also have an anti-tampering feature — how do you say it… a booby trap. We decided that we will make no attempt to disarm it; we can’t risk it detonating when a technician tries to open an access plate. We plan to load it on a helicopter, manned with a volunteer crew. They will fly at maximum speed to a point about two hundred miles off the coast and discard it there. It is past the continental shelf, and the water depth is over one thousand fathoms. Captain Zhang’s staff is preparing a notice to airmen and mariners right now that will warn all craft to remain clear of the area.”

“Very well, please tell Captain Zhang to have his staff contact Captain Jacobs in my watch center, he’s coordinating the search planning. We’ll put whoever he assigns to good use.”

Li interpreted Simonis’s comment; Zhang nodded and smiled. He then spoke briefly and Li relayed the message. “Captain Zhang thanks you and wishes you good luck.”

“Good luck to us all,” Simonis answered. The screen suddenly went blank as the VTC link was terminated. Sitting back in his chair, Simonis let out a deep sigh of relief. The videoconference with the Chinese had gone better than he had expected. He was about to give Jacobs an order when the commodore noted another text from Patterson on the screen. “POTUS left — very impressed with your performance. Oh, BTW, Touché.”

Simonis grunted smugly after reading her message. He’d finally won an argument.

“Captain.”

“Captain Jain.”

“CAPTAIN JAIN!”

Jain came awake with a start, sitting upright in his bunk and looking around with alarm. A petty officer was standing over him, looking very guilty.

As he took in his surroundings, he could feel the smooth vibration of the sub’s engines, the sound of the ventilation system. Everything seemed normal. He asked, “The boat — is it all right? It felt like a collision.”

“That was me, sir, I’m sorry, but I had to shake you hard to wake you. The first officer has been trying to reach you, but you weren’t answering.”

His head still clearing, Jain said, “I’m awake now. Thank you.” He turned to the phone on the bulkhead next to his bed. It was buzzing loudly, not a foot from where his head had been. The display next to the phone showed Chakra’s speed, depth, and current location, southwest of Taiwan. The clock said he’ been asleep for five hours, give or take.

He picked up the handset. “Jain here.”

“Captain, we have a problem with our route.” It was Rakash’s voice. He didn’t sound happy. “You need to see what sonar has detected.”

Jain turned and nodded to the petty officer, who quickly departed. “Understood. I’ll be there in a moment.”

Lieutenant Commander Rakash looked apologetic when Jain came into the central post a few minutes later. “I tried to let you sleep a little longer, sir, but we must decide now.” He gestured toward one of the displays. “Please, sir, look at the plot.” His voice still held the same worried tone.

The map display showed Chakra headed almost straight for Taiwan. They’d been on the same course for the last twelve hours, according to the clock, as planned.

The first officer had finally convinced his captain to rest thirteen hours after their battle with the Chinese diesel boat. They’d headed directly away from the Chinese coast for six hours, which had put them in deeper water, and then they’d turned east by north, toward Taiwan’s west cost. Seven hours after that, with no sign of Chinese pursuit, the first officer was finally able to persuade his captain to lie down.

The revelation that the Chinese were waiting for Chakra had thrown most of their voyage planning into the rubbish bin. Vajra was supposed to be a surprise attack. Jain and Rakash had laid out their route using the simplest, most direct route between each of the target ports, but that wouldn’t work if the Chinese navy had been alerted.

As they had hurried away from Hong Kong and the scene of their battle, Jain, Rakash, and the other officers had debated whether or not the encounter with the Chinese Kilo was an accident, a coincidence, or a deliberate confrontation. It had been a short discussion. There were no PLA Navy submarine bases near Hong Kong, and there were few operations that a submarine could be performing in such a spot. It was very shallow water, not the kind of place a submariner liked to be. And if it was some sort of exercise, a practice run sneaking into an enemy port, where was the other side, the defenders?

Besides, the Kilo had fired on them, based only on their active sonar signal. Peacetime rules of engagement would require more positive identification before launching a weapon. For the Chinese sub to have fired with only the information it had, the target would have to be “presumed hostile.”

And by sinking the Kilo, they’d confirmed their presence. They had to assume that every subsequent port would now be heavily guarded, complicating an already difficult task.

But why were the Chinese looking for anything in the first place? Dhankhar had said he was worried about foreign intelligence learning of the plan. It looked like his concerns were justified. If that was the case, how much did they know?

Chakra’s next destination was Ningbo, on the easternmost tip of the Chinese coast. It was the fourth-busiest port in China, and by far the most difficult target on their list. The approach to Ningbo-Zhoushan was treacherous, and even shallower than Hong Kong. It would have taken them less than two days at their earlier twenty-knot transit speed, but Jain had to assume that they were being actively hunted, and they’d had to slow to twelve knots so that their towed array would give them some warning of an enemy’s approach. That turned a forty-hour transit into sixty-five hours, and Jain worried about losing so much of their time margin.

And the Taiwan Strait was an excellent place to set up a barrier of escort vessels. The approach to the strait was largely blocked by the Taiwan Banks, an incredibly shallow patch of water, and patrol ships could be placed to block the deep areas that Chakra would have to use. The Chinese had Type 054 frigates and Type 056 corvettes fitted with passive towed sonar arrays. Patrolling at five knots, the PLA Navy could layer two lines of escorts across the entire strait — more if they were smart about it. Jain couldn’t hope to get through a robust barrier like that.

Blasting a hole in the line wasn’t even an option. Submarines used concealment and guile to stay alive. The last thing he wanted to do was signal his position again with another wreck. His orders explicitly forbade him from looking for naval targets until after the nuclear-armed torpedoes had been laid. Business before pleasure.

That’s why he had planned to get so close to Taiwan, through the Penghu Channel. The Chinese might be searching for him, but they wouldn’t enter newly independent Taiwan’s territorial waters. By hugging the coast, he planned to go around one end of the PLAN sonar fence. And the waters of the Penghu Channel were relatively deep, on the order of one hundred meters. He might even be able to increase speed while he was there, and he was sure Chakra was safe from PLAN searchers.

The display showed surface contacts that had been detected by Chakra’s passive sonar. Ahead and to the left was the Taiwan Strait, one of the most heavily traveled water passages in the world. He could see a dozen ships headed north and south between the Chinese coast to the west and Taiwan to the east. That had been his original plan — just sail due north into the strait, then turn northeast. Adjusting the course to the east to hug the west coast of Taiwan cost him a little distance, but it was definitely safer.

Or had been. Rakash was pointing to several bright lines that marked powerful active sonars. They were all coming from warships ahead of them, along Taiwan’s coast.

“Sonar’s evaluated them all as American low-frequency sets. SQS-26 and SQS-53 sonars,” Rakash reported.

Jain shrugged. “That fits. The Taiwanese navy uses surplus American destroyers and frigates.”

“I tracked them for a while before waking you, sir. I thought after twenty-plus hours in the central post, you should get some rest. A captain at sea may be all-powerful, but he’s not invulnerable.”

“No harm done, Rakash. Plotting their movements is the first thing I would have ordered, and I probably did need the sleep,” Jain admitted.

Rakash sighed. “It’s very unusual. They’ve got four ships patrolling the west coast of the island. They’re staying within their territorial waters and they’re blasting away with active sonar. We can hear them sixty or even ninety miles out, thanks to the convergence zones.”

Jain concluded, “Effectively blocking our passage through Taiwan’s coastal waters.”

Rakash pointed out how the four patrol zones neatly covered most of Taiwan’s west coast. “They’re looking for us. But why?”

Jain pleaded ignorance. “I’m sure they’ve heard about the sub being sunk in Hong Kong. That will be big news everywhere in Asia. But why would they feel threatened? That doesn’t make sense. And I can’t imagine them cooperating with the mainland Chinese.”

Jain calculated the odds of somehow getting through, in spite of the active searchers. Without understanding why they were looking, it would be hard to guess how they’d act if they found him, but he was pretty sure it wouldn’t be to his benefit. It was too much to risk.

The first officer could see his captain considering, calculating. Rakash suggested, “The Chinese towed arrays aren’t that good. If we stick close under a merchant ship it will mask our noise.”

“No. Too obvious. They’ll be delousing with active sonar. It doesn’t take very long. They have enough corvettes to check each merchant as it passes. It doesn’t matter how quiet we are. Besides, we are very limited by the Taiwan Banks. It won’t bother a merchant ship, but we’d have to go around and the Chinese aren’t stupid. They know where the choke points are.” Jain tapped the chart. “We have to go around.”

“Around Taiwan?” Rakash couldn’t hide his surprise. “That will take too long.”

“Not at twenty knots. We’ll be in open ocean and much harder to find. And I’m going to look at the target list again. The admiral gave me some discretion about the targets, if necessary. Now I wish I’d put a second torpedo into Shenzhen Harbor. It was right next to Victoria Harbor, it was on the list, and then we’d only have three weapons to deploy.”

Jain turned toward the helmsman. “Starboard fifteen, new course one one five degrees. Once we’re away from the strait, Rakash, we’ll increase speed to twenty knots and go deep.”

“Contact has turned to starboard. New course is shifting to east-southeast. Speed is still fifteen knots.”

Captain Zhu Heng leaned over the display. “That course will take him south of the island entirely. Sheng, what’s his closest point of approach?”

“Sixty-five hundred meters,” the executive officer reported, “at bearing one eight zero. If we want to maintain contact after he passes us, we should reverse course and head west ourselves, and increase speed above three knots.”

Zhu shook his head sharply. “Absolutely not. We will do nothing that increases the chance of him detecting us. Our orders were to stay completely hidden and report, and I intend to do just that. Keep the boat at ultra quiet and watch this fellow like a hawk. If he continues to head toward the east, then we will break contact and transmit.”

Petty Officer Wang rubbed his eyes and tried hard to focus on his screen; they’d been out looking for the Indian Akula for the last four hours and they hadn’t seen anything other than fishing boats and whales. They had just finished laying their second passive sonobuoy field, and the acoustic data was starting to show up on the processor display. At first, there was nothing. Then a weak line appeared on the waterfall display. After staring at it for a minute, he made the call.

“TACCO, Sensor One. I have a weak fifty-hertz line on buoy fifty-one.”

“Sensor One, TACCO. Contact on buoy fifty-one, aye. Let me take a look.”

The tactical coordinator pulled up the acoustic display and looked at the picture as it formed. The TACCO was impressed. It was a very weak narrowband line, but it was there. Wang had caught it just right. Frankly, the coordinator hadn’t had great expectations for this mission. His sensor operators were used to looking for Chinese nukes that sounded like freight trains. Looking for a much quieter Akula was in a whole other league.

“All Stations, TACCO. Possub contact on buoy fifty-one. Sensor Two, stand by to drop a localization pattern south of our buoy field. Sensor Three, keep your eyes open for a MAD contact.”

The Orion banked hard left and flew to the far southern corner of the sonobuoy field. Five more sonobuoys dropped from the aircraft’s underside and parachuted down to the water.

“TACCO, Sensor Three. No MAD contact.”

Figures, thought the tactical coordinator. Russian boats were all fitted with degaussing gear and had really low magnetic signatures. They’d have to fly within a thousand meters before they’d even have a chance of picking the Akula up.

“TACCO, Sensor Two. Localization field up, no contacts.”

“TACCO, Sensor One. Narrowband line is fading. Contact is showing down Doppler, target is moving away from the buoy.”

Shit, swore the officer, we’re losing him! He needed to do something fast if they were going to keep this sub.

“Sensor Two, TACCO: Stand by to drop a DICASS buoy. Set depth selection to deep.”

Once again the aircraft turned and proceeded back toward the southern corner. As it was just about to fly over sonobuoy fifty-one another silver canister was dropped from her belly. The DICASS buoy splashed into the water, and immediately released the transducer subsection from its float. Unwinding rapidly, the transducer dropped to a depth of 136 meters, well below the seasonal thermocline, or layer. Seconds later, a sharp high-frequency ping began scanning the water.

The acoustic intercept receiver chirped madly. The estimated sound level indicated the active sonar was close.

“Helmsman, slow ahead. Make your depth three hundred meters,” barked Jain. “First Officer, report!”

“Active sonobuoy bears red one seven eight. It’s almost directly behind us.”

“Set ultra quiet condition throughout the ship,” Jain ordered. “Now we have to act just like a water molecule.”

“Captain, frequency and pulse pattern indicates it’s an American SSQ-62 active, directional sonobuoy. I can’t believe that the Americans are looking for us!”

“I don’t think they are, Number One. It’s probably a Taiwanese P-3.”

“Sir, something is very wrong here. Why are our allies looking for us, and so aggressively I might add?”

“I don’t have a clue, Number One. But we’re on a good course to get out of range of the buoy, and between the anechoic coating and our narrow aspect, I think we’ll get out of this with our hides intact.”

“Captain, our speed is five knots and ultra quiet is set,” reported Rakash.

“Very well. Given the circumstances, we may want to rethink that twenty-knot speed idea.” Jain wasn’t thrilled with slowing down, but he had little choice. He pulled out the target list again and started looking real hard at his options. He’d have to get the time back somehow.

Samant and Petrov hovered over the digital chart of the waters around Taiwan. It had been twenty-two hours since they’d left Hong Kong, after sending the two UUVs on their way to begin searching the harbors. Mitchell had wasted little time, and turned his boat toward the northeast and ran off at high speed. After six hours, he slowed to get a good look around, and then alternated between a sprint and what Thigpen had called “a fast walk.” They hadn’t seen any signs of the Indian Akula yet, but by Samant and Petrov’s estimate they were still sixty-some-odd miles behind. Nevertheless, the lack of even the slightest contact was disheartening.

Poring over the available data, the two struggled to guess where Chakra would go next. That the first target would be Hong Kong was intuitively obvious. Figuring out the second one was far more difficult. The multiple commercial facilities at Ningbo-Zhoushan and Shanghai placed both in the top five busiest ports, with the Shanghai International Port on the edge of the Yangtze River being number one. And while a submerged submarine could approach all of the ports, some were considerably easier than others.

Jerry and his executive officer were in the radio room talking with their superior at Squadron Fifteen. They’d received an urgent message a quarter of an hour earlier for the submarine to come up to periscope depth and make contact. Since Petrov and Samant were barred from that part of the ship, they hung out in control and watched as the crew expertly handled their boat. Both were still in awe of the sheer processing power that a Virginia-class submarine possessed.

Still, Samant felt uneasy, out of sorts, there was something wrong with this picture. Then it struck him; there were too many pictures. Everywhere he looked there were multiple display screens. The two vertical flat-screen panels forward were simply enormous. The starboard display had the output from one of the BVS-1 optronics masts on it. Samant sighed and shook his head.

“I’m still not comfortable with this central post configuration, Aleks. It doesn’t feel right to not have a periscope!” he grumbled.

“I understand how you feel, Girish, but this is the future. The newest Russian submarines are going down this path for the same reasons the Americans have, to make more information available to the commanding officer.”

“Not all progress is necessarily a good thing,” Samant shot back. “There’s a feeling of control, of being in command, when one stares at his adversary through an eyepiece. This is like watching a video game!”

Petrov chuckled. “You’re sounding like a hopeless romantic, Girish. You have to remember that these ‘children’ grew up with video games. We just have to accept that how we did things is behind the times, old-fashioned, obsolete.”

Samant turned to Petrov, a crushed expression on his face. “Thank you for making me feel ancient, Aleks.”

“You’re welcome, my friend,” Petrov laughed. He was definitely feeling more like himself, and he enjoyed being able to poke fun at his Indian comrade. Samant just growled in frustration.

“Well, we finally got a break,” Jerry declared as he and Thigpen came out of the radio room. “A Taiwanese submarine got a solid contact and reported in. Please plot these positions,” he said to the quartermaster, handing him a piece of paper.

“Aye, aye, sir,” replied the petty officer.

The four officers gazed at the chart as two dots popped up. “The sub reported contact here, and about six hours later a Taiwan P-3C got a weak hit here. This puts them on a course to the southeast. Jain’s going around the east side of Taiwan,” explained Jerry.

“Any indication Jain knows he’d been picked up?” questioned Samant with excitement.

“I think that’s a given, Captain. The P-3 dropped a DICASS bouy when they tried to maintain contact. They failed, but Jain would’ve had to be completely deaf not to hear it.”

Thigpen smiled and said, “Talk about a prompt jump in the pucker factor. An active sonobuoy coming from out of nowhere, those boys probably had to change their britches!”

Samant nodded; he too was encouraged by the news. “This also means Jain had to slow down. Since he knows he’s being hunted, he’ll have to reduce speed to try and stay undetected. This will make it easier for us to catch him.” The Indian then measured the distance between the P-3’s reported position and North Dakota’s at the same time. The two locations were only seventy-two miles apart. “At our present speed we can make up the distance in ten hours, perhaps less.”

“Or we could get out ahead of him,” Petrov observed, pointing to the Penghu Channel on the chart.

“I was thinking the same thing, Alex,” agreed Jerry. “Since Jain has slowed down, and probably gone to ultra quiet, our detection range will also be reduced. And if we maintain our current speed, he could pick us up first and evade. But, if we go around the west side of Taiwan, we have a shorter distance to travel and we can fly through without having to worry about being heard.”

“An old-fashioned end-around, eh, Skipper?” remarked Thigpen.

Jerry nodded. “Basically.”

“So it’s your intention to set up another ambush?” asked Samant.

“Yes, Captain. But the question that still needs to be answered is, where do we go?”

“We’re still working on that problem, Jerry,” said Petrov. Then, pointing to himself, Samant, and Thigpen, he added, “Give us a few more hours and we’ll have a recommendation for you.”

“Very well. In the meantime, XO, change course for Penghu Channel.”