Power Play

CHAPTER 12 USS MICHIGAN

Wilson was the last to enter Michigan’s Battle Management Center. The pertinent individuals were already present for the brief: Michigan’s Executive Officer and four department heads, plus Commander McNeil and two other SEALs occupying three more consoles. Lieutenant Jake Harrison was standing in front beside a sixty-inch plasma display. He was half-Russian and spoke the language fluently, and would lead the mission. Wilson settled into a vacant console beside McNeil, and the senior SEAL nodded in Harrison’s direction. Harrison kicked off the mission brief, beginning with a summary of the information provided in Michigan’s operational order.

“As you’re aware, Michigan has been tasked with extracting a Russian torpedo expert residing in a home along a canal in the Murmansk Fjord. The Nav will brief the submarine’s transit to within range of our SDV, then I’ll add the pertinent mission details.”

First up was the submarine’s Navigator, Lieutenant Charlie Eaton, who controlled the bulkhead display with a handheld remote. A nautical chart of the Barents Sea appeared, zooming in on Kola Bay to the south. Eaton’s brief was short and uneventful. Michigan had been heading north, preparing to slip under the polar ice cap on her way home to Bangor, Washington, when the guided missile submarine had been turned around. They were now headed toward the SDV launch point, which would be in the mouth of Kola Bay.

Eaton took his seat while Harrison continued the brief.

“Tonight’s mission is a basic extraction.” Harrison pressed the remote and a head shot of a Russian male appeared on the display. “Our target is Alexei Novikoff, part of a four-member team that’s developed new technology for Russia’s submarines, and the CIA wants to have a talk with him. We’re going to pay Novikoff a visit and convince him to return to Michigan with us. While we’re in transit, the CIA will transfer one of their interrogators aboard Michigan for the conversation.”

Harrison pressed the remote and the screen shifted to a map of the Murmansk Fjord, showing the location of Novikoff’s residence just north of the Gadzhiyevo Naval Base. Canals crisscrossed the well-to-do neighborhood, with boats tied up along backyard docks, offering easy access to the Murmansk Fjord and Kola Bay.

“We’ll be taking the SDV and we’ll need a seat for Novikoff on the way out, which means we’ll be going in with a partial fire team. Assigned to the mission with me are Senior Chief Stone and Petty Officer Carver.” Harrison glanced at the two SEALs seated behind Commander McNeil.

Harrison pressed the remote again, and the display zoomed in until Novikoff’s home filled the screen. It was similar to the adjacent houses, with a small motorboat tied up alongside the backyard dock.

“There’s no indication of security guards assigned to Novikoff, so we’re likely dealing only with a home security system, if that. We’ll figure it out when we get there. Before we launch, we’ll receive an intel update, verifying that Novikoff has returned home tonight and that he’s alone. If not, we’ll postpone the mission until a night when he’s home alone. For reasons not explained, the mission will proceed only if we’re able to extract Novikoff without anyone noticing, at least until the morning.

“Subject to your questions, that concludes my brief.”

After a few questions and a short discussion, the mission brief wrapped up. Turning to Captain Wilson, McNeil asked, “When will Michigan be in position?”

Wilson turned to the Nav, who replied, “At twenty-one hundred.”

Five hours later, Harrison, Senior Chief Stone, and Carver were seated in the SDV in the starboard Dry Deck Shelter, outfitted for the mission in black dive suits. Instead of standard scuba gear, they wore rebreathers, which provided oxygen and scavenged carbon dioxide without producing bubbles, helping to conceal the SEALs’ underwater transit. They were armed with Heckler & Koch MP7 submachine guns — compact assault rifles about a foot long with an extendable stock, an optical sight, and a noise suppressor screwed onto the barrel. An intel update reported that Novikoff had returned home alone this evening. The mission was a go.

Harrison rendered the okay hand signal to the diver on the other side of the Plexiglas shield, who flooded down the hangar. There was a faint rumbling as the shelter’s circular hatch opened, and two divers on each side of the SDV pulled the rails out onto the missile deck, then extracted the SDV from the hangar. Harrison manipulated the controls and the SDV lifted off its rails, then glided above the Dry Deck Shelter, cruising over the submarine’s bow before disappearing into the darkness.