Silent Waters

Chapter 23

Once the BSY-1 sonar consoles started coming — one by one — back to life, Paul Cavallaro began running tests on them. Mako waited until the navigation officer gave him a thumbs-up before he turned to his security officer.

“They went out the hole on the outboard side of the office,” Kilo told him. “I had one of the men follow the passage they cut. They went down to the torpedo room.”

“The two stationed down there to work the tubes didn’t see them?”

Kilo shook his head.

This was a problem. Mako had wanted the commander where he could keep an eye on him. He considered the situation from McCann’s perspective. He wanted to believe that Darius McCann wouldn’t destroy his own submarine, but he wasn’t so sure about that. Navy officers — and submarine commanders, in particular — can be real cowboys at times, and they can do incredibly heroic and stupid things in situations like this.

He would have liked to keep him alive. But Mako didn’t foresee any complications in their plans. They’d sent off the first communication. Everything was moving ahead right on schedule. McCann was just making his own survival less viable.

“How are the two they knocked out?”

“Still out,” Kilo told him. “They’ll be no good to us considering our schedule.”

Mako would have liked to have more under his command, but it wasn’t possible. He couldn’t afford to lose many more at this point. “Have you been monitoring the multi-function display terminals?”

“We have, but nothing’s shown up. McCann knows where the cameras are and he’s been avoiding them.”

Mako thought about that. McCann also knew where the other MFD units were located, which meant he’d be able to access views of the control room. He frowned, mulling over the possibility of the sub driver being able to identify him. That made McCann’s survival even less tenable, but Mako didn’t like it. McCann might have already seen who his enemy was.

He motioned toward the two cameras in the control room. One was trained on the conn itself.

“Have these disabled now,” he told Kilo. After the command was passed along, he motioned Kilo to join him in the radio room, where he was out of earshot of the others in the control room.

“Take another man and start a search through the boat. Start in the captain’s stateroom, just in case. Make a quick sweep of the living quarters. McCann is too charged up to hide in some bunk or under a table.”

“The woman might.”

“That would be good news for us,” Mako said thoughtfully. “Find her and we’ll be able to use her as a bargaining chip with the commander. He’s the hero type. He might not want to let the girl die.”

Kilo nodded curtly. Mako knew his man wouldn’t have any problem killing a woman or anyone else. He would do what he was ordered to do. Case closed.

“Lock doors as you go. Searching the torpedo room thoroughly is critical. With all the munitions there, we don’t want to tempt him with the opportunity of doing any serious damage. Also, make sure the engine room is sealed off.”

“That will take some time. There are a lot of places to hide on a submarine.”

“Then start now,” Mako ordered. “Keep thinking what would be the biggest bang he can get for a buck. And buy us time. Even if you keep him on the run, we’re moving closer every minute to our objective. That’s the most important thing.”

“What do you want done with him when we find him?”

“Either he surrenders or you kill him.”

“And the woman?”

“She’s of no real use to us, and you know the complication she’d be if she lives.”

“Very good, sir.”