The Bin Laden Plot

42 ARABIAN SEA

Christine O’Connor’s hair fluttered in the brisk wind as the forty-meter-long ship sped through the choppy water. She was seated in the flying bridge of a CIA-owned, Spanish-built superyacht capable of sixty-plus knots. Joining her on the bridge was her four-man security detail, doubled from its normal size due to her overseas journey.

After departing Reagan National Airport, her flight had landed in Mumbai, India, where she had boarded the high-tech and speedy CIA boat waiting at a nearby pier. The yacht was now on an intercept course for another ship in the Arabian Sea, and it wasn’t long before their target appeared on the horizon: the black-hulled research vessel Atlantis.

Atlantis was an oceanographic research ship operated by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. More important, she was the host vessel of DSV Alvin, a deep-ocean research submersible owned by the U.S. Navy. Atlantis and Alvin had been chartered by the CIA for the critically sensitive and challenging effort to obtain a sample of Osama bin Laden’s body for DNA analysis.

The CIA yacht eased off on its speed as it angled into a parallel course with the 274-foot-long research ship, preparing to transfer Christine and her protective detail aboard. They were escorted to a transfer boat, which made the short trip across the water, and she was soon in the research vessel’s wardroom, where she was greeted by the ship’s captain and Alvin’s operations officer.

After the introductory pleasantries, they got down to business, beginning with a high-level review of Alvin’s upcoming mission. It was classified at the highest level, and no one aboard Atlantis knew what they were sending the deep-submergence vehicle down to take a sample of. However, Alvin’s team seemed prepared for a rather straightforward dive, sample collection, and return to the surface. Then Alvin’s operations officer, Brian Humm, provided a dose of bad news.

“A storm is moving in,” he said, “which means we’re not going to be able to launch tomorrow morning as planned. If we don’t go tonight, we’ll have to wait several days. Do you have a preference?”

“Sooner would be better,” Christine replied.

“We’ll plan for tonight, then, as soon as we’re ready.

“Also,” he said, “we have an issue with your stipulation that only the pilot be aboard for the mission.”

Langley had requested that only the DSV pilot, and not a full three-member team, descend with Alvin, to minimize the number of people involved who could piece together what was being sampled.

“We normally have two other personnel aboard to handle ancillary issues or if the pilot is incapacitated for some reason. At a minimum, one person must accompany the pilot during the dive.”

As Christine considered the request, Humm offered, “One option, Miss O’Connor, is you could do the dive.”

Humm went on to explain that the pilot was typically accompanied by scientists, not DSV copilots, and with a short walkthrough of emergency procedures, she would know enough to bring Alvin to the surface in an emergency. Also, as far as how dangerous the dive was, Humm assured her there was little to worry about. Alvin had made hundreds of dives, many to deeper depths than they’d be going down to tonight.

After contemplating the matter, Christine agreed. The dive would certainly be more interesting than waiting aboard Atlantis. Plus, how often would she get a chance to dive to almost ten thousand feet beneath the ocean’s surface?

“Great,” Humm said. “We’ll arrive at the specified location and be ready to dive shortly after sunset.”