“Sam Reilly,” he said, shaking the commander’s hand, “And this is Tom Bower.”
The commander greeted Tom with a hard smile. “Pleased to meet you, sir. I knew your dad for nearly four decades. He’s a good man.”
Sam was pleased that Woods hadn’t yet written Tom’s father off as deceased.
Commander Woods said, “Chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Painter, has briefed me to bring you up to speed with the project so far. I’ll fill you in what we know and don’t know. Then, we’ll send you back to the Maria Helena to head off a secondary search and rescue plan. That way we’re not doubling up, and I pray you come up with more than we have.”
“Understood,” Sam said. “Where do we start?”
Commander Woods said, “I’ll start by telling you exactly what we know about the USS Omega Deep and what happened when she disappeared.”
Sam listened as he was filled in on the Omega Cloak’s unique capabilities, what tests its commander had already performed, and what, if any, were the submarine’s known faults.
When they were finished, Commander Woods started to point out the senior officers heading up the investigation from their respective branches, including seismic listening posts, real-time satellite imaging, sonar and radar bases throughout the world. In addition to the U.S. Navy’s team, there were civilians too. Scientists, meteorologist, hydrologists, naval engineers, and submarine specialists, who were all there to provide expert advice. Sam noted, with surprise, that they weren’t all American. A team from the British Submarine Parachute Assistance Group and also ISMERLO – International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office were there to help.
“Any questions?” the commander asked.
Sam made a wry smile. “Yes. I thought this would be more protected?”
“You mean regarding the experimental side of the Omega Deep?”
“Exactly.”
“The two of you and I are the only ones in this building who know the truth about the submarine.”
“What does everyone else think they’re looking for?”
“Oh, they know that a Virginia class block VII nuclear-powered fast attack submarine has gone missing,” Commander Woods said with a suppressed smile. “But they don’t know about its Omega Cloak. As you can imagine, that’s heavily classified. You’ve been brought up to speed because of your need-to-know status, and the fact that the secretary of defense was adamant that you both had explicit first-hand knowledge of the material, blackbody, which she thought you might use to your advantage.”
Tom asked in a whisper, “How are they supposed to find the submarine without knowing about its unique invisibility capabilities?”
“It doesn’t matter. Those capabilities were designed to make it undetectable. The fact that its disappeared hasn’t changed that.”
Sam persisted, “Still, how can the world find it, if they don’t know what they’re looking for?”
“If the Omega Cloak is still activated we’ll never see that submarine again. It’s as simple as that. All this,” Commander Woods glanced around the packed mobile command center, “is in the off chance we get lucky, and the Omega Cloak is no longer activated.”
Sam continued with the practical issues of the rescue. “If we find it. Then what?”
“The U.S. Navy Undersea Rescue Unit has a Pressurized Rescue Module known as PRM-1 Falcon.” Commander Woods glanced at them, and, seeing recognition in their eyes, continued. “The PRM-1 Falcon can be loaded onto a waiting Boeing C17 Globemaster III and flown to any location on Earth in under 24-hours. From there, it can be installed onto a vessel of opportunity – known as a VOO – and delivered to the location of the distressed submarine.”
“All right,” Sam said. “What are your prime theories about what happened to the Omega Deep?”
The commander answered immediately from a previously determined list. “We’ve narrowed it down to one of two possibilities.”
“Go on.”
“One: the submarine ran aground on an unmapped submerged valley, ripping a hole in her hull, and flooding her.” Commander Woods pointed out a number of known submerged valleys in the region where the Omega Deep was last sighted. “This would explain why no communication buoys were ever received identifying her location.”
“And the second possibility?” Sam asked.
“She’s been stolen. Either by her CO or any other member of her crew. In which case, she’s probably already been sold to the highest bidder, and we’ve lost $30 billion dollars’ worth of research and development and the greatest naval advantage over the world’s oceans we’ve ever had.”
Sam thought about that for a moment, staring at an enlarged world map nearly five feet tall and stretched out against the wall. He studied the areas already searched, and the known submerged reefs, valleys, and mountains. He pointed to the Atlantic. “What about over here, off the Continental Shelf?”
“Too deep,” the commander dismissed the suggestion. “No chance the submarine would have collided with anything down there.”
“What about a malfunction causing her to dive uncontrollably?”
“Impossible,” Woods was emphatic.
“Why?”
“An implosion anywhere in the Atlantic would have been picked up by more than a dozen seismic listening posts on either side of the ocean. Heck, even Wisconsin’s hydrophones would have picked it up.” Commander Woods sighed. “In fact, none of our seismic listening posts have detected any acoustic anomaly throughout the submarine’s last known coordinates, or anywhere around the world, which means it’s unlikely the submarine has reached its crush depth and imploded. If that had happened, almost anywhere in the world, we’d have heard it.”
“All right,” Sam said, accepting the point. “You said that the Omega Deep was last sighted on the surface of the Norwegian Sea. At the time, satellite imaging showed my own ship, the Maria Helena in the same vicinity, searching for the downed British Boeing 747 Dreamlifter, and also the Vostok, a Russian fishing trawler, suspected of being an intelligence gathering vessel?”
“That’s right,” the commander confirmed.
Sam asked, “Do you know where the Vostok went afterward?”
“It didn’t follow the Omega Deep, that’s for sure. It would have been impossible.”
“All the same, do you know where it went?”
The commander brought up the last known coordinates for the Vostok. “It remained in the Barents Sea, Norwegian Sea, and the North Sea for another month – under the pretense of deep sea fishing, and then headed south, toward the Atlantic Ocean. I can have one of my aides find its current location for you.”
“Thanks,” Sam said. “Now, you said the commander of the Omega Deep confirmed that he would cancel the original mission, and focus on assisting with the search of the wrecked aircraft?”
“That’s right.”
“How did Admiral Bower do that?”
Commander Woods said, “Through a secure, coded transmission.”
“Is it possible anyone else might have made the transmission?”
Woods considered that possibility for a moment. “It’s unlikely, but I suppose, it could be possible if they were able to gain access to Admiral Bower’s secret codes.”
“So, as you say, it might not have been Admiral Bower who’s betrayed the U.S. Navy?”
“It’s definitely a possibility,” Commander Woods said, happy to deflect from the more likely possibility that Tom’s dad was guilty of treason.
Sam said, “What was the original mission?”
Woods said, “It was a series of tests, to see how undetectable the submarine could be.”
“Have you checked those locations?”
“No. It’s highly unlikely the submarine would continue on with the original mission, isn’t it?”
“You didn’t search the original route?” Sam asked, incredulously.
“Of course not. Why would we? The Omega Deep was given the express order to surface a
nd engage in all efforts to search and rescue the crashed Boeing 747 Dreamlifter.”
“And it never occurred to you that he refused the order only to continue on with the primary mission objective?”
“No.” Woods smiled in that almost condescending way, which said, that’s a stupid waste of time even thinking about that. “That’s daft. Think about it. You don’t refuse a direct order from the president of the United States only to pursue your original mission objective, testing and displaying the formidable power of…” he paused, turned his gaze from Tom’s hardened gaze, and said, “I’m sorry Mr. Bower. I knew your father well. He was a legend in these parts, and I don’t believe he has betrayed his country. But the fact is, the USS Omega Deep received express orders to help with the search and recovery of the crashed Boeing 747 Dreamlifter, but instead, activated its Omega Cloak, and disappeared. So we have to assume someone on board is no longer following the president’s orders.”
“Do you have a copy of the original route the Omega Deep would have taken had they been ordered to continue with their primary mission objective?”
Woods thought about it for a second. “Yeah, sure. Why?”
“Because right now that seems like the only lead we have. It’s a massive longshot, but it is the only lead we have.”
Woods opened his mouth as though he was about to argue the point, and then meeting Sam’s eye, thought best of it, and brought the image of the original route up on a 100-inch LCD screen mounted to the wall. The digital image encompassed North and South America across to the coastal regions of Mediterranean and Russian ports… “You’re not going to be able to see anything from here.”
“Why not?”
“Because if the Omega Deep continued to utilize her cloaking technology, there’s no way you’re going to identify her from satellite images.”
“What about DRAPES?”
Commander Woods thought about that for a moment and then grinned. “Not a chance in hell.”
During the Cold War, the U.S. Navy laid a fixed network of underwater hydrophones on the ocean floor called the Sound Surveillance System, known as SOSUS, to detect Soviet submarines transiting from their bases to patrol areas in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Listening arrays placed in strategic chokepoints that those submarines would necessarily have to transit, like the waters between Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland – the so-called GIUK Gap – notionally let the United States know every time a Soviet submarine entered the North Atlantic, allowing the U.S. Navy to direct its own ships or submarines to track them. In 2016, that system was updated, and extended throughout more of the world, in a program named the Deep Reliable Acoustic Path Exploitation System.
Sam was incredulous. “The Omega Cloak is that good?”
“No.” Woods smiled proudly. “She was better. Part of what made the Omega Deep special was her sound absorbing hull. Whatever sound she produces, is completely absorbed. No way our hydrophones could pick her up, even if we knew exactly where she was to focus our listening arrays.”
Sam nodded, and studied the route, trying to determine any location where the submarine would have been forced to surface and might have thus been spotted using satellite imaging. The course spanned a long route from the British Isles, south into the Mediterranean, through the Dardanelles Strait, Bosporus Sea, Black Sea, and Sea of Azov within Russia. From there, it returned, making it out of the Mediterranean Sea, and across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and on toward the Pacific.
Sam stopped. “I can see why you’re keen to keep this experiment under wrap. You would have many upset nations by admitting that you penetrated their coastal regions under stealth.”
Woods made a thin-lipped smile. “As you can see, our allies wouldn’t be too impressed either. But it was paramount to the experiment’s success that we tested it with high fidelity.”
Sam’s eyes ran across the route along Northern Africa, down the Skeleton Coast, across the Atlantic, and finally landing on Panama. His eyes narrowed. “Was this the end of the experiment?”
Woods shook his head. “No.”
“So, what was supposed to happen here? Was the Omega Deep meant to surface and report, or go somewhere else?”
“No, there was more to the experiment.”
“Where?”
“She was to cross through the Panama Canal and head southwest, on to Australia, before turning north, and returning to Pearl Harbor.”
“Can you please bring up the more detailed map for me?”
“Sure.” Woods clicked a new icon, and the second map appeared, with the route superimposed in red. “But I doubt it will do you much good.”
Sam studied the new map. “How did you plan to get it through the Panama Canal?”
“Oh, that took some planning, but in the end, we decided to coincide it with a particular date we planned to have an old Iowa class battleship transverse the Panama Canal for a historical event.”
Sam said, “I wasn’t aware they even fit through the Panama Canal?”
“They do. Only just. The Iowa class battleship is the largest vessel in the world that’s allowed to make the crossing. At 108.6 feet, she only just squeezes into the 110 feet wide Panama Canal.”
“How would that have helped you squeeze the Omega Deep through? The Panama Canal’s water-tight locks are 1050 feet in length, with a useable length of 1000 feet. No way you’re going to get a battleship and the Omega Deep through in one go.”
“No. Of course not. The engineers at the Panama Canal insisted that we pay for two allotted spaces, so that they could have a dry run after the Iowa class battleship made its traverse, that way they could see if there were any faults and then repair them, before another large vessel, such as a cargo ship crossed.”
Sam grinned. “And in that dry run, you were going to bring the USS Omega Deep?”
“Exactly.”
“Was there any way you could have spotted the submarine had it passed through the canal?”
“Not if it maintained its Omega Cloak and its crew didn’t want to be spotted. Originally, there was a plan… but obviously things have changed.”
“What was the plan?” Sam asked, eagerly.
“During the filling of the third lockout, someone on board the Omega Deep was going to release a helium-filled balloon in the shape of an American flag. To any casual observer, it would appear that the balloon had just floated into the area, but it would be a confirmation the submarine had passed through the region.”
Sam said, “Do you have recorded footage of that date.”
“We don’t personally,” Woods said. “But there’s a live feed from the top of the lookout tower. They keep records. I can bring those up if you want?”
“Yes please.”
Woods raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think the crew decided to rub our noses in the fact that they stole $30 billion dollars’ worth of military hardware, by giving us a sign, do you?”
“As you said, it’s unlikely, but stranger things have happened.”
Commander Woods searched the Panama Canal’s security records on his laptop, entering the exact date and time the USS Omega Deep was supposed to travel through the canal and pressed search. The recording of the live feed came through.
The image captured the Iowa class battleship leaving the water lock. Woods fast-forwarded the section until it showed the battleship leaving and an empty water lock, now thirty feet lower.
Wood glanced at Sam and pressed play. “Here you go.”
Sam watched as the heavy steel, watertight locks closed and the empty lock filled with water until it was another thirty feet higher. Through squinting eyes, he searched the surface of the lock. Shallow ripples showed a local breeze teasing the empty water’s surface.
Wood’s lips formed a hard line, as he went to press stop on the recording. “I’m sorry. They weren’t there.”
Sam’s response was an immediate, almost visceral, cry. “Stop!”
“Why?”
Tom said
, “Look at that!”
Wood’s eyes fixed on the image on the laptop.
There, in the middle of the empty water-tight lock, was a balloon rising out of nothing. Woods paused the image and zoomed in on the balloon. It was shaped like a flag and covered in the stars and stripes of the American flag.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Sam watched as Commander Woods slammed the laptop screen shut.
There would undoubtedly be a lot of questions he couldn’t answer if anyone else in the room spotted the anomaly.
To Sam and Tom, Woods said, “Come with me.”
Sam grinned and followed the commander out of the U.S. Navy Undersea Rescue Unit’s mobile command center, crossed an open field and entered a new building. Inside they headed through a series of secure passageways, toward the main command center for COMSUBPAC – the Pacific Submarine Fleet’s headquarters. The three men walked in silence. They all knew the consequence of such a finding, but no one could have expected what it meant.
At the end of the hallway, two marines in dress uniform guarded the soundproofed door.
Woods approached the door, but one of the marines blocked his progress.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the marine said, “I can’t let you in. The presidents in a meeting.”
Woods spoke with the quiet authority of a man with nearly four decades of command. “He’s going to want to hear what I have to say.”
The marine looked like he was going to protest, but then said, “I’ll just be a minute, sir.”
The marine knocked on the door, entered, and returned a few moments later. “You’re right to go through.”
Sam and Tom approached the door.
The marine stared at them, wondering if he should question more, before the commander said, “They’re with me at the president’s express orders. He’ll want to hear what they have to say, too.”
Inside, the president, secretary of defense, and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff were sitting around a series of leather lounges. The president greeted them and motioned for them to take a seat.
Omega Deep (Sam Reilly Book 12) Page 17
