At the navigation station on the bridge, Sam Reilly stared at several neatly-arranged Admiralty and bathymetric charts.
Next to him, Matthew and Veyron examined the map.
“What makes you certain the Omega Deep is headed this way?” Matthew asked.
Sam answered without hesitation. “Because that’s where I would go.”
“Really?” Matthew was surprised by his confidence. “Why? That submarine could be anywhere in the world right now. Given what we know about her, we have no reason to even believe that she’s lying on the bottom of the sea somewhere with a wrecked hull.”
Sam said, “Because Commander Dwight Bower’s original orders involved taking the USS Omega Deep into the South Pacific to test her maneuverability.”
“Sure,” Matthew accepted that, “But the South Pacific is massive – in fact, most of her seabed has never been charted – so what makes you think you can guess where she went?”
“I know it’s a long shot, but it’s all we have.”
“Where exactly are you thinking?” Veyron asked.
“Here,” Sam said, pointing to a series of submerged valleys.
Veyron studied the submerged valley. He had a doctorate in submersible technology and a second one in mechatronics. There was little he didn’t know about how a submarine, like the Omega Deep, might handle.
After a few minutes, he shook his head. “I don’t think it would have gone here.”
“Why not?”
“Too dangerous. Commander Bower would never have risked it.”
“But I ran the submarine through a simulator of the same submerged valley with identical dimension. It was hard but doable.”
“Sure. But I read the report on the Omega Deep’s upgraded systems. It wasn’t running with sonar – it would have been relying on visual navigation, using its new digital video sphere system.”
“Its what?” Matthew asked.
“More than two hundred tiny video cameras are imbedded into the hull of the Omega Deep, allowing it to provide a real-time 360-degree view surrounding the submarine, as clear as though they were looking out the window.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed. “And you think that technique would be intrinsically more difficult to navigate by the previous systems, such as inertial navigation, GPS, and sonar?”
“Not more difficult, simply unknown,” Veyron replied. “And I’ve met Tom’s dad. He’s no fool. Like all good commanders, he would have known that arrogance with new technology was lethal. So he would have taken them farther south…”
“Where?”
Veyron studied the next map, which extended into the waters south of New Zealand and out toward South America and Cape Horn. “Here. There’s an ancient valley system extending hundreds and potentially thousands of miles. They start off wide and continue to get smaller, giving the crew of the Omega Deep time to practice. That’s where I would have gone.”
Sam said, “That’s great. Now we just need to narrow it down to an area of more than a million square miles.”
Veyron put his hands in a placating gesture. “Hey, I’m just saying what I would have done if I was commanding a new experimental submarine like the Omega Deep.”
Sam said, “Thanks, Veyron.”
The satellite phone rang.
Sam picked it up.
It was the secretary of defense. She said, “Where are you headed?”
“South. Somewhere near New Zealand. Veyron thinks the Omega Deep headed to a series of known submerged ancient valleys to perform maneuvering tests. Possibly, something went wrong, and the submarine ran aground.”
The secretary said, “That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because we just found the crew of the Omega Deep!”
Sam felt his heart take off at a gallop. “Where?”
“In a series of individual SEIE suit life rafts scattered along the Skeleton Coast of West Africa.”
“Was everyone rescued?”
“We only recovered about two thirds of the crew.”
“Tom’s father and the XO, James Halifax are missing too.” She paused. “There’s a chance they’re still out there in the Atlantic, and it’s just a matter of time before we locate them. Or…”
“What?”
“Or, it just proves they were responsible for the theft of the Omega Deep.”
“All right. What are the crew saying happened?”
“None of them can remember. They were following a private submarine – an Orcasub – into a valley, but something went wrong. They all seem to be giving conflicting stories. Some say the submarine’s hull was breached and flooded. Others say they made an emergency exit using the SEIE suits. Others say they surfaced and abandoned the submarine for life rafts after mechanical faults and the two most senior officers went below to scuttle the submarine. You have to remember they were all sleep deprived and dehydrated, so they aren’t quite making any sense yet.”
“How bizarre. Was there any similarity between their stories?”
“Not really. Except…”
“Except what?”
“You wouldn’t credit it, but almost all of them made some reference to being in paradise only to be attacked by what they are calling monsters.”
“Monsters?” Sam asked. “What sort?”
“They were described as being beasts as large as cars. Some looked like bears – others were covered in scales and spikes. I would have dismissed the lot of them, if it weren’t for the fact that it was the only general theme they all shared.”
“Bizarre. Did you find drugs in their system?”
“Drugs?”
“Yeah. Amphetamines, cocaine, LSD? Something that might account for their shared hallucinations.”
“Not yet. They were only picked up an hour ago by local fishermen. One of our vessels currently stationed in the Mediterranean is on its way to meet them.”
Sam said, “All right. Let me know what they find. We’re going to keep heading south. Let us know if you learn anything, and we’ll circle around Cape Horn and head into the Atlantic to help. Just one more thing…”
“Shoot?”
Sam made a thin-lipped smile. “Did any of them give a rough location of the wreck site?”
“Yeah, but we’re pretty certain its wrong.”
“Why?”
“Because they said they were in the South Pacific Ocean at the time. But that’s impossible. There’s no way anyone would have survived floating on a single-person raft all the way from the Pacific around the Cape, and across the Atlantic, is there?”
Sam swallowed. “Not a chance in hell.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Sam found Svetlana working on the laptop Elise had loaned her in the meeting room on the first deck. It’s hard drive had been wiped beforehand, and it had no connection to the satellite internet. At the end of the room, Genevieve reviewed maintenance logs for the Sea King and caught up on some other paperwork, which was more of a pretense for what she was really doing, which was guarding Svetlana. No one had told her that Genevieve was Russian. Right now, they wanted to play all their cards as close to their chest as possible.
To Svetlana, Sam said, “Any luck finding who was involved?”
She took a sip of her coffee and said, “Some, but not enough.”
“What do you know?”
“The man who came to visit the Vostok while I was locked in my surveillance room was an American. What’s more, the very same man visited the Vostok nearly three months ago, just before she was assigned to the Arctic Circle. One of the men who took him for a tour of the Vostok was my commander who’s now dead, but the other one I can’t find, and right now I have no way to find out if he was another American or one of ours.”
Sam said, “If you give me a copy of the image of the man’s face, I can have Elise find out for you. If he’s one of ours, she’ll have it on the navy’s human resources database. And if he’s one of yours, she will probably have it on the navy’s foreign
intelligence databases.”
Svetlana eyed him, as though conflicted by how much to trust him. “Sure. I’ve got a copy on this USB stick. You can give it to Elise if you still don’t want to trust me with wireless connectivity.”
Thanks, Sam said, taking it. “I think that’s best, for everyone.” Then, turning to Genevieve, he said, “Do you mind running this up to Elise and asking her to urgently locate the identity of the man on the right.”
“Sure,” Genevieve’s eyes darted between Sam and Svetlana and back again. “Are you sure you’re all right down here?”
“Fine,” Sam replied amused by her concern.
Genevieve had already mentioned that just because the Russian spy wasn’t armed, didn’t make her any less dangerous.
Returning his gaze toward Svetlana, he said, “Elise is a genius. It won’t take her long to find out whose face that belongs to.”
“Elise is in intelligence gathering?”
Sam evaded the question. “Sort of.”
“CIA, FBI, or Military?”
Sam laughed. “It’s none of your business, but if it lets you concentrate on the task at hand, I’ll let you in on a secret.”
Svetlana smiled, as though she was willing to wait patiently for whatever it was Sam was going to reveal to her.
Sam said, “Elise works with me. She’s a computer geek and one of the best hackers in the world. She’s not for sale. She only works for me because it entertains her, and if I don’t find her enough interesting challenges, she disappears.”
Svetlana smiled, amused by the thought. Then, returning to her problem, said, “What about the American?”
Sam grinned. “I don’t suppose he was just coming on board as a guest?”
“No way in hell. You forget the Vostok was our prized information gathering vessel. There’s no way someone would have allowed an American to come on board.”
“What do you think he was doing there, three months ago?”
“I think he was offering to sell the Omega Deep to the commander.”
“But the Omega Deep hadn’t even launched yet.”
“Think about it, Mr. Reilly. You’re a smart guy. Where are the crew of a submarine from the whole world over, a few weeks before they’re deployed to a potentially 3-6-month tour of duty?”
“They’re on leave.”
“Exactly.” Svetlana smiled, revealing perfectly even white teeth.
Tom walked into the room.
Sam said, “Hey Tom, do you have the crew list for the Omega Deep on you?”
“Yeah, I think the Secretary emailed it to my phone. Why?”
Svetlana answered. “Because we need you to use it to see if someone who boarded the Vostok three months ago was on it, who I believe might have been in the process of trying to sell the Omega Deep to my commander.” She froze the image and zoomed into the face. Turning the laptop toward Tom, she said, “This man.”
Tom glanced at the screen and frowned. “I don’t have to check the list.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because I already know who that is.”
Sam said, “Who?”
“His name is James Halifax, and he’s my father’s XO.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
Sam contacted the secretary of defense and updated her with the news of who most likely betrayed them.
When he was finished, Sam asked, “Any news from the survivors?”
“It was LSD.”
“What?” Sam asked, confused.
“You said to check their urine for traces of illicit drugs. We did. There were high levels of LSD.”
“In all of them?” Sam asked.
“Every single one of them. Someone wanted them to give a strange account of their disaster, that would confuse our search.”
“It would appear so.”
Sam asked, “How much longer until we have the Chinese and Russian navies on our tail?”
“They’re running about 24 hours behind you. The Russian aircraft carrier crossed the Bearing Strait a few hours ago and the Chinese aircraft carrier will reach Hawaii in about 4 hours.”
“All right, so while we keep heading south, we’ll keep that advantage, but I don’t have a clue what we’re going to do while we search for the Omega Deep, if it even is in the Pacific Ocean. Like you said, no matter which way you look, it’s almost impossible to think that the survivors have all traveled from the South Pacific Ocean in small life rafts.”
“About that.”
“What?”
The secretary said, “It appears some of the survivors might be telling the truth.”
“How so?”
“They said they ran aground in the South Pacific Ocean, so we had the life rafts tested – to see where the microbes and sea life originated.”
“And?”
“As expected, there were many types of marine algae, protists, plankton, and bacteria.”
Sam almost shouted, “What did you find!”
“Bacillus pacificus.”
“That’s only found in the tropical, warm waters of the Pacific Ocean.”
“Yes.”
“And our only lead takes us farther south. There’s no way we’re heading the right direction.”
“I know. It’s not necessarily helpful, but at least you know you’re in the right ocean. We’re sending the USS Gerald R. Ford back to escort you. Good luck.”
Sam put the satellite phone down.
Svetlana asked, “What now?”
“The life rafts were contaminated with the bacteria Bacillus pacificus, which is only found in the tropical waters of the Pacific Ocean.”
“Does that definitely rule out the South Pacific?”
Sam said, “It does unless you can find some warm water there.”
“How warm?”
“At least 85 degrees Fahrenheit.”
“What will you do?” she asked.
“I’m not sure.” Sam shook his head with incredulity. “To make matters worse, we now have aircraft carriers from Russia, China, and America all racing to converge on our location.”
She leveled her gray eyes at him. “You know if you play this wrong, you’re going to set us up for World War III, don’t you?”
Sam nodded. “I know.”
Elise walked into the room. “I know who the third person was in that photo you sent me, Svetlana.”
“Who?”
“Luka Kuznetsov.”
Svetlana swore in her native language.
Sam said, “You’ve heard of him?”
“Of course, I have. He’s a senior official in charge of military research and development.” Svetlana swallowed hard. “And he’s also the president’s brother-in-law.”
Sam understood the implication immediately. Either Luka Kuznetsov was trying to buy the submarine for Russia, and there was a traitor within the U.S. Navy, or Kuznetsov was a traitor to Russia. Either way, it begged the question, was the president of Russia involved? Then he thought about the attack on the Chinese aircraft carrier, which was made to look like it had come from an American nuclear attack submarine.
“You know what someone’s trying to do?”
“Yeah, face the world’s superpowers off against each other.”
“The question is, who would gain the most from it?”
“Beats me,” she replied. “What will you do now?”
“I don’t know. It’s clear the USS Omega Deep might be the only thing that stands between us and war.”
Sam studied her, he had fallen into the easy way of communication he had with the rest of his crew, even though she was a known Russian spy. It was dangerous territory, but she had plenty of information to offer him, and he had no reason, or place to get rid of her at the moment.
He asked, “What do you want to do?”
She shrugged as though it wasn’t her problem. “I think right now that I’m the only thing stopping World War III from taking place.”
“How?”
“We need t
o get to the Omega Deep before anyone else.”
“How? We’ve already been through this – our original theory of where the submarine ended up has now been totally shot.”
She sighed heavily. “I might be able to help if you give me your bathymetric and Admiralty charts.”
Sam studied her through narrowed eyes. “Why should we trust you?”
“Because I have the coordinates for the wreckage of the Omega Deep.”
“What? You knew all this time? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“How could I trust you? Besides, we only know now that finding that submarine is in our mutual interest, as possibly the only solution to avoid a clash between the world’s greatest superpowers.”
Sam dismissed his sense of betrayal. After all, he reminded himself he was dealing with a Russian spy. Instead, he turned the problem at hand, and asked, “Where?”
Svetlana grinned. “Somewhere inside the 8th Continent.”
Chapter Forty-Eight
The Submerged 8th Continent, 500 Miles South of New Zealand.
The Maria Helena reduced its speed to a gentle cruise of just four knots.
Sam shook his head in disbelief. The coordinates Svetlana had given him had taken them to what appeared to be an ancient landmass, now buried in just 50 feet of water. The rough waters and large swell of the Southern Ocean were replaced by the perfectly still waters that concealed the 8th continent.
If you drew a line between New Zealand’s North Island and South America, and then cut it in half, and headed 500 miles due south, one would reach the strange place.
With the exception of Veyron, who was checking the towed monitoring array that would allow them to track the UV-emitting cadmium that Professor Douglas Capel had provided, the rest of Sam’s crew and Svetlana stood at the bridge. With Matthew at the helm, adamant that no one except himself would touch the wheel while the Maria Helena explored such uncharted areas. Sam and Tom simply studied the calm sea out through the windshield. Elise studied her laptop, which constantly received updated bathymetric data and correlated it with any location that might be concealing the USS Omega Deep. Svetlana studied the new-found land, her eyes sweeping the flat surface of the sea in awe, while Genevieve kept an eye on Svetlana, almost daring her to do something dangerous.
Omega Deep (Sam Reilly Book 12) Page 21
