took a quick glance over his shoulder and saw that the Deep Endeavor
had completed her freighter inspection. The turquoise vessel was
moving away from the freighter and appeared to be following his path in
the distance.
"Sir, would you like to approach the platform or the ship?" the
helmsman asked as they drew nearer.
"Bring us alongside the platform for starters, then we'll go take a
look at the ship," Smith replied.
The small patrol boat slowed as it eased near the platform, which now
rode fourteen meters lower in the water under its ballasted state.
Smith looked in awe at the huge Zenit rocket standing at its launch
tower near the stern edge of the platform. Peering through binoculars,
he studied the platform deck but saw no signs of life. Surveying the
forward section of the platform, he caught sight of the launch
countdown clock, which now read 01:32:00, one hour and thirty-two
minutes.
"What the hell?" Smith muttered as he watched the digital numbers tick
lower. Grabbing the marine radio transmitter, he called to Odyssey.
"Sea Launch platform, this is Coast Guard cutter Narwhal. Over." After
a pause, he tried again. But he was met only with silence.
"Sea Launch director of information, how may I help you?" a soft,
feminine voice answered over the phone line.
"This is the Eleventh District U.S. Coast Guard, Marine Safety Group,
Los Angeles, central dispatch. We're requesting mission and location
status of Sea Launch vessels Odyssey and Sea Launch Commander,
please."
"One moment," the information director hesitated, shuffling through
some papers on her desk.
"Here we are," she continued. "The launch platform Odyssey is en route
to her designated launch site in the western Pacific, near the equator.
Her last reported position, as of eight a.m. this morning, was at
approximately 18 degrees North Latitude, 132 degrees West Longitude, or
roughly seventeen hundred miles east-southeast of Honolulu Hawaii. The
assembly and command ship Sea Launch Commander is presently at port in
Long Beach undergoing minor repairs. She is expected to depart port
tomorrow morning to rendezvous with the Odyssey at the equator, where
the Koreasat 2 launch is scheduled in eight days."
"Neither vessel is currently located at sea off the coast of Southern
California?"
"Why no, of course not."
"Thank you for the information, ma'am."
"You're welcome," the director replied before hanging up, wondering why
the Coast Guard would think the platform was anywhere near the coast of
California.
Smith was too anxious to dally for a response from the Los Angeles
Coast Guard Group and brought his vessel closer to the platform. The
Coast Guard lieutenant was annoyed at the lack of response from the
Odyssey, which had ignored his repetitive radio calls. He finally
turned his attention toward the support ship, which had now crept a
quarter mile away from the platform. Repeated radio calls to the ship
went unanswered as well.
"Sir, she's flying a Japanese flag," the helmsman noted as the Narwhal
moved toward the vessel.
"No excuse for ignoring a marine radio call. Let's move alongside the
vessel and I'll try to talk to them over the PA system," Smith
ordered.
As Narwhal moved out of the shadow of the platform, pandemonium struck
at once. Coast Guard dispatch broke over the Narwhal's radio with word
that the Odyssey was reported a thousand miles away from California and
that her support ship was sitting docked in Long Beach. Aboard the
Koguryo, a handful of crewmen pushed aside a lower deck siding,
revealing a row of large cylindrical tubes pointing
seaward. Though in disbelief, Smith's instincts took over, correctly
assessing the situation and barking orders before he even realized the
words were flowing from his lips.
"Hard to port! Apply full power! Prepare for evasive maneuvers!" But
it was too late. The helmsman was just able to swing the Narwhal
broadside to the Koguryo when a plume of white smoke suddenly billowed
from the larger ship's lower deck. The smoke seemed to build at its
source before a bright flash burst forth. Then, out of the smoke, a
Chinese CSS-N-4 Sardine surface-to-surface missile erupted from its
launch tube, bursting horizontally away from the ship. Watching
mesmerized from the bridge, Smith had the distinct sensation of being
shot between the eyes with an arrow as he observed the missile charge
directly toward him across the water. The nose tip of the missile
seemed to smile at him in the fractional second before it smashed into
the bridge just a few feet away.
Carrying 365 pounds of high explosives, the Chinese missile had enough
demolition power to sink a cruiser. Striking at short range, the
cutter had no chance. The nineteen-foot missile ripped-into the
Narwhal and exploded in a massive fireball, blasting the Coast Guard
ship and its crew into fiery bits that scattered across the water. A
small black mushroom cloud rose like a macabre tombstone above the
devastation as the flames died quietly on the water's surface. The
incinerated white hull, the only material remains of the ship left
intact, clung to the sea's surface in a futile battle to stay afloat.
Around her, flaming chunks of debris blazed in the water before slowly
sinking to the seabed. The smoldering hull clung to the surface for
nearly fifteen minutes before the fight left her and the last remains
of the Narwhal slipped under the surface with a gasping sizzle and a
wisp of steam.
My God, they've fired a missile at the Narwhall" Captain Burch cried
out as he watched the Coast Guard ship disappear in a cloud of smoke
and fire two miles ahead of the Deep Endeavor. Del-gado immediately
attempted to raise the Narwhalon the marine radio as the others peered
out the bridge window. Summer grabbed a pair of high-power binoculars
but there was little to be seen of the Narwhal, its shattered remains
obscured by a thick veil of smoke. Looking past the smoke, she scanned
the platform and the adjacent support ship, which she studied for a
long while.
"There's no response," Delgado said quietly after repeated attempts to
contact the Coast Guard vessel were met with silence.
"There may be survivors in the water," Aimes stuttered, stunned at the
sudden demise of a boat and crew he knew well.
"I can't dare move any closer," Captain Burch replied with angst.
"We're completely unarmed, and they may well be aiming their next
missile at us as we speak." Burch then turned and ordered his helmsman
to stop engines and hold their present position.
Delgado spoke to Aimes. "The captain is right. We'll call for help
but we can't endanger our crew. We don't even know who or what we are
up against."
"It's Kang's men," Summer said, handing the binoculars to her
brother.
"You're sure?" Aimes asked.
She nodded silently with a shiver as Dirk surveyed the vessels. :
>
"She's right," he said slowly. "The support ship. It's the same
vessel that sank the Sea Rover. She's even flying a Japanese flag.
They've painted and reconfigured her, but I'll bet my next paycheck
it's the same ship."
"But why are they standing off here with the platform?" Aimes added, a
mask of confusion crossing his face.
"There can only be one reason. They are preparing to launch a strike
with the Sea Launch rocket."
A subdued silence fell across the bridge as the gravity of the
situation sunk in. A disbelieving Aimes finally broke the hushed
confines.
"But the Narwhal. We've got to see if anyone's alive."
"Aimes, you need to get some help out here, and now," Dirk replied
brusquely. "I'll go see if there are any survivors."
Delgado looked at Dirk with a furrowed brow. "But we don't dare bring
the Deep Endeavor any closer," he cautioned.
"I don't intend to," Dirk replied without explanation as he quickly
exited the bridge.
Tongju gazed down from the Odyssey's bridge at the smoldering debris of
the Narwhal and stared quietly. There was no choice but for the
Koguryo to act against the Coast Guard vessel. It was what he had
ordered Kim to do. But they were positioned far enough off shore that
they should never have been detected in the first place. He knew now
that it was the encounter with the blimp that had raised suspicions.
Silently, he cursed the Ukrainian engineers for moving the launch site
closer to shore, neglecting to consider that the final decision had
been his.
Pacing the Odyssey's bridge anxiously, he noted the launch countdown
clock read 01:10:00, one hour and ten minutes to go. A radio call from
the Koguryo crackled through the air, breaking his thoughts.
"This is Lee. We destroyed the enemy vessel, as you directed. There
is another vessel standing off two thousand meters. Do you wish us to
destroy her also?"
"Is she another military vessel? Over," Tongju asked, peering out the
bridge toward the distant ship.
"Negative. Believed to be a research vessel."
"No. Save your armament, we may need it later."
"As you wish. Ling reports that his launch team is securely aboard the
Koguryo. Are you ready to evacuate the platform?"
"Yes. Send the tender back to the platform, my remaining team will be
ready to evacuate shortly. Out."
Tongju hung up the radio transmitter, then turned to a commando
standing at the rear of the bridge.
"Transfer the Sea Launch prisoners in small groups to the launch
vehicle hangar and lock them in the storage bay located inside. Then
assemble the assault team for transport back to the Koguryo!"
"You do not fear that the platform crew may survive the launch inside
the hangar?" the commando asked.
"The exhaust gases will likely kill them. I do not care whether they
live or die just as long as they are unable to interfere with the
launch.
The commando nodded, then slipped out the rear of the bridge. Tongju
slowly walked across the pilothouse, carefully examining the array of
marine electronics built into the lower forward bulkhead. Finding a
panel that contained the manual override switches to the automated
controls, he pulled out a combat knife and jammed the blade
into a side seam and pried open the cover. Grasping the mass of wires
inside, he yanked the serrated edge of his knife across and through the
bundle, rendering the switches useless. Continuing his trek through
the bridge, he gathered up a half-dozen keyboards attached to various
navigational and positioning computers and tossed them through an open
window, watching patiently as they splashed into the ocean below. A
trio of laptop computers quickly followed the long plunge to a watery
demise. For good measure, he pulled out his Glock and fired several
rounds into an assortment of computer and navigation monitors
positioned about the bridge. As Ling had been ordered to do with the
launch control computers in the hangar, Tongju disabled the navigation
computers in the pilothouse, destroying any possibility of last-minute
intervention. With less than an hour till liftoff, all control of the
platform and the rocket was in the hands of the Koguryo, and there it
would remain.
"Let me go with you," Summer said. "You know that I can pilot anything
under the sea."
"It's just a two-seater, and Jack is the only one with experience in
this thing. It's better that he and I go," Dirk replied, nodding
toward Dahlgren as he prepared the deep-probe submersible for
launching. Grabbing his sister's hand, he looked deeply into her pearl
gray eyes.
"Get ahold of Dad and tell him what happened. Tell him we need help
right away."
Giving his sister a quick embrace, he added quietly, "Make sure Burch
keeps the Endeavor in a safe position even if something happens to
us."
"Be careful," she said as he quickly climbed up and into the
submersible, sealing the hatch behind him. Squirming into the pilot's
seat beside Dahlgren, he saw that the submersible was fully powered up
and ready to go.
"Thirty knots?" Dirk asked with skepticism.
"That's what the owner's manual states," Jack Dahlgren replied, then
turned and gave a thumbs-up signal through the view port window. On
the stern of the Deep Endeavor, a crane operator nodded in reply and
lifted the bright red submersible off the ship's deck and over the
side, dropping it hurriedly into the ocean. The two men caught a quick
glimpse of Summer waving to them on the deck before they were engulfed
in the green water. With the NUMA ship's bow pointed toward the
platform, the submersible was effectively blocked from view by the Deep
Endeavor's superstructure and they were deployed without being seen.
A diver in the water released the cable hook, then gave a rap on the
side to signal they were free.
"Let's see what she'll deliver," Dirk said, activating the six
thrusters and pushing the throttles to their stops.
The cigar-shaped submarine surged rather than leaped forward, amid a
whine of electric motors and rushing water. Dirk adjusted a pair of
diving planes slightly until they were at a submerged depth of twenty
feet, then followed a compass-directed path toward the wreck of the
Narwhal.
Through his hands, the ride felt like driving a vacuum cleaner. The
submersible bobbed and weaved through the current and maneuvered like
they were in a bowl of molasses. But with the buzzing of the thrusters
in his ears, there was no denying she was a speed demon. Even without
a relative speed gauge inside the submersible, Dirk could tell from the
water rushing past the view port that they were moving at a rapid
clip.
"I told you she was a thoroughbred," Dahlgren grinned as he monitored
an elapsed time clock on the console. Turning serious, he added, "We
should be approaching Narwhal's position in about sixty seconds." Dirk
gradually eased off the throttles a minu
te later, throwing the motors
into idle as the Badger's forward momentum waned. Floating to the
surface, Dahlgren adjusted the ballast tanks to keep them low in the
water in order to remain as covert as possible. With his expert touch,
the submersible just barely broke the surface, showing less than a foot
of its topside surfaces above the water.
A few yards in front of them, they could see the demolished hull of the
smoldering Narwhal, her stern raised high in the air at an awkward
angle. Dirk and Dahlgren barely had a chance to gaze at the hulk
before her stern tipped upward even higher, then the entire remnant
slipped quietly under the waves. Scattered about was a handful of
floating debris, some smoldering but none larger than a doormat. Dirk
guided the Badger in a small circle around the wreckage, but there was
no sign of life in the water. Dahlgren solemnly radioed Aimes on the
Deep Endeavor and reported that all appeared lost in the explosion.
"Captain Burch asks that we return to the Deep Endeavor at once,"
Dahlgren added.
Dirk acted as if he didn't hear the comment and guided the submersible
closer to the platform. From their vantage point low in the water,
there was little on the platform deck they could see beyond the top
half of the Zenit and the upper portion of the hangar. But suddenly he
halted the Badger and pointed a finger past the rocket.
"Look, up there."
Dahlgren peered past the rocket but just saw the roof of the hangar and
Dirk Pitt18-Black Wind Page 47
