by J C Ryan
While Sean was out of the way directing the recovery, James and Mackenzie reported to the President via secure satellite link. As soon as he heard there’d been an attack on US citizens in international waters, the President told them he’d get back to them. He summoned the Secretary of State to the Oval Office and then called them back.
“James, Mackenzie, I believe you’ve met the Secretary,” he began. “I’d like you to repeat what you told me.”
James was the spokesperson, and Mackenzie agreed he was best suited for it. The gravity of the occasion kept him from gloating that he’d been needed on this expedition after all. The only things on his mind as he repeated the events of the day were sorrow and a deep worry that this expedition would create an international incident, the last thing they needed when trying to keep a low profile.
The Secretary listened grimly and then asked a few questions — how far they were from any country bordering the Mediterranean, whether the report that the attackers were Caucasian, not Chinese, was credible, and if they were certain the flag on the nearby ship was Chinese.
“James, I’m sure you’re itching to teach them a lesson, but I urge you to let us handle this. If action is required, I’ll let you know.”
“You damn well better let us know! What I’d like to do is blow the bastards out of the water. I’ve got just the team here burning to do it, too. Just give me the word.”
Mackenzie laid her hand on James’s arm and muttered, “James, your blood pressure.”
He took a deep breath to calm himself. “Okay, I get it. We won’t do that, unless ordered to. But keep us in the loop, dammit.”
Fortunately for James, the President was used to his manner, so he didn’t react to the tone of James’s “request”, though the Secretary bristled. “Simmer down, James. Of course, we’ll keep you in the loop. We’ll be in touch — you’ll be the first to know what’s happening.”
When he ended the call, the President ordered the Secretary of State to get to the bottom of the unprovoked attack immediately. In response, the Secretary of State made a video call to his counterpart in China, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
“Good morning, Minister. It seems we have an incident to iron out. What do you know about a ship flying your flag and harassing US citizens diving from their own boat in the Mediterranean?” His tone was firm, though not yet aggressive.
“I assure you, Mr. Secretary. I know nothing of this. What is the nature of the harassment, if I may ask? Your citizens tend to blow things out of proportion.” The minister’s face took on a slight sneer as he flicked his hand in dismissal.
“I wouldn’t call two dead ‘blowing things out of proportion’, sir. I’d suggest you learn about it in a hurry. I don’t know how long I can hold our Navy off.” Now the Secretary’s tone was aggressive.
The Chinese official sat up, squaring his shoulders. “Chances are, this is a commercial ship and has nothing to do with our navy or any military mission. However, if she is flying our flag, I assure you that any attack on her will be met with our severe disapproval. And our navy will come to her aid.” He lifted his chin, staring to gauge the Secretary’s response. He didn’t have long to wait.
The Secretary’s face turned red. He leaned forward over his desk, pointing at his computer screen and looking directly into the Minister’s eyes.
“And I assure you that if you escalate this in any way, the 6th Fleet will respond. You have one hour to get back to me with information that the ship flying your flag is withdrawing from the area.” He jabbed the button on his keyboard that would disconnect the call, then dialed the Chief of Staff.
“I need to see him right away.”
The Chief of Staff replied, “He’s waiting.”
Twenty minutes later, the Secretary of State shook off his security detail as he entered the Oval Office.
“Sir, I regret to inform you that the Chinese don’t appear to be willing to cooperate. I gave them an hour. We’ve got just over half an hour to wait.”
The President waved him to a chair. “Then we wait. I don’t want to get into a shooting war with China over this.”
“Agreed. However, our friend James Rhodes doesn’t seem the patient type who would get permission first.”
The President laughed. “If only you knew how true that is! However, I believe Mackenzie Devereux will sweet-talk him into waiting at least until he’s heard back from us. Half an hour more won’t make much difference.”
The half-hour passed quickly, and with five minutes to spare, the Chinese Minister finally called back. “Mr. Secretary, we have been unable to determine who is aboard that vessel. It is not one of ours, and they have not responded to our requests that they withdraw from the area. Nevertheless, we will not take kindly to any attack on a vessel flying our flag, as I said before. I have nothing more to say to you.” With that, he disconnected abruptly, no doubt in retaliation for the Secretary doing the same an hour before.
“Well, I guess that’s their stance,” the Secretary said. “How do you want to play this Mr. President? You know as well as I do that if the personnel on La Solitude take retaliatory action, it could get ugly.”
The President folded his hands into a steeple and gazed at them before replying. “It’s already ugly. I’ll speak to the Chinese President.” He signaled his Chief of Staff, who hurried out the door to arrange the call. “This snafu is getting out of hand. We can’t leave James and the rest of them unprotected. Everyone on that boat is vital to national security in one way or another. On the other hand, if we scramble the 6th Fleet, we must tell our allies why. That’s not a conversation I’m interested in having since we don’t know how high in their governments these Nabateans have infiltrated.” Thinking of his former Vice President, he continued, “For that matter, we don’t even know how high in our government they’ve infiltrated.”
Moments later, the Chief of Staff entered the room again and signaled the President to activate his screen and camera.
“Good morning, Mr. President,” he said. Unconsciously mimicking the Secretary of State, he continued, “It seems we have an incident and your Minister of Foreign Affairs has not been very cooperative.”
The President of the People’s Republic of China narrowed his eyes. “I am aware of this incident, as you call it. My Minister of Foreign Affairs has studied the situation. What part of ‘these are not our people’ did your Secretary of State not understand?”
The President took a breath and a moment to calm his sudden flare of temper. “Mr. President, need I remind you that although you maintain ‘these are not our people’ your Minister of Foreign Affairs was adamant that your government will protect the ‘unknowns’ just because they are sailing under a Chinese flag?
“This vessel is flying your flag, and you don’t know to whom it belongs. Someone in your government isn’t doing his job. To be frank, it is your government that has created the environment where this type of incident can occur. I demand that you determine who it was who attacked our citizens and killed two of them, or we will.”
“Mr. President, I urge you to consider what you’re implying. Any attempt to detain that ship will be met with the full force of our navy.”
“Well, Mr. President, need I remind you that our 6th Fleet is right there in the Mediterranean? Are you going to force me to send them to the site, or are you going to get that boat with your flag on it to withdraw?”
“I will see what I can do about it,” The Chinese President said in a soft, noncommittal voice, while refusing to look President Grant in the eye as he spoke or when he ended the video call.
President Grant’s face and neck were as red as the Secretary’s had been. “That bastard is not going to do anything. He is going to send one or more of his navy ships to the site.”
“What do you intend to do, Sir?” The Chief of Staff was ready to do the President’s bidding, whatever it was.
“I intend to calm down. Get the Secretary of Defense and the Chief of Naval Ope
rations in here, and get James on the line. I’m going to make a preemptive move. We’ll send one or more of our 6th Fleet ships to standby, kind of like my big brother used to stand there, not interfering, but making sure I didn’t get my ass kicked in a school fight.”
***
While he waited for the President to call back, James hadn’t been idle. Sean had reported to him that Dylan was awake and ready to kick ass. Right after James found Dylan in his cabin and told him to sit tight and let the diplomatic process take its course, he went to consult with Randy regarding a memorial service for the teammates they’d lost.
Randy suggested the service be held on the deck, where there was room for all the scientific team, their security people, the remaining SEALs, and any of his own crew who weren’t on duty. He volunteered to officiate, as the captain of the vessel.
James thanked him and went to speak with each man’s commanding officer about a eulogy. He then enlisted Mackenzie and Liu to notify everyone to be on the deck within the hour for the service. The haste wasn’t to his liking; however, he had a grave suspicion that things were about to get too hectic to wait.
For a quickly arranged service, it went well. SEALs and EA soldiers alike were stoic as their commanders praised their fallen teammates and remembered their good qualities. Mackenzie thought it was a nice touch that the teammates were given a chance to talk about their fallen comrades. She’d never been to a service where one minute people were holding back tears, and the next they were laughing at a fond memory the teammates shared. It made her wish she’d known them better.
At the end, James stood in front of the assembly and said, “Rest assured, your teammates will be avenged. If the scientific and security team as well as the SEALs will remain behind, we’ll have a briefing on what’s being done at the highest levels. Crew members, thank you for attending. You may be excused.”
When none were left but those he’d asked to stay, James began the briefing. “Here’s what we know so far. China is denying any military involvement, and they say they don’t know who owns that ship or who’s aboard. But, and can you believe this shit, just because its flying a Chinese flag, they have the protection of the Chinese navy.”
Sean and Dylan vied to interrupt, and Dylan backed off to let Sean speak. “I say we blow the fuckers up, Chinese flag and all, and let the sharks know dinner’s served. The sea sharks, that is.”
“Hold on. They are saying they’ll respond with military force if there’s an attack on her. I know, and I feel the same way, but I’ve been ordered by the President himself to stand down and let him handle it. We’re also ordered not to make any more dives on this spot until the situation is resolved.”
Carter listened to the exchange with dismay. He couldn’t condone going against the President’s orders, nor could he meekly sit back and do nothing. He glanced at Mackenzie, thinking they sometimes had telepathic abilities. Like the Dolphins and their ansible. He could almost guarantee she was thinking the same thing he was.
“What can we do, short of disobeying the President’s orders?” he asked.
Liu, although born to Chinese parents, hated the Communist Chinese government and would do just about anything in her power to foil them or embarrass them. She timidly raised her hand. All this testosterone had her worried that something awful was about to happen.
“Yes, Liu. You don’t have to raise your hand,” James said.
She put it down self-consciously. “What I understood you to say is we can’t dive here anymore. Did he say anything about sending down the ROV?”
“Hmm, now there is a good—” was as far as James got before Mackenzie interjected.
She shot to her feet. “The Dolphins! What if we enlisted their help?”
Everyone stared at Liu and Mackenzie and started grinning when they realized they had just been presented with a way around the restrictions imposed on them from Washington.
“At least the President can’t forbid them to be in the water. Do it!” James exclaimed. “What can it hurt? If the Dolphins think it’s safe and agree then I say we do it.”
Carter said. “Mackie, can you explain to Merrybeth it could be dangerous for them?”
“Yes, of course. I’ll tell them everything. But remember, they were there during the attack. They know already. Everyone should stop thinking of them as witless animals, and give them the credit their intelligence deserves. They may be innocents, but they aren’t stupid.”
Mackenzie’s statement was proved true when she spoke to Merrybeth a few minutes later. For the first time, they saw an angry Dolphin.
“Who were those bad men?” she asked, swimming back and forth with tightly executed turns.
“We aren’t sure, but we think they’re the bad men who are trying to find the big people cave with the weapons before we do. If they do, it will be very bad. Would your pod be willing to help us with our search in a different way? You have been very helpful so far.”
Merrybeth had something else on her mind before she answered the question. “I have called other pods. We will make the bad people stay away.”
“Thank you, Merrybeth. We appreciate that.”
“What different help would you like? We want to help you.”
“Would you allow us to put equipment on your bodies? We will do it in a way that does not hurt you.”
Merrybeth responded, “I will ask my pod.”
The translation device emitted a rapid-fire series of whistles, clicks, and squeaks, then intoned, “Error.” Mackenzie assumed it couldn’t keep up with the various Dolphins speaking to each other. In a few minutes, Merrybeth was back. By then, Mackenzie had powered the device off and on to reset it.
“We will be happy to help in this way. They are excited.”
Mackenzie clapped her hands in delight. “That’s wonderful! Do you see the metal-fish over there?” She pointed, since Merrybeth was holding her head above the water. The Dolphin spun in place to look where Mackenzie pointed.
“Yes, I see it.”
“That’s where the bad people came from. We must conceal what we’re doing from them. Will you have your pod, those who’d help with the work, come alongside our boat on the other side? I’ll meet you over there to explain what we need from them.”
As the engineers worked quickly at Carter’s request to attach straps that would fit around the Dolphins to carry the comms equipment and underwater cameras, Mackenzie explained each device to the Dolphin that would receive it. Some of the others hung around to watch the proceedings and chitter among themselves, no doubt commenting on the odd land-people who couldn’t send pictures to each other’s minds like they could.
Liu, at Mackenzie’s side, tried to count the dorsal fins that surrounded La Solitude, estimating there were now close to one hundred or more. Constant scanning of the waters below with their sonar equipment and confirmed by the Dolphins revealed no more divers from the Chinese boat. Liu couldn’t blame them. If she’d been among them, experiencing the Dolphins’ punishment on the previous day, she wouldn’t enter the water again, either.
Soon they were back in business, seeing all they could from the safety of the deck while the ROV and the Dolphins explored the streets and hidden rooms of the sunken city. Overnight, they relocated to another site to continue, hoping to leave the boat with the Chinese flag behind. However, each time they relocated over the next couple of days, the Chinese boat followed. Irritating them to the nth degree.
Chapter 71 -
Diplomacy with a thud
Sean and Dylan were becoming more and more enraged and less and less patient with the diplomatic process. Almost two days and nothing had changed. This diplomacy thing was not for them. They were usually called in after diplomacy failed and then they were required to move in, solve the problem, and move out.
Sitting around looking at what they knew the problem was, half a mile away and not being allowed to move a finger, was excruciating. So, they did what they knew best. They began to plot an operati
on to launch when the opportunity arose, one that couldn’t be traced to them.
On the third day, early in the morning, the “researcher” Dolphins were working about seven miles from where La Solitude was anchored. As the images were transmitted to the viewer he watched, they showed something that looked very familiar to Carter.
“That almost looks like . . .” he mused.
“Like what?” Mackenzie asked, when he didn’t finish his sentence.
“I don’t want to say it out loud, yet. Can you get Sam to clean up these images? If this is what I think it is . . .” He trailed off again.
Knowing she wasn’t going to get the rest of the story without Sam, Mackenzie rushed to the lounge where the core IT equipment was set up and the transmissions were recorded permanently on the server. “Can you enhance those last images ASAP? Carter’s about to have a cow about what’s down there.”
Sam laughed. “Now that would be something to see. But yeah, I’ll do it right now. Give me a few.”
Twenty minutes later, a piercing whistle from inside the IT lounge alerted Mackenzie that Sam had something. “Carter, I think Sam wants you to look at what she’s done,” she said.
When Carter saw it, he gave a low whistle. “That’s it! My God, look at them all!” Mackenzie and Sam peered at the screen.
“All of what?”
“Look. There. And there.” He pointed at the screen. What looked like squares of some thin metal covered the sea floor, or rather the table of stone they were looking at. “Doesn’t that look like the plates I found in the City of Lights? I think this is another library!”
Carter picked up the translation device and flipped the switch to speak directly to Ricky, one of the “research” Dolphins. “Ricky, can you go back to the entry of the cave where you were before? I need more pictures!”
“Yes, Carter. I go back.”
Within minutes, Ricky was in the right location, and Carter started guiding him around. This time it was unmistakable. Rows and rows of what looked like shelves, each with stacks of the squares, appeared behind the table with the scattered plates. Carter’s gut told him they’d made a major discovery.
