Undetected (44 page)

“If we can't find the sub within the next several hours, we'll consider it. They know we can do a topology map of the ocean floor from space, but we'd rather not give away just how good these maps are.” Hardman checked the time. “Where are we at for the solar flare photo?”

Daniel consulted the timer on his watch. “Two hours ten minutes, sir.”

“That photo is going to be our best answer to this crisis. Let's hope the boat is afloat and the next photo can show us where it is.”

The images were barely smudges, it was so early in the data collection. The algorithms showed a dot or two where
a submarine might be. Gina had the stretch of ocean from Taiwan to South Korea spread across the three screens, zooming in to check out the smudges.

“Look at all those possible subs. I'm at 64,” Daniel offered, leaning close to the nearest monitor as he finished his count. “There's hardly anybody left in port.”

Gina watched a dot on the photo disappear. “Another half hour and the ones which aren't submarines will be scrubbed out. But at this point, all real subs should now be showing, so we can start overlaying what the TCC knows against this. We'll eliminate those we can identify.”

Daniel pointed to the middle screen. “From the previous data we know these four subs are Japanese, these two are South Korean.”

Gina dropped a blue circle around them.

“I think we can eliminate any points that China had a surface boat pass over during its search.” She dropped yellow circles around them. “That takes most of these out of the equation. What else can we eliminate?”

Daniel pointed. “Anything to the east of this island can't be our missing sub, as the distance from the collision site is too great.”

She dropped gray circles around them, then had an idea. “Daniel, see if you can get someone in the TCC to give us a real-time radio-wave- transmission map. We don't care what the content is, just that there's radio traffic originating from a location. Our sub isn't sending traffic, so any smudge sending out radio traffic is one we can eliminate.”

“Great idea. Let me see what the guys can get us.” Once more Daniel pushed back his chair and headed into the TCC proper.

The photo resolution was improving, turning smudges into more defined forms. Gina rolled her shoulders and neck to fight the tightness from her sitting so long. A third had been identified from TCC data, radio traffic had eliminated another third, and the distance from the possible collision site ruled out several more. The
Seawolf
was now named and circled in black.

She set blinking red boxes around four images.

Daniel turned to look at her. “You think?”

Gina nodded. “Get Hardman.”

“This has to be the sub, sir,” Daniel told Rear Admiral Hardman, pointing at the screen. “The other candidates imply a speed of travel from the collision site that, while theoretically possible, isn't practical for a damaged boat.” Others were crowded into Gina Bishop's office to look at the marked-up photo.

“Captain Strong?”

“I concur, sir. If that's the missing China sub, she's quite a distance east of the collision site, and heading into the middle of the Pacific—meaning she's lost. But their premise of a collision fits the topology data. The sub's been found, sir.”

Hardman nodded. “Flash orders to the
Seawolf
of a sub in distress, with these coordinates. Confirm and render assistance.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Follow it with a message to the
Nevada
to turn east and
come within cross-sonar range of the
Michigan
again. Let's see what cross-sonar can pick up at these coordinates.”

Strong hesitated. “Both are holding launch-hot missiles, sir.”

“It can't be helped. If we've located China's boat, only to find it as she's sinking, I need the sonar recordings of what is happening before she drops to the ocean floor. If we can't give the Chinese back their boat with her crew alive, we'll need to be able to prove to their satisfaction we know where the wreckage went down. I can't give them the photo, which is why I need the cross-sonar recordings. But do warn our crews not to bump into each other.”

Strong smiled. “Yes, sir.”

Commander Mark Bishop leaned against the door and watched as Sonar Chief Larry Penn worked the hydrophone acoustics in order to get the best overlay.

Penn flipped a switch, putting the audio on the speakers. “That's got to be it, Bishop. The diesel plant is running, but those are damaged screws. And I'm hearing waffle bubbles. They don't have a smooth hull.”

“Sounds a bit like a meat grinder stuck and trying to break free,” Bishop decided after listening for a minute. “It's far east of the collision site, and well outside where China is searching.”

“A weird place to be,” Penn agreed. “Depth is fluctuating rapidly, presently about 300 feet and struggling to rise. This has to be the missing Chinese sub. I wonder how Command found it to give us these coordinates.”

Bishop didn't reply to the idly asked question. Enough
time had passed since the solar flare that he knew Tactical Command would have had a photo to work from. “Where's the
Michigan
?”

“Pacing 14 miles off our starboard side, sir,” Sonarman Tulley answered.

“Keep a close eye on him. I want to hear any change in speed or direction.”

“Yes, sir.”

“The
Seawolf
?”

The sonarman monitoring the narrowband console leaned forward and checked a line in the waterfall. “Ten miles northwest of the crippled boat now, sir, and slowing.”

Bishop walked toward the radio room. He was hoping for an EAM that would let him step the missiles back a level from launch and remove the flight guidance package. He was hoping, but knew it wasn't likely to arrive soon. The nations involved had to move toward peace, a careful step-by-step process that took diplomatic time and attention.

If this was China's missing sub—and he thought it was—how the boat had been damaged was still an open question. North Korea still had a missile on the launch pad, fueled and ready to fly, with an unknown payload aboard. The world hadn't gotten safer yet; the situation had simply become a bit clearer.

Bishop quietly thanked God for the ability to get that photo. Clarity right now might be the one thing keeping the world from plunging into another war.

The Pentagon had a drone on station above the recovery site. Gina watched the video from the back row of the theater
seats. Relief, joy, worry, fear—the emotions had all passed through her mind in the last few hours. At the moment she just wanted to close her eyes and for someone to say this was over.

China had three ships and a sub on the surface rendering assistance to the damaged sub. Crewmen were leaving the sub five at a time now, transported by small craft across to one of the surface ships. The USS
Seawolf
had been on the surface for a time, visible in the drone video feed, but had now slipped back into the sea.

The air cradle the
Seawolf
had deployed floated like a bright yellow bladder on either side of the damaged sub, replacing the buoyancy of the destroyed ballast tanks and holding the submarine on the surface. The
Seawolf
had shot the cradle out of a torpedo tube, then pumped in air from her own air locks to partially inflate it. It had given time for the sea-rescue ships to arrive on station and get more permanent ballast tanks in place. Thankfully the ocean was calm today; otherwise holding the damaged sub at the surface would have been all but impossible.

“It's a wonder that boat wasn't destroyed at the time of the collision,” Daniel said, holding out a sandwich he'd picked up for her.

“It looks like the collision tore a gash down the left side of the hull and crumpled the front,” Gina said. “Any word on the crew?”

“Initial word is six seriously injured, three missing and presumed dead, out of a crew of 87.”

She winced. “Families are going to be suffering tonight.”

“They could have all been lost. That crew did an incredible job saving their boat. I admire what I see.”

She unwrapped the sandwich, looked at Daniel. “We've
proven this was an accident, a collision with a seamount, but the rest of the situation hasn't changed much. It just reverted back to where the world was before China's sub went missing. China and Japan are still in a territorial dispute over islands and a seabed gas field. North Korea still has a missile on the launcher, armed with an unknown payload.”

Daniel nodded. “This incident and our response bought us some goodwill,” he added. “One of the engineers aboard is the grandson of the Chinese premier. Our military found the sub, our guys helped coordinate the rescue. It means the U.S. saved some lives. China will feel honor-bound to listen to what our military has to say on the other matters of concern. That's a win-win all the way around. Maybe it's enough goodwill that China will help temper what North Korea is doing, send China's own fleet back to port, and let diplomats continue to negotiate over the disputed lands. This flare-up of trouble gets quieted back down. That's a good outcome. Nothing gets solved in the immediate term, but we get peace for another day. We were able to use cross-sonar, the topology maps, and your photo to unravel this mystery without giving the Chinese any indication we had those capabilities—another excellent outcome.”