were getting through. “And who taught you Morse code?” he ended.
“Magruder.”
“Rear Admiral Magruder?” The SEAL considered this new fact carefully.
How in the world–no, he decided, the explanation would undoubtedly be a
long one. It could wait. Right now, they had more important priorities to
discuss.
“We leave,” he tapped out slowly. “Wait-wait for chance. Americans
come.”
The Inuit tapped out the short signal for affirmative, giving no sign
on his dark, impassive face that anything was happening.
1150 Local
USS Coronado
“How close is the nearest island?” Tombstone asked. He stared at the
speaker as though he saw Batman’s face in it.
“About six miles away. There’s a native settlement there, a small
airstrip. That’s where the radio signal came from.” Batman’s voice
sounded tinny on the old speaker.
“And what are we doing about them? Batman, you’re going to have to
get them out of there. Plan a NEONaval Evacuation Operation. It’s bad
enough they’re on one uninhabited island, but we’ve got to keep the
situation contained. Get back to me within three hours with your plan.”
“Aye, aye, Admiral,” Batman said formally. Tombstone heard a note of
chagrin in his old friend’s voice. “I’m not sure I would have thought of
it either, Batman,” Tombstone continued. “Don’t beat yourself up over
it–just get it done.”
“Roger, copy. I’ll get the planners started on it as soon as we are
done here.”
“Top priority,” Tombstone ordered. “The last thing I want during the
first months of my tour is a hostage situation on American soil.”
1200 Local
Tomcat 201
“I say we go back and take another look,” Bird Dog argued. “It’ll be
easy.”
“Nothing involving Stingers is easy,” his RIO responded.
“The way I wanna do it, it will be. Listen, we go out thirty miles
and drop down on the deck. We come in at the island at five hundred feet,
so low they can’t see us coming. We take a quick pass overland, on
afterburners, and we’re out of there before they have a chance to line up
the shot. I say it’ll work.”
“And I say we don’t do a damned thing until Mother gets back to us,”
the RIO retorted. “Jesus, Bird Dog, this is a fighter aircraft, not a
surveillance one. Besides, you’re too heavy with all that weaponry on the
wings to get us the hell out of there if we need to move.”
“So we dump it. Like this.” Bird Dog reached out for the weapons
jettison switch.
“You’re out of your fucking mind,” Gator shouted. “Do you know how
much those missiles cost?”
“Yeah, I do. A hell of a lot less than the life of one SEAL on the
ground and in trouble.”
Aflu
“It will be simplicity itself,” Rogov concluded, glancing at the faces
of the men around him. “Every man does his part, and within fifteen
minutes we have the ultimate prize–possession of the nerve center of an
American carrier.”
He could tell they weren’t convinced, although no trace of dissent
showed on their faces. It was, he had to admit, a daring plan. But what
were the options? Returning his two prisoners to the submarine was indeed
a possibility, but his hold over the operational forces there was already
tenuous. Besides, interrogating them was not essential to achieving their
purpose. To truly demonstrate the might of a Cossack nation, to make the
rest of the world take them seriously, what could be more effective than
doing what no other force had done before–boarding and capturing an
American warship. And not some small spy vessel, but the most potent force
in America’s arsenal. The aircraft carrier.
“You may ask questions,” he said condescendingly.
“Sir, how will we keep control of the entire ship? With only forty
men?” It was as near to criticism as Rogov was likely to get from any of
the troops.
“I will explain again. One team will proceed immediately to the
Wardroom Mess, enter the admiral’s cabin through there, and from there go
directly to TFCC. You understand, those doors that are locked when they’re
in port are most probably left open while at sea, just as they are on our