AK 239: The Enemy Is Already Here

Vasili immediately salutes me. “Thank you, commander.”

“But I’m not a commander and…”

“You’ll always be commander to me!” says Vasili.

There’s such honesty, sincerity and childlike wonder in this man that either I’m a fool or I just saved the world from nuclear war.

To this day, I still prefer to think the latter.

I look at him with wonder and curiosity. “So what will you do now captain…”

“Retire! Retirement sounds really good.”

Vasili hands me his top-secret operational file saying, “The boat’s yours, commander.”

I’m not a commander but, again, all I do is shake his hand and say,

“Thank you, captain.”

Stone, meanwhile, is still trying to pull his large soaked self onto TK-20’s steps.

“Damn it. I need some exercise!”

Tony and Jimmy are trying to help his immenseness by pushing him onto the hull.

Looking around I say, “I suggest we get inside the Typhoon as radiation from that explosion has to be falling all around us.”

All of us tough men look at each other and cannot believe any of us thought of this.

We all quickly scramble onto the sub.

I grab the phone from Jennifer,

“John Denning to NORAD, general are you still there?”

General Norton says, “Go for Norton.”

“General, there is radiation all around this area. Please tell your people that the boat is now yours.”

General Norton says, “Thank you, Denning. Notifying now.”

The sun has now gracefully ascended above Mt. Lazaro on nearby Duke Island.

Stone has managed to get on top of TK-20’s hull as a floatplane lands right next to the sub. Out pops a 400-pound Eskimo with another old, long, Winchester one-shot hunting rifle.

“You need me pops?”

You’re a day late and a dollar short, son” says Stone.

“What?”

“Never mind. Get in the plane and go home. There’s radiation everywhere.”

“I fixed the radiation at work, dad!”

Everyone looks puzzled.

Stone says, “That’s great son, now go home.”

“Okay, popsie,” says Stone’s son.

The kid has already closed the door and is heading away as Stone shakes his head.

“Ever since he was little he always called a radiator, radiation.”

Everyone now gets it, slowly saying, “Ahh.”

The Northern sky near Mt. Lazaro is lighting up the water, trees and snow as the FBI HRT Gold Team boards TK-20, weapons drawn and pointing at all the threats.

“We’ve been given orders to search your boat. Do we have your permission, captain?” asks Skull.

Vasili, “Yes. My men will co-operate with you.”

Skull says, “Thank you, captain.”

While the sub is being boarded by Skull, he listens on his headpiece,

“I have just been given orders to stand down.”

Skull gets back on his boat as an MH-60R comes flying in low and hot (armed).

Racing right behind is the guided missile destroyer, USS Hoon.

I say, “This is probably a SEAL platoon. I’d bet anything they just spent the last ten minutes inbound looking over the schematics of your boat to thoroughly clear it.”

Vasili, “Good luck. This thing’s been retrofitted for the last five years. You have no schematics.”

I say with confidence,

“Don’t be so sure.”

Vasili says, “That’s what I love about you Americans. Absolute confidence.”

“We Russians, we overthink everything!”

I’m standing on the conn of TK-20 with Jen and Captain Vasili and fully expect to see SEALs repel down onto the hull of TK-20.

This helicopter is the newest Romeo model of the series with one top-secret exception:

There’s a giant round device under the cockpit area. I was told by senior Naval Intelligence not to write anything about this device.

However, based on my current status (See: Book Number Two) I have no choice but to warn you about this exotic and very deadly weapon system.

Skull shouts up to us, “I’ve been given an order: All of you must enter TK-20 immediately and await further instructions below.”

At that time I didn’t think anything was unusual about the order.

Captain Vasili salutes and disappears below. Jen follows him. I’m the last person off the conning tower when I remember we left our phone up there. I climb back up there and witness the most bizarre sight of my life.

These, for lack of a better word, ghosts, don’t repel but literally beam from the helicopter to TK-20’s hull, in a sharp, tiny, blue, laser beam.

A small bright blue cloud gathers just outside the hull and grows larger. Once the cloud reaches the size of three distinct eight-foot tall ghosts, they look to be sucked right inside TK-20’s hull!

The ghosts act as if the ship’s hull wasn’t even there!

Their vapor trail looks only to be made up of ones and zeros.

It’s very difficult to describe them any further, so I’ll just show you a picture taken by a Russian sailor on his phone when confronting these “things.”

^{©Copyright 2016 Roger R. Ellis, Esq., ALL RIGHTS RESERVED}

^{3D Artist: Jose Ariel Limandri}

That is an actual picture of the ghosts taken by a Russian sailor on TK-20.

One Russian sailor said,

“I see ghosts!”

Vasili’s crew already has a nickname for these guys:

TIM!

The Invisible Men (TIM)!