Piranha: Firing Point

“This isn’t just the sound profile of the second explosion; this is all six explosion-noise graphs superimposed.

I say again, there weren’t six hull-implosion noises.

There was one, replayed six times, the exact same noise.

Isn’t physics fun, Mikey?

“Next, video clip of the wreckage at the site. They’d uplinked this to a Galaxy satellite from the salvage lead ship. And yes, we intercepted it and decoded it. Not a bad job, frankly. Now, check out the wreckage.”

The video clips of the wreckage rolled, one by one.

Donchez’s image returned, showing him puffing on the cigar again. “You didn’t notice anything out of place, no casual observer would. But guess what. See the floating shoe polish? The enhancement our fancy computers did reveals something interesting about it. The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force is relentless about atmospheric contaminants on their submarines. You know, floor wax, cooking grease, cigarette smoke. It all gets into the air ducts, it contaminates the computer systems, eventually it can screw up the ship. The MSDF does not allow any, repeat any shoe polish onboard, of any manufacturer. Oh, I know what you’re thinking, someone just brought it aboard unthinkingly. Nope. Back to our enhancement. The shoe polish is made, guess where?

You got it, Red China, standard issue for the PLA. Not enough for you? Well, we did the same with the cleaner-fluid bottle floating next to the shoe polish. If they’d used that aboard a Rising Sun-class, they would have killed the DNA processors within hours; it’s a nerve toxin to the computer. And no, that’s not what sank them, by the way. If you lose the biological part of the computer, it switches to manual, and the lower functions of the Second Captain drive the submarine out of danger, surface it, unless the crew takes manual control. Oh, and guess where the cleaning fluid is made? Can’t tell from the video, but the computer enhancement — oh, hell, you’ve guessed it. Red China once again.

“Still not enough? How about the comms we broke from Red China in the months before this war broke out? We got some quite juicy things out about an Operation Red Dagger. I’m not going into the details of that, but suffice it to say, a while back a Korean sub sank with no warning. It sank because it was hijacked, then intentionally scuttled as a demonstration. Number Four has all the details on that, by the way.

“So why didn’t I or NSA go to Wamer with this, or the CNO, or Gaz? By now you’ve probably answered your own question. There’s a certain knowledge you and I have because we were sub officers, Mikey, and until you’ve looked at a cruise ship at close range off Club Med, seen it in periscope crosshairs, knowing you could take it down with one shot, with no one knowing it was you, you don’t know what being a submariner is. Warner’s officials don’t know and they don’t want to know.

“I tried to tell them about the Rising Suns. Every person I told about it in private mysteriously forgot about it. I spoke to advisers in groups. Same cold shoulder. I went to Wamer and Gaz. Now, a lot of the evidence hadn’t come in yet, and I was coughing and in a lot of pain, and Gaz heard what I was driving at, and he wouldn’t let me finish the briefing. Warner leans on him, and also on a Harvard professor named Masters who thinks he knows everything. If they disagree with you, you are sunk.

“But I didn’t want you going in cold, so I asked Number Four to give you some things to think about, but at the same time I didn’t want your credibility as damaged as mine is. Maybe that way you can still get something done.

“Now, I asked you to listen to me, and I hope you still are. You probably recommended to Wamer that she use caution in using the RDF. You will not see caution from her on this. Push to do anything you can to get those Rising Suns, but realize something — they are good, and the only thing we can hope for is that the Reds can’t operate them very well.

“Beyond that, my clairvoyance is at an end. For all I know, the mere threat of using the RDF has sent the Reds scurrying back home and you’re on your way to trying to get the SSNX ready to go. Or perhaps the worst has happened, and the Reds sank the entire RDP, and we lost White China. I don’t know.

“But I do know this. Whatever happens, your instincts will be right. Follow them, Mikey. And use O’Shaughnessy and Number Four. They’re good resources, good men. They can help you.”

Donchez paused, taking a final puff and putting the cigar out.

“And now, Mikey, if anyone else is watching this with you, please ask them to step away for a moment. I want to talk to you.”

Paully White left, reaching for another cigarette in the smoke-filled cabin. Pacino kept watching.

“Listen, goddammit, I know you’ll mourn my death.