Submarine

But she loved him. Lorna loved him. In the nick of time he was experiencing the indefinable, spiritual force they loosely termed love. Like so many of his contemporaries, he had always thought 'love' was merely a respectable word for 'sex'. How else could a guy decently get the girl? That's how it had been with Margot: and once he'd had her he could never get enough of it with her… but Lorna, dear God, was different… and grinning sheepishly to himself, he opened his briefcase. A man's attitudes, even his fundamentals, were toppled remarkably swiftly, once he fell in love.

FOSM'S staff were waiting for him when, half an hour late because of a suicide on the line between Edgware Road and Baker Street, Farge was finally shown into COMSUBEASTLANT'S headquarters below ground at Northwood. There was a break in the hum of conversation around the planning tables when the staff captain, glancing at the clock on the wall, walked towards Farge. <

'I'll fetch the admiral,' he said. 'That's your seat, Farge.'

Farge settled himself into one of the three empty chairs in the centre of the front row of the semi-circle facing the blown-up charts on the wall. He flipped his notebook from his briefcase as the assembled officers rose to their feet; FOSM entered the room, a stocky red-whiskered commander at his side. They walked briskly across to the two vacant seats.

'Farge, you remember Commander Coombes,' FOSM said. 'Safari's new captain.'

'We've known each other a long time, sir,' Farge said.

'I hope the leave's done you good?'

'Fine, sir. I'm sorry I'm late.'

'I've been in the ops library with Coombes here.' Rackham pointed to the two empty chairs. 'We've got a lot to do,' he said, 'and precious little time.'

The lights dimmed immediately; the charts of the Norwegian and Barents Seas glowed on the wall behind Rackham as he began his briefing with a run-down of the past week's events. 'You'll have heard nothing more officially since SACLANT'S general signal on the twenty-second of April.' He flicked a signal from the message clip and held it up.

PRECEDENCE: IMMEDIATE SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: SECRET FROM: SACLANT TO: ALL NATO COMMAND, ALL SHIPS DTG: 221957 (ZULU) APRIL SOVIET GOVERNMENT IS REQUESTING CESSATION ALL NAVAL AND AIR OPERATIONS PENDING TRUCE NEGOTIATIONS. ALL SHIPS REVERT TO RULE OF ENGAGEMENT 14. ALERT STATE ONE REMAINS IN FORCE. MESSAGE ENDS.

'During this last week,' Rackham explained, ' a temporary truce has been agreed — and I emphasize temporary. Whether it develops into peace depends on the submariners of the free world.' He spoke then of the political horse-trading which had resulted in this extraordinary lull: the Soviet government had demanded cessation of hostilities because of the devastating losses to their submarine fleet during the opening phase of the Atlantic battle, the battle to decide whether trans-Atlantic convoys could reinforce Europe.The Kremlin was demanding the truce. If we refused and continued with trans-Atlantic reinforcements, the Soviets would commit their ICBMS to the battle. Their SSBNS, the vital second strike capability without which no Russian power would remain, were, the Soviets claimed, invulnerable, safe in the depths of the oceans. The West had replied that, just as it had massacred their fleet and patrol submarines in the Atlantic, it could annihilate the Soviet SSBNS, their Delta us and their Typhoons, wherever they tried to hide. No way could the USSR then hope to dictate terms to the world, however devastated and desolate.

'The Kremlin is sceptical,' Rackham went on 'so we have to persuade them that their second strike capability is at our mercy. The President of the United States and the Allies yesterday ordered Nato forces and the United States Navy immediately to seek out and sink a number of Soviet SSBNS. All our surface forces are remaining at Rule of Engagement 14, while Nato and American submarines and maritime air forces get on with Operation so, an unimaginative code name for seek and destroy. The Americans, through CINCPAC in Hawaii, will execute SDE (East). Nato, through COMSUBLANT in Norfolk — and that means me, as COMSUBEASTLANT for operational purposes — will execute sow (West).' He paused, waiting for the North Polar chart to be projected.