Terminal Run

Krivak waited impatiently for the sun to set. At dusk they waited for the appearance of the Snare, but for hours they were alone in the sea.

“There is something on the radar,” Krivak said. “A very strong return to the west. What is this, Amorn?”

Amorn scanned with his binoculars. “Nothing, sir. It’s dark, even in low-light enhancement.”

Krivak frowned. “It is less than a kilometer away and looks big as a supertanker on the radar. You see nothing?”

Amorn checked again. “Ocean’s empty, sir, see for yourself.”

Krivak took the binoculars and scanned the sea. Amorn was right.

“Take us toward the position of the radar return. Slowly. And turn on the searchlight.”

Ten minutes later, the Andiamo crept up on the radar contact.

“There! I see it! Look!” Pedro stood at the railing, pointing ahead of them. In the searchlights two vertical poles could be made out, both of them going down to a low black cylindrical hull, which had no sail or superstructure and no protruding rudder. It was large in comparison to the yacht, but certainly one of the smallest submarines Krivak had ever seen. It was a seven-meter-diameter torpedo, he thought.

“With this sea state, getting in that hull will be a wet operation. Pull up alongside.”

The crew maneuvered the boat alongside the stationary hull of the Snare and threw over lines. Amorn leaped into the water, swimming up onto the curve of the hull.

“There are no cleats!” Amorn called from the deck of the Snare.

“Tie the line around the masts!” Pedro yelled.

There was more shouting from the deck.

“What’s wrong?” Krivak asked.

“The hatch! There’s no operating mechanism!” Amorn seemed agitated.

“Dammit,” Krivak cursed. “Is there a hole in the surface of it with a square peg in it?”

Amorn shined his light onto the top surface of the black hull. “An ISO fitting? No! The hatch is smooth!”

Krivak looked at Pedro. “You’re going to have to transmit a new message to the Snare telling it to open the hatch.”

“Fine, but that will look very bad if it is discovered.”

“Then combine it with the final instruction message, but tell it to wait for twenty minutes before shutting the hatch and diving. Doctor, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“How long to get that hatch open?” Krivak asked.

“Could be fifteen minutes,” Pedro said. “It takes a while for this to work its way to the satellite.”

“Hurry up.”

While they all waited, Wang began to toss waterproof bags from the afterdeck of the boat to the hull of the submarine, Amorn catching them and piling them by the hatch. Much of the luggage contained food and water, so that they would be able to survive in an environment not meant for humans. There was an odd load in the mix, insisted upon by Krivak, which included two large mesh duffel bags of scuba diving supplies with two octopus-type integrated tank and buoyancy compensator rigs, air bottles and nitrox bottles, collapsed inflatable life rafts, and two grenade-sized emergency beacons set to a frequency selected by Krivak and Amorn. Krivak had packed two Beretta stainless-steel 9mm automatic pistols in waterproof bags with a dozen clips with the ammo preloaded, a MAC-12 automatic pistol with its dozen clips, and a small Walther PPK with twelve clips for it. There was a waterproof bag of grenades, each powerful enough to destroy an approaching small craft. In addition there were medical supplies. Wang glanced impatiently at his watch, knowing he had to get set up inside the Snare computer control cabin.

They were just finishing loading equipment on the deck of the sub when the hatch came slowly and smoothly open on hydraulic power, the hatch maw dark.

“Victor,” Pedro shouted, “you have twenty minutes before the hatch shuts and the sub dives.”

“Did you tell it to go to a hundred meters and head west?”

“Yes, and to stay deep and avoid receiving any further messages from the squadron.”

“Good. You know what to do while we are gone?”

“Yes, Victor. If you need us to do something, you can reach the satellite phone or the E-mail address. If you get into trouble, we’re monitoring the emergency beacon frequency.”

“Make sure you are alert and monitoring all three — phone, E-mail, and beacon. We may need help getting off this thing, and when we do, we will need it fast.”

“Yes, Victor. Good luck.”

“Let’s go,” Krivak ordered Amorn and Wang. He vanished down the hatch first, Amorn following him, Wang climbing into the dark last. A ladder led from the open hatch into a small airlock, a cylinder about five feet in diameter and ten feet tall. At the bottom was another automatic hatch, which was also opened. Krivak climbed down the ladder into the airlock, emerging in a step-off at the bottom hatch. He lowered himself down the lower ladder into darkness, finding the switch for the lights in the space. It seemed strange that the sub sailed without interior lights, but then there was no one here to use the light to see.