Mallik smiled, then turned to Torkan.
“Tell the captain of the Maurya to intercept that ship. If she continues to be unresponsive, sink her.”
* * *
—
Juan watched the frigate speeding toward them on the op center’s main screen. It was now ten miles away, still out of gun range for both ships. The Oregon was quickly closing the distance. Mallik’s launch platform was over the horizon, but they hadn’t seen the telltale smoke trail of a launch in the cloudless azure sky.
“We’re being hailed by the Maurya again,” Hali said.
“Continue ignoring them,” Juan said. “We know what they’re going to say.”
“I also intercepted a call to the Indian Coast Guard. The launch is in less than forty-two minutes.”
Juan grinned at Eric, sitting at the helm. “Your timing is impeccable, Stoney. Murph, prepare to fire the Exocet.” The anti-ship missile would reduce the launch platform, rocket, and satellite payload to burning hulks.
“Locked onto the launch platform,” Murph said from the weapons station.
“Fire.”
The Exocet blasted out of its tube. The subsonic surface-skimming missile would be difficult to shoot down even for a warship more modern than the Maurya. The ancient frigate didn’t have a chance of intercepting the missile as it passed by.
Murph said, “Two minutes to target.”
SIXTY-THREE
“We are tracking a missile launch!” one of the flight engineers yelled.
Mallik leaped to his feet. “ETA?”
“Less than two minutes. Coming from the west.”
It had to be an attack by the approaching ship. Mallik whirled on the flight director. “Do we have a Vajra satellite over that area?”
Kapoor gave him an astonished look. “Yes, but—”
“Turn it on and target that region.”
“That might—”
Mallik snapped his fingers, and the guards raised their weapons. “Do it!” He knew the risks of activating it so close to the launch site.
Kapoor nodded and typed on his keyboard.
“Ninety seconds to impact,” the engineer said.
“Vajra activating,” Kapoor said.
Mallik waited for the mission control electronics to go down, but all the computers continued to operate.
The man observing the radar return said, “The missile splashed down.”
Mallik breathed a sigh of relief.
“How long will the satellite be in range?” he asked.
“An hour,” Kapoor said. “Long enough to launch Satellite 20.”