Final Option (Oregon Files 14)

—

Juan watched as the second shell struck the bow of the submarine. The armor-piercing round must have plunged all the way through to the torpedo room because the entire front of the submarine blew apart in a spectacular blast.

The remainder of the sub settled in the water until its tail fins tilted up skyward, then plunged beneath the surface like a diving whale.

The op center was quiet for a minute as they waited for the possibility of a torpedo hitting the Oregon. But when nothing happened, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Sorry about the first shell missing,” Murph said to the room. “I’ll have to adjust the aim on that targeting system.”

“Yeah, you stink at this,” Eric teased. “It took you two whole shots to sink an enemy sub.”

“If you keep shooting that badly,” Max said, “we just might give you a Christmas bonus this year.”

Juan didn’t want to dampen the mood. He knew it was only a temporary victory.

“Hali, did you intercept any signals coming from the sub?”

Hali shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t mean anything. They could have sent out an encrypted radio message.”

“Then I don’t think we can celebrate just yet,” Juan said in a somber tone. “It’s very possible Tate now knows exactly where we are.”

64

The Portland’s helicopter circled the Deepwater twice, but Ballard, who was sitting next to the pilot, couldn’t see anyone at all.

“They must be cowering inside,” she said to Tate over the radio.

“I wish I could be there with you,” he said.

“And I wish I could trade places with you. How long until you reach the Oregon?”

“An hour. I have to take the long way around the island to get to the fjord. But there’s no way Juan could get past me even if he leaves right now. I’ve got him.”

“How are you going to do it?”

“Guns, torpedoes, missiles—the whole works. I want to see the Oregon reduced to a hulk before she goes under.” She heard him talking to someone else, and then he came back on the line. “Farouk would like to sink her from here with a couple of Exocets, but it’s the same problem as with the Deepwater. We can’t get a lock on them until we’re in the fjord.”

“You said you’ve lost contact with the Wuzong?” Ballard asked.

“They got cut off right after the call saying that they saw a ship that could either be us or them. I even heard screaming before they went off-line. I’m guessing Admiral Yu underestimated Juan, and he paid the price.”

“Don’t make the same mistake.”

“I won’t. I can poke our bow in just far enough to get a lock with our radar and sonar. Then the Oregon will be history.” Tate sounded absolutely giddy.

“Record it for me. I want to watch later.”

“Absolutely. We’ll put it on the big screen.”

“I’ll bring the popcorn,” Ballard said. “We’re about to land. I’ll call when we have the hostages under control.”

“Hurry back.” Tate signed off.

Ballard pointed the pilot toward the pad on the bow of the Deepwater. “Take us down. As soon as we’re out, take off and cover us.”

The pilot nodded and dove toward the stationary ship. He touched down, and Ballard, Li, and two other men in her assault team, all armed with Heckler & Koch G36 automatic rifles and wearing Kevlar vests, leaped out of the helicopter. They dropped to their knees as the rotor spooled up again.

The bridge directly aft of them was empty. No movement anywhere as far as she could tell. They were going to have to search the ship room by room.