Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

104 JEFF EDWARDS
“You’ve been in combat before,” the secretary of defense said. “And
so have I.” As a retired Army colonel, she was one of only three people in
the room who had earned the right to wear the coveted Combat Infantry
Badge.
“We both know how the game is played,” she said. “Some yahoo
crowds your airspace, so you lock on them with fire control radar. They
return the favor and paint you with their fire control radar. Before you
know it, you’re both pumping enough electromagnetic energy into the air
to microwave a hotdog. Alarms are going off; adrenaline levels are sky
high; people are shouting. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, somebody
eventually gets tired of the game and backs down. Everybody gets to go
home claiming victory. But about one percent of the time, somebody gets
spooked and does something stupid. Sometimes it’s one of our guys, and
sometimes it’s one of their guys.”
“The Brits are claiming that the Germans shot first.”
“Of course they are,” the secretary of defense said. “In their shoes, I’d
probably say the same thing, whether I’d shot first or not.”
General Gilmore nodded. “I agree. We have to table the matter of the
shooting, at least until we know who initiated the attack. That still leaves
us with four German submarines hauling ass through the Med. What do
we do about them?”
“We can’t afford to attack them out of hand,” Undersecretary of State
Mitchell said.
“We’re not going to,” the president said. “I want the Abraham Lincoln
strike group to intercept them and turn them around.”
Admiral Casey tilted his head to the side. “That tactic didn’t seem to
work too well for the British, sir.”
The president brought his palms together and interlaced his fingers. “A
fully escorted aircraft carrier should fare slightly better than two aging
British warships. I would hope so, anyway.”
General Gilmore nodded. “No doubt you are right, Mr. President. But
Admiral Casey does have a point. While there’s no conclusive evidence
yet, my instincts tell me that the Germans probably pulled the trigger first.
What if they start shooting at us?”
“They won’t,” the president said. “Somebody just got an itchy finger.
It’s not going to happen again.” He looked at the Chief of Naval
Operations. “Bob, it’s your job to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.
We don’t want to provoke the Germans; we just want to turn them
around.”
“Understood, sir,” the CNO said. “We’ll play it low-key. But what
happens if the Germans open up on us anyway?”