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SEA OF SHADOWS 161
submarine. I should be able to get the Topeka in position without too
much trouble.”
The president shook his head. “No submarines. Those bastards have
been lucky so far. If they managed to get a shot in on one of our subs, we
could end up with nuclear contamination from one end of the Gulf to the
other. Besides, the credibility of our sub force isn’t in question right now.
We need to do this with surface combatants.” He looked at Whelkin.
“Single combat.”
The national security advisor cleared his throat. “Isn’t that giving the
Germans what they want?”
“We’ll give them what they want,” the president said. “We’ll stick it
up their ass and break it off.”
“We might end up with only three ships,” the CNO said. “Against four
submarines.”
“Then we do it with three ships,” the president said, “but we do it. And
keep this in mind: if any of those submarines make it to Siraj, the Germans
win this thing.”
Admiral Casey nodded slowly. “Understood, sir.”
The president stood up. “I have to go figure out what to tell the
American people about this mess.”
The door opened and a young Navy lieutenant (junior grade) walked in,
carrying a red and white striped folder. He scanned the room quickly and
made his way toward the Chief of Naval Operations.
Every eye in the room followed the young officer as he walked. Under
the color-coding system of the White House Signals Office, red and white
stripes indicated highly classified material of utmost urgency.
The lieutenant (jg) stopped near the CNO, whispered briefly into his
ear, and handed him the folder.
No one spoke. Admiral Casey opened the folder and read the singlepage
document inside. The CNO looked up. “Mr. President, our little
mess just got a hell of a lot messier.”
The president lifted his papers from the table and straightened them.
“Bad news never improves with age, Bob. What have you got?”
The CNO looked down at the folder again. “Sir, about twenty minutes
ago, two squadrons of British Sea Harriers exchanged missile fire with a
German frigate in the North Sea. The ship was the FGS Sachsen, the lead
unit of the new Sachsen Class guided missile frigates, and pretty much the
pride of the German fleet. As of this report, the Sachsen was burning but
still afloat.”
The president rubbed the back of his neck. “Any word on who fired
first?”