Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

CHAPTER 29
SOUTHERN ARABIAN GULF
(STEAMING TOWARD THE STRAITS OF HORMUZ)
FRIDAY; 18 MAY
1330 hours (1:30 PM)
TIME ZONE +4 ‘DELTA’
Chief McPherson adjusted the four-point harness that held her in the
flight seat and leaned forward far enough to see over the shoulders of the
pilot and copilot. The green flight suit she wore over her khakis tugged
uncomfortably at her collarbone as she craned her neck to look through the
helicopter’s windshield. The helo was new, less than a year into its service
life, but the Plexiglas windshield was already beginning to take on a
vaguely frosted look—the inevitable product of a thousand tiny scratches
born of countless collisions with the desert sand that always seemed to ride
the back of the hot Middle Eastern wind.
The chief scanned the wave tops as they slid by a thousand feet below.
Their destination, USS Antietam, was down there somewhere—supposedly
close now, but she couldn’t see the ship yet.
She stole a glance to her right, where Captain Bowie sat belted into his
own flight seat. He seemed lost in thought, but—from the way the
muscles in his neck were bunching up—they weren’t pleasant thoughts.
Up in the cockpit, the pilot keyed his mike. “Antietam, this is
Firewalker Two-Six. I am on final approach. Request your numbers,
over.”
The reply came back a second later. “Firewalker Two-Six, this is
Antietam. My numbers are as follows … Winds are thirty degrees off my
port bow at twenty-seven knots. Pitch is one degree. Roll is one degree.
My SPY radar is silent aft. All HF antennas within thirty degrees of your
approach vector are silent, over.”
The pilot nodded and looked over his shoulder. “Captain, everything is
looking good. We’re going to head for the barn.”
Captain Bowie nodded. “Understood.”
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