Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

226 JEFF EDWARDS
A voice came over the radio. “All units, this is the commanding officer
of USS Towers. I am assuming SAU Commander at this time. I say
again, I am assuming SAU Commander at this time, over.”
The pilot pitched his aircraft into a shallow dive. “Weapon away on
my mark”
“Aye-aye, sir.”
The ocean rushed up toward them. “Here we go,” the pilot said.
“Launch—now, now, NOW!”
The Sensor Operator jabbed a button. The airframe of the helo jerked
as it was suddenly relieved of its five-hundred–pound burden. “Weapon
away, sir!”
The pilot pulled back on the stick. “Eat that!”
“Oh shit!” the Sensor Operator shouted. He began pointing frantically
out the window at a bright flare of light down on the water. “Missile
emergence! We’ve got a missile coming out of the water, bearing threethree-zero!”
“Chaff!” the pilot screamed as he threw the helo into a wild side-slip.
“I need chaff right fucking …”
He never finished the sentence. The sub-SAM came through the port
side of the aircraft, just forward of the sonobuoy launchers. The
detonating warhead flash-fried the air crew, even as it blasted the fuselage
of the helicopter into burning bits of wreckage.
USS Towers:
“TAO—Air Supervisor. Samurai Seven-Nine just dropped off the
scope. We lost his IFF signal and all communications. Looks like he went
down, sir.”
“TAO—Bridge. Lookouts are reporting a fireball on Samurai Seven-
Nine’s last bearing. I concur with the Air Supervisor; Samurai Seven-Nine
is down.”
Captain Bowie slammed his fist down on the arm of his chair. “Damn
it! What the hell were they doing below two thousand feet? They had
specific orders to stay high enough so the subs couldn’t hear their rotors.
If they had followed their orders, they’d still be alive.”
The TAO looked up at the Aegis display. “All right, guys. We need a
break here …”
As if in answer, the Sonar Supervisor’s voice came over the net.
“USWE—Sonar, we have weapon start-up. It’s a Mark-54. Looks like
Antietam’s helo managed to get off a shot, sir.”