Sea of Shadows eBook - Navy Thriller.com

244 JEFF EDWARDS
The reply took nearly a minute. “SAU Commander, this is Ingraham.
My Sonar Operators describe the contact as strong and discrete broadband,
with diffused swaths of narrowband that are too broad and indiscrete to
track or classify. Target is showing a tightly packed cluster of frequencies
up around 550 hertz, but it’s too muddled to process, over.”
Chief McPherson slapped the CDRT. “I knew it!” She looked up.
“Captain, that’s a decoy!”
“Where the hell did it come from?”
“I don’t know, sir. Maybe that motorboat launched it; they don’t weigh
more than fifteen or twenty pounds. But what they’re tracking sounds like
a perfect description of the one we had earlier—the one that suckered
Antietam out of the formation.”
Captain Bowie snapped his fingers and pointed to the TAO. “Tell
them! Do it quick!”
The TAO keyed up Navy Red. “Ingraham, this is SAU Commander.
Gremlin Zero One evaluated as a mobile decoy. Return to formation
immediately, over!”
“Ingraham, aye!”
On the CDRT, the Ingraham’s NTDS symbol began to swing back
toward the hole it had left in the formation. She was almost back in
position when the net crackled with an incoming message from the Sensor
Operator aboard Firewalker Two-Six. “USWE—SENSO, buoys five and
six are hot. We hold narrowband tonals consistent with Type 212 diesel
submarines. Initial classification: POSS-SUB, confidence level high!”
Immediately afterward, a call from the pilot came over the HAWK-
Link. “SAU Commander, this is Firewalker Two-Six. Request permission
to break hot-pump.”
The TAO keyed his mike. “Firewalker Two-Six, this is SAU
Commander. Break hot-pump. Stand by for green deck.”
He turned to the captain. “Request permission to launch the helo, sir.”
The captain nodded. “Do it.”
The TAO keyed up again. “Firewalker Two-Six, this is SAU
Commander. Your contact designated Gremlin Zero Two. You have
green deck. Launch when ready.”
Less than a minute later, the helo keyed the HAWK-Link again. “SAU
Commander, this is Firewalker Two-Six. I am up for Towers control. My
fuel state is three hours plus four zero minutes. Three souls aboard. My
load-out is one Mark-54 torpedo and a mixed rack of sonobuoys, over.”
“Roger, Firewalker,” the TAO said. “Break. Ingraham, this is SAU
Commander. Alert status of your aircraft, Gunslinger Four-One upgraded
to Ready Five, over.”