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SEA OF SHADOWS 275
Lieutenant (jg) Sherman shook his head. “In theory that’s true, Chief.
But your own calculations show that these 212s have only been covering
an average distance of 13.5 nautical miles per hour. No doubt this guy can
outrun us, but—based on the performance they’ve shown so far—I don’t
think he will.”
“We were his last roadblock,” the chief said. “If I were him, I’d forget
about sneaking around. I’d be hauling ass toward the Siraji coastline.
There’s nothing between him and Zubayr but open water.”
“Maybe he doesn’t know that,” Ensign Cooper said.
Chief McPherson gave her boss an uncertain look. “German intel on
our positioning has been pretty damned good. Which probably means that
sub is getting downloads from reconnaissance satellites. If he is, he
already knows there aren’t any more ships in his way.”
“That could be,” Captain Bowie said. “But he can’t possibly know
whether or not we’re planning to send P-3s after him.”
“That raises an excellent question,” Commander Vargas said. “Why
aren’t we trying to get some P-3s? Captain Whiley is out of the game;
why are we still trying to fight this thing with one foot in a bucket?”
Around the group, heads nodded in silent agreement.
“I don’t know,” Captain Bowie said. “I asked Admiral Rogers that
same question. He told me that the answer was classified at a need-toknow
level way above his head. He hinted that the CNO had told him that
it was a matter of the highest national security.”
Commander Vargas ran her fingers through her hair. “They won’t give
us backup, and the reason why they won’t give it to us is a matter of
national security. What kind of sense does that make?”
Captain Bowie’s eyebrows went up. “I don’t know, Rachel. But think
about this: Three nations, all of whom are members of NATO and the
United Nations, have been in direct military conflict for the past few days.
A lot of political and military alliances are on the chopping block. There’s
no telling what kind of bizarre diplomatic maneuvers are going on right
now, or what might upset the apple cart.”
Lieutenant (jg) Sherman said, “Maybe the Saudis have clamped down
on their airspace until this thing blows over. The French did that when
Reagan ordered the bombing of Libya, back in the 1980s.”
“That’s possible,” Captain Bowie said. “But for right now, the brass
hats don’t want us to know the reason. So we move on, and we work with
what we’ve got.”
Commander Vargas said, “What we’ve got is a big piece of water and
damn few assets to search it with. Anybody got any ideas on where to
start?”