Free To Kill the Potemkin by Mark Joseph Page B

have."
    The
second man was impeccably dressed in
custom-tailored tans.
    "Who's
that?" Fogarty asked.
    "His
aide, Commander Billings. I expect
he'll be with us for a few days."
    Netts
looked around the control room and
spotted Sorensen. Quietly, to avoid being overheard by the other men in
the
compartment, Netts asked Sorensen about the Viktor they had
encountered.
"I understand it went below two thousand feet. Is that true?"
    "Yes,
sir. It did, indeed."
    Netts
mulled over the unhappy implications.
"Is the beacon planted on U-62? " he asked.
    "Yes,
sir."
    "Did
you go over the plan with the
skipper?"
    "Yes,
sir. It's going to be a piece of
cake. Admiral."
    "All
right"—Netts turned to
Pisaro—"let's get on with it."
    The
admiral was in no mood to see his special
assignment torpedoed—he winced at the unintended pun—by a faulty stern
plane, a
leaky pipe or a crazed computer. He intended to inspect the ship.
    At
the navigation console the quartermaster
was taking a satellite feed of up-to-date information on tide, current,
wind
and sea conditions. On the display screen an electronic chart of the
Naples
roadstead was ready and waiting with Barracuda 's
course already plotted.
    At
the attack console Hoek took another
satellite feed, which showed Kitty Hawk and her
escorts on a radar
screen. The fleet was three hundred miles from Naples, fifty miles off
the
southern tip of Sardinia. Netts stared at the screen. "Do they have
company?"
    "Yes,
sir, they sure do," said
Hoek, punching buttons. Two more blips appeared, trailing the rearmost
destroyer by two miles.
    " Boris
Badinoff and Natasha ," said the lieutenant.
    "What
about subs? Any sign of the Viktor
you met?"
    "So
far, nada ."
    "Well,
let's hope it stays that way, but
don't bet on it. Can you show me Naples?" asked Netts.
    "Certainly,
Admiral." Hoek punched
more buttons and the screen showed the navigation chart. Netts studied
the
screen. Scattered among the freighters and ferries that appeared as
blips on
the screen were the buoys that marked the channel.
    "Lieutenant,
there's a sub waiting for
you out there, probably ten or twelve miles out. There might even be
two. I
wouldn't be surprised if she's under one of those buoys. I suggest that
you
plot an attack course for each buoy more than ten miles out, just in
case one
of them moves."
    "Aye
aye," replied Hoek as he
energetically began to push buttons. Hoek was ready for a fight. His
breath was
short, his chest felt constricted. He was due for a physical when Barracuda returned to Norfolk, and he knew he would never pass. This was his last
patrol,
and he wanted some memories to take ashore.
    Netts
led his party forward through officers'
country. In the narrow passageways he paid particular attention to the
control
cables and pipes that ran through the ship, all open and exposed for
instant
maintenance and repair. The cosmetic paneling that at one time had
covered them
was ripped out after the Thresher disaster.
----
    Sorensen
and Fogarty made their way to the
mess. The moment they arrived, Sorensen was cornered by Cakes, who
asked,
"Who's the brass?"
    "Big
shot from Washington. Netts."
    The
steward did a double take. "Cap'n
Netts? Ed Netts?"
    "Vice-Admiral
Netts."
    "No
shit!"
    "Why,
Cakes? You know him?"
    The
steward's eyes seemed to shrink back into
his head as if he were trying to hold back a memory that had forced its
way
into his skull. One hand jerked up to the side of his face and began
tugging at
his right ear.
    A
commotion forward signaled the approach of
officers.
    "Attention!"
shouted Sorensen, and
everyone snapped to.
    "At
ease, men," said Pisaro.
    Netts
immediately walked over to the steward,
stuck out his hand and warmly pumped his arm.
    "Hello,
Cakes."
    "Howdy,
Cap'n."
    "How's
the ear?"
    "Mighty
fine. Ninety-five percent."
    "Glad
to hear it."
    What
Netts and Cakes shared happened on
August 23, 1944, when Admiral Chester Nimitz pinned the Navy Cross on
Cakes
Colby for heroism aboard Sargo ,
Netts commanding.