Free Darke Mission by Scott Caladon Page A

“We could destroy the sub. Our SEALs teams have the capability.”
    Associate Director Adams scanned the room for further comment. Thornton nodded his approval, Reynolds and Eagles shrugged and Commander O’Neill sat there as inscrutably as he had done from the start. John Adams, though, wasn’t going to let him get away with this oriental ploy any longer.
    â€œCommander O’Neill, do you have a view?” enquired Adams.
    â€œSir,” began Mark O’Neill. “The SEALs certainly do have the expertise, the capability and the commitment to carry out such a mission. Without having yet studied the layout of the geography near Haeju, a squad of five to ten could evade the North Korean radar systems, be dropped off a couple of miles off the coast in a rubber raiding craft, attach timed explosives to the hull of the sub and then get out,” he detailed. As Mark O’Neill paused, McAllister and Thornton were all ears and clearly relishing the prospect. Associate Director Adams had a neutral expression but his ears were still alert.
    â€œThere are at least two problems though,” resumed O’Neill.
    â€œThey are?” interjected McAllister.
    â€œWell, one of the arguments against destroying the sub is that it is highly visible. Everyone would know it was us. Friends would applaud us, foes berate us and, as you discussed, said action could trigger a devastating response from the North Koreans. When President Reagan ordered the air strike on Libya in 1986, or even when we eliminated bin Laden, we didn’t care if the world knew; hell we wanted them to know. Mess with the United States and pay the penalty. However, Libya was in no shape to mount any significant retaliatory actions and a leaderless al-Qaeda would take years to even begin to pose the same widespread threat again.”
    McAllister’s face revealed that he was in the process of racking up zero for two. Tim Thornton was less expressive, but ever so slightly shifted his chair an inch or so away from the Lieutenant.
    â€œThe second problem,” continued O’Neill, “is time. The satellite images before us are now three days old. Who is to say in that time the Borei hasn’t been weaponised? After this meeting any conclusions or recommendations will find their way up the hierarchical tree, eventually to the President himself. At best, that journey and any final decision by the President will take another four or five days. Who’s to say that the sub won’t be packing ballistic missiles by then? My point is, even if we are successful in destroying the sub, we’ll set off a nuclear explosion and an even more powerful one if it has SBLMs on board. This will cause devastation to their west coast. While we may not lose any sleep over that, the Pyongyang government would have time at least to launch their land based missiles at Seoul, Tokyo and maybe even us.”
    John Adams was getting that sinking feeling. He had to report the findings of this meeting to Fred Goss, the Director of Central Intelligence and he, in turn, to Garrison Putnam, the Director of National Intelligence, before it reached the National Security Council and the President. John Adams was so not coming out of this meeting with a feisty, colourful report, but one devoid of feasible recommendations. After a few seconds, which seemed like hours in brain time, Adams asked, “Well Commander O’Neill, you’ve been successful, I feel, in dismantling the appeal of our strike options. Do you have any brilliant ideas as to what to do with this submarine?”
    O’Neill looked Adams straight in the eye and without a hint of hesitation responded. “We could always steal it, Sir.”
    * * *
    Haeju is one of the Korean People’s Navy’s (KPN) largest bases on the west coast of Kim Jong-un’s empire. The city is located in the South Hwanghae Province and is 100km south of the capital Pyongyang. The overall