The shake of a head answered this. “But the ship’s hydrophones picked up what sounded like an explosion a short time ago. TheLyakhovalso noted that the steady rumble of breaking ice in the distance went silent.”
Turov rubbed his chin. “The target ship must have stopped.”
“TheLyakhov’s captain made the same assessment, but with radar systems still compromised and the dense fog shutting down visibility, confirmation can’t be made. Unfortunately, the geomagnetic interference grows steadily worse the farther north the vessel travels. For us, too. I keep losing contact with theLyakhov.”
“Has there been any revised estimate when this solar storm will abate?”
“Still showing another three hours, sir.”
Turov frowned. The enemy needed to be subdued before then. He pointed to the radio operator. “Keep trying to reach theLyakhov. If successful, order them to push their engines to flank speed. To hold nothing back.”
“Yes, sir.”
Turov stared at the spread of ice and the approaching fogbank.
The third component of this assault remained unreachable. The last word from the Belgorod-class submarine was when it vanished under the polar ice cap, sailing its thirty-thousand-ton bulk toward the search zone. Its code name wasSiniykit, chosen for the largest oceangoing creature—the blue whale—which was fitting as the submarine was nearly two hundred meters in length.
The boat needed to be that large to hold its arsenal of six massive Poseidon 2M39 torpedoes. The stealth weapons were the latest inRussia’s underwater arsenal, tested for the first time in 2023. The bus-size weapons were more drones than torpedoes, capable of remote operation, with a range of ten thousand kilometers. Powered by a nuclear reactor, the torpedoes were capable of carrying up to a 100-megaton payload. Such beasts were designed as a second-strike nuclear option, to devastate a coastline and trigger a radioactive tsunami.
It was the reason the boat had earned its nickname the “Doomsday Sub.”
TheSiniykithad been out in this polar region to test its weaponry, using unarmed Poseidons. But it also carried one that was loaded with a nuclear warhead. Its payload was only a hundred kilotons, but that was still five times stronger than what had been dropped on Nagasaki. He also knew that some in the military were anxious to do a live test of that bomb.
It was what made Turov balk when Vice Admiral Glazkov had included the boat on this mission. It was a disaster in the making.
I can’t let matters get that far out of hand.
Turov turned his attention to the plane’s navigator. “How far are we from theLyakhov?”
The man lifted his nose from his station. “We should reach their position in eighty-seven minutes, sir.”
Turov pointed to the pilot. “Shorten that timetable. I want us there in under an hour.”
The man nodded and edged his throttle forward.
Turov surveyed the fogbank ahead as it swept toward them. The enemy had to be subdued as quickly as possible. If he failed to do that, the consequences could be dire, possibly even triggering a nuclear war.
That must not happen.
Even if it meant annihilating the enemy, with no quarter given or mercy offered, it would have to be done.
He turned to the ice-hardened soldiers behind him, resolute on this point.
So be it.
43
May 14, 3:18P.M. ANAT
East Siberian Sea
Gray sat atop his Polaris at the mouth of the misty tunnel. He pointed his headlamp across its threshold. Beyond, meltwater traced down a sloped ramp, tracing away into the darkness.
Seichan climbed onto her snowmobile. “The others are all set in the two Snowcats. I warned them to maintain a distance, to let us forge a path ahead of them.”
Gray glanced back, hearing engines throttle up.
Omryn sat behind the wheel of one Cat. The Chukchi crewman had the most experience with the vehicle. He carried Jason and Sister Anna, along with the ship’s doctor, Harper Marr. Tucker drove the second Cat, with the botanist Elle Stutt and his two dogs.
