“Air Force Two is waiting for you at Joint Base Andrews,” Allende said. “A Secret Service motorcade will take you there. Carlucci decided against loading you into the presidential helicopter. It would raise questions.”
“Okay,” Pacino said. “Where am I going?”
“Moscow,” Allende said. “I’m having a bag packed for you from my townhouse and having it delivered to the aircraft now.”
“You’re sending me to Russia? What’s going on?”
“Carlucci wants you to warn Vostov.” Allende produced a shiny gold object and pressed it into Pacino’s palm. “Make him review this.”
Pacino looked at what appeared to be an exact duplicate of his Naval Academy class ring. “What’s this?”
“Give me your real ring,” Allende said. “I’ll hold on to it for you. You’ll wear this ring instead. When you meet Vostov, give it to him. It’s a flash drive. Put it on now and give me your real ring.”
Pacino pulled off his Annapolis ring and handed it to Allende and put on the duplicate. It felt the same weight as his authentic ring. “What’s on this drive?”
“Details of the next assassination plot,” Menendez said.
“Are you going to tell me what that plot entails?”
Allende and Menendez shook their heads at the same time.
“Patch, Carlucci wants this to be strictly between him and Vostov. But I’m authorized to tell you to tell Vostov to delay any speeches he’s planning on making in public.”
“I assume this drive has a password? Are you going to let me know what that is?”
“Tell him the password is the last name of the Russian admiral who was embarked on the Omega submarine you fought under the polar icecap. He’ll know.”
Pacino nodded and looked down into his cooling coffee cup. “Is there a pretext for this meeting? Vostov will include me in his schedule?”
“It’s labeled as a purely diplomatic gesture. The world sees you as militarily confrontational. And anti-Russian. Chushi had a good relationship with Vostov. Carlucci sent her to Moscow several times.”
Yeah, Pacino thought, mostly to get her out of Carlucci’s hair on meaningless diplomatic errands.
“Vostov will see you, if only to satisfy his curiosity.”
“Did Carlucci give any indication of how friendly — or hostile — I’m supposed to appear to Vostov? Does he want a confrontation about these Poseidons?”
“He wants you to make friends with Vostov, and don’t mention the Poseidons. Do you think you can do that?”
Pacino laughed. “Margo, I may be a straight shooter, but in the service of my country, I could have dinner with the Devil himself and convince him I’m his friend.”
She smiled. “Imagine — Michael Pacino, a diplomat.”
“I’m a man of many talents,” he remarked, then hoped that didn’t sound to Allende like a double meaning. But she just stood up and walked to the door with Menendez.
“Good luck, Patch,” she said.
On the ride to Andrews, Pacino thought about all the questions he should have asked. Wouldn’t Vostov think this flash drive might be another virus to attack their systems? Or might explode in his face? But then he considered he was being paranoid and anxious. He wondered whether he’d be able to sleep on the plane.
But as Air Force Two climbed out of the lush Maryland countryside, he decided to lie down on the couch in the presidential office. Before the jet had reached cruising altitude, Pacino was asleep.
Lieutenant Anthony Pacino poured fresh coffee and passed the carafe down the table. Despite it being in the midwatch an hour after midrats, the wardroom was filled to capacity with all the officers not on watch. Executive Officer Quinnivan had ordered Long Hull Cooper to take the watch as engineering officer of the watch with Supply Officer Ganghadharan on the conn. The air was thick with expectation, since the communications officer would be arriving with the decoded message they’d received on the VLF loop antenna.
Lieutenant Eisenhart hurried into the room and handed the message pad to Captain Seagraves, who wordlessly passed it to Quinnivan, who put on his reading glasses and read the message over twice, then passed it to Navigator Lewinsky.
“Share the message with the room, Nav,” Quinnivan said.
Lewinsky looked up from the message pad and said, “We’re ordered to deploy the two swimmer-delivered mines to the hull of the Omega and place them on either side of their torpedo room with acoustic detonation orders programmed in. That is, they’ll only go off if we ping at them with an active sonar signal that we should program in now.”
“Weps, you’ll need to tag out and lock out the active sonar gear,” Quinnivan said.
“Understood, sir,” Styxx said. “I’ll lay to control now and see to it personally.”
“Good idea.”
Styxx got up and rushed out of the room through the forward door.
“Captain? XO?” Pacino said, looking at the senior officers. “This is going to be a problem. The SEALS are sick as dogs.”
“My thoughts exactly, Mr. Pacino. XO, get the doc in here,” Seagraves said to Quinnivan. The XO grabbed the inter-ship phone and dialed the chiefs’ quarters, speaking quietly into it.
