Renard had taken the Hai Lang shallow but short of periscope depth. The ship’s acoustic sensors heard helicopters encircling the crippled and surfaced Kilo, but they could have been Chinese, he decided.
It wasn’t until he heard the sounds of the Tai Ping racing into audible range that he risked extending a mast.
At periscope depth, Renard raised the periscope and took an automated three-hundred and sixty-degree sweep. As he studied the panoramic printout of the world above, he heard a voice hailing him over his elevated radio mast.
The words were in Mandarin, and he nodded towards Ye.
“Take that, please,” he said.
Ye stood and reached for the microphone above Renard. He flipped a dial, lowered the microphone, and spoke in Mandarin. An energetic conversation ensued.
“I just told them we are alright and awaiting orders,” Ye said. “They were happy to hear that.”
“What news, then?” Renard asked.
“The convoy was attacked by a Chinese destroyer, but aside from one missile that escaped the Kang Ding’s defenses and damaged a cargo hold, the convoy is unscathed and in safe waters heading towards Japan to pick up fuel.”
“This is great news,” Renard said. “Perhaps they offered you something more local, though?”
More Mandarin banter.
“Yes,” Ye said. “The crew of the Kilo has abandoned ship and is being receptive to our rescue efforts.”
Renard looked at his periscope’s photograph.
“Mon Dieu,” he said. “The superstructure is lined with Chinese sailors. Some look unconscious or dead. There is a foul-looking vapor rising from both escape hatches.”
Renard lowered his periscope.
“We are rescuing them?” he asked.
“We sent two Chinook helicopters with infantry squadrons to storm the submarine, but we also sent a medical helicopter,” Ye said. “Given the condition of the men on that submarine, there was no need for combat. It appears that you damaged one of their battery compartments and filled the ship with chlorine gas.”
“We’re in international waters,” Renard said. “Four miles from Taiwanese waters.”
Ye smiled.
“Our combat air patrol has been extended to cover the area,” he said. “It is our battle space, and we’ve sent a tug to tow the Kilo back to Keelung. Our orders are to verify that this space remains ours until the tug has taken the Kilo into local waters.”
*
Half an hour later, Renard watched through the periscope as a tug dragged the injured Kilo toward Keelung.
Ye monitored radio chatter and mentioned that most of the officers and senior enlisted Chinese sailors had been evacuated via helicopter before the rest of the crew. The purpose had been to remove the leadership and minimize the chance that a would-be hero would try to scuttle the Kilo.
No matter, Renard thought. Taiwanese commandoes are aboard that ship with medical personal. It is ours.
When the Kilo crossed into Taiwanese waters, Renard lit a fresh Marlboro.
“Shall I give you back your submarine?” he asked.
“I will take us home from here,” Ye said.
*
Jake slapped Renard on the shoulder and found himself dragged into a rare hug with the Frenchman.
“That was amazing, mon ami!” Renard said. “Today we erased the failures of our past!”
Jake broke loose from Renard and found himself swarmed with slaps, handshakes, and smiles from the Taiwanese sailors. If they had considered him an intruder, they now considered him a champion.
Wu slapped his hand so hard into a handshake that it hurt. The Taiwanese officer pulled him into a loose hug and released him.
“You’re a rock star!” Wu said. “That was sweet!”
Jake ducked out of the operations room and followed a passageway aft. He knocked on the door of the commanding officer’s stateroom.
No response.
He twisted the handle and pushed the door open. Looking ghastly in the laptop computer light and backlit by a small lamp, Olivia gazed at her screen. She had made herself comfortable in the ship’s only private quarters.
Jake cleared his throat, and she stirred.
“What?” she asked.
“I thought you were going to help out,” he said. “Maybe steer the ship or something.”
“Not yet,” she said. “I don’t think Pierre wants me in the operations room. I need to study Hayat’s dossier anyway. You can’t believe what I’ve learned about him. He’s amazing. He’s a dichotomy of–”
Jake ran his hand through his hair and pulled back moist fingers. He noticed that his body tingled and his knees felt weak from stress.
“Do you have any idea that we were just in a battle? Two, technically, I think.”
She slid her legs from under her buttocks and onto the floor, wiggling in an effort to make blood flow through her extremities and yawning.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “We were just where?”
Jake knelt in front of her.
“Never mind,” he said. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine, I guess. A little unsure if I should be out here with you and Pierre, but I’m getting into this Hayat character. He practically turned his back on Islam.”
Jake didn’t care. He kissed her and refused to pull back until she accepted him. He caught her as she fell off the chair.
“Wow!” she said. “What was that for?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe just my way of saying I’m glad you’re here.”
*
Renard expected the black limousine awaiting him on the concrete pier. As he climbed the Hai Lang’s brow and passed beside a damaged frigate, he saw acting Defense Minister Li step out of it.
He waved his palm at Slate and Ye.
“Let me handle ‘his majesty’,” he said. “I suggest you two stay on the ship for a while.”
Renard swaggered towards Li. The cocky young bureaucrat smiled and extended a hand.
“The most decisive victory in years,” Li said. “Quite possibly the most decisive of our naval history.”
“Will you not agree then that my debt to your nation is paid in full?” Renard asked.
Li’s young face became somber.
“In full?” he asked. “If you had accomplished what we had paid you to accomplish with the Colorado, this day would never have been necessary.”
“My debts were grand. But so are my deeds of this day. My planning, my action in combat–you have much to claim for it.”
The grin returned to Li’s face.
“You have planned and executed a day beyond my wildest desires,” Li said. “One Kilo sunken and one captured! A coup I could never have imagined. Much as you would like to deny its existence, I have a conscience. I must pardon you from all shortcomings of your past.”
Li laughed and extended his arms into the sky.
“You have turned the fortunes of this war!”
“And all but solidified you the permanent role as the Defense Minister,” Renard said.
“The young must replace the old.”
Although Renard disliked Li, he recognized his abilities and knew he’d make a competent Defense Minister.
“There is more work to be done,” Renard said, “but I am honored to have served your nation. I’m confident that Commander Ye can lead the Hai Lang adequately enough to–”
Li tugged at the breast of his three-piece suit.
“You don’t get off that easily, Renard,” he said. “I’ve received a call from Admiral Khan, your friend from Pakistan. You and the Hai Lang have more work to do.”
“I’m sure Khan paid you a hefty fee to lease it.”
Li reached within his suit for a cigarette and lit it.
“Enough to offset much of the overage we paid for the submarine when we bought it,” Li said, “and a hefty enough sum to fund many more blockade runs.”
Renard had seen Khan’s request coming, but with thoughts of returning to his family, he had hoped Khan would not need him.
“How long would I have the Hai Lang?” he asked.
“For a one-month contract with an agreement to negotiate if needed longer,” Li said.
“One month is how long it would take the Hamza to reach the Straits of Malacca from Ningbo,” Renard said, “if it were conserving fuel to reach India and trying to transit submerged and undetected.”
“I take it by your willingness to accept this mission that Khan has also offered you a hefty fee to command it.”
Touché, Renard thought.
“When do I leave?” he asked.
“Tomorrow at dawn,” Li said. “I will have waterfront support handle most of the reloads to give your crew time to celebrate their victory.”
“My crew?” Renard asked. “Who are they now?”
“The same you just led,” Li said. “After that victory, you should have little trouble influencing them to stay with you. During your inbound transit, I asked Ye to find extra hands for the extended operation. After today’s results, I predict no lack of volunteers.”
“I begin to sense the camaraderie,” Renard said.
“Let your crew enjoy a little liberty,” Li said. “It will be short but well-deserved. If you need a bar or other establishment in the city opened for your crew, you need only call me.”
Renard probed Li for his perspective of the danger he faced from the CIA.
“You know I cannot leave the protection of this base,” he said. “I’m certain that the CIA has mentioned they know of my presence here.”
“That offer to celebrate did not include you or your American colleagues,” Li said. “The CIA has not threatened action, but you are safer behind the base’s gates.”
“How did the CIA approach you?” Renard asked. “About Slate, the lady, and me?”
“A CIA courier brought disks to my office and insisted that I forward it unseen and under top military security control to the lady on the Hai Lang.”
“Did you admit to the presence of the lady?”
“I don’t play charades with the CIA,” Li said. “I volunteer all relevant military data with candor. It pays off with the intelligence they offer in return—selective as it is. But since I did not know about CIA officer McDonald at the time, I could not admit to it.”
“You know her name and identity?” Renard asked.
“Commander Ye verified her name and presence before you deployed. As for her role in the CIA–past, present, or future–I have enough evidence to speculate she is associated with them, but I don’t care. If she’s your version of an intelligence specialist rider on the Hai Lang and will help you with your mission, then I accept her presence.”
“You will protect us, then?” Renard asked.
“How so?”
Renard stepped closer and could smell Li’s cologne.
“I have a family with whom I wish to be reunited,” he said. “I don’t want to risk my life again only to be incarcerated upon my return. You have the power to hold the CIA back while I’m on your soil.”
“The CIA will not bother you or your colleagues while you are on any of my bases,” he said. “But I cannot offer you asylum indefinitely.”
Li tossed his cigarette to the concrete and stamped it out. He ducked into the limousine and Renard called out.
“Your word, then,” Renard said. “I want your word that you will protect Slate and my family upon our return to Taiwan and that you will provide us military transport to a nation of our choosing.”
Li closed the door and rolled down the window.
“To a nation of my choosing,” he said. “You will have to trust my judgment.”
“Agreed,” Renard said.
Li lit a cigarette and blew smoke out the window.
“Okay, Mister Renard,” he said. “You have my word.”
The limousine rolled away.
Their heels tapping the concrete waterfront, Ye and Slate approached.
“What was that about?” Jake asked.
Renard explained the new mission of the Hai Lang. Neither Jake nor Ye appeared surprised.
“I’m sure my crew will join you,” Ye said and walked from the pier.
“You don’t want to ask them now?” Renard asked.
“It can wait until morning,” Ye said.
When Ye stepped out of earshot, Renard turned to Jake.
“I believe he’s becoming confident,” he said. “Almost arrogant.”
“Remind you of anyone we know?” Jake asked.
“Perhaps two people we know.”
Renard shared a laugh with Jake and shouted to Ye.
“Where are you going, my friend?” Renard asked.
“My wife,” Ye said as he yelled over his shoulder. “I will return tomorrow morning. Perhaps at eight, but maybe later. Don’t bother calling.”
Renard opened his mouth, but Jake cupped his shoulder.
“Let him go, Pierre,” Jake said. “He’s earned it.”