Cyber Countdown

by Terence Flynn

  The admiral took his cousin’s identification and thanked him for his help. Kim helped his uncle tie him up. They gagged him and gave him the anesthetic. It took effect almost immediately. The admiral broke his cousin’s nose with a quick kick to the face to make it look real.

  They walked to the boat and loaded the cooler with the weapons. Kim went back to the car and led his mother and sister to the boat, while the admiral started the engine. The boat was painted black, and the engines were very quiet for a fishing boat.

  “This is an unusual fishing boat, Admiral.”

  “Yes, it is. My cousin has supplemented his income through smuggling. He was caught by the patrol boats a few years ago and I interceded on his behalf. It probably saved his life.”

  Kim took the wheel of the boat and took it past Jangdok Island and the lighthouse. He then turned to starboard toward the rendezvous point.

  “The water is very calm, Admiral.”

  “It’ll get rougher when we get past the breakwater. What do you think of the boat?”

  “It’s very responsive to the rudder and handles remarkably well.”

  “Yes, my cousin claims it’ll do more than thirty knots. We’re approaching the first patrol line. You should slow down and use your night-vision binoculars to see if there are any patrol craft.”

  “I don’t see anything,” Kim said. “I’m going to take the lateral starboard heading recommended by the SEALs.”

  After two miles, the admiral said, “Change your heading toward the rendezvous point and decrease your speed to ten knots.”

  Five minutes later, Kim said, “We’re within one hundred yards of the rendezvous point. I’m going to idle the engine when we’re there.”

  “We’re ten minutes early, Kim. I’ll pass around the rice cakes and the thermos of tea.”

  “Okay, I’m going to set up the .50 caliber rifle on the engine enclosure. Could you get me the clips?”

  The admiral handed Kim the ten-round clips with high-velocity ammunition designed for destroying lightly armored vehicles. Suddenly, Kim heard a familiar sound. He immediately ran to the cooler where he removed the RPG launcher and loaded a grenade as he yelled, “Everyone down, now!”

  Kim felt more comfortable as the noise diminished, but was instantly blinded by a light that made it seem like it had gone from night to day in a split second. A 500 MD surveillance helicopter must have spotted the bioluminescent wake from the boat and followed it until it found them. Kim didn’t like the idea of killing his countrymen, but he had no choice. He aimed the RPG at the source of the light and pulled the trigger.

  The helicopter exploded in a huge ball of flame. As some of the shrapnel from the explosion hit the boat, Kim heard a scream.

  “Admiral, my mother’s hit. Help her!”

  Kim’s mother was badly injured by a piece of shrapnel that had almost severed part of her foot. She was bleeding profusely. The admiral took a bungee cord and tied it tightly around her lower leg, which helped to stop the bleeding.

  “Kim, I see bubbles near the boat. It must be the mini-sub surfacing,” the admiral said.

  “Get everyone into the sub, Admiral. There’s a spotlight from a patrol craft closing on us. The helicopter must’ve gotten a message off.”

  “That patrol boat has machine guns that can destroy this boat from a mile away. You need to take it out, Kim.”

  Kim positioned the .50 caliber as two navy SEALs arrived in a rubber raft. They took his mother, sister, and uncle to the mini-sub. Kim maneuvered the boat so that it shielded the mini-sub from the approaching patrol boat, which was accelerating. It would be within range of the boat in about thirty seconds. Kim aimed the .50 caliber and fired all ten rounds in rapid sequence. He knew it was a long shot, since the craft was head-on and presented a very narrow target, but he hoped it was close enough to slow them down. He saw some fires on the patrol boat, so Kim knew he’d hit something. He loaded a second clip and aimed toward the fires. As soon as he’d finished the clip, he dove over the side and swam to the mini-sub.

  One of the SEALs grabbed him and pulled him in just as he heard the explosion. The patrol boat had disintegrated. The mini-sub dove to over a hundred feet. One of the SEALs gave him some dry clothes as Kim asked, “How’s my mother?”

  “She’s doing fine,” said one of the SEALs. “We have a medical officer on the attack boat who’ll take good care of her. That was some impressive marksmanship with the .50 caliber. Have you used it before?”

  Kim smiled. “I was trained in its operation during SEAL training.”

  “Yeah, I could tell you knew what you were doing,” said the master chief. “Nice to have you on board, Commander. Relax, it’s going to take about two hours to get to the attack boat. It’s almost eight miles beyond the twelve-mile limit.”

  They could see the bottom getting further through the transparent bow shield of the mini-sub as they moved farther out. The pilot yelled, “We have company. I’m taking it down to two hundred feet.”

  “I can hear the ship propellers. What do you think it is, Admiral?”

  “From the sound of the propellers and the RPMs, I think it’s a corvette. It has some anti-submarine warfare capability, but the corvette’s sonar is probably too primitive to track the mini-sub’s electric motors. They’ll probably attempt to track us from our last reported course based on estimated speed.”

  Just as the admiral spoke, they heard the sound of depth charges exploding a quarter mile in front of them. The SEAL pilot said, “They have our course and will be dropping in a pattern as we move toward them. I’m changing course.”

  Kim knew that would extend their distance back to the attack boat, which could be a problem. They heard the North Korean ship drop another pattern.

  The pilot laughed. “If we hadn’t changed course, that last pattern would’ve ruined our day.”

  A minute later they heard another pattern farther back. The admiral smiled. “The corvette has taken its best shot.”

  “Do we have enough power to get to the submarine?” Kim asked.

  The pilot responded. “We’re not out of the woods. That diversion we had to take used up a lot of our battery power. We’ll be riding on battery fumes by the time we get to the mother ship.”

  The mini-sub got very quiet as everyone stopped talking.

  A while later, the silence was broken by the pilot. “Thank God Almighty, there she is. We have battery power for one pass to connect with the sub’s air lock.”

  Kim looked out the bow shield and saw the submarine. It was huge, and it was just hanging there like a big balloon. The pilot maneuvered the mini-sub over the rear deck of the submarine. He then gently dropped it over the hatch behind the submarine’s conning tower. Kim heard a metallic clunk followed shortly by the opening of the minisub’s hatch by the SEALs.

  “Not bad for the first time,” the pilot said.

  “Was this really the first time?” Kim asked.

  “No,” said the master chief. “We’ve had some training missions in the mini-sub, but it’s the pilot’s first time linking with a sub.”

  The first person off the mini-sub was Kim’s mother. One of the SEALs had given her a pain killer, and she was groggy. The ship’s doctor examined her in the sick bay and then met with Kim and Hana.

  “Your mother is very lucky,” he said. “There’s no nerve damage. She has a fractured ankle, and some blood vessels were severed.”

  “Will she need surgery?”

  “Yes, they’ll do that in Busan. She’s in excellent condition, which will speed her recovery.”

  Kim and his uncle were taken to see Captain Ortega, the submarine’s commanding officer.

  “The SEALs say you’re a piece of work, Commander. That’s high praise from that team. If I could award you a medal I would. Your actions saved this mission.”

  “Thank you, Captain. I’m just happy to get my family out of North Korea.”

  “I hope my boat meets with your approval.”


  “It does. My uncle and I are very impressed. We’d like to see the rest of it.”

  “I’ll give you a tour later, but first I need to ask some questions about the capabilities of your navy’s submarines. Does your uncle speak English?”

  The admiral smiled. “I speak it as well as my nephew. I taught him.”

  “Great. Please follow me to the officer’s wardroom where the four of us can have a private conversation.”

  As they walked in, Kim saw a familiar face. “Hi, James. It’s great to see you again.”

  “I’m glad you made it, Kim. I hope your mother will be okay.”

  “She will,” said the captain. “I hate to spoil this reunion, but let’s get down to business. I was provided a copy of the attack plan, so I know about the new North Korean anti-ship missiles and the contingency plan if they’re disabled. Can you tell me about the capabilities of your two newest Kilo subs, Admiral?”

  “They’re the latest Project 636.3 models, and they’re extremely quiet. I found out a few days ago that our engineers have made some modifications to the propellers that have made them even quieter. We know that when they’re operating on electrical power while submerged, they have been able to evade your 688 class submarines. It’s doubtful the Chinese will be able to find them.”

  “Thanks, Admiral. Can you tell me about their surface and submerged speeds and their maximum operating depth?”

  “They have a maximum surface speed of seventeen knots and a maximum submerged speed of twenty-five knots. Their crush depth is about twelve hundred feet. At speeds over twenty knots while submerged, they lose much of their stealth capabilities, and the batteries are depleted at an accelerated rate.”

  “What about the older Kilo, Admiral?”

  “It has basically the same performance but the electronics are not as sophisticated, which could make it immune to my nephew’s worm.”

  “That’s very helpful. My mission is to safely extricate you and your family and then rendezvous with a navy helicopter that will take you to South Korea. A second helicopter will remove the mini-sub and fly it back to Yokosuka Naval Base. Commander Jordan will remain to advise us on the likely effectiveness of the worm he developed. Gentlemen, I know you had a long day, so I suggest you get some sleep.”

  Captain Ortega directed one of his junior officers to show them to their quarters. The admiral was assigned to officer’s quarters, while Kim was assigned to bunk with the navy SEALs. As Kim made up his bunk, the master chief asked him a question. “Did you ever run into any US Navy SEALs when you were a North Korean SEAL, Commander?”

  “No, but we knew they’d visited on occasion. There was a bounty for capturing them.”

  The master chief laughed.

  “What was the bounty?”

  “A larger food ration and additional leave.”

  “That’s all a US Navy SEAL is worth? That’s not much,” the master chief said. All the SEALs laughed.

  “In North Korea it’s an incredible luxury,” Kim said.

  The laughing stopped as they realized Kim was serious.

  “I met a former US Navy SEAL last week. He’s now an FBI agent,” Kim said.

  “Let me guess—was his name Rick Tanner?”

  “Do you know him?”

  “Yeah, I know Rick. He was the best SEAL I ever served with. Everyone called him Super SEAL because he was great at everything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He was an incredible swimmer, sniper, and his martial arts skills were off the chart. He was a fourth-degree black belt in tae kwon do.”

  “Did he learn all that during your SEAL training?”

  “Hell no. Rick’s father trained him from the time he was small. It was just him and his dad after his mother was killed in a car accident when Rick was four.”

  “I guess you and Rick were close.”

  “We were. It’s too bad about his injury.”

  “How’d it happen?”

  “He tore up his shoulder when his rope snapped while rappelling down a cliff in Afghanistan. I heard he fell almost twenty feet onto some rocks. It ended his career. He went to school and then became an FBI cybersecurity geek. Why did you leave your SEALs, Commander?”

  “I ruptured an eardrum during a mission and was sent to school to be a cybersecurity geek.”

  All the SEALs laughed.

  “That isn’t a joke,” Kim said. “I really was trained in cybersecurity after my career ended, just like Rick.”

  “Do you get as much satisfaction with what you’re doing in cybersecurity as you had when you were a SEAL?”

  “It’s a different type of combat, Chief. But the rewards and feeling of accomplishment are just as great.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I inserted a worm in the North Korean weapon systems a day ago that could disable their onboard computer systems. If it works, two of the Kilos won’t be able to launch their missiles and the third Kilo only has torpedoes with limited capabilities.”

  The master chief smiled and said, “Any worm that can disable an enemy sub’s weapons is okay with me.”

  Captain Ortega sent a message to COMSUBPAC about the success of the mission and the intelligence information the admiral had provided. He then went to his quarters to get some sleep. Several hours later the executive officer woke him.

  “Sorry, sir, but this message was listed as urgent. It’s the response from COMSUBPAC.”

  “That all right, Smitty. I was expecting it. It looks like our mission has changed. We’ve been ordered to the Senkaku Islands to counter the North Korean attack by any means necessary. The report on the capabilities of the Kilo probably shook them up a bit. Send a message asking if we can keep our two North Korean military advisors. Tell them their knowledge is crucial to the success of the mission and that I need their answer quickly. They’re scheduled to be transferred to Busan in less than two hours. I’ll wait for the response in the wardroom.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Twenty minutes later, Captain Ortega was informed that his request was approved. The captain summoned the admiral and Kim to his quarters.

  “I’ve gotten a change in orders, gentlemen. This boat has been ordered to intercept the North Korean subs. Do either of you have any objection to remaining onboard the Washington and participating in the new mission as advisors?”

  Both of them smiled. “We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Kim said.

  “Great, glad to hear it, gentlemen. We’re surfacing in about an hour to transfer your family and the mini-sub. After that, I’d like to discuss the new mission plan with the both of you.”

  Captain Ortega had performed personnel-transfer training exercises between a submarine and helicopter, but he’d never actually performed a real transfer in the open sea. He received direction that the transfer would occur twenty miles off the east coast of South Korea. The Washington surfaced at seven thirty in the morning and was met by an SH-60 Sea Hawk helicopter five minutes later.

  Kim was on the forward deck of the submarine with his sister, mother, a medical corpsman, a boatswain’s mate, and James, who wanted to watch. Several SEALs were also on the rear deck preparing the mini-sub for transfer.

  “Wait for the basket to come all the way down,” shouted the boatswain’s mate. “Don’t jump for it.”

  The helicopter lowered the rescue basket, which was swinging back and forth due to the wind. The corpsman saw it swinging in his direction and yelled, “I got it.” He tried to grab the basket before it was in his reach. The boatswain’s mate yelled, “Let it go, it’s swinging out over the water.” The corpsman caught it with one hand, and the basket swung him over the side as he lost his grip and fell into the sea.

  James saw what had happened. He immediately grabbed a line and dove in after him. He swam toward the corpsman, who was having trouble swimming with a life vest in the rough seas and was rapidly drifting away from the submarine. James finally reached him and attached the line to the corpsman�
�s vest. He held on to him as several of the SEALs on the deck began to pull them both in. James spotted three fins cutting through the water toward them and yelled to the SEALs, who also saw the fins and pulled harder. He suddenly recalled all his nightmares about sharks from when he was young. The fins turned toward James and he just closed his eyes and prayed. When they were within ten feet of him, he started laughing. They were dolphins. He was still laughing when the SEALs pulled him out of the water.

  During the next attempt at lowering the basket, Kim and the boatswain’s mate were successful in grabbing it. Kim placed his mother in the basket, strapped her down and said, “I’ll see you soon, mother,” as he gave her a kiss. She was raised to the helicopter, followed by Kim’s sister, and then the helicopter slowly disappeared from sight.

  The Washington remained on the surface as an SH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter arrived. Several SEALs connected chains from the huge helicopter to the mini-sub. The SH-53 rose very slowly until the chains were tight. It then lifted the mini-sub off the deck and departed for Yokosuka.

  After the transfers were completed, the Washington submerged and took a course toward the Senkaku Islands. James, Kim, and the admiral were summoned to the officer’s wardroom where Captain Ortega was waiting.

  “The US Navy appreciates the information you provided on the new North Korean Kilos, Admiral. The 688 class boats may not be able to consistently track the Kilo, but Virginia class submarines like the Washington can. This boat has an extremely advanced sonar system that can scan in every direction simultaneously. Based on what you know about North Korean tactics and the capabilities of the Kilo, how would you plan this mission?”

  “Kim and I believe the Kilos will take the shortest possible route from Wonsan to the Senkaku Islands in order to save fuel. That will take them through the Korea Strait between Japan and South Korea, past the island of Cheju-Do. They would then take a straight-line course to the Senkaku Islands.”

  “How long do you think it will take them to get to the latitude where Commander Jordan’s worm should disable their combat systems?”