Leviathan egt-4

by David L. Golemon

  The double doors to the office opened and Gene Robbins came through with a sheaf of paper. He placed it on Pete's desk and waited for the meeting to end.

  "What exactly is their plan of attack?" Jack asked.

  "A cordon of eight attack submarines, arrayed at intervals and different depths, lying quiet and ready to shoot at anything that comes out of the polar passages. The same amount has been placed at the other areas I mentioned."

  Jack didn't say what he was thinking — that this would be a massacre beyond anyone's worst nightmare, and in favor of the wrong team.

  "So, get me somewhere I can make a stand against these people. Come up with something, Colonel. Thus far the CIA, NSA, and FBI have nothing."

  "Yes, sir."

  The monitor went from the president's image to a blank blue screen.

  "Did I hear right — they're setting a trap for Leviathan?" Robbins asked, removing his glasses. "Wasn't the loss of those British warships enough for one day?"

  Collins looked at Robbins. "Do you expect the world to just lie down and not try to stop this madness, Doctor?"

  "No… no, of course not… I just mean—"

  "What do you have, Gene?" Pete asked, cutting off his quasi-apology.

  "I just wanted to tell you that we have Europa completely back. I've close-looped the system with the exception of the clean room, and only we four currently have access to that area."

  "That will be all, Gene," Pete said, gesturing toward the door.

  Robbins quickly left the office.

  "I never knew the good doctor was so passionate about naval losses," Everett said.

  "He's just frustrated," Pete said.

  Jack nodded at Everett, and the captain pulled a small plastic bag out of his back pocket and handed it to Pete. Golding accepted the bag and looked it over.

  "Rubber gloves?" he asked.

  "Pete, when we head out to Saboo Island, I think we need a person from the computer center to accompany us. You never know, we may need one on this trip," Jack said, looking serious and tapping the plastic bag Pete was holding.

  "I guess I can assign someone."

  "Not just someone, Pete. I want the saboteur to come along for the ride."

  11

  LEVIATHAN, EIGHTY MILES

  NORTH OF THE BERING STRAIT

  After dessert, the choir had been replaced with a string quartet. They played classical music as the officers and Leviathan's guests stood talking.

  "If I may ask, Captain, what is Leviathan's crew complement?" Lee asked as a designed intelligence question.

  "Of course — we have seven hundred seventy-two officers and crew. We also have aboard fifty-two trainees and seventy-five midshipmen. They form an excellent choir, don't you agree?"

  "I am becoming aware of your crew's extreme loyalty to you… and your philosophy, Captain," Niles said, choosing to ignore the question about the midshipmen.

  "Dr. Compton, my crew's loyalty has never entered my mind. As for my philosophy, I never hold back any information from them. On the contrary, I rely on their research, their study, and their ideas."

  "Can I safely assume there is a base involved with Leviathan's upkeep?" Lee asked, tapping the teak deck with his cane.

  "Yes, there is a place we call home, actually two of them. My great-grandmother Olivia and her husband, Peter Wallace, established the first permanent base after the betrayal of her own father, Octavian. I along with my parents excavated the second base in the last fifty years." Her gaze moved away from the two men and she looked at the sea outside of the large windows, flowing above and around her. "The second one is a place that was unreachable for many years, until certain problems were worked out."

  "And that base is where?" Lee asked.

  She turned and looked at the two men, smiling.

  "It would do me no good to tell you about it. We will arrive at the first in a day or so, and the second soon after."

  Niles studied the beautiful woman before him. She had moments of clarity where she seemed as if she were just any other passenger on a cruise ship, marveling at the vessel and seas around her. Niles was close to the unalterable conclusion that he was indeed looking at the most intelligent person he had ever known, and as Lee had suggested on many occasions, the most insane.

  "Captain, I am not a stupid man, but I'll be damned if I can figure out your hull design and the materials used in Leviathan's construction. How can you achieve such depths?" Lee again waved his cane around him, indicating the ship as a whole.

  "Leviathan's hull is a composite material derived from nylon, spun steel, plastic, and an ingredient that is found only at the most extreme depths of—" She suddenly stopped and smiled at Lee. "You almost had me, Senator. I must say, your OSS history came into play there, didn't it?"

  "I had to try," Lee said, not smiling.

  "However, I see no harm in telling you a little something. You wouldn't understand the dynamics involved at any rate, so I will just give you the end result." She smiled at her small insult to the senator. "You may be surprised to know that the deeper Leviathan travels, the denser our hull material becomes. It compacts itself, quadrupling its strength."

  Alice came up and took Lee by the arm. "Captain Heirthall, why didn't you sit down with the leaders of the world and show them what you are showing us before you started shooting?"

  "Yes, Alex, why don't you explain why you didn't do that?"

  They turned and saw Virginia standing behind the captain. She was dressed in a simple green evening gown, and her eyes were somewhat puffy, as if she had been crying.

  "Certain developments in the Gulf of Mexico arose that made talking beforehand unacceptable. Immediate action was required, and I acted. The greed of a single country was—"

  "Be careful, Alex, your hatred is showing through your words," Virginia said as she reached out and removed a glass of wine from the table.

  Alexandria looked from Virginia to the other members of the Event Group, then smiled.

  "Why, Ginny, are you still angry with me for setting you up? I've explained in no uncertain terms your complete innocence in my getting the information and intelligence I needed on your Group."

  Virginia tilted her head after taking a drink of wine.

  "No, not angry. I love the Group and the people I work with," she said, looking over at Niles, who lowered his own eyes to the floor. "They would have eventually found out the truth. I also thought I knew you, Alex. The person you are now kills innocents so easily. The Alex I knew in college would have convinced anyone who listened that she had a better way." She looked around, gesturing at Leviathan. "A person who creates something as magnificent as this, and she turns out to be as cold as the sea she claims to protect." Virginia drained the glass of wine and then reached for the bottle on the table. " 'With great power comes great responsibility.' I forget who said that."

  Lee started to answer but Alice squeezed his arm for him to be silent.

  "And I take that responsibility seriously, Ginny, you know that," Heirthall said, looking harshly at her old friend.

  Sergeant Tyler stepped up to the group and held a glass of wine up in a mock toast. His look said that he was interested in the conversation.

  Pouring wine into her glass, Virginia kept her eyes averted from the small group around her. "Yes, we've been witness to your responsibility, Alex. Now tell me, old friend, obviously you have another person inside our department who could have told you we know nothing about your family, their science, or your intentions. So why bring us here?"

  "Sergeant Tyler will answer that for you soon enough."

  "You're a liar, Alex; you need us for something. What is it?"

  Alice stepped forward when she saw a spark of anger flare in the eyes of Alexandria. She took Virginia by the arm and quickly led her away from the table.

  "I see I'm not the only one who is enjoying the wine," Farbeaux said as he and Sarah joined the silent trio.

  "Captain, Virginia is—"

>   "Of all the people in the world, Dr. Compton, Ginny is one person you never have to explain to me." She lowered her head and made as if she were adjusting her white gloves.

  "Excuse me, I must attend to something," Sergeant Tyler said, placing his untouched wine on the table next to him. His eyes locked on Alexandria's and something passed between them. It made the Group wonder who was really in charge on Leviathan.

  As the uncomfortable silence continued, a wailing alarm sounded. It lasted for only a minute, but it was enough for officers and crew to start moving from the observation lounge in a hurry.

  The first officer approached Heirthall, placed a flimsy message into her hand, then turned her away and whispered something. They all watched as the captain's face went slack, and then she squeezed her eyes shut and planted her hands on the table before her. Samuels quickly moved away from her and turned, angrily pulling off his white gloves.

  As they watched, the captain switched on the intercom.

  "Officer of the deck, all stop, maintain depth, order quick quiet on all decks and initiate side-scan sonar laser system."

  "Aye, Captain."

  Outside Leviathan, a sliding panel slid away from her hull and into the boat. This recessed area wrapped around the entire length of the submarine. Inside the abscess was what looked to be Christmas tree lights, glowing a deep red and growing in power by the second. As Leviathan came to a complete standstill, a thousand small lasers powered up and pierced the darkened waters of the Bering Strait, three miles off her bow. Light shot out into all quarters, revolving, spinning until the whole of the great submarine was wrapped in a glowing red cocoon of undulating laser light.

  "This is the reason I am forced to do the unthinkable. With nations it is always their love of power. Their stupidity is matched only by their false bravado and their love for the sound of rattling sabers."

  Confused, the Event Group watched as Alexandria hit another switch, making the ambient light in the forward compartment turn green and blue. When they turned to face the front, the glass was illuminated with a holographic image a hundred years ahead of any nation's technology. The hologram, of immense proportions, lined the shields. It was as if they were looking at an electronic image of the sea directly in front of them — in essence, the image replaced the glass and magnified the outside world. Embedded inside the composite glass plates were billions of microthin fiberoptic lines, set at different depths, allowing a 3-D image to appear. As they watched, the glowing image was magnified until eight objects, some deeper than others, came into view.

  "Oh my God," Niles said as he stepped closer to the hologram, which was broadcast as if it were on a seventy-millimeter movie screen.

  Heirthall was staring at the images, and Sarah watched as her jaw muscles clenched.

  "Bastards!" she said as she turned away and stormed out of the compartment. Alice saw that her eyes were the deepest blue, and that they were no longer dilated.

  Sarah stepped up to Niles's side and studied the image.

  "I clearly count eight of them," Niles said.

  On the hologram before them, standing forty feet high and eighty feet long, was the terrifying image of seven Russian-built Akula class attack submarines sitting motionless, waiting for their prey to appear.

  "She's going to kill them all," Lee said as he slammed the tip of his cane on the floor.

  "Jesus," Sarah said. "Is that one of ours?"

  Sitting in the direct center of the line was the most advanced submarine in the American fleet, and therefore, the world.

  "Yes, I believe it's your USS Missouri, a Virginia class vessel if my memory serves," Farbeaux said, setting his glass down for the first time that evening.

  "They're not moving — they don't know Leviathan is here," Niles said.

  "She's going to destroy them," Lee said again.

  Niles turned and ran for the compartment hatch, but as he neared, Sergeant Tyler stepped through. He slowly closed and dogged the hatch, then raised an automatic pistol up and pointed it at Niles. Disturbingly, the man was wearing a grin.

  "The captain has given orders that you bear witness to the treachery of nations."

  On the giant hologram, Leviathan drifted closer to the eight menacing attack submarines.

  Niles watched as Sergeant Tyler gestured for him to back away from the hatch, moving the gun back and forth menacingly, looking determined to keep the Group in check.

  "I take it our freedom of movement aboard Leviathan has been revoked?" Compton asked, not backing away from the door.

  "I suspect, Niles my boy, that it's only revoked when the captain is about to commit murder," Garrison Lee said as he stepped toward the sergeant.

  "As much as my captain admires you, I will have no trouble disabling you further, Senator Lee, if you continue to advance," Tyler said, shifting the position of his aim. "Now, please turn and observe the hologram."

  "Can't you see Captain Heirthall doesn't need to do this?" Sarah asked, stepping in front of Lee. "She's capable of running right past that trap."

  On the giant image screen, the three-dimensional view of the eight attack submarines hadn't changed as Leviathan had come to a complete stop before them.

  "All hands, prepare for subsurface action. All nonessential personnel to off-duty quarters. Seal the boat and move to action stations. The attack profile will be achieved through stealth," said the voice they recognized as Heirthall's.

  Niles Compton closed his eyes and balled his fists at his sides, feeling helpless. He only wished there was some way of warning those subs that it wasn't they who were doing the stalking, that the fierce animal they sought was watching them even now — and it was getting ready to spring. He turned away and leaned on the table, trying desperately to think of what to do.

  "Mr. Samuels, report Leviathan's status, please."

  Niles looked up at the sound of the captain's voice.

  "Isn't she conducting the attack from the control center?" he asked Tyler.

  "No, she never interferes with the crew during an attack. She will give her orders from another location."

  "Where is she?" Lee asked.

  "Where she always goes when she has to do something this distasteful — to the conning tower, her sanctuary, where no one is allowed."

  Niles knew he had to get to her to stop this horrible action. Leviathan could easily slip by the cordon of submarines without their ever knowing she was there. He had to convince her to allow those seamen to live, but as he looked into the eyes of Tyler, he knew the man would have no trouble shooting him if he tried to exit the forward observation lounge. It was as if he was anticipating the death of so many sailors.

  12

  Alexandria Heirthall was looking out of the giant acrylic port window on the lowest level of the tall conning tower, a totally soundproof compartment built just for the captain, which allowed her to operate the boat without being in the presence of her crew. Although the underwater lighting system of Leviathan was as bright as the sun, she couldn't see the line of submarines in front of her with ten miles of distance between the vessels.

  Once more, she placed a hand on the bubbled glass and watched her own reflection, leaning in to feel its coolness. Then she reached into her dress jacket, brought out three pills, and placed them in her mouth. The powerful Demerol dissolved with a sickening rush of bitterness. She then turned and went to the large command chair, climbed the four steps, and sat down.

  The captain eased her hands down to the chair's twin consoles embedded in the thick arms. She knew what she was doing was wrong, but she seemed powerless to stop it. She jerked her hands away from the control handles and rubbed them together. Then the pain hit inside of her head in earnest. Her eyes opened and she focused.

  She programmed in a request from the ship's computer and then closed her eyes once more. The lighting inside the lowest section of the conning tower dimmed to almost nothing, leaving only the illumination from outside of Leviathan. A deep green hue radiated from th
e view ports, relaxing the captain, just as music emerged from the speaker system hidden in the bulkheads. "House of the Rising Sun," a song she knew from her childhood, started playing from the hidden speakers. The doctor had recommended the music as a means to allow her mind to ease up during tense situations. It allowed her muscles to relax and let her access her thoughts for the coming attack. The music would bring that rush of adrenalin needed for her harsh actions, as it went against everything she thought she was.

  Alexandria opened her eyes and clenched the armrests with her hands so hard the blood drained from them. Then, as the deep lyrics of the song started to coincide with the movement of Leviathan, the giant submarine started moving forward, and the captain started to become one with the deadliness of her vessel.

  * * *

  Tyler tensed as Farbeaux strode to the center of the room with a fresh bottle of wine. The gun moved from Niles to the Frenchman just as the hatch wheel started turning. He allowed his eyes to move in that direction as the large double hatch opened and Virginia came through, followed by Alice.

  "Do not allow the hatch to slam closed, ladies. Leviathan is at quiet stations," Tyler said as he moved his head in their direction.

  Farbeaux moved like a cat. The bottle of three-hundred-year-old wine was in the air before anyone realized it. The makeshift projectile struck the big Irishman on the side of his head, dropping him immediately. Virginia reacted first as she stooped to retrieve the weapon from the sergeant's hand.

  Tyler recovered faster than anyone would have believed. From his knees he backhanded Virginia, knocking her away until she fell next to the hatch. Alice, startled, reached down to help Virginia. Tyler placed his hand upon the gun as Farbeaux dived to stop him — all the while wondering why he was doing it. Niles moved to help the Frenchman.