Honorable Enemies (1994) (40 page)

"That is a good omen," Takagi said excitedly and quickly slipped his feet into the soft, padded sock-shoes the crew wore while on patrol. "Take us to periscope depth and lock in a solution on the carrier."

"Yes sir," Kanjiro responded quietly and turned toward the crowded control room.

A contact's course, range, and speed were calculated to determine the target's bearing rate--the "solution" for the torpedo shot.

Takagi sat still for a last moment of contemplation. His mind was clear and he felt comfortable with the pleasure he would derive from his inner calling. He looked forward to avenging his grandparents and the atrocious way the Americans had killed them.

Shigezo Takagi felt a visceral impulse toward the course of action he had set in motion, and the driving force was accompanied by a strong conviction of divine influence. Harushio was in harm's way and it was his responsibility to protect her and his crew.

The CO patiently waited until the depth readout next to his navigational data window indicated that Harushio was stabilized at periscope depth, then he calmly rose from his bed and walked to the control room.

All eyes turned to Takagi when he stepped through the hatch and approached the periscope.

"Sir," Kanjiro whispered, "we have a solution on a ship, but we don't think it's the carrier. The signature is different and sonar hasn't been able to locate the carrier."

"Keep trying."

Kanjiro obediently nodded and toggled the switch to raise the periscope before he glanced at the array of lights on the status board. "We are making two knots, outer torpedo doors are open, tubes one and two are flooded, and the fire-control system is up and ready."

"Excellent," Takagi replied as he grabbed the handgrips and quickly rotated the periscope 360 degrees, then reversed his crablike shuffle to take in the flotilla of American ships. "We're clear--no surface threats."

He was astonished to see Kitty Hawk burning while her escort ships were assisting with the firefighting efforts. Takagi was elated and felt a sudden sense of relief when he recognized where the strange explosions had originated.

"The carrier is dead in the water," he whispered to Kanjiro.

"It's on fire. That's why we can't get a signature--the screws aren't turning. There's only one ship moving, and it's a guided-missile cruiser."

The executive officer pursed his lips and smiled. "The sounds--the explosions we've been hearing--must have come from the carrier."

Takagi acknowledged his exec and stared at the blazing aircraft carrier. He was confident the Sea Ferrets would be enough to sink the beleaguered ship. The conventional 2,800-pound shaped charge explosive in each weapon was enough to blast a gaping hole in the hull of the carrier.

Harushio's CO felt a tingling sensation shoot through his chest. "This is a perfect opportunity. They'll most likely think a fire-related explosion sank the carrier."

Takagi tilted his head and looked at the glowing lights on the status board. The gyroscope, sonar transducer, and computer system in each torpedo was on line. The weapons were "hot" and ready for immediate use as soon as the final launch-code was punched into the complex fire-control system. The fire-control computer was constantly providing a solution to Chancellorsville, the guided-missile cruiser that was maneuvering around the burning carrier.

"The contact is turning." Takagi paused and waited to see what the Aegis cruiser would do next. "He's circling the carrier like a mother hen."

He timed the slow-moving cruiser as it completed a circle around Kitty Hawk, then glanced at the weapons' projected running time to the target. Takagi calculated the opportune firing time in order to have the pair of Sea Ferrets arrive at the cruiser when it was directly between the submarine and the huge carrier.

Hopefully, the CO thought while he nervously walked the periscope through another 360-degree sweep, the torpedoes will go under the keel of the destroyer and hit the carrier as they start turning back toward their programmed sound signature.

"Run the code for both tubes," Takagi ordered in a voice barely above a whisper.

"Run the code--both tubes," Kanjiro relayed to the fire-control team, "and stand by to execute."

Seconds passed before the twin amber lights illuminated on the status board.

"Both torpedoes are ready," Kanjiro tensely declared. Takagi studied the destroyer and counted the seconds it took to turn 90 degrees. "Solution update."

A fire-control technician tapped three buttons on his console and looked at the exec. "Solution input."

"Weapons ready, sir," Kanjiro reported with a resolute expression and cast a look at the blinking lights on the status board. "Don't fail us," he said to himself.

"Stand by," Takagi calmly advised.

The junior officer on the fire-control team reached up and carefully placed his safety-interlock contact switches in the off position. "Weapons armed, sir."

"Very well."

Takagi hesitated for a brief moment and experienced the serenity of a mind completely at ease. "Fire One."

Everyone stared at the status board as the compressed-air charge hurtled the first Sea Ferret out of the specially designed launch tube.

All hands simultaneously felt the sudden pressure-pulse in their middle ears.

Along with his crew, Takagi plugged his nostrils and purged his eustachian tubes to equalize the air pressure on both sides of his tympanic membranes.

"Tube One fired, Captain."

"Stand by," Takagi replied in a clear voice. His trembling fingers were the only visible indications of the temporary increase in activity in his central nervous system.

The Sea Ferret rapidly accelerated out of the mass of air bubbles as the onboard computer double-checked its systems and the functions of the external control surfaces. A split second after the compatibility check, the weapon's active sonar sent out a wave of sound energy to initially locate and track the designated target. After the stealthy torpedo was stabilized on course, the passive sonar locked on the sound signature of the American cruiser.

"Fire Two," Takagi ordered and immediately lowered the periscope. His responsibility was finished as far as he was concerned; now it was up to the Sea Ferrets to complete the mission and avenge a small slice of Japan's honor.

The second torpedo plunged out of the tube and the crew again cleared their ears.

"Tube Two fired, Captain."

"Right full rudder," the CO said hastily and looked directly in Kanjiro's widened eyes. "Level at sixty-five meters and set course for the South China Sea."

"Yes, sir," he replied with a happy expression.

Chapter
36.

The crew remained at general quarters while hundreds of sailors and Marines fought the flight-deck blaze and the secondary fires belowdeck. Hawk's escort vessels continued to spray water on the burning ship while exhausted officers and men struggled together in an effort to clear the remaining weapons from the four-and-a-half-acre flight deck.

Though tired, hungry, and soggy, the men were methodically throwing bombs, rockets, ammunition, and other ordnance over the side of the ship, then staggering back into the heat and smoke to search for more explosives before the ammo could cook off and start more fires.

Rear Admiral Isaac Landesman looked down at the blackened and scorched deck where part of the raging inferno had been contained. Thousands of pieces of aircraft and firefighting gear lay strewn in a tangled mess on the wet, slippery flight deck.

Landesman lowered his head. God, give us the courage and strength to overcome this tragedy. Please don't let--

"Excuse me, sir." The carrier group commander's aide interrupted the silent prayer.

Landesman turned to see the sadness written on the junior officer's face.

"What is it, Tom?"

"Damage control has confirmed at least twenty-nine casualties in the berthing spaces directly below the flight deck." The JO looked down, fighting the ache inside. "They never had a chance."

Landesman inspected the jagged holes in the steel deck near the two remaining arresting-gear cables. "Below where the bombs went off?"

"Yes, sir."

The Admiral was about to speak when a devastating explosion rocked the big carrier from fantail to bow.

Stunned, Landesman glanced aft as a huge geyser of water shot skyward and engulfed the deck-edge platform used by the squadron landing-signal officers. "That must be ordnance from belowdeck!"

The aide stepped to the window. "It looks like something went off on the hangar bay."

When the spray had cleared, the sailors who had been holding a hose near the LSO platform were gone.

Landesman was sure the trio of firefighters had been blown over the side of the carrier. He reached for his handset to initiate the man-overboard rescue exercise, then stopped in midsentence when another horrendous blast near the bow shook the mighty warship.

Momentarily speechless, Landesman realized that Kitty Hawk was being torpedoed.

Standing behind the senior sonar technician, Commander Shigezo Takagi heard both Sea Ferrets detonate. He felt a strange mixture of elation tempered by pessimism. Seconds later, he turned to his XO. "I hit something, but I don't know if it was the carrier."

"I've got a feeling it was the carrier," Oda Kanjiro said with unrestrained enthusiasm. "What a shot!"

After what seemed like an eternity, the sonar operator stared at his display and made the announcement Takagi had been waiting to hear.

"Sir," he reported in a hushed voice, "I've got a solid contact from one of the cruisers."

Takagi turned to his second-in-command and smiled broadly. "If the torpedoes ran at the proper depth, we hit the carrier."

Oda Kanjiro returned the smile. "Sir, our Sea Ferrets ran true. I'm positive we got the carrier."

Steve rinsed his mouth and placed his toothbrush in its plastic container while he thought about the hassle he and Susan had gone through with the Japanese law-enforcement officials. Shigeki Okamoto had died at the scene, and the first police officers who arrived had arrested Susan and Steve and confiscated their weapons.

After numerous phone calls to the headquarters of the FBI and CIA, along with a blizzard of paperwork, Steve and Susan were finally given back their personal weapons and released from custody.

Wickham took a swig of mouthwash and thought about Tadashi Matsukawa. The man is getting away with murder. He looked in the mirror and studied the tiny scar above his upper lip, then spat the mouthwash in the basin. Hell, the sonuvabitch has been getting away with every crime in the book for years. We've got to find a way to corner him.

The telephone rang and Steve went to answer it while he dried his mouth.

"Wickham."

"Steve," Susan inquired with a touch of concern in her voice, "are you up and around?"

"Sure. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but I just saw a report that one of our aircraft carriers was hit by a missile from a Japanese ship. It--a Harpoon missile, I think--apparently landed on the flight deck and caused a huge fire and numerous explosions."

The fateful news surprised and angered him. "What happened to cause them to fire a missile at us?"

"I really don't know. It's a breaking story."

She paused a moment. "Are you dressed?"

"Well, I'm in my warm-up rags." He looked down at his jogging pants. "Come on over and we'll turn on CNN."

"I'll be there in a minute." Her voice was tight and she nervously hesitated. "CNN isn't on the air--at least not in our hotel."

"Interesting."

"I thought so."

"The door'll be open."

"Okay."

Steve opened the door a few inches and a minute later Susan quietly knocked on it and slipped inside.

"What's happening?" he asked while she locked the door.

"From what I could gather from the local news," she began as her delicate fragrance drifted to him, "the Japanese claim that one of their destroyers accidentally fired a missile at our ship."

"Accidentally?" Steve asked with a dubious look.

"That's what the local stations are reporting. The carrier Kitty Hawk is on fire and there seems to be some confusion about how badly the ship is damaged. A senior officer, who is currently flying over the scene, said the fire appears to be out of control."

Steve shook his head. "It sounds like they're in trouble--big trouble."

"Do you think they'll lose the carrier?"

"That's possible."

"There's speculation from the Pentagon," Susan told him, "that Kitty Hawk was hit by torpedoes after the missile struc
k t
he flight deck, but they don't have confirmation at this time."

"Torpedoed?" Steve asked with a look of disbelief.

"Yes. The local media said that U
. S
. military-intelligence reports suggested that Iranian submarines are operating near our forces."