Steve Abbott - Devil's Gambit

A purple-skirted crewman, his head encased in a bulky sound-dampening helmet, appeared beside the group. He had to shout over the near-constant roar of jets thundering off into the night sky, “Sirs! Sirs! You’re to follow me. Captain Ecevit is waiting for you at the island. Everybody has to hold hands.”

The two men linked hands and fell in behind the crewman. Gayle and a hulking Marine Sergeant met them at a hatch door halfway down the island. Gayle held out her hand. “Glad to finally meet you Mister Kyun. I didn’t know you were working for us until a few hours ago. We should get inside. Met says there is a storm closing from the southwest.”

As the Marine escort led them through the maze of corridors, Gayle filled the two men in on events of the past few hours. “Two hours ago, a bunch of our F-18 fighters got into a fur ball with North Korean Migs.”

Forest nodded. “That must have been the tail end of it we saw on the flight deck just now.”

Gayle nodded. “Right. That was the only casualty on our side. The Admiral and the Captain both feel that it’s a diversionary tactic, but the joint chiefs want to make sure Seoul has enough air cover in case the North decides to launch an attack across the DMZ in retaliation. Right now, this ship is heading into the Yellow Sea.”

The Sergeant led them through a bewildering series of turns and passages before he stopped at a nondescript gray door, which he opened with a pass key. On the other side of the door was a cramped but passable wardroom with just enough room for the five other members of the team, Gayle and her two guests. Once they were all seated, Gayle continued with her update.

“As I have said, there is a storm approaching. The search for the North Korean sub has been active for the last forty eight hours. So far there has been absolutely no confirmed contact. The storm has hampered any efforts to search the southwest quadrant. Heavy seas sink our sonobouys as fast as they are put in the water. Admiral Abrahams feels the sub will try to slip through behind us.” She looked around the table. “I think we all agree with him, but if that does happen, there is another task force waiting to engage the sub on the western side of the Straits of Tushima.” Gayle smiled. “Of course, the North Korean sub has to get past two Los Angeles class subs and three Japanese subs waiting for him in the straits.”

Chun lit up one of his foul-smelling Galois and kept his silence.

Harris’s response to Gayle’s information was droll. “Well then, they don’t stand a chance in hell of making it.”

Sean put his hands together on the table in front of him. He flicked a brief glance at Chun before looking back at Gayle. A frown creased his forehead. Something was being missed and it was important. The uneasiness showed in his voice.

“Look, as far as I can tell, this thing is going to go the distance. I have this sinking feeling that whoever is driving that sub out there, is the absolute best the North Koreans could come up with.” Sean got up from his chair and walked over to the relief map draped across the bulkhead behind Gayle. “These people know the waters around here like the back of their hand. They run covert ops in this region all the time. Commando raids, spies, you name it…” Sean searched for the right words. “Look at it this way. This sub Captain, he gets through the gauntlet. How doesn’t matter right now. He gets through. Now I’m not a sailor, but my guess is he going to head into one of their less-obvious ports. These warheads are no good unless they are sitting on a missile. If they are going to be used on Seoul, they’re going to have to be transported overland. We need to nail down the transfer point and hit it with us and SEAL Team Three.”

“And if it does come down to an insertion, there will be only minutes, not hours, to disable the things.” Yevgeny Alexandrov spoke before Gayle had a chance to answer. His voice made it clear that rendering the warheads inert would not be an easy task. “We need as much time as it takes. If you handle the process incorrectly, you run the risk of contaminating the whole area, including yourself.”

Sean was not done yet. “Wouldn’t a shaped charge be enough to detonate the high explosive shell?”

Yevgeny tapped the table to emphasize his point. “And you have just contaminated a large area with plutonium.”

“Maybe, but the warhead is useless and if the housing is cracked, they couldn’t get near enough to salvage any of the material anyway.”

Yevgeny turned to his countrymen. The exchange in Russian was too rapid for even Sean to follow.” Gayle joined in. Sean could not tell what she thought of what he said. The discussion rose to a crescendo. Some kind of accord must have been reached because everything just stopped.

Yevgeny turned back to Sean. “This action you propose is a sledgehammer approach, Sergeant. It carries high risk and we would prefer to keep it as an absolute last option. But you are correct, we should assume that the worst case scenario will come to pass and plan accordingly. If this submarine is intercepted at sea, our job is done for us. We will calculate from what we know where to place the charges, with the least risk to ourselves, if such an eventuality arises, but we are only human. If a sizable reaction takes place, the location will be uninhabitable until late in the next millennium.”

One of the other Russians interjected, “If the sub manages to escape the search. How can we be sure of where the warheads are to be removed from the submarine?”

Harris nodded towards Chun and Forest. “Don’t worry, mate. That’s the easy part.”

Sean nodded. “Bill’s right. Captain Ecevit, perhaps it is time to introduce Comrade Chun Seng Kyun and Doctor Aidan Forest.”

Gayle was wary of including her new guests. Her request had been for information, not for their actual involvement. “Mister Kyun, Everything I have read about you has been from intelligence releases. I must admit that your presence here comes as a surprise.”

Chun gave a slight bow of his head. He kept his eyes almost closed. “I have some unfinished business with my country, Captain. I could not spend the rest of my days as just another feather in the cap of the CIA.”

“So, is Sergeant Harris correct, do you have some idea of where the warheads will be offloaded?”

“I do. It is my estimate they will be offloaded from their present transport at the port of Chanjon. It is a naturally deep harbor and is close to rail, air and road access. I used this port for sensitive material transfer myself, on numerous occasions. It is also known to my deputy director, the person responsible for my current status.” Chun held up a finger of caution. “However, there are risks with this site. It is only thirty miles from the Demilitarized Zone. The South mounts constant patrols of the water, as does the North around the border. The T’aebeck Sanmeak range to the rear of the bay provides near-perfect protection against air and land assault from that direction. If you mean to infiltrate the port, it will mean an almost direct insertion.”

Gayle slid her chair back. “Excuse me for a moment.” She opened the wardroom door and addressed the Marine still standing there. “You may as well make yourself useful. Go to Photo Intelligence Section and have them give you the latest shots that they have on this list. I want all pertinent maps, as up to date as we can get. As soon as possible, Sergeant.” The door closed on the man’s face before he had a chance to protest. Gayle sat down again. “I’m sure we’ll be able to formulate a better plan if we at least have an idea of the terrain that we’re going to be dealing with.”

Harris leaned forward. “What do you mean we?”