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“Cap?”
“Target the submarine.”
“Weapons is working on it.”
“Active sonar. Find the bastards.”
“Yes, sir,” said Eyes.
The room fell silent for a moment. “Submarine is targeted,” Eyes said finally.
“Launch!”
The weapons bolted from the launcher.
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“Patrol craft coming out from the east,” reported Eyes.
“Two miles.”
“Where’d he come from?” asked Storm.
“Just popped in there.”
Storm barked out orders that the ship be sunk. Within seconds the Abner Read reverberated with the steady thud of the 155mm Advanced Gun System. It took a dozen shots to strike the pirate craft, but only two to sink it.
“Torpedoes in the water!” warned the computer.
“Evasive action,” Storm said. “Use the Prairebot.”
“We’re down to two, Cap,” said Peanut.
“Now or never.”
“Prairebot.”
The order was passed and Abner Read’s forward torpedo tubes opened, expelling the devices. They swam about a quarter of a mile and began emitting their bubble fog. The two torpedoes were completely baffled, and circled back in the direction from which they’d been fired.
Storm glanced at the hologram. He could only find one of his torpedoes tracking the submarine.
“Weapons, how are we doing on that submarine?” he asked.
“Torpedo three missed, sir. Another malfunction. Four is ru
“Fire torpedoes five and six.”
“That will empty the vertical launching system,” said Peanut.
“I can count.”
“Target acquired, target locked,” said Weapons.
“Fire, damn it! I want the sharks picking over his bones before daybreak.”
“Firing ASROC torpedoes.”
“We better hit the damn thing this time,” muttered Storm as the rockets whipped away from the ship.
WHILE THE TWO WEREWOLVES WERE PERFORMING WELL, REAL-life combat was proving harder on resources than the test range. Werewolf Two was not only out of Hellfires, but down SATAN’S TAIL
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to its last hundred rounds of bullets, and borderline on fuel.
Je
“What are you doing with that aircraft?” demanded Storm.
“There’s a knot of pirates hiding in that building there by the water,” Je
“No, the other one, heading toward us.”
“I need to refuel and rearm.”
“We can’t recover it now. We’re in the middle of a battle.”
Je
Storm’s face went white. She thought for a moment that he would take a swing at her. But instead he turned, and she heard him ordering someone to prepare to recover the aircraft.
Northern Somalia,
on the ground
11 November 1997
0015
ALI’S SON CALLED TO HIM FROM THE POOL, YELLING TO HIS FAther for help. They’d gone to visit his cousin Abdul, and the boy was playing in the back while the adults debated the ob-ligations a man had to God and his family. Ali’s cousin had just claimed that the family must come first—blasphemy, or close to it, Ali argued, for wasn’t that the point of the story of Abraham?
His son’s cries shook him; there was something in hisvoice that he had never heard before, a kind of immediate 338
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terror that pulled Ali to action. The father sprang to help the son, bolting over the wall at the back of the yard.
The pool was only a few yards away, yet with every step Ali took it moved no closer. He saw his son Abu go under. Ali ran faster, faster, ran with all his all might, yet got no closer to saving him, no closer to pulling him out.
Lightning split the sky. Something pushed Ali’s head into the dirt. He felt himself flying into the water, flying into the pool.
This isn’t happening, he thought. This is a dream, one of the dreams.
I would never have withstood God’s test. I would not have killed my son for the Lord’s sake, even though I should have.
I am not worthy to be a follower of the Prophet.
The ground shook. Ali swallowed a mouthful of saltwater and grit. He began to choke uncontrollably. Somewhere in the middle of the fit he realized that he was lying at the edge of the water, his body twisted and his rifle in his hand.
A dark shadow filled the water in front of him.
Satan’s Tail.
I will be avenged. I ca
He pushed down, rising from the water. There were two, three, more of his men nearby.
“The ship—the American ship is out there,” he said, pointing. “I am going aboard and fighting them hand-to-hand.”
He started into the water. Two or three of his men followed and pulled him back.
“Let me go!” he yelled. “Let me go!”
“Captain, it’s not Satan’s Tail. It’s one of their smaller ships,” said Saed. “We’ve shot down one of their planes.
They’ve sent a boat to look for survivors.”
In his fury, Ali had a hard time understanding the words.
Finally, he understood what his lieutenant was trying to say.
“Our patrol craft have gotten out, all but two,” said Saed.
He held up a satellite phone. “The submarine is gone. I’ve SATAN’S TAIL
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passed the order to the Sharia to attack the aircraft carrier.
They will not fail.”
“Tell them instead to attack Satan’s Tail,” Ali told him.
“But—”
“Do it. Then gather every man you can find and get them into fishing boats. Quickly!” he yelled. “We have only a little time.”
DANNY SELECTED FULL MAGNIFICATION IN THE VISOR, LOOKING
at the rocks.
“Yeah, it’s definitely booby-trapped,” he told Boston, who’d first pointed it out. “Question is, why would they bother?”
“Worth finding out, don’t you think?” asked the sergeant.
“All right, we’ll come back.” He turned to one of the Marines nearby and told him to watch the cave entrance.
“It’s booby-trapped, so stay back, and keep everybody else back,” added Da
“Captain, the lieutenant wants to talk to you,” said Liu.
“I’m giving her my helmet.”
“All right.”
“Captain?”
“Yeah, Dancer, go ahead.”
“We think we’ve found the headquarters in Building Two here. I’m getting the demolition team to look at it now, with one of your men. You want to come and see?”
The buildings were about two hundred yards to the east.
“I’ll be along in a few minutes, once we’re sure we have this side of the camp secured. Have you heard from the Shark Boat on the Osprey rescue?”
“Negative. My whole communication system is gone,”
she said. “Even the Marine unit.”
“I’ll get back to you.”
“My best guess is they used it to store weapons and ammo, Cap,” said Boston. “Couple of boxes of ammo for AK47s on the ground there. Might’ve grabbed them when we were coming.”
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“All right. Take your team and hook up with the Navy shore party moving in from the west off the Shark Boat,”