Page 118 (1/2)

The officer pressed the headset against one ear Then his eyes took on a puzzled look "It sounds like an SOS"

"That's how I read it, sir Soainst their hull"

"Where is it co from?"

The sonar wheel that activated the sensors in the bow of the sub and eyed the panel in front of hirees, two thousand yards north of west It has to be the Titanic, sir With the departure of the Mikhail Kurkov, she's the only surface craft left in the area"

The officer handed back the earphones, turned fro stairway into the conning tower, the nerve center of the Dragonfish He approached amustache, ore the oak leaves of a commander on his collar

"It's the Titanic all right, sir She's ha out an SOS"

"There's no mistake?"

"No, sir The contact is fir to respond?"

The cohtful for a few moments "Our orders were to deliver the SEAL and fend off the Mikhail Kurkov We were also to remain obscure in case the Russians decide to make an end run with one of their own submarines We'd be in poor position to protect the derelict if ere to surface and move off station"

"During our last sighting, she looked to be in pretty rough shape Maybe she's going down"

"If that was the case, her creould be screa for help over every frequency on their radio-" The co He stepped over to the radio room and leaned in

"What time was the last communication sent from the Titanic?"

One of the radio operators scanned a sheet in a log book "A few hteen hundred hours yesterday, Commander They requested an up-to-the-minute report of the hurricane's speed and direction"

The commander nodded and turned back to the officer "They haven't transmitted for over twelve hours Could be their radio is out"

"It's quite possible"