Page 27 (1/2)

“Deck crew, get those fenders over the sides” Juan’s order was met with a frenzy of activity, as men lowered thick rubber bumpers down to just above the waterline Unlike the old truck tires they used in port partly as disguise, these were modern cushions, and could take a tre

Over on the Tallahassee, part of her deck just fore of her sail began to articulate upward, ehts This was the loading port for the twenty-four Mk 48 ADCAP torpedoes the boat could carry For this mission, she was

carrying less than a full complement of the Advanced Capability weapons in order to accept the Iranian rocket torpedo, which was sitting on the Oregon’s deck on a wheeled trolley The cases of captured computer information were secured to the torpedo

Cabrillo keyed his walkie-talkie again “Okay, Hel the thrusters, twenty-five percent power”

“Twenty-five, aye”

The Oregon began to h to let the water she was pushing dissipate rather than rock the Tallahassee Several officers watched froht vision binoculars

“Ease off, Mr Stone,” Juan ordered, judging distance and speed with an expert eye The ships were less than twenty feet apart “Very good, now, ten percent opposite side”

Water frothed at the thruster ports as Eric used the them from the submarine

“Hold us here, if you please,” Juan said over the scrambled channel

“Nice piece of ship handling,” a voice boo tower

“Thank you,” Juan called back “Are you ready to receive the package?”

“I was led to believe there were two packages,” the sub’s captain shouted

“Slight change of plans, following a dustup thisin the Sea of Oman”

“How’d it work?”

“Believe it or not, flawlessly”