AK 239: The Enemy Is Already Here

“If the Americans don’t put me in jail, I intend to spend the rest of my natural days on this earth watching corn sway in the breeze of a hot Nebraska summer. I’m choosing that over a certain death in Russia. Any man who wants to return to Russia, I’m sure can eventually do so. I know most of you will want to return to your families so let’s get our story straight. If our president and state run media don’t buy your story, you will be beaten, tortured and maybe killed because you did something I ordered, which was in direct contravention of our president. I could never live with myself if any of you suffer because of me. So if you all wish, you can blame me and try and return me to Russia to stand trial. The decision is yours.”

“We’re now in America, a democracy, so this must be put to a vote.”

“Majority wins.”

“Do we surrender?”

“Or do we fight and die?”

“Moscow has been screaming to our radio man for at least five minutes so we better have our story straight, understand?”

“Are there any questions?

Captain Nikolai Alexi, President Mironovich’s hand-picked officer, stares at me without feeling or uttering a word.

Not a single sailor, including my officers, says a word.

“All right, we stay.”

“Here’s what we tell Moscow…”

Fishing Trawler

I’m flashing Morse code to TK-20 as I’m eating a can of Spaghetti-Os.

Jennifer disgustedly says, “What are you saying?”

“Nuclear detonation on Bokan. Area contaminated soon. Permission to come aboard?” I ask.

“Good idea,” says Jen.

I look into Jen’s eyes.

Weird, but I feel Jen understands my every unspoken word.

I throw away the can of Spaghetti-Os.

I feel like I’ve known her my entire life. Difficult to believe it’s only been two days!

I stop staring at her as Stone seems to notice this.

He just smiles.

I think the idiot understands our relationship too.

Stone walks over to me,

“What’d he say?”

My mind is somewhere else, “Who?” I ask.

Stone, “The sub. Who you think I’m talking about?”

Jen tries to help me out and asks Stone, “How do you know it’s a he?”

Stone is so confused by this he doesn’t know how to respond.

Meanwhile I’m looking through the binoculars reading Morris code,

“Permission granted. You can have my sub. She’s all yours!”

A cheer goes up from all of us: Jen, Stone and Tony and myself.

Jen hugs me.

Stone sees Badahur crawling for the door again and puts his boot on his back.

Stone looks around.

Sees an electrical cord nearby and uses it to tie Bahadur’s hands behind his back.

I say, “C’mon!”

All five of us exit the bridge to the starboard side of the boat as TK-20 pulls near.

F-35C Navy Fighter Jet

^{Two nautical miles south of Kendrick Bay}

^{Altitude: 30,000 feet}

A pilot sits in darkness. The only thing reflecting onto his visor and face mask are multiple green heads-up displays.

The pilot’s integrated night vision allows him to see for miles further than the human eye could see.

The pilot has a 360-degree view around him from a multitude of cameras on board, including the one on his helmet.[12]

An oxygen mask is required for all flights above 10,000 feet, as any person will start to not think straight above this altitude. In addition, if you have to pull serious Gs, a mask is necessary to feed enough oxygen to the pilot’s brain.

Also, if you need to eject, a mask is clearly needed as you could easily pass out or disfigure your face.

Imagine what a mouthful of air would do to you traveling at 1,000 miles per hour?

The pilot uses the radio in his oxygen mask to talk to NORAD.

“FA-146 Blue Diamond 1 to Pinnacle, FA-146 Blue Diamond 1 to Pinnacle,”

“Weapons pointed and locked. In position. Waiting your command.”

Peterson AFB

NORAD

Command Center

An assistant to the general says, “If that really is an SSBN Boomer it could light up North America.

General to pilot:

“This is General Norton at Pinnacle, Blue Diamonds, you are clear to engage. I repeat, clear to engage!”

The pilot confirms:

“Confirmed. Weapons armed and hot. I have a lock. Engaging now. Two birds in flight. Repeat, two birds in flight.”

“This is Blue Diamond 2 to Pinnacle. Blue Diamond 2 to Pinnacle. Two more birds in flight. Repeat, two more birds in flight.”

Kendrick Bay

We all stand on the deck of King of the Crabs watching the approaching sub. An orange, still glowing, shoreline has the silhouette of a man firing a round with his very old hunting rifle shouting,

“Die you Commie Bohunks!”

“Friend of yours?” says Jennifer to Stone as she looks through her binoculars at the black silhouette on the beach.

“Could I see those?” Stone asks Jennifer for her binoculars. She gives them to him.

Stone looks through the binoculars and apologizing says,

“It’s Jimmy! He’s alive! And almost deaf. I’m not sure he could hear us even if I yelled at him.”

Meanwhile Stone’s pilot, Jimmy, fires off another round at Vasili’s sub.

“Okay, Eskimo, you’re up!” says Stone to Tony.