Chapter 42

42

May 14, 3:07 P . M . ANAT

Airborne over the East Siberian Sea

Captain Turov strode through the stark cabin of the An-74 transport plane. He nodded to his strike team, patting shoulders along the way. Several of the spetsnaz soldiers lounged or slept, conserving their energy for the threat ahead.

The team, including Turov, wore the latest in tactical gear designed by the Russian arms manufacturer Kalashnikov. It included multilayered, vented outerwear for cold-weather maneuverability, along with camo helmets and body armor. The team carried upgraded AK-12s, fitted with underbarrel GP-34 grenade launchers. Their kit also included bayonets that could be quickly attached for close-in fighting.

He had offered the same weaponry to the final two members of the group: Valya Mikhailov and her lieutenant Nadira Ali Saeed. The two women had refused the weapons, preferring their own rifles, side-arms, and daggers. The pair also wore body armor that was clearly customized to their form, hugging snugly, patterned in grays and blacks.

The two were seated behind the five-man cockpit. Across from them, Sychkin dozed next to his hulking aide-de-camp, Yerik. The two wore the same body armor as Turov's team, except the archpriest had declined any weapons, not even a side-arm. Sychkin trusted Yerik to keep him safe. The monk had a steel ax hanging from his belt and an MP443 Grach strapped to his thigh.

Turov reached the cockpit and leaned inside. "Have you been able to make contact with the Ivan Lyakhov ?"

"Only sporadically," the radioman answered. "They're still following the trail left by the other icebreaker. From the condition of the water and ice, the Lyakhov 's captain estimates he's running two hours behind the enemy."

"And no radar contact?"

The shake of a head answered this. "But the ship's hydrophones picked up what sounded like an explosion a short time ago. The Lyakhov also noted that the steady rumble of breaking ice in the distance went silent."

Turov rubbed his chin. "The target ship must have stopped."

"The Lyakhov 's captain made the same assessment, but with radar systems still compromised and the dense fog shutting down visibility, confirmation can't be made. Unfortunately, the geomagnetic interference grows steadily worse the farther north the vessel travels. For us, too. I keep losing contact with the Lyakhov ."

"Has there been any revised estimate when this solar storm will abate?"

"Still showing another three hours, sir."

Turov frowned. The enemy needed to be subdued before then. He pointed to the radio operator. "Keep trying to reach the Lyakhov . If successful, order them to push their engines to flank speed. To hold nothing back."

"Yes, sir."

Turov stared at the spread of ice and the approaching fogbank.

The third component of this assault remained unreachable. The last word from the Belgorod-class submarine was when it vanished under the polar ice cap, sailing its thirty-thousand-ton bulk toward the search zone. Its code name was Siniykit , chosen for the largest oceangoing creature—the blue whale—which was fitting as the submarine was nearly two hundred meters in length.

The boat needed to be that large to hold its arsenal of six massive Poseidon 2M39 torpedoes. The stealth weapons were the latest in Russia's underwater arsenal, tested for the first time in 2023. The bus-size weapons were more drones than torpedoes, capable of remote operation, with a range of ten thousand kilometers. Powered by a nuclear reactor, the torpedoes were capable of carrying up to a 100-megaton payload. Such beasts were designed as a second-strike nuclear option, to devastate a coastline and trigger a radioactive tsunami.

It was the reason the boat had earned its nickname the "Doomsday Sub."

The Siniykit had been out in this polar region to test its weaponry, using unarmed Poseidons. But it also carried one that was loaded with a nuclear warhead. Its payload was only a hundred kilotons, but that was still five times stronger than what had been dropped on Nagasaki. He also knew that some in the military were anxious to do a live test of that bomb.

It was what made Turov balk when Vice Admiral Glazkov had included the boat on this mission. It was a disaster in the making.

I can't let matters get that far out of hand.

Turov turned his attention to the plane's navigator. "How far are we from the Lyakhov ?"

The man lifted his nose from his station. "We should reach their position in eighty-seven minutes, sir."

Turov pointed to the pilot. "Shorten that timetable. I want us there in under an hour."

The man nodded and edged his throttle forward.

Turov surveyed the fogbank ahead as it swept toward them. The enemy had to be subdued as quickly as possible. If he failed to do that, the consequences could be dire, possibly even triggering a nuclear war.

That must not happen.

Even if it meant annihilating the enemy, with no quarter given or mercy offered, it would have to be done.

He turned to the ice-hardened soldiers behind him, resolute on this point.

So be it.