Gonzales turned to face the satellite photos and pointed the laser to a small building near the water. “Intel says this is the command center for harbor control right here.”

Sam Donlan, Gonzales’s copilot on the mini-sub, piped up. “Hey, Hector, do we have any details on what kind of defenses they may have up there?”

Gonzales glanced over at the dark-haired Irishman, pursed his lips, and shook his head. “Nope. All we have is what we can hypothesize.”

Again every man had the same thought: “We have a SWAG. A scientific wild-assed guess!”

The SBU lieutenant’s voice was steady and sure as he went on. “There are most likely some submarine sensors and certainly command-detonated mines. From what we’ve heard from the SEALs already up there, they have the place wrapped up pretty tight.” He turned to the chart again. “Hydrographic surveys show there’s a sheer granite wall on this side of the fjord and it drops down to a thousand feet. We’ll snuggle up as close as we can to that wall. If we can stay close it’ll give us our best protection from both the sensors and the mines, but we’ll have to be slow and deliberate. It’ll take a couple of hours for us to make it to the Polyarnyy Basin.”

“Yeah, I hear you, boss,” Donlan said. “We play it by ear. Have we heard anything about what might be inside the basin?”

“Nope. Nothing on that. All we know is that one new Akula has come out of there in the past forty-eight hours. That’s the second one we know of, counting the one that ended up on the bottom. We aim to find out if there are any more in that shed and if they look like they may be readied for sea duty. You’re right, Sam. We’ll have to play it by ear. Once we’ve grabbed the pictures, we’ll pick up the SEALs as planned. Then we backtrack home the same way we snuck in and meet Toledo out here.”

“How’s the surface ice?”

“Shouldn’t be a problem. They broke it up for the first sub out and it looks like just a skim now. We should be able to punch a scope through it. Any more questions?”

No one said anything. Glass stood and nodded toward Jerry Perez. “Nav, your turn.”