“Captain, there’s an ‘eyes-only’ message for you on the broadcast. You can take it in my cabin if you want.”

Ward followed Norquest out and up the ladder to his sea cabin. He was surprised to see the late afternoon sun was already low on the horizon. It had still been dark, in the very early morning hours, when he last left the dim cave of the CIC.

Ward plopped down in front of the computer and punched in his access code. The screen went blank and then lit up with the text of a Navy message.

BT.

WARNING—SPECIAL COMPARTMENTED INFORMATION (SCI)

CODE WORD—STEEL HEARTS

EYES ONLY FOR CAPTAIN JONATHAN WARD

TO: COMMANDER CTG-42.2.3

FROM: COMMANDER, NAVAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE

SUBJ: MISSION TASKING CHANGE

1. RELIABLE SOURCES VERIFY PRESIDENT GREGOR SMITROV PRISONER OF ADMIRAL DUROV. BEING HELD IN POLYARNYY SUBMARINE BASE.

2. SUSPECT DUROV IS KEY MEMBER IN PLOT TO OVERTHROW LEGITIMATE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. KIDNAPPING JUDGED TO BE MAJOR STEP IN ADVANCING PLOT.

3. VITAL THAT SMITROV BE RESCUED. USE AVAILABLE IN SITU FORCES TO IMPLEMENT RESCUE.

4. ACTIONS SHOULD NOT BE IDENTIFIABLE AS U.S. IN ORIGIN.

5. PRESIDENT BROWN AUTHORIZES UNDER PRESIDENTIAL FINDING J-2721-32.

6. GOOD HUNTING. DONNEGAN SENDS.

BT.

Ward stared at the screen for a moment. He felt numb reading the words. More important was what the words didn’t say. Donnegan, his mentor and surrogate father, was telling him to wage war in Russia. The “Presidential Finding” meant that this was a very highly classified mission that President Adolphus Brown wanted done. He wanted it kept very, very secret. There was no mention that the Russian government was involved. There would be no help from that angle.

Donnegan was telling him to send Bill Beaman out on a very long limb.

Norquest avoided looking at the computer screen as he handed Ward a cup of coffee. “Bad news?”

“Yeah, probably. We’ve got a tough job to give the SEALs. Timing sucks. Toledo just started the mission to deploy the ASDV. Joe Glass won’t be able to communicate for a couple of days at best.” He logged off the computer, rose, and headed for the door. “Let’s get up to radio and give Beaman the good news. Maybe he can come up with something.”

Anistov Dmolysti leaned into the Vipr’s switchboard and handed the michman a screwdriver. Cables snaked across the narrow passageway, making it look like the nest for some giant but very disorderly bird. The back panels on the switchboards hung open, revealing the thick copper bus bars inside. The whole scene was one of confusion, but there wasn’t time right now for neatness and order. The work had to get done, and done as quickly as possible. Dmolysti hoped that the technicians were following the plan.