Zillich watched the course indicator turn to port as Toledo came around to a new course as they followed their two playmates out into the Barents.

There it was again! Just at the edge of the baffles, the blind spot behind the boat. Not his imagination this time. Zillich grabbed the 21MC microphone. “Conn, sonar. We’ve got someone behind us. Just coming out of the port baffles.”

Joe Glass’s reply was instantaneous. “You sure, Master Chief?”

“Yep. Another Akula. She’s following behind us. Looks like there are three of them and that makes us the meat in the sandwich.”

Glass jumped over to look at the sonar repeater. Sure enough, there it was, just visible, the telltale trace of another boat. The image was already sliding back into Toledo’s baffles as they steadied up on the new course. Did the Akula know they were there? Or was he blindly steaming out of port, assuming he was behind his friends? There was no way for Glass to know. If he didn’t do something quick, the Akula would disappear again in his sub’s blind spot astern and he would lose the initiative.

Well, as his old skipper, Jon Ward, always said: “No balls, no blue chips.” It was time to take a calculated risk.

“Left five degrees rudder,” Glass commanded. If the Akula followed the move, he’d better be ready to respond. “Snap shot! On the Akula behind us. Tube two.”

Those words got the gun cocked. Just in case they were the target of the Russian sub’s attention, the ADCAP torpedo in tube two would be ready to go. Glass only had to say a single word to send the big weapon on its way.

He turned to Brian Edwards, his executive officer. “XO, we’re going to slowly move around behind this guy. I’m going make a long, sweeping turn until he draws abeam of us. Then we’ll let him drive on past if he’s so inclined.”

Glass drew a little diagram on the chart paper that showed the relative positions between Toledo and the third Akula. The diagram showed them moving in opposite directions so that the Akula would slowly disappear back into the baffles.

“With you so far, Skipper,” Edwards said.

“When we steady up, I’ll let our friend draw aft until he is just at the edge of our baffles. Then I’ll come left again.” Glass drew another picture that showed the Akula steaming away from Toledo. His sub was moving up behind the Russian. “I’m going to dance around behind this guy. Tell me if he zigs. That’s the only way we’ll know if he has detected us.”

Edwards studied the crude diagrams and nodded. “Okay, Skipper. I see what you’re doing. We’re going to spiral in behind this guy. How close you want to get?”