“Brian, I don’t want to get snapped up in his screw, but I don’t want to lose contact, either,” Glass answered. “Let’s stay outside a thousand yards. The further, the better, as long as we don’t lose contact.” He turned to Jerry Perez, who stood just across the plotting table from the two. “Nav, I’m depending on you to keep us off the rocks. We’re still in pretty close. I don’t want to kiss the bottom.”

Perez nodded. He pulled out the ever-present dividers and measured the distance to shallow water.

“We’re good so far, Skipper. Nearest shallows are six thousand yards off the starboard beam.”

The two black denizens of the deep performed a slow minuet in the dark, cold Barents Sea. Glass kept his team on a hair trigger as they maneuvered around. If the Russian became the least bit suspicious, they wouldn’t necessarily know it until Master Chief Zillich heard the incoming torpedoes. By then, it would be far too late to do anything more than retaliate.

The wait was excruciating. Tension filled the cramped interior of the submarine like a thick presence. Glass felt the sweat trickle down his back. He glanced over at Edwards. The XO was gripping the chart table. His knuckles were white, but he still had that cocksure look on his face.

Toledo steadied up, deep on the Akula’s port quarter, back in the Russian sub’s baffles. The other submarine steamed on, seemingly unaware that there was company trailing right behind.

Edwards watched the tactical picture develop on the fire control computer screen. Pat Durand fiddled with the knobs a little, fine-tuning the solution. Steaming this close behind a submarine was not a place where errors could be forgiven. The only real information was the bearing to the unseen adversary. His course, speed, and range had to be derived based on that slim bit of data.

Durand nodded, looked up, and flashed a thin-lipped smile. “That’s it, XO. We’re looking right up her skirt.”

Edwards glanced around and caught Glass’s eye. He gave him a thumbs-up. The skipper walked over to look at the solution. He placed a hand on Durand’s shoulder. “Good work, Pat. Keep your eyes open. This guy could zig at any minute and we damn sure better zig with him.” He turned around to Edwards. “What do you think, XO? Do we have a handle on what he’s doing?”

The young officer didn’t hesitate. “For the moment, yes. We just don’t know enough about the guy to stay in this close for very long.”