He slammed up the scope handles and punched the button to lower it. He stole a glance at Dmolysti as the first officer pushed the button for the launch of one and then the second heat-seeking missile. The control room shuddered as the two rockets blasted out of the launch tubes just over their heads. The Strellas were “fire and forget” missiles. Once they were on their way, there was nothing for the crew on Vipr to do but pray they did their deadly work.

The loud explosion told the story even before the sonar operators could announce hearing the wreckage hit the water. Vipr was safe for a few more minutes. The helicopter’s mother ship was still out there, though. It would not take them long to realize their chopper was gone. Vipr still had to launch the rest of the cruise missiles before Vivilav could give any thought to running.

*   *   *

“SAM! SAM! Contact shooting at us—” the chopper pilot was yelling when the tactical circuit went dead. Aegis track AA275 disappeared.

The helicopter was gone.

“Captain, Bridge. Explosion on the bearing to our chopper. I can see outbound missile tracks on the same bearing. Someone’s shot our bird and launched missiles, too.”

Ward watched the terrible scene unfold for a split second. Then he acted. It was time to go on the offensive. There was no doubt that the Akula submarine had destroyed the helicopter and had sent lethal missiles out on a mission of death. Now was the time and nobody knew how to fight Anzio better than Bob Norquest, her skipper.

“Captain, you are weapons free on all hostile tracks,” Ward said.

“Engage the outbound missiles with SM-2s,” Norquest ordered without hesitation. “One on each track. Engage the Akula with ASROC. Assign four ASROCs to track Alpha Sierra One Two Four.” There was a note of quiet, controlled anger in the man’s voice. He had just lost three crewmen out there in that chopper.

To Ward’s left, the Anzio’s weapons officer bent to the task. His fingers danced across his control panel, assigning missiles and sending them on their way. Out on Anzio’s main deck, a piercing siren blared for an instant, warning anyone foolish enough to be topside that they had scant seconds to take cover.

A small square hatch on the ship’s main deck, just forward of the bridge, flew open and flames vented upward from the Mk-41 Vertical Launch System as the first missile leaped out of the forward vertical launcher, riding a column of flame from its solid-fuel rocket motor. The SM-2 antiaircraft missile roared vertically upward to a thousand feet and then arced toward one of the cruise missiles the Russian sub had launched. The missile followed an invisible radar trail at Mach three as it raced toward its target.

A millisecond later, another SM-2 from the after vertical launcher roared skyward after its prey, the other Russian cruise missile.