"Luck is part of the game, Jack."

HMS Bristol was the first to pick up the sound of the two submarines and of the turn the Red October had made.  Even at five miles the subs were barely readable.  The Crazy Ivan maneuver had terminated three miles away, and the surface ships had been able to get good position fixes by reading off the Dallas' active sonar emissions.

"Two helicopters en route, sir," Captain Hunter reported.  "They'll be on station in another minute."

"Signal Bristol and Fife to stay to windward of us.  I want Invincible between them and the contact."

"Aye aye, sir." Hunter relayed the order to the communications room.  The destroyermen on the escorts would find that order peculiar, using a carrier to screen destroyers.

A few seconds later a pair of Sea King helicopters stopped and hovered fifty feet over the surface, letting down dipping sonars at the end of a cable as they struggled to hold position.  These sonars were far less powerful than ship-carried sonars and had distinctive characteristics.  The data they developed was transmitted by digital link to the Invincible's command center.

The Dallas

"Limeys," Jones said at once.  "That's a helicopter set, the 195, I think.  That means the big ship off to the south is one of their baby carriers, sir, with a two-can escort."

Mancuso nodded.  "HMS Invincible.  She was over our side of the lake for NIFTY DOLPHIN.  That means the Brit varsity, their best ASW operators."

"The big one's moving this way, sir.  Turns indicate ten knots.  The choppers—two of them—have both of us.  No other subs around that I hear."

The Invincible

"Positive sonar contact," said the metal speaker.  "Two submarines, range two miles from Invincible, bearing zero-two-zero."

"Now for the hard part," Admiral White said.

Ryan and the four Royal Navy officers who were privy to the mission were on the flag bridge, with the fleet ASW officer in the command center below, as the Invincible steamed slowly north, slightly to the left of the direct course to the contacts.  All five swept the contact area with powerful binoculars.

"Come on, Captain Ramius," Ryan said quietly.  "You're supposed to be a hotshot.  Prove it."

The Red October