Ramius was back in his control room scowling at his chart.  A stray American Los Angeles stumbling onto him was one thing, but he had run into a small task force.  English ships, at that.  Why?  Probably an exercise.  The Americans and the English often work together, and pure accident had walked October right into them.  Well.  He'd have to evade before he could get on with what he wanted to do.  It was that simple.  Or was it?  A hunter submarine, a carrier, and two destroyers after him.  What else?  He would have to find out if he were going to lose them all.  This would take the best part of a day.  But now he'd have to see what he was up against.  Besides, it would show them that he was confident, that he could hunt them if he wished.

"Borodin, bring the ship to periscope depth.  Battle stations."

The Invincible

"Come up, Marko," Barclay urged.  "We have a message for you, old boy."

"Helicopter three reports contact is coming up," the speaker said.

"All right!"  Ryan pounded his hand on the rail.

White lifted a phone.  "Recall one of the helicopters."

The distance to the Red October was down to a mile and a half.  One of the Sea Kings lifted up and circled around, reeling in its sonar transducer.

"Contact depth is five hundred feet, coming up slowly."

The Red October

Borodin was pumping water slowly from the October's trim tanks.  The missile submarine increased speed to four knots, and most of the force required to change her depth came from the diving planes.  The starpom was careful to bring her up slowly, and Ramius had her heading directly towards the Invincible.

The Invincible

"Hunter, are you up on your Morse?" Admiral White inquired.

"I believe so, Admiral," Hunter answered.  Everyone was getting excited.  What a chance this was!

Ryan swallowed hard.  In the past few hours, while the Invincible had been lying still on the rolling sea, his stomach had really gone bad.  The pills the ship's doctor had given him helped, but now the excitement was making it worse.  There was an eighty-foot sheer drop from the flag bridge to the sea.  Well, he thought, if I have to puke, there's nothing in the way.  Screw it.

The Dallas

"Hull popping noises, sir," Jones said.  "Think he's heading up."

"Up?"  Mancuso wondered for a second.  "Yeah, that fits.  He's a cowboy.  He wants to see what he's up against before he tries to evade.  That fits.  I bet he doesn't know where we've been the past few days."  The captain went forward to the attack center.