USS North Dakota
Wharf B, U.S. Naval Base Guam
* * *
The commodore had the base’s band at the pier, playing “Victory at Sea” as North Dakota pulled in. Jerry had one of his more junior officers make the approach, with only a minor bobble, due to a wind setting them off the pier.
Simonis and the rest of his staff were drawn up in welcome, but the families were absent. That had been scheduled for the evening, after Jerry, his officers, and senior enlisted had been debriefed, and instructed on what they could and couldn’t say.
Once the lines were over and the inport watch set, the three sub captains came ashore. Jerry, Samant, and Petrov received four bells each, and the 1MC announcing system blared, “North Dakota, departing,” then “Captain, Indian Navy, departing,” and finally “Captain, Russian Navy, retired, departing.”
Both Samant and Petrov were still wearing their North Dakota ball caps, but Samant replaced his with his Indian Navy uniform cover once he was on the pier. Commodore Simonis, with a larger smile than Jerry remembered, greeted each at the foot of the brow, and joked, “There were so many bells I thought you were on fire.”
Most of North Dakota’s wardroom followed the three senior officers off the ship, and along with the staff, piled into vans bound for the squadron headquarters and the debriefing.
Simonis offered them a ride in his official car, but said, “Jerry, you usually like to stretch your legs when you come ashore.” To Jerry’s guests, he explained, “It’s a ten-minute walk from here.” They were all agreeable.
The four officers started out, and Simonis immediately said, “Dr. Patterson sends her apologies to all of you. She had hoped to be here to welcome you back herself, but managing the aftermath of the situation is demanding more of her time than the crisis itself. She also mentioned something about ‘not embarrassing Jerry any further.’”
That earned Jerry curious looks from both Samant and Petrov, but he just answered, “I’ll explain later,” and kept walking.
Simonis adjusted his stride to walk alongside Captain Samant. “I have the honor of relaying messages to you from two presidents. Our President Myles sends his deepest condolences over the loss of Chakra, and wishes he could award you a medal for your courage both during and at the end of this crisis.
“On the other hand, President Handa appears ready to award you several medals, and broadly hinted that when you return, you should visit a uniform shop for admirals’ rank insignia. He wants you back ASAP, and there has been negotiation at the highest levels of our governments regarding when that will be. As far as we are concerned, that’s whenever you want.”
Next he turned to Petrov. “My instructions are to offer you our deepest thanks, and to ask if there is anything the United States can offer you in appreciation.”
Petrov shrugged. “We three talked during the trip back. I don’t think I can get my old job back, and I don’t know if I’d even be welcome in Russia. I’ve been instrumental in embarrassing my government, and I’ve been party to the loss of another Russian submarine.” The Russian intentionally bumped into Jerry as he finished his statement.
Jerry’s hands flew up in frustration, and he all but pleaded, “Alex, will you give it a rest! Please!” Samant chuckled, having been informed of the inside joke, while Simonis looked on with confusion.
“Well, I can guarantee that the U.S. would welcome you, Captain Petrov,” Simonis said, and Jerry nodded firmly.
The Russian smiled but shook his head. “Thank you, but President Handa said that I’d ‘always have a home in India,’ which is about the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me, and Girish has made the point that the Indian Navy will need technical experts like me for a long time yet.”
Samant appeared totally surprised and said, “But … but you’re always complaining about the heat, and the spicy food!”
Petrov shrugged with a broad grin. “I’ll cope. Besides, I’m starting to like cricket.”
As they were finishing their walk, Simonis was reminded of a message he had to pass on. He began with the four most feared words.
“Oh, by the way, Jerry, in addition to a well-deserved ‘well done,’ from the entire chain of command, I have to warn you: Dr. Patterson’s been finalizing plans with Emily for a house-hunting expedition to Washington, D.C. You don’t rotate out for a while yet, but Emily wants to find a new home now, before the baby comes. Besides, real estate transactions can take longer to arrive than a baby.”
Simonis smiled wolfishly. “You’ll love the Pentagon.”
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
USS North Dakota (SSN 784)
Commander Jerry Mitchell, Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Commander Bernie Thigpen, Executive Officer
Department Heads
Lieutenant Commander Philip Sobecki, Chief Engineer
Lieutenant Steven Westbrook, Supply Officer (“the Chop”)
Lieutenant David Covey, Weapons Officer
Division Officers
Lieutenant Russell Iverson, Main Propulsion Assistant
Lieutenant Kiyoshi Iwahashi, Damage Control Assistant
Lieutenant (j.g.) Quela Lymburn (“Q”), Assistant Weapons Officer
Lieutenant (j.g.) Stuart Gaffney, Sonar Officer
Senior Chief Sonar Technician Halleck, Sonar Division Chief Petty Officer
American Characters
Lieutenant Commander Gill Adams, Executive Officer, USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723)
Gregory Alexander, U.S. Director of National Intelligence
Milt Alvarez, White House Chief of Staff
Rear Admiral Wayne Burroughs, Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet
Commander Bruce Dobson, Commanding Officer, USS Oklahoma City (SSN 723)
Malcolm Geisler, U.S. Secretary of Defense
Allison Gray, Deputy White House Chief of Staff
Senator Lowell Hardy (D-CT), former captain of USS Memphis (SSN 691)
Admiral Bernard Hughes, U.S. Chief of Naval Operations
Captain Glenn Jacobs, Commander, Submarine Squadron (SUBRON) 15 Chief Staff Officer
Andrew Lloyd, U.S. Secretary of State
Evangeline McDowell, President’s secretary
Kenneth L. Myles, President of the United States
Commander Scott Nevens, Commanding Officer, USS North Carolina (SSN 777)
Commander Ian Pascovich, Commanding Officer, USS Texas (SSN 775)
Dr. Joanna Patterson, U.S. National Security Advisor
James Randall, Vice President of the United States
Captain Charles Simonis, SUBRON 15
Commander Richard Walker, SUBRON 15 Operations Officer
Robert Eldridge, U.S. Ambassador to India
People’s Republic of China Characters
Admiral Jing Fei, Commander, People’s Liberation Army Navy
Lieutenant/Major Li Shen, intelligence officer, People’s Liberation Army
General Shi We, Chinese Minister of National Defense
Lieutenant General Tian Ju, Commander, Hong Kong Garrison
Major General Yeng Gan, Chinese Defense Attaché to the United States
Xi Ping, Chinese Ambassador to the United States
Captain Zhang Bo, Commander, Hong Kong Garrison Naval Brigade
Russian Characters
Jascha Churkin, former Spetsnaz commando and Kirichenko’s deputy
Captain Yetim Sergievich Gribov, Master of the icebreaker 50 Years of Victory
Vice Admiral Ivan Loktev, Deputy Commander of the Russian Northern Fleet
Admiral Yuri Kirichenko, Russian Navy (Ret.), former Commander of the Russian Northern Fleet
Anton Kulik, former Russian naval officer and technician working on Chakra’s overhaul
Captain Mishin, Russian Naval Attaché to the United States
Evgeni Orlav, former Russian naval officer and technical expert on Russian nuclear weapons
Captain First Rank Aleksey Igorevich Petrov, Russian Nav
y (Ret.), former captain of Russian submarine Severodvinsk
Arkady Vaslev, Russian Ambassador to the United States
Captain First Rank Viktor Zhikin, Commanding Officer of the 328th Expeditionary Rescue Squad
Valery Zykov, Russian diplomat and Washington station chief for the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service
Indian Characters
Vice Admiral Badu Singh Dhankhar, Commander of the Eastern Fleet
Larraj Handa, President of India
Gopan Jadeja, Indian Foreign Minister
Vishnu Kumar, Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation
Captain Mitra, Supervisor of the Visakhapatnam Shipyard
Commander Fali Gandhi, Visakhapatnam Shipyard Weapons Engineer
Shankar Pathak, Indian Prime Minister
Captain Girish Samant, former Commanding Officer of the submarine Chakra
Special Director Ijay Thapar, Deputy Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation
INS Chakra
Commander Maahir Jain, Commanding Officer
Lieutenant Commander Kumar Rakash, First Officer
Lieutenant Jal Kirit, Combat Systems Officer
Lieutenant Harish Kota, Navigator
Chief Petty Officer Patil, senior sonar rating
FORGE BOOKS BY LARRY BOND
Dangerous Ground
Cold Choices
Exit Plan
Shattered Trident
Lash-Up
Fatal Thunder
FORGE BOOKS BY LARRY BOND AND JIM DEFELICE
Larry Bond’s First Team
Larry Bond’s First Team: Angels of Wrath
Larry Bond’s First Team: Fires of War
Larry Bond’s First Team: Soul of the Assassin
Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising: Shadows of War
Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising: Edge of War
Larry Bond’s Red Dragon Rising: Shock of War
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Larry Bond is the author of Lash-Up, Shattered Trident, and numerous New York Times bestselling thrillers, including Cold Choices, Vortex, Cauldron, and The Enemy Within. A former naval intelligence officer, warfare analyst, and antisubmarine technology expert, he makes his home in Springfield, Virginia. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Author’s Note
Prologue
1. Shock Wave
2. Chaos
3. Movements
4. Reasoning
5. Cascade
6. Rude Awakenings
8. Arrivals
9. Fatal Encounter
10. Lawbreakers
11. Alarm Raised
12. Plan B
13. Sortie
14. Smoke and Mirrors
15. Unpleasant News
16. En Route
17. Confession
18. Pursuit
19. Flaming Datum
20. Evasion
21. Approaches
22. Endgame
23. Cleanup
Epilogue
Dramatis Personae
Forge Books by Larry Bond
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
FATAL THUNDER
Copyright © 2016 by Larry Bond and Chris Carlson
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Peter Bollinger
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
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New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-7864-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4668-6304-0 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781466863040
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First Edition: May 2016