CHAPTER TWO

The Phoenix Rises

US Naval Command Pearl Harbour

“Hey! Lieutenant! Something really odd here.”

“What is it?” Lieutenant Carson picked up a spare set of earphones, placing one side against his ear.

“Underwater Bug 0721, Bashi Channel, thirty clicks off Taiwan, Sir.”

“Got it,” Lieutenant Carson said.

“Check screen, Sir. Two subs. Russian heading north-east followed by Chinese Star class three clicks behind.”

Lieutenant Carson watched the two plots.

“What’s the Russian up to? He’s all over the place!”

“Erratic course, Sir. Zigzag. Star class seems to be tracking the Ruski. No known combined exercises in that region.”

“Our Carrier Task Force Reagan is one hundred and eighty clicks off south-east Japan. Send alert with sub positions. Do it fast!”

Russian Submarine Volgograd

Commander Kuznetsov stared at instruments and dials moving slowly into the red warning zone, not believing the facts displayed before him. His hand hovered over the main alarm button. He punched it. Red lights began flashing, the normal hum of the control deck pierced by sirens.

“Exec, check all seals and cooling systems in the engine room! Find out what’s happening down there, now!”

Executive Officer Petrov dropped down the main ladder to the lower deck, racing toward the rear reactor area. Crew members were scattering, fear in their eyes. Petrov entered an engine room in chaos. Two crewmen lay on the floor in agony, faces blasted by escaping steam, skin ripped away. Engineering Officer Andreyev screamed into comms to the bridge.

“Commander! Mass leakage here. Reactor temperature rising. Need emergency teams immediately!”

Chinese Star Class N82

Three kilometers to the south-west, Chinese submarine N82 ran at tick-over speed on a similar course to the Russian submarineVolgograd. Officer Zhao, listening to the evolving sound print of the Russian vessel, sensed that all was not normal w