ARMAGEDDON'S SONG (Volume 3) 'Fight Through' (11 page)

“Thank you
so
much for inserting that seed of doubt.” The captain
murmured. “But no, there is not.”

There was a long pause as the soldier thought about
that.

“But if there was, we wouldn’t know about it would we,
because they are stealthy, right?”

The captain glared at him.

Jie shrugged.
“Just saying.”

They crept on in silence, feeling their way closer to
the land.

Just as Li was beginning to think the French were very
lax with their security an urgent voice declared otherwise.

“
Conn, sonar
…stationary object,  range zero six five, bearing
two nine nine…classify as anchored sea mine…conn sonar, stationary object range
zero nine nine…bearing three one five, classify as anchored sea mine…conn,
sonar…stationary object…”

“Both engines back slow together…!”

Already barely making headway the
Dai
lost
way almost instantly and backed off from danger. Behind her the
Bao
did
likewise as its hydrophones tracked the Juliett and heard the brief flurry, knowing
what it must mean.

…all stop, helmsmen hold this position.”

He and the Exec studied the chart with Jie Huaiqing
close by.

“Well we knew they probably had one and indeed they
have, off our starboard quarter…” Li carefully marked the mines discovered by
the Mouse Roar sonar. Li suspected that going active with their main search
sonar would reveal a dense minefield and possibly one that also contained
magnetic proximity mines.

“Bring us slowly up to sixty feet…raise ECM.”

They remained there for ten minutes with the ECM
sensors listening to localised radio and microwave transmissions as well as
feeling for radar energy.

The ECM board warrant officer swivelled in his seat.

“Captain, four brief bursts of microwave
transmissions, all from landward and all digitally encrypted, otherwise the
board is clear, no radar energy seaward or landward at this time.”

Jie looked at the chronometer above the chart table;
it was set to Beijing time. He did a quick mental sum and smiled to himself.

“Exactly 7pm local time, five digitally encrypted
transmissions…” he muttered and then raised his voice enough to address the ECM
operator.

“Range and bearings?...I’ll bet the first and fifth
transmissions were from the same point inland and the other three are spread
out along the shore, back in the undergrowth somewhere?”

The two naval officers were watching him quizzically.

“Encrypted microwave transmissions of short duration,
that’ll be from man-portable battlefield radio sets.” He enlightened them. “Radio
checks on the hour to observation posts or patrols watching the beach.”

“Major?” responded ECM. “Approximate ranges only,
based on signal strength…” he rattled off four sets of ranges and bearings
which the captain marked on the chart.

“I think you were right Captain.” said the Exec. “If
he’d gone to my school I’d definitely have bullied the smug, swatty bastard.”

Jie grinned, and noted the approximated locations
whilst the captain stepped over to the periscopes.

“Raise ‘Search’.” It slid smoothly up and he grasped
the handles before pressing his face against the eye shield, switching to
lo-lite TV and swinging the device around through 360°, ‘Dancing with the Grey
lady’ as it is known, his hand cranking the prism elevation upwards as he
looked for aircraft as well as surface craft. After several revolutions he was
satisfied they were in no immediate danger and turned to study the land.

During their journey north along the Atlantic coast of
South America Li had noted the twinkling lights on the shores of the neutral
countries, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil.
In towns, cities and ports the lights blazed away, illuminating shipping to
landward of the
Dai
, silhouetting them against that carefree absence of
blackout regulations. It had been enough to make a grown predator weep, all
that tonnage there for the sinking but being unable to do so without
compromising the mission.

Here though, French Guiana was in total darkness, a
sinister dark mass on the horizon.

He took a step backwards.

“Down ‘scope, lower the ECM, come left to two zero
zero
…port motor back slow, starboard motor ahead slow…now
slow ahead together, helm amidships.”

Again they inched forward and Li stared hard at the
chart as if trying to divine whether the French had also mined the deep water
to seaward of the ancient volcano that Ile Diable and her two sisters sat atop
of.

“I assume we know that there isn’t some kind of enemy
position or listening post on those islands?” asked the Exec.

“It’s a bit late now to be worrying about that, but
no, the islands are directly beneath the launch path of the rockets and were
abandoned because of that…as our resident anorak on western health and safety
laws can confirm?”

Captain Huaiqing’s blacked up face suddenly sprouted a
set of pearly white teeth.

“Conn, sonar, sharp rise in the sea bed…six hundred
feet… five fifty…five hundred….” The granite pinnacle arose steeply from the
depths, its sides almost sheer in places.

“All stop.”

“Conn, sonar,
Bao
is matching us Captain.”

“Thank you” answered Li. “Raise the ECM… raise
‘Search’.”

Again the area was clear of detectable threats and as
the periscope slid back down again Li looked at the chronometer.

“Half an hour to high tide Major, and there are no
mines in the vicinity.” He turned and faced the soldier. “The French had a six
hundred foot long cable car affair running from Royale to Devils Island as the
tidal race is too fierce for boats in the channel so don’t hang about…and the
very best of luck to you Major.” He held out his hand.
“Thank you for the excellent job of getting us
here Captain, and whether or not we succeed I hope to see you on the dock in
six hours.” The handshake was brief but firm and Li hoped it did not betray the
guilt he felt.

If the troops failed to take the pads out of operation
then he would not be seeing Jie or his men again.
His orders on that count were precise, allowing no
room for manoeuvre and were marked for his eyes only.

Four of the troopers entered the submersible through
the after hatch and Jie Huaiqing with five men departed one at a time from the
escape hatch just aft the conning tower to attach
themselves
to its outer hull.

The submersible’s batteries, motor and air supply had
been tested regularly on their marathon journey from China, and its pilot ran
through the start-up, instruments lighting up one at a time until the board was
fully lit with green lights over ‘Air’, ‘Battery’, ‘Propulsion’ and
‘Manoeuvring’.

Jie rapped on the submersibles hull with his knifes
hilt to signal they were all secured outside upon which the crew of the
Dai
heard
the sound of the securing clamps releasing. The sound magnified by the water.

Once the Mouse Roar sonar showed the submersible was
clear and entering the channel between the three small islands
Dai
remained in place knowing that
Bao
was launching her submersible too.
To their left, the south of the islands was
almost certainly a continuance of the dense minefield but there was no need to
seek it out now.

Li had been correct; the channel was the chink in the
armour protecting the satellite launch facilities.

It took several minutes for the second
special forces
team to reach them and then pass into the
channel also, after which the passive sonar told them
Bao
was
moving back out to sea and
Dai
followed.

Major Huaiqing was attached to the casing of the small
vessel by a rubberised carabiner and a firm grip on the foot and hand holds as
he watched the submarine that had been ‘home’ for six weeks disappear into the
ocean blackness. He gripped the regulator between his teeth, breathing calmly
into his re-breather as he returned his gaze to the way ahead, where lay the
channel between the small islands that had been more the gaoler of the
prisoners incarcerated there than any gun totting prison guard. But surely he
thought, they must have thought the risk worthwhile at such times as this when
standing on the shore watching the maelstrom relent twice a day?

The submersibles spot lamps snapped on as the mouth of
the channel approached to show rock walls covered by razor edged barnacles that
would flay the living flesh from any unfortunate swimmer caught in the currents
grip, and then he was startled by the black soulless eyes and evil, jagged
fanged grin of a Tiger shark that entered the circle of light created by the
spot lamps.
It deferentially ignored the
submersible that was larger than
itself
, and the
Chinese troopers clinging to it like pilot fish. 

That at least answered his question.

Beyond the channel his submersible ceased forward
motion and held station awaiting the second submersible to emerge safely. It
appeared after a little more than five minutes and turned north, to head
parallel to the shoreline for fifteen miles.

The Captains submersible though came to a heading of
280° and continued for the shore.

An hour later the submersible settled to the bottom
well short of the low water mark, its purpose fulfilled.

According to the ECM data they were now at worst about
five hundred metres from a Foreign Legion O.P

Captain Huaiqing slipped out of the rebreather while
still submerged but retained the weights belt about his waist for the moment to
prevent bobbing to the surface. He partially emerged from the sea to lie in the
surf with just passive night goggles and the muzzle of his French FAMAS assault
rifle visible.

A downpour of tropical dimensions was pelting down
from above raising a low lying haze of flying spray as the droplets burst upon
impacting the sea and already sodden sand. It roared down, smiting the wide
palm fronds like a constant drum roll. Even with PNGs, passive night goggles,
the visibility was greatly reduced.

The beach was exactly as expected from both satellite
photographs and tourists holiday snaps incorporated in the original briefing
back in China.

Pale grey cadavers lay strewn and entangled upon the
beach where storms had tossed them, their rigid bodies going brittle in the
intense heat of the sun, in the seasons when it shone. These once proud trees
did not hail from close hereabouts though. Overhanging the myriad rivers and
waterways that drained the South American rainforest they had eventually
succumbed to age or to undermining by flood waters, the rivers carried them
away, out to sea eventually and thence to a timber cemetery such as this.

Once upon a time the shore had not been so crowded.
Once it has been sun dried, the dead wood made excellent fuel for cooking fires
at the many hamlets and fishing villages along the coast of French Guiana. The
remains of the villages between Kourou and the border with Suriname were now as
grey and lifeless as the trees on the beaches, the inhabitants moved on in the
interests of un-burst eardrums, such was the thunder of the rocket
launches.  

Two men crawled slowly forwards, hesitating only once
to peer at their commander.

Jie Huaiqing gave them a reassuring nod and they
squirmed forwards through the sand, wasting no time looking for mines or trip
wires. The scouts disappeared into the jungle lining the shore and separated,
searching left and right for any waiting legionnaires manning OP’s or laying in
ambush.

After a few minutes one returned to give the all clear
and they all of them still in the shallows shed their weights belts, hoisted
heavy, vacuum sealed bags and sprinted from the sea heedless of their footing.

Nobody with half a brain would waste mines on a beach
where a few thousand heavy Leatherback turtles were going to be digging holes
to lay their eggs.

Once in cover they stripped off the wet suits and
opened the bags, pulling on boots, camouflage clothing, weighty
bergen’s
and combat equipment.

Captain Huaiqing took a fat barrelled 7.62 calibre
handgun from the bag. The Norinco Type 64 was purpose built for silent dirty
work at greater distances than a sound suppressed 9mm. He looped a lanyard
through the trigger guard and hung it suspended around his neck, tucking it out
of sight down the inside of his smock.

Next Jie pulled on a green beret, setting it just so.
He had practiced this many times in the dark onboard the
Dai
during the voyage.