Patriot games - Tom Clancy [265]
"I'll be fine. You worry about you. Be careful!"
"Sure, babe. I'll be back." But they won't! Jack turned away to jump aboard the boat. He went inside the deckhouse and found the ladder to the bridge.
"I am Chief Znamirowski, and I have the conn," she announced. Mary Znamirowski didn't look like a chief bosun's mate, but the young seaman-was seawoman the proper term for her? Jack wondered-on the wheel jumped as though she were. "Starboard back two thirds, port back one third, left full rudder."
"Stern line is in," a seaman-this one was a man-reported.
"Very well," she acknowledged, and continued her terse commands to get the YP away from the dock. Within seconds they were clear of the seawall and the other boats.
"Right full rudder, all ahead full! Come to new course one-three-five." She turned. "How's the radar look?"
The Prince was looking over the controls on the unfamiliar set. He found the clutter-suppression switch and bent down to the viewing hood. "Ah! Target bearing one-one-eight, range thirteen hundred, target course northeasterly, speed about eight knots."
"That's about right, it can get choppy by the point," Chief Z thought. "What's our mission. Commander?"
"Can we stay with them?"
"They shot up my boats! I'll ram the turkeys if you want, sir," the chief replied. "I can give you thirteen knots as long as you want. I doubt they can do more than ten in the seas we got."
"Okay. I want us to follow as close as we can without being spotted."
The chief opened one of the pilothouse doors and looked at the water. "We'll close to three hundred. Anything else?"
"Go ahead and close up. For the rest of it, I am open to ideas," Robby replied.
"How about we see where they're going?" Jack suggested. "Then we can call in the cavalry."
"That makes sense. If they try to run for shore Christ, I'm a fighter pilot, not a cop." Robby lifted the radio microphone. The set showed the boat's call sign: NAEF. "Naval Station Annapolis, this is November Alfa Echo Foxtrot. Do you read, over." He had to repeat the call twice more before getting an acknowledgment.
" Annapolis, give me a phone patch to the Superintendent."
"He just called us, sir. Stand by." A few clicks followed, plus the usual static.
"This is Admiral Reynolds, who is this?"
"Lieutenant Commander Jackson, sir, aboard the seventy-six boat. We are one mile southeast of the Academy in pursuit of the boat that just shot up our waterfront."
"Is that what happened? All right, who do you have aboard?"
"Chief Znamirowski and the duty boat section, Captain Peters and some Marines, Doctor Ryan, and, uh. Captain Wales, sir, of the Royal Navy," Robby answered.
"Is that where he is? I have the FBI on the other phone-Christ, Robby! Okay, the civilians are under guard at the hospital, and the FBI and police are on the way here. Repeat your situation and then state your intentions."
"Sir, we are tracking the boat that attacked the dock. Our intentions are to close and track by radar to determine its destination, then call in the proper law-enforcement agencies, sir." Robby smiled into the mike at his choice of words. "My next call is to Coast Guard Baltimore, sir. Looks like they're heading in that direction at the moment."
"Roger that. Very well, you may continue the mission, but the safety of your guests is your responsibility. Do not, repeat do not take any unnecessary chances. Acknowledge."
"Yes, sir, we will not take any unnecessary chances."
"Use your head, Commander, and report as necessary. Out."
"Now there's a vote of confidence," Jackson thought aloud. "Carry on."
"Left fifteen degrees rudder," Chief Z ordered, rounding Greenbury Point. "Come to new course zero-two-zero."
"Target bearing zero-one-four, range fourteen hundred, speed still eight knots," His Highness told the quartermaster on the chart table. "They took a shorter route around this point."
"No problem," the chief noted, looking at the radar