I Will Try: A Military Thriller (War of the Submarine Book 6) by R.G. Roberts

Author:R.G. Roberts [Roberts, R.G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: R.G. Roberts
Published: 2024-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Hitting a Wildcat

Christmas Island

Missile onloads were never fast, and screaming at her people would not make this one any quicker.

Nancy just wanted it to.

She lurked on deck, watching the missile onload for as long as she could before she thought she might go mad. But even now that they’d transferred from the anchorage to a pier, missiles only came over two at a time, one forward and one aft. Then the cranes slowly lowered them into the vertical launch cells, where Nancy’s crew performed self-tests and hookups. The onload was a slow business, even in wartime, because safety was more important than speed.

But watching a slow onload beat sitting in CIC, watching while the Link track of Alex’s submarine vanished and didn’t reappear. She understood why his boat wasn’t up in Link 18…but that didn’t mean she had to like it. Then Parramatta took enough damage that the Australian frigate dropped out of Link, and suddenly Nancy had zero information available. Christmas Island was too far out from Convoy 57 for real-time reports outside of Link 18, and she had no business reaching out on a radio to ask for updates. She just wanted to.

So Nancy tried to be useful. She did inspections, watched the onload, and even reviewed paperwork. Or tried to. But focusing was damned hard. Getting shot at was so much easier than knowing someone you loved was in danger.

Even worse, she couldn’t see what was happening. Nancy knew Alex was out there, fighting. Or he had been. Without communications from Parramatta, no one knew more. Jimmy Carter could be on the bottom. Or they could be on their way home.

No one knew.

That was what brought her back to her cabin, where she could at least pace without letting her crew watch their captain unravel. Admiral Rosario’s call helped a little; Rosario promised to find all the information she could, and if someone wearing stars couldn’t get answers, Nancy didn’t know who could.

Then her phone rang again.

Nancy needed a long moment to put her game face on before she could answer. Was it Rosario with bad news? Good news? She was almost afraid to find out. “Commanding officer, USS Fletcher, how may I help you, sir or ma’am?”

“Hi, Mom,” Bobbie said from the other side of the world.

“Hey, sweetie.” Weird butterflies did a lap around Nancy’s stomach, and her knees went weak. Two unsteady steps later, she lowered herself to sit on her rack. “What’s up?”

It was after midnight back home. Nancy hadn’t thought of telling her daughters yet, or at least she’d assumed she’d have eight hours or so to get more information before she had to.

“We were watching the news, and I thought of you. And Dad,” Bobbie replied. “I’m guessing you’re not in this convoy mess since you answered the phone. The Indians are real dicks for sinking ships with civilians on them, huh?”

“Oh. No. I’m still at Christmas Island.” Nancy felt numb as she weighed the pros and cons of telling her elder daughter the truth.

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