Stay tuned for more details on the next adventure for Lance Bear Wolf and the Shadow Tier team.
Elle’s primary role during infiltration is to monitor the minisub passive SONAR system. It too is automated and private proof. Fifteen minutes after I set the new course, my console alerts there is a contact.
A beat later Elle’s voice is tigh, “SONAR classifies it as a patrol boat. Speed twenty-six knots…it’s, it’s on an intercept course.”
“Roger that, I’m slowing. Hug the hull. Maybe they’ll think we are a shark.”
As the Cubans continue to close on our position, I use the intercom to ask, “You ready?”
I read concern into Elle’s clipped response. “Yep.”
Elle peeks over her shoulder, an unspoken message she’s getting nervous. I hear the boat through the water now. We’d not planned for this, so I’m guessing the depth of keel and the propeller. Are we deep enough?
I take a breath to calm down and stop my hand from shaking. Then I squeeze Elle’s shoulder. She squeezes my hand in response. I check my watch and think about going deeper just when the Cubans roar overhead. We are slammed one way then the other by the propeller wash.
My rebreather is ripped from my mouth, and I scramble to find the hose. As I struggle to take a breath, the carabiner clipped to my dry bag comes out of nowhere and strikes me over the left eye. Dazed, my brain is screaming, trying to tell me something. I’m confused, I’m struggling to put the pieces together, then it registers, where is Elle?