High Alert (The Project Book 14) Read online

  High Alert

  by

  Alex Lukeman

  Copyright © 2017 by Alex Lukeman

  http://www.alexlukeman.com

  This is a work of fiction. All organizations, places, events and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used entirely as an element of fiction. Any resemblance of characters in this book to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means except by prior and express permission of the author.

  The Project Series:

  White Jade

  The Lance

  The Seventh Pillar

  Black Harvest

  The Tesla Secret

  The Nostradamus File

  The Ajax Protocol

  The Eye of Shiva

  Black Rose

  The Solomon Scroll

  The Russian Deception

  The Atlantis Stone

  The Cup

  High Alert

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  The PROJECT is an elite counter-terrorism/intelligence unit answering only to the President of the United States.

  The Team

  Elizabeth Harker: Director of the Project. Formerly part of the task force investigating 9/11 until sidelined for challenging the findings. Picked by the President to head up the Project for her independent thinking and sharp intelligence.

  Nick Carter: Former major, USMC. The team leader in the field, with years of combat experience. Suffers from occasional PTSD and nightmares. He's got it more or less under control.

  Selena Connor: Highly intelligent, a renowned linguist in ancient languages and expert in martial arts. Independently wealthy, the result of an inheritance. Introduced into Nick's violent world by accident, she is now a full fledged member of the Project team.

  Lamont Cameron: Former Navy Seal, of Ethiopian descent. Expert in all things water related. His humorous attitude sometimes drives Elizabeth Harker to distraction. A tough cookie.

  Ronnie Peete: Nick's oldest friend and a fellow RECON Marine. Expert with explosives, weapons and all things mechanical. A full blooded Navajo, Ronnie brings solidity and the wisdom of his culture to the team.

  Stephanie Willits: Elizabeth Harker's deputy; computer guru. Stephanie maintains the Project's Cray computers. She can hack into any system as needed. Among other duties, she is responsible for the satellite communication network that keeps Harker up to speed and the team connected in the field.

  PROLOGUE

  Wonsan, North Korea

  Present Time

  The USS California lay submerged outside the harbor at Wonsan, home to North Korea's East Fleet. Captain Richard Paulson looked through the observation scope and didn't like what he saw. The harbor was crowded with patrol boats and small craft. That was normal. What wasn't normal were the hundreds of North Korean landing craft bobbing in the endless swell coming in from the Sea of Japan.

  The DPRK's Great Leader was threatening again to invade the South. That was nothing new, but this time it looked as though there might be something to it. If Yun intended to carry through with his threats, it would begin with a launch from Wonsan.

  The Pentagon wanted to know what the Koreans were up to, but the heavily guarded harbor was camouflaged to hide activity from the American satellites watching overhead. Paulson's mission orders were to get up close and observe. If the North sent those boats south, the mission would change to active deterrence.

  USS California was an Ohio class ballistic missile submarine, modified for cruise missiles. She carried enough nuclear tipped Tomahawks to turn North Korea's armies into radioactive ash.

  Paulson thought it was a mistake to place his multibillion-dollar submarine this close to North Korea's paranoid and sophisticated defenses, but orders were orders. Advanced stealth technology hid the sub from the North Korean sonic sweeps looking for someone like him hiding under the water. Even so, there was always a chance of being discovered.

  Lots of activity. There are more of those craft than yesterday. They're getting ready to do something.

  He rotated the scope, scanning the harbor and coastline. A thin, white wake trailed after the slender column.

  Some things didn't work well in North Korea, but radar wasn't one of them. Lieutenant Kim Chul was the current duty officer responsible for surveillance of the exclusion zone outside the harbor. The enlisted man watching the radar display called out to him.

  "What is it?"

  "Sir, I think there's a sub outside the harbor."

  "One of ours?"

  "No sir, I don't think so. She made no recognition signals."

  Kim came over to the screen. "Show me."

  "Here, sir." He pointed. "That looks like a periscope to me."

  The radar man indicated the distinctive signature on the screen. Suddenly it was gone.

  "What about the sonar net? Any sign?"

  "No, sir."

  Kim's authority did not extend to ordering countermeasures. That required a higher rank. He picked up the direct phone to headquarters and asked for the base commander.

  Admiral Park Hwan had served the Great Leader's father before him. Not inclined to question the orders of his superiors, Park could be relied upon to do what was needed. In a country saturated in suspicion and paranoia, he was one of a very few high-ranking officers still trusted. It was why he'd been given his important job. He had made it a point to encourage the lower ranks to speak with him first in the event of a serious breach of security. It was why Yun was able to call him directly. To Yun's knowledge, no one had ever done so, but he wasted no time making the call.

  "Yes."

  "Sir, this is the Harbor Surveillance Duty Officer, Lieutenant Yun. Radar has spotted what appears to be a hostile submarine lying offshore. A periscope was detected."

  "You are certain?"

  Kim took a deep breath. If he was wrong he would soon be headed for one of the rehabilitation camps.

  "I am not absolutely certain, sir. But I believe it was a submarine. It can't be one of ours. None of ours are in the area. From the signature, I think it's American."

  "An American submarine is suspected to be in the vicinity. Very well. Return to your post. We'll take care of it. But you'd better be right."

  "Sir."

  Kim set the phone down. His hand was sweating. You'd better be right.

  "Watch for any further anomalies," he said to the radar operator.

  "Sir."

  They'll send patrol boats, Kim thought, with depth charges.

  Admiral Park unlocked a drawer in his desk and took out a manila envelope stamped with the red code for state secrets. Up until now, there had been no need to follow the orders contained within it.

  The orders came from the Supreme Leader himself. It would do no good to point out the complications that would come if they were carried out. No one contradicted the Supreme Leader or suggested that his judgment was anything but perfect. Not unless they wanted to end up in front of a firing squad.

  Or worse.

  Park got up from his desk and grunted in pain, feeling the ache of his arthritic knees. He picked up the envelope and crossed the hall to the operations center. All communications, defense systems and combat related operations were coordinated in this room, kept fully staffed around the clock. The communications area took up one entire side of the large space. Along with the radar, radio and satellite com
munications were as good as what the Chinese had, which was very good indeed. That wasn't a mystery. Almost all the gear had been manufactured in China and the operators trained by their military counterparts from Beijing.

  Admiral Park went to the radio officer in charge, a man named Bak. His shoulder boards bore the single star and two red stripes of a Lieutenant Commander. Bak sprang to attention at the admiral's approach. The admiral was proud of his men and knew they respected him. Respect was everything. They would follow his orders without question.

  "Sir."

  Park withdrew a single sheet of paper from the manila envelope. It contained a radio frequency and a string of computer code.

  "There is a possible enemy submarine lying submerged offshore. I want you to transmit this to them."

  "Sir, excuse me, but our transmissions will not reach them unless they have raised an aerial."

  "Don't worry about that. Send the coding on that frequency. It will reach them, if they are there."

  Bak looked at the frequency. "Ah. At once, sir."

  He took the paper to an enlisted man sitting at a nearby console.

  "Send this immediately."

  "Sir."

  The radio operator raised his eyebrows when he saw the frequency. He entered it and began transmitting. After a minute he was done.

  "Will there be a reply, sir?" the operator asked.

  Admiral Park had come up to stand near Bak.

  "I don't think so," he said.

  In the waters of Wonsan Bay, an underwater drone awoke. Its American codename was Black Dolphin. The North Koreans had renamed it Righteous Anger. Lieutenant Commander Bak's transmission told the drone to seek for a possible submerged submarine.

  The drone went into hunting mode and detected the enormous shape of California hiding outside the harbor. It slid quietly through the water and attached itself to the hull with a dull thud that sounded through the ship.

  On board the submarine, someone said, "What was that?"

  The computer inside the drone released a device to penetrate the stealth material covering the outside of the sub, then began transmitting high-speed bursts of code using the metallic hull of the submarine as an antenna.

  The Chief of Watch was monitoring the functions of the ship at his station. Now he turned to the captain, alarmed.

  "Sir, someone is accessing our computers."

  "What? That's not possible."

  Across the compartment, the Chief Petty Officer supervising the combat control consoles called out.

  "Sir, I'm starting to lose functions. We're being hacked."

  "Block it. Now!"

  "Aye, Sir."

  The CPO's hands flew over his keyboard as he tried to compensate for the interference.

  "Sir, the computer is dumping memory."

  There was a hint of panic in his voice. Alarms began sounding throughout the boat. Computer displays in the control room began to go dark, one by one. The emergency lighting flickered on.

  "Damn it, man, stop them."

  "Sir..."

  With sudden, ominous movement, the sub tilted sharply down. Captain Paulson was thrown across the compartment and hard into a bulkhead. He lay where he'd fallen, unconscious. Shouts and cries came from other parts of the boat.

  The submarine went into a vertical dive.

  Then all the lights went out.

  CHAPTER 1

  Nick Carter parked outside Project Headquarters under a dark sky spitting flurries of snow. The sun was nowhere to be seen. It was only the first week of December, but the weather was well into another miserable East Coast winter. He stepped out of the warmth of the car and the cold slapped him, making him feel every one of his forty-two years. By the time he reached the entrance of the building and waited for the identity scan, his old wounds were aching.

  He took off his coat and hung it on a Victorian style hall rack and mirror in the entry foyer. The face staring back at him from the mirror had dark circles under the eyes. He hadn't had much sleep in the last weeks. Not since he'd returned from Syria. Nick peered at his reflection and rubbed the scarred end of his left ear, where the lobe had been sacrificed to a Chinese bullet.

  Touches of gray had begun showing up in his hair. He'd decided to let it grow a little and was still getting used to the new look. He wasn't getting used to the gray.

  His boss was in Walter Reed, in a coma after a car accident that had almost killed her. No one was sure when Elizabeth Harker would wake up. Until she returned Nick was in charge of the project with Stephanie Willits, Harker's deputy. He'd come in early to try and get a handle on the day. He went into Harker's office and sat down at her desk.

  A huge orange tomcat strolled over and rubbed against Nick's leg, shedding hair over the gray carpet. The cat purred, a loud rumble that reminded Nick of a miniature Mack truck.

  "Hey, Burps. Hungry?"

  The cat looked up and drooled and purred. Nick stood and went to a cabinet by the coffee machine and took out a can of cat food. He opened it up, dumped the food in a dish and set it on the floor with a bowl of water. He turned on the coffee and went back to the desk while Burps began gulping down breakfast. While he waited for the coffee to brew, Nick leaned back in Elizabeth's chair and closed his eyes, fighting off fatigue.

  Ever since he'd returned from Syria, things had been in turmoil. The mission had been difficult enough. The aftermath had been confusing. Something had changed, but he wasn't sure what it was. The closest he could come was that he felt a little less pessimistic about what was happening in the world, a little more hopeful that somehow things would work out.

  Running the Project meant endless mental tasks that took time and concentration. A mistake in judgment could cost lives, even contribute to starting a war. Nick thought it was a lot clearer in the field, when people were shooting at you. Then you knew what you had to do. This was different. It would've been overwhelming except for help from Clarence Hood, Director of the CIA.

  The Project's relationship with Langley had been contentious for years, until the former director had been exposed as a traitor and Hood had taken over. In recent weeks, Hood and Elizabeth Harker had gotten involved in a relationship that went beyond their professional interaction.

  The CIA and the Project were bound together in more ways than one. Stephanie was married to Lucas Monroe, the Director of National Clandestine Services at Langley.

  Damn near incestuous, Nick thought.

  The smell of coffee filled the office. Nick pulled himself out of the chair, went to the counter and poured a cup. He walked over to the patio doors with the cup in his hand and looked out over the grounds. The flowerbeds had retreated into winter mode, brown and sere, poking through a covering of snow from the last storm.

  The flurries had changed to snow. Nick sipped his coffee and looked up at the row of clocks on the wall across from the desk. The rest of the Project team would arrive sometime during the next hour.

  The secured phone on the desk signaled a call. Nick looked at the blinking light.

  Langley. Here we go, he thought. He picked up.

  "This is Carter."

  "Good morning, Nick, although it could be better." It was Clarence Hood. "We have a problem."

  "What's happened?"

  "We've lost one of our cruise missile subs off North Korea. The California went down nineteen hours ago with all her crew."

  "Everyone?"

  "Yes."

  "What happened?"

  "That's what I'm calling about. It wasn't an accident. We think North Korea is responsible."

  "The North Koreans sank her? Are they out of their minds?"

  "Intelligence suggests Yun is getting ready to invade the South. The California was keeping an eye on the harbor at Wonsan."

  "Where they're building up an invasion fleet," Nick said. It wasn't a question.

  "Exactly. The DPRK is good at hiding things from our satellites. The Pentagon wanted direct visual sighting to confirm our intelligence and we do
n't have any assets on the ground to verify. California's mission was to observe and stay out of the way."

  "Are we certain it was Pyongyang and not an accident?" Nick asked.

  "It definitely wasn't an accident," Hood said. "She was sunk using our own technology. No one else is supposed to have it. The emergency buoy recorded what happened to her and transmitted the information when it reached the surface. Transmissions have stopped. The North Koreans plucked it out of the water."

  "What kind of technology?"

  "Now that you're acting in Elizabeth's place, I can tell you. DARPA developed an underwater drone called Black Dolphin that attaches itself to the hull of an enemy ship. It hacks into the target's computers and shuts them down. On the surface, a ship would lose all computer-controlled functions. It would drift, helpless. With a submarine, she'd turn into a big rock. That's what happened to California."

  "How do the North Koreans come to have our top-secret tech?"

  "That's the question, isn't it?"

  "Treason," Nick said. "Someone gave it to them."

  "It's the only possibility. Not only that, no one could break through the firewalls on one of our nuclear subs without the right codes. It has to be someone high up in the command structure with access to that information."

  "At least it narrows the field."

  "We'll find him, whoever it is," Hood said.

  "What happens next?"

  "President Rice isn't going to let the North Koreans get away with this. It may be up to his successor to finish what he starts, but Rice is mounting a rescue mission in case some of our people are still alive. The sub went down in North Korean waters. Yun is unstable, no one knows how he'll react. This could trigger a war."

  President Rice was in the last days of his second term. It remained to be seen what would happen when his successor took office. No one knew what approach he would take toward the covert world where the Project operated, or the black budget that funded it.