Submarine Warriors: The Enemy Beneath Read Online Free PDF

playing with dolphins.
    The rest of the kids made their way through the open door and sat at their seats in front of their work/play stations. Individual messages from IM, Twitter, SMS, Facebook and email were projected on each of the kid’s tabletops by the special light bulbs above.
    The daughter of Radioman First Class Grant, Chrissie flicked through messages from her friends with her finger, without ever touching the table.
    Nick resumed wandering around a virtual wasteland in Fallout.
    Suddenly, the projected wallpaper changed to the image of Admiral Connery standing at the bottom of the rope ladder.
    “Nick,” the Admiral shouted up. “I’m too old to climb this thing.”
    “Step onto the bottom rung of the ladder and hang on,” Mike yelled down to him. Sonarman Timbers’ son turned a virtual knob projected on his desk and a mechanical reel began to pull the rope ladder and the Admiral upward.
    Once the Admiral arrived at the top, he entered the tree house through the open door.
    “Hey guys, this is my Granddad.” Caroline motioned to the Admiral. “He’s here to talk to us about our fathers.”
    Everyone in the room knew Caroline’s grandfather was a famous, retired submarine Admiral. One couldn’t help but notice the statue of him at Subase Bangor.
    “I hope you’re not here to give us another pep-talk like those stiffs back in Washington D.C.!” Mike blurted out.
    “No, I’m not,” replied the Admiral. “What you’re about to hear is Top Secret. Caroline, pass around your phone to let everyone see the text message.”
    Chrissie, Mike, Annie and Nick all took turns examining the message on the phone.
    “This message is strange,” Annie mumbled.
    “The message is from the XO of the USS Alaska, and those GPS coordinates point to a location off the coast of Washington,” Admiral Connery proceeded. “The XO has risked his career in the Navy to send us this message because he thinks your fathers are all still alive.”
    It took a moment for the news to sink in.
    The Admiral popped a flash drive into a nearby PC, and an image of the Pacific Ocean appeared on the wall. He spread his hands apart and the scene zoomed-in on a location just one hundred miles off the coast of northern Washington State.
    “This spot marks the GPS coordinates,” the Admiral pointed. “Notice how they’re due west of the opening to the Strait of Juan de Fuca? Your fathers’ submarine would’ve transited directly toward that location on its way out to sea. If they’re alive, then that’s where they are.”
    Nick’s eyes widened at the prospect that his dad might be alive.
    “But we just got back from their funeral in Washington D.C.” Chrissie had a confused look on her face.
    “Yeah, the President said they were doing science experiments and had an accident,” Mike chimed in. “The President of the United States wouldn’t lie to us…right?”
    “I checked the GPS coordinates the XO sent to Caroline and the location appears to be a popular place,” the Admiral added. “A cruise ship with thousands of passengers disappeared there several weeks ago and no one can explain what happened. I still have a lot of friends in high places throughout the military, and they’re telling me that our orbiting satellites have spent a lot of their time looking at these same coordinates.”
    “I don’t like the sound of this,” murmured Chrissie.
    “Listen, I’m not here to have you second-guess the President, and I’m not trying to invent a conspiracy theory,” the Admiral said. “But I don’t think your fathers were conducting a science experiment. I think they were on a Top Secret mission to investigate the sinking of that cruise ship and something went wrong. Something the President can’t talk about. The Navy and the government have already written them off as dead. Due to the compartmentalized nature of their mission, the Navy will never admit that your fathers may be alive and therefore won’t try to find