I gasped – our position was stated exactly as it was half an hour before! I thought I had.brushed Jetwind’s tracks clean! RETURN TO PORT STANLEY IMMEDIATELY. SURRENDER TO ALMIRANTE STORNI. NONCOMPLIANCE WITH THIS ORDER WILL BE FOLLOWED BY APPROPRIATE AIR AND NAVAL ACTION.
I read the signal over to Tideman and Brockton. Tideman noted the position fix give-away even before Brockton.
'How the hell could the Argentinian Navy possibly know our position?'
'It tallies with the satellite navigator's read-out barely half an hour ago,' I replied. 'I mean to find out more about this.'
'Do you intend to comply with the order?' asked Brockton.
'What the hell do you think?' I retorted. 'It's a bluff. "Appropriate air and naval action"!' I snorted derisively. 'In this kind of storm? This is the sort of weather to exploit the sailing ship's built-in advantage over power. We're doing better all the time. I mean to get even more out of this ship still once I get on the bridge!' 'Good man!' Tideman said with warm sincerity.
Brockton paced the cabin excitedly. 'We'll lick these Red sonsofbitches yet – just the three of us! No goddam Soviet Fleet is going to seal the Drake Passage!'
My reply was aimed at throwing a bucket of water over his fervour. 'Both of you talk as if there's a war on.'
My remark had the desired effect on Brockton. His excitement vanished. The gravity which took its place was all the more striking by contrast. Tideman nodded agreement when he said,
'The war is on, Peter. It's not a shooting war – yet. It's a silent war. It's a war of move and counter-move deep under the oceans – deep as the nuclear subs run. The Drake Passage is the West's last great bastion. I am at war, John is at war’ I indicated the Argentinian signal. 'It looks as if Jetwind is also at war.'