Sam Fisher- Skipjack Deployment

  Fisher called, "Bird, give me the ramp!"

  "Ramp coming down."

  Sandy yelled, "Okay, we got the Reagan's attention. A cruiser and a frigate are peeling away. They're coming about, heading toward us."

  The ramp groaned down and locked into position. In the predawn gloom, Fisher could see the Osprey's prop wash kicking up twin rooster tails on the surface. Farther back, he could just make out the Cat's bow plowing through the waves.

  "Start decreasing speed, Bird," Fisher ordered. "How far, Will?"

  "Quarter mile."

  Fisher knelt down. He flipped open the front right ratchet holding the Skipjack to the deck. He moved to the next one, repeated the process.

  In the cockpit, the missile alarm starting wailing.

  "They've got us again!" Bird yelled.

  Fisher scrambled for the rear tie-downs, flipped one, then moved to the next. He glanced out the ramp and could see, silhouetted by the rising sun, a man standing on the Cat's port bridge wing. A long, bulky object was resting on his shoulder. Even as Fisher thought missile, a gout of flame erupted from the rear of the launcher.

  "Missile launch," he yelled, and flipped the last tie-down.

  He put his shoulder to the Skipjack and shoved.

  IN his mind, time seemed to slow. The wail of the missile alarm faded, along with the voices of Bird and Sandy talking to one another in the cockpit.

  The Skipjack slid off the ramp, bounced once on the surface, then nosed over and started tumbling end over end. In the final second, the Cat's helsman must have seen the collision coming. He tried to turn, but too late. The Skipjack slammed broadside into the Cat's bridge. Fisher had a fleeting glimpse of the bridge disintegrating in an eruption of debris before Bird banked hard right.

- Checkmate, Chapter 55