The National Security Advisor dismisses him. “The Indians have already mobilized. Their intelligence shows Pakistan’s ISI running the operation.”
In the White House, the President is two minutes from authorizing a retaliatory strike on Pakistani missile sites. Ryan, bloodied and holding a satellite phone from the Shatsky ’s bridge, gets through.
The story splits: In Karachi, a disillusioned Pakistani submarine commander, Captain Asif Khan, is ordered to move his aging Khalid -class diesel sub to a secret listening post in the Arabian Sea. He realizes his own government is being set up as the fall guy. In Kolkata, an Indian RAW field officer, Anjali Mehta, captures a dying Chinese agent who whispers one word before biting a cyanide pill: “Ryab.”