Honor Bound by C. Alexander London

Author:C. Alexander London
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2014-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

BY the time they reached the USS Henderson, the Marine Corps Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team had arrived. Those marines, known as FAST company, had flown in to secure the area around the sinking ship and to guard the rescue ships from further attacks. They wore the patches of their unit on their sleeves and Felix took note of their motto: “Anytime, anyplace.” Joining them on board the Henderson and preparing for action were marines from the Recapture Tactics Team, who were like the SWAT team on a local police force.

The rigid-hull inflatable boat was loaded up a launch ramp. As Felix led Sly out of his crate and on board the ship, the navy corpsmen tended to the wounded, rushing them to the infirmary, and leaving Sly, Felix, and Gutierrez to themselves again.

There was no designated area for the sea lion, so Felix and Gutierrez penned off a part of the forward deck, somewhere they thought might be out of the way, and they kept Sly in his crate there. Felix knew it would be a while before they could get a properly equipped helicopter to take them back to port in Bahrain. For the time being, all available aircraft would be needed for more important things.

Lt. Commander Barcott was just one of the casualties who would be flown out to a military hospital in Germany for surgery. According to a corpsman Felix asked, the man had lost a lot of blood, and he had a long road to recovery ahead of him.

As a helicopter landed to take the lieutenant commander away, his SEAL teammate, Lieutenant Coyle, found Felix on deck. There were twenty other members of the SEAL teams with him, out of the twenty-four who’d come on board the USS Ritland to begin with.

“We wanted to thank you,” Coyle said. “And Sly. For coming back for Commander Barcott. You saved his life.”

“He’d have done the same for me,” Felix said, although in his head he thought how amazing it was that nearly a whole Navy SEAL troop was thanking him for his actions on his first overseas deployment. It wasn’t something he’d planned or even hoped for, but he was proud to have done some good on this mission.

“You should know, we’ve got your back from now on, whenever we can,” Coyle told him. “The teams” — he used the casual shorthand for Navy SEAL teams — “don’t forget a friend. If we can ever do anything for you, or your partner there, let us know. We’re happy to help a fellow seal.”

Felix chuckled again at the seal-SEAL joke. In his crate, Sly was sleeping soundly, tired from the effort of the night. A sea lion put out energy in short bursts and needed lots of rest in between. He wouldn’t be up and about for hours.

“I’ll let him know when he wakes up,” said Felix.

“Give him an extra fish from us,” Coyle said.

“Aye aye,” Felix replied.

One by one, the surviving men of the SEAL team shook his hand, then went back to see off their commanding officer.

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