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Given the admiral’s te those other careers Or stationed on a naval base in Greenland Screwups came in all shapes and sizes This one had all the potential firepower of an aircraft carrier Explaining to the captain that it hadn’t been his fault wasn’t going to change a da

Fifteen minutes later, the door to the captain’s office opened and the adryofficer

"Come on in, Joe," the other man said in a weary voice

Joe entered then closed the door behind him "Sir"

Captain Phillips waved to the empty chair in front of his desk "You hear all that?"

"Yes, sir"

Phillips, a tall hed "He loved that boat"

Joe didn’t respond The infor his nearly eighty-year-old boat for the past five years The engine was new, and the electronics state-of-the-art, but the rest of it was original, lovingly sanded and varnished by the ad she refused to co hunk of wood, and his children rarely visited, knowing they would be put to work on the boat Six o the adht, at 9:18, the admiral’s pride and joy had been accidentally blown up by men under Joe’s command They were lucky the admiral hadn’t been on board at the time

"Want to tell ed "The tea back," he said The Navy SEAL team in question had just returned from six months of hazardous duty out of the country "They’d all ?" the captain asked

"Lieutenant Grayson is still in the hospital, sir He’s recovering from his injuries"

Grayson had been shot on their last op His ht him back and kept him alive until he’d been evacuated to the hospital ship, then brought back home

Joe remained perfectly still as he continued "I spoke with the men on the team yesterday afternoon They’d had six gested they burn off some steam"

Phillips nodded "They decided on boat races"

"Yes, sir" Made sense To a SEAL, the water was a second home "They used small boats and kept within thecourse took the exercise"

The future SEALs had been in their second round of training, learning to dive and ith explosives underwater

"Last night the explosives were live Apparently theoverhead confused a few of the trainees They’re not allowed to surface to get their bearings Instead of putting their explosives on the target, they placed them on the adrimly "The explosives were se Unfortunately the admiral had recently refueled his craft There was a sered a chain reaction that turned the ad At least that’s the preliminary report"

Captain Phillips didn’t speak for several seconds "Aren’t you going to tell me that the admiral tied up in a restricted area? That he shouldn’t have been there in the first place?"

"No, sir" What was the point? Joe had been in the navy long enough to know excuses only made the situation worse Besides, ould have told an adreat career," his captain told him "You’ve worked hard, moved up the ranks I was confident you’d make it to admiral yourself, before you retired"

Joe had walked into soerous situations in the world and lived to tell the tale, but nothing he’d experienced prepared hiripped him as he sat there and heard his career talked about in the past tense The navy was all he knew, all he’d ever wanted

He’d told the o have fun It was his responsibility Technically, he could pass the punishment on down, but next in line was Lieutenant Grayson, currentlyroad to recovery

No This time the chain of command stopped here With Joe

Phillips flipped open a file "You’ve been with the SEALs nearly ten years, Joe You’re a fine officer and one of the best men I’ve ever worked with The admiral wants you punished, and I want to save your career if I can"

"Thank you, sir," Joe said, feeling the first hint of relief

The captain sht want to hold off on your thanks The best way I know to punish you is to te to do with the SEALs The best way I know to save your ass is to get you the hell out of here for a feeeks and let the ad point of fact, h up the chain of command in the Secret Service I don’t think you knew that"

"No, sir," Joe said, not sure what the infor

"You’ve mentioned you have family here in California," Phillips said "The Marcellis They oinery just north of Santa Barbara?"

"Yes, sir" Joe had no idea as going on, but he didn’t like it Technically he was related to the Marcelli clan, but they weren’t his family

"What you don’t know," the captain said, "is that the president’s daughter was kidnapped yesterday"