“So, if you won’t tell me how old you are, will you at least tell me when you went to Kodiak for your cold weather training?” he asked.
“Someone’s been paying attention in class,” said the Chief. “Okay, I’ll give you that much. I went to Kodiak in 1988.”
“I knew it,” said Perry triumphantly. “You’re between fifty and fifty-five years old, but man you’re ripped like you’re twenty-five. You must’ve been hell on wheels in training.”
“Wait a minute,” said Kathy. She was digging up a memory from somewhere about 1988 and Kodiak, Alaska.
Perry, Sam, and Whitney were all focused on Kathy. It was her turn to furrow her brow, and she was looking up at the ceiling as if the memory was up above her. When she lowered her eyes down to the Chief, her mouth was half open, and the Chief looked uncomfortable.
Always modest when people talked about his abilities, the Chief looked away from Kathy. His achievements were likely to make it even more uncomfortable for him than his abilities, and Kodiak had been on the news for weeks. Everywhere he turned, someone was calling him the hero from Kodiak.
Kathy was only a few months old when it happened, but she remembered from a History class in school that there had been a weak attempt made by foreign troops to establish a foothold on American soil.
Her teacher had been talking about the War of 1812 and about how the United States was one of the few countries in the world that would be difficult to invade. For one thing, the Bill of Rights had ensured there would be armed resistance, but the US military was second to none.
Kathy’s mouth was still open when the Chief finally looked up at her. He asked, “Do we have to talk about it?”
“I think the kids would like to know what you did in Kodiak, Chief. I mean, hell. I’ve always felt safe with you along for the ride, but I would’ve felt even safer if I had known that was you.”
“What happened in Kodiak?” asked Perry.
The Chief still didn’t look like he was going to say anything, so Kathy gave the conversation a little nudge.
“You’re looking at the man who led a group of Navy SEALS in the successful defense of American soil. In 1988 a small force of North Korean soldiers managed to reach Alaska with the idea that they could set up a forward base and bring in more troops. The news said they probably had help from the Russians."
The Chief cleared his throat and said, “Maybe you should let me tell it, Kathy.”
“We’re all ears, Chief.” Kathy was more than glad to sit back and let the Chief take over. He so seldom talked about himself that there was plenty she didn’t know about him even after all they had been through.
“The training center is named Naval Special Warfare Cold Weather Detachment Kodiak,” the Chief began. “It’s where they sent Navy SEALS after the initial twenty-six week of SEAL qualification training.”
Sam said with awe, “You mean it was training for people who already finished SEAL training?”
“Something like that,” said the Chief. “The base was built as a cold weather training center to get SEALS ready for covert operations in North Korea. At least that was the original idea. The funny thing was that the North Koreans who tried to take the base from us didn’t know two things. They didn't know the base was a Navy SEAL training center, and they didn't know we didn’t have any guns.”
“Their intelligence was so bad, that they didn’t know anything was even located on the island except a state park, but the woods were so thick it was easy to get lost.”
“Did you say you didn’t have any guns?” asked Whitney. “Why wouldn’t SEALS have guns?”
“It was only training for survival in cold weather, not fighting,” said the Chief. “We only carried rubber rifles. They were as heavy as regular weapons with ammo, but they wouldn’t get messed up by being in freezing cold water, and they made sure we spent plenty of our time in freezing cold water.”
The Chief looked at the three young people in front of him, and he could see he had their attention. He also saw out of the corner of his eye that Kathy was looking at him with a kind of sparkle in her eyes. She was proud of him.
The Chief went on, “They dumped us out in the woods with a compass, very little clothing to keep us warm or dry, and expected us to find our way back to the base. There were forty of us, and when we stumbled into the North Koreans, we thought it was part of the training at first. After all, we were training to fight those guys, and they showed up on our island.”
“What happened?” asked Perry.
“They opened fire on us, and we scattered. Half of our training class was captured and taken back to the base, and all we had for weapons were rubber rifles.”
“Chief,” said Kathy, “did you ever find out how the North Koreans even got to Kodiak? I mean, our defense systems must be watching for the Russians all the time, so how did they even get there?”
“As strange as it seems, Kathy, and in our case ironic, they used a cruise ship. Everyone monitoring the ship thought it was just an Alaskan cruise.”
“I’ll bet that doesn’t happen again,” said Perry.
That got a good laugh out of everyone, especially when the Chief said he didn’t think the North Koreans would make that mistake again, either. It might have worked if they hadn’t tried to take on the Navy’s best.
“Anyway, we were outnumbered and they had real guns, so we did what we were trained to do. We made weapons from trees and rocks and began taking them out. As we did, we took their weapons until we had as many as they did, and then we really took the fight to them. Every time one of their patrols would spot us, they would try to follow. We just led them deeper and deeper into the woods until they were lost."
"Did you kill them?" asked Sam.
The Chief thought it over for a moment, and he knew there really wasn't much sense in saying they didn't kill the North Koreans. They didn't know how many troops were in the invasion force, so they had to reduce the number of hostile combatants. They also didn't have the ability to take prisoners. There would be no place to keep them, and you only took prisoners if you intended to also take care of them.
"We didn't have much choice, Sam. They were holding half of our squad back at our main camp, and we learned they were torturing them to try to get enough information to figure out who we were and why we were on the island."
"When we were ready, we went into the water at night and began to swim down the coast on the mainland side of the island. It was deeper water, and we could go a greater distance without being detected."
"That had to be cold," said Whitney.
"That's why we were there," said the Chief. "We learned you could go into freezing cold water for a lot longer than we thought we could. Anyway, when we were far enough down the coast to come out of the water, the sentries weren't expecting us. They had their rifles slung across their backs, and they were messing up their own night vision by lighting cigarettes."
"We caught most of their force asleep, and to get them to talk about why they were on Kodiak, we just took their clothes away from them and tossed them into the water."
“What he’s leaving out,” said Kathy, “is that he was the leader of the squad that took out the invasion force. They called him the Kodiak Bear because of his size. The North Koreans they captured told interrogators that they had been afraid of the big bear that looked like a man.”
The kids laughed again, and for once the Chief looked like he was appreciating the attention. For a fleeting moment, Kathy thought it would be nice if he was twenty-five years younger.
“Did you get to do anymore real fighting after that?” asked Sam.
Whitney smacked him in the back of the head. Sam must’ve seen it coming because he dodged most of the impact.
“Are you a fool or something? The man led a bunch of SEALS with rubber guns against thousands of North Koreans.”
This time it was the Chief’s turn to laugh.
“It wasn’t thousands, Whitney, but every time I hear someone else tell the story something gets added to it. I’ve heard that we made bows and arrows, and I’ve even heard that we ate the ones we killed because we didn’t have enough food when we had to hide in the woods.”
That was meant to be funny, but it reminded them all of where they were and what was happening all around the world.
“Do you think you can stop the infected from biting more people?” asked Sam.
We all noticed Sam’s voice crack just a little. He was sitting in the presence of a huge man who had done some huge things, and Sam was hoping the Chief could do some more.
“Sam, I may not be able to save the world, but I can promise to look out for you three.”
Kathy saw the hint of sadness in the way the Chief’s eyes were partially closed, and she could tell he was thinking about Allison. It would be a long time before he would forgive himself for her death, even if it hadn’t been his fault.
Perry brought the conversation back to the Chief’s history by asking if he was also a hero in Desert Storm. He said they had learned about Desert Storm in school, and he learned that Navy SEALS had been some of the first to go into Iraq by SCUBA diving.
“I was in Desert Storm, Perry, and there were a lot of heroes there. I was just one of the guys who did his job. There have been thousands of heroes since then, especially the ones who have given their lives over there in the Middle East.”
“I’ll bet the men who went into combat with you would say otherwise, Chief,” said Kathy. “Just knowing you were there with them had to make them feel better.”
Kathy reached over and squeezed his hand, and she could feel the bond between them. The kids, not wanting to be left out of the moment, all reached across the table and stacked their hands on top of Kathy’s.
A scraping sound from above broke the mood, and we all snatched our hands back to get ready to defend ourselves. There was a knock on the big watertight door that was unmistakably from a live person. It was quiet for a few moments, and then the knock was repeated.
A man's voice, muted by the thick steel door, called out to the kids.
"You have to come out sooner or later, you know. Why not get it over with? We'll even let you live."
"They don't know about me and you, Chief?"
"It would seem that way," said the Chief. "Just like the North Koreans. We need to find a way to use that to our advantage."
The Chief drew Whitney over to him and whispered, "Do you know who this guy is?"
She nodded and said, "We've seen him around. He's like a vulture. He let us do all of the clearing before he tried to move in."
"Would he believe you if you offered to let him in if he came alone?"
"I think so. He doesn't seem too bright," she whispered.
"It's the best we can hope for," said the Chief. "We need to pilot the ship from above, and the only reason he hasn't done it yet himself is because he doesn't know how to. Kathy, get in position as high as you can. Sam and Perry, you two can hide. I'll be up there by the galley. Whitney, back away from the hatch as soon as you unlock it."
Everyone got into their positions, and Whitney moved closer to the door.
"Mister, how do we know you won't hurt us?" she asked through the door.
"We have to stick together, little lady. It's the only way any of us are going to survive."
He tried to put on his sweetest, most charming show, but even through a steel door they could tell he was smirking.
"What if I just let you in? Maybe we can talk and work out a deal?"
It was quiet for longer than before. They couldn't see outside to tell what was happening, but the vulture was overconfident and had signaled for the three men he had with him to go ahead and climb from the boat back onto the dock. He felt like he could handle the three kids on his own. When he and his gang had arrived, they didn't even look down past the stern. If they had, they would have seen the boat tied at the opening of the raft retrieval bay.
"Okay, little lady. I'm all by myself. You can open the door now."
Whitney looked at the Chief to be sure, and he was counting down with one hand. He wanted her to delay for just a few seconds, or the guy might think it was a trap. When he was done counting, Whitney stepped forward and removed the steel pin from the lock. She spun the locking wheel and stepped back quickly. As soon as it was unlocked, the jerk outside yanked it open and came through. He made it about two feet when he heard the unmistakable sound of a hammer being pulled back and felt cold metal touch the side of his head above his left ear.
"The safety is off in case you were wondering," said Kathy.
He started to turn her way, but the Chief said from his right, "Keep looking straight ahead. Act like you're just standing there talking with someone, or I'll tell her to blow your brains out. Nod if you understand."
He nodded, and even though he wasn't told what to do with his hands, he had kept one on the door and the other still held his gun aimed at the floor.
"If you drop your gun, she will definitely pull the trigger. Carefully tuck it into your waistband and then step one more step inside so your friends won't be able to see you clearly. The little lady will then step forward and remove the gun from your waistband."