Read Online Seal Team Seven by Keith Douglass - Free Book Online Page B

officers and one senior enlisted man sitting at the panel flanked by the U.S. and U.S. Navy flags gave the proceedings the air of a court-martial. Captain Coburn sat at the folding table between his Exec, Commander Monroe, and Senior Chief Hawkins. Morning sunlight filtered through the venetian blinds drawn over the windows. Chief Roselli stood in front of them at parade rest, feet braced apart and hands behind his back, but otherwise as rigid as if he’d been at attention.
    â€œBut when Lieutenant Cotter was hit,” Coburn said, “it was your impression that the terminal building had already been cleared, was it not, Chief?”
    â€œI don’t know, sir. Things were kind of confused there for a bit.”
    â€œSky Trapper was recording your communications at the time, Chief. Your exact words to Lieutenant DeWitt were, I believe . . .” He picked up a paper on the table and read from it. “Yes. ‘The L-T is down. Damn it, I thought you said that fucking tower was fucking clear.’ ”
    â€œActually, Captain, I think I said something more like, uh, ‘The L-T is down. Damn it. I shoulda snuck in, uh, snuck in and made sure it stayed clear.’ Something like that. You know, sometimes it’s kind of hard to make out what’s being shouted over the Motorolas. Sir.”
    â€œMmm. Understood.” Coburn dropped the transcript and leaned back, his weight causing the folding metal chair to creak beneath him.
    Coburn had been a SEAL for a long, long time, and he knew that Roselli was covering for DeWitt. SEALs always took care of their own. Always.
    Monroe stirred at Coburn’s side. “So what was your assessment of the tactical situation, Chief? Why wasn’t the tower properly cleared?”
    â€œAw, shit, sir. It was a big building, lots of rooms. We only had one platoon with a shitload of objectives. We just had four guys in the Delta element, plus Lieutenant DeWitt, to clear the tower. They could’ve missed someone, or a bad guy could’ve sneaked in after they’d gone through.”
    â€œIn your opinion, should someone have been posted on that tower after it was cleared?”
    Roselli shook his head. “That would’ve been hard to manage, sir. We were stretched damned thin as it was with only fourteen guys. And we would’ve had to abandon the terminal anyway when we started pulling in the perimeter. I don’t think we should’ve done things any differently than we did.”
    â€œI see,” Coburn said. “Very well, Chief. Thank you very much. You’re dismissed.”
    â€œAye, aye, sir.” Roselli turned, then stopped himself. “Uh, Captain?”
    â€œYes, Chief?”
    â€œI just wanted to say that every man in the platoon did a wizard job on that op. And that includes Lieutenant DeWitt. If we’d had more men, maybe the L-T wouldn’t’ve bought it. I don’t know. But I don’t think we can second-guess any of that now.”
    â€œWe’ll keep that in mind. Thank you, Chief.”
    After Roselli had left, Coburn looked at the papers on the table before him. “Is that it, George?”
    â€œYes, sir,” Monroe replied. They’d spent most of the previous day and all of that morning interviewing the men of Third Platoon. Their report, the result of the inquiry, would go up the chain of command to Rear Admiral Bainbridge, CO-NAVSPECWARGRU-Two.
    The responses from the men had been interesting. Ellsworth was blaming himself for not being able to save Cotter, while DeWitt, naturally, had assumed responsibility for Cotter’s death because Delta had missed the sniper in the terminal building. Every man in the platoon except DeWitt had formed a united front, insisting that DeWitt and Delta were not to blame for Cotter’s death. Garcia, Frazier, Holt, and Nicholson had all suggested that the terminal could have been blown up after it was searched, but admitted that the