Page 19 of Honor Code

Phoenix peered into the surging waves, straining to see through the driving rain. For a heart-stopping moment, there was nothing but frothing darkness. Then—there! A thrashing figure in the maelstrom.

"Got him!" He threw the lifebuoy toward the struggling form, praying the man could reach it.

Images of the two men he'd lost in Afghanistan flashed through his mind, their faces twisted in confusion and betrayal as they realized what he'd done. That he'd sacrificed them to save the others. Bile rose in his throat, and he swallowed hard, trying to focus on the present. This wasn’t Basra.

Shaking off the ghosts of his past, he grabbed Ellie and hauled her to safety, away from the treacherous edge.

"Get below deck," he told her, his voice brooking no argument. “I’ll save Billy.”

She stared at him with huge, haunted eyes, hair hanging in dripping tendrils around her pale face. "You can't take the boat out in this. It's suicide!"

"It's all right." He gripped her shoulders. "I've done this before. I have to try."

"You have?" Her voice was small, almost lost in the howling gale.

"Navy, remember?”

She gave a worried nod.

“I need you to get me that weather data you told me you had access to. Can you do that?"

She inhaled sharply and nodded, a flicker of determination pushing back the fear in her eyes. "I can access the rig's meteorological subsystem. Sea currents, wind conditions, everything you need."

"Do it!" He thrust a radio into her trembling hand. "Use this to update me. And Ellie?" He waited until she met his gaze. "I will bring him back."

She gave another jerky nod and disappeared down the stairs, clutching the radio like a lifeline.

Phoenix turned to Boomer. "I need your radio, and I need the inflatable in the water, stat."

Boomer, who had finished securing the broken crane, handed over his radio without hesitation. He knew the drill, they'd gone through it countless times in their SEAL training. Wordlessly, they began prepping the inflatable for launch, working with the speed and precision that only came from years of experience in life-and-death situations.

It was a battle to lower the inflatable into the seething ocean. The little boat would be tossed about like a leaf in the maelstrom the moment it touched the water. Gritting his teeth, Phoenix jumped down into it, nearly losing his footing on the slippery floor. Boomer followed a second later, his face grim as he took the controls and fired up the engine.

The inflatable bucked and heaved as they powered out into the frothing darkness, leaving the looming shadow of the rig behind. Phoenix clutched the radio and the receiver for the locator beacon, his knuckles white. "Ellie, I need that data!"

Her voice crackled over the radio, barely audible over the shrieking wind. "Current coordinates are 32.7 degrees North, 119.8 degrees west. Sea currents moving northeast at 2 knots. Wind from the southwest at 50 knots, gusting to 70."

Phoenix relayed the information to Boomer, yelling to be heard over the storm. "Wind direction is at odds with the sea currents! Factoring in their influence, I think he's drifting north-northeast!"

Boomer nodded grimly and adjusted their course, piloting the little boat over the mountainous swells with white-knuckled control.

The receiver in Phoenix's hand crackled and beeped, the sound barely audible over the roar of the wind and waves. He stared at it in disbelief for a second, hardly daring to hope. The locator beacon!

"I've got a signal!" he shouted, squinting at the screen. "Bearing 025, range 200 meters!"

"Roger that," Boomer acknowledged, steering the inflatable in the indicated direction. Phoenix kept his eyes glued to the receiver, terrified the signal would disappear and they'd lose the beacon—and Billy—in the vastness of the enraged sea.

The receiver flickered, and the signal wobbled. Phoenix's heart leaped into his throat. "Come on, come on," he muttered under his breath, willing the signal to hold. Seconds stretched into eternity as he stared at the screen, the wind and rain lashing his face.

Then, just as he thought it was lost, the signal strengthened again. "There!" Phoenix pointed at a patch of turbulent water ahead. "Slow down!"

Boomer eased off the throttle. The inflatable crawled over the waves, wallowed in the troughs. Phoenix stood, heart pounding, as he scanned the heaving surface.

There, in the beam of their searchlight, a figure clung weakly to a lifebuoy, battered by the churning sea. Relief surged through him, followed instantly by a fresh jolt of fear. Getting to Billy would be one thing, getting him safely back to the rig would be another.

"Hang on, we're coming!"

They pulled alongside Billy's struggling form. Phoenix leaned precariously over the water, arm outstretched. For a terrifying second, he thought he wouldn't reach him, and the sea would claim the struggling man before he was hauled to safety. Then he grasped Billy's jacket. Heaving with all his strength, he dragged the spluttering, half-drowned man into the inflatable.

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