No Pit So Deep: The Cody Musket Story Read Online Free PDF Page A

“What’re we gonna do with these kids?”
    “We can’t take these little zits with us,” Hondo mumbled. “They’ll slow us down, and we’ll all buy a piece of this friggin’ wasteland.”
    “Can’t let ‘em follow either,” Chavez added. “They’ll trail us almost to our hideout and then disappear and give away our location to the enemy.”
    Hondo looked around nervously. “And something else to think about…” He turned and stared at the four frightened boys.
    “Something else?” Cody sat down on a rock, trying to stay conscious.
    “Babe, think about it.” Chavez continued Hondo’s thought. “If we let them go back, the Taliban will turn these kids into killers.”
    “And what happens if we take them with us and get caught?” Cody wrapped a towel around his head to protect against the sun, and worked on slowing his respiration.
    “They’ll torture and kill us,” Chavez stated with conviction. “And judging from the mindset of these butchers, they’ll probably torture the kids just for going with us. They’ll call ‘em traitors.”
    “I know this is your show here on the ground,” Cody said, “but I vote we find a place to hide them.”
    “Where are we gonna hide ‘em out here?” Hondo objected. “They aren’t safe with or without us. Problem is, we need to expedite.”
    “So what are you saying?” Cody’s head was clearing.
    Chavez glanced at the kids and then back. “All we’re saying, Babe, is sometimes there are no good answers out here. We let ‘em go, and they’ll be killing Marines in a couple o’ years.”
    “Look, does either of you guys speak the language? Is there any way we can communicate with ‘em?”
    Chavez shrugged. “I don’t think so, Babe. They don’t speak Arabic around here. We can try to leave them somewhere, but they won’t stay put.”
    “I say we finish it now and get t’ell outta here,” Hondo grumbled. “They could be on us any second. They gotta be lookin’ for us.”
    Chavez snapped back, “Stand down, Phillips. These are innocent kids we’re talkin’ about.”
    “Stand down? We’re sittin’ here like — I mean it’s our butts on the plate.”
    “You’re outa line, Petty Officer! SEALs protect innocents. We don’t kill ‘em!” Chavez outranked him.
    “ Yessssir!” Hondo scowled, as he forced an agitated salute and turned away.
    “Why don’t we tie ‘em up? Leave them in a secure place?” Cody took a deep breath. “When the extraction helo arrives in a few hours, we can go back and pick ‘em up and take them with us, turn them over to the Red Cross or something like that. Lemme try to explain it to them. What do you think?” He winced.
    “It sucks either way, Babe. What if the wild animals get ‘em?” Chavez stared at the four boys again who were now huddled together.
    Hondo sat alone on a rock, scanning the hills with his range finder.
    Chavez made the call. “Okay, Babe. Give it a shot. Like I said, sometimes there are no good solutions.”
    Cody tried what little Arabic he knew, but the kids did not respond to any of it. The oldest frantically pleaded and began to cry. It was useless to try to understand him.
    The men found a secluded place in a ravine and tied the four children with ropes and headbands they had taken off the Taliban. They bound them hand and foot and tied them to each other, making it impossible to escape. Despite the pleading of the children, the three men left and began the trek back toward their team’s hiding place with Hondo and Chavez alternating the task of carrying Seismo.
    They could still hear the cries of the four boys until just before they arrived at the camp. With each step, Cody wanted to go back.
    When they finally dragged into the hideout, Cody had reached his limit. He collapsed onto a large flat rock underneath a ledge. Chavez gave him a shot of morphine, then wrapped his burns and stitched the cut on his neck.
    Cody looked around. They had taken refuge at the base of a