The Power of a SEAL

by Elizabeth, Anne

  A second voice responded. “This is Admiral Dale. We appreciate you making us aware of the issues surrounding this problem. We will take all necessary steps to resolve it quickly, and we will keep you in the loop.”

  The Chairman of the Trustees added, “We’ll get back to you, Dr. Hamilton.”

  The line went dead.

  Kerry balled her hands into fists, resisting the urge to throw the conference phone through the Director’s tiny, claustrophobia-inducing, barely usable office window. She turned on her heel and marched out of the office, knees high. She could have been a freaking majorette. Passing by several of the interns, she waved them off and headed to the docks.

  Why hadn’t she taken those jobs in Japan and Russia more seriously? Would they accept her calls now? Oh, she was too furious to even think about dealing with any boards, trustees, directors, admirals, or command structure of any kind.

  “Kerry. Wait, I need to talk to you.” Emme’s voice penetrated some of Kerry’s brain fog.

  “What!” Kerry counted to ten in her head. “Sorry. What’s up?”

  “Don’t you think you’re going overboard with this whole virus thing? They’re not human. It’s not that big of a deal.” Emme towered over her. For all the times Kerry had thought her friend cool and sophisticated, it was horrifying to hear these comments.

  Kerry’s mouth dropped up. She stuttered. “I-I-I can’t believe you said that. Those are my friends down there in those pens. I spend more time with them than I do with humans, even my own flesh and blood. I love them, and I’m going to fight for them. Bottlenose dolphins are also a critical part of our ecosystem. If the subspecies dies out—or the entire species of dolphins and whales—what do you think happens to our ocean? Besides, we, the human race, probably poisoned them with pollution. Regardless, it’s up to us to fix the problem.” She pointed her finger at Emme. “If you want to be part of the solution, then help, and if not, then stay out of my way.”

  “You’re crazy,” said Emme, her cheeks flame red.

  “Maybe. But if being crazy solves this problem, bring it on.”

  With that, Kerry stomped away. She swiped her badge at the gate on the gangplank and rushed the rest of the way down to the dock. Pacing back and forth in front of the dolphin pens, she knew she was too upset and frustrated right now. She had to calm down and develop a plan of action.

  Hadn’t her mother told her as a child that she was methodical—that this was one of her greatest strengths? At the age of five, Kerry had made a lemonade stand and earned forty-six dollars to buy her father a new fishing pole for his boat. If the powers that be weren’t going to give her any answers, she was going to use her methodical ways to get some. “Right. Back to basics.”

  Just then, two figures caught her attention.

  “Hey, are you two busy?” Kerry asked. “If not, I’m taking an RIB out.” Without even giving the two vet techs, Clay Jones and Dilly, a chance to answer, she shared a small part of her plan and roped them into her trip.

  All of them loaded into an RIB with her favorite travel medical bag and headed out to sea. “If I’m going to fight this virus, then I need samples. I hope you’re both prepared to wrangle a few uncooperative wild creatures, because we’re not going back until we get these samples.”

  “Uh…” Dilly looked at her, stunned. “I have a date, but I suppose he’ll wait.”

  “Of course he will. Look at her.” Clay nodded.

  “Thanks, Clay,” said Dilly.

  “Grab a set of binoculars, Dilly, and look for birds feeding, or any sign of a pod or dolphin activity.” Kerry held a set to her own eyes and was already scanning the horizon.

  Clay drove the RIB into the Glorietta Bay Channel, heading toward open ocean waters. “Hey, Doc, I heard that the waves were breaking up around the Coronado Islands. Want to head out there? We might find a few surfers.”

  “Absolutely. Wait, I have an idea. Let’s make a pit stop. Over there, the tenth house from Naval Air Station North Island Base.” Kerry led them to Leaper’s place. She pillaged his stash of paddles and paddleboards, along with several vests and three lightweight helmets, masks, sets of fins and gloves, and a knife. At the last minute, she grabbed his bait bucket, which was oddly half-full. She sniffed it; it wasn’t too bad. Hungry dolphins would eat it.

  Loading it all aboard, she nodded to Clay. “Take us to the Coronado Islands, Clay. Dilly, please keep scanning for signs of dolphins. I’m going to write out a few contingency plans.” In her mind, a song was playing over and over, Debbie Harry and Nigel Harrison’s song “One Way or Another.” She was determined to get what she needed.

  Taking a pad of paper from her bag, Kerry laid out the options. Tucking the pad back into her bag, she prepared several fast-filling syringes along with bags for skin samples and saliva swabs. She duplicated the process several times and soon had ready-made kits at her disposal.

  “Anything, Dilly?” Kerry asked, standing up and stretching her cramped legs. She hoped she wasn’t being rash. She didn’t want to lead the interns into danger, but it was either bring them or go it alone.

  “No,” Dilly said, sounding frustrated. She lowered the binoculars and frowned.

  “It’s okay, Dilly. Let’s give it a rest for a few minutes while I explain the test kits to you. I want you to assist me. Does that work for you?” Kerry saw Dilly’s eyes brighten.

  “Yes, it does. Thanks. I won’t let you down.” The girl practically glowed with joy at the prospect of doing open-water work. The ocean could be a contemptuous force of nature. Kerry hoped it was in a good mood and would give them a few breaks today.

  Kerry touched Dilly’s arm. “I know you won’t. Let’s glove up. Remember, these creatures are wild, so if it’s between getting hurt and doing your job, I want you to protect yourself.”

  The waves smacked the RIB hard as they got closer to the Coronados. Kerry explained the test kits to Dilly, and then they watched the sky.

  “Will it storm?” asked Dilly, looking uncertain.

  Kerry reassured the techs. “One dark cloud, bolt of lightning, thunderclap, or any other weather issue and we’re heading back to home port. Okay?”

  “There!” shouted Dilly as she pointed to a feeding frenzy off their port bow. “Dolphin sighting.”

  “Fantastic! Great sighting, Dilly,” Kerry said. She pulled on a safety vest and hooked one line to herself and the other to a secure ring on the side of the RIB. Dilly did the same. When both of them were as ready as they could be, Kerry said, “Clay, take us in slowly. When we’re about ten feet from the feeding frenzy, cut the engines.”

  The RIB inched into the fracas until they achieved the right distance. Clay cut the engine and the birds screeched, wings beating against each other, splashing as they dove in and out of the water.

  Kerry laid her first kit next to her. She tapped her fingers on the hull of the boat in time to the rhythm of the water.

  “Dilly, start dropping the bait,” Kerry ordered. Dilly dropped small chunks of salmon next to the boat. A dolphin poked its snout out of the water, and seconds later it opened its mouth, wanting more. “I’ve never met a dolphin that didn’t love some Alaskan salmon,” Kerry said.

  Dilly brought the dangling bait toward Kerry, who quickly swabbed the dolphin’s open mouth, took a skin sample, and even lured it onto its back so she could get a blood sample from its tail—all while it was happily eating salmon. When she was finished, Kerry wrapped up the kit and handed it to Clay. “Mark it female, adolescent. The wonderful part about dolphins, especially bottlenose, is their innate curiosity. I bet we have a few more…and here they are.” Kerry pulled out two kits and moved from one to the other as Dilly fed the two males. Luckily they were already fairly well fed or they might have gotten aggressive and swamped the RIB, taking whatever they wanted from the bucket of fish.

  Kerry was relieved to have thr
ee dolphin samples under her belt when she saw a larger male on the other side of the boat. He seemed to be waiting for her. Was he sick? Was there a problem? As she bent down, she could see extensive scarring from fights with other predators, probably sharks. His skin was still healing in places. “Clay, can you get the green tin from my bag?”

  Clay handed it to her, and Kerry rubbed a salve onto the wounds. She could tell it eased the dolphin’s pain. “That should help you, big guy.” When she touched her hand to his stomach, the dolphin rolled for her. Though dolphins are playful creatures, this move could take years to perfect in captivity. As her palm moved over his liver, Kerry could feel the distension. “You’re sick, aren’t you? Do you have this virus or something else?” Kerry kept talking as she took a blood sample. When she finished, she pointed at the cooler in the center of the RIB. “Give me a half—the center cut.”

  Dilly handed Kerry the thick chunk of fish.

  Kerry eased the big dolphin onto his belly, took the fish from Dilly, and gave the dolphin his treat. He took it in his mouth and swallowed it. The expression in his eyes as he stared at her…it struck her to the core, it said so much. It was a cry for help, of need, for anything to make things better. She knew it as surely as she knew rain would fall in San Diego in February. Rubbing her hand over his dorsal fin, she said, “I’ll do everything in my power to help you. I promise.”

  Sitting back on her heels, she watched the big dolphin dive down into the ocean. She shook herself and said, “Let’s get one more set of samples.”

  Dilly stood. “Over here. I think it’s a female.”

  Moving to the other side of the RIB, Kerry slowly leaned over, careful to keep her weight balanced. “Good call, Dilly. It is.”

  Clay opened a fresh sample kit.

  Kerry swabbed the female’s mouth and gave the approximate weight and length to Clay, who wrote the information on the labels. Then she took a quick skin sample. The last thing was the blood sample. Holding the syringe, she attempted to coax the female onto her back, but this lady wouldn’t budge.

  “I don’t blame you, missy,” Kerry said to the female dolphin. “I get a little shy now and then too. But you’re doing this to save your species. Not just bottlenoses, but everyone related to you.”

  A tail slapped the water and Kerry made a grab for it. The syringe fell into the boat and Kerry was pulled into the cold Pacific water. She came up sputtering, and the female dolphin’s face was inches from hers. Her mouth was open, and she laughed at Kerry.

  “Gee, thanks.” Wiping the water off her face, she saw the large male surface beside her. Then she witnessed something miraculous: the female turned on her back and gave Kerry her tail. That kind of trust usually took years to cultivate.

  Looking over her shoulder, Kerry could see Dilly holding out a syringe. Kerry gently took the sample and handed it back to the tech. Then she noticed that the dolphins were not a random grouping. From this vantage point, she could see this was a family. On some level, they knew what was happening. “I hope we didn’t do this to you.” Emotion flooded her, knowing that all creatures were connected in some way. “Regardless, it’s up to us to fix it. I won’t stop until I do.”

  She returned to the boat and hoisted herself over the side. Lying on the floor of the boat and looking up at the sky, she took a few seconds to breathe and center herself. Then she unhooked the line, removed the life vest, checked that the samples were secure, and gave the order. “Back to base.”

  The engine roared to life as the boat made a wide circle and headed back to Glorietta Bay. The wind had grown colder, and without a change of clothes, Kerry hunkered down on her haunches and wrapped her arms around her legs.

  She studied the two vet techs who were chatting excitedly about the experience. She was relieved that the trip had paid off and they were returning with something to work with. But concern about the road ahead was nagging at any sense of hope. Even with this small sampling, it could take years to develop a vaccine. Worse yet, the devastation could be dramatic enough to cause a domino effect. What if…

  Kerry put her head in her hands and tried not to cry. She was growing more cynical, and she had to keep telling herself to believe.

  Someone else has to be out there working on answers. She couldn’t give up.

  * * *

  Arriving back at the Marine Mammal base, Kerry left the boat carrying her treasured samples. “Can you dock and clean the boat?” she asked, hoping Dilly and Clay would agree to help out. She wanted nothing more than to focus all her energy on the samples and work in the lab.

  “Yes,” said Dilly, who was familiar with the process. She frowned as she picked up the trash in the boat.

  “Thanks and, um, you’re welcome to come help me in the lab afterward, if you’d like. But you’re not required to.”

  Kerry watched Dilly’s eyes light up. “I’ll be there,” Dilly said. “I appreciate it. Thanks. This is very informative.”

  “And off the record,” Kerry reminded.

  “Right.”

  “Oh yeah, what about your date?” asked Kerry.

  “There are other nights. How often do I get to work with you?” Dilly said took the garbage and dumped it into the trash bin.

  Kerry smiled. She was pleased that Dilly was so committed. As she headed down the dock, her eyes scanned over the dolphins in their pens. She took mental notes on any changes in their skin or behavior. She walked up the gangplank slowly, protecting her bounty. She let herself through the gate and then headed for the tech tent. It was empty.

  Pulling on paper booties, a gown, a paper shower cap, gloves, and protective eyewear, she let herself into the sterile environment through the double-door entry system.

  She claimed a large table for her project and laid out the treasure. The samples came from five different dolphins. They’d managed three males and two females, and Kerry was excited to see what information the samples could provide.

  Dividing each sample into four portions, she labeled and documented every task and what needed to happen with each one. She would send blood, skin, and saliva to two different laboratories, store one sample, and run the data herself on the last sample. The logical part of her personality was thrilled to have a set of checks and balances, but the emotional part was too spent to even contribute to the conversation. That part was ready for the work to be complete and the answer to be in front of her.

  It wasn’t going to be that easy. She put all the samples in the refrigerator and found the proper shipping containers. Writing out instructions and the packaging for the two sets of samples took the better part of two hours.

  Then she repeated the tasks with the samples from her own dolphins. As she finished the tasks, a wave of exhaustion hit Kerry. She steadied herself and pushed on. Her need to help the dolphins was going to carry her through these crucial tasks.

  Dilly came into the sterile field dressed in appropriate attire as Kerry finished up and watched her efforts. It was like having an eager kid dogging her steps, but if it made Dilly a better vet, it was worth it.

  “Ask questions,” Kerry reminded her. “I’m open to answering them.”

  “Why did you choose two different laboratories? Won’t they produce the same results?”

  Kerry cocked her head to the side. “In theory, yes. But it’s possible that their instruments are gauged differently or that there’s something wrong with the sample or its prep, or something happens in transit. Basically, I want the results to be the same. Redundancy is good in this case, but I have to be prepared for it not to be.”

  “Are you running the same tests here for the same reason?” Dilly sat down on a stool. There were circles under her eyes, the goggles making every line look more pronounced. The poor girl looked tired. Maybe Kerry was working her too hard. Then again, Kerry never asked more from anyone than she required of herself.

  Though Ke
rry could honestly admit that she too was running on fumes. “The tests I’m performing now are going to be used as my personal control data. I’m setting my levels here.”

  Dilly yawned. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’m exhausted too. Why don’t you knock off? You could drop off the samples at the shipping company before you go home.” Kerry pointed to the refrigerator. “You’d be doing me a great favor. The sooner they’re on the move, the sooner we get our results.”

  “Happy to.” Dilly opened the refrigerator and took out the two shipping boxes. “I’ll text you a picture of the shipping information.”

  “Thanks. See you tomorrow.” Kerry stopped Dilly before she could leave the sterile environment. “You did really good work today. You kept your head in the situation, especially given a set of strange working circumstances, and you excelled at your tasks. Well done.”

  Dilly’s face lit up with joy. Bright eyed and wearing a toothy grin, she looked as if she’d won the lottery as she bounced on the balls of her toes. “Thanks, Dr. Hamilton. That means a lot.”

  “Kerry. Call me Kerry.” She knew she was letting her guard down, but she wanted to be able to rely on at least one other person at work. Having that individual be a woman who strove to follow in her footsteps was a bonus, and it bolstered Kerry’s spirits. “Good night.”

  “Okay, Kerry. You too. Have a great night.” Dilly went through the double door and into the regular part of the lab tent. Kerry tracked Dilly’s progress until she was alone.

  Sometimes Kerry preferred things this way…just her and her work. What else did she need? A small part of her brain nudged her, reminding that she should call him. Later. I’m on to something here.

  And then she got lost in the data, a world of numbers that meant so much more than they expressed on paper.

  * * *

  The sterile environment was empty and as close to silent as was possible at the Marine Mammal base. The dolphins vocalized and chatted with each other, and the sea lions communicated too. Kerry had determined over the years that the sea lions always wanted more food, and the dolphins adored playing more than anything else—they wanted to engage.