Chapter 12-13 - The Rookie: Former Seal

Chapter 12 – Between Myths and Memories

September 26, 2015 – 4:03 PM

Mid-Wilshire Police Station – Officers' Lounge

The afternoon sun streamed in lazily through the windows, tinting the pale walls of the room with warm amber hues. It was one of those rare moments when the shift was quiet, no urgent calls interrupting the station's quiet hum. Several officers were gathered in the back room, the so-called officers' lounge, where conversations usually revolved around patrol tactics, complaints about the coffee machine, and inside jokes about broken-down squad cars.

Derek leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching his colleagues with that calm, attentive gaze. Angela sat next to Talia, while Bradford leaned sideways in a swivel chair, rocking slowly. Captain Anderson and Sergeant Grey were further away, but present—as if they didn't want to interfere, but also didn't want to lose the thread of the conversation.

Angela, her face relaxed and a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, absently twirled her nearly empty coffee mug in her hands. She looked at Derek with that teasing glint that only appeared when the subject was personal.

"Okay, Davis, now that we know you've lived through half the action movies we watch, I have to ask…" she said casually. "What do you really think of movies that portray the SEALs?"

Derek let out a low laugh. The one he reserved for when he was more comfortable. The others in the room were already leaning in, knowing something interesting was coming.

"Some even try to portray it well… others, not even close."

Talia arched an eyebrow. "Like which ones? Tell me at least Lone Survivor has some credibility."

Derek straightened, a slight twinkle in his eye now.

"Lone Survivor was well done. Especially the tactics and the sense of disorientation in the field. I... actually, I was involved in the Marcus Luttrell rescue operation. It was 2005. I had just joined DEVGRU."

Silence.

Angela stared at him. "Wait a minute. You were part of the rescue?"

"Yes. Luttrell was extracted after days in hiding, injured. Red Squadron was called in to be part of the rearguard for the extraction. It was a tense situation, and the mountains on the border were treacherous. I was the new guy. That stuck with me."

Bradford whistled in surprise. "That's... heavy. I thought no one from the operation was still active or around."

Derek nodded. "Not many are."

Angela continued, as if she already had her list ready.

"And American Sniper? That's another one everyone's talking about."

Derek took a deep breath before answering.

"I met Chris Kyle."

The room grew even quieter.

"Really?" Talia stepped forward. "Like... met him in person?"

"Yes. In 2006. He came to visit one of our bases. He was respected by everyone. A simple, direct man, without arrogance. And one of the best at what he did."

Tim Bradford nodded.

"I met him too. It was in Texas, at a Marine boot camp, when I was still a Marine. He showed up to give an informal talk. I've never forgotten the things he said."

Derek nodded.

"He had that impact. The movie version captures part of his essence, but it's impossible to fully convey who he was. Much of what he did was quiet, meticulous... invisible."

Angela seemed mesmerized.

"Okay... and Zero Dark Thirty? You're not going to tell me..."

She stopped mid-sentence, looking directly at him.

Derek raised an eyebrow. He didn't smile. He didn't look away. But there was a different silence in that moment. Zoe Anderson and Grey exchanged a glance, discreetly.

Angela crossed her arms.

"You were there?"

He answered calmly.

"This can't get out of here."

Angela, Talia, Bradford, Zoe, and Grey nodded immediately, speechless. The mood in the room changed. It became dense. Serious.

"Yes," Derek continued. "I was on the mission. May 2011. I was already one of the most experienced operators in Red Squadron. Admiral William McRaven chose me to join the strike team. I went into the house."

Angela whispered, "The house... in Abbottabad."

Derek nodded.

— "I was one of the first to go up. I was in the room on the third floor, next to the main staircase. But I wasn't the one who fired the shot."

"Did you see it?" Talia asked, almost in a whisper.

Derek took a deep breath, and for a moment his eyes seemed to rewind.

"I entered the side room. There were two women, panicking. One of them tried to run at the gunman. I grabbed them both, restrained them. My orders were clear: protect lives, prevent human explosions. It took seconds. Outside, I heard the bang. Then... silence."

Bradford ran a hand through his hair.

"You... saw history unfold from inside."

"I saw," Derek replied. "And I never saw anyone celebrate. The mission was accomplished. But no one there smiled."

Zoe leaned closer, arms crossed. "And why didn't you ever tell me this before?"

"Because I'm not a hero. I'm a professional. And this mission... wasn't about ego. It was about justice."

Grey let out a heavy sigh.

"I served with guys who dreamed of being on this mission. You were there. And you came back in one piece. That's... that's not common."

Derek looked at him.

"Nobody comes back in one piece. We just learn to walk in pieces."

Angela stood, approaching. She placed her hand briefly on Derek's shoulder.

"Thank you for trusting us with this."

He looked at her. And there, without words, was a silent bond—of respect, of understanding, of something far beyond the uniforms.

5:14 PM – Police Station Yard

Later, as the sun began to set, Derek stood in the yard, leaning against the fence, his cell phone in his hand. Angela approached with two bottles of water and handed one to him.

"You don't need to explain yourself. But I'm glad you shared that."

"I don't usually talk about the past. But you deserved to know."

Angela took a sip and looked up at the sky.

"You know that, for many people, what you did is legend, right?"

"The legend is what we tell after we survive. What really remains are the names. The losses. The scars."

She smiled.

"And yet, here you are. With us. Writing a new story."

Derek finally smiled.

"With fewer explosions, I hope."

"Maybe fewer bullets. But there will always be excitement."

And as the sun gilded the surrounding buildings, and the city began to change its rhythm from day to night, they stood there for a moment. In silence. Between past and present. Between myth and truth. Between two partners who now, more than ever, understood each other on a level that went beyond words.

Chapter 13 – Between Silence and Truth

September 27, 2015 – 3:17 PM

Mid-Wilshire Police Station – Tactical Briefing Room

Afternoon light streamed in golden beams through the high windows of the briefing room. Outside, the world was moving normally—calls on the radio, sirens blaring in the background, papers being handed out, forms being stamped. But inside, time seemed to slow down.

Captain Zoe Anderson, Sergeant Wade Grey, Tim Bradford, Talia Bishop, Angela Lopez, and Derek Davis were gathered after completing joint training with a new batch of recruits. The atmosphere was relaxed. Tired, sweaty, but laughing as they shared water bottles and observations about the cadets' clumsy approaches.

"That kid from B shift tried to handcuff his own wrist," Talia said, rolling her eyes.

"What about that girl who mistook the radio for the Taser?" Angela added, laughing.

"They'll get better," Zoe commented. "Everyone stumbles at first."

"Some stumble with more style than others," Bradford said, drying his face with a towel.

The conversation was light, until Angela, almost casually, but with her gaze fixed on Derek, asked a question that everyone, deep down, had been wanting to ask since the previous chapter of that untold story.

"Derek..." she said carefully. "About the mission in Abbottabad..."

He looked at her carefully, but without closing his eyes.

"You've heard of Matt Bissonnette and Rob O'Neill, right?"

Derek nodded unhurriedly.

"Yes."

"And... what do you think of what they did? Writing books, giving interviews, especially with the conflicting accounts of who actually fired?"

The silence fell like a curtain. Not tense. But dense. Zoe and Grey fell completely silent, and even Bradford, who had been distracted until then, stopped drinking his water.

Talia bit her lower lip, visibly attentive.

Derek looked at Angela for a few seconds. Then he set the water bottle down carefully on the table, as if weighing his next words.

"I'll answer. But not out of vanity. Because I trust you."

Everyone nodded.

Derek took a deep breath.

"Matt Bissonnette was the first to crack the code. He published the book "No Easy Day," with many operational details. And, yes, he was on the mission. He was there. But by putting his experience on paper even under a pseudonym he crossed a line. And that divided the entire SEAL community."

Angela listened attentively.

"And Rob O'Neill?"

Derek stared blankly for a moment.

"O'Neill... he was in my platoon. Red Squadron. He was there too. He's a competent operator. Dedicated. But the way he introduced himself as 'the man who killed Bin Laden'... was... complicated."

Zoe leaned in slightly, her eyes intent.

"You were on the same floor, in the same room."

"Yes," Derek replied.

"So you know who pulled the trigger," Grey said, direct as always.

Derek looked at the sergeant. There was a weight in his eyes. Not of guilt, but of responsibility.

"I see."

Angela crossed her arms.

"So... who was it? O'Neill? Another operator? Why are there such different versions?"

Derek rested his forearms on the table and looked at everyone there, without evasion.

"The truth is, in that kind of operation, time is distorted. Seconds seem like minutes. Memories blur. But in that room, at the moment of the shooting, there were three operators in the hallway and two inside the room."

He paused.

"The first one to enter... was Red, the codename used by one of the squad leaders. He fired the first shot, hitting him in the chest. O'Neill was the second. The shot that hit the head came from him. Technically, they both fired. But if you ask who incapacitated the target... it was Red."

Bradford exhaled.

"So O'Neill didn't lie. He just... shaped the narrative."

Derek nodded.

"Exactly. He told the truth. But incomplete. And in a community where secrecy is sacred, that smacks of betrayal."

Talia looked at him respectfully.

"And you? Why didn't you ever tell your side?"

Derek smirked, humorless.

"Because the mission wasn't about me. It was about what that target symbolized. The one who pulled the trigger was an operator. But all of us... everyone who was there, we carry that weight. Because it wasn't a movie. It was real. With sweat, blood, and irreversible decisions."

Angela leaned in.

"You grabbed the women in the room."

"Yes. They could have been armed. They could have detonated explosives. But they were panicking. They were just screaming. I restrained them without harming them. Then I handed them over to the containment squad."

Grey nodded.

"That's what separates ordinary men from operators like you. Control under extreme pressure."

Zoe added:

"And integrity. You could have sold that story. You could have published a book, given an interview. But you chose silence."

Derek looked at her seriously.

— "Because silence, sometimes, is the most honest way to honor the dead. And the living who still shoulder it."

Angela rested her chin on her hand, her eyes fixed on him.

"I knew there was more to it than you said. But I didn't expect… this calm. This dignity."

Derek let out a slow sigh.

"I've had ten years to learn how to deal with this. And I'm still not done."

5:03 PM – Police Station Parking Lot

The meeting had dissolved, but Angela and Derek remained outside the police station. The sun was already sinking below the horizon, tinting the sky with orange and pink hues, creating long silhouettes on the hot asphalt.

Angela crossed her arms thoughtfully.

"You carry stories that have changed the world. And you treat them as if they were just another chapter."

"Because that's how it should be. What matters is what we do now."

She looked at him, a new kind of admiration in her eyes.

"You are the most quietly great person I've ever met."

He laughed.

"I like to fly low."

She smiled.

"You do it perfectly."

And there, in that moment between sun and shadow, between silence and truth, Angela saw clearly: Derek Davis was more than a legend. He was the bridge between what the world said was impossible and what he proved to be possible, every day.

Chapter 8 - Chapter 12-13