by Regan Black
What was she thinking? This was the boy who’d tracked down his dad with only a few clues and the help of the internet. Bethany made a mental note to listen more closely the next time Caleb chatted about his friends.
With the antipasti platter ready, she carried it out to Matt and Alex. They’d transformed the poker table and computers into an impromptu command center. Tempted to ask about their progress on a surveillance or security plan, she kept her queries to herself when she noticed the way they both scowled at whatever was on the computer screen.
She left the tray within easy reach. “To tide you over,” she said.
Neither man did more than grunt an acknowledgement. What sort of threat had them looking so grim? Hurrying back to the kitchen, she put all her attention to the task of the meal. Too bad her brain wasn’t ready to give up on the puzzle of who was terrorizing them. Although speculating only made her nervous and didn’t accomplish anything, she couldn’t seem to shut down her mind.
* * *
Matt’s side burned where the bullet grazed him. It was the power of suggestion more than anything else. He and Alex had been reviewing all the footage available, from the drive-by witness video to the street cameras they’d accessed around the park. They’d skimmed through his service record, unable to come up with anyone with a grudge against him to support such aggressive measures.
Who could gain from these stunts?
“This is a big old box of nothing helpful.” He pushed back from the table and stalked to the sliding glass door. Mad, frustrated and plagued by the savory scents from the kitchen, he walked out onto the balcony that spanned the full length of condo. He had a table and chairs out here, along with a big grill and a lounge. Beyond the railing, the city sparkled and boats rested gently in the marina below. To the north and east were places a sniper might hide. Someone might even have a decent shot from out in the channel.
Take a shot, he thought, mentally inviting the bastard who’d tagged Bethany and Caleb with laser sights to try it. Quit messing with my family and take the shot. He felt Alex behind him, heard the whisper of the glass door closing.
“You know, I forgot about this monster.” Alex petted the stainless steel cover of the grill. We should teach my new nephew how to grill a steak.” He leaned his forearms on the rail next to Matt. “You’re an idiot to stand out here for target practice.”
“If you’re afraid, leave,” Matt grumbled.
“Me, I’d want a clean shot at you and the grill.” He angled his head, his gaze following the march of balconies on the nearest building to the most likely floor. “It’d be awesome to blow the propane tank and call your murder an accident.”
“You call this helping?” Matt demanded.
“Something else you’d rather talk about?”
Matt pushed his hands over his hair, linked them behind his head. “A couple of things, actually.”
“Would those things be named Bethany and Caleb?”
“No.” Matt dropped his hands back to his sides. With his family, the answers should be obvious and weren’t. He couldn’t get anywhere with Bethany until he could convince her that he didn’t pose a risk to them. “I’m stuck on who and why.”
Alex gave an exasperated sigh. “We aren’t the only team looking for a lead. Something will break open.”
“She baked my favorite cookies.” His mind muddled, Matt changed the subject as though Alex hadn’t spoken. He needed a sounding board. “Made appetizers and is working on chicken parm for dinner. She does thoughtful things one minute and then pulls back the next. What is so wrong with me?” He couldn’t accept that his first chance with Bethany was the last.
“Did you want that in a standard essay or a series of GIFs?”
“Shut up.”
“Don’t forget the beer,” Alex said, needling him.
“Shut up,” Matt repeated. He hadn’t forgotten she’d stocked up on his favorite beer. “She ties me up.”
“Now you’re just bragging.”
“Alex, be serious.” His frustration ebbing on a gritty laugh, he understood why his dad asked Alex to be here. The man was an elite warrior with an irreverent sense of humor. If anyone could bring Matt balance and perspective in addition to security, it was Alex.
“You’re serious enough for a battalion.” His best friend gave him a shove. “It’s screwed up, I’ll give you that. Hiding a kid from you all this time is wrong. But the way she looks at you? That’s right. That’s something special.”
He wanted to believe that it was a glimmer of promise and hope he saw when he looked into Bethany’s gorgeous eyes. He wanted to believe he could break down the walls she’d built to keep him out. Every nerve in his body urged him to hold her, to lay siege and never let her surrender. “I’ve known about Caleb from the start,” Matt told him.
“Get out. How...when...?” Alex closed his mouth against the sputtering questions.
“She insisted on raising him alone. I met him for the first time on Tuesday. He’s fourteen!” Matt shouted the number, giving free rein to the bubble of anger that rose up, popped and dissipated instantly. “I have every right to be furious,” he said, his control back.
“You aren’t.” Alex turned his back on the view to study Matt. “Not really.”
“I am,” Matt insisted, though he wasn’t convincing either one of them. “She gave up her Military career for me, to raise Caleb. She left West Point to protect my career.”
“Impressive.”
Matt closed his eyes, rocking back on his heels. It had been more than impressive. He continued to be proud of all she’d done on her own and equally frustrated by the limits she’d placed on him.
“What’s the target?” Alex asked. “The kid?”
“Family,” Matt replied.
“Well, sure. It’s how you’re built.”
“Right.” Matt couldn’t argue, but he was driven by more than expectation and duty. Not that he’d ever convinced Bethany of his intentions and sincere affection for her. He inhaled deeply, dragging in clean river air that mixed with the pungent scents of industry around them. Gripping the balcony rail, he squeezed hard. “I’ve wanted to know Caleb from the start.” Expressing that willingness had never been enough for Bethany to allow it. She’d been so sure that a meeting would cause too much confusion for their son. He’d felt that a legal battle for visitation would be worse for everyone, so he toed the line she’d drawn. “I could have exercised my rights.”
“Once you graduated, anyway.” Alex waited another beat. “You still have rights.”
“True.” Discussing paternal rights with her when his anger was this close to the surface would backfire. “He asked me if I wanted him.” His heart still stung, just thinking his kid had to wonder over such a question.
“You were cut from the finest fatherhood cloth, man.”
Matt nodded. “We were young and stupid,” he said, knowing that much was obvious to Alex already. “But it wasn’t wimpy puppy love.”
“You still love her,” Alex stated.
“I do,” he replied, though it wasn’t a question. “Caleb asked me the same thing last night.”
“In a ‘what are your intentions with my mother’ way?”
That made Matt pause and think. He grinned. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Nature over nurture,” Alex said. “My nephew is definitely a Riley.”
Matt’s momentary good mood slipped away. “You should have heard the lecture Mom gave me. Like it had been my choice to keep him a secret from her all this time.”
Alex gave a low whistle, having come to know Patricia well through the years. “So, no one beyond the JAG office and the clearance investigators knew about Caleb or the child support you paid Bethany?”
“No.” He thought back to the comment Bethany made as they’d left the Pentagon conference room. “She thinks whoever contacted Caleb wanted to draw me out, maybe even put the two of us in the same place on purpose.”
“When you’re not in
the Pentagon, you’re pretty accessible, right?”
“I think so. It’s not as if I live behind a gate and guard tower.” Matt planted his hands on his hips. He’d worn his uniform to the Pentagon meeting, as he did every day. After the stunt in the park, both he and Alex had ditched their coats as soon as they were inside the condo. Matt had rolled back his sleeves to the elbow, tossing aside dress code within his home. “I would have sworn we were followed from Union Station on Tuesday.”
Alex, ever-ready with a joke, immediately shifted to his focused, serious-warrior mode. “You didn’t think to mention that to anyone?”
“I have.” He’d shared it during this morning’s meeting. “Nothing solid to point to and it’s hard to get a lead from a hunch.”
“We need to review the security feed at the station.”
“They said the same thing.” Matt didn’t see the point. “Who has time to watch thousands of passersby for someone eyeing Caleb and me? I was in uniform, you know that draws more attention.”
Alex swore. “The point is, if someone wanted to take a shot at you, there have been plenty of opportunities.”
“Makes me wonder why there haven’t been more bullets.” In a subtle move, he eased the tugging of the bandage at his ribcage. “Without a motive, I don’t know where to look or what to do next, and I won’t take a chance with the two of them.”
“You could keep them under house arrest here.”
Matt shot him a glare. “You’ve met Bethany. She isn’t going to put up with this chaos for long.” It was a pipe dream at best, thinking he could convince her to move in, play house and test-drive the family deal. Even if the recent attacks didn’t screw up that dynamic, he wanted more than a few weeks of playing. He wanted the real deal. For life.
He cleared his throat, pulled his thoughts back to the immediate concerns. “Besides that, Caleb has to go back to school, his soccer team and his normal routine soon.”
“Say she’s right and someone wanted to put you and Caleb on the same street to wreak havoc. Who are the likely suspects?”
“That’s the million-dollar question.” Matt glanced down, almost wishing to see the red dot of a laser sight on his chest. Once they’d set up the computers, they’d contacted the investigations team and given full reports on the incident in the park. He and Alex had scoured the camera feeds, looking for questionable dark sedans, familiar faces and anyone who’d been aiming a cell phone or anything that might be a laser pointer in their general direction. They kept coming up empty.
Turning away from the view, he watched Bethany and Caleb through the glass door. She moved with the confidence he remembered, but there was another layer to it now, both softer and stronger. She wore motherhood well. Something in his chest clicked as he took in the homey scene. Why couldn’t she admit how well they fit with him, here or anywhere, as long as they were together?
If only he trusted those flashes of desire that heated her beautiful eyes and colored her cheeks. He wanted her more than ever. All of her, body, heart and soul. He couldn’t settle for a fling in the middle of a crisis.
“We need a lead.” It seemed whoever was doing this was ghosting through the world, using tools too common to be helpful, untraceable clues, from the choice of vehicles to the social media apps. “Someone filmed that drive-by, sent it to the networks,” he said, thinking out loud.
“And sent that snapshot from Philly to your dad,” Alex reminded him.
“For me, that puts a wrinkle in the whole thing.” Matt caught his frown in the reflection off the glass. He turned away before Bethany caught the expression and assumed the worst. “Why involve him?”
“To put a wrinkle in it and throw you off.”
Matt rolled his shoulders, conceding that point. “None of it follows what I know about a standard escalation pattern, yet this doesn’t feel disorganized.”
“Look, anyone who’s this persistent will make a mistake,” Alex said. “My guys are out there now, in addition to the team assigned by General Knudson.”
“That doesn’t feel like enough of a plan.” Matt plucked at his shirt. “I won’t let someone’s particular brand of crazy take shots at them when I’m right here.”
“All the more reason to go inside.” Alex studied the surrounding area as the last of the daylight faded. “We aren’t likely to get anything more tonight. Let my team finish the recon, let the investigators process what they have. It’ll look better tomorrow.”
“Go on in,” Matt said, not quite ready to withdraw the unspoken challenge of standing here unprotected.
“Not without you. If you take another bullet, it will wreck dinner, and it smells phenomenal in there.”
“You’re not staying for dinner,” Matt decided. So what if it was selfish? He wanted Bethany and Caleb all to himself, no joking uncles allowed.
Alex’s jaw dropped in mock horror. “I am. She made garlic bread for me.”
“You have an excuse. Go find your team and track down a lead.”
Alex clapped a hand to Matt’s shoulder, shaking his head. “You’re lucky I love you, man.”
“You’re my best friend,” Matt agreed, wondering what he was getting at.
“For that reason alone, I’m staying through dinner. And dessert.”
Matt would have protested again, but Alex was inside, tossing out compliments at Bethany like confetti and volunteering to set the table for her. Idiot, Matt thought, uncertain which of them deserved the insult more.
Dinner was fantastic and, thanks to Alex, the conversation never lagged or veered down troubling or awkward territory. He amused Caleb with stories of their triumphs and foibles during Airborne School and out on various shooting ranges. It wasn’t lost on anyone at the table when Alex took all the glory and pinned any faults or blame on Matt. Still, the gleam of laughter in Caleb’s eyes seemed divided equally between father and honorary uncle.
He doubted Caleb’s real aunts and uncles would show the same gracious understanding over his secret as Alex. Thinking about making those calls put a knot between his shoulder blades. He was actually surprised he wasn’t already fielding phone calls from his siblings. He’d expected his mother to spread the news through the family tree immediately.
He rubbed at the low-grade throbbing in his temples.
Alex cleared the table and started on cleanup. Caleb, his curiosity insatiable, pitched in just to hear more stories about Matt.
Bethany remained in her seat across from him. Matt balled up his napkin. Her unspoken questions hovered in the air between them. She deserved answers. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see a clear path on any front.
“Coffee?” She offered.
He looked up into her concerned gaze and shook his head. “I’ll be up all night anyway.”
“Caffeine used to help your stress headaches.”
When she said things like that, revealing how much she remembered of their brief relationship, hope flared across his senses. “I’m not sure anything but answers or arrests will help this one.”
Her gaze dropped, and just like that, he singlehandedly deflated the happy mood Alex had established. “Sorry.” He forced himself to stay put when he wanted to stalk off until he had better control of his mouth. Because he was watching her, he saw the internal debate skate over her face rather than any spark of desire.
Deciding something, she swiftly came around the table, taking the chair next to his. “I owe you an apology.”
“You don’t.” The soft floral scent of her shampoo teased his nose and the warm spices from cooking clung to her skin. Though dinner was over, she presented a new kind of feast and he felt like a man starving. He rubbed his forehead, hiding his reaction and raw hunger from her perceptive gaze.
“Matt.” She rested her fingertips on his forearm and the touch sizzled like heat lightning under his skin. “Please look at me. Believe me, I trust you with Caleb. I do. What I said this morning was out of line, spoken out of fear.” He watched her struggle to maintain her com
posure. What you did for him today and afterward set his world to rights again. Thank you.”
He wanted to close his eyes against the compassion and gratitude in her eyes, but if he did, he’d only see the laser sights targeting them again. “Bethany, when I saw—”
She leaned closer. “Shh. Stop torturing yourself. You were...” Her hand fluttered as she searched for the right word. “Amazing. Heroic. Wonderful.” Her smile turned shy. “I can’t settle on just one word. You saved him.”
Though her compliments flattered him, there was no escaping the truth. “He was out there because of me.” All that fear, those minutes ticking as slowly as hours, were his fault. “I told you I wouldn’t put him in danger and then there we were.” Victims of laser sight target practice apparently, though he wasn’t complaining about the lack of injuries.
“That wasn’t you.” She stroked his arm, rubbed circles over his shoulder. “That was the person who put this game into motion.”
“Pretty high stakes,” Matt murmured as Alex and Caleb returned with another plate of cookies.
Without a word, she shed the intensity, the intimacy of their conversation and beamed at them. That was a new skill, one she’d likely had to master as a single parent. What had she said? Just because Caleb could handle something didn’t mean he should have to.
Once when they’d been out for pizza with the whole group, he’d managed to get her alone for a few minutes. Her hair had been shorter then, thick and silky and definitely mussed from his hands when they’d returned to the table. Their friends had teased them until she’d blushed, completely flustered by the unwanted attention.
How had he fallen for the myth that his feelings for her weren’t strong enough, real enough to last?
He studied her surreptitiously while she was distracted with the byplay between Alex and Caleb. Though she’d always been pretty, there was a depth and richness to her features now, as if every life experience only intensified her innate beauty.
The laugh lines bracketing her warm brown eyes and her luscious mouth let him know there had been plenty of joys through the years they’d been apart. He’d followed her career, careful not to get too close, and he knew she was respected and valued in her department. She’d carved out a good life despite the unexpected detour. More than that, she’d created the stability to allow both her and their son to thrive. He wanted in on that.
