J Saint - Collateral Damage

"My phone took a swim." Angie waved her hand, drawing Lauren's attention then narrowed her gaze. "Looks as if you did too, my friend." She glanced at Jack. "What aren't you two telling me?"

Lauren looked down at herself and blinked with surprise. She'd forgotten the tear gas, the shower and that she was wet, or damp to be precise-a fact that had likely contributed to her earlier chill. Everything had flown from her mind when she thought Mitch and Matt were in danger.

Jack spoke up. "The ransacking visitor apparently didn't find what he was looking for and came back for your friend."

Angie's face paled and she clasped Lauren's hand, tightly. "Are you all right?"

Lauren squeezed back. "More than okay. Now." Matt and Mitch ran up and Lauren let go of Angie's hand to wrap her sons in her arms. Their blue swimsuits and gray tank tops were damp.

"Are you the police?" Angie questioned Jack sharply, her earlier welcome gone.

"No, but close."

"Which still needs to be explained." Lauren gave Jack a suspicious glance as she hugged Matt and Mitch close. She had to let Jack know that she expected some answers, and now that the immediate danger had passed, he needed to start talking.

"You fight bad guys?" Matt demanded, wiggling from Lauren's too-tight hug.

"My Uncle Jason does," Mitch added, pulling back from Lauren's arms and joining Matt in staring up at Jack. "He's in the army. We're going to go help him when we grow up."

"Keeping others safe is an important job to have," Jack said.

Unable to let go of her sons, Lauren rested her hand on each of their shoulders and reassessed Jack. His easy tone of voice, but still commanding manner as he met the twins at eye-level, man to man, had an interesting effect on her sons. They instantly focused their complete attention on him, their usual fidgeting gone, even their race cars came to a standstill.

"How do I know who is who?" Jack asked.

"Mole on the temple," Lauren said. "Matt's is on the left. Mitch's is on the right."

Jack's emotions gripped him hard once he got over the shock of seeing identical twins whom he literally could not tell apart and whose features were very similar to the man he'd killed in Lebanon. Lauren's boys stared at him with something akin to worship in their gazes. He'd been in their shoes as a boy, looking up at a large man and instinctively knowing that man embodied everything a little boy could dream of becoming. Jack's own father, career military, had been Jack's hero.

His gut knotted and his heart twisted. He'd killed their father. He hadn't had a choice in the matter, would have to make the same decision if he had to do it all over again, but those truths didn't diminish the emotional impact of what he'd done-nor how it would affect them for the rest of their lives. They were the same age Livy was when Jill moved out. Livy had had nightmares for a while because she missed having her father around. It was the one thing that had prompted Jill to tone down her bitterness. Jack tossed away the memories, but the ache for the boys still ripped him inside.

Intellectually, he had walked himself through the ins and outs of having to take another man's life in battle. He knew that man was a son, brother, husband or father to someone. He knew that man, be it right or wrong according to Jack's belief grid, was fighting for a cause, or a reason, just like Jack. Though, he didn't know if Bill Collins exactly fit that scenario or not. Bill's dying words didn't make it seem that way. Still, the emotional impact of taking a life in battle hit Jack harder and more deeply than ever before.

"So do you fight bad guys?" Mitch asked, repeating Matt's earlier question that Jack had side-stepped.

"Yeah." Jack's throat squeezed tight. He wanted to turn around and run the other way. Instead, he forced himself to meet the little guys head on. "My job is to make the bad guys go away."

"How?" Matt challenged, his face skewing with doubt peppered with morbid curiosity. "Like this?" He pointed his finger mimicking a gun. "Pow."

"Only if they are trying to kill someone else," Jack said even though that wasn't necessarily true anymore. Not since congress stuck their two cents into things, tying a soldier's hands in warfare, and making life and death second to political correctness. Jack fished in his pocket and held up a quarter for the boys to see. He showed them that his hands were otherwise empty. Then as he spoke he made the quarter disappear with a slight of hand. "We also do other things to stop the bad guys. Being a soldier is a lot of hard work and practice but it is important work and it starts with you obeying your mom and your Aunt Angie. If you can guess which hand it is in and promise to better obey then you can have the quarter."

"Pomise," they said in unison. "We give our solid oak," Mitch added.

Solid oak? Jack had to ask Lauren about that one. He held out his fisted hands. "Then choose."

The boys both picked Jack's right. He opened his hand and there were two quarters sitting in his palm. "Looks like there's one for each of you."

The twins squealed in delight, their eyes as wide as saucers as they each picked up a quarter with care, as if the coins themselves were magical.

"Oops, I forgot." Jack reached behind Mitch's ear, ruffled the boy's hair and pulled out another quarter. He handed it to the kid.

Matt twisted his neck around and dug at his right ear. "Do I have one too?"

"Let me see." Jack fished around Matt's ear, already seeing himself in the kid's impatience. "Hmm. Here it is. Must have sneaked to the other side when we weren't looking."

Matt laughed and grabbed the coin like a grand prize winner, then turned to Mitch and started a conversation about what they might be able to buy at the dollar store, a conversation that took them in the direction of the pool.

Jack stood and met Lauren's gaze, which held a stormy mixture of fear, relief, anger, and what he supposed was a healthy suspicion. "I really can't say what your husband-"

"Ex. Her ex," Angie said firmly, but in a low tone that wouldn't carry to the children.

"Ex?" Jack studied Lauren's expression, realizing that would go a long way to explaining some things.

"In another few days," she glanced at the boys. "Bill and I have been separated for about eighteen months. Even though you have literally been a life saver today and I don't know much about Bill's recent activities, I'm still not willing to talk about anything unless I know who you are and why you're here. You're the one who told me to consider everything suspect. Your convenient appearance in the middle of what is happening isn't coincidence."

"I don't know anything about what's going on here, but I am going to find out," Jack assured Lauren. He slipped his cell phone from his pocket, wincing at the dozen missed calls. Weston was probably about ready to court marshal him. Jack Googled his commander's name and pulled up the article on President Anderson's family on the lit display. He gave Lauren his phone. "Read this. Especially the last two paragraphs."

She took the phone and Angie moved over to read as well, their expression grew increasingly doubtful. "Your name's not listed," Lauren finally said. "Surely you don't expect me to believe you're related to the President?"

"No. I'm not, but my commander is his cousin. See, Lt. Col. Roger Weston." Reaching over, his hand steadying hers, he used his finger to scroll to Weston's name in the article. Then he pulled up his missed call list, which showed the dozen calls from Roger Weston. "Same guy." He released Lauren's hand and stepped back not at all pleased with how much he'd enjoyed touching her.

"Same name." She arched a skeptical brow.

"Hit the call button. Talk to him. He's not going to be happy. I left the hospital without being officially released."