Regan Black - A Soldier's Honour

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One soldier's long-lost secret is alive and wellWhen a security snafu turns his world upside down, Major Matt Riley reunites with his long-lost son.And fourteen years later, the military man is still captivated by his ex, Bethany Trent. Matt must convince her that their new family bond is for keeps – but first, he must keep them alive…

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Matt fell in behind him and dialed Caleb’s number.

The kid who was a few paces in front of him stepped out of the flow of foot traffic and swiped the screen to answer. “Hello?”

Matt heard it through the phone a half second after he watched Caleb’s mouth form the word. “Hi, Caleb,” Matt answered. The kid looked so much like his mother, it was uncanny. He had her big brown eyes, under straight eyebrows. His dark blond hair, cut in a modern, subtle Mohawk, was streaked by the sun from his time on the soccer field. Matt had seen the resemblance in the pictures. In real life, the similarities were startling. What now?

Caleb’s gaze darted around the terminal before landing on Matt. The hand holding the phone seemed to melt as he stared.

Matt couldn’t move. His heart had lost its rhythm and his breath stalled. He’d felt stronger on his first jump from an airplane to graduate Airborne School. This was his son. His son . Those two words comprised the entire sum of his thoughts, and time seemed to slow to a crawl.

And he was a father, damn it. Gathering himself, he took a firm step forward, catching himself before he yanked Caleb into a bear hug. One more step and he closed the distance, sticking out his hand. “Matt Riley. Pleased to meet you.”

Eyes wide, the kid met his handshake, and words seemed to fail him.

Matt understood the magnitude of the moment and sympathized. He was still on the verge of losing it himself. “You are Caleb, right?” The boy nodded. “Good.” Matt tried to smile. “Your mom, Bethany Trent, called and told me you might be here.”

At the mention of his mom, Caleb blanched. “She already knows I’m here?”

Matt nodded. “She says you’ve dodged her calls and texts.”

“No.” He hunched his shoulders, as if he could slouch into the shelter of his backpack. “Technically my phone is supposed to be off during school hours.”

Technically . Matt remembered how poorly that excuse worked on his mother. “Do you know who I am?”

Caleb nodded, swallowing hard.

“Good. Call your mom. Let her know you’re safe.”

Matt waited, laying a hand on his son’s shoulder when he saw him sending a text. “ Call . Use the speaker.”

“Yes, sir.” Caleb swiped to a different screen and held the phone so Matt could see the display, as well.

When Bethany answered, her relief was obvious but it didn’t take long for that relief to give way to blistering anger. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she said. “Matt and I have decided he will bring you home and we’ll discuss this together.”

“Mom, I just—”

“Tonight, Caleb.” She cut him off. “There will be consequences. Behave for Matt. I love you.”

“Yes, ma’am. Love you, too.” He pocketed the phone and stared up at Matt.

“I’m supposed to tell you you’re grounded.”

“A given,” Caleb said with a shrug. “I thought I’d have a few hours at least before she had a chance to say that. The truancy calls don’t go out until the evening.”

Matt didn’t know anything about truancy calls. His thoughts were tied up with the realization that it wouldn’t be too long before he was looking his son in the eye. He’d missed out, been held back, from so much.

“So,” he began, worried about making the wrong move here. “This wasn’t a school-sanctioned field trip. Did you have a plan?”

Caleb’s narrow shoulders slumped. “Sort of.”

“You were going to navigate Washington, DC, on your own?”

“To find you and meet you? Yeah.” He bumped one heel against the toe of his other foot. “I really thought we’d have some time to talk before she realized I wasn’t where I was supposed to be.”

What had motivated him to take this kind of chance now? “How did you even know to come looking for me?” Matt asked.

Caleb turned away, hefted his backpack. “Mom told me you—”

“Try again.”

Caleb’s head snapped up. “What?”

His mother would have corrected him, but Matt wasn’t going to mark this first hour of parenting with discipline and lessons in manners. “I know your mom’s never told you my name.” Matt watched a glint of battle fire in Caleb’s eyes and braced for an argument, but he subsided with another shrug. “She invited me to dinner tonight so we could tell you together.”

“I knew it,” he muttered. “Greek chicken is always for company.”

Matt wasn’t sure he followed that topic change, chalked it up to the communication deficit. It had been a long time since he’d dealt with kids this age.

“Come on, let’s walk.” He resisted the urge to put his arm around the kid’s shoulders.

“Do you really work in the Pentagon?” Caleb asked. “Can I have a tour?”

“Not today.” Inexplicably uneasy, Matt glanced around. “Where did you get your information?”

“I got a snap with your name and rank. A picture,” he added.

Matt knew which cell phone app Caleb was referring to. Typically the messages disappeared within a few seconds of being opened by the recipient.

“And you thought I sent it?”

“No,” Caleb said.

“The sender have a user name?” Matt asked when Caleb didn’t volunteer more information.

“Does it matter?” He hefted the backpack again. “He double-checked who I was and then more stuff came through. Stuff about you. The information was real, obviously.”

“Obviously.” Matt didn’t like the way this was shaping up. “When did you get the messages?”

He cocked his head, thinking. “The first one was about two weeks ago.”

That would fit the likely timeline as the compromised information was being sold off. “There were more?” At the boy’s nod, Matt asked, “Did you save the messages?”

Caleb’s lip curled. “Like I wanna pay for a free app? I made notes, though.”

“Good.” An itch had cropped up between his shoulder blades. Instinct drove him to get away from the terminal and into a safe space that was out of the public eye, as fast as possible. Rather than pick up the Metro here and head straight for the Pentagon or his condo, he decided to be less predictable. “Where did you keep those notes?”

“The hard copies are at home. I have a file on the cloud, too.”

“All right.” That would give investigators something to work with. As soon as he decided which law enforcement agency might consider a few random snaps as a crime.

“The snaps were clues sort of,” Caleb was saying. “Like I’d get a name or place, maybe a picture. Then I would start digging around online. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Except skip school, take a train alone to a city you don’t know and lie to your mom about it.”

“She’s lied to me, too,” Caleb shot back, his gaze full of hurt. “All. My. Life.”

“Well, life’s about to change,” Matt said, wincing. That didn’t take long. A dad for ten minutes and he was already quoting his father’s wisdom. He kept Caleb close as they moved along the sidewalk, sidestepping tourists. “And three lives are permanently changed now.”

“You’re mad at me.”

Matt had to slow down as Caleb began dragging his feet. They weren’t safe yet, though Matt couldn’t point to any specific reason why he felt they were at risk. “I’m not mad at you.” He was aggravated with whoever compelled his son to take these risks. And he wasn’t exactly thrilled with Bethany for keeping him out of Caleb’s life this long.

He gripped Caleb’s shoulders lightly, waiting for him to meet his gaze. “You were resourceful and smart right up until you skipped school and made your mom worry. Moms don’t like that kind of thing.”

“You worried your mom?”

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