Matthew sat next to Gabriel at a well-worn rectangular conference table. The Pentagon reserved the inlaid oak tables and swiveling executive chairs for dignitaries and members of Congress. Even though there were six flag officers in the room with multiple stars on their shoulders, they were sequestered in the basement for security reasons.
Army General Lyon, the new commanding officer of Special Operations Command, most often referred to as USSOCOM, was being briefed about high priority targets in the Middle East. The new general—who was ultimately responsible for all Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, and the Marine Corps Special Operations Command—did not want his teams tripping all over the CIA’s Special Operations Group.
Everyone understood they had to work together quite often with the military taking the credit for eliminating some of the worst men on the planet. Almost always though, it was CIA intelligence and the SOG teams who worked directly for Gabriel at the Special Activities Division who actually hunted down these criminals. Since SOG teams never wore any kind of insignia, or even a uniform unless it was a disguise, and always worked covertly, the new general was attempting to establish better communications between his command and the CIA.
It seemed reasonable, and on paper looked doable, but Matthew knew better than most that in the field, communication could often be tenuous. His gaze slid down the table.
The representative from the National Security Agency didn’t look like he even owned a pair of hiking boots and had never laced combat boots halfway up his calf. The looks the generals exchanged every time he spoke was comical.
For hours they had worked their way through everyone’s list of top ten most wanted in each volatile area of the world. They had left the Middle East for last. Although most could agree on the top five, there were fifteen more names batted about.
“I think we need to take a harder look at Nassar al Jamil,” suggested the admiral from Naval Special Warfare Command. “He’s a sneaky bastard. Our information suggests that he’s been building an army for years, buying everything from tanks to rifles from the Russians or anyone else who would sell them to him.”
“He’s a small wannabe with delusions of grandeur.” Gabe scoffed. “Our research indicates that he would like to set himself up as the next caliphate, but he doesn’t seem to be gaining any traction. He keeps getting kicked out of country after country. The only thing he seems to keep gaining is wives. Our reports indicate he might be a little too fundamentalist.”
“Like he doesn’t already have enough women to fuck?” Came from somebody a few chairs down. Several people near Matt chuckled quietly.
“He is off the list,” announced General Lyon.
The meeting droned on for another hour before he and Gabriel were able to escape.
“I have an extra ticket to the National’s game on Saturday. You interested in joining me?” Gabriel asked as they hiked to his agency car. Matthew loved baseball, and everyone knew it. Normally, he would jump at the chance to go watch a professional game. He liked Gabe, not just as his boss, but as a friend. But Matthew had plans on Saturday.
“Sorry, I promised Lizzie that I would work with Austin on his batting.” Matt had never forgotten Gabe’s warning all those months ago. Nor could he forget the first time he’d ever seen Lizzie. Even the professional suit couldn’t hide her gorgeous body.
Gabe stopped midstride. “Lizzie? Do you mean Elizabeth Kamp? Please tell me you’re not dating her.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m dating her. I’m helping her son with baseball.” And giving Elizabeth time after her husband’s death before I actually do start to date her.
“How did you end up coaching Austin?” Gabe studied Matt’s face.
Becoming a great liar was actually a class at the CIA. Matthew had spent several years in the field under cover, so he was an expert. It was always best to stay as close to the truth as possible when telling a lie. “Elizabeth and I ran into each other and started talking. At some point she mentioned her son played baseball.” Matthew smiled. “What she really said, was that he was one of the worst players on the team.” He shrugged and started walking toward the car again. “The kid doesn’t have a father any longer, so I volunteered to help.” Matthew was quite sure Robert had never played baseball, or any other sport, with his step son. The one time he’d tossed the ball with the bright boy, the kid had eaten up the attention. He was a quick learner, listening to instructions and willing to try until he got it.
Matt was quite excited when Lizzie had called and asked him to come over two days after Austin returned from Texas visiting his grandparents. Matt now knew them to be good people, thanks to his research. Hopefully, after he and Austin worked on his batting, he could take them all out to dinner. Like a good friend.
“Elizabeth has been through a lot.” Gabe slid in behind the wheel. “She’s not your usual type, and by that, I mean fast and fun.” He stared at Matthew before turning the key. “We’ve been friends a long time, and I’ve never known you to keep a woman past the two-week mark since that plastic surgeon.”
Gabe was correct. Matthew didn’t do relationships. And yes, Lizzie was different. There had been something there from the start. He didn’t believe in love at first sight, that was just ridiculous, but he could admit to having a spark with one or two women. With Lizzie, it was a blowtorch.
“Maybe I just haven’t found the right woman, yet.” Matt decided to turn the tables. “I guess I’m just not as lucky as you to have found the love of my life three times. By the way, how is the hunt for Mrs. Davis number four going?”
The edges of Gabriel’s mouth turned down as he put the car in drive, heading back to Langley. “I really did love them all, you know. I will always love Janie as the mother of my first son. It’s really too bad she couldn’t handle the life of an agent’s wife. I spent twice as many days away from home as I did with her when Brad was little.” He smiled, but it might’ve been a sneer. “Lacey,” he said her name on a sigh, “she was everything Janie wasn’t. She had to be one of the most beautiful women I’ve ever known, fun and exciting all the time…on the outside. Inside, she was the most self-centered, money-sucking bitch I’ve ever had the misfortune of marrying.” Gabe slid him a glance. “But you know all that. Did I ever thank you for being by my side during the ugly divorce? Damn, that woman was relentless.”
“Yes, you usually thanked me about halfway through a bottle of Jack.” Matthew smiled. “I’m just glad you listened to me about ditsy Kitsy. That woman was fucking crazy, and I knew it the first time I met her.”
Both men laughed.
“But Christ, that woman could give head.” Gabe maneuvered onto the beltway.
“The problem is, no matter how good they are in bed, unless you leave in the middle of the night, you have to talk to them in the morning,” Matt pointed out. “I just haven’t found the woman I wanted to talk to after morning sex.”
Gabe was silent for several minutes. “Marsha and I used to talk for an hour every morning while drinking coffee and having breakfast. Then we had kids and our entire world changed.” After several more minutes of silence, he added, “Do you think I’d be crazy to call Marsha and ask her out for coffee?”
“Do you still love her?” Matt knew the answer to that question but hoped Gabe did too. His friend talked about their two kids almost every day. He was such a proud father. But that wasn’t enough to hold his marriage together, although Matt didn’t know the exact reason they had separated three months ago. It wasn’t any of his business.
Matthew thought about the coffee idea a moment as he considered Lizzie’s mornings. “You could be a really thoughtful guy and bring her Starbucks coffee. Maybe even show up early and make the entire family breakfast.” He glanced over at Gabe. “I know for a fact you’re pretty good in the kitchen.”
Gabe’s grin grew. “That’s one hell of an idea.”
Matt thought so too. Maybe one day soon he’d show up and make breakfast for Lizzie’s whole family.
Four hours later, Matthew pitched the ball to Austin. “Don’t try to hit it, just watch it the entire way as it goes by.” The boy did exactly as asked.
“Excellent. Now toss the ball back to me.” It landed with a thud in his well-oiled glove. “Good throw.” Austin stood taller at the complement. The boy just needed some confidence and practice. His hand-eye coordination was quite good.
As Matt squeezed the ball, he noticed it was softer than it should be. It was old. He noticed earlier that Austin’s glove was a little on the small side for him. He was a growing boy and no doubt needed a bigger size.
“Okay, Austin, this time I want you to hit the ball. Remember the box. I promise, I’ll throw it so you can hit it.” Five seconds later the crack of the bat connecting with the ball thrilled Matthew more than if he’d personally hit a homerun. “That was absolutely perfect.”
Matthew ran to the makeshift home plate and hugged Austin. “Great job.”
“I did it! I really did it.” Austin was jumping up and down in Matthew’s arms. “Can we do that again?”
Matthew smiled into the overjoyed young face. As it always did when he looked at Austin, the familiar warmth spread through his whole body. He never thought he liked kids before, but he really enjoyed his time with this boy. “We sure can.”
After jogging back to the pitcher’s mound, he lobbed the ball over home plate. Austin connected with the next pitch. Matt reached up and grabbed it as it flew over the pitcher’s mound. As the boy continued to connect with the ball, Matt started throwing real pitches; fastball, curveball, even a slider. Austin got them all.
He still needed a lot of practice, but at least he had the basics of batting down pat an hour later when Lizzie stepped onto the back deck. She took his breath away. She was beautiful in jeans and a loose-fitting blouse with light makeup.
“I was thinking about ordering Chinese,” she announced. “What would you like?”
Austin trotted up next to him and Matt automatically threw his arm around the young man’s shoulders. “Did you see what your boy did?”
His mother beamed. “I sure did. I am so proud of you.” She held Matthew’s gaze. “I can’t thank you enough for taking time to help Austin.”
He gave the boy a hard half-hug and released him to his mother. “I really enjoyed this,” Matthew admitted. “As for Chinese, I’d rather take you all out to dinner to celebrate how well Austin did today.”
The boy’s eyes went big. “Can we go, Mom? Please. It’s been so long since we’ve gone out to dinner.”
Matthew wondered just how tight money was for Lizzie, but he would never ask. “There’s a Chinese place in the mall at Tysons Corner.” He grabbed Austin’s glove and flipped it toward him. “Put this on.” The boy immediately slid his fingers into the leather glove. Matthew felt how tight it fit and knew he needed a new one. “I want to congratulate Austin with a new glove. This one is too small. We might want to pick up some baseballs while we’re there, too.”
Lizzie would be a terrible poker player, he concluded. Her face showed every emotion and worry was written over every feature.
Matt smiled broadly. “Tonight is my treat.” He held Lizzie’s gaze. “Please, let me do this for him, and you.”
An hour later Matthew was positive he’d made the right choice. The all-you-can-eat Asian buffet was a winner. Liza could flat put down some shrimp and the girl liked it cooked every way possible. She scooped up popcorn shrimp with a spoon, decided she really liked crab-stuffed butterfly shrimp that was deep-fried, devoured a shrimp eggroll, and still had room for shrimp lo mein. Austin made three trips, piling food high each time and cleaning the plate. Lizzie had chosen to create her own combination while Matthew hit the sushi bar.
Stuffed, everyone headed into the mall. First stop was the sporting goods store. For a nine-year-old, Austin was very price-conscious. Matthew had selected a high-quality glove but one look at the price tag and the boy had set it down. He’d tried on several, checking the tag each time. “I think this one fits.” He flexed his fingers, but it wasn’t near the quality of the one Matthew had initially selected.
Kneeling, to be on the same height as Austin, Matthew held both gloves side-by-side. “Usually, you pick the glove best suited for your position, but on your team, positions are rotated. So that makes it a little tougher for us to decide what kind of glove you need. The one you picked has very long fingers, which is perfect for an outfielder. Infielders use smaller shorter gloves with the shallow pocket so they can grab that ball out of there and throw it fast to get the guy out at first base.”
Austin nodded. The child seemed to be absorbing every word and nuance. Damn, he liked this kid. He truly wanted to learn, had wonderful manners, and a good soul. He just needed a male role model in his life. Not for the first time, Matthew wondered what kind of relationship Austin had with his stepfather.
Refocusing on baseball, he pointed out the pocket-size, webbing, and padding and compared adjustments. Matt had selected a traditional all-leather glove for its durability while the one Austin had chosen was synthetic. “I want you to be as safe out there as possible, so you can play your best game every time. You’re not going to want to catch a ball if you know it can hurt your hand.”
“Mr. Matt, thanks for wanting to get me a good glove, but I can’t let you spend this much money on just baseball.” He pointed to the tag. “That’s a whole lot of money.”
The fist that tightened around Matt’s throat was nearly as strong as the one grabbing his heart. He raised Austin’s chin until their eyes met. “You are worth every dime.”
The child blinked rapidly, then he threw himself into Matthew’s arms and hugged his neck tight. “Thank you, Mr. Matt. Thank you.” He whispered in his ear as he sniffed back tears.
Matt rubbed the boy’s back. “I just want you to be safe and have fun. Do you like playing baseball?”
Sniff. “I do now. I used to suck at the game and got yelled at a lot. Now that you’ve been helping me the coach says I’m getting good.” He leaned back and looked Matthew in the eyes. “I can get even better, though, now that I have a really good glove.” He tore away from Matt with the biggest smile he’d ever seen on the child. “Mom. Look at my cool glove.”
Matt took a deep breath and sighed. He had just lost a chunk of his heart to that little boy. Standing, he needed to go find Elizabeth and Liza. He was smart enough to know he couldn’t buy one child something special and not the other. What the hell did four-year-old little girls like? Besides ice cream, which was a great idea for their next stop.
Half an hour later, faces cleaned of all traces of ice cream, Matthew carefully watched Liza as they walked back down the mall toward the exit nearest where they’d parked. The little girl had slowed so much in front of the doll store that Lizzie finally bent and picked her up, carrying her away from the storefront filled with lifelike dolls and giggling little girls around the table that looked like a birthday party. Liza’s birthday was coming up, according to his research. Maybe he would take her there to select her own doll. Then they passed a store where children could choose a stuffed animal, select the clothes and shoes and even the noises it made. Perhaps Liza would like that better.
Elizabeth made a beeline for a small corner store filled with costume jewelry and mothers with small daughters. It took ten minutes to guide Liza around the store as Matthew and Austin hung out in the back corner. He had carefully watched Liza’s eyes grow big as she played with a fuzzy covered purse. When Elizabeth glanced down at the price, then redirected her daughter’s attention elsewhere, Matt knew the handbag was out of the price range.
“Come on, Austin, I want to get something special for Liza too.” Matt grabbed the fuzzy purple purse and was checked out before Elizabeth even knew they had moved.
Ten minutes later, they finally left the store and headed for the car. “Mr. Matthew, do you like my bracelets?” Smiling ear to ear, Liza stuck her arm out for him to see the half-dozen colorful plastic bracelets.
“They’re gorgeous, just like you.” She was such a cute little kid. “You know what you need to make your outfit perfect though?” He handed her the bag. “Every woman needs a purse.”
Matthew’s complete attention was on the kids and not his surroundings when Lizzie shoved both children at him. “Protect them,” she ordered as she stepped toward a man in a leather jacket, just as he thrust a knife toward Lizzie.