Degrees Of Honor The Honor Series Book One

Chapter three

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Chapter 3

Anthony

Sitting at the cold metal table waiting for my visitor, I drum my fingers impatiently. I'm not a popular inmate, so to have the request of a visit always perks my interest. My lips twist into a grin when the woman I always enjoy seeing walks into the cold sterile room.

Her hair is pulled harshly in a tight bun, as usual. Bits of gray streak through the brown. Her skin is much paler than the last time I saw her and she has aged. The stress has made her look much older over the past few months. I know it has to do with my incarceration. She worries too much.

Although I can be cold-hearted, I do retain some sense of decency for her. My mother means the world to me. She is the reason I'm stuck here. She is my world. I would put my life on the line, every time, just to please her. She was devastated by the death of Uncle Tom. I won't allow her to be in that much pain again.

"Mother, you're looking well." Rising to my feet I extend my shackled hands for her to take. She joins hands with me, a sadness in her eyes when she looks at the restraints.

A hesitant smile crosses her lips. It hurts her to see me, her only baby, in this predicament. I've always been good to her just as I was an excellent Marine. To put me in the brig for a drunken mishap was a ridiculous punishment. I should be seen as an exemplary example to the other men. I was used as a cruel example of a court martial to receive such harsh treatment for being a brave honorable man.

"You look tired. Are they not treating you well?" Concern filled her voice. Mother knows all too well what prisons are like. She has worked as the Administrator's assistant for too many years to not know what went on behind closed doors.

"I'm fine, Mother. They can't do anything to hurt me. I won't allow it. Besides, everything is going as planned. Even being in here is working out to our advantage." Patting her hand in comfort, I take my seat and motion for her to join me. Carol sat eyeing him, keeping his hands in hers, just to hold on to that little bit of contact.

"What do you mean? Did something happen?" Her eyes brightened up at the idea that everything we have been waiting for is finally falling into place.

I smile, knowing she's as anxious about this happening as I am. I'm not ready to give away my hand just yet. "Let me just say, the tides are about to turn."

Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to be there when my mother finally gets the news. Fate will finally deliver its just reward to those who have wronged us. I'm looking forward to swinging that final blow to Colonel McAfferty.

His lovely wife has just cause to worry. Her daughter hasn't contacted them in so long, I'm sure it's quite distressing. Her husband, the infamous Colonel, has been acting strangely for months. Suddenly, his mood has lifted and he's back to business. He found his daughter. Now I can finish this.

The secret meetings with his old pal from his grunt days are happening again. The phone calls from places he's never been to are coming in. Those calls, to a man named Earl, and a woman, saying she was the daughter of a friend have come in. It is disconcerting for the Colonel's wife, to say the least.

Secrets between a husband and wife are never a good thing. But then the good Colonel isn't the only one who has secrets. Won't he be surprised to hear of the bombshell his little wife has been hiding.

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Stella

I know better than to ask questions about my husband's work. He's the Colonel and doesn't share every detail with me. But I haven't seen this side of John in such a long time. It has made me wonder what, if anything, he knows about his daughter. I have kept my secret for so many years. But after Tom's death, I didn't see a point in telling John the truth. It would only hurt him. As far as the Colonel is concerned, Cassie is his daughter.