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out her cell phone.
    Harry Drexler picked up on the third ring, sounding harried as usual.
    An award-winning editor and producer, Harry had been Rebecca’s mentor ever since her freshman year of college when he’d been giving a guest lecture in one of her journalism seminars. She’d approached him afterward to gush about his speech and ask if he had any advice for an aspiring broadcast journalist, and they’d ended up having lunch the following week, a get-together that had become a ritual once Harry decided to take her under his wing.
    Harry was the one who’d helped her land the highly sought-after internship at ABN, and no matter how impatient and prickly he could be, Rebecca adored her grumpy old mentor.
    “What is it, Becks?” he barked in her ear.
    “The story of the year.” She paused. “Maybe.”
    “We don’t put maybes on the air, sweetheart,” Harry replied in a droll voice.
    “Duh. That’s why I’m calling you. I need you to look into something for me.”
    She sat down on the small couch, balanced the phone on her shoulder and reached for her laptop case.
    “What is it?” Harry asked briskly.
    “Find out why the secretary of defense’s son is in Mala.”
    Harry went quiet, then let out an amazed curse. “Nick Barrett is in Mala? Are you sure about this?”
    “Dead sure. I just had drinks with the man.”
    “You had drinks with the sec def’s son.”
    “Yep.”
    “Why?” Harry’s tone grew bewildered. “Why is Barrett in Cortega?”
    She had to laugh. “That’s what I need you to find out. Supposedly he’s been serving in the army for the past nine years. Special Forces, under the name Nick Prescott, and I guess he was discharged? I don’t know. Maybe your army contacts can shed some light on it.”
    “Are you thinking he’s still active duty and carrying out a mission? That he’s there for something unrelated to the election?”
    “I have no idea what I’m thinking,” she admitted. “Just get me some background info on the guy. There’s something here, Harry. He was rattled, and he ordered me to pretend I never saw him. He said he was involved in something dangerous.”
    “Dangerous how?”
    “I don’t know.” Frustration rose inside her. “I’m calling you with the bare bones here. This is nothing more than a hunch based on some cryptic comments from Barrett aka Prescott. Will you do some digging?”
    “Of course. Let me run a quick surface search right now. I’ll call you back.”
    After Harry hung up, Rebecca opened her laptop and typed in her password so she could do her own digging. A quick Google search brought up several news articles, all of which focused on Secretary Kirk Barrett, Nick’s father. Most of the pieces offered only a brief mention of Barrett’s children—Vivian, a married homemaker living in Arlington. And Nick, who served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
    “So you weren’t lying about that,” she murmured to herself.
    She keyed in a new search, hoping for Nick-centered results, but the man hadn’t been kidding. He really did stay out of the limelight, save for a few public appearances at charity events. There were absolutely no details about the man’s military career, but that made sense if he’d been using a different last name during his army stint.
    Her image search was a tad more successful—but only because it allowed her to drool over the guy.
    Whoa, baby.
    Rebecca’s tongue was practically hanging out as she stared at a picture of Nick and Kirk Barrett at a political fund-raiser in D.C.
    Okay, the man filled out a tux like nobody’s business. His body was so broad and muscular that her pulse sped up at the mere sight of it. And those eyes. Gosh, he had amazing eyes.
    Realizing her mouth had gone dry, Rebecca gulped a few times and tried to drag her head out of the gutter. She needed to focus. Nick Barrett’s sheer sexiness wasn’t the headline here.
    Well, it should be.
    She ignored the naughty voice in her head and resumed her