All the King's Henchmen

by Morgan Kelley

  These moments reminded her of the years they slept in the same bed as a couple. Every day, when they worked the same schedule or case, this was how they woke.

  The universe was funny.

  They’d come full circle and were back to this same place. Only, it was better.

  Now their relationship was all about love, and very little about sex. While someone had morning wood, Elizabeth knew that boat had sailed.

  Turning, she rolled onto his body and into his arms.

  “I think I missed this most all those years after we broke up,” he admitted. “I like the feel of you in the morning. There’s nothing like a mouthful of Lyzee hair.”

  She snorted.

  Yeah, she’d heard that a few times before, and she’d said it more than a couple of times herself. If she had a dollar for every time she’d woken up with Callen’s hair wrapped around her face, she’d be almost as rich as he was.

  “You don’t say?” she teased.

  He grinned.

  “It’s comforting.”

  Elizabeth nuzzled his chin with her forehead. When he was calm, she knew he wasn’t thinking about death. It was ironic that before, all those years ago, they always thought about death—just not their own mortality.

  “Are you saying I shed?” she asked, keeping it light. Doctor appointment days were tough. It was hard not to hold your breath and wait for the second shoe to drop.

  So far, they’d been fortunate.

  No one brought it up because no one wanted to jinx it.

  “Yes, you shed like your dogs.”

  That she found amusing.

  “When did we lose our bed buddy?” she asked. Elizabeth knew Chris was a very light sleeper, and he would wake-up if someone entered or exited the bed. He was like an early warning device when a child was heading their way.

  “It was about an hour ago. Ethan had a call, and he took it. I think it was Gabe. It sounded serious. Then again, he’s the deputy director, so it likely was.”

  Yeah, probably.

  Honestly, she hadn’t even heard the phone ring. When there wasn’t a case, she could sleep like the dead.

  “I smell breakfast,” she said, knowing they would NOT be eating the pancakes, sausage, and other carb-y treats that their housekeeper was cooking for the kids before they headed off to school.

  “Yay. Egg whites,” he said, plastering that fake smile on his face.

  She found that funny.

  “So exciting,” she teased. “You lead a very adventurous life. You should write a book about it.”

  Chris laughed.

  “Yeah, I know. Dead bodies and egg whites. I live on the edge.”

  Elizabeth knew he missed his stash of candy. Well, he couldn’t have that sugar, but he could have this kind.

  “How about a kiss?” she asked. “Maybe that will brighten your day.”

  Oh, it would.

  “Finally. Something I can get into,” he stated, placing his mouth over hers. The kiss was sweet, gentle, and filled them both with peace.

  It reminded Chris of their youth, and how quickly life had changed them both.

  When the door opened, Ethan came in, carrying two mugs of coffee in one hand, and one in the other.

  “Morning,” he said, smiling at them. “I made some coffee for all of us,” he stated.

  Chris took in the aroma and wanted to weep. He missed the sugar, but the caffeine?

  God!

  It was so hard.

  Before Ethan could hand him a cup, Elizabeth went to object.

  Ethan saw it coming, and he quickly shut it down. He knew his wife, and he wasn’t surprised.

  “Read the email I sent you,” he stated. “I found a study that says that people with HIV can prolong their life with coffee. There’s evidence that something in the coffee helps boost immunity. It said that people with HIV who consumed three cups of coffee a day had a fifty percent higher survival rate than someone who didn’t drink any.”

  Chris looked happy.

  Elizabeth skeptical.

  “Go ahead, doubting wife. You aren’t the only one who can Google medical journals.”

  She opened her email and read the study. Ethan was right. That’s exactly what it said. Well, she’d take it. A fifty percent higher rate of survival was her kind of odds.

  “Okay, give it to him.”

  Chris nearly wept with joy. It was like being reunited with an old friend—one who had your back at two in the morning when you were elbow deep in a gut filled with maggots.

  Yeah, coffee was so damn important.

  Ethan handed him the mug. Immediately, Chris held it in his hands and talked to it.

  “I love you. You give me that happy feeling and warm me up. I’ve missed you so much. I love when you show up just wearing some good old-fashioned cream.”

  “Uh, dramatic?” she asked, trying not to laugh at his antics, but he was funny. Beneath the seriousness of his life, and job, Chris had always made her laugh.

  Ethan handed her a cup and joined them.

  It made him happy to see everyone smiling.

  “Thank you. How was your call?” she asked, hoping the president wasn’t up to his bullshit antics before seven in the morning.

  She’d drive there and boot his ass around the Rose Garden for shits and giggles. It would be worth being tackled or tasered by the Secret Service.

  Ethan knew what she was thinking.

  He had, too, and they’d both been right. It was all about the president.

  “It was Gabe. He was being paranoid and wanted to cover his bases. He wanted to discuss the meeting this morning with the president, so I’d be ready for anything.”

  “He woke you up to talk meeting about a meeting?” she inquired.

  “Yup.”

  “He needs a vacation or better yet, he needs a few hobbies outside the Hoover Building.”

  Ethan laughed.

  Honestly, he didn’t disagree. He had the tipi and his grandfather’s books. Gabe should build one and take a vacation there. There was nothing more cathartic than staying connected to your past by meditating.

  Before, he would have laughed at it.

  Now…

  It worked.

  “I said the same thing. I offered up the house on the island, but he grumbled about work and how many kids he had. You know how it is with a tribe.”

  She found that amusing, and she did understand. They had an equal number of children.

  “Well, technically, we have more with Dad’s son, so he is preaching to the choir.”

  Oh, he was aware.

  “Speaking of which, he’s coming down with something, so heads-up.”

  “TJ?” she asked, hoping that wasn’t the case. The little boy had a rough start, and the fact that he was hearing impaired made them all want to cuddle and love him even more.

  BUT…

  Chris couldn’t get sick.

  “No, Dad. He was hacking up a lung. We’re all going to get sick. Start taking your vitamin C and keep Chris away from him.”

  Without hesitating, she reached into the bedside drawer and pulled out a giant bottle of vitamin C and Zinc.

  “Some women keep sexy toys, and ours has a pharmacy—and not the good stuff—vitamins,” Ethan teased.

  Chris snorted as she dumped some into his hand.

  Then she pulled out hand sanitizer and gave them each one of the small packages.

  “Carry it. Use it, and don’t kiss Dad.”

  They knew she was going to take it very seriously, and they went with it.

  Now Chris got it.

  “Ah, the coffee in bed was to give us a heads-up, wasn’t it?” he asked.

  “Yep.”

  That was exactly why he had brought them coffee. The second Ethan saw his father hacking, he knew that he had to try to keep Chris away from Wyler.

  “Okay, well, we’ll discuss that at the doctor’s office today when we get the lab results, discuss his viral load, and…”

&n
bsp; He was staring at her.

  “What?”

  He kissed her on the mouth.

  “There are days when your mothering sucks, and there are days when I’m really glad to have you. Today is the latter. Carry on.”

  Well, she was glad.

  Elizabeth knew Chris would live a long healthy life, and now that the shock of his diagnosis, and the fear of dying, had worn off, so did he.

  What a difference a couple of months could make in his life. He was back to fighting, and they would be by his side the entire way.

  “I say we grab some breakfast outside the house,” Ethan suggested, trying to keep Wyler’s germs off of Chris. It wasn’t easy since they were all under one roof, but they’d try their best.

  “That works for me,” Elizabeth stated.

  Without hesitating, Chris slid out of bed with his coffee cup.

  “Hey, sexy! Let’s go get naked in the shower and wake-up,” he said.

  Ethan lifted a brow.

  “Uh…”

  She laughed.

  “For the record, he’s not talking to me. He’s talking to the coffee again. I’ve seen him do this before.”

  Ethan laughed and understood. Just two days ago, he’d said the same thing to a candy bar that he’d shoved into his mouth while sitting in the tipi.

  Yes, he was romancing candy behind his wife’s back.

  On his way to their shower, Chris turned and grinned at her. That boyish smile was back, and it did both of their hearts good.

  “Was I?” he teased, heading into the bathroom. “That’s my own little secret.”

  Then he disappeared, and they could hear him whistling a tune as he showered.

  Elizabeth took Ethan’s hand in hers.

  “He’s going to be all right,” she stated as the tears filled her eyes. “He’s turned the corner and I can stop fearing that he’ll hurt himself,” she admitted.

  Ethan agreed.

  This was a good day for all of them. It was clear that the man was better than he’d been in the last few weeks.

  His smile was back.

  His eyes twinkled.

  Chris was the man he was before finding out he had HIV, and they couldn’t be happier about that.

  It gave them both peace, knowing that he was going to be strong enough—emotionally—to do the fighting needed to keep him motivated.

  “I agree, baby.”

  She sipped her coffee, and let it soothe her.

  “That horrible weight is off of your shoulders, isn’t it?” Ethan asked, kissing his wife softly on the mouth. He’d been just as worried about her. She was burning the candle at both ends AND in the middle.

  Maybe now, she could find some peace herself. It was all Ethan really wanted for her.

  “God! Yes! I can breathe again, Ethan. I can honestly stop stressing everything and know that he’s going to come home at night and be near us. For a couple of weeks, I really worried he’d have a breakdown and hurt himself.”

  He was aware.

  Chris had begun therapy with Doctor Gaines, and they were all going with him. He was better, and if they could get another good doctor’s report today, it would only get better.

  “It’s going to be a good day,” she said, smiling at her husband.

  His heart skipped.

  The light was back in her eyes now, too, and as a man, and husband, that helped him. For a couple of weeks, he, too, was feeling helpless. Being unable to help either of them had been hard on him.

  Ethan liked to control freak things, and with Chris’s illness, you really couldn’t do that.

  Well, he couldn’t.

  Elizabeth was all over it, like tan on Native. Ethan just offered his love and a shoulder to lean on when either of them were struggling.

  Now, they’d turned a corner.

  “I know how this has been giving you an ulcer, baby. I know that today, Chris will have a good appointment, and it’ll only get better.”

  “From your mouth to the Great Spirit’s ears,” she said, finally willing to have hope.

  Ethan kissed her.

  She still smelled like him from the previous night, and that reminded him that they both could use a shower before he headed to the office, and she went to the doctor’s.

  “I have an idea,” he began.

  She glanced over.

  “Yes?”

  “While he’s showering, how about we sneak into his bathroom and use it…together? Want to get soapy and naked with your coffee boy?”

  She grinned.

  “Come on, sexy. Let’s get steamy together. I can’t wait to put you in my mouth.”

  Ethan checked out her ass peeking out from beneath his dress shirt.

  “Ethan?”

  She glanced over her shoulder.

  “I wasn’t talking to my coffee…Want to cum with me?” she asked, lecherously.

  Oh, did he ever.

  He hopped out of their bed and followed his wife. Today was a good day.

  Ethan was glad.

  DAMN GLAD.

  His wife was back.

  And love had won this round.

  FINALLY.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  There was nothing but panic.

  The whole thing was something that no one saw coming, and that was a huge problem. When they’d found the president’s body the night before, the only person who they knew they could tell was the vice president.

  Secret Service had made the choice not to alert the media, but instead, give it to the new man in charge.

  What choice did they have?

  Somehow, someone had dropped the ball, and their choices were limited.

  They were going to keep it quiet for now—until the vice president made up his mind.

  They didn’t have a choice.

  If this scandal hit the news, the country would erupt. All of the president’s secrets would be laid out for the world to see.

  The philandering.

  The sexcapades.

  The blackmail.

  Anyone who worked for him knew that the man played dirty, and that was going to be the first thing the media focused on when they learned the truth.

  That would be his legacy.

  Not that he’d been a tough president in a stormy world, or that he’d captured militant criminals who threatened the country. All that would be heard was that he’d been caught with his pants down.

  Literally.

  His dick was missing too.

  Well, not missing. It was lopped off and resting beside him on the carpeted hotel floor.

  “What do you want to do?” the head of the Secret Service asked.

  He pondered it.

  Yeah, they had to do something to preserve the man’s legacy and the office of the President of the United States.

  They were in cleanup mode.

  It was now on his shoulders, and that was going to be a tough job to handle.

  As they stood there, in the Oval Office, the choice had been made. Someone was going to have to investigate this, and it couldn’t be the Secret Service. There would be whispers and then shouts of a cover-up.

  No.

  This had to be hands-off.

  So, the vice president made the call, doing what needed to be done. It would be a tough decision, especially since he knew there was bad blood.

  Well, now, there was spilled blood, and it didn’t matter if they hated each other or had been friends.

  This was dire.

  “Here’s who I want to do this,” he said as he handed his head of Secret Service the paper with the two names on it. Bring them in.”

  Her eyes went huge.

  “Uh, sir, are you out of your damn mind?” she asked. “Truthfully, sir. I really meant that with nothing but respect.”

  He was aware.

  He couldn't believe he was going to do it either.

  “It’s the only way.”

  She was aware, but…

  “And if th
ey don’t want to help?” she asked, knowing that this was a long shot.

  No.

  This was worse than that.

  This was going to blow up and end all of their careers. In this moment, by making this decision, they were going to roll the dice and risk their careers to cover-up what the president had been like.

  It sucked.

  The vice president took a seat in his now, new, office chair. While it was unofficial yet, he was now at the helm.

  He was the president’s replacement, and he would make the tough calls.

  “Force compliance. This isn’t me asking. This is me telling you. Got it?”

  She nodded.

  “Yes, Mr. Vice President.”

  When she closed the door to the Oval Office, he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. He prayed for a miracle and that he’d be able to keep a lid on this. This was the worst-case scenario.

  Presidents died.

  That was a fact.

  They didn’t die with their pants down in a hotel room with their dicks removed.

  That was never good.

  If this got out, hell was going to break loose, and he didn’t think he could contain the details.

  Unless…

  The right person handled this.

  AND she would…

  Chapter Two

  Monday

  Eight A.M.

  B y some miracle, all three of them made it out of their home on time. While they wanted to grab breakfast outside the house, it simply didn’t happen. It looked like they were all having some fruit on the road.

  Before heading to the doctor’s office, Chris and Elizabeth kissed Ethan goodbye and started their day. She was sitting in the passenger seat as Ivan drove them to the appointment across town.

  The smile on his face said one thing.

  He was possessed.

  So, Elizabeth kicked off her day the only way she knew how.

  By tormenting the hell out of him.

  As he continued to smile, she threw some of her water on him.

  “HEY! These are my clothes for the whole day! What are you doing?”

  “You’re smiling like a lunatic. I was making sure you weren’t possessed.”

  Chris snorted from the backseat of the ride. He couldn’t help himself. The fun was about to begin.