All the King's Henchmen

by Morgan Kelley

  No.

  It made her fight even harder, breaking someone’s arm. All she knew was it wasn’t hers, and they’d asked for it.

  She was able to keep going.

  “They don’t want her damaged! Don’t hurt her!” the one man ordered.

  That was all she had to hear.

  She lashed out, taking one more to the ground when she slammed her cowboy boot into his knee from the front. The sick crunch said it all.

  Three down.

  Four to go.

  As she went after the one backing away, she didn’t see the limping one come up behind her.

  It was when she was hit with the Taser to her back that she finally went down.

  Shit!

  She struggled to get up, wishing she’d worn her body armor today of all days.

  Then it was the punch to the face that took her down and out for the count.

  Elizabeth hit the ground and didn’t move.

  “Get them into the van! We spent too much time here! Let’s go!”

  Someone whistled, and it pulled into the parking lot, driving over the landscaping. It screeched to a stop. Elizabeth and Chris were tossed into the back, along with the limping, banged-up, damaged assailants.

  “Get us out of here!”

  They took off, pulling away, and leaving no one any the wiser.

  They’d done the job.

  This mission was completed.

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

  White House

  Nine Fifteen A.M.

  It was the damnedest of things, and the most irritating of them too.

  Ethan and Gabe were not happy.

  The president had ordered them to be there for nine, and here they were, stopped at the front gate. As in they were being denied access to the White House.

  What?

  That NEVER happened.

  Ethan and Gabe both had security clearance that trumped half of the people standing around the place. They never had to check-in. In fact, as they pulled up, once their driver was seen, they were allowed in without anyone even making them roll down their windows.

  Seriously.

  They were the top two Feds in DC, and they worked hand-in-hand with the US Marshals, the Justice Department, and the White House.

  Now they were simply being dicked around.

  That was the only explanation at this point. The president was trying to piss them off.

  Great.

  “This is bullshit,” Gabe muttered as all of the armed security wouldn’t let them pass.

  Really?

  All of these guards knew them. They weren’t terrorists trying to abduct the man. He’d freaking called them there!

  Hell!

  They saw them weekly.

  “What the hell is going on?” he angrily demanded. “The president asked for this meeting. Here we are. This is a huge waste of our time. We have a bureau to run.”

  They didn’t look like they gave a shit.

  “I suggest you head back to your office, sir,” the guard said. “We’ve been told no one comes in or out right now—by the president’s orders. Sorry.”

  Yeah, they wouldn't be surprised if they got back to the Hoover Building, and their offices were locked, and their clearances were stripped.

  That was totally a dick move, and something Damian Dean would pull to school them.

  If that were the case, Gabe was going to make the man’s life a living hell in the media.

  He was officially done with this. He’d had to reschedule two calls, three meetings, and that was no freaking easy task. He’d be working late now, and that pissed Livy off.

  No one liked an angry wife.

  NO ONE.

  “Let’s go, Ethan.”

  Together, they got back into the limo, and tapped the window.

  “George, get us back there. ASAP!”

  As they pulled away, they watched as a white van pulled into the checkpoint and was rushed through the gate without even being scanned.

  Yeah, this was total garbage.

  The president was yanking their freaking chains.

  “Well, that’s a load of bullshit,” Gabe stated. “He just told us no one in or out, and they just let that van in. Something is going on.”

  Gabe was going to get to the bottom of this.

  SOON.

  When he did, heads were going to freaking roll. If Damian was playing some game, he’d tell him off. Gabe didn’t care. He was so fed up with the garbage going on in DC.

  It was time.

  “I hate being jerked around. I swear to God if I get back to that office, and that asshole was fucking with us, I’m marching to the White House, I’m going to pull him from his bed, and I’m going to strangle him.”

  Ethan laughed.

  “Can I film it? Half of DC would love to see that, including our wives.”

  “Get me a good lawyer. Your husband is loaded. I have a feeling I’m going to need it. If this was his way of getting us out of Hoover to fire us…”

  Oh, that would be ugly.

  There’d be no one at the helm.

  The inmates would be running the asylum, and there was no doubt in Ethan’s mind that his wife would make sure that the place was burned to the ground.

  “Think positive,” Ethan suggested. The man was bright red, and he looked like he was going to have a stroke.

  Gabe tried.

  Only, it was hard.

  He really hated that man, and this was the last straw.

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

  Doctor’s Office

  Parking Lot

  When he woke, Ivan was bound, gagged, and in a shitload of trouble. Today was a really bad day to take a car, and not one of their customary rides.

  Had he taken an SUV, he might have been seen by someone through the windows. Now…

  It appeared that he was locked in his own damn trunk.

  Well, fuck.

  This was NOT good.

  If he was in a trunk, just coming to, that meant he’d dropped the ball and failed on his mission.

  Since he didn’t live a crazy life, this had to be a shot at Elizabeth. She had crazies after her all of the time, and it looked like one of them had gotten past him.

  Not one.

  A few.

  Ivan began panicking. This was worst-case scenario, and he didn’t think it was going to have a good outcome.

  He’d lost the director’s wife and Chris. Since he was riding solo in the hot, stuffy trunk, this was going to be one of those things that ended his career, and hopefully, not their lives.

  Shit!

  That was NOT going to make the deputy director happy, or his other boss. Plus, it didn’t really sit well with him either.

  This sucked.

  Ivan forced himself to be calm, cool, and to think. He needed a way to alert them. His phone wasn’t with him. There was no way the assailants were going to let him keep it. With his hands and feet hogtied behind his back, he felt with dead fingertips for his watch stem.

  He was fumbling along with numb fingers until he thought he’d found it. Ivan struggled to pull it. He felt it give way, and he could only wait until someone on his team figured out that he’d set off his alarm.

  It was hot in that trunk.

  Ungodly hot.

  Right now, Ivan needed his team to be paying attention to the signal. If he wanted to get out of there, and then start looking for Elizabeth, he needed them to move fast.

  He prayed.

  Come on.

  Come on.

  Come on.

  Hopefully, someone would rescue him, and soon.

  If not…

  Ivan was in some serious shit. The trunk was already hot, and he was going to cook.

  Alive.

  If they did this to him, he could ONLY imagine what was happening to Elizabeth.

  Either way, he was a dead man.

  Ethan Blackhawk, when he was told about this, was g
oing to kill him.

  He’d lost his knack.

  He’d lost Elizabeth to God only knew who, and Ivan was officially out of luck.

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

  Room

  Unknown Building

  When Elizabeth woke, her head was killing her. She really hoped she didn’t have a concussion. That would be the third in months, and her brain was on the verge of being scrambled.

  The light was killing her eyes, so she took a minute to keep them closed as she attempted to regroup. The only good thing about the whole situation was she wasn’t restrained. For the life of her, she couldn’t imagine where the hell she was.

  This morning had been a blur.

  To her knowledge, the only potential danger to her was Bonnie, and they knew she was in New Orleans laying low.

  So, what was she doing here?

  AND WHERE WAS CHRIS?

  That was what scared her the most. She watched him go down—being coldcocked by her gun, and it made her sick. Whoever did this was going to pay.

  She was pissed.

  And desperate to find him.

  The last time this happened, she’d been grabbed and held against her will but that had been in Vegas by that crooked commissioner. Now she was home.

  DC was safe.

  After all, Ethan and Gabe ruled this land, and no one in their right mind would grab her off of the street.

  Elizabeth prayed this wasn’t some sicko trying to play a game. She really hoped she hadn’t been abducted by some animal who was going to make her fight for her life—and Chris’s.

  She focused on her husband.

  Ethan would find her.

  She knew him.

  He’d move Heaven and Earth the second he found out what had happened.

  There was no freaking way she had been grabbed by anyone wanting the wrath of Ethan Blackhawk on their ass. He would be relentless.

  Thank God!

  Someone was an idiot, and they were in some serious shit when he got word.

  Hopefully, Ivan was okay. Hopefully, whoever did this didn’t kill him. That made her sick to her stomach.

  He wouldn't let her get taken.

  They had to have ambushed him.

  As she got up from the floor, she looked around. There was a camera in the one corner, and she was being watched.

  Okay, that was creepy.

  Damn creepy.

  Wiping her nose where there was some dried blood, she spoke to whoever had her.

  “When you come in here, I’m going to kick your ass. Be ready! Where’s Doctor Leonard?”

  The camera focused on her.

  Yeah, well, she’d play their game. Her badge and gun were gone, and so was the backup piece she wore on her ankle. Someone knew how she rolled.

  That didn’t help calm her down. If this was a sicko watcher, they’d know that.

  Then again, there were more than five men. This wouldn’t be a serial killer.

  No.

  Think!

  God!

  Think!

  Her head hurt, but she was trying to muddle through all of this to get to the bottom of what was going on. What kind of military group came at a Fed and an ME?

  When the door opened, two men came in. They were wearing suits, and they had the earpieces in.

  Holy shit!

  There was her answer. She’d knew right away what the hell had happened.

  It was the freaking Secret Service.

  She’d recognize the president’s baboons anywhere. They were the ones who grabbed her, and she likely knew who called them out on her.

  He was a dead man.

  Fuck him.

  When she got her hands on that dickless weasel, she was going to strangle him with his own tongue. This was all kinds of wrong.

  He’d abducted two Feds, and physically assaulted them. Plus, who knew what he’d done to Ivan!

  When Gabe said avoid the White House, she was pretty sure he didn’t see this coming.

  WHO WOULD?

  Yeah, well, this was far from over.

  “Where is Doctor Leonard?”

  The two men didn’t answer.

  The bigger one beckoned her with his giant hand. If the president thought this would intimidate her, it was obvious that he didn’t know the saying.

  The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

  This guy was going down, and his little friend too. They didn’t study her enough. Her hand-to-hand fighting skills were good, and she was angry enough to make them bleed.

  “Again, where is Doctor Leonard?” she asked, refusing to move.

  “Come with us, and no one gets hurt,” the bruiser said, moving closer.

  She laughed.

  “It took seven of you to bring me in. You came in here with just the two of you?”

  The bigger one laughed.

  “Bitch.”

  Well, now, there was no reason to call names. That wasn’t polite even if it was damn accurate, and she knew it.

  “If you don’t tell me where Doctor Leonard is, it’s going to be ugly,” she warned. “If I get out of here, and get word to my husband, your ass is grass.”

  The man laughed again.

  She watched him, knowing how this was going to go. They were going to use brute force. That was their ONLY option. The only thing in her favor was that the president was a pig, and he likely wanted her alive.

  She’d heard them in the parking lot. They weren’t to hurt her. Funny, that didn’t apply to them, and she was going to end some careers.

  It was time to get down and dirty Blackhawk style. She’d seen her husbands use street fighting tactics, and she’d added them to her arsenal.

  Well, no time like the present to use them.

  He went to grab her.

  Elizabeth moved out of his reach and warned him that he was dangerously close to being hurt.

  “Don’t do it.”

  He lunged for her, and she whipped his big, brick-wall ass like a child on a playground.

  She took him down by slamming her foot into his knee, dislocating it like she did the man in the parking lot. He shrieked like the pussy he was, and he went down. Then she punched him in the face, blood splattering from his nose to the white wall beside her.

  “You’re next.”

  The man moved at her, and she spun, chopping him in the balls, grabbing his arm, and then using her elbow to shatter his tibia like Callen had taught her.

  Bone crunched, and he wept for mercy.

  “NEXT!” she said, pointing at the camera. “You brought me here, so let’s have some fun.”

  She shoved the table that was in there toward the wall. When it got there, she jumped onto the table and ripped the camera from the wall.

  It sparked.

  “And this shouldn’t take long,” she said as she hopped down and kicked the Secret Service agent on the ground in the gut.

  Elizabeth had been right.

  The door opened, and a woman came in carrying a Taser. She had it pointed at her torso.

  That was the ONLY reason she paused.

  It was a huge mistake.

  “Elizabeth, why do you have to be so difficult?” she asked just as she shot her in the body.

  Elizabeth went to her knees.

  As she still held the trigger, she hit her in the face with the butt of her gun.

  “Well, this escalated horribly,” she stated. “He’s going to be pissed!”

  The men whimpered.

  “Are you both idiots?” she asked the man standing there. “I told you to approach her carefully. She’s not the average woman. She’s lethal.”

  “Look what that bitch did to us!”

  She whistled, and two agents came in and helped the two damaged men out.

  “Someone restrain her! Are you stupid? I said separate and restrain. Put her back in with the doctor. Maybe that will calm her down. We don’t need her breaking Secret Service agents!”

  He dragged he
r out by her legs, down the hall and to a door. Rolling her over, he cuffed her.

  Then punched her in the face for good measure.

  “Cunt,” the one agent muttered, shoving her into the room and toward the doctor.

  “HEY! Don’t hit her! Are you insane?” Chris stated, trying to get up and to her. He managed to catch her.

  As he sat, he tried to wake her up.

  She groaned.

  “Sweetness, are you okay?” he asked, wiping the fresh red blood from her split lip.

  When she didn’t answer further, he began to worry.

  They were being held somewhere.

  But why?

  What the hell was going on?

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

  Hoover Building

  Director Rothschild’s Office

  When they arrived back to the office, the first thing they did was make a phone call.

  No.

  The first thing they did was try to get through security, and no one stopped them. Their passwords worked, and their keycards did too. So, they weren’t fired.

  The second thing they did was make a call.

  Gabe dialed the White House, but they had their calls rerouted to some secretary they’d never spoken to before. For some reason, the president was dodging them.

  That was odd.

  Maybe Gabe was right, and the man was up to something after all. This was damn suspicious.

  What could be his game?

  As of that moment, they were both utterly confused and drawing a blank.

  What?

  The?

  Hell?

  Now as they sat in the big man’s office, they had coffee and tried to figure out what the man was planning. Damian Dean was a master strategist. He’d worked for some think tanks, then he became a senator.

  Then…

  Yeah, the voters gave him the key to the castle.

  “Something is up,” Gabe stated. “I don’t buy for one second that he dragged us both there and then didn’t want to rake us over the coals. His favorite game in the whole world is ‘Roasting the Native’.”