She had a point.
Elizabeth looked like she ran headfirst into a concrete wall, or repeatedly into someone’s fists.
“Chris cut off his clothes. Get them to bag them, send his body to Hoover, and tomorrow we work the case—out of our office, not yours. I don’t trust anyone here. The president was killed under the watchful eye of YOUR Secret Service.”
“We need…”
She cut him off.
“I will try to keep it quiet, but I can’t promise that. Any myriad of shit can go wrong. All I do know, as of right now, is that I can’t do a thorough investigation without it getting out. You need to make up your mind whether you want the truth, or you want the world to think he’s diddling his secretary for a week on an island.”
She had a point again.
“He has meetings, right?”
“Yes, and there were officials there who knew about it. In fact, Marcus Hunter is right outside that door waiting to meet with me,” Gordon stated. “The head of the US Marshals was there last night when we found him.”
Elizabeth glanced over at Ethan.
Well.
Well.
Well.
That was news to them. Marcus was supposed to be their friend, and the marshals and Feds worked closely.
Interesting.
From the look on her husband’s face, she knew what he was now thinking.
Ethan was pissed.
Had his ‘friend’ given him a heads-up, they would have known who grabbed Elizabeth much quicker. If they had known the president was murdered, they would have safely assumed that Elizabeth was taken to do the job.
She was the best.
“Was he now?” Ethan asked.
“Yes.”
Well, in that case, screw him.
Ethan was done with it.
“Okay, so, give me a liaison to the marshals if I need help, and I’ll work this case. My team won’t leak it. The public and media, if they should find out, won’t know where his body is, but I can’t promise his name won’t come up if I ask questions outside of there.”
Gordon understood.
He pointed at the people in the room. It was time to do a deal with the Devil. Gordon Downing knew the truth.
“Out. I want a private conversation with the FBI.”
The Secret Service didn’t look happy about it. After all, she’d kicked the shit out of a bunch of them.
“GO!”
They headed out.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to beat the hell out of him,” she stated when she saw the worried looks. “That’s what you guys do. I actually solve things.”
The one agent flipped her off.
Ethan sighed.
“Name? Now, I have to kill him.”
She laughed.
“Oh, there’s been plenty of that going on here. Clearly. I think we should stop with that. It’s back to doing this the normal way,” Gabe warned.
He agreed.
For his sanity’s sake.
“What do you want?” she asked the vice president. “I’ve been to this rodeo before. Ask.”
“Do you really think you can do this?”
“I can solve anything if I’m not lied to and I have basic cooperation. I can’t do this blind. I’m going to have to question anyone on duty, or around him. I’ll need the truth.”
“I’ll make sure you have it.”
Yeah, that wasn’t all.
“What was he doing upstairs—and alone when he’s supposed to have twenty-four-seven babysitters? Ethan can’t leave our house without three guys following him to the car, and he’s only the deputy director. Gabe has three security guys code named after archangels. Security in DC is serious business, and yet here, the president had no one. Why?”
Yeah, that was a damn good question.
Gordon steepled his fingers. This was a delicate balance, and he didn’t want to speak ill of the dead—especially the President of the United States.
Only, she’d agreed to help, and she had just told him that she couldn’t do this without cooperation. He couldn’t hold back right out of the gate.
She’d walk.
Elizabeth saw him hesitating.
“I meant it. Spill it, or I walk. Gabe can give you another Fed to do this. I have my own division to worry about. This is me offering to help, despite the shit you pulled.”
She had a point.
He relented.
“Truthfully, and let’s not pull punches, the man was a huge asshole,” he admitted. “Damian didn’t make friends easily and he didn’t keep them long. He wanted to shake up DC, and he did…daily.”
No one in the room looked shocked. They were all aware of the nature of the man.
Or victim…they’d worn his target, and now the irony was that they had to help solve his murder.
Saying he was an asshole was an understatement of mass proportions. The man was a serpent in a garden of other serpents. Only, he was the king of them. The king had his minions doing his dirty deeds.
There was no love lost for him by anyone who had the displeasure of dealing with him.
Gabe loathed him.
Why?
The president didn’t take his job seriously. He was playing monarchy in a democracy.
Ethan couldn’t stand him.
Why?
He’d degraded his ethnicity on a daily basis and expected the man to kiss his ass out of gratitude.
Elizabeth would rather avoid him.
Why?
She was his hired gun, and she didn’t like him being the one who pointed her at people.
The vice president’s statement was no newsflash. They were well aware that the man wasn’t liked. The only reason his death was a shock was because he should have been protected from it, and he clearly, wasn’t.
“Who was he seeing?” she finally asked, putting two and two together. “You don’t go upstairs in a hotel unless you plan on getting down and dirty. If you’re tired, you can go home and sleep there.”
They all watched her work.
Even battered and bruised, she was still damn efficient at her job. The two decades of service had given her that skill. Elizabeth could handle this.
The vice president shrugged.
“Truth.”
Again, he weighed his options. Finally, the vice president had no choice but to relent.
“Well, not his wife.”
“And that means?” she asked.
“I’m sure you heard the rumors. You know what it’s like in Washington,” he stated. “They say you’re sleeping with Doctor Leonard.”
“I am. It’s not a rumor.”
The man stared at her.
“Um…”
When he looked at Ethan, he offered it up. He knew where this was heading.
“I sleep with him too. As a matter of fact, so does Callen,” he added.
Gabe muttered, “I knew this was going to end here,” he stated.
“Uh, really?” Gordon asked.
Chris smiled.
“It’s a really big bed.”
Elizabeth was done talking about her life. She needed the dirt on the president. In DC, the gossip was generally right—to a degree.
“Who was he shacking up with?” she asked.
“He had numerous affairs. The Secret Service would bring him women, and he would…”
She stopped him.
Did she hear him right?
“What the hell?” she asked. “They picked up hookers for the President of the United States? Are you kidding me? They let women who had zero security clearance whack his willie, but I have to be patted down when I come here for dinner with my husband?” she asked.
“Well, when you put it that way,” Gordon stated. “Also, it is you we’re talking about. I have casualties after today, so you should be patted down.”
Okay, he had a point with that, but the rest?
No.
“What is wrong with this administration?” she asked
. “You can’t be serious.”
Gabe was with her.
“I’ll get you the names of a few people to interview. I can’t tell you who he was meeting.”
“Can’t or won’t? In my world, there’s a really big difference.”
“Can’t. I didn’t partake in his vices. I really do love this country, and I’m going to spend the next year doing my job. Then I’m going to run for president and do good work.”
She rolled her eyes.
As far as she was concerned, the whole administration was tainted. The place should be cleared out, fumigated, and they should start over.
Before today, she liked Gordon until he had her abducted. Call her crazy, but that was out of control behavior. She knew it well. Look at her life.
Only, she focused on the case. She had a frigging headache and wanted out of there.
SOON.
“Whatever. I need names.”
“Tomorrow, you’ll have them. I can get you the names of the agents who did the acquiring, and you can go from there. I’ll tell them to cooperate.”
Gabe spoke up, “They should be on administrative leave,” he stated. “If they broke the rules…”
He cut him off.
“I will do what I can with what’s left,” he said. “Rambo here kicked the shit out of my biggest guys.”
“In my defense,” she stated, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall, and my one husband showed me how to shatter an arm with my elbow. He was walking me through a scene in his book,” she said, smiling sweetly.
The man said nothing.
“Gordon, you need my advice,” Gabe stated.
“Yes?”
“Admit what happened and let my investigators do their job. Be open with the media when it comes to saying he’s deceased. It’s going to come out, and at some point, you’re going to be accused of a cover-up. If you plan on running for election, you can’t have that on your record.”
“While I appreciate your advice, I will when I have no other choice. I have this. I’ll be sworn in during a private ceremony, and I’ll drive the bus.”
She sighed.
“I have a headache,” she stated.
“It’s likely the couple times you were hit in the face,” Chris stated. “You went out and have a concussion.”
She gave him a look when Ethan stared at her in absolute horror. His wife was going to have to wear a helmet soon if she kept bashing her brain off her skull.
Elizabeth cleared her throat.
“Ot-Nay in-way ont-fray of-way e-thay usband-hay,” she stated, hoping he got it.
Chris laughed, and then held his head when it hurt.
“Elizabeth, I understand Pig Latin,” Ethan stated, trying not to laugh. “I didn’t get this job because I’m pretty.”
She opened her mouth, and he pointed at her.
“Don’t. I’m a man on the edge. I will toss you over my shoulder and haul your battered-ass home.”
Yeah, she could see that happening. Wisely, she closed her trap.
Fast.
“Thank you,” he stated.
“Can you get me home?” she asked. “Chris and I need to crash. I need to regroup and decide who we are bringing in on this. I need secrecy, and I want to make sure there are no leaks.”
He understood.
“Oh, and Mr. Vice President?” she asked as her husband helped her to her feet, and then Chris too.
“Yes?”
“Alfie Steiner?”
“Yes?”
“She threatened our kids if we didn’t help. May I suggest you keep her as far away from me as possible? I will cut a bitch for screwing with me, but it will be an all-out slaughter when someone tries to motivate me by threatening my children.”
“WHAT?” Ethan asked.
“Yeah, she really did, Ethan. She threatened Bethe and to our faces.”
Ethan was NOT happy.
“I will pass that along,” Gordon stated. “I apologize for her behavior. That was crossing a line. I have children.”
Well, at least they knew he had boundaries. Then again, the man did have them kidnapped.
Ethan placed himself between them and let them both lean on him. She was in worse shape, but this was a unified front.
Period.
Ethan stared right at the man, and he meant business. He only hoped Gordon got that. From here on out, there would be no screwing with his family.
It was time to play deputy director.
“Keep your people in line,” he stated. “I mean it. If one line is crossed, I will pull her. That’s her boss speaking, not her husband.”
Gordon understood.
“Thank you for your help. We’ll destroy anything we have on you.”
Oh, they would.
“File,” Gabe said. “Now. I know you. You wouldn’t have brought that up if you didn’t have it.”
The man opened the desk and handed him a folder. On it, there was Elizabeth’s name. Inside, it had nothing major. Just that she’d worked the case.
He tucked it under his arm.
“Thank you.”
Chris knew he was up.
“Have the body brought to Autopsy One tomorrow by seven in the morning,” Chris stated. “I will begin the official autopsy on John Doe. My records will not mention his name. I will need his medical records, and his dentals. Scrub the name. I will be working under the assumption that he was a vagrant or victim of a serial killer.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m not doing it for you. I’m not doing this for the country either. I’m doing it to have my partner’s back. She is that, and she’s a better person than I’d be. I’d tell you to pound sand.”
He didn’t speak.
Ethan motioned toward Gabe.
“I’m taking her home. Chris too. You handle this. I have to be there to intercept Callen when he lands. He’s going to be a raging lunatic over this. You’ll have to update me at the office. If you’re not back by later this afternoon, I’ll call in the Marines to kick in the door. You know…since someone has been kidnapping people.”
Gabe laughed at the absurdity, but the truth of it.
The vice president…not so much.
“Oh, shit! Callen,” she muttered. “He’s never leaving DC without me again.”
Oh, Ethan was aware.
The man had called about ten times. He was going to meet him at the airport where they could do this face-to-face. He’d lost their wife—temporarily—and he had to own that. Hopefully, his brother wouldn’t hold a grudge.
“Uh, where are my guns and badge?” she asked. “I’d like them back ASAP. I also want a missing Rolex that was taken from my ME.”
Gordon pulled them out of the desk and handed them to Ethan. He helped Chris put his father’s watch back on but didn’t give Elizabeth her guns.
“I’ll hold these. She might shoot people on her way out. I know I feel like it.”
He tucked them into his suit jacket and helped both Elizabeth and Chris out of there. Mostly, he wanted to hold onto his wife in case Tex tried to pile drive someone. He wasn’t putting it past her.
He knew how angry she was.
Outside the Oval Office, Marcus stared at Ethan as he walked by with his battered wife, his dinged-up ME, and multiple ice packs.
“Is she okay?” he asked, looking worried.
You know, Ethan could forgive a lot. When it came to atrocities like today, where it could have been circumnavigated with a simple heads-up, no.
No, he couldn’t let it go.
“You should have given me the heads-up,” he stated. “You were there last night. You knew what went down. They took her to work this case, and you never had the balls to warn us. You suck, Marcus.”
“Ethan.”
“NO!”
He walked past him.
He wasn’t in the mood right now. He was pissed, and he wanted to get his wife home.
As they walked through the building and to the exit, every S
ecret Service agent stared at her. Some in awe, some were filled with anger, but they all behaved and remained silent.
Good for them.
Outside the White House, Ivan stood there with Wilcox, Johnny, and Saint. They all looked alarmed when she headed their way. They’d seen her beaten up.
Broken down.
But this?
“Ivan, I have to get to the airport to intercept my brother. He’s going to be crazed. Take her home. You and Saint are to be all over her. From here on out, double up the protection duty on her.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Make no stops, and for future reference, if someone approaches her, you stop them. I don’t care if you have to put a bullet in them. She’s been kicked around a lot the last few months, and it stops now. Protection duty means just that. Your body—not hers. I’m over this.”
Oh, someone was definitely pissed.
All three men cringed.
Ivan knew he had every reason to be angry with him, and the guys too. He’d dropped the ball. He’d let them all down.
He’d just told her about having his back and being friends, and he’d let her get taken out of a parking lot.
There was only one reason why.
They’d gotten complacent.
Well, that was done. He was going to be all over her all of the way back to Fort Whitefox-Blackhawk.
“We’ll make sure no one touches her, and I’ll get her safely home. I promise, sir.”
Ethan had to believe him.
If not, he’d blow.
He was angry, and he knew this wasn’t Ivan’s fault. Still, he had to point that anger at someone.
Callen was going to lose it, and in a way, he was in the same boat as the man in front of him.
This was on him.
“Are you okay?” Ivan asked her, feeling terrible as he helped her into their ride. Already, she had a black eye, and her lip was split. Someone had worked her over, and not pulled any punches.
That was a bitch.
“I feel like shit, and I don’t look half as bad as I feel right now. Please just get me home so I can lay down,” she whispered. “It’s been a really shitty day.”
That said it all.
She didn’t call him a troll or tell him he was the worst security guy on the planet.
Instead, her plea to get home said it all. Never in his life had he heard Elizabeth beg to go to bed.
All the King's Henchmen Page 16