Page 158 of Enemy of My Enemy

Sixteen years ago, Leslie had died on a mission he didn’t know much about, but the one thing he did know, with utter certainty, was that Madigan had been involved.

She’d been the first thing he’d ever taken from him.

And now, he’d taken Ethan. His presidency. Damn near his life and his sanity.

And had remade him, through everything, into a man willing to do anything—anything—to stop him. By any means necessary.

* * *

By the time Elizabeth arrived,he had the IV out and had limped up and down the hospital corridor a dozen times in borrowed blue scrubs. The entire floor had been cleared, and Scott had posted agents at all entrances, locking down everyone except for the one doctor and one nurse keeping watch on Jack.

Elizabeth came in with Daniels at her side. She had her hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, and her smart suit was rumpled. She’d probably been yanked out of bed by frantic Secret Service agents before dawn, and she’d been going a mile a minute since.

“Jack.” Her smile wavered as she fought back tears, holding her arms open.

He wrapped his arms around her, shaking. A moment, and then he leaned into her, the weight of the past week ripping out his spine and pulverizing his heart. He didn’t even try to hold back his sobs.

She held him through it as Daniels went to Scott’s side, checking in with him with gruff words and a tight shoulder squeeze.

“We’re deep off the edges of the map on this one.” Elizabeth pulled back. “What the hell do we do now?”

He took a deep breath. “You’re going to stay president.”

Scott and Daniels’s heads whipped around.

Her jaw dropped. “What?”

“Everything that’s happened, everything he’s planned, has been because we’ve reacted exactly as he expects us to. He’s been playing us from the beginning. He knows everything, knows our operations better than we do. We have to change the game. Have to do something different.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that he came afterme.He’s targetingme.And Ethan. And people are dying because of it. If I live through this, then he’ll just come at us again. How many more people are going to die because of his madness?”

“If you live through this…” Elizabeth frowned, and Scott and Daniels were at his side, instantly. “Jack, what are you planning?”

“I need to go off the grid. I need to get far away from here. I need to find Ethan.” He tried to smile, but his fractured heart wailed at Ethan’s name. “And we need to hunt this man down and put an end to him. For good.”

“How?” Incredulity strained Elizabeth’s voice, pulled at her tired face. “Jack, you’re thepresident, not a soldier.”

“First, I find Ethan. He’s been running a black kill squad, hunting Madigan. They went ghost, but we can put them back together, someplace safe. We can try to connect with Sergey. His insurgency is making inroads against Moroshkin, and we know Madigan is working with Moroshkin. Together, we can find him. We have to approach this differently. We have to come at Madigan in ways he won’t expect.”

“The world needs you here, Jack—”

“No, the world needs a leader who isn’t compromised, Elizabeth. And let’s face it. I’ve been a disaster since we got back from Sochi. You’ve been doingeverything. The world would be rotting in flames if it weren’t for you.”

She said nothing.

“I’m just a man.” His whole body shook, barely holding together. “Just a man pushed beyond all of my limits. Pushed over the edge. And I can’tdothis anymore. I can’t be the president. Not right now. Not like this.”Not without my other half.

“So you want to bedead?” Daniels spoke when everyone else stayed silent. “That’s not something you can come back from. Not something a ‘Whoops, our mistake’ press release can take care of.”

“Maybe not dead.” Elizabeth still looked like she wanted to puke, but her eyes told Jack she’d accepted what he was saying. “The wounded are here, a few floors down. I’m getting briefed on the half hour on everyone’s status. There’s a man, one of the janitors at Langley.” She chewed on her lip. “He’s brain dead. The doctors say he’ll never wake up.”

“Are you saying we should pretend the president is brain dead?” Scott threw his hands in the air. “Mr. President!”

“I’m not the president anymore. She is. And this is happening, Scott, with or without you.”

“This is a military hospital. You’re being treated by military officials. We can control this. I’m scheduled to make an announcement later today about your medical status. I can let everyone know then.” She paused. “But, if we do this, and you get killed somewhere hunting down Ethan, or Sergey, or Madigan, and they hang your body from a streetlight, therewillbe questions.”