Page 160 of Enemy of My Enemy

Whirling, Ethan decked Adam, a hard punch slamming across his jaw.

“You don’t want me anywhere near your guys,” Ethan growled. His voice shook, his words trembling like a roaring volcano right before eruption. “I’m not your leader. I’m not your savior. I’m going to go find the bastards who took Jack. I’m going to kill them. And I’m going to kill anyone in my way.” His eyes gleamed, a black, crazed ferocity. “I won’t take anyone else with me. Not into that. This ismyfight,” he hissed. “Mine.”

“You’re going to die.”

“Then I’ll be with Jack.”

“Weneedyou, Ethan—”

“You don’t need me. I’ve done nothing but fuckeverythingup.” He shook his head. “Get your guys. Base them here. Stay with Faisal forever, if you can. Cut yourself off from the US.” His jaw clenched, and the pictures taken of him and Jack flashed behind his eyes. “This goes deeper than what we know. You can’t trustanyone. No one at all, except your own people. Your team. Got it?”

“And what the fuck are we supposed to do?”

Ethan grabbed his bag and stormed away. “Do what you can to protect your team.” He kicked open the front door. Jeddah’s evening sun had crept over the horizon. “Keep the people you care about in the world safe.” He threw his bags into the Land Rover, tossing the shotgun and a rifle into the front seat. “And don’t ever, ever let go of the man you love.” He wouldn’t look at Adam as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Forget trying to be a hero. Trying to change the world. You just lose everything, and it’s not worth it. It’s not fucking worth it to be in the world without them.”

Adam grasped the driver’s door, broken glass shards biting into his palms. “Ethan?”

“Stay away from Cook, Adam.” Ethan stared straight ahead, out through the windshield. “Stay thefuckaway from him.” Finally, Ethan looked Adam’s way. “I mean it.”

Ethan gunned the accelerator, and burning rubber spat smoke against Faisal’s drive. Adam leaped back as Ethan peeled out.

Something flew out the broken driver’s window, smashing against the pavement.

He jogged ahead, picking up the pieces.

Adam sighed, closing his eyes, and then hurled the shattered plastic and broken wires against Faisal’s stone wall.

Ethan had chucked the satellite phone out the window.

He was gone.

* * *

Flowers, Flags, and Candles Blanket the White House Fence, Honoring and Remembering Jack Spiers

Americans have come out by the thousands, laying flowers and lighting candles outside the White House to honor and remember President Jack Spiers. American flags and pride flags cover the sidewalk, sticking out of flowers and standing next to pictures of the president and his partner, Ethan Reichenbach. Pins and bumper stickers from the president’s new political party, the Unity Party, dot the tableau.

Speaking to TNN, Senator Stephen Allen said, “It’s always a sad day when an American life is lost. President Spiers lived a controversial life, and I am certain that we will come to find his death came about because of the causes he chose to support.”

* * *

Chapter 53

Moscow

The Kremlin

“We got the signal.”Madigan grinned. It was a madman’s smile, and it made Moroshkin’s skin crawl.

“The bombing?”

Madigan nodded.

Moroshkin’s eyes narrowed. How had Madigan penetrated the heart of the American military-intelligence machine? “What have you done, General?”

“Exactly what I promised you I would. I sowed terror. Ripped apart our enemies. Tore their souls to shreds until they collapsed in on themselves.”

Moroshkin stayed silent. His fingers tapped, nervous, against the leather sofa. “And this is the next move?”