Page 20 of Enemy of My Enemy

“What do you need me to do?”

“What you do best. Build up bodies. Harden souls.” He nodded to the valley. “These men need inspiration. You can be that for them. And, I have something else for you. Something only you can do.”

Cook’s head tilted, just so.

“We need to break men as well. Our enemies are not the same as they once were. They have new faces, now.” President Jack Spiers and his lover, Ethan Reichenbach, flashed before his mind. How unbelievable that a scandalous affair could bring down his life’s work. Only once. Never again. “New alliances. The Russians and the Americans are getting closer.”

Cook threw back the last of his whiskey, swallowing it down in two gulps.

“They’re going to come after us. Hit us with everything they can. I wrote the playbook they’re drawing from, but each man who challenges us brings his own heart and soul into the game. We take that. We take everything they are and we turn it against them. All of them, from the president and his lover down to the men they send to hunt us. That’s how we win, Captain.”

Madigan leaned forward, gripping Cook’s shoulder. “We must turn this world inside out. Tear still-beating hearts from chests. Dig the knife in deepest, where it hurts the absolute most. Break apart our enemies. Not just their minds. Their souls as well.”

Cook nodded. “Where do I begin?”

* * *

Chapter 5

White House Residence

Jack refilledScott’s wine glass and sat back, relaxing after dinner. They had all scooted away from the dining table, balancing full wine glasses on their knees as they shared stories. Ethan’s eyes were bright, glittering with joy, and the laugh lines on his face pulled at Jack’s heart.

He wanted to give Ethan this, this normalcy, this happiness. He’d seen Ethan collapse into himself in Iowa, shuttered and stoic as the world caged them in, but the anchor of Ethan’s friends seemed to ease his wary fear.

He’d taken Ethan from his normal life, from the safe anonymity of his existence, and brought him to the world’s biggest microscope. Ethan, a man devout in his privacy, had endured an existential crisis before he bent enough to befriend him.

And from friendship tothis. In many ways, it had to be Ethan’s worst nightmare to be so exposed. He’d spent his lifetime living in the shadows, watching and protecting. The spotlight, and the gilded cage of the White House, was going to hurt.

But right now, he could give Ethan this. A night with his friends. Laughter. Normalcy.

And men who were quickly becoming Jack’s friends as well. Daniels was impossible to dislike, and Scott and Ethan were practically brothers the way they bickered and played off one another. He and Scott hadn’t directly interacted much, other than in an official capacity, since he’d ordered Scott to rescue Ethan in Ethiopia. A mission that had seemingly sent Scott to his death. After his and Ethan’s triumphant return, Scott had turned his attentions to his family, and when he’d been promoted to Ethan’s position, there was an extra air of officiousness that had settled over the Secret Service.

Not that he could blame them. He’d caused the agency’s largest scandal in its history. Starting a relationship with an agent in secret.

Sometimes, late at night, he remembered his and Ethan’s first text conversation and the confession Ethan had shared about the power imbalance wielded between a president and everyone else. The darkness chewed on his worries. Had he pressured Ethan into this? Was this,truly, what Ethan wanted? He’d been the one to propose they start something, that they “figure this out,” this thing that had risen between them. Affection and attraction and so much more, so unexpectedly. Had he pushed Ethan too much? That day, and every day after?

Enough. Ethan was smiling and that was what mattered. Jack tried to focus in on the conversation, Ethan and Scott trading stories about being pranked by the FBI during an interagency operation in their first years before Daniels had joined. Scott was laughing so hard he was wiping at the corners of his eyes and Ethan had one of the brightest smiles Jack had ever seen.

Daniels sat back with Jack, watching the two laugh like children.

“I am not going to miss those FBI dorks.” Ethan was still laughing as he twirled his wine glass. “God, they were a pain in the ass.”

“I think that’s what they said about you.” Scott sent a pointed look across the table to Ethan.

“On the topic of Ethan’s most embarrassing moments,” Daniels said, quirking his eyebrows with a wry grin. “I remember one of my first assignments with you both. The West Point Classic.”

Ethan groaned and dropped his head, letting it hang between his shoulders. Scott almost snorted wine through his nose. “With Wilson? Jesus Christ, you couldn’t keep him contained!”

“Wilson? President Wilson?” Jack sat forward, his elbows balanced on the edge of the table. Ethan rarely spoke about Jack’s predecessors, except to say that, on the whole, they weren’t the friendliest people.

“He wasn’t a bad guy,” Ethan demurred. “Certainly not the biggest asshole we’ve dealt with. But he must have had ADHD or something. You couldn’t keep him still, not for anything.”

Scott was laughing into his wine glass. “Say that again.”

Jack watched Ethan, waiting for the story with a grin on his face. Ethan gave him a long-suffering sigh but launched in with gusto. He seemed to speak just to Jack, and deep within his chest, Jack’s heart beat faster.

Ethan was beautiful, just like this. He hung on the sound of Ethan’s voice, the rich timbre and the rise.