Page 45 of Enemy of My Enemy

“DC? Thought you said they would disavow us if we caused an international incident?” Doc and Coleman shared a long look.

“Not DC.” Sighing, Adam punched in the number he knew by heart.

As always,heanswered, and the sound of his voice went straight through Adam’s chest. His lungs clenched, and he fought to breathe.

“As-salamu alaykum.”

Faisal, my God. Even after all this time. I still melt when I hear your voice.

“Faisal,” he managed to choke out. “I need your help. Again.”

* * *

Tough Fight Ahead for Secretary of State Elizabeth Wall in Vice Presidential Confirmation Hearings

Secretary of State Elizabeth Wall headed for Capitol Hill today for the first of her confirmation hearings after being nominated for the vice president vacancy. The House Judiciary Committee opened the proceedings, focusing on Secretary Wall’s history of public service and her accomplishments.

However, when Secretary Wall headed to the Senate, Senator Stephen Allen took much of the committee’s time, questioning Secretary Wall on her allegiance and support for President Spiers. “Seeing as there has never been a president more threatened than President Spiers, it’s reasonable to imagine that you may, in fact, inherit the presidency, having never received a single vote,” Allen said. “The American people have a right to know what your beliefs are. Do you support President Spiers’s lifestyle?”

In response, Secretary Wall stated that President Spiers and his partner were both personal and professional heroes of hers, especially in light of their actions against the rogue General Madigan, but she refused to discuss President Spiers’s personal life.

Multiple senators ceded their time to Senator Allen’s line of inquiry, which included questioning how Secretary Wall, if confirmed, would push the president to repair the US’s standing in the world and reintroduce family values to the White House.

* * *

Chapter 16

White House Residence

“Mr. President? Mr. First Gentleman?”The low voice of the overnight Navy steward woke Jack and Ethan at four in the morning.

Blinking at the light spilling in from the hallway, Jack’s stomach clenched, and one of his hands sought Ethan’s. Ethan groggily woke and rolled toward him.

They’d been woken in the middle of the night once before, and it had been terrible news.

What was happening now?

“What’s up?”

Shaking his head, Jack tried to focus on the steward’s words as Ethan buried his face in Jack’s hip. “Mr. President, we’re getting reports that a dump of Top Secret intelligence cables has been posted online. Mr. Irwin and Mr. Rees are in the Situation Room now.”

“Fuck.” Jack leaped from the bed, and Ethan’s face hit the mattress. The steward politely ducked out of their bedroom while Jack scrambled for his boxers and pulled a pair of jeans from the back of the couch beneath their window. He tripped over their crumpled clean-up towel, what once had been a beautiful deep navy from the White House now stained with their combined release. He nudged it under the bed as his cheeks burned.

“What’s going on?” Ethan grunted as he pushed himself up. His hair stood on end and sleep clung to him, squishing his face and squinting his eyes.

Jack took a moment to kiss his lover’s forehead. “Bad news. Top Secret intel has been released online. I’m heading down to the Situation Room. Irwin and Rees are already there.” Rees was Irwin’s successor at the CIA, the new director, and Jack had a sneaking suspicion that the two men worked very closely together. Close enough that he didn’t want to actually know.

Ethan groaned and face-planted back to the bed. Jack heard a muffled curse breathed into the mattress, and then Ethan was moving, sliding out and grabbing his own boxers and pants.

When Jack pulled on Ethan’s Secret Service sweatshirt before Ethan could grab it, Ethan tried to glare, but his tender smile spoiled it. He grabbed a plain pullover instead, and in under a minute, they were heading down, running through the White House together, again, in the dead of night.

The night shift Secret Service agents picked them up at the stairs and escorted them to the White House ground floor before taking up silent positions in the back of the Situation Room.

Irwin was already reading through the dumped intel cables on the main screen while Rees was juggling his cell phone and making furious notes on three different notepads.

“I’m here. Hit me.” Jack stood behind his chair, Ethan at his side.

“Fifty gigs of Top Secret intel cables, dated this week to two months ago. Reports from the CIA and DIA, mostly describing our clandestine operations in the Middle East and Africa.” Irwin spoke while Rees shouted into his cell phone, something about needing to “wake him the fuck up, now”.