At the Pleasure of the President Read online

  “Close enough to stop a bullet? Because that’s what he might have to do.”

  He cupped her shoulders and forced her to look up at him. “Elizabeth, I can’t give in to blackmail. I have to move forward. I’ve got two choices at this point. I can move on and deal with whatever happens, or I can step down and allow them to work their worst on my VP, who you know is deeply vulnerable to blackmail. Which one would you have me do?”

  She understood his impulse. Zack wasn’t a man used to being anything less than totally in control, but the Russians were serious. They’d killed before and they wouldn’t hesitate to do so again. “The one that makes you safe.”

  “Then you picked the wrong man and we should have a long talk about our relationship.”

  Frustration welled. “Zack, I’m just worried about you. If we had more time to think about this, to plan something—”

  “But we don’t. Sometimes you have to force a fight out into the open in order to win it. I know what I’m doing. The question is, are you willing to stand with me or do you want to call it quits?” He loomed over her. “If you’re worried about your own safety, then I think you should hand over the press office to Gus and I’ll put you in protective custody. I know it doesn’t feel fair, but if you’re not completely with me, I’ll have to insist you stay in a safe house until this is over.”

  She felt the blood leave her face. “You want me to leave?”

  He shook his head. “I’m giving you all your options. You might not want to risk staying with me since you don’t agree with my plans and you’re worried it’s unsafe.”

  “I didn’t know about your plans until two minutes ago,” she argued with a shake of her head. “You didn’t bother to bring me into any of your decisions and announced what was happening before I got any say. I thought we were a team.”

  “We are, but you’ve always known who I am and that I won’t let you make decisions for me.” Zack’s voice had gone rough, the first sign that he was emotional at all.

  “You can’t include me, even when the decision affects me? When it means our friends could be targeted?”

  “Elizabeth, I have more to think about than merely our friends. Of all the people in the world, I would think you could understand that. I am the president. I don’t get to be selfish. I have to do what’s best for this country or get the fuck out of the way and hand the job over to someone who will,” Zack swore. “If I step down now, Wallace Shorn takes the White House. Then nothing will stop them. So what would you have me do? If I give in on this, they’ll want more. Should I give them our nuclear codes so you won’t be afraid?”

  “That’s not at all what I said and it’s certainly not fair.”

  “None of this is fair, and you arguing is only making it worse for me,” he pointed out, his jaw tight. “I’m trying so hard not to fail, to do the right thing, and you’re working against me.”

  “How can you say that? I’m only asking you to be more cautious.”

  “And that’s impossible.” He stepped back. “I can’t have this fight now. I’m supposed to be in a meeting in ten minutes. Following that, I have a call with the French president.”

  She gathered herself with a breath. “I can feel you pulling away from me and I don’t know what to do. Would you prefer I step down and let Gus run things for you?”

  “You’ll go in a safe house.”

  “Zack, I’m asking you what you want. I don’t understand what’s going on between us, so you’ll have to tell me flat out. Would you like me to leave? I’ll go into the safe house if that makes things easier on you. I can be ready this afternoon, and you won’t have to see me again.”

  He stared at her, expressionless. “That’s very martyr-like of you.”

  “I’m not being a martyr. I simply don’t want to stay with a man who doesn’t want me anymore. I guess the chase was the excitement for you. The reality of living with me doesn’t seem to have met your expectations.”

  “Elizabeth, I am trying not to fail my country.”

  Liz scanned his face and did her best to see things his way. How much was this plot costing him? To her, he was behaving like a complete asshole, but the fate of the free world really was in his hands. She was caught between being selfish on behalf of the man she loved and potentially playing his doormat and fool. “I’m not trying to come between you and your duty, Zack. I don’t understand this distance between us and I don’t want to overstay my welcome. Tell me what you want from me.”

  He said nothing for a long moment. Liz was terrified that he would turn and walk away from her, maybe for good. Then he bowed his head, almost as if it was too heavy to hold up, in addition to all the weight of his responsibility. “I want you to be waiting for me after work. I want us to be normal. I want to be able to concentrate on loving the woman I’ve sought for years without all the rest of this shit hanging over our heads.”

  Liz felt her heart soften immediately and she reached for his hand. “I’m sorry. I’ll back off. After I distribute the pipeline documents you send me, I’ll be waiting for you this evening. We’ll shut the door and we’ll only talk about happy things, like how we’re going to make a wedding for a billionaire happen in a day and a half without actually spending any of his money.”

  Liz forced a smile, willing to say almost anything to replace that hollow look in his eyes, to get back to the loving warmth they’d shared before Krylov had invaded her apartment and turned everything upside down. Was he still reeling from that incident? Zack played things very close to the vest, but his emotions also ran deep.

  His lips curled up ever so slightly. “Technically, Mad is broke since he’s legally dead. Make Gabe pay for the nuptials. He inherited everything, according to Mad’s will. Besides, his sister is the bride, and her family is supposed to pay.”

  “I’ll be sure to point that out to him.” She sent Zack a tentative smile.

  How much was the strain of this Russian conspiracy weighing on him?

  She started to walk away, but he wrapped his long fingers around her arm and tugged her back to him. “I really am trying. I won’t let you get hurt. No matter what happens. I promise. Even if things seem to go sideways, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

  Liz felt like he was trying to tell her something, but she didn’t understand his message. Or maybe she was reading too much into his speech. “I know, and I’ll do my best to protect you, too.”

  He hesitated, stared into her eyes. Gaging her sincerity? Then he blinked, and the look was gone. Before she could ask, he pulled her in and kissed her swiftly. “I’ll see you tonight.”

  He stepped away to join Roman, who looked over his shoulder at her before they left.

  She swore she saw suspicion in the chief of staff’s eyes.

  What on earth…?

  “I told you they were plotting,” Gus complained as she joined Liz. “Damn it. Let’s get back to the office. Apparently, we have a lot of work to do. Those bastards could have given us a freaking heads-up. And you know they won’t let us go anywhere now.”

  Liz couldn’t disagree. Zack and his right-hand man were definitely plotting. Why did she suddenly have the feeling they might be plotting against her?

  * * * *

  Zack couldn’t get her expression out of his head.

  I thought we were a team.

  He hadn’t seen betrayal on her face. That he might have been able to take. Instead, he had seen sorrow. He’d made her and her feelings seem insignificant. The moment he’d realized that, he’d expended all his willpower to stop himself from dragging her into his arms and begging her forgiveness. But he couldn’t. That wasn’t part of the plan.

  “I think that went surprisingly well.” Connor had been waiting in the Oval when they’d returned. He’d been a part of the early morning session hammering out the shift in their strategy for dealing with the blackmailers. Gabe and Dax had also been in on the move, which included getting Holland and Everly ready to move into the White House. Te
mporarily, he hoped.

  Yesterday had proven they had to speed up this global game of chicken if they wanted to have any shot at winning.

  “I don’t know about that.” Zack had projected cool and calm in front of the press, but inside he was so fucking angry he could barely see straight. Angry at the Russians and his own forefathers, who had apparently dragged him into this shitshow. Angry with Elizabeth for her seeming betrayal. Angry—so damn angry—at himself for wanting to believe her…and not quite being able to. In all his life, only his closest circle of longtime friends had never betrayed him.

  Would Elizabeth be the first?

  “I know that was rough, but you had to do it.” Roman’s voice brought him out of his thoughts.

  “Did I? I couldn’t have talked to her beforehand? Given her even a five-minute heads-up that we’d decided to completely change the game? Or how about simply sitting her down, showing her the evidence we have against her, and asking her flat out for an explanation?”

  Roman sank into the chair across from him with a sigh. “You know why that’s a bad idea.”

  Because if she was working with the Russians, Zack’s element of surprise would be blown.

  “I hate to admit it, but in this case Roman is right.” Connor paced the Oval Office.

  “Thank you.” Roman waved a hand, looking relieved that someone backed him up.

  Connor stopped, sending Roman a glare that could freeze fire. “Not because I’m saying Liz is an operative. And consider that if she even gets a hint that Zack thinks she’s working with the enemy, she’ll do something stupid like run off on her own, either to lick her wounds or to prove her innocence.”

  “And if she is working for them, worse things than her telling them all our secrets could happen,” Roman shot back. “Do you think I’m such an asshole that I’ve given zero consideration to her welfare? I don’t know why she’s behaving this way or allowing herself to be manipulated into it, but have either of you thought about what happens if she’s no longer of value to the Russians? Hear me out. They killed Joy. We’re absolutely certain of that. They probably killed her because she was worth more to them dead than alive. They’d already determined she couldn’t manipulate Zack the way they’d hoped a wife could, so they waited for a moment her martyrdom would have maximum impact and pulled the trigger. But they probably knew a few years into the marriage that Joy had no sway over Zack, so they came up with a plan B and moved Liz into place.”

  “We don’t know that.” Zack hated how certain Roman always sounded when he talked about Elizabeth working for the enemy. He knew Roman always operated from his convictions, and it had served them well over the years. Today, it rankled.

  “We do know that these men will discard her if they think for a second she’s outlived her usefulness, whether or not she understands she was ever their tool.” Roman seemingly tempered his words. He’d always been good at reading Zack’s cues and adjusting. It was one of the reasons they worked so well together. “This is the best play. It protects her, too.”

  Connor shrugged slightly. “It will tell us quickly how they’ll respond if we refuse to play along. We have to be ready for almost anything. I’m moving in this afternoon. Lara’s already picked out a bedroom.”

  They’d decided to move everyone into the White House for the time being. If anyone asked, they would give some excuse about the preparations for Roman and Gus’s wedding. It wasn’t as if Zack hadn’t had guests before. He was a bachelor, so the staff was used to him having his friends stay for the company. Now, though, they all had wives or fiancées.

  Would Elizabeth be around a year from now? How about six months? He’d meant what he’d said to her. No matter what happened, he would protect her. He would never allow her to be hurt or arrested.

  He might have to question her at some point, though. Intelligence and surveillance both indicated that Krylov had never left his hotel yesterday. This morning, he’d been walking around New York as though nothing at all had happened. When the feds had brought him in for questioning, he’d claimed he’d spent the entire day in his hotel room, sick after eating bad sushi the night before. They’d been forced to let him go. For now.

  If that was true and Elizabeth wasn’t working for the Russians, why would she lie?

  Zack couldn’t think of a single reason.

  Suddenly, Roman clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t lose faith now. I know that was a pretty intense conversation you and Liz were having in the hallway. If she’s innocent, she’ll get over it.”

  Easy for Roman to say. He didn’t have to sleep next to her.

  “How did she take the sudden turnaround?” Connor asked.

  “It wasn’t a turnaround. I never intended to shut the pipeline down forever. It’s a good project.” Zack hated being forced to wait and see what the other side would do, when the other shoe would fall. “She was surprised I hadn’t told her. I’m sure she wasn’t thrilled that I made it look like she was on the outside before I took over her briefing. She’s not the only one. Gus was giving me the glare. I could feel it from across the room.”

  Roman winced. “I’m not looking forward to facing her tonight. Sometimes I’m worried she’ll manage to find a way to shoot lasers out of her eyes and deball me. She wants kids, though. That might save me.”

  “I’ll talk to them both,” Connor offered. “I’ll explain it from an intelligence perspective. After what happened last night, we had to come back with a strong counter move or we seemed weak.”

  Zack peered at Connor, who’d been in this business for a very long time. “Do you think she’s working with Krylov? I know we’ve talked about this, but now we have more evidence and I want to hear your perspective again.”

  Connor ran a hand over his short hair, the gesture looking deeply frustrated. “Obviously the evidence points that way. If she’s innocent, then the fact that they’ve communicated through Liz both times is definitely an odd coincidence.”

  Connor didn’t believe in coincidences. And he would have sucked as a politician.

  “They communicated with Mad.” Zack stubbornly looked for any way around Connor’s logic.

  “No, they beat the shit out of Mad, while Liz emerged from both of her encounters without a single hair out of place,” Roman pointed out. “Everything seems to flow through Liz, and I would love to know why she was in the Treaty Room the day we left for Camp David. And she spends time with your father. Think about that.”

  “She checks on him for me because she knows I hate being in the same room with the old bastard.” Zack knew he should be a better person. His father was sick now, but he couldn’t see an invalid sitting there, just the tyrant who had pushed and pushed and pushed.

  “Or she has an ulterior motive for talking to him, and Frank isn’t as mentally gone as we think,” Roman countered.

  “I’m looking into his doctors.” Connor started pacing again. “Who picked these specialists?”

  “Joy handled it in the beginning. And then, when we were in the middle of the campaign, Elizabeth took over those visits.” He’d been depending on Elizabeth for a long time. Both he and Joy had.

  The sad truth was he’d taken Joy’s advice a lot of the time. She’d been his friend, a partner as much as Roman had been. They hadn’t been in love, but they’d had a shared goal and she’d been smart, competent, and quietly ambitious. Joy had been by his side when he’d won the senatorial seat on his first try, her steady head leading the parts of the campaign he hadn’t enjoyed or understood.

  There was a hard knock on his door, then Thomas stepped inside.

  “Mr. President, the vice president would like a moment of your time.” Thomas’s expression was the same stoic blank he always wore. “He’s rather insistent.”

  Zack stifled a groan. He should have known this would happen. “I don’t suppose I can put him off.”

  Thomas shrugged a single broad shoulder. “I can absolutely explain the situation to him in vivid detail, sir.”
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br />   That might be fun to watch, but it would only cause more trouble down the line.

  Zack shook his head. “Let him in. I might as well get it over with.”

  He stood, walking to the desk that dominated the Oval Office. The Resolute desk. It was fitting for him to sit behind it now as he faced down a man who’d never liked him.

  Wallace stormed in. The man had taken the VP slot because he’d known he had nowhere else to go. The campaign had almost certainly been the last time he would be able to credibly run. It had made them wary partners.

  “What can I do for you, Wallace?”

  “You can tell me what the fuck is going on.” He glared, taking in the men in the room with a frown, then pointed at Connor. “You should leave. I need a moment alone with the president.”

  Connor simply sat on the couch, bracing his ankle over the opposite knee in a casual manner that did nothing to disguise his predatory nature. “But I’m so comfortable here.”

  “You think I don’t know who you are?” Shorn said. “I might have to put up with Calder’s ever-looming presence, but you’re not a part of this administration.”

  “I assure you Mr. Sparks is, in fact, a trusted member of my administration, and he has all the security clearance he needs. You should feel free to say anything around him.”

  “What? He’s nothing but your old drinking buddy,” Shorn said scornfully.

  “Oh, the president and I haven’t merely imbibed together,” Connor replied. “We’ve also handled problems together. In fact, that’s my function.”

  Shorn scowled. “No, that’s Calder’s.”

  “Roman handles the legal issues. I make things disappear.” Connor sent him a wolf’s smile.

  “Are you threatening me?”

  Zack sighed. “Mr. Vice President, could you please tell me why you’re here or get the hell out of my office?”