All the King's Henchmen

by Morgan Kelley

  “Yeah, there’s a lot of DNA in a hooker’s home,” he admitted.

  She looked at her watch.

  “Catch her up, and then head home. You pulled a long day. I’m going out later to find a stripper.”

  He opened his mouth.

  “If you go there, I will not kiss you goodbye.”

  Chris laughed.

  “You’re no fun.”

  As he grabbed his things, she gave him a kiss. That was how their family rolled.

  “See you at home, sweetness. Be safe, and don’t run yourself into the ground.”

  Yeah, she wouldn’t.

  When he was gone, Noah was grinning.

  “I have so many questions,” Noah said. “So. Many. FUN. Questions.”

  She bet he did, but this was neither the time nor the place. She had an interview, and then a hooker to locate. She wasn’t messing with her mojo.

  “Save them,” she said, and then handed out their jobs. “You three are on research. You can do it here, you can do it there, you can do it in your freaking underwear. I don’t care. Just start on these people. I’m going to interview Marcus, and then I’m going to swing back to that strip club to scoop up Black Magica. I hope she has something fun to tell me.”

  “On it, boss,” they said, saluting her.

  She rolled her eyes and pointed at the door. Both Callen and Ethan flanked her.

  “So?” Callen asked, dying to know. He’d been told to leave before. The whole ‘sleeping with Tiegan’ thing was killing him.

  “Yeah?” she asked, already knowing where he was heading with it.

  “Alex? Is he in or is he out?”

  “No clue,” she stated. “I’m pissed, and I need time to mull it over. Right now, I’m thinking about something else.”

  “Please be a blowjob. Please be a blowjob,” Callen teased, trying to lighten the mood.

  “Well, it does involve lube.”

  He grinned.

  “I’m thinking about the media bullshit tomorrow morning, and what I’m going to do.”

  He stopped smiling.

  “That’s going to suck.”

  Oh, she was aware.

  “Know what sucks less?” she asked, as they all headed down the hallway toward Ethan’s office.

  “What?” Blackhawk asked.

  “This interview. This time, I’m not the one being questioned about my sexual practices. Who saw this day coming?” she asked.

  “I feel bad for him,” Callen stated.

  “He cheated on his wife.”

  He laughed.

  “Yeah, and I bet he didn’t see this one coming,” he said, pointing at her.

  Oh, she’d bet on that.

  Marcus was about to be Blackhawked.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Across Town

  Alex’s Apartment

  When he got home, he was pissed—not at Elizabeth, but at himself.

  Alex felt used and abused, and it was his own damn fault too. He’d let his guard down, and he was going to pay the price. There was something about a crying woman that had the power to bring him to his knees.

  Every time he was in a relationship, he would put it out there, and his heart would break. He trusted too much, and in his line of work that was plain stupid.

  Now, he was screwed.

  Only, this time, it wasn’t about a relationship—or the fact he’d slept with Tiegan. It was about his job. He’d risked the one thing he’d wanted more than anything. Alex knew there was a long line of agents who would give their arms to be on her team. He knew there were ten men waiting to replace him.

  Getting out of the Cyber Crimes Unit had been lucky, and as usual, he’d screwed it up.

  His anger at Elizabeth had been misplaced. This was all on him.

  Sitting at the table, he pulled out the multi-paged, little, flip notebook and started reading. While he’d walked out, this case was still bugging him.

  Why?

  She took a page.

  What did she need it for?

  Well, in order to figure that out, he was going to need some coffee, the whole night, and patience.

  Then he’d make this right.

  He had to.

  Elizabeth had given him a shot, and he owed it to her. He’d do the right thing. While he may not get his job back, he would know he’d still stood for the dead.

  In his heart, that was all that mattered.

  Alex Bartlett had honor.

  Now he’d live it.

  * * * B l a c k h a w k - W h i t e f o x * * *

  Ethan Blackhawk’s

  Office

  When Marcus arrived at the FBI, he’d been placed in Ethan’s sitting area outside his office. He was told to park it, and he did. There was no doubt in his mind he was in some deep shit.

  And he deserved it.

  This was his fault, and he’d own it.

  When he saw them coming down the hall, Marcus Hunter stood to greet them. Elizabeth was between them, and she didn’t look happy.

  What worried Marcus the most was that this woman held his fate in her hands.

  She knew his wife.

  She liked his wife.

  Elizabeth could blow his life to hell and back, and he knew it. There were no ties of friendship either. While Ethan and he had a working relationship, he and Elizabeth were a different story.

  She was simply his friend’s spouse and his wife’s friend. There would be no allegiance. There would be no mercy.

  Yeah, this was going to be bad.

  “Come on in, Marcus,” Ethan said, stopping at Ginny’s desk. “This is a top priority meeting,” he told his secretary. “Bump anything else I have—and no calls.”

  She smiled.

  “On it, Mr. B.”

  They headed into the room to get this meeting started. Ethan knew what was on the line, and he was placing it all in his wife’s hands.

  “Have a seat,” Ethan said, taking his position behind the desk.

  He did, and immediately, he jumped right into the mess. Marcus wasn’t accustomed to pussyfooting around anything.

  “I hope you spoke to your wife about the sensitive nature of this,” Marcus stated.

  She laughed.

  Everyone looked over at her.

  “Come on! Six words in, and he’s made me sound like an accessory to your damn suit, Ethan. Seriously. Does he have a freaking clue?”

  Apparently, not.

  It was time to set the stage.

  Ethan was the one who would mediate, but he wouldn’t play sides. He couldn’t. He hoped his wife understood and so did Marcus.

  “Well, honestly, Marcus, in here, she’s my head of the Violent Crimes Unit. She’s not my wife. In here, she has a wide berth of latitude on how she does her job. She gets it done, and the FBI knows that.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “I don’t ‘control’ my wife when we aren’t at work. She makes up her own mind when it comes to how she rolls. This is her show. I’m just here to make sure it’s on the record, and to keep the carnage to a minimum.”

  “Fine. I don’t mind hard,” he said.

  “Said the president’s wife,” Elizabeth stated.

  The man blinked.

  “You are a bitch. I know I’m screwed.”

  She didn’t care what he thought of her. She wasn’t the one sticking her private parts in someone, who was not her spouse. There would be no shaming because she wasn’t going to kiss male ass.

  Not in her world.

  She’d neutered more powerful men.

  Period.

  “How long have you been involved in a relationship with Landry Dean?” she asked, pointing at Callen. “Make notes, please.”

  He would.

  Marcus took his time answering, knowing that each word would matter.

  “It’s been going on for about two years.”

  She leaned against the wall of file cabinets. Her one foot was on the ground, and her other brace
d on them.

  “During those years, have you ever heard her mention that she would like to kill her husband?” she asked.

  “No.”

  Callen kept writing.

  “Has she ever mentioned his penchant for raping young women?”

  He looked surprised.

  “Uh, no, was he?”

  She didn’t answer him. If he didn’t know, then that said everything about his relationship with Landry. She knew. She saw. She didn’t tell him.

  Ahhhhh, what a tangled web.

  “Does your wife know you’re cheating on her?” she asked, tossing that one in there.

  He studied her as he debated what to say.

  She was calmer than he thought she’d be. For the last day, he assumed she’d be vicious. So far, he was okay.

  “No, she isn’t aware, Elizabeth. I’m very careful.”

  “It’s Director Whitefox-Blackhawk. This is an on the record questioning. We aren’t friends. Not anymore.”

  That said it all.

  “I get it.”

  “Walk me through Sunday night at the party. Please leave nothing out. Despite what you’ve heard about me, know that the one thing that matters most is I can smell a lie. They piss me off. When I’m mad, I do irrational things.”

  “Please don’t lie,” Ethan stated. “Really.”

  He got it.

  There was his threat.

  “We arrived at the party, and my wife went off to talk to some of the senators’ wives. She was talking, making connections with the local woman’s charities she’s involved in.”

  “Continue.”

  “About an hour in, it was around the time you both disappeared, Landry approached me. We have a very strict, minimal contact rule. We don’t talk at functions—especially ones that my wife attends.”

  “I can see why. Awkward.”

  He watched her.

  She was dead calm.

  That worried him most.

  “She told me she needed my help and to ditch my wife. I found it odd, but I was horny. Have you ever been so attracted to one person that you can’t control yourself?”

  “YES,” both men said, pointing at their wife.

  “We married her,” Ethan stated.

  “Then you understand.”

  Callen shook his head.

  “No, I don’t. If I was married to anyone else, I wouldn’t cheat, especially if I had kids. No matter what, I would keep my vows. My dick doesn’t drive the bus.”

  She believed him.

  Callen was dedicated to her and their family. It was the only thing he’d ever wanted, and he had it.

  Clearly, Marcus needed to learn that kind of respect for a partner.

  “Anyway, she sounded desperate, and my wife isn’t as sexual anymore.”

  “Don’t blame your wife,” Elizabeth said. “This is on you. Don’t you dare tell me she’s tired, she’s gained weight, or she’s busy with the kids. She’s being a wife and mother. If you go there, I’ll neuter you right here. You don’t blame the victim—and that’s what she is. Is she cheating on you?”

  He shook his head.

  “Then tread lightly.”

  Marcus regrouped.

  “I told Marylou that I had a work call to take and left her with Senator Abrams. They were discussing school issues.”

  “Continue.”

  “Landry told me where to meet her. There was a back set of stairs that she had a key for. She met me there, and we went upstairs.”

  “Did you lock the door?” she asked.

  Elizabeth knew the door. That wasn’t the first time they’d used that hotel. Callen had brought her there once and they’d had access to the stairwell because he was Jackson James.

  “I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking about the door. I was thinking about Landry. She looked…”

  “Stop. Focus. I know what she looked like.”

  He continued, “I followed her up. It was a ghost town. The Secret Service had it perimetered off, but she had her private security guy clear the way. He let me past him.”

  Yeah, she’d met him.

  “Otto Sawyer?” she asked.

  He nodded.

  “Yes, he’s the only one, other than myself and Landry, who knows we’re having a thing.”

  “Convenient.”

  “Anyway, once in the room, we had sex, and she left first, and then I left second.”

  She stopped him.

  “Nope. I need to know everything. Talk me through the entire sex act.”

  He looked horrified.

  “WHAT?”

  Both Ethan and Callen looked at her. There was no reason she needed to know that. She was up to something.

  “All of it.”

  “Ethan!”

  He shook his head.

  “I’m not in her mind. I don’t know why she needs to know, but if she asks, you have no choice. You wanted this kept quiet, and she’s doing that.”

  He looked uncomfortable.

  “Spill it.”

  “We got naked, she gave me head, I took her ass, and we parted ways after we showered. Landry likes dirty sex. She may be the First Lady, but she likes being treated a certain way in bed. Are you happy? I don’t know why you needed to know.”

  “Did it make you uncomfortable?”

  “HELL, YES!”

  “Imagine how uncomfortable that will be for your wife,” she stated.

  He looked horrified.

  Elizabeth was far from done.

  “Do you take Viagra? You know, to get it up when you’re in the mood?”

  Beads of sweat formed on his lip.

  “No.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked.

  “Ethan. Come on!”

  He shook his head.

  Now he was pretty sure his wife was just trying to make Marcus squirm, but with her, you never knew. She had a beautiful, twisted mind.

  “Okay! Yes! I’m older than Landry and my wife. I popped one as soon as she found me. At my age, I can’t take one woman and then service the other at home.”

  She sat there and stared at him.

  He squirmed.

  “How long were you in there fornicating? I need a time frame.”

  “Forty minutes—max.”

  She glanced over at Ethan to make eye contact with him. She was taking it relatively easy on Marcus. If it were up to her, she’d do this interview in front of Marylou.

  “At any time, Mr. Hunter, did you hear anything?” she asked, throwing her husband a bone.

  “No. As I was coming out, the hall was empty. I went downstairs, and as I was with my wife, about an hour later, I heard two agents talking. I went with them upstairs. They found him.”

  “What did the room look like?” she asked, wondering if Clyde had been honest.

  “He was lying there with a pillowcase or something over his face. There was a lot of blood beneath him.”

  “Head wounds are a bitch.”

  He’d never forget it. While he had seen dead people before, as a US Marshal, they were generally suicide or a gunshot. He wasn’t familiar with homicides.

  “What was near him?” she asked.

  “There was a lamp beside him. It was shattered. The only thing remaining was the metal inside it.”

  “Did Landry Dean kill her husband, and then did you kill a hooker to help her cover-up the original murder?”

  “WHAT?”

  “Answer it.”

  “I left the room. I went downstairs, and she wasn’t with me. If she killed the president, she killed him. I wasn’t privy to that. I had no freaking idea. As for me murdering anyone, I will take a lie detector test. Everything I’ve told you has been nothing but the truth. I have everything to lose by lying.”

  She was aware.

  “Thank you. You can go.”

  He was surprised.

  “That’s it?”

  “Is there something you’d like to add to this?” she asked. “If you’d like to confess, and you d
id it, feel free. It will save me time.”

  “I told you that I didn’t kill him.”

  She shrugged.

  “Then go.”

  He stared at her.

  “What’s the catch?”

  “Pardon?” she asked.

  “You’re letting me walk. Why? You didn’t grill me. I’ve heard from your husband that you’ve been known to make men weep in interrogation. You haven’t insinuated that you’re going to tell my wife. Yes, you made me uncomfortable, but you have a reputation.”

  She stared at him.

  “I’m not your keeper, and I’m certainly not your judge. What you are doing…it’s shitty. Your wife deserves better. In fact, she deserves to kick your cheating, lying, scumbag ass into the river along with Landry Dean’s. Only, I’m not going to tell her. It’s not my business. While she’s my friend, I didn’t find any of this out while catching you in a bar or on the street. My job is my job, and my personal life is my personal life. I’m not going to tell her because I respect how hard my husband’s job is.”

  He looked relieved.

  “Oh, but tomorrow, if she sees the press conference, she’ll know. I’m going in front of the media, and anything related to this case is going to be public knowledge.”

  And that bomb hit its mark.

  He froze.

  “Pardon? Press conference?”

  “Yep. I’m going to spill the beans. My boss,” she said, pointing at him, “and his boss,” she said, smiling, “want me to make sure the White House, and anyone who is accountable for any of this jackassery, answers to the court of public opinion. That house is owned by the people of the United States, and they get to decide who has office there, and I’m pretty sure they won’t be amused that people, elected and appointed officials, are using it as a house of ill repute, a hooker haven, and a general hookup locale.”

  “Tomorrow? Really?”

  “Yes, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that news of the president and First Lady’s infidelity will come up. If your wife has a suspicion, and let me tell you from a wife’s perspective, she likely does, your ass is grass.”

  He looked horrified.

  “We always know, Mr. Hunter. We always know.”