At the Pleasure of the President (The Perfect Gentlemen 5)

Zack nodded briefly before turning Connor’s way. “You’re absolutely certain you took care of your problem in South America?”

“If I were a surgeon, I would tell you that I cut out every bit of the cancer,” Connor assured. “No one is left to come after me and my wife. Consider that you’ve got an all-clear from me. Now we only have to worry about you and Gabe after Roman survives his scandal.”

Dax took a swig from the beer he’d brought down. They only had a sad six-pack to share since Mad had asked them not to bring down a lot of liquor because Sara couldn’t drink. “What about Gus? Zack got Liz’s sister a lawyer to help with that part of the blackmailer’s scheme, but no one is talking about my sister. She’s still got that tape out there.”

Mad waved him off. “There are, like, ten tapes out there. She went through a phase.” He winced when Roman growled his way. “Sorry. I appear in none of them. By that point I was just a friend.”

Glowering, Roman turned to reply to Dax. “Gus doesn’t care about the tape. If this asshole wants to release it, she’s ready. She says she’s lost a couple of those suckers and would like them back, so whoever is behind this is actually doing her a favor.”

Thank god for Gus. “So our only remaining worries are for Zack and Gabe. And the fact that I’m alive takes the teeth out of those threats. You’re welcome.”

“Your living state lets Gabe off for sure, but Zack still looks like he halted a federal investigation to cover your shenanigans,” Roman pointed out.

“They weren’t shenanigans, Mr. Calder.” At least Freddy was willing to stick up for him. “If Mad hadn’t done what he did, he would be dead by now. The Russians figured out he was investigating Tavia and her foundation. The beating was merely a warning. But he kept digging, so they planted the bomb to kill him.”

At the grim reminder, the rest of the group tensed, every one of them looking his way.

“It was why we picked that day. Well, picked isn’t the right word. More like they forced us to act,” Mad explained.

“You were trying to tell me.” Gabe paled. “That day at the restaurant, you were trying to tell me, and all I did was yell about the way you’d treated Sara. I wouldn’t let you get a word in edgewise.”

“I wanted to tell you, Gabe. But I couldn’t. I just…I wanted to say good-bye. I didn’t know what would happen, if I would ever come back, and it felt wrong to not see you one last time.” Mad could still remember sitting in that restaurant in the Upper East Side. It had been the place their fathers went. The first time he and Gabe had gone alone, he’d felt like such an adult.

“That’s why you left everything behind,” Zack said solemnly. “I suppose calling me was the only way you could warn me.”

He’d had so little time to figure out a plan—not to decide how to fake his death. Freddy and Matty had helped him work out the protocols and details weeks earlier, just in case. But it had been so surreal, driving to the airport and getting on that plane, knowing there was a bomb on board, and waiting until the right moment to jump, wondering all the while if he’d ever be able to return to the life—and friends—he’d always known.

Walking away when he’d been unable to warn his friends outright had been even tougher. But informing them would have put them all at risk much sooner.

“Yeah,” Mad said finally. “I couldn’t say more.”

“Because you didn’t know if I was involved.” Zack held up a hand to stop Mad’s forthcoming explanation. “Stop. We’ve discussed this. If I’d been in your place, I probably would have had the same questions. We’re good, Mad.”

He still hated that he’d questioned one of his oldest friends, that suspicion had ever come between them.

“Well, I’m back now, and once we put all of the grief behind us, we should have a party. A real one. Can we please do it up right? Because this, right here?” He gestured around the little room. “It’s just sad.”

The rest of the guys laughed, but Gabe was obviously still upset.

“I’m fine, man.” Mad reassured his friend with a clap on the shoulder.

“No thanks to me,” Gabe groused.

“That’s not true. After you got your jealous head out of your ass, you took care of the two women in the world who mean the most to me. You made it easier for me to do the job I needed to do. Now let’s finish this chat so we can join the women.”

“Mad’s right,” Dax said. “I want to get back to Holland as soon as I can. I’m going to be tailing Paul Harding for days. I have to find a way to cover that up, and it will go over so much better if I spend some time with her first.”

He honestly thought Holland was where he’d left her. Foolish man. And Mad would eat his shoes if Holland wasn’t already planning her own surveillance.

“Has everyone read the report I sent detailing the dirt Lara dug up on Shorn?” Connor asked.

Roman’s face twisted in distaste. Mad was sure his old pal would have worn the same expression if he’d caught his grandmother having sex. “How did that little asshole get two women to sleep with him? I don’t even understand that.”

“He did come from a lot of money,” Zack mused. “That usually helps. But it doesn’t matter. If Wallace Shorn lied and he’s got a second family stashed away, he’s got huge blackmail potential. It gives the Russians a way to shut that pipeline down even if I resign, so that potentially cuts off one of my exit strategies. Freddy, have you verified the other information Lara found?”

Freddy nodded. “Yes, Mr. President. I’ve managed to confirm everything, including our Russian friend’s data. I’m getting into the nitty gritty on your family’s connections.”

“Check into Joy’s family line,” Mad requested. “I don’t know if she was involved, but after prowling through her life the last few days, something tells me she might have been. I don’t think she would have been making her own decisions though. Someone else was probably pulling the strings.”

“If she was involved, absolutely. Joy wasn’t a political animal, but she did insist on that last campaign push through the Midwest. I don’t know why. I guess I never will.” Roman had gone grim again. “But I have a hard time believing she would plan her own death.”

“You haven’t met true believers,” Connor replied quietly. “Sometimes the brainwashing goes so deep, the operative ceases to care about anything but the mission.”

“Or she didn’t really understand the mission,” Dax suggested. “Maybe she thought she would survive the shooting and the attempt would be enough to sway voters.”

“Maybe,” Mad allowed, but he’d thought of something else during the long hours he’d spent researching. “Or maybe we saw what they wanted us to see. Are we sure she’s dead?”

The idea that Joy could be out there, waiting to show up at the worst possible moment, had haunted him. He knew exactly how easy it was to stage your own demise.

There was a moment of complete silence that made Mad wish he hadn’t asked the question.

“She’s dead,” Zack said. “I assure you of that.”

“None of us saw her body after that first night.” Connor took up the inquiry. “Zack didn’t actually leave his room until the day of the funeral.”

Because he’d been so shocked and horrified. Upset. He hadn’t gone to his election night party, hadn’t delivered a traditional acceptance speech. Zack hadn’t celebrated what he’d worked all his life to achieve because he’d been in mourning.

“I saw her.” Roman finally stopped pacing. “I saw her body. I sat with her the night before the funeral, after the mortuary had finished prepping her. It was weird. I felt as if I couldn’t leave her side. If she played a role in this Russian power grab, the syndicate was done with her. She’d served her purpose. Our correspondence, all her talk of the future…if she was in on the plot, she was damn good at hiding it. Or she was trying to get out.”

“She didn’t have to try,” Zack said. “We had no chance of winning—until she was killed. If we’d lost,

our marriage and my political career would have been over. She knew that. And maybe we’ll never know if she was involved or what she was thinking before she died. Maybe we’re pointing the finger at ghosts because we don’t know who else to blame. Mad, you’ve been reading through her private notes. What do you think?”

“Everything she ever wrote felt well thought out and carefully stated. I can’t even find an e-mail where she wasn’t polite. She seems far too good to be true, but all my suspicions are just gut instinct,” he admitted. “Unlike your current girl. Damn, man. Liz can take a dude down. By the way, is there a reason Freddy is monitoring Liz’s mail?”

Zack tensed, but Roman seemed perfectly at ease. “Because she’s close to Zack and it’s my job to protect him. The order to kill the FAA investigation originated from a computer in her office.”