“I’m happy your mom is coming early. What time does her flight get in today?” Erin asked from the passenger seat.

“Her flight arrives at BWI at noon,” I reminded her.

“And you arranged a car to pick her up? She’s not offended we can’t get her ourselves?”

“Relax, sunshine. Everything is taken care of. And, no, she isn’t upset.”

“All right. I’m just nervous.”

Last night after we’d made love and before we made dinner, I called my parents. My mom was thrilled Erin wanted to include her. Ten minutes into the conversation, she asked to speak to Erin and the two of them spent nearly an hour on the phone while I cooked. By the time I got the phone back, my mom was in tears declaring Erin was perfect. I hadn’t heard most of what was said, but Erin must’ve agreed to give my mother the twenty million grandchildren she desired. My dad wasn’t coming for another two weeks. After he’d retired it took less than a year of him being home with my mom all day for him to decide sitting still wasn’t for him. He’s a volunteer fireman. He needed to give the station notice to take him off rotation.

“I don’t see how that’s possible. You and my mom talked forever. She already loves you.”

“But what if she gets here and sees what a pain in the ass I really am?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked, pulling into the parking garage.

“Come on, Colin. It’s not like I live a normal life. Between the paparazzi always around doing their best to catch me doing or saying something stupid or the secret service hovering, what if your mom gets annoyed or thinks I’m too much trouble?”

Once I had the car stopped, I took my seat belt off and turned to face Erin. “Look at me, sunshine.” Her worried eyes came to mine. “She’s not going to get annoyed, not with you. My mom is a pint-sized momma bear. The only thing we should be concerned about is her giving some intrusive photographer a piece of her mind.”

“Okay.”

I knew she didn’t believe me, but this was one of those times no amount of talking was going to convince her I was right. She needed to see it for herself. I knew my mom would welcome her into the family with open arms.

“I’m sorry we had to come into the office today. I wanted nothing more than to laze in bed with you all day.”

Memories of last night flooded my mind when her cheeks pinkened. The first time we made love will forever be seared onto my heart. Knowing what she gave me, that I was the only man who would ever have her was insanely gratifying. Watching her fall apart under me was something I’ll never forget. But it was the second time, after dinner, when she pushed me onto the bed and had her way with me. That was a thing of beauty. She was confident and vocal. Just like everything else in Erin’s life, when she wanted something, nothing stopped her. She took and took, and I was willingly at her mercy.

“I wish we never had to leave the house. We could stay in a bubble and forget the outside world. But I actually have a lot of work to do. And I should start looking for a job.”

“You have a job.”

“You realize I don’t draw a salary from the charity, right? I donate it back monthly.”

“Do you enjoy the work?”

“You know I do. I love it.”

“Then why would you stop?”

“Because I need to make money.”

I took a moment to choose my words carefully. But the longer it took to think of a nice way to say what needed to be said, the more I realized there was no such way.

“I’m just gonna say this, and it may make me sound like an asshole, but I am who I am, and there’s no use hiding it. I don’t need you to contribute financially. Even if you had the means and made more money than me, I still wouldn’t take it. This is not an ‘I’m a man, you’re a woman’ thing. This is me, I provide, I protect, I do anything and everything to give you what you want. That’s my job.”

“And what’s mine, Colin?”

“To love me and support me.”

“That’s not a job. Those things are easy, they’re a given. You’re my husband. Of course, I’ll love and support you.”

“It won’t be as easy as you think. I’m bossy and—”

“I know who you are, Colin. But I’d like to feel like I bring some sort of value to our marriage.”

“I want you to listen to me very carefully, sunshine. You depositing money into an account doesn’t mean jackshit to me. Me coming home to you after a shit day, means something. You giving me a soft place to fall when a mission has gone to hell, means something. Knowing you’re by my side, means something. Us being a team, and you loving me, means the world to me. There is no dollar amount on the value you bring to my life or our marriage. If you want to continue to work at the charity, do it. If you want to go back to school, do it. If you want to be the CEO of a fortune 500, I’ll stand by you. If you want to stay home and learn to paint, sunshine, I’ll hang every masterpiece you create on the walls. Whatever decision you make, needs to be because it’s what makes you happy and not based on money.”

“If you change your mind and need me to work, you’ll tell me?”

“I won’t.”

“Promise me you’ll tell me.”

I didn’t like how uneasy she looked sitting next to me worrying her bottom lip. I had money, plenty of it, but if the day came we needed more I’d work five jobs before she’d ever have to take a job she didn’t want.

“I promise.”

“Thank you.” She smiled. “You ready to go in?”

“No. Not until you lean over here and give me a kiss.”

Erin’s smile grew, and my heart jumped. Damn, but I loved seeing her happy and knowing I made her face shine like it was now, even better.

“Is this a fax?” I asked Zane, chuckling as I read the old school cover sheet. “I haven’t seen one of these in years.”

I’d spent the last two hours going over the SITREPS Tex had put together. Yesterday, my gut told me we were missing something big. Today, after going over everything again, it was screaming at me. Warren was a douchebag, thankfully, a dead one. His role and motivation were clear. I could even understand Camio Telecomm’s interest in the Angel program being reinstated. They needed the information it gathered. Partly for the news outlet they’d purchased, but mostly for the contract money to stay in business. I’ve seen men do some fucked up shit for less.

What I couldn’t figure out was the connection between Greenwold and Warren, beyond the obvious. Warren had to have had something big to hold over the man to make him flip and go along with terrorizing Erin. There was nothing during his time with the NSA that would suggest he’d turn. His record was spotless, not even a hint or rumor of impropriety. Michael Greenwold was well liked and respected. What the hell had changed?

“Tex sent it. I forgot we even had a fax machine until Ivy brought the report to me,” Zane answered.

Declan and I stopped going over the reports we had spread over the conference room table and waited for Zane to go over the document.

“Christ Almighty. Either of you familiar with Omni?”

“Yeah. It’s a cross between the Freemasons and Skull and Bones,” Declan answered.

“Only the most powerful players get invited to join. Most people think Skull and Bones are the ones behind the CIA, but Omni is a few more rungs up the ladder,” I interjected. “Why?”

“Greenwold is a member,” Zane informed us.

“How the fuck did Tex find that out? No one has ever been able to confirm the club’s members.”

“Seriously? I don’t question how Tex finds anything out. You know who else is a member?”

“Warren?” I asked.

“Fuck no! That rat didn’t have the clout to play with the big boys. Stephan Perkins.”

“Vice President Perkins?” Declan inquired.

None of us were fond of the vice president. He was a yes man. Why Tom ever chose him as a running mate I’d never understand. They were opposites—polar opposites to be exact. Perkins is interested in power, Tom is not. With his second term coming to an end, and the oval office up for grabs, Perkins was running. He was pushing his own agenda hard, even going against some of Tom’s policies. Seems Perkins was pulling out all the stops on his bid for the Oval Office.

“One more reason not to like the man,” I announced. “But it’s not all that surprising.”

“No, but what it is, is Perkins, Greenwold, and eight other men all belonging to Omni, own shares in Militrix, parent company to several smaller companies. One being—”

“Camio-Telecomm,” I interrupted Zane.

“That’s illegal,” Declan added.

“Sure as fuck is, but considering Tex had to dig to find the intel, I’d say no one else knows.”

“Shit,” I muttered. “And the other 229 million? Where’s that?”

“Earmarked for a transoceanic cabling in the Gulf of Bahrain. The scope of work follows the King Fahd Causeway.”

“Sea mines?” Declan surmised.

“Don’t know. Don’t fucking care at the moment. I’m more concerned with Perkins and Greenwold’s ties to the Omni and how they fit into the Angel program. I don’t think Tom knows how deep this runs.”

“What time is he due back?” I checked my watch. Tom should be landing at Camp David any minute now.

“He said his meeting should run about three hours.”

“He’s gonna go thermonuclear when he finds out.”

“That’s a goddamn understatement.”

Zane’s phone rang, and his brows pulled together as he studied the number.

“Goddamn telemarketers and their unknown numbers.” He moved to reject the call but at the last minute answered. “What?”

There was a pause before Zane’s body went rigid, and his face went white. Declan must’ve seen the look as well because he jumped out of his seat and ran to the door. After a sharp whistle and a hand gesture, he ran back into the room.

“Repeat that?” Zane requested and placed the phone on speaker.

“I repeat,” Tex’s voice boomed throughout the room, “we’ve lost contact with the pilot.”

“Where?”

“I sent the coordinates to your phone. Wolf and his team are on the tarmac. ETA five hours. Rocco and his team are in Virginia training and en route. Ghost and the rest of the guys are in the air, they’ll be here in three hours.”

“Who else knows?”

“Gerard. President’s orders are no one else is to be notified.”

“Orders? He fucking knew?”

“He had his suspicions and left instructions regarding who was to be called in. Just you four teams, he doesn’t trust anyone else.”

“Fuck! Goddamn it!” Zane stopped and looked at the ceiling before grabbing a pen and paper off the table. “Codes and mission specifics?”

“Color of the day, white. Password, sparrow. Countersign, red. Mission name, marriage. They’ve got ten minutes on you, Zane. Stay dangerous.”

Tex disconnected, and the room was silent.

“Wheels up in five.” Zane jogged out of the room, and the rest of us took a moment to allow the gravity of the situation to settle over us.

The President of the United States was MIA.

I didn’t know which I was more concerned about, the search and rescue or how Erin was going to react.

Goddamn clusterfuck!