Page 63 of The Last Kingdom

“I’m sure it did. Anything worth having has a price.”

“What’s the price here?”

“Your self-respect.”

Good point. And he felt a little foolish. Which, he assumed, was the whole idea. All of the intel on Fox painted him as a man who sucked every atom of oxygen from every room. Not a man accustomed to being dismissed, ignored, or one-upped. Much more a talker than a listener. But he’d not figured this man to be reasonable.

And a solid patriot.

“You disobeyed my direct order,” Fox said, “and involved Malone. Any other time that would rub me the wrong way, and there’d be hell to pay. But this is not ordinary. Anything but, in fact. So I’m giving you a pass. I know why Malone is involved. He wants to help Stephanie Nelle.”

This man was irritatingly well informed.

“Let me make this easy for you both. Contrary to what Malone believes, I have respect for both him and Nelle. Malone saved my life. Did he tell you?”

Not a word. Typical.

“On Inauguration Day. The whole thing is stamped top secret. Nobody knows. Stephanie Nelle played a big part too. I owe her, and Malone. Yes, they both get under my skin and rub me the wrong way. But I don’t like owing people, Derrick.”

No, he assumed not.

“Recently, I rode Malone and Nelle pretty hard,” Fox said. “That was my mistake. What they did in Germany and Poland was the right call.” The president went silent a moment. “I got a man killed, Derrick. A friend of mine. I pushed too hard and underestimated what I was dealing with. I should have let Malone handle it the way he wanted. I screwed up. I hate screwing up, Derrick. The damn press labels me wild, impulsive, willful, and arrogant. Somebody who can’t accept a mistake. Maybe some of that is true. But nobody calls me stupid. At least not to my face. Except Malone.”

Fox paused, seemingly in thought.

“But I deserved that one. I’m being straight with you, Derrick, because Trinity says you’re a straight shooter. I’m not going to make the same mistake again. Too much is riding here. My job is to protect this country. I plan to do that. Succeed here and I’m going to owe you. We—you, me, Malone—are going to have to stop this. It’s imperative we stop this. We have no choice. This country runs off electronics. Everything we do is dependent on them. I can’t allow the Chinese, who already control nearly all of the rare earths on the planet, to assume total dominance. Our national defense will be in jeopardy. The Chinese could literally shut us down. We’re stockpiling all we can of rare earths, but we can’t store enough. We have to win this fight.”

Fox motioned again to someone off-screen. The door opened and Trinity reentered, sitting at the table across from him.

“He’s all yours,” Fox said. “Tell him the rest, and please, both of you, don’t make me regret any of this.”

“I won’t,” she said.

“There is something I need,” he said to Fox.

“I’m listening.”

“Access to the classified military archives here in Bavaria. What I was able to see a few weeks ago was limited. I need all of the information. Unredacted.”

“For what?”

“I doubt we’re the first to follow this path. I’ve found that you can learn a lot from trailblazers.”

“I agree. I’ll get you access. And Derrick, everything we just talked about is between the three of us here. Nothing to Malone. He stays out of the loop. I don’t want him to know I’m involved. In the end, Malone will get what he wants with Stephanie. But he doesn’t need to know how or why.”

“Got it.”

The screen went dark.

“He’s not as bad as you think he is,” she said.

“I never said a word about him.”

“You didn’t have to.”

Icy fingers of apprehension clutched his gut. Everything about this was hazardous.Nakedwas the word used in the trade parley, meaning little organizational backup, no team, no diplomatic cover. On your friggin’ own. But what did he care? His career lay in tatters. And he knew the score. If he failed the White House would disavow him and Langley would fire him. But if he succeeded, he might actually have a shot at making up his losses and regaining the initiative. Still, “What’s the rest I need to know?”

“It started a few months ago and it’s now reached a boiling point. They’re called the Scythe, and they want you dead.”

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