Page 75 of Prodigal

“Ready?” Samir lifted an eyebrow.

“Yeah, let’s do this,” Gideon told him.

They took the helicopter. And this time every last one of Gideon’s core team of bodyguards was present. Something big was going down. He held his tongue and didn’t ask questions. Not even when they landed about twenty-five minutes later and were quickly ushered into blacked-out SUVs. André just held Gideon’s hand, half listening as his man talked to Samir and the others.

He almost drifted off to sleep until they came to a halt at a restaurant. Well, they were in the back alley of a restaurant that André didn’t know the name of. He and Gideon waited until the bodyguards exited first, then Gideon got out and helped André down.

When André straightened and looked around, he bit back even more questions that formed on his tongue. Men dressed in black, wearing serious expressions and earpieces, were positioned all around them. They weren’t Gideon’s men.

Leaning over, he asked Gideon in a whisper, “Who are we meeting?” Had to be somebody big. Somebody important. Even Gideon didn’t have that many bodyguards around him when he went out.

A back door opened before Gideon could answer, and someone stood in the doorway. “Mister Winters.” The woman—white, who appeared to be in her thirties, with long red hair and dressed in black trousers and a cream blouse—motioned for Gideon to follow her. “This way, please.” She was familiar, but André couldn’t place her.

Gideon followed, holding on to André’s hand. Samir and the others brought up the rear.

The woman paused. “Your people will have to remain here, Mister Winters.”

“No, they will not.” Gideon didn’t break his stride, nor did his tone leave any room for follow-up conversation.

The woman let it go and they entered the restaurant’s kitchen. It was empty. Sparkling clean, smelling like cleaning products. No sight of food anywhere, which reminded André that he hadn’t eaten anything since he’d woken up.

Even more men in black were posted up inside the restaurant. He still hadn’t gotten an answer to his question of who they would be meeting.

The familiar-looking woman led them past the silent sentries and into the restaurant’s dining area. It was dimmer than it should have been, as if someone had forgotten to change out the expired light bulbs. It took André a minute to realize that the place was closed up. No daylight came in because the windows were all closed and shuttered.

It was empty, save for one table where a man sat waiting. His head had been tilted up as he spoke to the other person standing next to him, but as they entered the room, he glanced in their direction.

André’s steps faltered.

The president?

“We’re meeting with the president?” he hissed at Gideon.

“Hm-hm.”

“Of the United States?” The question was shrill, but seriously,what the fuck?

“Gideon, my boy.” The president got to his feet slowly and Gideon released André, walking over and clasping hands with the older man.

The. President.My God.What was life right now? André stared at the two of them without blinking. Now the men in black made sense. But so many other things didn’t. He and Gideon hadn’t even been searched. Shouldn’t they have been before being in the same room with the president? But then heremembered how Gideon had spoken to the woman with the red hair.

And he wondered, between Gideon and the man he was shaking hands with, which one of them actually held the most power?

“Mister President. Good to see you again.” Gideon turned toward André, beaming as he waved him over. “Allow me to introduce you to someone special.”

24

Gideon glancedat André from the corner of his eye. The other man hadn’t said anything since they left their brief meeting with the president half an hour ago. His lover hadn’t even asked where they were headed when their driver detoured from the way back to the airstrip.

“You okay?” He nudged André with his shoulder. After being introduced to the president, André had gone off and stood with Samir and the others—André’s decision, not Gideon’s—while Gideon conducted business. So André hadn’t been privy to the discussion and many plays that were in motion. Gideon had expected him to ask about it as soon as they got back to the vehicle, but he hadn’t.

At his question, André turned to him, a small smile playing on his lips. “Yeah, just trying to wrap my head around all that’s transpired in the past few hours.”

That made sense, but Gideon didn’t like it when André was quiet. He loved listening to the other man’s voice. “Want to talk about it?”

“Why don’t you tell me what the meeting was about?”

That he could do. Gideon settled back in his seat, throwing a hand around André’s shoulders and pressing a kiss to his temple. “Joseph Morrow is the member of The Council I told you I’m about to get rid of, remember?”

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