“And by extension, why Joy Delivered does too?” Casey asked.

Henry nodded.

Jack sighed, but didn’t say no. “I don’t know, guys. A lot of people from all walks of life and political persuasions like a little assistance in the bedroom. I don’t want to be a company that takes sides.”

“We don’t have to take sides,” Casey said, piping in. “We just have to explain the facts.”

“We’re backing Paul. We’re already taking sides,” he pointed out.

“But the side we’re on is the side we’re already on. We promote pleasure. That’s our side,” she said insistently. “Besides, it’s okay for us to take sides. We sell sex products. We’re not teachers. We’re not cops. We want consenting adults to be free to do what they want so long as they’re safe. And no one runs a safer club than Henry. Safe for the people who go, but also for those who don’t go.”

Paul’s eyes lit up, and he snapped a finger. “Exactly.”

Jack leaned back in his chair as the waitress brought over iced teas and waters. “There’s your slogan. Safe for those who go, and those who don’t.”

The politician nodded and smiled broadly, as if all the problems had been solved. “That is indeed a great slogan.”

Jack gestured to his sister. “She needs to be more involved. She’s the idea woman. She’d be a great strategist on this.”

Casey smiled, and waved a hand as if to say this was all nothing.

“You have great ideas,” Paul said.

“She does,” Jack added.

The problem hadn’t been solved though. Jack knew why Denkler was swimming upstream. His opponent fought dirty, but he didn’t know how to get muddy. Denkler was a good guy, but he was too good.

“Listen,” Jack began, his tone commanding, the same one he’d used when he talked to his men back in Europe on how to proceed. “I get that politics is a battleground, and you’re losing right now, Paul. You’ve got a sneaky opponent who knows how to twist some serious shit.” He parked his elbows on the table. “But you need to get on the offensive. You’re standing here like a goddamn punching bag, taking his blows. You need to get a handle on what you’re up against. Why do you not have some dirt on Conroy?”

“We’ve been looking into him,” Paul said, but the red flush on his cheeks made it clear they’d found nothing.

“Yeah?” Jack raised an eyebrow in question. “What have you found?”

“We’re still looking.”

Jack nodded. Held up a hand. “You need to run some serious counterintelligence on him. Everyone has skeletons in the closet. Every single person has something they don’t want the opposition to know. My job in the military was to find that out. Everything was findable. Everything was obtainable. You need to get your intelligence men working harder, and figure out what Conroy has in his closet so you can fight this battle.”

Paul gulped and nodded, and Jack couldn’t deny it felt good to give some kind of order again.