The Long Road Home Job

Chapter One

Nate stood at the bar. It had been nice taking a few days off but now it was back to the grind of saving the world one dirt bag at a time. Eliot came in. He didn't look all the happy to be there. Nate guessed him and Kenna were fighting again.

"Long three days off?" Eliot ordered a beer.

"You could say that." He took a long drag out of the bottle that was put in front of him.

"You want to sit this one out?" Nate asked.

"Nope." Always a man of few words Eliot turned and looked at Nate.

"Okay then. Client at three o'clock." The hitter shifted in his seat and looked at the man at the table to his left. He took a second look.

"That's our client?"

"You know him?" Nate asked.

"That's Kenna's brother Shane."

"As in Kenna Shane?" Nate looked at Eliot.

"He got to give her any middle name he wanted. He was six. He picked his." Eliot took a deep breath.

"Are you okay with this?"

"How did he find her?"

"He didn't. He found us. I didn't get much from the message but it has something to do with him going home to a town gone bad."

"Jodi never said anything about any trouble."

"It's because Jodi and Charlie moved six months ago." Kenna was standing beside Eliot. The girl had to stop hanging around Parker. "Charlie got a job on the Lexington Police Department."

"When were they going to tell me?"

"When you called." Kenna leaned against the bar. "I haven't seen Shane since he left Winchester." Kenna whispered. "Almost twenty years." Eliot looked at her.

"Are you okay?" She smiled.

"Yeah. I have to go to work. I just stopped to tell you Parker decided to paint my apartment so Topher's in yours."

"You brought your cat to my apartment?"

"Yeah well if you would stop chucking your throwing stars at my bedroom wall I wouldn't have to paint every other month. You two can fill me in when I get done with work." She kissed Eliot's cheek and headed out the door.

"She seems happier then you."

"Cause she knows it drives me nuts. Let's get this over with." They went to the table and sat in front of the man.

"Spencer?"

"Hawks."

"I didn't know…have you seen Kenna?" Eliot looked at Nate, than back at Shane.

"Not for awhile."

"I know she was home about three or four months ago. I was out of the country."

" Yeah…I guess your mom's new man took a shot at her."

"I heard. I also heard she fought back pretty damn hard." Eliot looked at the man.

"What's going on in Winchester?"

"I came back from a year out of the country and things were different."

"Different how?" Nate asked.

"People gone that I thought would never leave. Land bought up by big corporations that weren't around six months ago. I kept in touch with some friends and family from home but I didn't really get the whole picture till I came back last month." Eliot sat back and looked at the older man.

"Things change. The economy sucks everywhere. It could be they just lost faith and left."

"Kenneth Brauer owned the ranch a mile from yours. He bought that place straight out of high school. It was his pride and joy. He bought up a good chunk of your mom's land when she down sized six years ago. He owed nothing to the bank and yet he sold it for eighty cents on the dollar and up and left."

"People change Shane. It's been nearly twenty years since you were home."

"I came back last year and mended some fences with my mother and reconnected with a lot of people. Ken wouldn't have been run off unless there was something big behind it. There's a new mayor that no one's heard of and he's bringing Winchester to its knees." Eliot looked at Nate. Nate looked at Shane.

"Let me see what we can find and we'll let you know." Nate and Eliot stood. Shane did too. He shook Nate's hand as he left and then reached for Eliot's. The hitter didn't reach out.

"If you talk to Kenna, would you let her know I want to see her?" Eliot fought back the bile that was forming in his stomach. Shane saw what his sister's were put though but he did nothing about it. When he was old enough he left the family and never looked back. "I did what I could Eliot. Whatever you might think of me I did my best."

"Your sisters were sold by your old lady to the highest bidder and you left them. If Kenna never talks to you again it will be too soon." Eliot slammed his chair under the table and headed anywhere but there.

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Parker was painting Kenna's bedroom her favorite shade of green. It took her forever to find out what Kenna liked but she finally figured it out. The sound of the front door opening made Parker freeze. The sound of keys hitting the kitchen counter made her start painting again. It was only Eliot. She could tell by the sound of footsteps.

"Hey Parker." She looked up.

"Hi. What's wrong?" She squinted and squished up her nose.

"New job. Old enemies."

"Someone who's got a price on your head?"

"Someone whose sister I slept with."

"Kenna's brother is our new job?" Eliot frowned.

"How…Kenna isn't…lever mind. Yeah."

"Does she know?"

"Yeah, she came to drop off the fur ball at my place before she went to work. He was there. She bolted before he saw her."

"What's the job?"

"Corrupt town."

"Same old, same old. You like the color?" Eliot looked at the walls.

"Sure."

"You have to like it too."

"No I don't. After the last job me and Kenna are…on and off." He leaned against the door. "More off than on lately."

"So that's why there are so many holes in the wall. You or her?"

"Both." Eliot looked ground the empty room. "Give me a call when you need to move the stuff back in." He started to leave.

"Don't give up on her Eliot." Parker said. He turned back to the thief.

"Don't worry Parker. You know giving up isn't my style." He saluted her and headed out the door.

o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o

Nate looked at Hardison's pulmonary findings on the mayor of Winchester, Kentucky. Everything looked okay on the outside but after further digging he found that the inside workings of the small town were a shambles and that property was being bought out by corporations at an alarming rate. Winchester was a sinking ship and no one was trying to bail it out.

"He can't be trusted." Nate looked up to see Eliot standing on the other side of the room.

"He seems clean. Ten years in the Marines…another five in the reserves. He's an engineer for a water purification company out of Georgia. They opened a branch in Lexington last year and he went to work there. Everything seems on the up and up."

"Yeah, well…his sisters were being sold right under his nose and he did nothing to stop it."

"Well there's that." Nate looked at his hitter. "I understand if you don't want to take this job."

"I called Jodi. She said my mom hasn't said much about what's going on in the town since her and Charlie left. They went for a visit last week and some of the stores were boarded up and some business looked a little run down. Mom wouldn't say much more then the ranch is paid for and she's not going anywhere."

"Do you think she'll be okay?"

"She's sixty Nate. If someone is scaring off the locals and buying the land it could only be a matter of time before they try something. She's down to twenty acres. The land she sold to Ken was just grazing fields for the horses. All mom has left is the house, the barn and a small pound she stocks with fish for my nephew to catch."

"Are you ready to go home?"

"Is anyone ever ready to go home?" He looked at the screen. "Take the job. Maybe some of the people in Winchester don't deserve to live happily ever after but then again some of them do."

"Should we bring in Kenna?" Eliot didn't move. He knew what happened the last time she went back to that place. If they didn't give her the choice there would be no living with the woman. Not that he was doing much of anything with her lately. He took a deep breath.

"You do what you want. She's a big girl and can make her own choices."

"It's worse than I thought." Sophie came in. "Do you two ever stop and wonder if it's really worth all this fighting."

"Ask me again tomorrow." He turned to Nate and Sophie. "I'll make dinner here and we can run this by everyone."

"Something wrong with your apartment?" Sophie asked with a smile. Eliot shook his head.

"Don't go there Soph. Don't go there." Eliot headed to the kitchen to lose himself in some really good pasta.

o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/

Eliot watched Kenna play with her food. It wasn't like her not to eat. He knew Shane being in town would rattle her to the core. He wished she chose to sit closer to him so he could make sure she was okay with them taking this job. She chose to sit across the table from him and drive him crazy.

"Okay so dinner is over and cocktails are served Nate. Are you going to tell me what my brother was doing here today?" She smiled. Eliot could tell it was forced.

"It seems Winchester has fallen under the spell of an evil land baron." Nate tried to ease into the job.

"And Shane is trying to save the town. I find that hard to swallow."

"Your brother met and is marring a local girl." Hardison hit the go button on his remote. "Cherri Kramer. Thirty-two. They met when your brother came home a little over a year ago. He works out of Lexington but wanted to commute from Winchester. He spent the last year in Germany setting up a water treatment plant. Cherri went with him. When they came back the town had a new mayor and it was slowly be bought up by corporations and small business was being run out of the town."

"Cherri always had a crush on Shane. She was smart enough to stay away as long as she did." Kenna looked at Eliot who looked angrier by the minute, if that was possible.

"Well her family is one of the few that hasn't sold out." Hardison pushed the button. Arial land photo's popped up. Four were in red. "The red land is what still belongs to its owners. Jon and Sara Kramer." Hardison stood and pointed to one red mass. "Clive and Olive Jordan." He pointed to another. Eliot stood and went to the screen.

"The other two belong to mine and Kenna's mothers. Both are theirs free and clear. Joelle owns forty acres, my mom twenty. They've bought up everything that's worth anything up from around them. The only one who doesn't own their land free and clear is the Jordan's. But they owe less than fifty grand on their sixty acres."

"Ken sold his land for eighty cents on the dollar but he still must have made a good sum of money because the land he bought from your mom was only good for grazing." Kenna stood up and looked at the map. "My mom's land is nothing but a dust patch. Not good enough for anything more than a rock pile."

"If big business is just buying it up why leave those four properties?" Parker asked.

"There have been rumors for years that there is copper, gold or coal under that land but no one has been able to afford to have it tested. Maybe this is how there are going to do it." Eliot looked at Nate.

"But those four properties are rumored to have the best chance of something under them." Kenna heard stories for years. She knew that her mama kept her payments up and her taxes paid for good reason. She told all her kids one day their land would be their salvation. She looked back at Nate. "We can easily get in there and see what's going."

"'We?'" Nate cocked his head.

"Eliot and me." She looked at Nate to Eliot. "Who would suspect two home town kids coming back for old time sake?"

"The fact that the last time I left I beat my mother's husband half to death and when you left your murdered a man." Eliot said through clenched teeth. Four sets of eyes looked at Kenna then Eliot. "I guess I forgot to mention the first part." He looked at his crew. "He hit me first."

"In Eliot's defense the bastard threw the first punch…and the second…and the third…"

"Kenna they get the picture. We can't go in there like some happy couple looking to renew old friendships." Eliot looked at Nate for conformation.

"What about coming home to sell old land?" Nate looked at the screen. "Hardison find any and all land that was owned at any time by Simon LaForce."

"What are you thinking Nate?" Eliot didn't like the way this was going.

"You said that LaForce might have been your father, right?" He looked at Kenna.

"Shane's, my sister Macie and mine…but there was no way of knowing."

"Hardison is going to do some expert DNA matches and you can claim anything and everything he owned outright when he died. Including any land he owned."

"But Nate that's nearly fifteen years ago."

"When you have a hacker on the payroll…anything's possible." Hardison said as he typed in some commands. "Okay he owned the local bowling alley and a summer home in Flatwoods."

"The bowling alley is the best bet. Even if it's gone now the land can still be claimed." Nate looked at his hitter. The man was more on edge then he'd ever seen him. "Eliot if this isn't working for you we can call it off." Nate knew when to say when and by the look on Eliot's face was any indication, when was five miles back.

"No. We do this; we get the bad guy and get the hell out. No friendly family reunions, no picnics in the park just set 'em up and knock 'em down." He looked at Kenna. She nodded.

"I don't plan on kissing and making up with anybody in Winchester." She took a deep breath. "So that's how me and Eliot are getting in. How about the rest of you?"

"You sure have gone and wiggled your way into our little party missy." Hardison laughed as he punched in a few more keys. "We got a million different ways and a trillion different games. No fear Kenna, we will have your back baby." Eliot growled at Hardison. "Why do you people get so tense when I say baby…gosh all mighty will you all loosen up." Kenna laughed. She went to the chair and grabbed her jacket.

"I got an early shift in the morning."

"You room isn't put back. I didn't have time before…" Parker said as Kenna headed for the door.

"No worries. I'll throw the mattress down on the floor. She headed over to Eliot's to get her cat.

"Are you going to talk to her?" Sophie asked Eliot.

"About what. She's going to do what she wants so why bother?"

"Because you're the only person who knows what this is going to do to her and she's the only one who knows what it's going to do to you. You both are going back to a place that brings back bad memories. Granted the two of you have worked them out but it's still going to be hard." He knew she was right. Grabbing his own coat he headed across the hall to see if he could catch Kenna.

0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0

He didn't have to go far. Topher was lying on his bed and Kenna was sitting on its edge. She had run her fingers though her hair more than once and her eyes were red. Sliding down to the floor she leaned back and looked up at him.

"Do remember the last thing you said to your mom before you left home that night?"

"I think screw you might have been the nicest thing I said to her that night." He sat next to her on the floor.

"I asked my mom if she ever loved me." Kenna turned her head and looked at Eliot. "She said no." Turning her head back she laid against the bed. "I was eight when I head those words the first time pertaining to me."

"I remember. You gave Jodi that picture of the three of us up in the loft. You made that frame out of old barn boards you found. It was the best present she had ever gotten from a friend at that point."

"She hugged me till I turned blue and said 'Kenna Shane you are the bestest friend and I love forever." The last part Eliot said out loud too. "You were the only other person to say those words to me in all my sixteen years." She closed her eyes. "When I went there after the thing with Jimmy all mama said asked was if I married good and why I was there. When I left she asked me for twenty bucks."

"Then her boyfriend took a two by four to you." Kenna laughed.

"I almost forgot about that." She opened her eyes and looked at him. "I know we're fighting but I'm too damn tired to hall that fat cat across town. Can I sleep on your couch?" Eliot smiled.

"Darlin' I think that can be arranged." He got up and offered her his hand. Pulling her up then to him he held her close. "But there is no way you are sleeping on the couch." He kissed her. She didn't argue one single bit as he pushed her down on the bed. The fat cat lying there ran for cover. For a little while they would forget about family feuds and lovers squabbles and just enjoy each other.