The BFF Job

Chapter Four

Eliot watched as Kenna packed up her belongings in the two bags on the bed. She was worse than him when it came to traveling light. He leaned against the door frame and remembered the night he left. She had watched him pack his bags and she held back the tears. Eliot knew she wanted to cry now too. Even after ten years the spark between them was still there.

"You always did like to stand back and watch." She looked up from the boots she threw in her bag.

"You were always so interesting to watch." Kenna smiled. "Nate is going to meet us at the hotel."

"Did he talk to Jimmy's…wife?"

"Yeah. He said he'd fill us in when we got there. Are you almost ready?" Picking up a picture she handed it to Eliot.

"I think you should have this." She said as she zipped the last of her bags. He looked at the picture. It was of Jodi, Kenna and a boy about eight. A boy that looked a lot like he did nearly twenty years ago.

"Kyle." He smiled. "He's gotten so big."

"He misses his uncle Eliot." Kenna took her bags off the bed. "When this is over you should try and make it to see them." Eliot looked up at her.

"She hasn't forgiven me. Not like you have."

"There was never anything to forgive Eliot. You had to get out before he killed you." Heading out of the room she turned back to him. "You stayed longer then you had to for us and for that we both hope you can forgive us." Eliot watched her go down the hall. Taking the picture he put it in his shirt pocket and followed behind her.

O/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/

"Hell no!" Hardison looked from Sophie to Nate. "I will not tell that man that his friends' husband is alive and kicking. Did you not hear him tell her that if he wasn't dead already he was gonna kill him." The young man shook his head. "Hell no."

"Maybe we shouldn't open with that." Sophie said. "Maybe something less…stressful."

"Like what. 'The woman seemed nice. She's not at all worried about the life insurance…because Jimmy is alive." Nate took a drink from the glass he was holding. "We just need to get it out on the table. Hardison did you find out what the hell is going on with IAD and this whole mess. I mean if she was PD I would have an idea but she's FD." The sound of footsteps in the hall stopped Nate from going any further. Eliot stepped into the room followed by Parker and Kenna.

"They trashed the place. Whatever the as…Jimmy did is pissing off a lot of people." Eliot said as he threw Kenna's bags on the bed. He looked at the strained faces of the three other members of his crew. "What the hell went on with his widow…I mean his other…whatever?" He turned to Nate.

"Eliot…promise me you won't do anything stupid."

"The last time you asked me to do that Sterling was standing behind me." Eliot knew that James Sterling wasn't behind him but whatever Nate was about to tell him was just as bad or maybe even worse. "Nate…"

"James McClain isn't dead." Kenna looked at Nate.

"Jimmy isn't dead?" She asked.

"Alive and well and living on Stanton Island with his first wife and kids." Nate replied so fast Eliot wasn't sure he heard him right.

"Alive! The bastards alive?" Eliot shouted. He looked at Nate then to Kenna. Not waiting for anyone else to tell him differently he turned to head out the door but Kenna put her hand on his shoulder and stopped him in his tracks.

"Then why?" She looked at Nate, then Hardison. "Why is this all happening to me?"

"Think back Kenna…have you had some hinky calls…calls you can't explain? Calls to the same address or the same kind of calls in a neighborhood." Nate questioned. She closed her eyes but never took her hand off of the hitters shoulder. Tilting her head to the side she sqinted a bit and then opened them.

"Back about a month ago we had a series of hit and runs. A bike messenger, a street vendor, a doctor getting coffee at a lunch wagon….about a half a dozen in all. No one saw the car so PD just filed them away. But one vic…a school teacher from the Bronx got a partial plate. That was two weeks ago. Right before Jimmy di…disappeared out of my life."

"Did you file the report?"

"No, a Detective Mann took her statement. I never met him before that day even though he worked with Jimmy. I should of realized something was up then. He thought my name was Sarah and I was a nurse." She shook her head and let her hand slide down into Eliot's like she had done it a hundred times before. "It's not worth it." She whispered and squeezed his hand. Parker couldn't believe that this woman had so much power over Eliot.

"I will beat the son of a bitch within a inch of his life." He said under his breath.

"Your not going to take the fall for my ignorance a second time Eliot." She looked at Nate. "If these hit and runs were connected and that plate number let them to somebody of interest do you think that would make them come after me?"

"We need to see what happened to the witness. What about your partner?" Nate answered.

"Dean got transferred about three weeks….damn." She shook her head. "It's all coming together. Whoever is involved with the hit and runs is one who's making all this happen. They found out about Jimmy having two wives when they tried to get me to keep quiet." Nate nodded. This girl was no dummy.

"This must run deeper than we ever thought possible." Nate answered. "The whole thing was just a cover up and McClain's little bigamy scam just got caught up. They paid him off and sent him back to the island and left you hanging. How did they explain not having the big NYPD send off?"

"Crooked cops don't get a hero's funeral." She had run to Kentucky and hadn't looked back. It seemed like her whole life she had been running. She was done with that. Kenna would stand up this time and fight. She knew that Eliot and his crew would stand behind whatever decision she would make. "I want to clean this up and get the hell out of this town." Eliot squeezed her hand.

"We got the mops." Eliot said. Kenna smiled.

"Do ever get tired of cleaning up after me Spencer?"

"What's a little spilled blood between friends." Eliot saw the spark of the girl she used to be. The girl he had cherished and loved for more years then he cared to remember.

"Let's get some rest and get to work on this in the morning." Nate looked at Eliot. "You guys stay here. Catch up." In a mere second the room had cleared of the four other people leaving Eliot and Kenna alone…holding hands.

"I hate when they do that." Eliot pulled Kenna to the bed and sat her down. "We'll work this thing out McKenna."

"I have no doubt in my mind that this will be the last time you pull my ass out of the fire." Eliot smiled.

"Promises, promises." He sat next to her and they both laid down and looked at the ceiling. "What else haven't you been telling me?"

"I'm an RN but I chose to be an EMT because I would rather save lives then coddle sick people. When I left Kentucky I swore I would never set foot back there again and I've been looking over my shoulder hoping you'd come after me even after ten years." Eliot looked at his friend. "Now you."

"I have to have a light on to sleep. I know how to say 'Stop or I'll kill you' in seventeen different languages and I can field strip sniper rifle in six point three seconds." Kenna smiled.

"You always knew how to impress a girl." She laid her head on his shoulder. "You should call Jodi when this is over. "

"We talk Kenna. More then you would think."

"Does she know about your…retrieval specialist job?"

"She knows what she wants to know Kenna. You know that's how things are between us."

"Yeah. Like you never asked who Kyle's father is?"

"I know he's got the best mother a kid could ask for. I don't need to know all the gory details. I let her down Kenna and she has every right to hate me but she doesn't. Yet I go to visit her knowing she hasn't forgiven me. I do what I can."

"I know." Kenna said as her eyes grew heavy. "I know you had to go. Before you…" He kissed the top of her head as her eyes closed.

"I did something crazy like fall in love." He whispered. Sleep overtook him before he could get up and move to the other bed. That's where Parker found them an hour later. She didn't want to wake either of them up. Eliot looked almost…harmless with the blond woman curled up in his arms. Smiling she went to the other bed and laid down hoping they could solve this quickly and that Kenna would stay in their lives. She like Eliot when she was around. Closing her eyes Parker fell into a dreamless sleep.