The BFF Job
Chapter Seven
Eliot pulled Kenna against the building. They were in big trouble and they both knew it. The police cars had rolled up on hotel when they were little more than a block away. Lucky thing Eliot was prepared for this or they might have gotten caught in the shuffle going in.
"You get to the truck and you haul ass out of here. Hardison will text you on that cell phone he gave you so you can meet up with the rest of the team."
"I'm not going anywhere without out you Eliot." He glared at her.
"Now is not the time Kenna." He shoved the keys to the truck into her hand. "NOW GO!" She looked at him and his eyes were cold as ice. Pausing a split second she touched his cheek but then she turned and headed toward the parking ramp a block away. Eliot turned to head the opposite direction but two detectives stood in front of him. He knew right then that Jimmy McClain was more involved in his 'death' then he lead them to believe. "Hey." He said to them. He hated taking out a good cop but if these two were working with McClain they weren't that good.
"Where's the woman?" Eliot shrugged his shoulders.
"This is New York. I'm sure you can find a nice girl." The man swung first. His fist meeting air as Eliot shifted his weight. With a few swift hits to the solar plexus and the head the first man was down. The second took a bit longer. He had to add a roundhouse kick and slam the man against the brick wall before he fell to Eliot's feet. The sound of screeching tires made him look up. Kenna was at the entrance of the ally the passenger door open. "Kenna!"
"Come Eliot step it up. We have to get out of here." Eliot looked around but no one else was there. He got into the truck and before he got the door closed Kenna was careening down the street away from the cop infested motel.
"What part of haul ass out of here did you not get?" Eliot said between clenched teeth.
"One thing that you and the Army taught me was never leave a man behind." She said. Her driving skills were close enough to suicidal to make Eliot hang on for dear life. "You would have come back for me." She said quietly. He looked at her. He knew she was right. He would have come back this time.
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Kenna finally stopped at the pier. She just stopped the truck and got out. Her feet hit the ground and her knees nearly buckled beneath her but she walked. Putting her hands into her pockets she walked to the water. Eliot watched her. She was angry now. He could tell by the way she held her shoulder back. She paced the shore for a few minutes before Eliot left the truck to join her.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"Twenty years of friendship and that's the first time you apologized for yelling at me when I deserved it."
"I did tell you to haul ass."
"I did. I just hauled it back to pick you up." He grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms.
"Don't ever do that to me again." He hugged her close. He knew that he shouldn't but it had been too long since either of them had felt anything more the rage and hate. That's why she fell so hard for Jimmy. She clung to him in hopes that the emptiness inside her would finally leave. But she knew that it would still be there once Eliot and she had gone their separate ways.
"We should check in." Kenna whispered hoarsely.
"Yeah." Eliot pushed her away and grabbed his phone. They needed to solve this thing quick, before he forgot the reason why it was bad to fall your sister's best friend.
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"Eliot and Kenna are on their way." Hardison told Nate. They were held up at an old garage near the docks. "He sounded more…irritated than usual."
"He gets that way when he's over his head." Nate answered. Parker looked at her boss.
"Eliot's in over his head? That can't happen."
"It always happens when a woman is involved." Nate said looking at Sophie. She smiled.
"A woman changes everything." The door opened and Eliot came in, followed by Kenna. They both looked cold and miserable.
"I'll get the hot chocolate." Parker said as she bounded off the counter she was sitting on.
"I want to know what the hell is going on and I want to know now." Eliot growled at Hardison.
"I'm looking up everything I can. There isn't much about the NYPD I don't know. I know that Jimmy McClain was under the command of Delaplant for a lot of years on and off. They were partners when they were rookies and though the years Delaplant moved up in the ranks and McClain didn't." Hardison looked at his computer screen. "This guy is the head of all things police related. The benevolence fund, the local VFW, anything with the word police in the title he's involved." Eliot ran his hand over his face.
"Dig deeper. They think Kenna knows or saw something. Those cops today weren't just on a routine bust. They were gunning for bear." He looked at Kenna. She was shutting down. Her hair was damp from the sleet falling outside. Parker handed her a cup of hot chocolate. Shaking his head he looked at Nate. "My best bet is to get her the hell out of here till things settle down." Eliot took a deep breath. "Kentucky's out of the question."
"How about back to Boston? We can work the con from here and if we need you we can call you in."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Drive. I don't want risk you getting nabbed at the airport."
"I don't want to leave you hanging man. If this goes south you may need me to pull you out." He looked at Kenna.
"We can do this. Just keep her safe." Eliot looked at Parker sitting next to Kenna. She had a strange look on her face.
"What's up with the crazy chick?" He asked Nate.
"I think she likes Kenna." Eliot smiled. "I don't think Parker would forgive you if you let something happen to her." Nate leaned back against the counter. "Just take her back to Boston and keep her safe."
"Okay." Eliot grabbed his bag and Kenna's. "Come on darlin' were blowing this pop stand." Kenna stood. Parker watched the older woman intently as she followed Eliot out.
"Nate, she's not okay." Parker turned to her boss.
"Eliot will take care of her." He answered. She looked at him, confused. "Eliot can handle it Parker."
"He can handle thugs and bombs but those need…rough…Kenna needs…not rough." Nate looked at the petite thief.
"You know Eliot. He can be…not rough when he wants to be. You've been witness to it." Parker knew Nate was right but she still wasn't sure that Eliot could protect Kenna from the demons that were haunting her.
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Kenna sat across the seat with her legs curled under her. She hadn't said a word since they left the city. He knew he wasn't going to make it to Boston tonight. The roads were getting slicker by the minute and he didn't want to risk going off the road.
"I'm going to stop in Hartford for the night. I can't risk putting us in the ditch."
"Okay." She said quietly.
"Talk to me Kenna. I need to know you're okay."
"My husband was married to another woman and now he'd trying to arrest me for something I don't even know I did. I'm as far from okay as I was the night I stabbed Simon." He knew she was lashing out in good reason. His phone ringing stopped him from consoling her the best he could.
"Yeah."
"The super at Kenna's turned up dead." Nate told him.
"Son of a bitch. Okay. I'm almost to Hartford. We'll spend the night and head back down there."
"You're better off as far away from this as possible right now. If anyone saw the three of you in that building yesterday it could mean disaster if you come back here."
"We'll stay in Hartford. If you need me I'm only two hours away."
"Sounds good. Someplace low key."
"Like you have to tell me that." Eliot hung up the phone. "The super is dead."
"Nothing like sugar coating it Spencer." Kenna laughed.
"You know me. Rip the band aid off, lesson the sting."
"This isn't going to be pretty is it Eliot?"
"You know I won't lie to you."
"That's all I ever asked from you." They gave each other an understanding look and Eliot pulled into the next cheap hotel they came to. Eliot got out and was back five minutes later.
"You want the good news first?" He looked at her. She nodded. "There was a room. One room."
"It's not like we haven't shared a room."
"Not the honeymoon suite." He pulled around the building and in front of the room. "I can sleep in the truck." Kenna looked at him.
"Do you really think that I would let you sleep in the truck?" She looked at the door of the room. "Seven." Kenna whispered.
"It was a long time ago Kenna."
"It was the last thing we shared before Simon made you think differently of me."
"I never thought that the whole thing was anything more then you protecting yourself and my little sister from a rapist."
"A rapist that could have been my father Eliot."
"No one ever confirmed that."
"No one ever denied it either. He could have fathered me and at least three of my brothers and sisters. In all honesty he was the one man my mother kept around the longest. The one man who betrayed her the most."
"All men are not like Simon LaForce. Not all men are betrayers and users."
"Then why out of all the men in the world I pick the one man who has a wife and a kids and a whole lot of other baggage. You were the only other man I let get that close to me and you left. Now this. I can't take much more Eliot. I don't know who I can trust anymore." He knew the promise he made to her back when they were kids was weighing heavy between them.
"I'm sorry I let you down Kenna. If I could take it back, I would." She looked at him.
"You made a choice Eliot. I can't say I understand because I thought I meant more to you then that but I know you did it because you thought you had to." She grabbed her bag and got out of the truck. Eliot looked out the windshield and bit his lower lip. They needed to fight this out now and clear the air so they could put their past to rest and clean up Kenna's future. He got out and went to the door and unlocked it. He let her in and slammed the door.
"Why don't we get it all out Kenna…tell me how it's my fault your life sucked. Let's not blame your old lady or the string of men she paraded though your house at all hours of the day and night. Let's blame the one of the two people who did the best he could to protect you as long as he could. I did come back for you and I cleaned up a mess that you made. I did my best and that's all I could do." She looked at him.
"I know. I know that the job you had took you to places and made you do things that no man should be made to do. I know that you did your best to take me and Jodie out of that place. I just want you to tell me why you didn't look for me once you came home." He looked at her. He had found her. Found her happy and safe in New York, with friends and co workers who respected her. How could he walk back into their lives knowing the things he had done? Knowing the people he had hurt all in the name of a government he was having trouble in believing in now. Knowing that there were people in a half dozen places that wanted him dead.
"We paid for our mama's sins Kenna. We both had to walk away from our lives back then and darlin' if I regret anything in my life it's loosing what we had. Losing out on what could have been."
"Then why didn't you come back for it?" He looked at her and turned away running his hand though his hair.
"You said you knew what I had been through. Sweetheart you can't even to imagine the things I've seen and done."
"Then tell me Eliot. Tell me what you did that was so bad you couldn't come home." She crossed her arms over her chest. He didn't have to turn around to know what she had done because that's what she did when she wanted him to explain himself.
"Do you know where Myanmar is?"
"Burma. It's in Indonesia."
"And it's run by the State Peace and Development Council. But it's anything but peaceful." Eliot watched the snow fall. "I had to retrieve some documents from the embassy before they locked it down. I didn't do it quietly or peacefully." He turned and looked at her. Kenna saw the look on his face. She'd seen it too many times in the past. "There's a price on my head. That's not the only government power that wants to see me dead Kenna. How can I ask you or Jodi to bear that burden with me?"
"Last I heard the Myanmar government was the epitnemy of evil. They were charged with crimes against humanity."
"You don't get it. I'm not a safe person to be around." He turned back to the window and leaned both hands against the chair. "I'm no good for anyone." Eliot felt her warmth before he felt her hand on his shoulder.
"Nate and the others think you're good for them."
"That's because I pull their asses out of the fire most every day." He felt her arms go around his waist. Kenna laid her chin on his shoulder. "Darlin' you're playing with fire." He whispered. She took a deep breath.
"I never did like the safe side of the sidewalk." She answered, kissing his neck. Eliot knew it would be different this time. The heat between them was insane. All those years ago it was all slow and gentle. This time it would be neither. This time around they both might get burned. Her hands stroked his chest as her lips caressed his neck.
"Turn back now darlin', before it's too late." Her hands ventured lower. Eliot closed his eyes.
"Seems it might be too late already cowboy." She purred in his ear. The speed in which he grabbed her arm and pulled her in front of him neither frightened her or slowed her pace. He had her pushed against the table and her legs were around his waist before he could catch his breath. Kenna was tearing at his clothes and he hers. Someone needed to slow this thing down or it would be over before it started. Not taking her lips from his she cleared the table top and tore his shirt over his head.
"Baby we need to slow down." Eliot said against her lips.
"Next time we can be slow. Right now slow is not an option." Her boots, jeans and flannel shirt were off before Eliot could say another word. No words were exchanged for a very long time.