The Long Road Home Job
Chapter Two
Kenna watched Eliot sleep. He looked so peaceful and harmless. She kissed his collarbone and slowly drifted lower. She felt his hand in her hair. She kissed down his chest. Her hands roamed over his chest as the kisses grew more intent. Eliot pulled Kenna back up to kiss her lips and rolled over pinning her to the mattress.
"You're going to be the death of me Kenna Shane." He whispered.
"Better me then some hired gun from Pakistan." She smiled. He chuckled.
"I think that might be the only country that doesn't have a price on my head." Kenna wrapped her legs around his waist. "I won't let her hurt you Kenna." He looked into her eyes. "I promise."
"I know. And I won't let him hurt you. We're stronger than them." He pulled her close and rolled on his back taking her with him. "What was it we were fighting about anyway?"
"Who the hell knows? I think I might have left the toilet seat up or something." Kenna smiled.
"I guess we'll just have to forget about it then."
"Well we did just have make up sex like three times." Eliot looked at her. "Let's get some sleep. The next few days are going to be long and hard." Kenna giggled. "What are you like twelve?"
"I didn't know you liked the younger girls." She wiggled down lower hoping he would get the hint that she wasn't ready to go to bed quite yet.
o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o/o
The plane touched down at the Lexington airport. The July sun was hot and the humidity was nearly unbearable. It was going to be a really long week if the heat stayed. Eliot and Kenna stood at baggage claim waiting for their bags.
"I don't remember it being this hot." Eliot grumbled.
"It never was when we were kids. You never did like the heat. How did you spend so much time in the desert?"
"Dry heat." Kenna looked at him. If she was nervous about being back in Kentucky he was damn near on the edge.
"I told Jodi we'd stop by and see her on the way out." Eliot turned to her and glared.
"You did what? Kenna I can't see her now."
"Why not? We're here and Kyle will be over the moon to see you."
"We have a job to do."
"And it can wait an hour so you can visit your sister and nephew. The kid thinks you're the best thing since sliced bread."
"I can't…Jodi will know."
"Know what Eliot? That you've done bad things? She knows we both have things we can't share with her."
"Not that…she'll know that we…you and me…we've…"
"Had sex?"
"OVERSHARING PEOPLE!" Hardison said in their ears.
"Kenna…"
"Had wild animal sex…screwed like rabbits? That's what you're afraid of?"
"Coms are on my friends please stop sharing!" Hardison was on the freeway heading toward Winchester. "Please."
"I'm not afraid. She just doesn't need to know."
"Like I'm going to tell your baby sister that her big brother ravishes me at least three times a night."
"Three times a night!" Hardison interjected.
"Hardison!" Both Kenna and Eliot yelled at the same time.
"Now you hear me. I have things I need to get out of my head. Take your coms out till you done with all the bickering please. I'll see you in Winchester. You all got like three hours to face baby sister and get down here."
"Yeah whatever." Eliot took out his com and put it in his pocket. Kenna did the same.
"Sorry, I just wanted you to shake it off." Kenna said as she looked at him.
"Yeah well darlin' my mood sucks and it ain't going get any better so live with it." He grabbed their bags and headed to the car rental desk.
0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0/0
Jodi Spencer was as different from her brother as day and night. She was blond, brown eyed, calm, and happy most all of the time. Kenna directed Eliot to the small Lexington suburb where the grass was neatly mowed and the kids played out on the street. It was Jodi's dream and she was living it. Eliot was glad she got out from under the fist of Winchester before it came crumbling down. They stopped in front of a small clapboard house with a bike and a minivan in the drive way.
"If you want you can drop me off and I can meet you at the corner later." Kenna didn't look at him.
"You're her best friend Kenna. To be honest with you I thought this would be over long before we had to face her again." Kenna wasn't sure how she could take that.
"Yeah well we can fool Sophie into believing we are fighting maybe we can make sure Jodi thinks we're not sleeping together." Eliot looked at her. There was no way he could walk into his sister's house and Jodi not know there was something between them. Even back after that first night so many years ago she had known.
"Let's just go and get this over with." Eliot got out of the car and was to the other side before Kenna could blink. He opened the door for her and forced a smile. "Just don't expect me to be happy about it." Eliot turned when he heard a shout and a sturdy boy came running out of the house.
"Uncle Eliot!" The boy ran fast and hit him hard. Eliot caught the boy in his arms. Kenna smiled. She would be prying him out of here in a few hours.
"Hey sport. How's it going?" Kenna smiled and headed to Jodi who was standing on the porch in all her pregnant glory.
"Hey girl." Kenna hugged Jodi close. "Oh gosh I miss you."
"Well if you came and visited more you wouldn't miss me so much." Jodi pushed her away and looked her up and down. "You look great."
"So do you." Kenna looked at her friend. "How's it going?"
"Good. The doctor says she's fit as a fiddle…exact words." Jodi turned and watched her brother carrying her son on his back, walking up the driveway. "How's he doing?"
"He has his days."
"And you?" She watched Eliot listening intently to something Kyle was saying.
"I wish I could erase the last fifteen years and change the way he left."
"Mama know your coming?"
"Nope. We thought it best to just drop in. Road trip back home and all that."
"Billy is still a deputy. I'm not sure if the sheriff is on the take or not. Mama didn't say much about the things going on in Winchester."
"At least she got rid of Billy." Kenna watched as Eliot brought his nephew up the stairs. "Eliot's here so I'm chopped liver?" She asked the boy. He went from his uncle and flew into her arms for a big hug.
"I just saw you Aunt Kenna. I haven't seen Uncle Eliot in ages." The boy smiled.
"Jodi." Eliot nodded. The petite woman pushed passed Kenna and hugged her brother close.
"Don't ever stay gone so long again." She whispered in his ear.
"Yes ma'am." He hugged her not wanting that old familiar feeling to leave him. She smelled like their mama, honeysuckle and banana bread. "I missed you baby sister." He looked at Kenna and mouthed 'thank you' to her. She smiled and nodded. She knew Eliot needed this just as much as she did. He pushed his sister arms length away. "The 'berbs look good on you."
"I'd like to say hard living looks good on you big brother but mama never raised a liar." The both laughed. "I have some lemonade and air conditioning so let's go inside. They went into the house and tried to catch up as best they could in the time they had but all too soon it was over. The good-byes were sadder then Kenna could ever remember. The car was quiet as they headed to the freeway toward Winchester. Kenna put her com back in.
"We're on our way Nate."
"How's Eliot?" He asked. Kenna looked at him. She was sure he would never be the same after seeing Jodi's 3-D sonogram pictures.
"Never better."
"You suck at lying to me, you know that right?"
"I know. We'll be at the hotel in an hour."
"Keep me posted." Kenna turned her com off and looked at Eliot.
"Are we going to talk about it?"
"I can't keep her safe Kenna."
"Charlie can keep her and the kids safe. No one can trace her back to you. NO ONE." Eliot looked at her.
"How do you know?"
"Because Hardison has your back baby." She smiled but Eliot just stared ahead, driving on auto pilot. "I promise you Eliot, Jodi and her family are safe." She reached out and touched his arm. "Trust me." He looked at her. She had been his friend for nearly all his life. If he had to trust anyone it was her. Eliot reached for her and the impact of another car hitting them from behind nearly made him loose control.
"Damn it. I was so wrapped up in my crap I wasn't paying attention." He looked in the rearview mirror. "Hang on." Eliot pushed down on the gas and swerved around the car in front of him. He struggled to put his com in his ear as the big car behind them. "Hardison get some PD out on the highway. I got a black BMW on my ass looking to take us out."
"You got it Eliot."
"Kenna in my bag there should be some throwing stars and a couple of stop strips, get them." She crawled back into the back seat.
"How and the hell do you ever get past airport security is beyond me." Eliot shook his head.
"That's all Hardison."
(Flashback)
Eliot's bag going through the x-ray machine and Hardison hacking into the airport cameras sending a perfectly none descript picture to the machine.
(Present)
Kenna pulled the stars and strips out.
"I got a straight away with no traffic coming up I want you to roll down the window and throw the stop strip down."
"Eliot maybe you should do this." He looked back in the mirror.
"You want to drive?" She looked back and then at Eliot.
"Not really."
"Then throw the damn strip." Kenna pushed the button for the window and watched at the car got closer.
"You need to get a little ahead of them or…." The car hit them again with such force Eliot's head hit the steering wheel and bounced back.
"Don't you think I know that!" He growled at her. "Hardison I don't see lights and sirens behind me."
"It's because there's a big…parade in some back water suburb and they are all stuck on the back side of it... If I get somebody from the other way you'll be busted and man I don't want to have to bail you out of jail tonight. It's like a hundred and twenty in the shade."
"Stop your bitching and get us some back up Hardison." Kenna screamed at him.
"Oh great he turned her into him!" The car weaved and Eliot pulled in front of the car it hit them one more time before Kenna got a chance to throw the spike strip. The sharp metal dug into her skin as she tossed it out the window. It hit the pavement and the BMW hit the strip and lost control flipping into the ditch.
"Nice shot." Eliot looked back in the mirror and saw the blood. Kenna grabbed one of his t-shirts and wrapped it around her forearm. "How bad?"
"Bad enough. Get us to the hotel. I may be able to stitch it up." Eliot looked at Kenna's eyes. They were bright and angry so he knew.
"What if you can't?" He asked.
"Then you have to do it." She crawled back into the front seat. "I owe you a shirt."
"If you don't bleed to death it will be payback enough."
"Wanna take bets who's trying to kill us already?" She tightened the shirt on her arm.
"Billy couldn't afford a pickup truck let alone a BMW." Eliot looked in the rear view just to be safe. "The new mayor may have heard we were coming."
"Or whoever is dating my mama this week. She always loved a man with a BMW." Kenna laid her head back and looked at the mile markers go by. Coming home was a lot harder than it used to be.