Bluegrass State of Mind (31 page)

“
That’s my girl.” Will
chuckled.

“
My boss lost it. He told
Chad he’d deal with the girl, but Chad had to deal with me. He then
attacked me. He pinned me against the cubicle, ripped my clothes,
and hit me some. He was saying things like how he was going to
teach me how to behave like a proper girlfriend. Of course, I broke
it off during this and told him I hoped he met a nice man in jail
to become his new bitch. He raised my skirt to rape me. That’s when
Danielle shouted for me to hurry up.” She took a deep breath to
calm herself.

Will stopped dancing, “Did he, um, did
he manage...”

“
No.”

Will started dancing again, although
much stiffer.

“
When Danielle yelled out
for me, it surprised him. I had tried to knee him before, but my
skirt was too tight. When he lifted my skirt, he actually allowed
me to fight back. When he leaned over me and told me he had always
wanted a threesome with Dani and I, I went wild. I kicked him in
the balls and punched him in the head. Then I ran like
hell.”

“
Thank God you got away.”
He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “How did you come to
Kentucky?” But before the story could continue, a bit of commotion
caught his eye. “Hey, look over there, what is Ahmed doing with
them?”

He spun her around so she could see
Ahmed smiling at Chad and Whitney, handing them glasses of
champagne. He toasted them and then hailed a waiter over with new
glasses of champagne as soon as the first were empty.

“
I don’t know, but I am
sure it’s not accidental. Um, I actually ended up here because of
the job. That and I remembered you. I was hoping you would be here
to help me get this job. I wanted a town that was small, but close
to a bigger city so I could easily escape if found.”

“
You don’t have to look
for escape routes anymore. You’re staying right here with me. But,
I do think we should talk to Agent Parker about this.”

“
I don’t think so, Will.
Dani wrote me and told me there were arrest warrants out for us.
There were powerful people in that room, Will. They could destroy
me. They could frame me and put me in jail.”

“
Okay, how about we tell
Mo and Ahmed first. See what they can find out.” The dance ended
and they look around for Chad and Whitney. They did not see them,
but did see Mo being forced together with what appeared to be
another Bachelorette.

“
Is everything alright,
Kenna?” Ahmed had quietly appeared beside her.

“
Actually, we were looking
for you and Mo to seek your advice.” She looked around again.
“Where did Chad and Whitney go?”

“
They had too much
champagne and were driven home,” he winked. “I’ll go rescue Mo and
meet you at his private parlor.

Kenna and Will stood back as Mo
unlocked the door to his private parlor a short while later. Will
and Kenna took a seat on the love seat as Mo picked up the
basketball and tossed it from hand to hand.

“
Okay, you going to tell
us what’s going on?” Mo asked.

“
I am. And I guess I am
also going to call in that favor you owe me. Unless you want to go
two out of three?” she said jokingly, trying to break the tense
feeling in the room.

“
You have unlimited
favors. Now please, how can we help?”

Kenna told them what she had just told
Will. Ahmed interrupted asking specific questions now and then, but
they generally sat and listened.

“
And your friend,
Danielle, do you know if she’s safe? Do you have enough
money?”

“
I don’t know about
Danielle. She stayed in New York and followed the people who were
tracking her. She’s the one who found out about the warrants and
she’s the one who warned me that they had found me. I just didn’t
realize it at the time. And yes, I have enough money. I pulled it
all out right before I left.”

“
The question is: What do
we do now? I told Kenna she couldn’t run and hide, that I’d protect
her. I wanted to go to Agent Parker, but she’s worried about the
warrant. What do you two think?” Will put a supportive hand on her
knee and gave it a quick squeeze.

“
I am sorry to interrupt.
Kenna, you said your friend was following men. Did she describe
them?” Ahmed asked.

Kenna nodded, “Yes. She called them
the Men in Black, like the movie. She thought they worked for a
Senator because they kept referring to him. She couldn’t find out
which one though. Apparently they looked very
governmental.”

“
Then we have an issue.
Two men fitting that description stopped by the hospital the night
I stayed with you. I heard them asking for you at the nurse’s
station. They flashed a badge and were directed to your room. When
they saw me they walked past without much of a look and left. I
assumed they were FBI checking up on you per Agent Parker’s
request.”

The room grew quiet. Kenna knew what
that meant. It meant that if Ahmed had not been there, she would be
dead now. Will pulled her against him and rested his head on top of
hers.

“
Ahmed, go find Agent
Parker. Don’t tell him anything. Only that I need to speak with
him,” Mo said. It amazed Kenna how fast the friendly Mo could
disappear and be replaced by Sheik Rahman.

Mo moved to his desk and pulled out
his computer and began typing. She leaned against Will and snuggled
into him. As horrible as seeing Chad had been, and knowing
everything was coming to a head, she had a sense of relief to know
she wasn’t fighting everything on her own now.

“
You do realize that one
of the Senators in that room that night was probably Senator Bruce,
don’t you, McKenna?” Mo said quietly from behind his
desk.

She nodded and was about to reply when
the door was opened for Agent Parker.

“
Mr. Rahman, I do not
appreciate being treated like one of your personal security guards.
I am a member of the FBI. It's best you remember that before your
man here interrupts me again while I am doing my job of helping the
Secret Service protect the dignitaries at your party.” Agent Parker
stopped in front of the desk and placed his hands on his hips. “I
understand your concern over your friend, but no one is after her.
I told you that investigation led us to rule her out as the
target.”

Mo didn’t bother to get up. Instead
his eyes narrowed and it seemed to Kenna that the room temperature
fell twenty degrees. She needed to learn how to do that.

“
First of all, you are a
Mister. I am royalty and you shall address me as such. Second,
there is more going on than you know, Agent Parker. If you don’t
want a career-making case handed to you, then get out and I will
find someone else to bring down a couple of Senators, sitting
judges, and senior partners of the largest law firm in New
York.”

“
Okay. You have my
attention now.” Parker took out his notepad and looked at Mo. A
silent showdown occurred between the two and it seemed they came to
some understanding since Mo continued.

“
Put that away. Nothing
gets written down because I am going to tell you a fairy tale first
to see what kind of ending it needs.” Mo didn’t offer Parker a seat
and Agent Parker didn’t seem to mind. He stood still, with his
hands behind his back, and listened as Mo told her
story.

“
That’s an interesting
story you have there. I am assuming one of the two princesses is
Kenna. Who is the other one and where is she?”

“
Sorry, Agent, it doesn’t
work like that. If you were writing this story, what kind of ending
would it have? What would the knight do to help the
princesses?”

“
I don’t know. The problem
is I can’t get rid of a warrant issued by the New York City Police
Department. Technically, if I know of the location of a person with
a warrant on them, I should notify NYPD. But if the story line is
true, it would be dangerous to send the princess back to New York.
So I would advise the princess to not reveal herself to the knight
yet. You get my meaning?” Agent Parker looked directly at
her.

“
Yes. So, the moral of the
story is the knight doesn’t rescue the princesses and is pretty
worthless,” Kenna shot back to him.

“
No. The moral of the
story isn’t clear yet. There are some steps the knight must take to
avoid mandatory reporting back to the King. Kenna, if you could
describe the maiden, what would she look like?”

“
Why?”

Dropping the pretense of the fairy
tale, Agent Parker answered, “I want to run a missing persons
report to see if any one fits her description. I will also run a
Jane Doe search on bodies that were found since you left. I must
admit, I am having a hard time believing any of this. But, if it is
true, then that means the truck that tried to run you over may have
actually been meant for you.”

“
There is something else,
Agent,” Ahmed said. “The night Kenna was in the hospital, did you
send team of men to do a walk by and make sure she was
alright?”

Agent Parker’s brows came together and
he narrowed his eyes as if sensing something important, “No,
why?”

“
Because around one in the
morning, two men approached the nurse’s station and flashed a
badge. They asked after Kenna and then walked toward her room. When
they saw me, they walked right on by. At the time, I thought you
sent them to make sure I was still there. But now that I know
everything, I think they belonged to Senator Bruce.”

“
Senator Bruce? How did
you come to that conclusion?”

“
Without naming names, my
friend stayed in New York and was being followed. She was able to
turn the table on the men, the same two men that match Ahmed’s
description. She followed them and heard them talking about their
boss, the Senator.” Kenna told him. “Then tonight, when Whitney was
rubbing in the fact she had brought Chad here, she mentioned that
she told him about me while on the Hill. She was having lunch with
her Dad and her Dad brought Chad with him.”

Agent Parker closed his eyes and she
watched his lips move as he was working his way through things.
“Okay. I see where you figured one of the Senators was Bruce. I
also agree with you that the men trying to find your friend, and
who stopped by the hospital, are probably the private security
employed by Bruce. Ahmed, would you recognized them if you saw them
again?”

“
Of course.”

“
Are they here tonight?
Bruce is and don’t you think he would have brought his security?
It’s like a status symbol at these things,” Parker turned to
Ahmed.

“
I am sure he did. But the
question is, how to get them all together again?” And then, Ahmed
just smiled. “Never mind, I know the answer. Go back to the party
and just follow the flow.” Ahmed walked out the door whistling as
all three of them stared at him.

“
Uh-oh. It’s never good
when he’s happy. Especially when he’s whistling,” Mo said as he
stood up from his desk. “Come on, let’s get back to the ball and
see if we can get the Senator in our sights.

The ball was in full swing and the
dance floor was packed. They made their way around the room, slowly
nodding and waving to the people they knew. Agent Parker was
introduced as a friend of Will’s from college when anyone asked.
They were only about a quarter of the way through the room when
Parker spotted him.

“
He’s over there, in the
corner with a young lady. I am guessing the girl to be at most
eighteen. The way he’s touching her is almost enough for me to
arrest him for statutory rape.”

Kenna, Will, and Mo casually looked
around and spotted one obvious security detail. Before Kenna could
ask what Ahmed was going to do, she saw him walk in.

“
Look, there’s Ahmed.” She
watched him walk over to the band director and talk to him a
minute. The band director nodded and went to the microphone as the
dance ended. Ahmed made his way over to the group.

“
Ladies and gentlemen, our
host has asked that specific patriotic songs be played for the
countries represented here tonight. For our first selection, we
will be playing a part of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, which
includes a Russian folk dance. The next piece will be a selection
from Antonin Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances. Please, enjoy.” Polite
clapping broke out among the guests as the orchestra started the
Tchaikovsky piece.

The group stared at Ahmed and he
rocked back on his heels, whistling along with the ebb and flow of
the music. Kenna looked at Will and he shrugged in return. No one
had ever seen Ahmed so relaxed.

“
Let us slowly make our
way over to the Senator. We have a little less than four minutes
until we see all of his security team” Ahmed said as he turned and
started slowly making his way over to the Senator.

Mo arched an eyebrow, but followed as
the group moved to within hearing distance of the
Senator.

“
Why don’t we just become
part of his group? Then we would hear everything and be up close
and personal with his security.” Will asked, looking around the
group for their confirmation.