Something Moore (Forever Moore Book 1)

by Hunter J. Keane

  “Secret Service, Ma’am.” His grip loosened just a bit. “I’m Agent Flynn and I need you to come with me.”

  “Why?”

  Agent Flynn was already walking away, his hand still firmly gripping my arm. I had no choice but to follow.

  “They are securing the area,” Senator Moore explained. “They’ll need to take our statements about what we saw.”

  “But I didn’t see anything,” I protested in futility.

  We were ushered down a long hallway with a group of men all dressed similarly to Agent Flynn. It didn’t take a genius to realize we were in the middle of a secret service bubble. They all wore the same grim expressions. Agent Flynn finally released my arm and moved to the head of the pack.

  “Friends of yours?” I asked the senator. He seemed perfectly comfortable surrounded by a half-dozen armed men.

  “They’re good friends to have,” he quipped. “We’re alive, aren’t we?”

  I couldn’t argue with that as we followed the agents onto an elevator. It only had one button, and we sailed up to the top floor without stopping.

  Agent Flynn turned to the other agents. “The penthouse is unoccupied and this elevator is one of the two entrances onto the floor. I want two men guarding it at all times and two men at the stairwell. No one enters this floor without clearance from me, got it?”

  The elevator doors opened and everyone moved into action. Everyone but me, that is.

  “Coming?” Senator Moore asked, looking at me questioningly.

  “I don’t think I really have a choice.”

  Agent Flynn waved me forward. “You don’t.”

  The penthouse suite was impressive, but I was too distracted to fully appreciate it. More agents milled about the main room, talking on cell phones and making plans in loud voices. Agent Flynn pointed to an oversized couch on the far side of the room.

  “Have a seat and get comfortable. You’ll be here for a while.” He hurried away without a backward glance, marching straight into the bedroom and closing the door decisively behind him.

  Senator Moore and I didn’t speak as we crossed the room and took seats next to each other, keeping a good amount of distance between us. I turned my attention to the television in the corner which had been turned to the local news. An attractive redhead in a skin-tight blue dress was standing just outside our hotel, looking serious but still sexy as she broke the news of the almost-incident that had just occurred.

  “Why the big deal?” I wondered out loud. Sure, a few important people were at the event but it wasn’t like someone had been shot.

  Senator Moore pointed to the bedroom. “I think it might have something to do with the VIP hiding in the bedroom.”

  “What VIP?” I hadn’t seen anyone but Agent Flynn enter that room.

  “Vice President Anderson is in there. He was standing next to me when the chaos went down and he was the first person escorted up here.” The senator turned back to the television looking bored. “So much for women and children first…”

  “I suppose you expect me to thank you for saving my life.” I gave him a look that said I felt the exact opposite of grateful.

  He shot me a surprised glance. “Did I say something wrong?”

  I shook my head, still feeling unsettled by the turn of events. “No, forget it. I’m still frazzled I guess.”

  “Let’s start over,” he suggested, offering his hand. “I’m Nick Moore.”

  I laughed involuntarily as I shook his hand. “I know who you are, Senator.”

  “Nick, please,” he said almost pleadingly. “So you know who I am, but I still don’t know who you are.”

  “Charley. Charley Tanner.” Nick raised a questioning eyebrow and I continued, “It’s kind of a nickname. I realize Charley isn’t a typical name for a woman.”

  “No objections from me. I like it.” Nick smiled for the first time revealing two rows of perfect white teeth. The smile erased at least ten years from his face and he no longer looked like Senator Moore. “I hope no one is waiting for you.”

  “I’m sorry?” My mouth suddenly felt very dry.

  Nick chuckled. “That didn’t come out right. I just meant, you were on your way out when all this happened, so I hope you weren’t meeting someone or they will either be very worried or very mad.”

  “Oh.” I had almost forgotten that I had been about to leave the hotel. That seemed like such a long time ago. “No, I wasn’t meeting anyone. I was just going home.”

  “Was it really so boring that you needed to leave before ten o’clock?” Nick tugged at the knot of his tie, loosening it imperceptibly.

  “I’m not much of a socialite.”

  “So what brought you to the event then?”

  I considered my answer and decided to go with the truth. “You.”

  “Me?” Nick coughed. “Well you certainly are forward.”

  I shrugged. “My brain is too fried to come up with a believable lie.”

  “You didn’t come here to kill me, did you?” Nick’s joke fell flat as one of the secret service agents entered the suite and went directly to the bedroom door.

  “I came to schmooze you actually.” Voices were being raised on the other side of the bedroom wall. “I work for Eva Porter and Children First.”

  “Ah, Eva. I know her well.” Nick smiled reluctantly. “This is about Bill 132?”

  “Your vote is key. It can make or break your future in politics. I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that.” I had read a lot about Senator Moore in the news over the past couple of years and I knew he was as politically savvy as they came. “You want to be on the right side of this one.”

  “And the right side is your side?”

  “I know we don’t know each other, Senator, but one thing you should know about me is that I’m always right.”

  “Nick. Call me Nick.” His blue eyes flashed and he leaned forward intently. “Tell me something, Charley. Why this bill? Why do you care enough about this bill to come to an event hoping for two minutes of my evening to give me the same pitch I’ve already heard a dozen times?”

  I could’ve told him right then, the whole truth. My truth was powerful enough to convince him. But I had never told anyone that truth, and I wasn’t ready to start now. “After what almost happened tonight, do you really need a reason? Someone was able to get within a few feet of the Vice President of the United States while carrying a gun. Isn’t that reason enough?”

  “No.” Nick shook his head. “It’s not enough. Passing this bill doesn’t guarantee that all the bad guys will stop finding ways to kill people. I’m sure you can agree with that.”

  “Life doesn’t have any guarantees, but that doesn’t mean you give up and don’t do anything.” I could feel a familiar annoyance building. “Look, people speed every day, but that doesn’t mean we get rid of speed limits. It’s safer to drive slower, so we pass laws to that effect. Bill 132 is the same thing. Yeah, some bad guys are still going to get guns but we should make it as hard as we can for them.”

  “What about the Second Amendment?”

  “Stop. You’re not honestly going to argue that the Second Amendment was intended to protect a potential criminal or mentally ill person’s right to own an assault weapon, are you?” I groaned and felt slightly better when I saw the corner of Nick’s lips twitch as he fought back a smile.

  “No, I wasn’t going to argue that. I was just trying to annoy you.” Now, he let himself smirk. “Has anyone ever told you that your nostrils flare adorably when you are irritated?”

  “Has anyone ever told you that you are kind of an ass?” I smiled sweetly.

  “Too many people to count,” he answered easily.

  I really wanted to stay annoyed but he was too darn charming. Nick wasn’t like the other politicians I had met in Washington. He didn’t seem to be at all impressed by his status and even seemed a bit embarrassed by it. We had been on lockdown for at least thirty minutes and he hadn’t checked his cell phone on
ce even though I heard it vibrating nonstop in his pocket.

  “Not that this hasn’t been a knee-slapping good time, but how long do you think they are going to keep us here?” I nodded toward two agents lurking in the far corner of the room.

  “No clue.” Nick shot me a sidelong glance. “For a bit longer I hope.”

  “Really?” I raised a surprised eyebrow.

  Nick patted the suit pocket that held his phone. “The real world waits on the outside. Plus, there’s the stimulating conversation we’ve been having.”

  “I’d rather be watching bad reality television right now.” But even as I said the words, I realized they were a lie. I enjoyed talking to Nick Moore, even if it meant being locked in a room swarming with secret service agents.

  “We could bust open the mini-bar and get drunk if you’d like,” Nick offered.

  “I like the way you think, Senator Moore.”

  The mini-bar was well-stocked and we had no problem finding a few drinks to take the edge off our tense situation. After three drinks made from overpriced mini-bottles of vodka, I managed to forget that I had only known Nick for the last two hours.

  “Come on. You can trust me.” I exaggerated a wink. “What really happened with the fiancé? Did you get caught cheating?”

  “Wow. That’s an extremely personal question.” Nick tried to act offended, but he was two drinks ahead of me and feeling good. “That’s not something I usually talk about on a first date.”

  “This isn’t a date,” I reminded him. “This is an imprisonment.”

  “Drinks. Awkward conversation. Hotel room.” He ticked each item off on a finger. “Sure sounds like a date to me.”

  “I’m beginning to see why you aren’t engaged anymore.” I finished off my drink in one big gulp. We both looked up in surprise when the bedroom door opened. We hadn’t seen any activity from the room in quite a while.

  Agent Flynn stepped out of the room looking like he had aged ten years. His hair was disheveled as if he had been running his hands through it and his tie was crooked. “You two are free to leave,” he said through tight lips. “An agent will drive you home, and we’ll escort you through the back exit.”

  “That’s it? You aren’t going to tell us what happened downstairs?” The indignation in my voice surprised even me.

  “An individual was apprehended as he approached the Vice President with a weapon. That’s really all you need to know.”

  “That doesn’t explain why you had to keep us trapped up here all night.” When I stood up, I wobbled slightly. I wasn’t sure if it was from the drinks or from not moving for the past couple of hours.

  Agent Flynn sighed. “Due to your proximity to the Vice President, we had to be sure that you were not an intended target. You were not.”

  Nick broke the tension with a joke. “For once, someone didn’t want me dead. I’ll count that as a win.”

  “You know, that’s something that was never a concern for me until you came into my life,” I said.

  “Until I saved your life, you mean,” Nick corrected me with a flash of his boyish grin.

  “Alright.” I clapped my hands together. “I’m ready to go. Where’s this back exit?”

  Agent Flynn took us down the same elevator we went up in, but headed to the back of the hotel as we exited. I glanced quickly to the right and saw that the main lobby was still locked down and swarming with secret service agents.

  “You’ll be able to avoid the media this way also,” Agent Flynn explained. “I hear it’s a bit of a circus out front.”

  “I imagine there are quite a few clowns out there,” I said, surprised when Nick laughed. Most people didn’t find my jokes to be very funny.

  Agent Flynn stopped short at the end of the hallway and pressed a finger to his ear, listening to whatever the mystery voice was saying in his ear piece. “Your car is here,” he said, pushing open an unmarked door.

  A black sedan waited for us in the alley.

  “No offense, but I hope we don’t meet again,” I said to Agent Flynn. He didn’t look the least bit offended as he opened the car door for me.

  Nick suggested that I be dropped off first, so I gave the driver my address and stole a glance at my phone. Seven missed calls from Eva, which meant she had been watching the news. Nick was busy with his phone as well, his brow furrowed in concentration as he read through his email.

  “Glad to be back in the real world?” he asked without looking up.

  It occurred to me that the last couple of hours in that hotel room were some of the most peaceful moments I had experienced in a long time. There was something to be said for locking out life, having a couple of drinks, and turning off your brain.

  “You might’ve been on to something,” I confessed.

  “I know we don’t know each other very well, but something you should know about me is that I’m always right.” Nick smirked as he threw my own words back in my face.

  I allowed myself a small smile. “This is me,” I said as we pulled up in front of my building. “Maybe I’ll see you around town.”

  “Maybe.” Nick looked like he was going to say more but changed his mind. “Have a good night.”

  I was halfway out the door when Nick stopped me.

  “Charley?”

  “Yeah?”

  Nick’s eyes narrowed as he thought for a second. “It was really nice to meet you.”

  “Ditto,” I said. “Thanks for the stimulating conversation.”

  “Anytime.”

  With that, I shut the door on Nicholas Moore, certain that our paths would cross again someday. I had no idea just how soon it would be.