Another Vice (Forever Moore Book 2) Read online

  Another

  Vice

  Forever Moore Series

  Hunter J. Keane

  Kindle Edition

  Copyright © 2017 by Hunter J. Keane

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Kindle Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the author.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Charley

  “Charley. Pay attention.”

  I flinched as two hands smacked together in front of my face, a puff of air ruffling my hair.

  “What?” I snapped before realizing the hands belonged to my boss, Eva Porter. I softened my tone. “What do you need, Eva? I’m trying to get this press release out the door.”

  “Someone is snippy today,” she said, shaking her head in disapproval. “It seems to me like you could use some fun in your life.”

  I groaned under my breath. Eva was always forcing me to participate in socially awkward events. “What now?”

  She nodded as if I had proved her point. “Yep, this is exactly what you need.” She held out an ivory colored envelope, which I took reluctantly. “Fundraiser. Tonight. Be there.”

  I glared at Eva and slipped the invitation from the envelope. As I read over the details, I tried to think of a good reason why I couldn’t attend the event. “I’d love to go, Eva. Honestly. But–”

  “Stop.” Eva dismissed my argument with a wave of her hand. “I don’t want to hear whatever pathetic excuse you were about to give: I have a date, or I have a dentist appointment, or I’m having my spleen removed. We both know you were about to make up an excuse because we both know you lead a pathetically dull and uneventful life.”

  She had me. It was no secret that I spent most of my life at work and when I wasn’t working, I spent my time alone in my small, one-bedroom apartment eating takeout and watching bad television. It might be a dull and uneventful life, but I liked it that way.

  “Eva, this invitation is addressed to you.” I tried to hand it back to her. “I’m not going to an event where my name isn’t even on the guest list.”

  Eva’s grin was downright scary. “I guess it’s good that I called and had you added in my place. Now you have no reason not to go.”

  I had played right into her hands. “Fine.” I sighed loudly. “Who do you need me to schmooze?”

  Eva was the founder and CEO of Children First, a Washington D.C. non-profit that focused on everything from literacy to gun violence. I had been working there almost a year as the event coordinator/marketing specialist/legislative advocate/whatever Eva decided I should be doing on a given day. One of my primary responsibilities at Children First was to attend any event where politicians might be and shove our cause down their throats.

  “Senator Moore is supposed to make an appearance.” Eva actually winked at me. “If you can get past whatever escort he’ll be wearing, I need you to push him on Bill 132.”

  Bill 132 was Eva’s baby. It was a gun-control bill that would ban assault weapons and right now it was at least five votes shy of passing in the Senate. Senator Nicholas Moore was an independent and by all accounts undecided on the bill.

  “Are you sure you don’t want to do this instead?” I was still perfecting my lobbying skills and Eva was a veteran when it came to cornering and convincing politicians. No doubt she would have Senator Moore voting “yay” in a matter of minutes.

  “You’ve got this,” Eva said with a stiff nod. “Just remember the advice I’ve been giving you, and don’t take no for an answer.”

  I started to turn back to my neglected press release when Eva added, “Oh, and if Moore makes a pass at you, your answer should be yes.”

  Washington social events were not my thing. I didn’t like making small talk, hated mingling with strangers, and barely tolerated mediocre appetizers and supersized egos. But my job required me to play nice for the night, so that’s exactly what I did.

  I discussed the weather with a Washington reporter, exchanged brownie recipes with a Senator’s wife, and debated the merits of affirmative action with a legislative aide. After two hours of feigning interest in the people around me, I was exhausted. I was also relatively certain that Senator Moore wasn’t going to make an appearance. After slamming one more glass of champagne, my fifth of the night, I teetered as confidently as possible from the ballroom.

  My heels were high and I was drunk– the combination was guaranteed to lead to disaster. I made it down the long hall to the front entrance of The Capitol Hotel, but a group of men blocked my exit. I tried to step around them, but the group was too large. My one recourse was to push through the middle.

  “Excuse me,” I growled, annoyed that leaving had turned into such a challenge. None of the men moved. I cleared my throat and tried again, louder. “I said, excuse me.”

  The man standing directly in front of me finally stepped to the side and glanced over his shoulder. “I’m sorry, Miss. Gentlemen, let’s make some room.”

  The face… The voice… I had found Senator Moore. I now had a clear path to the door, but I was no longer anxious to leave. After standing there staring at the senator blankly for several seconds, he asked, “Did you need something?”

  I shook away my hesitation. My mission had been to corner Senator Moore, but now that I was standing less than two feet away I couldn’t think of a single thing to say to him. Instead, I stuck with my original plan. “No. Sorry.”

  The path that had been cleared was narrow, and I had to step carefully between the men. I felt the warmth of Senator Moore’s hand on the small of my back as he helped guide me and I tensed. I didn’t have time to figure out why his touch made me anxious because at that moment someone yelled, “Gun!”

  Men began to yell and the crowd around me pushed me backward. I stumbled and someone caught me by the arm and crushed me to their body, bringing us both to the ground.

  “Stay down,” Senator Moore said, his voice steady and certain.

  My heart was pounding in my chest and it took me several attempts to find my voice. “What happened?”

  He was huddled around me and my head was tucked close to his chest. This meant I was shielded from potential danger, but I also couldn’t see anything but the pinstripes on Senator Moore’s shirt.

  “Someone pulled out a gun. The Capitol police are handling the situation.”

  “Gun? Why?” It was taking me some time to catch up. It was like my brain had shut down.

  “That isn’t something I can answer presently.”

  At last my brain clicked back into the right gear. “Did they catch him? If not, we need to get out of here.” I jerked away so that I could get a better look at what was happening around me.

  To our left, dozens of well-dressed people were huddled around the room, many of them hiding behind furniture and columns. I fought back a wave of déjà vu and turned to the right. Three men in suits were pinning another man to the ground. The man wasn’t fighting them, but his head was turned toward us and his burning eyes were focused in our direction.

  “Senator, I need you to come with me.”

  Another man towered over us, a covert earpiece tucked into one ear and a gun bulging conspicuously beneath his suit jacket. He reached down to help me to my feet.

  “Where?” Senator Moore asked as he stood, smoothing wrinkles from his dress pants.
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  “We’ve secured a room.”

  “A room? Who’s we?” The well-dressed, armed man didn’t seem like a normal security guard and his grip on my arm was nearly painful.

  “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. Yes, 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 once 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.”