The Gambler(29)

"Yes, but I'm a United States senator, who would dare do such a thing?"

"Bullets don't give a fuck. Now I need to know what else you're involved  in and if Jenna is in anyway involved. We don't have all day; it's zero  hour. The hit's been sanctioned for today, which means anytime after  midnight, which is now. Were you doing anything other than the expose`?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Don't worry about that shit, just tell me what the fuck is going on."

"It must be about that, it's the only major thing I've been handling in the past year or so. But … "         

     



 

"Okay, who did you piss off? I have some of the players but not all, and I still don't know which of them put the mark on you."

"This is all so confusing, I don't know … I … my own daughter? Can't be, she wouldn't go this far surely."

He got a bad fucking feeling at her words.

"Who's your daughter?"

"Her mother of course."





His mind started racing; Jenna wasn't afraid of her mother, in fact  she'd asked for her that first morning and a couple times since then. If  the mother were involved wouldn't she know? "Okay here's the deal, we  don't have time to sit around here and wait for this fuck whoever he is  to show up. Now you either come with us and I can get you to safety  until we figure this shit out, or you can call whomever you need to to  see to that shit. But I'm not keeping her around here for the  fireworks."

"I can't just pick up and follow you on your say so … "

"Fair enough, let's go." He tried turning Jenna towards the door but she  pulled out of his hands and ran around to the other side of the table,  trying to pull the older woman from her seat.

"Nana, come."

"That's it, she wants you to come you're coming. Boys take the old man  back there to grab whatever shit they need and let's go." He pulled the  pain in the ass senator up from her chair, and with her in one hand and  Jenna on the other, headed out the door.





They made their way back down the hill after a tussle with the senator,  who didn't want to budge. He'd grown tired of her shit and dragged her  out the house. He didn't know who was coming or how many, and though he  wasn't afraid for himself, there was no way he was ever gonna have Jenna  around that shit again. He was of a mind to leave a man behind, just in  case the hit man showed up, but he nixed that idea in the end. There  were other ways to keep eyes and ears on the place.

Jenna hadn't said much after they got her grandmother out the house, but  he did notice she seemed more relaxed. She kept looking back over her  shoulder to make sure the woman was following, only because Andros  refused to let her walk with anyone but him. He still wasn't sure about  anything, and wasn't about to put her at risk.

They made it back to the jet, with the senator complaining all the way  about being uprooted from her bed in the middle of the night. When he'd  had about all he could take, he turned a cold glare on her. "Lady, do  you get that someone's coming to put a bullet in your head?" Jenna,  sensing his agitation, started running her hand soothingly up and down  his arm. He looked at her, her pain in the ass grandmother forgotten.  How did she always know his moods? He gave up trying to figure that shit  out and instead of arguing with the senator, decided to think about  what the fuck he was supposed to do with her now that he had her.

Shit, he had her daughter locked away in a room in his house, two  seconds away from catching a bullet, now this. What the fuck had  happened to his life? Jenna, after pulling her shit and getting her way  decided it was time to take a nap. She rested her head back on his  shoulder; he took her hand in his, kissed her hair and rested his head  back against the headrest.





By the time they made it back to the mansion he was dragging ass but he  had shit to do. He thought he'd put Jenna to bed since she'd had another  long night, but she had other ideas. "Come on baby, it's bedtime for  you." He got as far as the bottom of the stairs before she stiffened up  on him again. Shaking her head at him, she made a beeline for his  office.

"Come senator, let's see if we can get to the bottom of this shit." They  all gathered around the room; the others had left for home. All except  his shadows, whom he knew wasn't about to budge, not once they were  unknowns in his midst. He could've told them that he could hold his own  against one old man and woman, but what was the use. They took their  orders from gramps and he wasn't in the mood for any of their shit right  now.

Jenna took up her usual position in his lap and leaned back against his  chest. He knew she was tired and he wanted to get her upstairs as soon  as possible before it turned into a thing.         

     



 

"Okay senator, start talking."

"I wouldn't know where to begin, I still don't quite understand what's going on."

"Start at the beginning, why did you start the expose`?"

"Well, that should be obvious, it was because of my granddaughter of course."

"Explain." She seemed to be taking her time getting her thoughts together.





"When Jenna was little, she was the sweetest little thing; sweet and  innocent. That all changed when she was about sixteen. My husband and I  started noticing the change. She'd be gone for hours, sometimes days … "

"Days?"

"Yes days, which was strange, because up until then I don't think she'd  ever been out of her mother's sight for more than a few hours; she'd  been homeschooled you see. Then suddenly I'd call the house and she'd be  gone, and Sonia would give me all these vague excuses as to her  whereabouts. You have to understand; my daughter and I had been  estranged for many years. In fact not many people even know I have  another daughter. You see she got involved with Paulie, that's my son in  law, when she was a teenager. I didn't approve of him and she ran away.



She was gone for years, no matter how many people I hired I couldn't  find her. Then we decided that if she wanted to be gone that badly that  she'd essentially disappeared, that we'd give her her space. For years I  kept waiting for the phone to ring with news that they'd found her body  in a ditch somewhere.



Then one day we found them; by then she'd had the two kids and was  married to him. I didn't want to lose her or my grandkids again, so I  kept the peace. Jenna and I became very close. It was like having my own  little girl again. If you've spent any time around Jenna, you know by  now that she's very innocent in some ways, almost childlike, but very  smart in others.

The summer she turned sixteen, everything seemed to change at once. For  one, her father started hanging around that Bonata character. I'm not  sure what he was into before that unholy alliance, but I know they had a  good life. Then he and Alec became very hush-hush whenever I was  around. Jenna would be gone and nobody was saying anything. When I'd ask  Sonia she'd brush me off and make up some story. I started getting  suspicious and put out some inquiries of my own.





Now I knew that Jenna had an affinity for computers and any and  everything that has to do with technology. All you need do is put her in  front of one of those contraptions and it's like a new child is born. I  also knew from the snippets that were getting back to me, that some  unsavory people might use that to their advantage and not in a good way.

We found out essentially that Bonata was not only using her, but also  farming her out to others for a price. When I confronted Sonia, she  accused me of lying and trying to make trouble. Then she threatened to  cut me off from seeing Jenna. I tell you I don't know what happened to  my daughter. Up until then I would've said she was the best mother. She  never let Jenna out of her sight, was always over her, making sure she  was safe and happy. But something happened and she changed.

It's not that she didn't still love her daughter mind you, but whatever  they had her doing, was more important than Jenna's happiness and  wellbeing. At least that's what it looked like to me. I didn't like the  idea of her being gone for days on end with strangers, and when one of  the investigators I hired asked for more money to follow her to Monte  Carlo, I didn't know what to think.

Instead, Hal and I decided to get on a plane ourselves and go see what  was really going on. That's when it all started, when we realized what  those animals were doing. What started out as a grandmother's curiosity  became an international affair.

"What exactly did you find?"

"A ring; I guess that's what you would call it. They set up a ring of  these innocents, girls and boys alike, that they exploited. Some of the  girls were sold into prostitution; I give thanks everyday that at least  she was spared that. She had other more lucrative talents I suppose.  She's aces at the computer but there's one other place where she  excels."