Everyone raised their drinks and took a sip. Whitney started staring at Trent again.
Her father asked, “So what’s next for our detective team here? Are you going to take out some terrorists next? Maybe end all the murder and famine in the world. You’ve set the bar pretty high with this first one.”
Trent said, “We still have to wait for sentencing to make sure something rotten wasn’t planted in the middle of this. These mob guys can really get their hands into juries and judges so I’m waiting for this to wrap up before I, I mean we, move on to the next case or job.”
“Maybe you guys should all form your own detective agency,” Victoria suggested as she sipped her Long Island Iced Tea.
“That does sound pretty cool, but like Trent said, we need to let the dust settle on this one. I’m sure we have more to do that will make the world a better place, right hun?”
“I’m with you on that one. With us working together, there’s no telling what we can accomplish,” Trent said.
Her mom hiccupped and swallowed before she said, “You know, the best way to form a partnership like that would be to make a big, lifetime commitment to each other.”
“Mom, butt out. See, I saved you from having to say it, Whit,” Victoria said.
Everyone laughed and Whitney couldn’t imagine a better setting. She had been thinking about getting married for a few months but didn’t want to say anything to Trent about it. He had never really mentioned anything about the subject. Their relationship had been rock solid for the past year, but Whitney wasn’t about to bring it up and possibly chase Trent away.
At first she had hated it when her mother brought up her hints about getting married, but now she hoped that it would nudge Trent in the right direction. Working with her boyfriend made Whitney see Trent’s professional side and fall deeper in love with him.
The night started to get late and Whitney’s vision was swirling. She hadn’t been this drunk in a long time. They left the Castle and she could barely keep herself off Trent on the way home. She jumped on top of him as soon as he put the car in park. He pushed the seat back and they made love outside his house before going inside for another romp.
Whitney Powers looked at her sleeping lover as the room started to spin. She thought she would be sick before composing herself. She lay on her side and looked at the man she hoped to spend the rest of her days with before falling fast asleep.
Chapter 15
Whitney and Trent sat in the front row of the Westley Court House in Pennsburgh. The amount of damning evidence against Benno Dante had caused him to drop information about the other crime families who shared a mutual understanding of territories and each other’s activities.
The boss’ confessions didn’t lighten his sentencing much because they had so much solid evidence on the entire family. The prosecutor had promised to seek the death penalty for the sheer number of victims involved and it had apparently scared Benno Dante.
Once people found out that the boss had turned state’s evidence, a strange thing happened. The criminals started to flip from the top down. The mobsters started singing about everything that had ever happened with low-level workers. The organized crime take down in Pennsburgh also had a psychological effect by making children and men fearful of getting involved in this lifestyle.
Nearly every day, a new headline emerged about a new story stemming from the arrests. Mr. Dante didn’t stop with implicating only his illegal friends. He told the law about his ties to shady banks and businesses along with several government officials. Whitney had never imagined the roots of the criminal enterprise had spread this far. Seemingly good people had been ensnared by the mob and the pursuit of filthy lucre.
She looked at Trent and felt extreme pride about the results of this adventure. She had solved the case initially for the ghosts and Susan Foley, but the scope had widened and resulted in helping so many more people than the intended few. Trent had already taken down a similar operation in his old city but this was a new feeling for Whitney.
This sentencing represented the culmination of all the hard work that she had put in to solve the initial case. After interacting with ghosts, being shot at and continuing to be a target of the Dante Crime family to this day, she felt she deserved credit for her steadfast, albeit reckless, determination. She believed that all the danger had been worth it and she would do it again. She turned her attention back to the judge.
“And I, therefore, sentence you to life in prison without the possibility of parole,” the judge continued talking but Whitney tuned out.
She had heard everything she needed and judging by the way Trent squeezed her hand in response to the sentencing, he was excited too. Not only had they taken out the boss of the biggest crime family in Pennsburgh, but by doing so, they had also sent a sobering message that people from the top to the bottom of the mob weren’t safe from the law.
All the officers and agents in attendance started to celebrate quietly with congratulatory handshakes all around. Trent and Whitney started to mingle and she felt like a real law enforcement worker. Everyone had accepted her as an equal after she had officially received security clearance. Most of them had been immediately impressed about her take down of Joey Left Shoe.
Whitney watched as Benno Dante was led away in his orange jumpsuit. The obese old man hunched over as he left the room. The thinning gray hair was the last glimpse she had of the man who had ordered the death of Susan Foley, her friends from the other world and many other innocent people.
Whitney neared the back door of the court house and looked around for Trent. She had taken extreme pride in this job after being in the boring library for the past ten years. She decided to go outside and wait for Trent in the summer air.
She pushed open the back door and a light scent of lavender wafted to her nose. Her entire family was waiting at the bottom of the concrete steps. She walked down to greet them and noticed everyone was holding a red rose in one of their hands.
When she got to the bottom, her two nieces approached her and gave her the roses.
Guinevere and Gwendolyn said in unison, “Here you go, Aunt Whitney.”
“Thank you, girls.”
Victoria came up next and gave her sister a rose, followed by Aaric. They both looked like they were hiding something as Bo approached with his rose. He handed it to her and backed away in silence. Next, her father handed over a rose with a huge smile on his face.
“What is going on? What is this all about?”
Nobody would say a word as her mother walked up with tears in her eyes. Whitney started to get really suspicious as her mother handed her a rose.
Ursula said, “Congratulations, honey.”
“Congratulations for what?”
Whitney heard the sound of a man clearing his throat behind her and turned to see her lover. He had a dozen long-stemmed red roses in his arms that he gave to Whitney. Trent dropped down to one knee and reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.
He pulled out a small, red box and opened it to reveal the most beautiful sight Whitney had ever seen. Clusters of diamonds scattered over a wide band of a black jade gleamed in the intense sunlight. Whitney looked down into Trent’s eyes and started to lose it. The dam broke and tears ran down her glowing cheeks.
“Whitney, we’ve been through a lot in the past year or so. I was ready to give up, thinking I would never find the perfect woman. When I moved to this small town, the odds were against me finding someone I could trust, someone I could be best friends with, someone I could fall in love with. I love you more than anything and the reason you are Whitney Powers is due in part to your family. I wanted them to be part of this special day. Whitney Powers, will you marry me?” Trent asked.
Without hesitation she blurted out, “Yes, yes, a thousand times, oh my God yes.”
Trent jumped up and kissed his fiancé as the two held a tight embrace on a hot summer day.
Her mother commented, “You said oh my God. Does th
at mean you believe in God now? Trent, I love you more with each passing day.”
Whitney looked over at her mom. “Stop reading between the tea leaves. You are reading way too much into a statement I made on the spur of the moment. Maybe someday.”
“A mother can dream, right? I am so happy for you,” her mother said as the family rushed her for a group hug.
Everyone congratulated the glowing lovers and Whitney was amazed at how her life just kept getting better and better. She loved that Trent had involved her family. A warm feeling surrounded her heart and Whitney felt like she was walking on air as everyone went back to their cars.
They were going back to the Castle to celebrate the occasion when a voice called out, “Excuse me. Excuse me.”
She turned around to see an older gentleman in a trench coat and a suit underneath. She expected the man to be sweating, but his shiny forehead and bright red hair were free of perspiration. As he neared, Whitney recognized him.
The Chief of the Bureau of Intelligence slowly walked up and said, “I wanted to congratulate you two on the tremendous job you did with the Dante Crime Family.”
“Thank you. That means so much coming from such a respected man like you.”
“If there is one thing we celebrate at the Bureau, it’s good work. We recognize it and under the recommendation of pretty much all of your peers and superiors, we would like both of you to come work for the Bureau in the Capitol. We’re talking international cases that require the special kind of skill set that you two showed with this case,” said the Chief, John McTalbot.
“Well, I don’t know, I suppose we would have to talk about it, right Trent?”
“Yes, we have to talk about everything now.” Trent smiled. “I have to say it is an incredible opportunity. When would we have to move?”
The Chief replied, “Immediately. We have something brewing right now that I feel you two would be perfect for. It’s the most important issue I’ve seen raised in my entire tenure in the Bureau. If you guys are up to it.”
Whitney felt a strange breeze on the back of her neck and heard a whisper from another world.
The voice said, “We will help you on this new adventure. Fear not, Whitney Powers, fear not.”
“We accept. I can’t pass up a good challenge and I’m pretty sure you would say the same thing, honey.”
“We are on the same page on this one. I can’t wait to see what we can do to help on this matter,” Trent agreed.
Her mother objected, “No, you can’t move away. What about our Friday night cocktail parties? They won’t be the same without you.”
“I understand that mom, but the security of the nation and possibly the world is going to have to trump those parties for a while. Chief, why don’t you join us at my sister’s house for a small get-together so we can say goodbye to the family?”
“There’s one thing you need to learn about the Bureau. Socializing with other agents is completely inappropriate. In fact, moving forward, you two shouldn’t spend any time together in private,” the Chief advised.
“Well I didn’t know about…”
Whitney was cut off by Chief McTalbot’s booming laugh. Everyone else joined in and they all went back to Aaric and Victoria’s house before Whitney and Trent left for a new adventure in life.
Thank you for reading the 1st Adventure for Whitney and Trent. If you want to continue the journey with Book 2, please visit the Official Whitney Powers Page: http://jasonpaulricebooks.com/official-whitney-powers-page/
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Here is a sneak peek of the first chapter for Roam Around The World: Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventure #2.
Bonus Chapter from Roam Around The Earth-The 2nd Book in the Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventure Series
Chapter 1
Author’s Note: Some of the situations in the book might be similar to some current or past government events. This is not an attack or statement on any country, political party or person. I wholeheartedly respect everyone’s beliefs, heritage and political affiliation and the right to express those views. This story was only written for entertainment. Happy Reading.
Whitney Powers felt an otherworldly tickling sensation on the back of her neck.
She heard a whisper in her left ear, “The time is near for your next adventure. Don’t forget that we will make sure you get all the help you need.”
Whitney spun around and looked for her ghostly friend, but couldn’t find anyone except Trent, who sat at the desk next to her. The couple had been given an office to share since they would be working together on everything.
Whitney sat at her desk and leafed through updates on the latest developments around the Bureau of Investigation. She had been on the job for less than a week and most of her time had been spent being briefed on security clearances, job expectations, processes and filling out an extraordinary amount of paperwork.
She looked over at Trent and got a surge of pride for serving her country of Adoxia. She felt strange going from working as a librarian to being an agent for the Bureau. Most of her current colleagues had spent their entire careers in law enforcement and she hoped no one would resent her for the lack of experience.
Everybody, including the Chief, seemed to welcome Whitney and Trent with open arms. She had quickly found out that the leader of the Bureau was beloved by almost everyone for his dedication. Whitney discovered that he personally cared about all the agents and the integrity of the Bureau.
Whitney had never spent an extended period of time away from home and being in the Capitol had already started to wear on her. She hated the constant city traffic and living on the thirteenth floor of an apartment building. Studying up on the immense handbook of regulations had dominated most of her time since arriving.
One of her fellow agents named Barrett Nedhurst walked through the open door and said, “Powers, Merrick, Chief wants to see you in his office.”
Whitney glanced over and made eye contact with Trent who appeared as confused as she was. They got up and walked down the hallway of the agents’ offices to the very end. Trent knocked on the door.
“Come in,” sounded the Chief’s deep voice.
Trent opened the door and let Whitney in before following right behind.
“Sit, sit, there’s something we need to discuss,” the Chief said.
Whitney noticed that her boss looked like he had been slapped by the devil. His pale, perspiring face looked like he had just been violently ill.
No sooner than their backsides hit the chairs, the Chief slapped a folder onto the desk.
“Not more paperwork. I’m so sick of filling out forms, taking lie detector tests, learning alarm codes. How many pages is this one?”
The Chief looked into Whitney’s eyes and she could tell this was serious. He said, “This is what I had alluded to back at Pennsburgh. However, it’s gotten ten times bigger according to some new intelligence. There’s a dossier inside. You need to read it carefully.”
Trent picked up the sealed white folder and prepared to open it.
The Chief said, “No. Not here. This shouldn’t even leave this building, but this is so preliminary, you need to take this and keep it protected. There are some incredibly serious accusations inside there. I don’t know if it is true or not, but it merits initial investigation.”
“We will treat the dossier with the highest sensitivity, you can rest assured,” Trent told the Chief.
“I’m counting on you to keep this quiet. You are the only ones to have this document so I will know it’s one of you two if this gets out. Tomorrow, we will discuss any questions you might have and I imagine there will be plenty,” the Chief opined.
“Thank you, Chief.”
“Sir, we’ll do our best to make the country and Bureau proud,”
Trent promised.
The newly engaged couple had to sit through traffic and Whitney had to curb her impatience to rip open the folder in the car. She controlled herself until they got home and into their apartment. The Bureau had set them up in plush accommodations with leather furniture and rich mahogany tables and desks.
They sat down at a Cherrywood table. She tore open the top of the folder and pulled out the thin dossier. It was only about fifteen pages long and the heading was marked, ‘President and Associate Actions Involving Foreign Governments’. They read the entire document twice and Whitney realized why the Chief had looked so bad.
The disturbing file touched on the most serious matter Whitney had ever encountered. The words that stuck out were back-door or clandestine meetings, conspiracy and compromised politicians. However, there was a word omitted from the dossier that worried her even more; treason.
The current President had just taken over four months ago and Whitney really liked Alan Gergen, the former Governor of the state of Redinell. She couldn’t even imagine that the sweet-looking old man could be behind all the nefarious activities described in the dossier.
After sitting in silence, Trent said, “You realize what this means if true, right?”
“It means our President is a traitor. Plain and simple. If true though, of course. Do you know who Erick Emerson from the IA of Beraglenn is?”
“Can’t say as I do, but I do have a lot of friends in the IA community in Beraglenn. They have organized crime over there too and we’ve often compared patterns. Let me make some calls and see what I can find out,” Trent told her.
Whitney waited impatiently and tried to figure out both ends of the conversation as Trent called his friends. She felt tortured because he didn’t want to tell her anything until he had talked to all of his contacts. He hung up after talking to five people about the matter.
“And?”
Whispers From Another World: Whintey Powers Paranormal Adventure #1 (Whitney Powers Paranormal Adventures) Page 13