by Mike Ryan
“But he’s not trained,” Cole said.
“Well then it’ll be your job to make him ready.”
“But he’s got a job here and a life here already,” Parker chimed in.
“So quit. We’ve hired informants on lesser circumstances,” Burnett stated. “You wanted him protected. Well, the safest place I can think of is right next to you.”
Parker looked at Turner to see what he was thinking. He seemed stunned, but not really opposed to the idea.
“Are you OK with this?” Parker asked.
“Uhh….yeah…yeah. I think this could work,” Turner answered.
“What about your job?”
“I was beginning to hate it there anyway. Like I told you before, it’s just a job. You’re more important.”
“What about your sister? I mean, we could be gone for months, maybe even a year.”
“I’ll just tell her I’m going with you.”
“Better make it quick,” Cole told him. “You need to pack and be ready soon. We need to have wheels up by noon.”
“Your life might never be the same again if you do this,” Parker warned.
“My life hasn’t been the same since you walked into it,” Turner said. “And I wouldn’t change it.”
They kissed as Cole grunted in the background. “Get a room,” he told them.
“Umm…we’re in a room,” Turner replied.
Cole drove them back to the house so Turner could get packed. He wasn’t a clothes magnet, so he really didn’t have a whole lot to take with him. He only grabbed one suitcase and put whatever he had in there plus his laptop. Cole gave Parker some of her old stuff back that she’d left behind so she was ready in a matter of minutes. Vicky wasn’t home so Turner couldn’t say goodbye in person like he wanted. He hoped that she wouldn’t be mad at him for it. On the way to the airport, Turner called Vicky but she didn’t pick up. He didn’t want to leave her a voicemail. He wanted to actually talk to her. He didn’t figure that was the kind of news he should just leave in a message. Turner then called GameTech and quit his position. They tried to talk him out of it but when he told them he was going out of the country, they knew his mind was already made up. He tried to call Vicky again, this time she answered.
“What’s up, big brother?” she answered.
“Hey. I just wanted to let you know that I’m gonna be gone for a while,” he said, talking fast.
“What do you mean? Where are you going?”
“Well Alex and I are at the airport. Her company needs her to come back today for an emergency…and they offered me a job too. Doing some computer work. So I accepted and quit GameTech.”
“Oh my God. That’s really sudden,” Vicky said.
“Please don’t be mad at me. It’s a chance for us to be together without doing the long distance thing,” he reassured her.
“No, it’s OK. I’m not mad. I mean, you deserve to be happy, and she makes you happy. So if this is what you want, I’m fine with it.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Of course. I just wish it wasn’t so sudden. I mean, dad’s coming for Thanksgiving and now you and Alex won’t be here.”
“I know. I know. I’m really sorry about that. It just couldn’t be helped. I had to make a decision now or the position would’ve went to someone else.”
“I understand. It’s a big change for you. You’ll get to see other parts of the world. That’ll be nice.”
“Yeah.”
“So how long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know. A few months probably.”
“Where are you heading, anyway?” she wondered.
“You know, I’m not really sure the exact location. South America somewhere I think.”
“Just be careful. Some of those areas aren’t really that safe.”
“I got my bodyguards on standby,” Turner joked.
“I’m gonna miss you.”
“I know. I’ll miss you too.”
“Just don’t forget about me, OK?”
“I’ll email and call you ten times a week.”
“You don’t need to go overboard, Ryan. A few times a week is fine. Just remember I’m here.”
“Oh. Could you do me a favor and put all my stuff in the apartment in storage? Just hire someone and I’ll pay for it.”
“Sure. I can do that.”
“Well, I have to be going. I’ll talk to you soon, OK?”
“All right. Love you. Tell Alex I said hi.”
“I will. Love you too.”
Cole looked at Turner as soon as he hung up. “Well that was touching.”
“Just zip it, OK?”
“One of the things you’ll learn about working as an agent.”
“What’s that?”
“How to leave at a moments notice.”
“She OK?” Parker asked.
“Yeah. She’s good. She just wants me to be happy.”
“Are you?”
“As long as I’m with you,” he told her, giving her a kiss.
Cole closed his eyes and grunted. “I don’t know how much I can put up with you two and your lovey dovey nonsense.”
“You want a kiss too, Cole?” Turner joked.
“You take one step towards me and it’ll be your last.”
They boarded the plane a few minutes later, Turner grabbing the window seat. They had quite a long flight, which gave them plenty of time to talk about their plans. Turner remembered the last thing that Davis said and wondered if it had some type of hidden meaning.
“You remember the last thing Heath said?” Turner asked.
“Uhh, not really,” Parker replied, though she actually remembered it very clearly.
“Some foreign language or something. A la…something.”
“A la prochaine.”
“Oh. You know it, then?”
“Uh, yeah, mmm hmm.”
“What language is it?” he wondered.
“It’s uhh, French.”
“What’s it mean?”
“Basically it means goodbye for now. Or until the next time we meet,” she told him.
“So he’s saying there will be a next time.”
“Ryan, we already knew that. He’s just playing mind games now.”
“Wait, didn’t you two have something happen in France before?”
Parker just looked at him with a stare that indicated she didn’t want to talk about it.
“I mean, I’m not trying to pry anything out of you,” Turner quickly replied, trying to not get her upset. He remembered the death stare he got from her the last time he asked about France. “But maybe that’s a clue of where he’s going next or something. Maybe he’s going to France.”
“That’s kind of a big leap to assume he’s going to France cause he uttered one phrase in French,” Parker responded. “If he said adios would we assume he was going back to Mexico?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“What’re you going on about, Turner?” Cole asked, aggravated.
“Everything he said in that video was nothing but innuendo and bravado. He was like a boxer who sticks his chin out and dares you to hit him.”
“So?”
“So it seems like this is personal for him now. Maybe it always was. I don’t know. Outside of the Iranians in L.A., have you ever gotten any word about him trying to sell anything?” Turner asked.
“No.”
“Maybe cause he’s not really trying to sell it. What has he done? Make my life a living hell. Caused trouble for Alex. You see where I’m going with this?”
“You’re basically saying he doesn’t care about the secrets or the money and that this whole plan is to torture the both of us,” Parker said.
“In a nutshell.”
“Why? Cause she rejected him so he got his panties in a bunch? That maybe I could understand. But you? Why you? You two got along good in college, didn’t you? Sounds kinda flimsy to me,” Cole told him.
“If that’s true, it
’s not about Ryan,” Parker replied. “It’s just about me. Maybe it was initially about the money. Then when he saw how close Ryan and I were getting, it became more personal for him. It became about torturing me and seeing how far he could push me and punish the people I did care about. Because I was willing to leave everything to be with Ryan. Something I never would’ve done with him.”
“So you’re buying this too, then?”
“Makes sense, doesn’t it?”
“I guess. That gives some weight to what he’s saying about France then, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“He’s baiting you to come to France,” Cole said. “Why?”
“Let’s find Dickson first before we start jumping to conclusions on France,” Parker said, not anxious to talk about it.
“Fair enough. You don’t really think Davis is still in Brazil do you?” Cole asked.
“I would doubt it, but who knows anymore?”
They debated for a while about what to do with Turner once they arrived in Brazil. They weren’t comfortable sending him somewhere by himself and they thought bringing him with them would be a little too dangerous. Eventually, they decided that the safest place for him was right behind them, wherever they were. If there was any shooting, one of them would just have to shove him out of the way. Now that they weren’t sure of Davis’ intentions, the last thing they wanted to do was split up, especially with not knowing where he was.
When they finally arrived at the hotel, Cole gave Turner explicit instructions to stay behind them. If any shooting broke out he was to duck behind whatever cover he could find. Under no circumstances was he to get involved. They immediately took to the stairs to get to Cole’s room.
“Why don’t we just take the elevator?” Turner wondered.
“Don’t trust them,” Cole answered.
Cole and Parker withdrew their guns, preparing themselves for anything. A few minutes later they got to the fifth floor. Cole poked his head out the door just to make sure nobody was there waiting for them. Once he thought it was safe, the team quickly and quietly moved down the hallway. Cole and Parker took up positions on opposite sides of the door, with Turner behind his girlfriend. Cole looked to Parker, who nodded, signifying she was ready to go. Cole gently turned the handle of the door in case it was open, trying not to alert anyone who might’ve been inside. It was locked though. He took a step back and motioned to Parker that he’d kick it open. One big kick under the handle was all it took for the door to swing wide open. Parker dove through it, landing on her stomach and rolling over as she prepared to fire. Cole rushed in right after her, clinging to the wall. There was no sign of Davis though. They looked at each other, concerned that the man tied up in the chair was still sitting there with the hood over his face, motionless. There were no signs of a struggle since the room looked as neat as when Cole left it. Parker peeked her head outside the room to bring Turner in. Cole slowly walked closer to the man, just in case Davis left a surprise for them. He put his hand on the hood and slowly lifted it off the man’s head.
“Is that Dickson?” Parker asked.
Cole sighed in frustration. “Yeah. That’s him.”
Cole felt his neck to check for a pulse. There was nothing. He then felt Dickson’s arm.
“Cold. He’s been dead a long time,” Cole told them.
“He was probably already dead when he called us,” Parker responded.
“Most likely.”
“I don’t see any wounds or blood or anything.”
Cole glanced around the room and noticed a syringe laying on the bed. He took out a glove from his pocket and picked it up, holding it high in the air.
“I’d assume this is what did the trick,” he said.
Cole then went to one of his drawers and pulled out a plastic bag to drop the syringe in. Cole then called Burnett to let her know what happened. She told them to just sit tight for a little while. She’d send out a team to clean the room and take care of the body.
“Why kill him? He wasn’t a threat to anybody,” Parker stated.
“I think this gives credence to what Turner was saying. It’s just a game to him now,” Cole replied. “If this was anybody else we’d been tracking, he’d have been at least three countries away by now. The only reason to stay and do this is to prove he can get to us anytime he wants. He’s just toying with us now.”
Burnett quickly got a team out to Cole’s hotel to process the scene. They didn’t want to have to get involved with the local police as that would take a lot of additional time that they really didn’t have. While Cole and Parker waited for the team to clean the room, they tested the needle they found on the bed with a kit that the team brought with them.
“You can just test this stuff just like that?” Turner wondered. “Don’t you need like a laboratory or something?”
“Nah. That’s just movie stuff,” Cole answered. “CIA came up with a field kit that can be used to determine certain substances. All you need is the kit and a computer.”
“Hmmph. Amazing. How long will all this take?”
“About an hour.”
Turner stood against the wall and just watched as the CIA team completely cleaned the room, erasing any evidence that any of them were ever there. They wrapped Dickson’s body in a roll of carpet and carried him out of the room.
“Seems rather cold,” Turner observed. “Just roll him up with the carpet.”
“Can’t let anyone know we’re here, Ryan. Or that there happens to be a dead body,” Cole told him.
“What’re they gonna do with him now?”
“Fly him back to the states and bury him. Spy’s life.”
After another forty five minutes, the rest of the CIA team dispersed, leaving only Parker, Cole, and Turner as they awaited the test results. A few minutes later, Cole got what he was looking for. He got his laptop and started inputting some of the data. Ten minutes later, the computer beeped as a result came back.
“Just as I thought,” Cole stated.
“What? What is it?” Turner asked.
“Cyanide. With the amount in his system, probably killed him in about twenty minutes.”
“Easily obtained,” Parker noted.
“I was kind of hoping for something a little more obscure. Least then we might have a lead of where he got the stuff,” Cole said.
“Can’t do the same with cyanide?” Turner asked.
“Nah. Could’ve gotten it anywhere.”
“Really? It’s that popular among you spy people?”
Parker smiled at his naivety. “Cyanide is found in a great variety of substances. Almonds, apple seeds, tobacco smoke, insecticides, pesticides.”
“And the list goes on and on,” Cole remarked.
“Wow. Who knew?” Turner replied.
“So finding out exactly where he got the stuff from is pretty much next to impossible,” Parker told him.
“If it was something more rare, we could’ve found out who specializes in the stuff and tracked them down,” Cole continued. “It’s also extremely quick. A fatal dose for people is 1.5 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. It can kill you in a matter of minutes.”
“Understood. Maybe I should keep some of that stuff in my pocket,” Turner joked. “Just in case.”
Cole was breaking down the test kit when Burnett buzzed in.
“Did you get the results back yet?” she wondered.
“Cyanide,” Cole responded. “No way to trace it.”
“Well, I just received word from the techs looking over my computer. It seems that Davis did indeed tap into my computer.”
“Is it wise to be saying that on here?”
“The lab still has my computer. They’ve let me borrow one of theirs until mine’s been returned. This one’s completely safe.”
“How’d he do it?”
“I’m not sure of the particular details myself. Somehow he was able to remotely access my video feeds. They think he probably embedded some type of viru
s as an attachment in an email he sent to me when he still worked for us. They said it’s a very sophisticated program that is virtually undetectable unless you’re actually looking for it. If it wasn’t for you, I still wouldn’t have known about it.”
“At least now we know how he was always a step ahead of us. He knew where we were,” Parker stated.
“How bout we set a trap for him?” Cole asked.
“What did you have in mind?” Burnett responded.
“I’m not sure. If we set up a bogus call and feed him some false intel on where we’ll be, or send him somewhere, we can be there to nab him.”
“Let me call the lab and see if we can set something up before they terminate the program.”
“Before you go,” Turner spoke up.
“Yes?”
“I just have a hunch,” he nervously said, looking at his partners. “Are you able to check whatever contacts you have and see if maybe Heath is possibly on his way to France?”
“We have no chatter about it. Why do you ask?”
“Well it just seems like he’s making this personal, and his last words were in French,” Turner continued, nervous to say the next part. “And he and Alex have a connection from a previous mission in France. So…”
“That’s really grasping at straws,” Parker objected. “I really don’t think it’s got anything to do with it.”
Burnett made a face that indicated she thought it plausible. “Seems reasonable. I’ll check on it,” she said as the screen went black.
Parker started pacing around the room with her hands on her hips, obviously displeased and getting angrier by the minute. Turner and Cole looked at each other briefly before continuing to watch her pace around. Neither wanted to be the one to break her trance and risk the onslaught brought on by whatever was bothering her.
“Good job, lover boy,” Cole whispered, nudging Turner’s arm. “Now you got her pissed off.”
“Well how was I to know? I thought I was just helping. It seemed a reasonable suggestion.”
Cole cleared his throat. “Yeah, well, good luck with that.”
After five minutes of watching Parker brood about, Turner figured it was time to step in, though he was nervous about incurring some of her wrath. He knew that mentioning Paris brought up bad memories for her, so he knew something bad happened that she didn’t want to remember. But he thought it was time for him to be a good boyfriend and somehow get her to talk about it. He thought it was help her to get it out in the open. He cautiously walked over to her, stood in front of her and grabbed her arm to stop her. She was in a trance and didn’t even see him come over. Parker tried to shake herself free but Turner kept a firm grip on her.