by Mike Ryan
“You know, whatever’s bothering you, you can talk to me about it,” he told her.
Parker shook her head, and tried to break free of his grasp again, this time succeeding. Turner looked at Cole to see if he should try again, but Cole gave a noncommittal look and shrugged. Turner was determined not to give up until she had finally confided in him what was bothering her. Even if he had to take a few karate chops from her in the process. He walked over to her again and put his hands on her hips.
“Let me help you,” he said.
She shook her head again and looked away.
“Whatever it is, you’ve been carrying it with you for a long time and it’s eating away at you. Don’t you think it’s time to let it out and be at peace with yourself?”
“I can’t,” she replied, still shaking her head. Her eyes started filling up with tears.
“If it’s cause you think I’ll think less of you or won’t understand,” Turner said. “I get it. I know in your line of work that there are things that you’ll do that other people can’t comprehend. You make split second decisions and sometimes bad and ugly things happen. But none of that’s gonna change the way I feel about you. I’m here for you. I always will be.”
Parker wiped away the tears that were starting to run down her face. She thought maybe it was time that she finally released what had been weighing her down for so long.
“Promise me you won’t think less of me,” Parker said to him.
“Of course I promise,” Turner replied.
“Whatever it is can’t be worse than anything I’ve ever done,” Cole chimed in.
Parker sat down on the edge of the bed, Turner sitting next to her.
“One of my first missions was in Paris. I think I was nineteen or twenty. I was paired on a mission with another agent to capture a Russian spy,” she said with a big sigh. “After about two weeks we finally were able to get close to him. We found him and engaged in a pursuit where my partner and I got separated. He eventually was able to shake me and I lost him. I also couldn’t find my partner. He was gone. Two days later I got a call saying my partner was being held captive. At the same time, the Russian was about to board a plane, escaping us again. Also, twenty minutes away, there was an innocent family being held. Three options…and I only had time to choose one.”
“So what’d you do?” Turner asked.
“I chose to save my partner.”
“It’s understandable.”
“I thought if I saved my partner, we could then save the family being held, and maybe there’d be an outside shot of still getting the Russian.”
“You did what you thought was best.”
Parker continued with the story, starting to get emotional. “But by the time I got there my partner had already been killed.”
“And the family?”
“They’d been killed too,” she sighed. She couldn’t hold back the tears anymore as they flowed down her face. She tried wiping them away but it was too much for her to control.
“I’m so sorry.”
“A father, a mother, and a six year old girl lost their lives because I made the wrong choice. I got overwhelmed and wasn’t thinking clearly. I could’ve saved them if I was. The next day I saw their picture in the paper. They made it look like a car accident. I still see that little girl’s face everyday.”
“You had an impossible choice to make,” Turner said, trying to reassure her.
“I made the wrong one. Deep down I knew my partner was already gone. The only choice was to save those people. And I didn’t do it.”
“For all you know, they might’ve already been dead by the time you got there too,” Cole told her.
“Maybe. All I know is the choice I made wasn’t the right one,” she said, wiping her nose. “Isn’t there anything you’ve ever done that you regretted?”
Cole shrugged. “Regretted? Maybe. There’s probably a few things I wished I did differently. But I don’t stew over it. You’re not playing Halo on the Xbox. There’s no do-overs, or checkpoints, or restarting to try again. You got one shot at things. Sometimes you make the right choice, sometimes you don’t. Just part of what we do. I sympathize with what you went through. I really do. But you gotta let it go. It’s time to move on.”
“I just can’t.”
“Did you ever get the Russian?” Cole wondered.
“I caught him two months later,” Parker answered.
“What’d you do with him?”
“I shot him in the head. Ever since then, I told myself I would never let it happen again. I became cold, ruthless, aggressive. I became…” she said, shaking her head.
“And you became the best,” Cole reminded her. “You became what you needed to be.”
Parker looked up at him and nodded. She was almost afraid to look at Turner and see his face. Throughout telling the entire story, she didn’t look at him once. She was still afraid that he’d see her differently now and think she was a different person. She’d always considered herself a horrible person for letting that innocent family perish and never forgave herself. She tried to peek at Turner out of the corner of her eye to see if he was looking at her with a horrific expression. She continued looking down, fiddling with her fingers as she was still unable to completely turn towards him. Turner put his hand over hers.
“Look at me,” he said, putting his fingers on her chin to turn her head. “Nothing’s changed my opinion of you. You did what you thought was right. I’m not gonna judge you for that. I couldn’t even imagine putting myself in your shoes.”
“So you don’t think I’m a horrible, evil person?”
“Of course not,” he said, kissing her lips.
Cole grunted. “I’m gonna be sick again.”
“You were right,” Parker said. “It does feel good to get it off my chest. I feel like I’ve been carrying around this huge burden all the time.”
“You see? I told you before I was a good listener,” Turner replied.
“Yes you are,” Parker said, kissing him.
Cole sighed and shook his head.
“Thank you,” she told Turner. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
“Oh stop. If you only knew all the bad things I’ve done,” Turner said. “You’d never think of me the same.”
“Such as?” Cole asked. He was intrigued and could only imagine what stupid things were about to come out of Turner’s mouth.
“Uhh…well…,” Turner replied, struggling to come up with something. “Oh, when I was eight years old, I took a candy bar from a convenience store and put it in my pocket. I walked out of the store…without paying,” he revealed.
Parker chuckled as Cole rolled his eyes and turned away from him. “How did I get stuck with all this?” he mumbled.
They continued talking for the next hour as they waited for instructions from Burnett. Cole hated being stuck there. Even if they weren’t actively pursuing Davis, he’d rather be out in the field working on a lead or tracking something down rather than sitting and waiting. The wait didn’t seem to be bothering Parker or Turner as much as they were enjoying conversing with each other and really didn’t even notice the time. Once Cole heard the beep go off on his laptop, he eagerly jumped to answer the call.
“Have something for us?” Cole hopefully asked.
“I do. Thanks to Turner, we checked with our contacts in France and we got a hit on one of Davis’ aliases. It seems he just checked into a hotel there. So thank you, Ryan,” Burnett said. “Your contributions to the team so far have been noticed and quite frankly are making me wonder why none of us saw your untapped potential sooner.”
A wide smile took hold of Turner’s face. “You know I was wondering about that myself,” he gloated. He glanced over at Cole, who had a solemn expression and simply shook his head, effectively telling Turner to shut up.
“In any case, you three should pack your bags and head to Paris immediately,” Burnett told the team.
“Already locked
and loaded,” Cole stated.
“You said Paris,” Parker said. “What hotel is it?”
Burnett slightly hesitated before answering, knowing the history that Parker had. “The Hilton Paris Opera.”
Parker sighed and it felt like her heart sank a little. The pain was evident on her face. She walked back to the bed and sat down as Burnett discontinued the call. Turner walked back over and sat down next to her and put his arm around her.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Let me take a guess,” Cole said. “Same hotel you stayed at when you had your run-in with the Russian?”
“Yeah,” Parker replied.
“How does Heath know all this?” Turner asked. “He wasn’t your partner then.”
“I told him,” she dejectedly answered. “I thought I could trust him.”
“I’m definitely not liking this,” Cole said.
Chapter 7
Parker’s stomach was in knots as they entered the Hilton Paris hotel. Though she knew Davis specifically picked that hotel to play some mind games with her, she had to find a way to somehow block it out. She couldn’t let him win. They checked into their rooms on the fifth floor, Parker and Turner in one room, with Cole across the hall. They didn’t even take time to unpack as they hoped they wouldn’t be there long enough. Cole went into Parker’s room as they came up with how to approach Davis’ room.
“What room’s he in?” Parker asked.
“Third floor,” Cole responded. “What’s the plan?”
“We need to try to limit his exit strategy. His room’s in the middle of the floor. There’s nowhere for him to go. You take the elevator, I’ll take the stairs.”
“Why do I get the elevator?”
“Is there a problem?”
“You know how I feel about elevators,” he remarked.
“Fine. I’ll take the elevator and you take the stairs. Happy?”
“Yeah.”
“What about me? What do I do?” Turner wondered.
“Nothing,” Parker replied.
“What? I have to do something.”
“You can,” Cole told him. “You can stay here.”
“Oh, c’mon.”
“Ryan. If he’s there, he’s not gonna go down without a fight,” Parker said. “We can’t risk you getting caught in the middle of something. Just wait here until we get back.”
“Fine,” Turner sighed.
Parker and Cole checked their weapons and made sure they were fully loaded. They each took two guns with them. Their main gun they each tucked in the back of their pants, while the second weapon they attached to their ankle. They figured if Davis was there they were going to need all the ammunition they had. Parker gave Turner a kiss just before the two agents left. Parker and Cole quickly went to their respective spots, Cole rushing down the stairs as Parker took the elevator.
Turner went over to the TV and turned it on to try and take his mind off what was happening a couple floors below him. Just as he sat down on the bed the phone rang. He thought it was a little strange since they just got there. He wasn’t sure if he should answer it, though he eventually decided he should in case it was something important. He slowly picked up the phone as if he was afraid of who was on the other end.
“Hello?” he answered.
“Hi, Mr. Turner?” a woman greeted him.
“Yeah.”
“My name is Aveline. I’m with the hotel.”
“What can I do for you?”
“The hotel security staff is currently holding two Americans that you checked in with. They were caught with guns on the third floor of the hotel. They claim they’re U.S. government officials and we would like you to come down and corroborate their story.”
“Oh gosh. Yeah, yeah, it’s true,” he told her.
“I’m glad to hear it but we need you to come down to verify. That way you can see their faces and make the verification.”
“Oh. Yeah, sure, I’ll be right down. Where do I go?”
“Just go to the main desk and someone will be with you,” she said.
“Be right there.”
Turner quickly rushed out of the room and sprinted to the elevator. He started counting down with the floors as they passed each one. The elevator stopped at the first floor. The doors slid open, Turner not paying much attention to who was coming on. He was pretty much looking at everything else, wishing he could hurry it up.
“What? No hello?” a voice asked him.
Turner’s eyes almost bulged out of his head once he heard the voice. He knew exactly who it was. His head stayed still as his eyes slowly moved down in front of him to the man standing before him. Turner then lowered his head to directly look at him.
“Surprised?” Davis asked with a huge smile.
The doors slid closed behind them as Davis turned around to stand next to Turner, shoulder to shoulder. Turner then felt something jabbing him in the side. He wanted to look down but thought it best to just try and stay still.
“In case you’re wondering, yes, it is a gun that you’re feeling,” Davis explained.
“What do you want?”
“Right now, when those doors open, I just want you to walk out of here with me.”
“And if I don’t?”
“You’re a smart guy, Ryan. But that’d be incredibly stupid. First off, I’ll blast your guts all over these hotel walls. Second, I’ll go back to Los Angeles and do the same to your sister and her boyfriend,” Davis threatened. “Now, you may think your life is worth the chance. But do you really wanna risk theirs?”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Cause I can.”
The elevator doors opened and the two men walked out as if nothing was wrong. If Turner had any thoughts or ideas of trying to escape, they were tempered with wanting to make sure his sister remained safe. They calmly walked through the hotel lobby and out the door, getting into a car parked in front.
Parker and Cole were at Davis’ door on the third floor. They had been there for a minute or two, trying to hear any type of movement inside. They eventually got tired of waiting as Parker knelt down and started to pick the lock. It took her a little longer than normal since she was trying to do it as slowly as possible to avoid making any noises with the handle that could be heard by Davis if he was inside. She finally got it as Cole withdrew his weapon and held it out in front of him, ready for usage. Parker stood up and gently turned the handle to open the door. She forcefully pushed the door open the rest of the way as Cole barged in. They quickly scanned the room, nothing to be found. Parker closed the door as they searched the room, looking for any information that could be useful. They searched the desk, under the bed, the bathroom, dresser drawers, but had no luck. After ten minutes of searching, they had as much information as they came in with.
“Completely clean,” Cole mentioned. “Doesn’t even look like he’s been here.”
“Maybe he checked in without actually coming up yet,” Parker thought.
“Nah. This was too easy. Like he wanted us to find him here.”
“What would be the point of that?”
“Cause there’s something else he wanted. He wanted to lure us here.”
“What for? What else is there? Lure us away from what?”
Cole thought for a minute as his eyes danced around the room. Then it occurred to him. He knew why they were lured there. A concerned look swept over his face as he glanced toward Parker.
“Not what,” he told her. “Who.”
It took Parker a second to realize what he was implying. “Ryan?”
The pair rushed out of the room. Cole ran toward the stairs in case Davis was on his way down, while Parker took the elevator again. They both kept their guns drawn in the event they met up with their adversary. Cole reached the fifth floor and ran towards their rooms just as the elevator doors opened. Parker joined her partner as they reached their rooms. Cole shook the handle of the door to see if it was locked, but it wasn’t. He quic
kly opened it and the two went inside. Parker put her hand on her head and closed her eyes in disgust, worried about what might have happened to Turner. She just felt like crawling into a ball and pulling a blanket over top of her to close herself off to the world. She lost her grip on the gun and let it fall to the floor as she dropped to a knee. She put her head down, not sure if she could handle this anymore. Cole saw her despair and came over to her. He put his arm around her and grabbed her hand, pulling her back to her feet. He helped walk her over to a chair, sitting her down.
“Listen, you need to focus,” Cole told her.
“I can’t,” she responded, shaking her head. “If something happens to him…”
“Nothing’s gonna happen to him. But you need to be on your game. You need to be thinking clearly, and calmly, in order to get him back.”
“They could be anywhere, Cole,” she resisted.
“If you really care about him, you’ll get up, stop feeling sorry for yourself, and figure out where he’s at. You’re the only chance he’s got,” he firmly said. “He’s not dead, and he won’t be if you get your head on straight. It’s what you have to do.”
Parker looked up at him and nodded. She knew what he was saying was true. She had to stop the pity party and get back to doing what she knew how to do. Cole looked around for a clue when he noticed the TV was still on.
“TV’s still on. Means something drew him out of this room,” he noted. “Probably in a hurry. Just have to figure out what would’ve made him leave when we told him to stay here.”
“Maybe he thought we were in trouble,” Parker stated.
“What?”
“Why else would he leave when he knew what we were doing? Somehow he must’ve thought we were in trouble.”