by Mike Ryan
“Who would’ve told him that?” Cole asked.
Parker turned her head as she was thinking, noticing the phone on the desk. She walked over to it and picked it up, dialing the main desk.
“Hi. Has there been a call placed to this room in the last few minutes?” she asked.
“Just one moment,” the woman stated. “Yes, there was a call placed to your room just a few minutes ago.”
“Who was it?”
“It was placed from a phone in the hotel lobby. It could’ve come from anyone.”
“Thank you.”
Parker put the phone down and turned around to face Cole. “Somebody called him from the lobby.”
“He trapped us,” Cole replied. “He lured us here so he could nab Turner.”
“Why? Why would he want Ryan?”
“Well, if it’s true that this is partly about you, then what better way to torment you than by kidnapping your boyfriend?”
“I’m gonna kill him,” Parker angrily warned. “I’ll do what I was unable to do in the theatre back in L.A.”
“You know, I’ve been thinking, there’s no way Davis could’ve called Turner and got him to come down. He would’ve recognized his voice.”
“He could’ve disguised it.”
“Or maybe he used someone else.”
“We need to look at the security footage.”
Cole immediately called Burnett to tell her what happened and see if she was able to obtain the footage they need age. She told him she could but it would take some time. She’d have to call one of her contacts in France who then would have to go to the hotel before being able to share the footage. She warned him it could take hours.
“I don’t think we have that kind of time,” Cole stated.
“Do what you have to do, Cole,” she replied.
Once Cole got off the phone, he relayed the information to Parker. They spent the next few minutes trying to come up with a strategy.
“OK. I’ll get the footage we need,” Parker told him.
“Wait, why do you get to go in there?”
“It’s obviously gonna be easier for me to get access than you.”
“Why?”
“I think I have a couple extra assets that you don’t have,” she reminded him.
Cole made a face agreeing with her. “Fair enough. Damn. You always get the good stuff.”
“Now I’m assuming that there will be one, maybe two guys in there. Agree?”
“Probably.”
Parker undid a few buttons on her shirt to try and make herself a little more appealing, even though she really didn’t need extra help in that department. She went to her bag and un-zippered it, pulling out a handheld stun gun.
“Yeah, that’s real smooth,” Cole snickered. “You know I could’ve done that.”
“They’ll classify you as a threat the moment they see you.”
“How bout if I knock on the door and take out whoever I see?”
“And you think that’s smooth?” Parker asked.
“No. But it’ll make me feel better.”
Parker walked to the door and turned around to make sure Cole was following her.
“Are you coming?” she asked.
“Oh. Did you need my assistance?” Cole sarcastically asked. “I thought you could do everything yourself.”
“Come on. Just stand nearby in case I need help.”
“Roger that.”
They rode the elevator down to the lobby and within a few minutes located the security office. Parker took a second to collect her herself. Cole waited down the hall, looking out for anyone who might come stumbling by. Parker knocked three times on the wooden door. She heard movement inside and the door soon opened. The man quickly looked Parker up and down and wondered what he could do for her.
“Hi,” Parker said, smiling. “I was wondering if you and your partners in there could help me?”
“Oh, it’s just me right now.”
“Oh. Well I’m sure you could do the job,” she told him, feeling his arms. “You seem so strong.”
“Well I work out.”
“I’m sure you do. You see, if you come out and look to my right, you’ll see there’s a man standing there. He’s been following me all day. I’m a little scared now. Do you think you could take care of it for me?” she asked, touching his shirt. “I would be so grateful.”
“Sure,” he smiled, hoping he’d get a little lucky later on for his efforts. “Don’t you worry. I got this.”
“Thank you so much.”
Parker stepped back and let the guard step out of the office. He came out and immediately saw Cole standing there and pointed at him.
“You there. Are you bothering this pretty little lady?” he asked.
“Uhhh,” Cole stumbled, not sure what was happening to the plan. “Not really.”
“Well get out of here and don’t come back. Step foot in the hotel again and I’ll have you arrested for trespassing and harassment.”
Cole uncomfortably smiled as he looked at Parker. “Sure thing,” he nodded.
Parker waited for the guard to be standing in front of her completely with his back turned. She took the stun gun out of her purse and activated it. She took a few steps toward him and brought it up to the side of his neck and pushed it into his skin. The guard immediately dropped to the floor, completely knocked out. Parker fully opened the door as Cole rushed over to the fallen guard and grabbed him by the arms, dragging him back into the office.
“What was that?” Cole wondered.
“What? I had to improvise.”
“What happened to using your womanly ways?”
“I did.”
“I thought you were gonna seduce your way in here.”
“I used them to get him out. Besides, I have a boyfriend. I can’t be doing that kind of stuff anymore. Makes me feel like I’m cheating,” she quipped.
“Seriously? So you made me look like a pervert?”
“What’s the matter, Cole? Hit a little too close to home?” Parker joked.
Cole mocked her with his face. “No it’s not too close to home.”
“OK. Let’s focus,” she said, looking at the security cameras.
They focused on the lobby cameras and rewound them until the time they figured Turner went missing. Parker was focusing on the area by the stairs while Cole kept a lookout on the elevator.
“There they are,” Cole blurted out, pointing at the screen. “Zoom in on that.”
Parker paused the playback and did as her partner wished. She zoomed in on the photo. Cole squinted as he looked closer at the picture.
“He’s got a gun in his ribs,” Cole said. “Look. You can just barely make out the barrel of the gun right here,” he told her, pointing at the gun.
Parker let the video continue and they watched as Davis led Turner right out of the main door of the hotel.
“OK. So it’s as we figured and Heath got him out of here. We still don’t know how.”
“Well we know Turner got a phone call. Davis must’ve met him in the elevator. Let’s see if we can find someone making a call a few minutes before that.”
Parker rewound the footage in slow motion so they’d be sure not to miss anything. They looked at every area of the hotel lobby. After a few minutes, Cole thought he spotted something.
“Wait. Stop,” he shouted.
“What? You got something?”
“Over there. By the entrance to the restaurant,” Cole pointed.
Parker stopped and zoomed in on the picture of the woman on her phone, standing by the entrance to the restaurant.
“That’s gotta be it,” Cole mentioned. “What better way to get your guard down then use a woman to do it?”
Parker took her phone out and zoomed in on the picture of the woman. She got a clear shot of her face.
“What’re you doing?” Cole asked.
“Let’s run her through the facial rec. Maybe we’ll get something,” Parker replie
d.
“Good idea.”
They quickly made their way back up to Parker’s room. She hooked her phone up to the laptop and uploaded the picture. She started running the facial recognition software to try and get a match on the woman in the lobby.
“We can let that run on the way,” Cole said, handing Parker her bag.
“What? Where we going?”
“Can’t stay here. As soon as that guy wakes up he’s gonna start looking for us. Besides, might take hours to find a match on her.”
“Where are we gonna go?”
“A quieter hotel.”
They grabbed their bags and walked out of the room, not wasting any time in getting out of the hotel. They knew the guard wouldn’t be awake for a little while, but just in case someone found him, there was no point in wasting time. They found another hotel a few minutes away and set their equipment up.
“I feel so stinking useless just waiting here, hoping something pops up,” Parker frustratingly stated.
“Where you wanna go? Just walk around the streets aimlessly, showing a picture to everyone we meet and ask them if they’ve seen these two men lately?”
“I know. I didn’t say there was another way. Just frustrating.”
“I know. Just stay calm. If we get a hit on this girl. We make the connection. We follow the lead. We find him,” Cole plainly said.
“Maybe Burnett has something,” Parker hoped.
She called Burnett, hoping she’d have some kind of lead for them to follow up on. Unfortunately, she had as much to go on as they did. Nothing. It was ghostly quiet how little Davis was popping up on the radar. Parker then called a couple contacts she’d developed over the years, one in the police force, and two others who were usually on the wrong end of the law. The two criminals had dabbled in the drug trade amongst other criminal activities. They were small time players in the grand scheme of things but they usually had a lot of information about anything going on around them. In return for her not throwing a net around their dealings, they agreed to keep an ear out on things and tell her whatever they knew if she asked. All three said that they weren’t aware of Davis or where he was. Though one told her that he’d put some of his people to work and see what they could dig up.
“Anything?” Cole asked.
“Zero for three.”
They sat there for an hour, Parker looking at the clock every other minute. Cole snapped at attention once the scan stopped, a buzzing signal signifying that a match had been found. Parker rushed over to the computer.
“There she is,” Cole stated.
“Aveline Favreau,” Parker said, reading the results. “Twenty five years old, a few small time arrests, no known aliases.”
“Small potatoes. How’s she find a guy like Davis?”
“I think the question is more like how’d he find her. Her address is about twenty minutes from here.”
They grabbed their guns and flew out the door. They felt like they finally had a credible lead to work with. They could only hope that Favreau would be at the address, and that Davis, would be with her.
Chapter 8
Turner kept looking out the window as they traveled through the streets of Paris, hoping that Parker or Cole would miraculously show up out of the blue behind them, saving the day. In reality, he knew it wasn’t likely.
“So where we going?” Turner wondered.
“Oh, a little place on the outskirts of the city,” Davis replied. “Head to the apartment,” Davis told his driver.
“Why you doing all this?”
“Why? Because I can,” he laughed.
“You know what I mean.”
“Why I’m doing all this will be clear soon enough. I’ll explain once we get to our destination.”
A few minutes later they arrived at a studio apartment on the edge of Paris. Davis’ associate got out of the car and walked around it to grab Turner. They led him into the first floor apartment and sat him down in a chair. Davis walked in and turned on the TV before pouring himself a drink.
“Feel free to watch TV, read a book, whatever you like,” Davis said.
“Generous of you.”
“Well, it’s not like you’re going anywhere. So, make yourself at home until it’s time to go.”
“When will that be?” Turner asked.
“Tough to say. Depends on Alex and her partner.”
“Why?”
“You’re just a pawn in the game, Ryan. This is all about Alex,” Davis revealed.
“Why? If it’s all about her then why break into the CIA headquarters and steal classified intelligence?”
“I figured I might as well get rich in the process.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” Turner replied.
“Alex and I used to be a couple.”
“I already know about that.”
“I wanted to run off with her. Just the two of us. Get away from the CIA and this secret agent life. And for a little while I thought she was good with it. But after a few months she started drifting away. Then she drifted away so far that she didn’t even want to spend any time together outside of an official capacity.”
“I can understand why. Your bedside manner these days isn‘t quite like it used to be in college.”
Davis laughed. “Indeed.”
“So all of this is just because you felt you were scorned by a woman? Really? Cause I really don’t think that’s much of a reason to go around kidnapping, shooting, and blowing things up. I really, really don’t. That’s kinda crazy actually.”
“You think I’m crazy?”
“Uhh, yeah, a little bit. You know what most normal people do when a woman dumps them? They go on Twitter or Facebook to vent and say mean, nasty stuff about them. And then you know what they do? They move on and find someone else.”
“You may not have noticed this, but I am not what you would call…normal,” Davis said.
“Clearly.”
“Maybe that’s what the normal people do but when you’re an agent in this line of work, and you give yourself to someone, you can’t just go around venting…properly.”
“So why don’t you just call her and bitch her out or something then find a deserted island somewhere?”
“I have some plans for her first.”
“You’re gonna try and kill her, aren’t you?” Turner worried.
“No,” Davis said, shaking his head. “No. Killing is not what I have in mind for her. First I’m going to destroy everything in her life that has ever mattered to her. Then I’ll find a deserted island somewhere.”
“This is crazy.”
“Perhaps. But this has been a very elaborate plan to lead us up to this very moment. It’s taken work and pulling some favors to get us here. This is where it will end.”
“Why here?” Turner asked, before realizing what he was talking about.
“This place, this city, has special memories for Alex.”
“I know all about that.”
Davis smiled. “She’s confided in you the way she once did me. That’s nice. Be that as it may, I imagine at some point rather soon, she’ll be presented with some options.”
“What kind of options?”
“The same kind she was presented with the last time she was here,” Davis told him.
“You’re a sick bastard.”
“That seems to be the prevailing opinion.”
“You’re not gonna get away with this,” Turner responded.
“Oh, I think I might. You know, I bet you’ll get out of this without a scratch.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’ll bet she chooses you.”
“Over who?”
“Over me,” Davis said. “Or her partner. That trap’s currently being set as we speak. Shouldn’t be too long now.”
Turner’s face started turning red in anger. He knew what Davis was implying. He immediately started worrying about Cole, hoping he wasn’t walking into a trap whatever he was doing
. Turner knew if this happened, if Alex had lost someone else in this manner, she might not recover from it. He clenched his fists, wanting to get up and destroy Davis right then and there. But his henchman was watching over him and was sure he probably had orders to shoot him. Plus, he remembered what Davis told him about his sister. That’s probably why Davis hadn’t bothered to tie him up or restrain him. He knew Turner wouldn’t be able to take him or his associate at the same time.
“Oh, and just in case you’re wondering about trying something, this is Charles,” Davis said, pointing to the other guy. “I can see it in your face. It’s getting redder by the minute. Charles here doesn’t know you quite like I do. He doesn’t have the same emotional attachment to you as I do. Doesn’t have the history like we do.”
“What’s your point?”
“The point is if you get up out of that chair in any kind of threatening manner, Charles will shoot you before your ass can feel the air underneath you,” he threatened. “And while I’d really like you to be alive for the next phase of my plan, it really isn’t a requirement.”
“I really hope I’m there the day Alex takes you down.”
Davis laughed. “I like your optimism, Ryan. I really do. It’s very refreshing in this business. You keep thinking like that. You’ll go far.”
Parker and Cole had reached Favreau’s apartment, a little one bedroom end unit. Cole took the front door while Parker staked out the back in case she took off.
“This seem right to you?” Cole asked through his earpiece.
“Why? You sense something?”
“I dunno. After all this time, seems like a careless mistake to let this girl be his undoing.”
“Well if people didn’t make mistakes we’d never catch them,” Parker stated.
“True.”
“Maybe he didn’t realize she was in camera view. Could be a million things.”
“Probably just me being paranoid.”
“Yeah. We finally have something and you start getting creeped out,” she told him. “I see movement.”
“Going in.”
Cole kicked open the front door and rushed in. A startled Favreau ran towards the back door where she was greeted by Parker. As soon as she opened the door, Parker unleashed a spinning back kick that landed flush against the side of Favreau’s head, knocking her down. Parker stood over her fallen victim for a moment before helping the dazed woman to her feet. Cole came over after checking the rest of the apartment.