by Mike Ryan
“Marchenko’s on the move,” Cole notified her through their radio.
“I’m ready,” Parker responded.
She got out of her car and stood near the back of it, waiting for the sight of his white sports car. Parker had on black heels, short jean shorts, and a white top that revealed quite a bit of cleavage. She also had her gun tucked in the back of her shorts, hiding under her shirt. If the reports on Marchenko were true, and he loved women as much as it said he did, he should stop the instant he laid eyes on her. She noticed his white car coming closer and she stood closer to the road and started frantically waving her arms in the air, hoping it’d get his attention and make him stop. It worked. He slowly pulled in just behind her car and got out.
“Thank goodness you stopped,” Parker stated. “I was trying to take my car to that garage up ahead when it just stopped.”
“Well lucky for you that I happen to own that garage,” Marchenko replied.
“Do you think you could help me?”
Marchenko ogled her up and down, liking what he was seeing. “For a woman as beautiful as you, I’d be delighted to help.”
Parker gave him her most seductive smile. “You’re such a lifesaver. I love that accent of yours.”
“I’m originally from Russia. But I much prefer it here, with women like you.”
“I, uhh, bet I could show you a few things those Russian women couldn’t,” she teased, touching his arm.
“I bet you could,” Marchenko said, believing he was about to have a lucky night.
“Maybe you could give me a lift back to my place and I can show you my gratitude?”
“Of course.”
“Oh, I left my keys in the car. Would you be able to get them for me? They’re still in the ignition.”
Marchenko turned his back to her and walked over to her car. He leaned through the open window and reached for her keys but they weren’t there. He withdrew his head from the car, and as soon as he did, Parker unloaded three rounds into his chest. She had a silencer on her gun to muffle the sound. Marchenko instantly fell to the ground, dead upon impact on the pavement. She moved closer to him to make sure there wasn’t still a breath of life left within him. She checked him for a pulse, but there wasn’t any.
“Target’s down,” Parker relayed.
“See, that’s why you’re the best person for the job,” Cole responded.
“Did you hear the shot?”
“Nah. Quiet as can be. Hold on. Konnikov’s leaving.”
“I don’t have time to get rid of Marchenko’s body. I’ll have to improvise,” she told him.
“I’ll follow him down.”
A few minutes later, Konnikov’s car came within Parker’s view. Knowing he’d recognize Marchenko’s car on the side of the road, he was likely to be suspicious. Parker figured she’d go into the frantic girl trying to help routine. She went to the side of the road again and threw her arms in the air. Once Konnikov’s car stopped, she ran around to the driver’s side to talk to him.
“What’s going on?” Konnikov asked.
“Something’s wrong with this guy over there. I started talking to him and he just collapsed,” Parker told him.
She looked to her right and saw Cole’s van coming along, stopping behind the car. Just as Konnikov was about to get out of the car, Parker withdrew her gun and pumped three more rounds into his unsuspecting body, splattering his blood all over the windshield. Konnikov’s dead body slumped onto the steering wheel, briefly blowing on the horn until Parker shoved his body back to rest on the seat. Cole quickly jumped out of the van and joined her at the car window, looking at the Russian’s corpse.
“Nice job,” he praised.
“We gotta get these bodies out of here before someone else shows up,” Parker replied.
“Here,” Cole said, opening the door and unlatching the trunk. “We’ll put them in the trunk.”
Cole grabbed Konnikov and pulled him out of the car, taking him to the trunk and shoving him in. Parker ran over to Marchenko’s body and grabbed him underneath the arms, dragging him over to the car. After he was done with Konnikov, Cole gave her a hand in putting Marchenko in with him. Cole closed the trunk, ready to dispose of the bodies.
“Where you wanna put them?” Parker wondered.
Cole looked around and saw a nearby parking lot for some manufacturing business. “Take the car in there and park it somewhere, then come back for your car. I’ll head back and keep an eye on the garage.”
“OK.”
Parker got inside the car and drove the two dead bodies to the currently empty lot of the manufacturing business. Luckily, the blood didn’t cover the entire window, as she was able to see around the blood splatter without having to wipe it off. She went to the corner of the lot in the back and parked it, throwing away the keys. She then quickly jogged back to the main road to get Marchenko’s car. She didn’t want to just leave it there either. She got in and drove it into the same lot as the other car, parking it next to the other one. She jogged back to the road again, getting into her rental. She then drove back to the lot that Cole was in, still staking out the garage.
“Anything else?” Parker asked.
“No, not yet.”
“Two down, three to go.”
“You all right?” Cole asked.
“Yeah, why?”
“Just making sure.”
“I’m good.”
They waited a few more hours for their final victims. Once again, at 7:30, the garage workers began leaving. The same cars were left as before, the agents recognizing them as the Yevenko members vehicles. Cole went into his bag and started getting his sniper rifle ready. Once he had it ready, he stroked it a few times.
“You treat that thing like it was a girlfriend or something,” Parker remarked.
“Treat it with respect and love. Take care of it and it’ll come through when you need it to.”
“If you say so.”
Though Cole was planning on taking each of the remaining members out from a distance, there was the fear that once the first body dropped, the rest would be harder to take out. Parker wanted to get closer so she could see the door and clean up whatever was left. She got in her car and drove down the road, going past the garage. She parked it on the grass and got out, running toward the back of the garage, hoping the darkness would conceal her movements. Considering she met with no resistance, it seemed as though they didn’t notice her. She moved around the edges of the building, going from the back to the side, giving her a clear view of the front door from her vantage point. Cole had turned the truck around and opened the back doors, making sure he had a clear line of fire. He laid down in the back of the truck and waited for the others to come out, looking through the scope of his rifle.
At nine o’clock, right on the button, the first member of the crew emerged. Boris Golov burst through the door, looking happy and like he had a little pep in his step. He went straight to his car and started unlocking the door. With his back to him, Cole pulled the trigger on his rifle. Golov was standing relatively still, making him quite the easy target. The bullet went right through the back of his head, exiting through his forehead.
“One down,” Cole stated.
A few seconds later, a second member of the crew exited, Viktor Yemelin. Cole didn’t even give him the chance to get to his car, or see the dead body of his friend. Yemelin had only gotten a few feet from the door when Cole let rip another shot. This one went into Yemelin’s left shoulder, dropping him to the ground. He got up relatively quickly, gun in hand, ready to face his attacker. Parker emerged from the corner of the building and fired a couple more shots, this time hitting Yemelin center mass. He dropped back down to the ground, but this time, there was no getting up for him. Loktionov came out seconds later. After seeing Parker with her gun out, withdrew his own weapon, ready to fire. Parker quickly spun around to meet him when he suddenly was thrust into the wall from the force of a shot. Cole, noticing that Parker was finis
hing up Yemelin, immediately focused back on the door, in the event the last remaining Russian came out. As soon as he did, he pulled the trigger on his final shot, ending the life of the Yevenko organization member. Parker went over to each member of the group to make sure they were all dead. They didn’t have any need to move the bodies since they no longer needed the element of surprise on anyone. When the bodies were found in the morning, once their identities were verified, the local authorities would assume it was a gang related hit. The bodies of Marchenko and Konnikov would most likely be discovered within a few days, once somebody realized that their cars were in the same spot for several days.
“How’s it looking down there?” Cole asked.
“Three dead,” Parker answered.
“Let’s get out of here.”
“What happened?” she asked once she got back to her car.
“What do you mean, what happened?”
“You missed one,” she kidded.
“I didn’t miss any.”
“Well, I mean, you hit him, but I had to clean it up for you.”
“Big talk,” Cole replied.
“What’s the matter? Losing your touch?”
“No, I am not losing my touch! It was dark and he was moving.”
“Uh huh.”
Chapter 5
With their work done, and their mission accomplished, Parker and Cole went back to the hotel. They were eager to let Burnett know that their assignment was completed and successful. They went to Cole’s room, where he set up the conference video feed on his laptop. They waited about five minutes before she appeared on the screen.
“Ma’am,” Cole greeted.
“Sorry it took me a little longer than usual, we’re getting reports in from all over the place about what’s going on,” Burnett responded.
“No problems. How’s everything going?”
“I’ll get into that in a minute. First, please give me some good news and tell me you guys have successfully completed your mission.”
“Yes ma’am, we have. Five targets, five kills,” Cole reported.
“You’re sure? You’re absolutely positive that they’re all dead?” Burnett asked.
“No question about it. We double checked all the bodies personally before we left. They’re as dead as dead can be.”
“Excellent. Thank you both for being agents that I can count on and rely on.”
“Thank you.”
“Now, for the rest of the operation. As it looks now, it appears to be a mixed bag,” she told them.
“Couple clunkers mixed in?” he assumed.
“That would be the polite way of saying it. So far, all teams have reported in, except for one. That’s the one that’s on Yevenko himself.”
“What’re we batting so far?”
“In baseball terms, great. In CIA terms, we’re below the Mendoza line. Out of the six teams that have checked in, four have successfully eliminated all of their targets, you being one of those.”
“Were the other two complete failures?” Parker asked.
“Not completely, no. In both cases, they were able to take out a few of the hierarchy. But that’s not good enough. Not for us, not for this assignment. We’re not satisfied unless we have a one hundred percent termination rate.”
“What about Yevenko?” Cole asked.
“We’re still waiting to hear back from the team assigned to him,” Burnett answered.
“What’s your gut say?”
“I’m not holding my breath. Does that answer your question?”
Cole nodded and glanced at his partner. “I believe it does.”
“When do you expect to hear about Yevenko?” Parker wondered.
“Hopefully within the hour,” Burnett replied.
“What about the others that got away?” Cole asked. “What’re the plans regarding them?”
Burnett took a deep sigh before answering. “We’re going to have to track them down. We’re not letting them get away and reform somewhere else. We wanted them eliminated. We’re going to have them eliminated. No matter how long it takes.”
“You want us to head back to the states?”
“For the time being. I have more trust in you than any other agents on our roster. When we decide to go after the others, I want you to be the ones who do it.”
“Uhh…both of us?” Cole asked, looking to Parker.
“Well, she does still have some time left. Do you have any objections, Alex?”
Parker shook her head. “No. It’s fine.”
“Thank you. I’d like for you to book a flight for sometime tomorrow to come back here. From there, we’ll regroup and give you a new itinerary.”
They ended the call and started milling around the room, discussing what they’d just learned.
“Well, you might get your shot at Yevenko after all,” Parker said.
“We’ll see. Sure you’re OK with everything? Tracking down a few other people?”
“Yeah. We’ll just have to make sure we find them quickly.”
Parker and Cole booked a flight back to Virginia the following morning, arriving in the afternoon. Burnett instructed them to contact her once they checked into the hotel that they usually stayed in when they were in town. She was waiting for them once they logged into the secure connection.
“Hello, team, I hope you had a pleasant flight home,” Burnett said.
“A little bumpy,” Cole replied. “But not too bad.”
“Good. We have worked out your next assignment.”
“Before you get into that, did we get Yevenko? Did he kick the bucket?”
“Unfortunately, he did not. The bucket was missed entirely,” she responded. “Three of his lieutenants were killed, but he, along with his top aide, escaped unharmed.”
“So where does that leave us?” Parker wondered.
“There are now five members of the hierarchy of the Yevenko organization still at large. They are Darius Yevenko, his top lieutenant Anatoly Lobanov, Oleg Arsenyev, Pavel Zubov, and Yaroslav Nikishin.”
“I’ve heard a couple of those names before,” Cole noted.
“I don’t find that surprising. Nikishin is the head of the Mexico operation. He was the only one there who escaped our wrath. Arsenyev is the leader of the Los Angeles faction. Zubov is one of his henchmen.”
“Los Angeles. Maybe that’s the tie in with Davis,” Cole surmised. “Maybe he met with them while he was there before we were fixed in on him.”
“That is quite possible.”
“So where are we going?” Parker asked.
“I have already assigned another team to find Yevenko and his partner. That leaves the other three for you.”
Cole smiled, pleased with the news. “Nice. We get two locations.” He quickly glanced at Parker and wiped the look off his face, not wanting to seem overzealous.
“So who do we take first?” Parker asked.
“Take Arsenyev first,” Burnett replied.
“Wait a minute,” Cole interrupted. “That means…we’re going back to Los Angeles,” he dejectedly said.
“Yes, Cole. You’re going back to Los Angeles,” his handler confirmed.
“Just when I thought I was never going back there.”
Parker let out a grin, amused at her partner’s misgivings. “When do you want us to leave?”
“I want you in the air sometime tomorrow.”
“Uhh…couldn’t we take Yevenko instead?” Cole asked. “That way we could hunt the top dog and leave the others to someone else.”
“I’m afraid the orders have already been established and given out,” Burnett told him. “I’m afraid you’ll have to deal with it. If you don’t like it, I can only tell you to hurry up and get it over with so you can get the hell out of there.”
“Yes ma’am.”
They concluded the call and Parker had a content look on her face, more so because of Cole’s hatred of L.A. rather than the assignment.
“Back to Los Angeles,�
�� Cole grumbled. “Again.”
“Don’t worry about it, Cole. Maybe it’ll be just as fun as you remembered it,” Parker teased, a smile still affixed to her face.
“Very funny.”
Then there was a knock on the door. Cole looked surprised, since they weren’t expecting anybody. At least, nobody that he was aware of. Parker didn’t seem as surprised for some reason.
“Wonder what that’s about?” Cole asked.
Cole walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. He sighed and looked back at Parker. She flashed him one of her best innocent smiles.
“I know you had something to do with this,” Cole said, opening the door.
“Hey, buddy,” Turner greeted, walking past him.
Turner walked right over to Parker and kissed her softly on the lips.
“I missed those lips,” he told her.
Cole rolled his eyes and grumbled. “Ugh. I have to listen to this nonsense again. Is there a reason you’re here?”
“Uhh, yeah, Alex invited me.”
“Oh she did, did she?”
Parker smiled at him and shrugged.
“Wasted no time I see,” Cole said.
“So did you get new orders yet?” Turner wondered.
“Yes, but we’re not at liberty to say where,” Cole replied.
“Los Angeles,” Parker revealed to Cole’s chagrin.
“You just had to do it, didn’t you?” Cole said.
“No way. L.A.? Really?”
“Yep. Shame you can’t come along,” Cole told him.
“Yeah. Hey!” Turner responded, an idea coming to him. “Maybe I can come along. I mean, it is my home turf. Nobody knows that area better than I do. I can help you guys. What do you think?”
Parker shrugged her shoulders, endorsing the idea. “We’d have to run it by Burnett, but I don’t see why not.”
“Yeah, but, I don’t know if they’ll let you go. You might have too much on your plate here to let you go,” Cole theorized.