by Mike Ryan
“None taken,” she replied, quietly listening to him rant. She was actually slightly amused by him at the moment.
With Cole going to bed, Parker and Turner went to their room. He was right in his assessment, but they did manage to keep the noise down. Cole got up about eight and immediately checked in with Burnett to see what their next step was. Parker and Turner slept in until ten. Burnett didn’t feel it was necessary to have all the members of the team on the call and trusted that Cole would relay any information over to them. Once Parker and Turner got up, they ate breakfast, then headed over to Cole’s room. It was just past eleven.
“Well it’s a good thing the entire morning’s not wasted,” Cole greeted, looking at his watch.
“Save it, Cole,” Parker replied. “We had a long night, we all earned the right to sleep in a little.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m just giving you’s a hard time.”
“It’s what you like to do best,” she smiled.
He returned the smile. “It’s up there.”
“So when do you wanna check in with Burnett?”
“Don’t have to. I already did this morning.”
“Oh. So what’d she have to say?” Parker asked.
“She wants us to get to Mexico either today or tomorrow,” Cole informed them.
“Tomorrow. Let’s make it tomorrow,” Turner chimed in.
“Why?”
Turner glanced at Parker before answering. “Uhh, I dunno, just figured it’d be nice to stay here at home for another day,” he shrugged. “Hang out with the family or something.”
Cole seemed unimpressed. “Listen, this might be your home, but it ain’t mine. I hate this place. We have a job to do, and that job includes finding violent criminals who are a threat to society.”
“Well, if you’re gonna put it that way,” Turner relented.
Parker sympathized with her boyfriend’s longing to be home for a day. “He’s right, Cole. I mean, we’re constantly on the move. We never take breaks. How about we just take a day to recharge a little bit?”
Cole looked at the two of them and shook his head. “You’ve gone soft, Parker. That never would’ve came out of your mouth a year or two ago.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not the same person anymore. I’ve changed.”
“Obviously.”
“Is that a problem?” she asked, annoyed.
Not wanting to get into an argument, Cole let it go. “No. It’s just the longer we wait, the longer it takes us to get there, and the more time Nikishin has to slip away. You know that.”
“I’m aware of that.”
Knowing she was now perturbed, Cole sought to smooth things over a little. “Look, I don’t begrudge you for what you two have got now, I really don’t. You both deserve it, and you both deserve happiness. Nobody deserves it more than you, you know I mean that. I just wanna get these guys and finish this.”
“So do I. Nobody wants this to end more than I do. Cause when this is finished, so am I,” she retorted. “It would just be nice to not be on a plane every single day. That’s all I’m saying.”
Cole took a step back and thought about what she was saying. “OK. How bout this? How bout I go down to Mexico today and start checking things out? You guys stay here today and finish up whatever family business you wanna finish, then head down tomorrow. Deal?”
“Sounds good to me,” Turner answered.
Parker was not as willing as her boyfriend, however. “Wait a minute,” she put her hand up. “I may not be as gung-ho as I used to be regarding this job, but that doesn’t mean I’m shirking anything either.”
“Uhh…what?” Turner asked, confused.
“I don’t know if I like Cole going down there by himself without backup,” she said, concerned about his welfare.
Cole made a face and sought to reassure her. “I’ll be fine. I’m not gonna get into anything before you get there. It’ll just be to try and dig up some information so that when you arrive we can go full bore.”
“I also know that if you find something, you sometimes have a hard time falling back on it and waiting.”
“I promise. No matter what, I’ll wait until you get there.”
“You’re sure you’re OK with this?” she asked.
Cole nodded. “I’m sure. We both get what we want. I’ll head down and start finding this creep, while you guys do you boyfriend/girlfriend thing with the family. Everybody wins.”
“OK. We’ll fly down tomorrow morning then.”
With everyone satisfied after coming up with a solution they all could live with, Cole finished getting ready. He was basically already packed, since he’d started soon after waking up. With a nonstop flight to Mexico, Cole figured to be down there by early evening. There was a flight leaving around one that he hoped to catch. After he left, Parker and Turner went to their room for a little bit. When she spoke up in support of his idea for an extra day, she didn’t know exactly what he had planned. But she knew whatever it was he wanted to do, she wanted to do it with him.
“So what’d you have planned for today?” she asked.
“I dunno. Nothing really. Thought maybe we could just do lunch. Just spend the day together without having to worry about missions or bad guys or anything,” Turner laughed. “You know, just a regular day, like normal people.”
“Yes, but we’re not normal people.”
“I know. But it’d be nice to pretend that we are…just for a day. Maybe we could see what Vicki’s doing and see if she wanted to hang out tonight. I mean, who knows when we’ll be back, right?”
Parker nodded and smiled, kissing him on the lips. “Whatever you wanna do is fine with me.”
“Maybe see if my dad can come too? He’s still in town,” Turner suggested, not knowing how she’d feel about it.
“I’d like that.”
Turner snapped his head back. “Really? No shaking or convulsing? No grabbing forks, or knives, ready to stab someone? No changing outfits multiple times?”
Parker laughed, knowing how silly it all sounded. “No,” she replied, putting her hands on his chest. “Your dad seemed very nice. Now that the first meeting’s over with, I’m not really as nervous anymore.”
“Good. Cause he really liked you, you know.”
“He did? He does?” she asked, sounding surprised.
“Yeah. He told me you seemed like a great girl.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Why do you sound so surprised?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “He really liked me?”
“He really did,” Turner confirmed, holding his girlfriend in an embrace for several minutes.
“Part of me feels guilty for not going with Cole.”
“You deserve to have some sort of life beyond all the killing and tracking criminals and stuff.”
“It’s just that the mission isn’t done yet,” she sorrowfully said.
“Alex, there’s always a mission. As soon as you’re done one, another one comes up.”
“I know.”
“If you don’t take time for yourself to just unwind, then you’ll become a big, heaping combustible explosion just waiting to happen…like Cole,” Turner laughed.
“I know. It just feels weird.”
“Come on. Let’s go out for a while.”
The two lovebirds went out, spending the entire afternoon together. They ate lunch, shopped for clothes, enjoyed each other’s company, and generally forgot about anything that was work related. As the day wore on, they went to Vicki’s again for dinner with the family. This time, Parker was much more relaxed and didn’t look like she was a deer caught in the headlights. She was talking, joking, laughing the entire night, showing off her pleasant personality. After dinner, they spent the better part of the night in the living room, telling and reliving stories from Ryan and Vicki’s childhood. Mr. Turner was trying to think of all the embarrassing stuff that happened to them as children, hoping to make them squirm upon hearing them again. Aro
und ten o’clock, Parker and Turner started getting ready to leave.
“Do you have to go already?” Vicki pleaded.
“I’m afraid so. We have an early flight tomorrow, so we probably should get to bed soon,” Parker replied.
“Where are you going?” Mr. Turner wondered.
“Mexico.”
“Ever been there before?”
“Yeah. A few times.”
Mr. Turner got off the couch and walked over to the pair, stopping just in front of them. “Is it dangerous?” he seriously asked.
“Mexico? It’s not that bad.”
Mr. Turner smiled, not knowing if she was intentionally avoiding his question or just didn’t follow along. “I mean your assignment.”
“Oh. Umm, no,” she shook her head. “Shouldn’t be any big deal. Just routine stuff.”
He could tell that she wasn’t quite being honest. It was in her eyes, in her face, that she was just trying to brush it off. But he knew. He put his hands on each of their shoulders. “Just be careful. Take care of each other.”
“We will, dad,” Turner replied.
“Good. Cause I was thinking about staying back here permanently again once you guys settle in. That is, if you guys decide to live here. I know you’ve been lots of places,” he said, referring to Parker.
“Well, like I’ve told Ryan, I’ve been just about everywhere in the world, but Los Angeles is the only place that’s ever really felt comfortable…like I had a home,” she responded.
Vicki came over and gave each of them a hug and started to cry.
“Hey, what’s the matter?” Ryan asked.
“It’s nothing,” Vicki replied.
“Are you OK?”
“It’s just I get a bad feeling like I won’t see you guys again.”
Turner smiled and tried to comfort her. “Relax, sis. You can’t get rid of me that easily. We’ll be back in no time.”
“Just make sure you do.”
Chapter 10
Parker and Turner caught the first flight from Los Angeles to Mexico the following morning, getting into Mexico City, where Nikishin was last seen, a little after lunch time. Once there, they went to the hotel Cole was staying at to catch up. Cole had already booked a room for them across the hall from his for when they arrived. Since he’d never been in the country before, Turner had lots of questions.
“Is it true what they say about the water here?” he wondered.
Parker laughed, thinking he was funny. “The water?”
“Yeah, you know, is it safe to drink?”
“Stick to bottled water and you’ll be fine.”
“Is it true though?”
“I don’t know, I never drank the water before. Locals are probably immune to it cause their bodies have adjusted to it. You can try it. Maybe you’ll get sick, maybe you won’t,” she teased.
“I’ll stick to the bottled stuff.”
While Mexico was well known for having unsafe water, but probably not any more of a risk than other places in the world. Parts of Central America, most of Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, were all known for having suspect water supplies. In some cases, travelers may have become sick from the water, just because the pathogens in the water were foreign to their immune system. Local residents wouldn’t have the same problem since their bodies have become accustomed to the water and can drink it without issues.
Once Parker and Turner checked into their hotel, they immediately sought out Cole’s room. They knocked for a few minutes but got no answer. They were a little perplexed as to where he might’ve been since he knew they were coming. They went to their room and tried getting him on the phone, but still heard nothing back from him.
“He’s probably just working on a lead or something,” Turner offered.
“Yeah, maybe,” Parker said, pacing around the room.
“You make me nervous when you do that.”
“When I do what?”
“When you pace. When you pace, it makes me nervous,” he said.
“Yeah, well, if I don’t pace, then I get over anxious. And when I get over anxious, bad things tend to happen to people,” she warned.
“Uhhh, yeah, yeah…keep pacing.”
Turner was standing near the front door watching Parker pace around the room, almost getting dizzy himself. He heard what sounded like another door open in the hallway, and a couple of voices…one man, one woman. Turner opened the door slightly and peeked out, seeing a very attractive woman standing in the doorway of Cole’s room. He stepped back and made a noise at Parker and waved his hand at her, wanting her to rush over. She did and peeked out the door with him, looking just underneath Turner’s head, just in time to see the well built woman give Cole a kiss before leaving. The woman had a very short and revealing dress on, making the pair wonder about who she was. They closed the door as she walked by, though they opened it again and stared at her as she walked out of sight.
“Who was that?!” Turner excitedly asked.
“I don’t know,” Parker shrugged.
“Contact maybe?”
“Not in the traditional sense. Contacting him all over, more likely.”
“You mean she’s a…?”
“Prostitute? Yeah, probably. You know Cole has a fondness for the ladies who are…more willing,” she said.
Parker had enough of the chit chat and barged through the door and went straight across the hall to Cole’s room. Turner tried to put his arm out to stop her, but she flicked his arm away. He thought he should stay there, but curiosity got the better of him and hurried over to Parker, following close behind her. Parker forcefully knocked on the door three times. Cole rushed to the door to open it, worried someone was about to bust his door down.
“Oh. Hey,” Cole greeted. “Something wrong?”
“Something wrong?”
“Yeah. You’re beating on the door like it was a red-headed step child or something.”
“Well, we knocked much more gently earlier and didn’t get an answer.”
“Oh. Well I was sleeping. Must not have heard you,” he lied.
“Sleeping?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“We tried calling you too.”
“My, uhh, phone was charging,” he smiled.
“We saw that girl just come out of here, Cole,” Turner noted.
“What girl?”
“Seriously?” Parker said. “The one with the long black hair, short skirt, black heels, that one…ring a bell?”
Cole played along. “Oooh, yeah, yeah, I know who you’re talking about now,” he nodded and smiled.
“Contact of yours?”
He laughed, “in a way. She always gives me something good when I need it.”
“I bet she does.”
“What?” Cole innocently asked. “You think you two are the only ones who can shack up for a little bit. “I got needs too, you know.”
“I don’t care about that. You knew we were coming,” Parker huffed. “I’ve spent the last half hour worrying about if something happened to you.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“You could’ve at least sent me a text saying everything was fine and that you’d be indisposed for a while.”
“Yeah, well, it was a last minute thing. I wasn’t really expecting her so soon,” Cole explained.
“Whatever. What’ve you come up with so far on Nikishin?” she asked, walking into his room.
Just as Cole was about to start talking, he noticed a strange look on her face. “What’s the matter?”
“It really smells in here,” she told him.
Cole stuck his nose in the air and started sniffing. “What? I don’t smell anything,” he said, completely oblivious to the strong musty smell of sex in the air.
“You’re serious? You don’t smell that?”
“No,” he proudly replied.
“Ryan? Please tell me you agree with me.”
“Why you always gotta drag him into this?” Cole asked.
“Uhh, yes, yes I do. Strong, strong odor. Shame on you, Cole,” Turner stated, not thinking it was that bad, but not wanting to disagree with his strong-minded girlfriend either.
“Oh, he agrees with you. Like I didn’t see that coming.”
“He agrees cause it’s true,” Parker rebuffed.
“Ha. If you say so.”
“I can’t think in here. Let’s go to our room,” she told him, walking past him and out the door.
“Oh, OK. Haven’t had a chance to get your own aroma in there yet, huh?” Cole laughed, looking at Turner.
“I heard that!” Parker yelled.
Turner shrugged as the two men left Cole’s room and followed Parker across the hall into the other one. As soon as Cole closed the door behind him, Parker started peppering him with questions.
“Come up with anything yet?” she quickly asked.
“Nah. Not a thing yet.”
“Well, have you actually tried yet or have you been busy doing other things?”
“Listen, I was here yesterday while you were off…,” Cole began to say before getting cut off.
“I know. I’m sorry,” Parker interrupted. “I guess I’m just getting anxious to get this all over with.”
“I know, but jumping on me isn’t gonna help.”
“I know.”
“Although you probably deserve it on some level for all the needling you do on us…me especially,” Turner mentioned.
“Fair enough,” Cole shrugged. “Anyway, checked in with a few contacts I have down here. Came up dry. Nobody’s knows a thing on where Nikishin is. It’s gonna be tough finding this guy down here.”
“Why?” Turner asked. “What makes down here so tough?”
“Cause it’s Mexico.”
“So? We’ve been…you’ve been, in foreign countries before. Why is this any different?”
“Very difficult to trust people down here. Never know who’s on the take,” Cole informed.
“What do you mean? Police? Government?”
“Police down here don’t make much money. Last report I saw from a year or so ago said most officers down here made around eight to ten thousand a year. More than a few augment their pay by taking bribes or other things that happen to come along.”