by Mike Ryan
“Are you sure he’s there now?”
“Yes. He’s always there on Sundays. It’s closed on the weekends for regular business, so since no employees are there, he uses it for his own purposes.”
Cole drove to the fish warehouse, according to the directions that Ivanov provided, arriving there in about thirty five minutes. Sensing what was about to happen, Ivanov looked shaken, and sought to leave the group as soon as possible.
“You don’t need me for anything else, right?” Ivanov asked.
“Why? You don’t wanna come in?” Cole asked.
“If he knows I brought you, he will kill me.”
Cole looked at Parker to make sure he was OK with setting him loose. She nodded that she was. “OK, you can go. But if I see you in that warehouse I’ll kill you on sight,” Cole warned.
“Never see me again,” Ivanov said, his voice trailing off as he ran away from the building.
“The thought’s occurred to you that he could be setting us up again, right?” Parker asked, concerned about the situation.
“Of course,” Cole replied. “I’d actually be a little disappointed if it wasn’t.”
“Ryan, stay in the car,” Parker said.
“What? No way,” Turner responded.
“It could get really dangerous in there. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“And what if something happens out here while you’re in there?”
Cole made a face, kind of agreeing with him. “Man’s got a point.”
“I’ve found that the safest place is usually right behind you,” Turner stated.
Parker sighed, not really wanting to bring him into the situation. “You don’t even have a gun on you, do you?”
“Uhhh…no,” Turner said. “Cole, you must have some extras somewhere, right? You must have five or ten in the trunk, don’t you?”
Cole just shook his head. “C’mon,” he waved, having Turner follow him to the back of the car. He reached into his duffel bag and took out two pistols, handing them to his partner.
“What do I need two for?” Turner wondered.
“Always have a backup weapon. Always. Sometimes two or three backups. But at least one.”
“How many do you usually carry?”
“Three. Main. Backup. Then a backup for the backup. Never know what you might run into,” he gleefully said. “Just make sure you point that in the right direction.”
With Turner now taken care of, the three of them ran over to the warehouse. The warehouse was a two story building, with the trim and roof painted red, making it look colorful against the white background of the rest of the facility. While the first floor was mostly used for shipping and crating, the second floor housed the offices.
“Probably shouldn’t all go in the main entrance,” Cole said. “You two go in through here. I’ll find another door somewhere.”
“OK,” Parker agreed. “Let me know when you’re ready.”
Cole left them and ran around the building, looking for another entrance point. Just in case it was a trap, and Yevenko was waiting for them with a welcoming party, Cole didn’t want all of them to walk into it. Although splitting up had its own dangers, in this situation, it was the best option. After a minute, Cole reported that he found a door in the back.
“Ready when you are,” Cole told them.
“OK. Go!” Parker replied.
Both Parker and Cole had unlocked their respective doors and entered the building. Though both were ready to fire their guns immediately upon entry, neither one had to.
“I got a few doors back here I’ll check out,” Cole reported.
“OK. We’re going right into the main storage area,” Parker said.
Cole looked through the couple rooms that he came across. They were mostly used for storage and supplies. Parker, with Turner following close behind, walked around some of the pallets and boxes that laid on the floor, her hands out in front of her and firmly gripping her weapon. After about ten minutes, Cole had finished checking the rooms and found a staircase leading to the second floor.
“I’m gonna check the offices upstairs,” he said.
“OK. Seems eerily quiet,” Parker responded.
“Think maybe good old Valery led us astray again?”
“I don’t know. He seemed pretty intent on getting out of here quickly. It was almost like he expected something to happen. He seemed pretty sure of it.”
“You’re right. Something’s gotta be here. Or maybe we’re just a little early.”
“Maybe. Let’s keep checking.”
Cole went up the steps and started looking through some of the offices as Parker continued her search through the main floor. Parker suddenly stopped, and reached her arm back behind her to make sure Turner stopped as well.
“What’s the matter?” Turner whispered.
Parker put her hand up to stop him from talking, sticking her ear out as she tried to pick up the sound that she heard.
“I thought I heard footsteps,” she whispered.
Her listening was interrupted when gunfire suddenly erupted, hitting the crates behind them. Caught off guard, the two agents dropped to their knees, Parker immediately returning fire. Turner looked around, but didn’t see anything to be shooting at. As soon as Cole heard the gunfire from down below, went running toward the stairs. He was stopped before he could descend the steps, bullets traveling in his direction as he stood near the top, causing him to take cover.
“We’re sitting ducks right here,” Parker observed. “We’re right in the middle of nowhere. We need to get behind something.”
“There’s some pallets over there we could use,” Turner noted, pointing to his target.
“OK. You run, I’ll cover you.”
“Why don’t you run and I’ll cover you?”
“Let’s be serious,” Parker told him. “I’m the better shot. I told you, in this relationship, I’ll do the protecting.”
“You know, I find that both sexy and infuriating at the same time,” he smiled.
“Just go.”
Parker noticed a couple of men advancing toward them and fired a couple rounds in their direction to try and hold them off long enough for them to get behind that pallet. She pushed Turner along to get him going. Turner rose up and started sprinting toward the pallet. Parker took a brief pause from firing and looked back to make sure Turner was making out all right. She looked to his right and saw another man making his way to the same spot, looking like he’d get there first.
“Ryan! Stop!” Parker yelled. “Ryan!”
Turner heard her at the last second, just as he was about to get into the open, and put on the brakes. Parker ran down over to him and stood in front of him, ready to meet one of their attackers. She aimed her gun just as the man turned the corner, unloading several rounds into his chest. As soon as she’d finished with him, several more shots rang out, coming from behind, piercing the boxes to the left and right of them. Parker and Turner returned fire, exhausting their rounds of ammunition. Though Parker always brought along extra clips, Turner only had what was in the guns to begin with. After a couple minutes, Turner had run out of his, leaving it up to Parker to defend the both of them. She couldn’t tell exactly how man men they were up against, though it seemed as if there were at least five or six more. She quickly looked up and saw Cole exchanging fire with someone, then she glanced at the door, seeing a couple people near there, firing at them. She knew that they couldn’t stay in that spot much longer before they were overpowered. They’d have to make a break for it somewhere. She looked back up at Cole, thinking it was the best option available to them at the moment. She had a fully loaded pistol in both hands, ready to go.
“Ryan?”
“Yes?” Turner responded.
“Run towards the steps and go up to Cole. I’ll try to draw their fire and cover you,” she told him.
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
“I’m not leav
ing you behind,” he resisted.
“You’re not. As soon as you get to the steps, I’ll be right on your tail.”
“You better be.”
“I promise. You ready?” she asked.
Turner took a deep breath, “yeah.”
Turner took off running, Parker laying down some cover fire for him. She furiously fired her weapons, shooting in every direction she saw a combatant, desperately trying to draw all the enemy gunfire her way to make Turner’s run as safe as possible. Though she hoped she hit a few of them, her aim was just to make as much noise and create some separation for him to get through. Once she saw he made it to the steps, she grinned as she watched him climb up the stairs to the safety of Cole. The fury of the guns never stopped, even when she ran out of ammunition, she reloaded within seconds to continue her barrage. She knew it was now time to make her move. If she waited any longer, they were likely to close in even more and cut off her route to the steps. Even now, she knew the odds were only fifty-fifty that she’d make it. Cole was busy with his own battle. There was no one to cover her.
Parker stopped firing for a moment and made a run for the steps, then continued shooting as she ran. She ran past the door, hitting one of the men stationed there, dropping him to the ground, though she wasn’t sure if she killed him or not. She was just about at the steps when a bullet pierced her right arm, near her bicep, spinning her back around to face her attackers. They continued their assault against her as they ducked for cover while they kept up their barrage. Though she felt a slight stinging sensation in her arm, and blood start trickling down from the wound, it wasn’t enough to sidetrack her. She kept battling, wounding or killing another man as she dropped to a knee to continue firing. For several more minutes the battle raged on, massive amounts of bullets flying in each direction.
“Alex! Alex, c’mon!” Turner yelled, concerned she couldn’t hold them off much longer.
The words had no sooner left his mouth, when Cole finally was able to get rid of the one he’d been playing with. He also echoed Turner’s wishes.
“Alex, I’ll cover you!” Cole shouted. “Get up the steps!”
Upon hearing his command, Parker knew now was the best time she’d get. She hopped back up to her feet and fired a couple more rounds to try and give herself a few extra seconds. Just as she was about to turn up the steps, she stopped. She felt a hot, burning sensation ripping through her insides. She stood there, motionless, and dropped the gun in her left hand. Parker put her hand on her stomach, looking down to see her fingers covered in blood. She felt a shortness of breath and then started breathing heavily. Within a few seconds, she dropped back down to her knees, unable to muster the energy to move anywhere else.
“Alex!!” Turner yelled, seeing the blood on her hand.
He stood up to get a better look at her before Cole pulled him back down next to the crate that they were behind, before his insides got filled with lead too. As they ducked behind it, Parker, still holding her stomach, slumped forward onto the ground.
“We’ve gotta go down there and get her,” Turner cried.
“Just hold on.”
“Cole, that’s Alex down there!”
“I know that.”
“We’ve gotta get her!”
“We will. When the time’s right,” Cole said.
“I can’t just leave her there. She could be dying.”
“She might be dead already. You go down there right now and you’ll join her.”
“I can’t just stay here and look at her like that.”
“You’ll stay here until we can both get her safely. She might already be gone, I don’t know. But I’m not gonna let you go down there and get yourself killed and lose both of you.”
Cole peeked around the corner of the crate and saw Parker’s body laying there, motionless. He closed his eyes and jerked his head forward as if he was yelling at himself under his breath. He then saw a man move in towards Parker’s body and Cole jumped up from behind the crate, firing his Glock. Two of his shots hit the man’s body, causing the guy to drop immediately.
“It seems as though we’re now in a standoff,” a voice yelled out.
“Speak for yourself,” Cole responded. “I can do this all day.”
“You’ve got nowhere to go and your partner is down here bleeding to death.”
“I just met her the other day. She don’t mean nothing to me.”
Turner was about to say something about Cole’s comment, but Cole put his hand up to prevent him from talking.
“Who do I have the privilege of talking to?” Cole asked.
“I am the man you are hunting. I am Darius Yevenko,” the man proudly revealed.
“Glad to know ya.”
“And who might you be?”
“Me? I’m Jesse James.”
“Funny man. Jesse James, nineteenth century, old west outlaw. I do know something of American history.”
“Nice. Want a cookie?”
“Why don’t you end this charade and come down here? Give yourself up and make this easier on all of us.”
“Nah. I’m comfy up here.”
“I am not a particularly patient man for these types of games. I give you one minute. It seems as though your pretty partner here is still breathing,” Yevenko said. “But if you are not down here by that time…I guarantee you she will not be.”
“We have to go down there,” Turner repeated. “If she’s still alive, we have to do something.”
“The moment we go down there, all three of us are dead,” Cole responded.
“It’s Alex. I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
“There’s three men down there. How many are you capable of taking out?”
“I don’t care. All I care about is getting Alex.”
“You have thirty seconds,” Yevenko shouted. “And then, a bullet will enter the pretty little head of this woman’s body.”
“Listen to me,” Cole quickly said. “I’ll go down there and try to draw them away from Alex’s body. Once I do that, you run down and carry her out of here.”
“What about you?” Turner asked with concern.
“Don’t worry about me,” Cole solemnly replied. “If I get them away from her, you hurry and get her to the car and get her the help she needs. And don’t look back.”
Turner made an agonizing face as he tried to process what Cole was saying. “I can’t just leave you.”
“You’ll do what you have to do. For Alex. And for you. It’s one of us dead or all three of us dead.”
Cole reached around his back and removed one of his backup weapons, handing it over to Turner.
“If this doesn’t work, you protect yourself,” Cole told him. “You understand?”
“Yeah,” Turner nodded.
“If you have to use it…you shoot to kill. You understand?”
“I got it.”
“Looks like your time is up,” Yevenko yelled.
Cole stood up from behind the crate so they could easily see him and began walking toward the steps.
“Hands up high,” Yevenko warned. “Throw your guns on the ground.”
“Already did.”
“Where is your comrade?”
“Oh, him, he jumped out a window,” Cole answered, his hands up at shoulder level as he walked down the steps.
“You must be the funny one of the group.”
Cole laughed. “Yeah. I’m a regular laugh a minute. You should see my stand-up act.”
“If you tell me what I want to know, I may let you live,” Yevenko told him.
“Let’s not kid ourselves,” Cole replied. “Do I look like some rookie? We both know you’re gonna kill me so just do it and get it over with.”
“Who orchestrated this, the destruction of my entire organization? CIA?”
“I don’t know about them. We were hired by the boy scouts of America to rid the earth of some trash. That’s why we got the assignment.”
“I’m tired of his g
ames. Kill him.”
“You know they’re just gonna send someone else. There’s nowhere you can hide. They’re gonna find you soon enough, you know that. You’re living on borrowed time,” Cole told him.
“Well, that is better than you. Because your time is already up,” Yevenko responded. “Kill him. Anatoly, you go get the other one.”
“You mind if I have a last smoke before I go?” Cole asked, reaching into the pocket of his cargo pants. “Might as well go out with a good cigar.”
“I’ll give you one or two puffs.”
Instead of removing a cigar, Cole pulled out his DoubleTap Glock, a small subcompact .380 that weighed a little over fourteen ounces when fully loaded. With a seven round capacity, Cole fired two quick shots at the Russian in front of him, then shot at Lobanov, who had begun going up the steps. He winged Lobanov in the shoulder before being taken down himself by Yevenko, who’d removed his own weapon, hitting Cole in the leg. Cole went down and Yevenko rushed over to him, knocking the Glock from his hand. Lobanov stood at the base of the steps, ready to finish off the two agents laying in front of him when a shot rang out. Blood started pouring out from a hole in the middle of Lobanov’s chest as the life drained out of his system, eventually falling face forward. Turner stood about halfway down the steps when he fired and killed the Russian. He quickly remembered Yevenko and looked over at him, but he was nowhere to be found. Assuming he must’ve scattered and was looking to flee the building, Turner rushed down the stairs and tended to Parker, putting his gun on the ground as he knelt by her side. Parker’s eyes opened as she tried to catch a breath and give him a smile.
“I told you I’d protect you,” she barely whispered.
“You always have,” Turner replied.
“Do me a favor?”
“Anything.”
“I don’t want you to be sad when I’m gone,” she told him, tears in her eyes. “I want you to be happy. Find someone who can make you happy too, OK?”
“You’re not going anywhere.”
Parker put her hand on Turner’s face and smiled, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I love you.”
She attempted to say something else, but Turner put his finger on her lips to prevent her from speaking.