by Mike Ryan
About one o’clock, as Turner was getting ready to go to lunch, his office phone rang.
“Ryan Turner here,” he greeted.
“Hey Ryan, how you doing? It’s been a long time.”
“Who is this?”
“Don’t recognize the voice?”
“Not off hand,” he replied.
“Can’t believe you don’t remember your old college buddy.”
“Heath?”
“Bingo.”
“Wow. It’s been a long time. I think the last time we talked was a week after we graduated,” Turner remembered.
“Yeah. So how you been?”
“Not bad.”
“When I emailed you the other day I told you I’d talk to you soon,” Davis said.
“You did. I didn’t realize you meant literally. I thought you meant talk, like in email or something.”
“Hey, I’m in town, how would you like to meet for lunch or something?”
“Sure, why not?”
“Great. How bout at the Paseo Colorado? There’s a burger place here.”
“I know it well. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
When Turner got there, he wondered if Davis would still look the same. At USC, they were pretty good friends and roommates. Though they’d always gotten along really well, they were kind of opposites with their personalities. Davis was very good looking, played sports, and was kind of cocky at times. Turner was more focused about school work, a little shy and reserved at times, and generally not that confident when it came to the ladies, even though he wasn’t too bad looking himself. Once Turner walked into the restaurant he immediately noticed Davis sitting to the side. Davis didn’t look any different than the last day Turner had seen him. They shook hands as Turner sat down.
“I took the liberty of ordering for you,” Davis said. “Medium-well, cheese, extra pickles, no onions.”
“Wow. You still remembered.”
“We ate them often enough.”
“True.”
“So you’re working at a game company now, huh?” Davis asked.
“Yeah.”
“How’s that pay?”
“Not too bad. Not gonna get rich from it but it pays the bills,” Turner replied. “So what about you? What’ve you been doing all these years. When we graduated USC, you said you had something lined up on the east coast or something.”
“Yeah.”
“So what brings you out here? On vacation?” Turner wondered.
“Not quite. I’m here on business.”
“What kind of business are you in?”
“Information.”
“Sounds kind of vague.”
“I’m just gonna cut to the chase and not beat around the bush,” Davis stated.
“OK?” Turner replied, a little nervous about what was gonna come out of his friend’s mouth.
“I work for the CIA.”
“The CIA?”
“That’s where I went after we graduated. Been working for them ever since.”
“You sent me the flash drive,” Turner stated.
“I did,” Davis nodded.
“Why? What do you want with me?”
“This might be hard for you to understand but I need you to trust me.”
“OK?”
“I need your help.”
“Need my help? Why? Why would you need my help?”
“Because I’m on a deep undercover assignment and I need someone I can trust.”
“Don’t you have other CIA people for that?” Turner asked.
“Not for this. I need someone that’s not on the inside.”
“Why?”
“Because we think there are some agents who have gone rogue and working with people who don’t have the United State’s best interests at heart,” Davis told him.
“What would you want me to do? Is it dangerous?”
“I’ll be straight with you, it could be. But you’ll be extremely well compensated.”
“What would I have to do?” Turner wondered, intrigued by his guest.
“First I’ll tell you why this is important. My mission is to sell the information on that drive. It’s highly classified material. The idea is to sell the information on there to find out which agents have gone rogue.”
“Why would you sell government secrets?”
“We’ve altered some of the information. Once we sell the information on there, the person who buys it will go over it with the rogue agents they have in the CIA. We’ve embedded tracking and listening devices within the drive so when they talk to their contact, we’ll know who’s gone bad. Once we know who they‘re talking to, we can grab them and the rogue agent and get the drive back like nothing ever happened.
“Sounds…I don’t even know what it sounds like.”
“That’s where you come in. I’ll make the contacts to sell the drive, but I need you to make the actual exchange,” Davis informed him.
“Why? Why wouldn’t you just do it?”
“Because some of these people know my face from previous assignments and wouldn’t trust anything I tell them if they knew it was me. We need a fresh face, someone who’s not known, someone not on the inside, someone I can trust. Someone…like you.”
“Seems like you could get someone a little more…I dunno, predisposed to this type of thing,” Turner objected.
“Ryan, all I know are agents, and spies, and terrorists, and arms dealers. They came to me and said to get someone who’s not involved in any of that. You’re the only person I know that I can trust.”
“What would I have to do exactly?”
“You meet the contact at a specific place. They give you the money. You give them the drive. Then you go your separate ways.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“I guess I could do that.”
“You’re in?” Davis excitedly asked.
“Uhh…yeah. Yeah. I guess so. Why not? How many times do you get asked to do something for your country?”
“I knew I could count on you,” Davis said, slapping Turner on the arm.
The two of them ate their burgers and continued talking about the assignment.
“So why’d you send me the drive?” Turner asked. “Shouldn’t that be kept secret?”
“I wanted you to look at it, remember what’s on it. In case you’re on a drop and someone asks you a question, you can speak on it. Know some of the terms and lingo that regular agents use. If they get suspicious and think you’re not who you say you are then it may complicate things.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll always be there watching to make sure everything goes smoothly. If there’s ever a situation where it looks like it’s about to go bad I’ll jump in to protect you. Don’t worry, I got your back,” Davis told him.
“So how’s this gonna work exactly?” Turner wondered.
“Here’s a phone,” Davis said, sliding it to him on the table. “When I get word on something going down I’ll contact you on here. It’s untraceable. Nobody but me knows you have it. Keep it with you at all times.”
“OK. Not that this is a main consideration but how much money are we talking?” Turner sheepishly asked. “You know, not in general, just in terms of…well, like, what, how much would I be getting for all this?”
“Depends on how much the sale is for. You’ll get a cut of it as your payment. If someone offers a million dollars, then you’d get fifty thousand. The rest will go towards funding covert CIA operations overseas.”
“Oh, of course. Wow. Fifty…fifty thousand. That’s a pretty good chunk of change I guess.”
“Not too bad for a night’s work. Trade a drive for a suitcase full of money and that’s it.”
“Almost seems too good to be true,” Turner said.
“Almost,” Davis smiled.
Chapter 3
Parker and Cole had finished analyzing the contents of Turner’s computer. There was a
lot more on there than his laptop so it took a couple hours longer but still came up with the same result. They found nothing on there that indicated he was involved with Davis.
“What now?” Cole asked.
“Let’s hook up with Burnett and see if she has anything.”
A few seconds later they were video conferencing, letting Burnett know they came up with nothing so far.
“Well, the only new thing we’ve learned is that he arrived at LAX and went to a Holiday Inn. He checked in and immediately disappeared,” she told them.
“So he never actually stayed there,” Cole said.
“No. Where he went from there we have no idea.”
“Well, the email he sent to Turner said he’d talk to him soon. As far as we know he hasn’t made contact with him,” Parker said.
“Keep on Turner. I want you to start surveillance on him 24-7. If Davis hasn’t contacted him yet, it’s possible he may soon.”
“Or he sent him that email knowing we’d intercept it and sit on a guy who’s not involved at all, wasting our time,” Parker said.
“Unfortunately that’s entirely possible. But right now we have no other leads so that’s the direction we’re going for the moment,” Burnett told them.
“Well not all’s lost. Parker’s already got a date with the subject tonight. Maybe she can unearth something that he’s got tucked away,” Cole smirked.
“I plan on talking to him,” Parker emphasized. “Just to see if maybe Heath contacted him via phone or in person.”
“Do what you have to do, Alex.”
“Yes ma’am,” Parker replied, the conference ending.
“Would you like me to accompany you on your date tonight?” Cole asked.
“I think I can handle it.”
“I’m sure you can…handle it,” he chuckled. “I can bring the car along in case you wanna use the back seat,” he grinned.
“Why don’t you sit on the apartment in case Heath goes there?”
“So you get to go out on a date with the game nerd and I get to stay home cleaning my gun? Actually, my night sounds better.”
Parker worked on her computer trying to find any leads on Davis until Turner got home for their date. She exhausted any leads she had to no avail. She thought her personal knowledge of Davis would help find him but so far it wasn’t a help at all. As six o’clock approached she started to get dressed. She wanted to look good for him to maybe help make him talk a little more freely if he was more interested in her. Plus, she was actually a little excited to be going on a date. It’d been so long since she’d went out with someone that she was looking forward to it. Even though it wasn’t a real date, since it was work related, it was still somewhat different. She put on a pair of skinny jeans with over the knee boots, along with a black blouse, and left her blonde hair down past her shoulders. Twenty minutes later she noticed Turner arriving. He quickly scurried to his apartment to change. Five minutes later he had changed into jeans and a maroon button down shirt. Turner walked over to Parker’s and knocked on the door. Once she opened the door, Turner was temporarily stunned, but not awkwardly so, by how beautiful she looked.
“You look…great,” Turner told her.
“Thank you,” she smiled. “So do you.”
“Me? Please. I look pathetic compared to you,” he joked.
“You look very handsome,” she said, adjusting his collar.
“OK, so did you have any place in particular in mind that you wanted to go?”
“Well, not really. Since I’m kind of new and don’t really know anywhere I was hoping you’d have a good recommendation.”
“I got a spot,” Turner replied. “Stewie’s Pizza. Best pizza in town.”
“Sounds great.”
“I guess I’ll drive since you probably have no idea where it is.”
“That’s a good assumption,” she laughed.
They took Turner’s car, a black Honda Civic, to go to dinner which was only about fifteen minutes away. Turner had been going there for years, mostly with friends and family, and had become a regular there that all the employees knew. Turner tried to get the conversation going while they were driving.
“So you all moved in yet?” Turner asked.
“Yeah, pretty much. A couple odds and ends left but for the most part I’m all set.”
“Stinks about your computer.”
“Yeah. Hazards of moving I guess,” Parker responded. “Had to go out today to get a new one.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“So how was your day? Anything fun at work?”
“No, not really. Just work. Usual stuff. Nothing exciting.”
Once they arrived at Stewie’s, they went in and grabbed a table before they were all taken. It was usually pretty busy and tables got taken quickly since they were in a pretty busy shopping center.
“So what do you want on your pizza? Pepperoni, sausage, bacon, vegetarian?” Turner asked.
“Actually, just plain is fine.”
“Plain? Nothing on it?”
“Just cheese,” she smiled.
A few minutes later Turner returned with two slices for each of them.
“I must admit I figured you for a pepperoni girl,” he told her.
“Oh really? Why’s that?”
“I dunno. You just have that pepperoni pizza girl look,” he kidded.
Parker smiled at him. “I see you took the opportunity to smother yours,” she said, looking at his slices covered in pepperoni, sausage, and bacon. “Can you actually taste the pizza?”
“Whoa. Is that a little shot at my tastes? Starting the zings a little early, aren’t we?”
Parker laughed. “I’m sorry. I just couldn’t resist.”
“No. That’s fine. I can take it. Besides, it was nice to get a laugh out of you.”
“Oh. Why’s that?”
“You have a nice laugh,” Turner stated. “A pretty smile too.”
“Oh,” Parker replied, blushing. “Well thank you.”
“Are you blushing? You are. Wow. That can’t be the first time a guy’s told you that.”
“Well, I don’t really go on too many dates.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“Well, I just assumed a woman who’s as beautiful as you are could go on a date every night of the week if you wanted,” Turner said.
“Well my work keeps me pretty busy. So what’s your story?” Parker asked.
“My story?”
“I was just trying to figure out why a guy like you with a good job, good looking, and seems like your head’s on straight, why you’re still single?”
“There’s probably a list of reasons. None of which I’m sure you wanna hear about on a first date,” he told her.
“Try me.”
Turner hesitated, not sure he wanted to explain his history and risk scaring her away. “I was engaged once.”
“What happened?” she asked. “I’m sorry. I’m probably being too nosey. I’m not good at dating and relationships. I always say the wrong thing.”
“No, no. It’s OK. We started dating in our senior year of high school and throughout college. I got the job at GameTech a few weeks after graduating USC. So then I proposed and she accepted. Everything was great. Set a wedding date for the following year. Then about three months before the wedding I found out she’d been cheating on me for close to a year.”
“I’m so sorry,” Parker said, touching his arm, genuinely feeling bad for him.
“Yeah, me too,” Turner replied, trying not to become too much of a downer. “That’s kind of my reason for being single. I really have had a hard time trusting anybody I’ve dated since and just assume I’m being lied to somewhere along the way.”
“That was silly of me to ask such a personal question already. I’m so dumb. I’m probably the worst date ever.”
“It’s fine, really. Hey, only took me five years to get over her but I’m fine now,” he explai
ned. “Since we’re on the topic of bad relationships, any skeletons in your closet?”
“Umm, well, I guess since you shared I will too. My last relationship ended when he decided to betray me by going behind my back.”
“He must’ve been a real loser to betray someone who looks like you.”
Parker smiled. As the evening went on she was starting to find that she really liked Turner. He seemed like a great guy. It was refreshing for her to be with someone who wasn’t part of the secret spy life.
“So what kind of music are you into?” Turner wondered.
“Don’t laugh.”
“Why would I laugh?”
“Cause I’m a country girl,” she replied.
“Country? No.”
“Yes. It’s true. I’m just a country girl at heart.”
“Well I would’ve never believed it,” he joked.
“I have XM radio and it’s on the country station all the time. George Strait, Garth Brooks, Trace Adkins, Chris Young, I just love it.”
“Wow. I had you pegged for a 90s pop girl.”
“Ouch. That hurts,” she laughed. “Do I really look like a Madonna fan or something?”
“You just never know.”
“What about you? I make you out to be an alternative, grunge type of guy.”
“Oh man. You think that low of me, huh?”
“Well,” Parker laughed.
“I will have you know I’m a good old fashioned rock guy. Van Halen, Aerosmith, Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi. Those are my jams.”