by Mike Ryan
“Not yet. Was there something you wanted?”
He brought both hands around to reveal an ice cream cone in each.
“Thought maybe I’d bring over a peace offering. I’m sorry about storming off a little while ago,” he told her. “Just my way of apologizing I guess.
Parker smiled. “Well, I guess you know my weakness. Come on in.”
They sat down in the living room and ate their ice cream while also talking about what was going on.
“So what do I call you now? Agent Parker, or do you have another name or something, or maybe an alias?”
Parker smiled. “You can call me Alex.”
“Oh, OK. Easy enough. I guess you can still call me Ryan.”
Parker laughed, followed by a slight laugh from Turner.
“So I talked to Cole a few minutes ago and he told me what you did.”
“What I did?”
“He told me that you fought for me,” Turner said, getting a little choked up. “I guess I should be thanking you.”
Parker smiled. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“I guess I’m just a little scared now,” he said, tears in his eyes. “You know, with whatever’s gonna happen to me.”
“Nothing’s gonna happen to you.”
Turner smiled at the thought, and though it was nice to hear, he knew it wasn’t exactly true.
“Well, I guess that’s a nice thing for you to say but we both know that it’s not necessarily the truth,” he said.
“Why isn’t it?”
“Well what happens when you’re far away from here and can’t fight for me anymore? I mean, next month you‘ll be somewhere far away probably fighting some terrorist or something.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“I dunno. Isn’t that what you do?”
“Ryan, I’ve been gone a long time. Being here with you is the first time I’ve been back in the U.S. in over five years. Every other mission has been in Russia, or the Middle East, or South America…it’s starting to feel good being back here,” she told him.
“Don’t you just go where they tell you?”
“Let me worry about that. I give you my word that nothing is going to happen to you.”
Turner smiled and looked down at the floor.
“I know trust is probably a little hard for you right now with everything that’s happened but I want you to know that you can trust me. As long as I’m here, nobody is going to do anything to you. You have my word. I will protect you,” she promised.
Parker’s voice was soothing and was exactly what Turner needed to hear to put his mind a little more at ease. Though he wasn’t completely convinced, he tended to believe that she meant everything she said. Whether she was able to live up to her words, he wasn’t sure. But he believed that she meant it.
“So why would you do that for me? Protect me…go against orders,” Turner asked.
“Because I think you’re a good guy. Maybe I’m just starting to get a little soft in my old age,” she laughed.
“While I’m thankful you think that, that can’t be the only reason, can it?”
“There’s probably a hundred reasons, most of which I really can’t talk about.”
“CIA stuff…I get it.”
“No. Personal, girl stuff,” she smiled.
“Oh. I see.”
As much as she liked being around Turner, Parker knew they would have to get some rest soon so they could focus on finding Davis tomorrow.
“It’s been a long day. Probably will be another long one tomorrow. We should probably get to bed.”
“Umm,” Turner said, tilting his head, waiting for clarification. “Oh, you mean separately. Right? Of course you do. Why wouldn’t you? I’ll let myself out.”
Parker smiled, thinking he was funny. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she told him.
A second later, Turner came back in without knocking.
“You know I was thinking that being by myself is a bit scary right now….you know with the whole killing thing,” he explained. “If you’re really gonna protect me you probably shouldn’t let me out of your sight.”
Parker let out a smirk and tilted her head, appreciating his tenacity and humor.
“You know with the whole bed thing,” he said to no response. “Not buying it, huh?” he asked, with Parker shaking her head.
“OK. I’ll just let myself out again.”
His humor was one of the things that Parker found appealing about him. For a moment, she wished she wasn’t a CIA agent and could just do and say what she wanted. But she quickly realized that the only reason she was there in the first place was because of who she was.
Chapter 5
Turner woke up in the middle of the night, sitting up and holding his chest, still haunted by the nightmare he just had. He rubbed his hand over his chest and stomach to make sure everything was still intact. He dreamt he was in his apartment and talking to Cole, who suddenly pulled out a gun and shot him three times in the chest. He laid down again though he stayed awake for half an hour, unable to go back to sleep. Once Turner did go back to sleep, he awoke only an hour later, another nightmare causing him to wake up sweating. This one had Parker telling him to trust her and as soon as he turned his back on her, a couple bullets shattered his insides as he fell over in a pool of blood.
“I think it’s time to get up now,” he said to himself. “Not having any more of that tonight.”
Turner’s eyes widened as he looked at the clock, noting it was only four. He yawned as he walked out to the kitchen and poured a bowl of cereal. After he finished he just sat there, wondering what else to do so early in the morning. He decided to waste some time by going on Facebook. He didn’t really feel like typing and basically just kept clicking on things that looked interesting. After a while, he stumbled on a picture from someone he didn’t know, who apparently was at The Fonda Theatre the previous night as well. He browsed through the photos since he didn’t really get to see much of the show. He browsed through pictures from other people who also went to the show and eventually clicked on one that made him pause and look at it more closely than the others. It was a picture of two good looking women posing for a photo but it was what was behind them that made Turner stare. Walking past them at the same time the picture was taken was the man he’d made the drop with. Turner was so excited that he thought he’d made an important discovery. He printed out the picture to take it to Parker and started walking toward the door when he stopped, remembering it was still early.
“I wonder what time CIA agents get up,” he said.
He thought about just going over to one of them and knocking on the door but then remembered the nightmares he had. What if he knocked on one of their door’s while they were still sleeping and it startled them, causing them to wake up firing their gun?
“Maybe I can wait a couple hours,” he said, going back to the computer.
Turner looked through more photos and came across one more of the man, exiting the theatre. He printed that one too. He looked for more but came up empty. At least he had two though to show his neighboring agents. He could hardly contain himself and wanted to just burst through their doors to show what he found. He looked at the clock every other minute it seemed, hoping it would just move in fast forward. He knew he couldn’t keep this up for a few more hours so he put the TV on to try and pass the time. After searching through what seemed like three hundred channels, he found nothing on. Then Turner knew what would keep him occupied. He went to his bookshelf and found his favorite movie. Star Wars kept him engrossed every time. Every time he watched it, it was like he was watching it for the first time. It would do the trick for sure. Sure enough, he put the movie in, and he forgot about everything else for a couple of hours.
“What a classic,” he said. “Never gets old.”
Turner sat back in his chair and then quickly jumped up, remembering the pictures he printed. He looked at the time and it was five after nine.
&nbs
p; “They gotta be up,” he whispered.
He ran out the door and looked each way, not sure which apartment he should be going to.
“Go to the pretty one,” he said.
Turner ran over to Parker’s apartment and knocked at the door. He waited for a minute before knocking again. He still got no answer. Maybe she was in the shower, he thought. It was a pleasant thought, one he held on to for a few seconds. Once he shook that image out of his head, he knocked a few more times. Still nothing. He put his head to the door to see if he heard anything, but no luck. He stepped back and stood there for a second then scrambled over to Cole’s place. Turner got to the door and banged loudly. The door quickly opened up only to reveal a gun staring him right in the face. Surprised, his eyebrows raised and his face narrowed. He was sure someone was behind it though he could only see the gun at that moment. Turner moved his face as though to talk to someone but his eyes couldn’t move past the gun. Once the gun disappeared, he noticed Cole standing there. Parker was a few feet behind him.
“Hey guys,” Turner said.
“What’s the matter with you? Knocking like that on a government agent’s door…bad career move,” Cole told him.
“Sorry. I was just in a hurry.”
“Well slow down. We’re trying to do some work here.”
“That’s what I came over for.”
“To work. It’s fine. We can handle the heavy lifting here. Why don’t you go play some video games or something?”
“No. Really, I can help,” Turner insisted.
“What do you want?”
“I had to tell you something.”
“Well hurry it up. We’re busy.”
“I wanted to show you this,” Turner said, holding the picture up.
“Girls. Very pretty. At least I know you’re not gay. Is that what you did all night? Searching for girls on the internet?”
“It’s not the girls, OK? It’s the guy in back of them,” he said, handing the picture to Parker. He handed the other picture to Cole.
“Who is this?” Parker asked.
“That’s the guy I did the drop with.”
“Oh. The one Cole let get away?” Parker teased.
“It was dark. People got in my way,” Cole grumbled. “You’re sure this is the guy?”
“Well unless I’m mixing him up with the other fifty guys I’ve done this with then I’m pretty sure this is the guy! It’s not like I do this every other week.”
“How’d you find these?” Parker wondered.
“I couldn’t sleep this morning so I just went on Facebook and started looking at pictures from last night.”
“Did you find any others?” Cole asked.
“No. Just those two.”
“That’s good work, Ryan,” Parker smiled.
“Eh. Just wanted to feel like part of the team.”
“You’re not part of any team,” Cole told him. “We’re just letting you stay here to pretend helping.”
“You know you’re a very angry person.”
“Thanks, moron.”
“You know your insults are very hurtful. Deep inside,” Turner sarcastically said.
“I think he really likes you,” Parker added.
“It’s always the ones who hurt you who actually like you the best.”
“Oh stop it,” Cole said, taking the picture from Parker. “I’ll send them up to see if we can get a facial rec.”
“What’s that?” Turner asked.
“He’s gonna send the pictures to our handler to see if she can put them through the facial recognition scan so we can get his identity,” Parker replied.
“How long will that take?”
“We should have an answer back within a few hours.”
Cole got on the phone with their handler to alert her about the pictures and to have them analyzed. After he was through he scanned them into the computer and emailed them to her. Once he was done he re-joined the other two.
“It pains me to say this but that was actually not too bad. Good work by you,” Cole said.
“Well thank you,” Turner replied with a smile.
“Maybe you won’t be useless after all.”
“It hurts you to say nice things, doesn’t it?” Turner asked.
Parker rolled her eyes at the pair’s banter.
“Can we get back to work now?” she asked them.
“What do you want me to do?” Turner wondered.
“Nothing,” Cole replied.
“What? After I did your job for you and found those pictures you want me to just stand back and not do anything? Come on.”
“Don’t you have a job or something?”
“It’s the weekend.”
“Uhh…yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Cole smirked.
“Alex,” he said, putting his hands up. “I can help. Give me something.”
“Uhh,” she replied, looking at Cole. “You’re gonna come with me.”
“Where we going?”
“Yeah. Where are you going?” Cole wondered.
“You don’t need us here. I’m gonna see if we can track down some other leads,” Parker answered.
“Such as?”
“I’m gonna see if we can knock on a few doors,” she replied.
“We are?” Turner asked, surprised.
“Hope those doors aren’t…,” Cole started.
“Shut up,” Parker said, sure he was going to say something sarcastic aimed at her and Turner. “Call me if Burnett gets back to you before I get back.”
“Roger that.”
Parker and Turner left and headed to her car. Once they got in, Turner saw something and asked Parker to stop before she pulled out of her spot.
“What?” she asked.
“I saw something in the bushes there.”
“What was it?”
“I dunno,” he replied, still looking.
A minute later, a cat emerged from the bushes, limping badly.
“It’s just a cat,” Parker said.
“Looks like it’s hurt.”
“C’mon, let’s go.”
“No, no, no.”
“What?”
“We gotta help it. He looks like he’s hurt bad,” he replied.
“It’s just a cat. C’mon.”
“Animals have feelings too. They can hurt just like we do.”
Turner kept a close eye on the cat who was having trouble walking. He wasn’t really a cat person, though he loved animals in general, but hated seeing any animal in pain. He suddenly got out of the car and headed for the cat.
“Ryan,” Parker shouted.
Parker sighed, knowing he wasn’t coming back in without helping the cat, and also got out of the car.
“Ryan, the cat will be fine.”
“Yeah? How? He’ll probably have trouble getting food. Won’t be able to run away from anything trying to catch it.”
“That’s part of life,” she said.
“Yeah, well I believe if something or someone’s in trouble, you should do what you can to help them. Isn’t that part of life too?”
Parker sighed. “I guess so.”
Parker knew that she wasn’t going to change his mind and a piece of her really respected his view on it.
“So what are you gonna do?”
“I dunno. I guess take it to a vet or something,” Turner said.
“What are you gonna put him in? He’s a wild cat, you never know what he might have or if he bites you or something.”
“Ooh, I know,” he said, coming up with an idea. “Get one of the boxes from when you moved in and put a piece of food in there.”
“That’s a good idea,” she said, running back to her apartment.
Parker came back a minute later with a box and put it on the ground. Turner took it and put it near the cat, looking in the box.
“A pretzel?” Turner asked.
“What? It was the closest thing I could find. It’s food. He’ll take it.”
She wa
s right. The cat sniffed the box and then went inside a second later. Turner scooped the box up and carried it to the car. He got in and waited for Parker, who got in right after.
“Wait, I don’t know where I’m going,” Parker admitted.
“To the vet.”
“I don’t know where that is.”
“Oh. Well I’ll drive then,” he responded.
They both got out to switch sides, Turner handing Parker the box.
“Don’t ding the car. The CIA is paying for it,” Parker warned.
“OK. Thanks for making me more nervous.”
Turner drove carefully, but put his foot on the gas, and arrived at the vet’s office within fifteen minutes. Parker wasn’t ecstatic about holding the cat box but didn’t complain about it either. After entering, he explained the situation and waited a few minutes for the cat to be examined. They sat down and waited for news from the doctor about the cat’s injury. Parker looked at Turner, who seemed concerned for the cat as if it was his. As much as she initially balked at helping, she really admired what he did. Only a caring person with a good heart would’ve helped, she thought. A slight smile crept over her face as she continued looking at him. Turner thought he saw her looking at him out of the corner of his eye and turned his head toward her and noticed her smiling at him.
“What?” he asked.
“Nothing,” she quickly said, breaking her stare.
“Do I have something on my face or something?” he asked, wiping his face with his hand.
“No,” she laughed.
“What were you looking at me for?”
“Can’t a girl just look at a guy?”
“Well you were smiling. I thought maybe I had something on me.”
“You look fine. I was just thinking of how good a guy you are,” she revealed.
“I’m not that great.”
“No? How many guys would’ve done what you just did and brought that cat in here? Most would’ve left it alone and not tried to help.”
“I just did what I thought was right.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a good thing you like cats I guess,” Parker said.
“Huh? I’m not really that fond of cats. I’m more of a dog guy myself.”
Parker looked at him again with a slight smile on her face. Him not really liking cats made her think even more highly of him. He saved an animal he wasn’t even fond of. It said a lot to her about his morals and personality. There were a few other dogs in the room, including one next to Turner, a Golden Retriever who kept pawing at him to pet her. Parker kept watching him and could tell he was having fun with her.