Muffled Echoes
Page 34
“I haven’t.”
“Bullshit.” I smirked, leaving my eyes closed. “Shouldn’t you be doing something?”
“Like what?” His hand skimmed across my body, and I grabbed his wrist to stop the southern progression. “You asked,” he teased.
Sighing, I rolled closer to him and let go of his hand, trusting that he’d behave. Blinking, I studied his expression. “Normally, you’d be halfway through your morning routine by now. Are you really not going to work?”
“No.” The briefest pained look crossed his features, but it disappeared quickly, replaced by a playful grin. “I’ve decided that this is our staycation. You’re home. I’m home now. We should have some fun.” He brushed his thumb across my cheek. “You deserve it after everything that’s happened lately.”
The pang of sorrow and fear pierced my gut, and I gulped down some air to keep the emotions at bay. Giving him a weak smile, I said, “I know how bored you get when you’re not working. Please tell me you have a plan besides attempting to break every lamp in the house.”
“Ooh, that’s a great idea. Are you up for it?”
I slapped his chest and rolled away from him. “You’re insatiable.”
“So are you,” he purred. Giving my shoulder a kiss, he climbed out of bed. “I’ll get cleaned up and start on breakfast. We’re going to need our energy. How does an egg white omelet, spinach, tomato, and mushrooms sound?”
“It sounds great.” It was also the first breakfast he ever made for me. The sentimental bastard. “But you know what sounds better?”
“Going back to sleep?”
“Yep.”
“Fine, come down when you’re ready. I’ll wait for you.”
After the shower started, I drifted off. I wasn’t dead asleep since I was aware of outside noises and Martin’s whereabouts as he dried his hair, rummaged through the closet, and left the bedroom, but I wasn’t entirely coherent either. Eventually, my mind turned on, and I found myself ruminating on the conversation I had with Lucca before my leave began. Supposedly, he had been assigned to the OIO to flush out the mole responsible for a security breach. Honestly, when he first told me this, I thought he was lying. I knew most of the men and women in that office. Many of them had been there longer than I had, and the ones that I didn’t know had gone through the same rigorous background checks and training that I had. Sure, Quantico brainwashed us into believing certain key facts like we were to serve the United States at all costs. It was part of the code: fidelity, bravery, and integrity above all else. And while I knew intellectually that it was indoctrinated bullshit and manipulation, most of the time I adhered to those principles, and I didn’t doubt that my colleagues were doing the same.
Sure, corruption exists. Money, power, and sex were the three main motivators to break from one’s morals, but I didn’t want to think about it. The people at the OIO were my friends, sworn to uphold the law. Too bad that wasn’t always enough.
At one point during my private sector days, I had become inadvertently embroiled in a police corruption scandal. I saw how divided the police department became, and I didn’t want that to happen at the OIO. Correction, I didn’t want to be the cause of that happening at the OIO. Lucca was assigned to carry out the dirty work. He was an outsider that transferred in, so he shouldn’t have any issues of loyalty when it came to sniffing out the rat. I, on the other hand, had been assigned to the OIO right out of the academy. It was the only office I knew, and the one that called me back like a siren. The twisted part of that reality was a piece of me despised the OIO and hated it with every fiber of my being. Some days, just being inside the office made me physically ill. The OIO had forced me to do horrible, unforgivable things. It had killed Michael Carver, Sam Boyle, and tons of other agents that I never knew personally. It was a destructive force, and there was no doubt in my mind that eventually it would destroy me too. So why was I resisting helping to investigate a threat to myself and my team? It didn’t make logical sense. I should be volunteering to help, not dragging my feet and coming up with excuses.
Pulling myself out of bed, I decided that I’d at least hear Lucca out. He’d already confided in me, probably breaking orders and going against his better judgment, so I’d give the boy scout a chance to say his piece. Then whenever I was back on the job, I’d have to figure out just how far I was willing to go to help him. Glancing down at my wrist, a part of me hoped it would never heal so I could remain ignorant and maintain my false sense of security. Unfortunately, I also knew that my physical detriment wouldn’t stop shit from happening.
After getting out of the shower, I put on some workout clothes. Then I padded down the stairs. Before I made it to the main level, I heard voices. One of them belonged to Mark Jablonsky, so I crept slowly back to the landing in order to eavesdrop without compromising my position.
“I told you,” Martin said, sounding perturbed, “she’s asleep.”
“Did she ask you to say that?” Jablonsky asked. “It’s obvious that I’m not her favorite person right now, but I need to talk to her. I get that she’s upset about the suspension, but it was for her own good. It’s not even an issue anymore, but it’s not like she let me get a word in edgewise before she ran out yesterday.” He sighed. “How does she seem to you?”
“She’s fine.”
“Is that what she told you? You should know better than to take her at her word.”
“Alex is fine,” Martin repeated, his voice adopting an edge.
“C’mon, Marty, you’re not an idiot. In fact, you’re fairly intuitive. Are you seriously going to stand here and tell me that you haven’t noticed that she’s spiraling again? She needs our help. I can see it in her eyes. She’s scared. I watched her during target practice. Her wrist is fine, but she’s not. She’s using that as an excuse to hide. She’s avoiding everyone and everything. The last time this happened, it wasn’t good.”
“Alex is perfectly fine. Her wrist is not. Don’t you think I’d notice if something was wrong with the woman I love? She’s been through a lot, Jabber, but she’s handling it. She just needs some time to get her bearings. It’s not like you did anything to support her. Instead, you tossed her out after she took some initiative and saved a whole hell of a lot of people, so don’t twist this around on her. I’m not stupid, and you need to back off.”
“You weren’t there the first time this happened. By the time she started working for you, she was rebounding. You didn’t see her at her worst. She spent days on the couch. She did nothing but watch TV. It broke my heart to see her that damaged. She was terrified, and seeing her at the range yesterday, I remembered that look. It was the same one she had back then. I want to nip this in the bud before it gets out of control.”
“Don’t compare her partner dying to what’s going on now. They’re entirely different. She had the right to grieve and be depressed and stay on the couch.” A loud bang sounded in the vicinity of the kitchen, and I suspected Martin had slammed a cabinet. “In case you’ve forgotten, she’s been through a shitstorm since then. So don’t you dare act like she’s fragile or unstable because we both know Alexis Parker is neither of those things. What the hell is this really about?”
“She wants out. I overheard her begging Lucca to write up her insubordination and culpability in his report right before her suspension. She’s looking to escape again.”
“Good.”
“Good? What planet do you live on? She’s running because she’s afraid.”
“Damn right, she is. So am I. This job is going to kill her, Jabber.”
“Oh, so you’re the reason she’s freaking out. You can’t stop her from being who she is, and you can’t put this stupid shit in her head. It’ll backfire and cause even more damage. Shit, Marty, how long did it take before she got over her hang-ups concerning your safety? Isn’t that why it took the two of you nearly a year to start dating? If you keep this up, you’re gonna lose her.”
“I didn’t say a word to her about this,
” Martin growled. “Furthermore, what Alex and I discuss is none of your business.”
Taking a breath, I remembered the night several weeks ago when I admitted my fears to Martin. He had promised to protect me. Normally, macho shit like that was an annoyance, but I was at the point that I needed to know someone was there to shoulder the weight when I couldn’t bear it any longer. Now Martin was being true to his word and fighting my battles. I took a few steps down the stairs, intent on putting Jablonsky in his place, but the next words out of my boss’s mouth stopped me in my tracks.
“You didn’t see her yesterday. You didn’t see the intense focus behind the shot and the utter disgust after it. You have no idea why she acts the way she does. Face it, you don’t really know her.”
“Fuck you.”
“No, listen, she’s been working out a lot more, right? And I’ll bet she’s been sneaking off to the shooting range every chance she gets. Do you know why?”
“Probably to make her prick supervisor happy,” Martin snapped.
“Fine, maybe I deserve that, but it goes back to her parents. You know that she was adopted.” A grunt followed, and then Jablonsky continued. “Those people did a number on her. The mother wanted a prima ballerina to live vicariously through, except Alex wasn’t good enough. She was only given side parts, never the main spotlight. I think she was maybe twelve or thirteen, but it was her last shot. There was an audition for some prestigious ballet company, and Alex didn’t make the cut, even though all she ever did was practice. And instead of being a decent human being, that sorry excuse for a mother refused to love a failure.”
“What a bitch,” Martin cursed. It was my story, and one that I only had the vaguest recollection of sharing with Mark years earlier. It was something that I never spoke of.
“Alex lost the only two people she ever knew as parents because they told her that she wasn’t good enough and didn’t deserve their love.”
“That happened a long time ago. What does that have to do with now?” Martin asked.
“Every time she feels like she’s not at her best or isn’t good enough, she loses people. The first time, Carver and Boyle were killed. This time, dozens of police officers were slaughtered, but it wasn’t her fault. I think that’s why she wants her shots to be perfect. She wants her skills to be spot-on, and until they are, she’s going to keep insisting that there’s something wrong with her wrist. She doesn’t have to be perfect. Injured or not, she’s better than most. I just want her to know that.”
“By suspending her? That’s a great way of showing it.”
“Obviously, you don’t discuss very much. The reason Alex was suspended was because she disobeyed a direct order to back down. I care about her too. You should know that. And the only reason I chewed her out for that move was because she nearly got herself killed, and I can’t help but think it was because she felt responsible for letting things get to that point.”
“I didn’t screw up,” I said, emerging from the stairwell, “and unlike what you and Lucca have implied, I don’t have some psycho martyrdom complex either. I made a call based on the intel we had. It was a calculated risk, and it was the smartest move at the time. I stand by my decision.”
“Then what the hell was the deal at the range?” Jablonsky challenged, slapping down the target from yesterday. “Your first shot was decent. You’d be able to requalify if you wanted, but you’re not even willing to try. The MRI showed that your wrist has healed, so why aren’t you back at work?”
“Does this look healed to you?” I picked up a mug by the handle, unable to hold it steady in my hand.
“Are you sure it isn’t psychosomatic?”
“Get out,” I snarled.
“Parker,” Jablonsky began, but I shook my head, slamming the mug down and retreating up the steps.
A few minutes later, the front door closed, and Martin came to find me. “I didn’t invite him here. He just showed up.” Picking up the nearest tablet, Martin entered in the home security codes. “I’m changing the access code now. He’s not getting in again unannounced.”
“It’s okay.”
“No, it isn’t.” Martin scrutinized me for a few minutes. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“How long were you listening?”
“Long enough.” I searched his face, wondering if he was going to mention any of the numerous elephants that were now surrounding us inside the tiny room.
“Can I ask you something?” he queried, and I nodded. “Did it feel good to kick Jabber out?”
I smiled. “Yeah, but truthfully, I’ve done it more times than I can remember. It’s one of the main perks of not being an active agent.”
“No wonder you’re always so keen on leaving the OIO.” His expression turned serious. “I didn’t tell him anything, but he thinks you’re planning to quit again. Are you?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it depends on a few things. Hell, maybe I won’t be reinstated for active duty, and none of it will matter.”
“You will,” Martin said, prodding me for additional reasons.
“Then it’ll come down to one of two things. First, if I’m able to shake this feeling, and second, if it turns out Lucca actually needs my help.”
“With what?”
“That’s yet to be determined.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
G.K. Parks is the author of the Alexis Parker series. The first novel, Likely Suspects, tells the story of Alexis’ first foray into the private sector.
G.K. Parks received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History. After spending some time in law school, G.K. changed paths and earned a Master of Arts in Criminology/Criminal Justice. Now all that education is being put to use creating a fictional world based upon years of study and research.
You can find additional information on G.K. Parks and the Alexis Parker series by visiting our website at
www.alexisparkerseries.com
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Full-length Novels in the Alexis Parker Series:
Likely Suspects
The Warhol Incident
Mimicry of Banshees
Suspicion of Murder
Racing Through Darkness
Camels and Corpses
Lack of Jurisdiction
Dying for a Fix
Intended Target
Muffled Echoes
Crisis of Conscience
Misplaced Trust
Whitewashed Lies
On Tilt
Prequel Alexis Parker Novellas:
Outcomes and Perspective: The Complete Prequel Series
Assignment Zero (Prequel series, #1)
Agent Prerogative (Prequel series, #2)
The Final Chapter (Prequel series, #3)
Julian Mercer Novels
Condemned
Betrayal
Subversion