Viper Team Seven (The Viper Team Seven Series Book 1)

by Lewis, Rykar

  * * *

  After about seven hours of driving, he was worn out and ready for a nap, but he was beginning to drive into the outskirts of D.C. He still needed to get deeper into the city and find a hotel room. The rest of the day would be used for house hunting and going to his rented storage unit so the moving crew could unload his household goods there. Parks didn’t really want to do those things. He wanted to go site seeing and enjoy the historic places in and around the area. But first things first, and the first thing that needed to be done was to find a hotel room and then a house.

  As he drove further into the city, he scanned the area, trying to find a clean looking hotel. When he finally decided to try a newer looking Holiday Inn Express, he pulled off into the parking lot. As he did, seemingly a hundred horns blasted from behind him, obviously upset that he slowed down to make the turn.

  “You impatient people,” Parks grumbled to himself. He was becoming frustrated with how thick the traffic was and how everyone was in such a hurry. It most certainly was a big change from Camp Lejeune, and he wasn’t liking that change much.

  Parks got out of the vehicle, slammed the door shut, and double-checked to make sure it was locked. Satisfied that it was locked tighter than a drum, he went inside the lobby. He walked up to the counter and saw that no one was there so he grabbed a napkin from a pile that was folded nearby and with it, rang the little bell that would signal his presence.

  A lady in her twenties came out from a back room and stared at him.

  “I’d like a room please,” Parks said after a few seconds of silence. “Do you have any?”

  The lady nodded her head and asked for the specifics of what he was looking for. After Parks told her, she set him up with a second story room and handed him the card key. Reluctantly, he grabbed the germy key and shoved it in his pocket.

  “Thanks,” he acknowledged, turning and walking toward his truck.

  When he reached his vehicle, he grabbed his suitcase and a few of his firearms, and headed for the lobby again. Parks quickly walked up the staircase to the second floor and turned right down the long hallway. When he found his room, he unlocked the door and swung it open. Like most Holiday Inn Express hotels, the room was large, well-furnished, and best of all, very clean.

  Pleased with his choice, Parks flung his suitcase on the cot in the corner and set his guns down on the bed. Then he went back to his truck to grab the rest of his gear.

  When everything was in the hotel room, he locked the door and bolted the top, just to be sure he was secure. Next, Parks did a thorough inspection of the room to make absolutely positive everything was perfectly clean. To his great relief, it was, and now he could relax.

  Minutes later, Parks was sound asleep.

  * * *

  Parks jolted awake. It took him a second to remember that he was in a hotel room in Washington D.C., but when he did, his eyes shot over to the digital clock on the nightstand. It was already 1300, and he was late.

  Standing, he tucked in his short-sleeve, light blue, collared, Nike shirt and made sure he had his truck keys in his pocket. Rubbing his eyes, he walked out the door, made sure it locked, and then headed for the staircase. He never took elevators if he could help it. The buttons he had to press were so filthy, and likewise some of the people that went in the elevator.

  After descending the stairs, Parks walked outside to the parking lot. Clouds were spread across the sky, and rain was threatening to fall. It felt significantly cooler now that the sun was hidden.

  As he climbed into his truck and headed for the storage unit, he hoped that the movers wouldn’t be there yet. They said they’d arrive at around 1300 to unload all of his belongings, but Parks wanted to be there the minute they were, just to oversee the ordeal.

  * * *

  Parks pulled his truck up alongside his small storage unit. The moving truck was already there, and the crew was about to unload. This was the last thing Parks wanted to do right now but he knew he had to.

  “Any specific way you want us to put it in there?” the Hispanic mover asked as Parks walked up to him.

  Parks shook his head. “Just throw it in there. Well, you might want to do it nicer than that, but you know what I mean.”

  “Yeah I got it.”

  Raphael Ramos was the leader of this moving crew, with fifteen years of experience to his credit. Parks knew that he had done a good job getting Parks’ belongings into the truck so he had no doubt that he’d do a good job getting them out of it.

  “Let’s get to work,” the mover commanded his crew.

  Four other men began to transfer the items to the inside of the storage unit as Ramos supervised.

  “You got a Coke or something man?” Ramos asked Parks. “I haven’t had anything to drink since three hours ago.”

  Parks wasn’t entirely sure if that statement was supposed to impress him or not, so he just went to his truck and fished out a few bottles of soda that he’d bought specifically for this occasion.

  “Here you go,” he said as he tossed Ramos a bottle. “You can tell your guys there’s more where that came from.”

  “Gracias señor.”

  Parks set down the remaining sodas and grabbed himself one. After taking a drink, he set it down on his truck’s tailgate, and went to help with some of the heavy items.

  After several minutes, most of the heavy furniture was put away, but one large thing still remained. “You up to giving me a hand with this?” Ramos wondered as he patted Parks’ large, green gun safe. “It was pretty heavy going in if you remember.”

  “I remember. It only weighs about a thousand pounds though, and if your dolly wheel wouldn’t have been flat it would have been much easier.”

  Ramos quickly defended himself. “Aye, I didn’t know the wheel had a leak in it until that heavy thing got on the dolly. It wasn’t my fault. And if you remember, you were the one who said we could still get it in the truck.”

  Parks walked to the safe and jammed a dolly underneath it. “I did say something like that,” he admitted. “But it was the truth; we still did get it in here.”

  Ramos mumbled something to himself and then helped Parks carefully tilt the enormous object back. He then began to push it off the ramp as Parks balanced it. Halfway down the ramp, Ramos hit a groove in the metal which made the safe jolt to the right and threaten to tip.

  “Aye no!” Ramos yelled, watching the safe begin to tip but not wanting to let go of the dolly, fearing that would make the matter worse.

  Parks leaped to the right and slammed his shoulder against the safe, hoping to deter it from falling. The safe would have fallen to the ground had Parks not done that, but it was still heavy for him just to block it, and he wondered how long it would be until someone came and helped him. Parks felt the safe begin to crush him and he groaned as he struggled to keep his position.

  Just in time, one of the younger movers ran up and helped push it back straight on the dolly. Parks wanted to take a breath but he knew he still had to help Ramos get the safe into the storage unit. So without a word spoken, the three men pushed it into the back corner and unloaded it there.

  “Man you’re strong,” Ramos told Parks, wiping the sweat from his forehead. “Sorry about that.”

  “No, no, you’re fine,” Parks confirmed, feeling like his bones had been crushed a bit. “Good job.” Then he turned and walked to his truck so he could get a drink. Ramos copied him.

  Looking over at the busy highway, Parks blindly grabbed the Coke that was resting on the tailgate nearest him and took a drink.

  “Hey señor, that’s my Coke,” Ramos interjected.

  Parks looked over at the mover and half-smiled. “No it’s not. I set mine right here,” he said, trying to convince himself that was the truth.

  “No, I set mine on the left side and you set yours on the right. The bottle you’re drinking from now was sitting on the left side.”

  Though Parks hadn’t seen Ramos set his bottle down, he suddenly rememb
ered that he had indeed set his on the right side of the tailgate, and he stopped breathing at that memory. His face turned sheet white. Without a warning, he keeled over and started to gag. He felt like he wanted to vomit but he hoped he wouldn’t.

  The shocked Ramos came up and began patting him gently on the back. “Hey man, it’s only backwash. I brushed my teeth, don’t worry.”

  It only made things worse. Parks was disgusted with what had just happened and he was now beginning to freak out. He had no idea what germ-infested things were in the bottle of Coke that he had drunk. And it wasn’t like Ramos looked like a clean individual. He had a greasy head and he looked very unhygienic.

  Finally Parks regained his composure and straightened to a stand. He felt embarrassed for having reacted in such a way but he couldn’t help it. Taking long breaths he looked Ramos directly in the eye.

  “You okay, man?” Ramos questioned. “You don’t look so good. Was it that traumatic?”

  “Oh I’m sorry,” Parks replied in a hoarse voice. “That’s just rather disgusting.”

  “Yeah I guess it would be. But hey, it’s over and done with. Forget about it. Your Coke is over there,” he announced as he pointed to the right side of the tailgate. “Can I have mine back?”

  Parks leaned against his truck and shook his head. “You’re jokin’ right?”

  The mover didn’t say anything but he didn’t look like he had been joking.

  “That’s nasty and...disgusting,” Parks stated, feeling he couldn’t find words to describe what he felt. “I gotta go to my hotel room and use a whole bottle of Listerine to try and get rid of this putrid taste I have in my mouth. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

  “Yeah sure,” Ramos accepted. “Take your time.”

  Parks got in his truck and took off for the hotel. He could hardly believe what had just happened. He was thoroughly disgusted with what had passed through his mouth and was very anxious to clean it out with mouthwash. He wondered if he could ever get over the thought that he had drunk someone else’s soda.

  11

  Sunday, March 16th – 1700 hours

  Washington D.C.

  Parks watched the empty moving truck pull away from the storage unit and he waved as it passed by him. Everything was unloaded and neatly stored, and would stay that way until he could find a dwelling place. He had contacted a realtor a few hours ago who had said that she just might have what he was looking for. Parks didn’t ask any questions because before he could, the lady had set up an appointment to show him the house at 1730. Vague directions to the house were given, so even though it wasn’t very far, he decided to start looking for it early just in case he got lost.

  He locked the door to his storage unit and jumped in his truck. Screeching out onto the main highway, he took a few turns and then began looking at the street names to try and find the right one. At last he did, and turning onto it he then started to search for the house number. The middle house on the street matched both the address and description given.

  Parks pulled into the house’s driveway and took a quick look around while still in his truck. It was a beautiful house from what he could see on the outside. It seemed to have been built a hundred years ago, but it didn’t look nearly that old. The lawn out in front was already turning green, the driveway and walkway leading to the house were lined with rose bushes that hadn’t yet bloomed, and as Parks looked more intensely, he could see the backyard. It looked big and beautiful, just like the front.

  As he was looking, a yellow car came up from behind and also pulled into the driveway. Parks guessed it to be the realtor so he went out to meet her.

  “Hello Mr. Parks,” she greeted as she adjusted the glasses on her face. “How are you?”

  Parks pocketed his keys and responded, “I’m well. How are you, ma’am?”

  “My name, as you probably remember, is Juliet Bernard. There’s no need for the ‘ma’am’ stuff.”

  “Yes ma’am,” Parks said, hoping she wouldn’t mind his disobedient action. “But I’d rather call you ma’am, if it’s all right with you.”

  The lady shrugged her shoulders and pushed her glasses further up her nose. “Let’s get to business, Mr. Parks. Um…what do you know about the place?”

  Parks looked at the realtor sideways. “Nothing really. The only thing I know about this place is that it’s for sale and I’m standing in the driveway. Other than that I’m clueless.”

  “All right,” Juliet declared enthusiastically. “Thanks for the tidbit of info. Now, would you like to go inside?”

  Parks was teetering on the side of thinking that this lady was mentally unstable. She was weird and he was getting a bad feeling just being in her presence.

  “Well that’s kinda the reason I came by,” he told her slowly. “You know, I thought you were the one who recommended that I see the inside.”

  Juliet didn’t respond. She walked to the entrance and freed the key from the lockbox before she opened the front door and allowed Parks to step in first. It was magnificent inside. There was a spacious living room on the first floor, linked to a massive kitchen, which in turn was connected to a spacious dining room. Every room had been carefully and skillfully designed.

  Juliet led Parks around to the den, which had a large, rock-plated fireplace, and an entertainment studio which was in perfect condition. Next came the bathroom on the main floor. It was a large room, with two sinks, a separate shower and bathtub, and a secluded little area where the toilet resided. Parks couldn’t help but be impressed, but he became concerned over the cost of the house, which as of yet was a mystery. For some reason this whacked-out realtor wanted him to see the entire house before giving him the dollar figure.

  On the second story, there was a cozy loft, outfitted with an abundance of oak shelves and cabinets which obviously had held the previous owner’s TV. Juliet then showed Parks the master suite, which consisted of a monstrous bathroom – even bigger and better than the main level one – a fireplace, yet another entertainment setup, and a spacious walk-in closet. Everything was large, and from what Parks could tell, well-kept and in excellent condition.

  But the realtor was not done with her showing. Not yet anyway. She trotted down the staircase and headed for the far east side of the house and revealed two bedrooms. She explained that one had been used as an office, and the other as a guest room.

  After several more minutes of showing the garage and backyard, and answering questions, Juliet finally admitted that Parks had seen all there was to see.

  “That’s everything, Mr. Parks. What do you think?” she questioned.

  “Well it’s all fine and dandy but there’s one big concern I have,” he told her. “What do the owners want for it?”

  “Seven hundred.”

  “Thousand or million?” Parks joked in frustration. He had lightly looked at D.C. house prices on the internet when he was at Lejeune, and he had found that they were very expensive, some reaching into the several-million-dollar range.

  “Thousand of course,” the realtor replied bluntly. “However, I’m sure they’d consider renting the place.”

  “What are the owners asking per month?”

  “The steal-deal price of only three thousand a month – two thousand nine hundred to be exact.”

  Parks winced. That was an awful lot of money even for a house as nice as this one.

  “They also mentioned a rent-purchase contract too, which might interest you,” the lady threw out.

  “I’ll think about it,” he promised. “Thanks anyway though.”

  “It’s a nice house, you can’t deny that.”

  Parks headed for his truck and reached in his pocket for his keys. “I never said it wasn’t, ma’am. I just said I’d have to think about it.”

  Juliet nodded her head up and down furiously in approval.

  “If that’s all, I’d better get going,” Parks declared.

  “Wait one second, Mr. Parks,” she commanded. “Do you mind if I ask
you what line of work you are in?”

  “Sure. I’m a United States Marine. An officer – a major. I’ve been in the Corps for ten years and I just got stationed here at D.C. I don’t know what I’ll be doing yet but I do know that I’ll need a house, and with the price people are asking, I guess I’d better try to rent something.”

  The lady’s face was expressionless as she handed him her business card. “I only ask because few people have been able to qualify for a loan to buy this house. Seven people have tried and failed. Very few have enough money to make such a large purchase.”

  Parks didn’t feel like sharing his bank account’s size so he politely ended the conversation and headed back for the hotel. He still had to get out his uniform and iron it for work tomorrow. He was already beginning to get butterflies about the whole ordeal.

  12

  Monday, March 17th – 0830 hours

  The Oval Office

  The Secret Service agent near the door leading to the Oval Office mumbled into his wrist-mounted microphone as he approached Parks. Parks had been sitting on a hard wooden chair just outside the Oval Office since 0700 that morning. He had arrived at the White House at 0600 and it had taken over an hour to get his White House badge, parking permit, his finger prints taken, retina scanned, and all the other necessary procedures so he could gain access. He then had briefly met with the National Security Advisor who had seated him in this chair and went into the Oval Office to meet with the President. He would send for Parks when it was time. Parks had been waiting outside the office for someone to give him the green light to go in and see the President for an hour and a half now. His nerves had his stomach in knots and he hadn’t eaten anything all day in anticipation of this very moment. He had never thought in all his life he’d see the President of the United States face-to-face, especially in the White House. It was a true honor.

  Parks had become bored with staring at the wall that was across from his chair. He’d been looking at it for too long. He wished things could have moved more quickly but obviously the President was a busy man. He hoped the time had come now and that the agent was coming to tell him the President was ready to see him.