by Mike Ryan
“You got pretty close to me today. Thought you almost had me,” Davis told her.
“Your time is numbered. We’ll get you soon enough.”
“Yeah. I believe you might be right. You’re getting closer all the time.”
“Calling to surrender?” Parker asked.
Davis laughed. “No. Don’t be ridiculous. I’m here to make a proposition for you.”
“I’m not making any deals with you.”
“You didn’t even hear me out.”
“I’m not interested in your terms. Nothing you could say would make me say otherwise.”
“Oh, I beg to differ,” he stated.
“I’m not discussing anything with you,” Parker said.
“OK. Well, his death will be on you then.”
“What? Whose death?”
“Oh. Do I have your attention now?” Davis asked.
“Just say what you want to say.”
“Like I said, I do believe you’re getting close…too close. I need an edge to get away.”
“And you think I’m gonna help you escape?”
“Yes. By leaving and forgetting about me. For a few days at least. I know I can’t shake you forever but I only need a day or two,” Davis said.
“Spell out what you want,” Parker testily replied.
“You have two options. I know you know I just checked into a hotel. You can either come get me, knowing I probably can’t escape you again, or you can fly out of the country, giving me the time I need to get away.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because if you come after me you won’t have enough time to save him.”
“Save who?”
“Oh, didn’t I say?” Davis laughed. “Ryan. Turner. You remember him, right?”
“And why would I care what happens to him? He’s not my problem anymore,” she responded.
“Let’s be honest here. You care for him. You care for him deeply. If you really care for him as much as I think you do, you should probably leave….right about now.”
“What have you done?” she asked, worried.
“Oh, just a safeguard I put in place in case this came up.”
“What safeguard?”
“Turner. There’s a team of three men currently on their way to his apartment as we speak. Their mission is to kill him.”
“What?! Why would you do that?!”
“Because my safety is more important than his.”
“OK. I’ll leave. How will I prove I’m gone?” Parker asked.
“You don’t have to prove it. If I’m still here in my room in two hours, I’ll know you left.”
“OK. Just call off your guys. I give you my word I’ll go.”
“Oh, I completely trust you. Unfortunately I cannot call it off.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t. There’s no way for me to contact them now. The job’s already been accepted. You must’ve misunderstood my intentions. They will carry out my orders whether you leave or not. Whether you choose to save him or not has no bearing on anything. No, Turner’s life is hanging by a thread right now. The only way he can survive is if you get there in time and stop them.”
Parker immediately hung up the phone and started frantically running around, trying to get all her stuff together. She rushed over to the computer to look up flight times. Cole, unsure what was happening, tried to slow her down. He walked over to the desk and grabbed Parker by the arms.
“What’s going on?” Cole asked.
“I don’t have time, Cole,” she replied, trying to break free of him.
“Relax. Tell me what’s going on so I can help you,” he said calmly.
Parker did as he asked and tried to calm down, taking a deep breath. “Heath.”
“What about him?”
“He said we’re getting too close to him. That in order for him to get away he’s using Ryan as bait.”
“How?”
“He sent a team to kill him. The only way it won’t happen is if I stop them,” she explained.
“Let’s just think a minute.”
“I can’t let them kill him,” Parker said, her eyes tearing up.
“Let’s hook up with Burnett and let her know. Maybe she can send a team out there who’s close by,” he replied, finally letting go of her arms.
“OK,” she said, quickly getting Burnett back on the screen.
“What’s up team?” Burnett asked. She knew something was up with them contacting her back again so quickly.
“We seem to have a situation,” Parker said, almost having trouble getting the words out.
“What’s the problem?”
Cole grabbed Parker’s forearm to stop her from talking. “It appears Davis is using a civilian as bait to enhance his escape from us.”
“Oh? Proceed.”
“He says he’s sent a team to kill this person and the only way it won’t happen is if we stop it. Which means we’d have to leave immediately and disengage our pursuit of Davis,” Cole told her.
“Who is this civilian?”
“Uhh, it’s Turner.”
“Ryan Turner?” Burnett asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“I’m afraid there’s nothing we can do for him,” she replied without a second of thought, though a touch of sorrow in her voice.
“But we can’t just sit here and let that happen,” Parker spoke up. “We have a duty to protect innocent lives.”
“And that is what we’ll do by finally capturing or killing Heath Davis. He’s eluded us for too long and we’re too close to allow him to escape again.”
“Can’t you just send a team to intercept his men?” Parker asked, agitated.
“There’s no guarantee they’d get there in time. And there’s also no guarantee that he’s actually carrying this thing out. Sometimes innocent casualties are unavoidable. It could be just a ruse to get you off his back.”
“There’s also no guarantee that he’s not,” Parker said, her voice rising with her anger.
“My orders are final and they’re clear. Stay on Davis. That’s an order,” Burnett told her before disappearing from the screen.
Parker stood up, hot about Burnett ordering them to stay on Davis. She paced around the room for a few seconds to think about her next move.
“She didn’t even think about it,” Parker said, still annoyed. “She could’ve sent someone out there. Would it really have been that much trouble?”
“She made her decision.”
“Yeah, well, her decision sucks. And I’m not gonna stand for it,” she replied, going to the desk and grabbing her gun.
“Wait a minute. What are you doing?”
“I’m doing what’s right.”
“You realize what the ramifications will be if you do this?” Cole asked.
“I realize what the ramifications will be if I don’t.”
Cole knew it was a losing battle to try and argue with her. He found that once her mind was made up there was very little chance in changing it.
“OK. You go save Turner and I’ll keep on Davis. If I can grab him quickly Burnett won’t even know you’re gone,” Cole told her.
“I can’t let you go after Heath alone.”
“I’m a big boy, Alex. I can handle it.”
“You remember the last time you went after Heath by yourself. You got shot.”
“It was a lucky shot,” he objected.
“I’ll just tell Burnett I’m going to Los Angeles and to assign whoever’s closest to come help you.”
“Don’t be an idiot. I can handle it. If you wanna save Turner then you better get moving. Who knows how much time he’s got left?”
“OK. You’re sure you’ll be OK?” she asked.
“I’ll be fine. Now go,” Cole prodded.
“I should be in L.A. in about twelve hours. Call me and keep me updated.”
“I will.”
Parker opened the door and then turned around to face he
r partner. “Cole?”
“Yeah?”
“You better be careful. If I hear that you got hurt chasing after him or you’re shot again, the next time I see you I’ll shoot you myself.”
“Go,” Cole nodded.
Chapter 2
Parker had to wait about two hours for a flight back to L.A. It was a twelve hour flight that felt like twenty. She couldn’t relax. Every thought she had was about Turner, hoping she wouldn’t be too late. As soon as the plane landed she rented a car and sped over to Turner’s apartment, quite easily breaking every speed limit she came across. She just prayed that she wouldn’t be too late. Parker raced into the parking lot and immediately noticed the flashing lights from the police cars. She saw a police officer starting to put up the yellow caution tape that usually meant something bad happened. Her mind started racing with horrible thoughts of Turner lying there in a pool of his own blood. She got out of the car, wiped a tear from her eye, and ran toward the scene, which had started to accumulate the usual amount of curious onlookers. Parker was stopped by an officer as she approached the area.
“I’m CIA,” Parker told the officer, showing him her ID card. “I have some information about what happened here.”
“Wait a minute,” the officer responded, radioing the detective in charge of the scene about her appearance.
“Let her through,” the Lieutenant responded.
Parker ran toward the front door where she was promptly stopped again by two officers standing there. A detective emerged from the open doorway to greet the CIA agent.
“Are you in charge?” Parker asked.
“I’m Lt. Browning,” the detective answered. He was an average looking man, in his late forties, and was a veteran of the homicide unit, working there for over ten years. “Are you the CIA agent?”
“Alex Parker,” she told him, showing him her ID.
“What can we do for you Ms. Parker? It’s not everyday we have a CIA agent showing up on the doorsteps of a homicide.”
“So it is a homicide?”
“We have one dead male lying on the floor in there,” Browning responded.
Parker hesitated before asking the next question because she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer. “Have you identified the body?” she solemnly asked.
“There was no ID on the victim but the apartment comes back to a Ryan Turner.”
“I know. I was assigned to Ryan. I can identify him.”
“He’s CIA?”
“No. He was helping us on another case that we were working on. Just a good guy trying to do the right thing.”
“Well, come on in,” Browning told her.
Parker followed the detective inside and was led to the back of the living room near the kitchen where the body laid, a white sheet draped over top of it. She slowly squatted down and wiped her mouth, nervous about seeing Turner’s body. It was really the first time that seeing a dead body had a negative effect on her. Up until that point, all the bodies she’d seen were people that were considered evil or that she didn’t really know. This was the first time that it hit close to home though. Parker looked up at Lt. Browning and a couple other police personnel that were with him, knowing she had to get on with it. She lifted up the corner of the sheet and peeked under it, slowly lifting the sheet higher. A perplexed look came over her face as she looked at the body before pulling the sheet back to reveal the entire head of the body.
“This is not Ryan Turner,” Parker stated. Though she was glad it wasn’t him, she was still a little sad for the victim.
“Well if that’s not Turner, then we need to find out who it is,” Browning said.
“You don’t have to. I already know who it is.”
“So who is it?”
“His name is Mark Hosmer. He was Turner’s best friend,” Parker replied, putting her hand on Mark’s face. She wiped one of her eyes to prevent it from tearing and tried to smile at him. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to him. Though there was nothing she could do, somehow she felt like it was her fault. She knew Turner would be devastated once he found out.
“So you think Turner did this?” Browning asked.
“No,” Parker answered, putting the sheet back over Mark’s face. She then stood up to look at the detective. She grabbed his arm and led him to the corner of the room where they could talk in private. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this since it’s a highly classified situation but I already know what happened. The CIA is after a rogue agent. We were getting close to him. To prevent that, he hired three men to come here and kill Turner. The only way it could be prevented was if I disengaged my pursuit of the agent and came here first to stop it.”
“So why kill this kid?”
“Mistaken identity probably. Mark had his own key to get in, the killers came here and found him and assumed it was Turner.”
“Any idea on the killers?”
“No idea. Hired professionals from out of town probably”
“Well, we’ll dust for prints. Never know what might turn up. So you think they were professionals?”
“Most likely. He has a way of manipulating people though so you can never be too sure.”
“We’ll get right on it. Thanks for the help.”
“Sure.”
“Any idea where Turner is right now? We’ll still have to talk to him. You know how it is,” the detective said.
“Umm, I’m not sure. I just got off a plane and came right here.”
“Well, we have someone calling him as we speak.”
“LT? Just got off the phone with Turner. He’s on his way now. Should be here within ten minutes,” another detective told Browning.
“Good deal,” the lieutenant stated.
“Lieutenant, I already have a rapport with Turner, I think he’d process this better if he heard this news coming from me,” Parker said.
Browning nodded. “I agree.”
“I’ll wait for him in the parking lot.”
Parker walked out of the apartment and past the increasing amount of people in front of the building and took a seat on the curb in the parking lot. She agonized over what she’d say to him. How do you tell someone that their best friend was murdered by mistake? It wasn’t quite what she wanted to say to him if she ever saw him again. Her stomach felt like it was in knots and she thought she might throw up. She was glad this wasn’t something she had to do every day. It was sad, she thought, that it was actually easier for her to kill someone than to have to tell someone about it. Five minutes later, she saw Turner’s car pull into the lot. She stood up as he parked. He got out of the car and did a double take once he saw Parker, not really believing she was actually there. A slight smile crept over his face. The two started walking towards each other. Once they got within arms reach, Parker gave him a big hug, squeezing him tightly.
“What are you doing here?” Turner asked. “Not that I’m not happy to see you. Just surprised.”
She had a tough time answering. Instead, she just took his hand and led him over to the curb where they both sat down.
“Oh, we probably should make this short. Police called, as I’m sure you can see, they said someone broke into the apartment. Have to go see if anything was stolen,” he nervously smiled.
Parker smiled at him, still not quite sure how to say what needed to be said. “Nothing was stolen.”
“Great. What’s everyone still doing here then?”
“It’s a little more complicated than that.”
“Oh. You still haven’t told me why you’re here,” Turner said.
Parker cleared her throat. “Cole and I were on the verge of taking Heath. The only way he could shake us was by sending three men to your apartment to…to kill you. The only way to stop it was to not pursue him and come here to prevent that.”
“He sent people to kill me?” a distraught Turner asked, almost not believing the words. “Thank you so much for still looking out for me. I’d be dead by now without you,” Turner said, giving her another hug
.
“There’s a little more to it than that.”
“You killed them in there?”
“Not quite.”
“They put graffiti on the walls,” Turner joked, sensing that Parker was avoiding telling him something. Something bad.
“The men did arrive. Before I was able to get here.”
Turner’s mouth fell open and snapped his head over to the apartment. “Mark was supposed to meet me here after work,” he said, looking back to Parker.
Parker sighed, knowing she had to finally say what she’d been putting off. “I didn’t get here in time for him.”
“No,” Turner said.
“I’m sorry.”
“Is he still alive?” Turner asked, standing up.
“Mark’s dead, Ryan.”
“No!” he replied. He started for the apartment but was restrained by Parker. “I wanna see him.”
“No you don’t,” she said, grabbing his arms. “You don’t wanna see him like that. You don’t want that to be your last memory of him,” she pleaded.
Turner looked at her and nodded. It felt like his heart had just dropped out of his chest. A few seconds later he looked on in horror as he saw a body being carried out of his apartment, a white sheet wrapped around it.
“How can he do this?” Turner asked, fighting back tears. “Why? I don’t understand.”
“Heath is no longer the person that you or I knew. He’s cold, manipulative, and ruthless. He’ll do anything and hurt anyone who stands in his way.”
Parker then led Turner to the apartment so he could talk to the detectives on scene. As he did that, Parker left the apartment to check in with Cole. She started to get worried when he didn’t pick up and the call went to voicemail. He always answered his phone. She didn’t leave a message and called again. Once again, it went to voicemail. She closed her eyes and sighed, letting the phone drop to her side, fearing that Davis had struck again and that Cole had somehow gotten shot again. A few seconds later she jumped when her phone started ringing. It was Cole.
“Hey, you OK?” she hurriedly asked.
“I’m fine, why?”
“Well I just called you twice and you didn’t answer so I was worried something happened.”
