by Mike Ryan
“What’s your biggest concern with me?”
“Just your lack of experience. The biggest problem with newer agents in the field is they don’t yet know when things are about to go bad.”
“Anyway to speed that up?”
“Nope. Take today for example. You agree to meet someone and the conditions are that you each bring 2 people with you. They bring six,” Cole said, continuing with examples. “You agree to swap money for information. They conveniently say they don’t have it with them or they’ll get it soon. If terms and conditions aren’t exactly the same as what you agreed to, put your hand on your gun and draw quickly.”
“What if I’m wrong and make the wrong call?”
“Then you live with it. I always say it’s better to live with a bad memory than be dead with a good one.”
They drove for about forty five minutes before they reached their destination, the parking lot of a long since closed used furniture store. Along the way, Cole tried to impart whatever wisdom he could think of on his less experienced partner. Once they got within distance of the meeting spot, Cole started to get a bad feeling once he saw three SUV’s parked. There was only supposed to be three people meeting them. Unless they all came by themselves, he worried they were going to have a lot more company than he was comfortable with. He stopped along the dirt path to size up the situation. He looked to his right and noticed a clump of trees and bushes that looked like it could be a good cover spot.
“See those trees and bushes over there?” Cole asked.
“Yeah,” Dickson replied, looking over.
“Take the rifle on the back seat. It’s got a scope on it. You’re gonna cover me from the bushes over there. Get as close as you can without being spotted.”
“Got it.”
“Don’t do anything till you get the word from me,” Cole cautioned.
“How will I know?”
“If I say, “It sure is warm down here,” then come up firing,” he told him. “And do it fast.”
“Got it.”
“Got your earpiece?”
“Yep,” Dickson answered, making sure it was secure.
“All right. Go.”
Dickson reached into the back seat and grabbed the rifle and slipped out of the car, opening the door just barely enough for him to sneak out, quietly closing it. He quickly ran to the nearest tree for cover as Cole started driving again. Once he entered the lot, he circled around, pulling in front of the SUV’s, facing them. The clump of trees and bushes were slightly to his left. Cole sat in his car for a second and made sure the gun in the holster in his belt wasn’t too tight. He wanted to make sure it was loose enough if he needed it in a hurry and didn’t stick. He also opened the glove compartment and took out another Glock pistol and tucked it in the back of his pants. Once he saw the men get out of the SUV’s, Cole did the same. He left the door to the car open, just in case he would need it for cover. Eight men got out of the SUV’s, five more than they had agreed upon for a simple exchange. Luis Montero had told Cole that he knew where Davis was and he had a copy of the information he was selling and would give him both for a million dollars.
“Mr. Cole. Glad you were able to make it,” the leader of the gang stated.
“Looks like you brought some friends,” Cole smiled.
Montero put his hands up like there was nothing he could do. “Couldn’t get rid of them,” he joked. “You have the money?”
Cole reached into the car to get the bag. “Get ready,” he told his partner.
He removed the black bag from the car and walked it around to the front, placing it on the hood of the car.
“Bring it over so I can take a look at it,” Montero said.
“Nah. I think I’ll stay here. If you wanna see it then take a walk.”
Montero turned to one of his men and motioned with his head to go over and look at it. The man complied and quickly walked over to the car. He unzippered it and put his hand in as he rooted through it. He looked back at his leader and nodded that it appeared to be all there. He grabbed the handles and was about to take it back when Cole stopped him.
“Hey,” Cole warned, shaking his head no. “Not till I see what I came for.”
The man looked over to Montero for orders on what to do. Montero put his hand up for him to stay put.
“Seems we have a little bit of a problem,” Montero said. “Jesus here seems to have forgotten the documents. We’ll stay here while he goes to get them.”
“You know what, don’t worry about it. I’ll just take the money and go. You call me back when you got what you need,” Cole replied.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Cole said. “Sure is warm down here,” he said, wiping his forehead.
Within seconds, a shot rang out. Montero was hit square in the chest, killing him instantly. Cole immediately withdrew the gun from his holster and shot the man near the money in the chest. At that range, the man didn’t have a chance. Cole then withdrew the gun from the back of his pants and started firing both guns. Dickson was able to kill another target as Cole was deadly accurate with both firearms as well. After Cole killed three more, he moved back behind the door of his car for cover. One of the men took off in one of the SUV’s, quickly trying to escape, but Dickson fired a round through the opened passenger door window. The bullet hit the driver in the side of the neck, causing him to lose control of the truck, crashing it into a tree. The final man that was left, slipped away in the chaos, and ran into the nearby woods. Cole emerged from behind the car to spot the guy, noticing his faint outline as he ran amongst the trees. A few seconds later, Dickson appeared, rifle in hand, looking a little out of breath.
“That was a little intense,” Dickson said, catching his breath.
“Yeah,” Cole replied, squinting his eyes as he looked around, not seeming to be bothered.
“We got everyone?”
“All but one. He slipped out into the woods over there.”
“We gonna go after him?” Dickson wondered.
“Nah. He’s not significant. He’s no longer a threat to us,” Cole answered.
“So what happened?”
“It was a setup. They never had anything. They were just planning on killing us and taking the money.”
“Oh. Greedy bastards.”
“Couldn’t have said it better myself.”
“So I do all right?” Dickson asked.
“You did good,” Cole told him, giving him a pat on the shoulder. “Now I know I can trust you. That was good shooting, by the way.”
“Thanks,” Dickson replied, proud of himself. “I was number two in the academy in marksmanship.”
“Not good enough for number one, huh?” Cole said, needling him. “Something to shoot for, so to speak.”
Dickson smiled, happy to have been accepted, even only a little bit, knowing his partner wasn’t the easiest man to please.
“So what’s next?” Dickson asked.
“Now we go back to the drawing board. Talk to Burnett, see if she has anything we can follow up on.”
Cole grabbed the bag of money and put it back in the car. The two agents drove back to their hotel to link up with their handler. They had no more leads. Every piece of information they had, had been exhausted. Burnett instructed them to just sit tight for a few days until they had something concrete to follow up on.
“Not to badger, but what about Agent Parker?” Cole asked.
“She is still enjoying her extemporaneous holiday,” Burnett sternly replied.
“Understood. It’s just that…with her relationship with the subject, maybe she’d do more good here…than there.”
“I’m well aware of Agent Parker’s familiarity of Heath Davis, Cole.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Maybe she’s a little too close to be effective.”
“As you say,” Cole stated.
“When I think she is ready to be reinstated, I will l
et you know.”
“Roger that,” he responded, Burnett’s face evaporating from the screen.
“Wow. She didn’t seem very pleased at that name being mentioned,” Dickson said.
“Yeah. Well, that’s what happens when you disobey orders.”
“I guess the lesson is to always do what you’re told.”
“Not always. Sometimes there’s a good reason not to. You just better be damn sure you’re prepared to deal with the consequences.”
“Was she?”
“She was.”
Parker and Turner were eating at a nice restaurant, finishing up their meals when Turner got a text. He looked at his phone and grinned. Parker wondered what made me perk up.
“What’s that look for?” she asked.
“Hmm? Oh. It’s nothing. Sorry, I should be paying more attention to you instead of my phone,” he replied, shoving his phone back in his pocket.
Parker laughed. “It’s OK. What was it? Seemed like good news.”
“Yeah,” Turner replied, not able to hide the smile on his face.
“Well are you gonna share the news or do I have to use some of my tricks to get you to talk?”
“Depends what kind of tricks we’re talking about,” Turner joked.
“The kind where I take you out back and use this butter knife to peel off your face,” she smiled, holding the knife in her hand.
“Uhh…point taken. Wow. You even make getting tortured seem sexy and desirable.”
Parker smiled and put the knife down. “Seriously, what was it?”
“It was just Vicky. My dad’s coming to town next week. I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I’ll be able to introduce you. It’ll be great,” Turner excitedly said.
Parker wasn’t as excited. Her eyes nearly popped out of her head at the thought of meeting his father. It’d be a relationship first for her. She’d been with a few guys before, but nothing so serious that she had to meet a parent. The thought was actually a little terrifying to her. What would she say, she thought. It was hard enough for her to be normal around Turner and his sister. Now she’d have to do it with their father. What if he asked questions she wasn’t prepared for? A huge lump went down her throat as she started thinking of all the things that could go wrong.
“So what’s bringing him to town?” Parker asked.
“Uhh…it’s November.”
“Uhh…so?”
“Thanksgiving?” Turner reminded her.
“Oh,” Parker responded, trying not to sound stupid. “Yeah, that’s right. It completely slipped my mind.”
Parker briefly closed her eyes and took another deep sigh. Thanksgiving. Another thing to worry about. Since her parents died, she had never celebrated another Thanksgiving since then. Once she joined the CIA, she was constantly on missions, and never gave it a second thought. If she happened to be off an assignment on that day, she just had dinner in her hotel room like it was any other day. She tried not to let Turner see how worried she was about everything, but she actually thought about disappearing for a week. She’d rather face a room full of terrorists than have a Thanksgiving celebration. At least she was used to terrorists. Family dinners were a whole different story.
Parker started looking around the restaurant as she noticed the back exit. She then glanced at the front door as if she was ready to bolt. Turner was talking to her but she didn’t hear a word he was saying. All she was thinking about was how she wasn’t prepared for all of this.
“Alex?” Turner asked. He repeated himself several times before she finally heard him.
She looked at him but still wasn’t totally processing everything. “Oh. Sorry,” she told him, shaking her head.
“You OK?”
“Uhh…yeah. Mmm hmm,” Parker replied, taking a sip of water.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. Nothing.”
“It looks like you’re…sweating,” Turner noticed.
“Oh. Am I?” she said, wiping the sweat off her head with her hand.
“Is something wrong?”
She just simply shook her head as she bit down on her lip, crunching her eyebrows while making a terrified face. She then took another sip of water.
“Oh my God. What’s wrong with you? You look like you just saw a ghost or something,” Turner stated.
Parker shook her head. “Worse. Much worse,” she said, drinking again.
Turner was getting concerned with her behavior, thinking he did something to upset her. He reached across the table and gently clutched her hand, helping her to put her glass of water back on the table.
“What’s wrong? You can talk to me,” he told her.
Parker looked at him with that same worried look and sighed. “I’m actually terrified,” she confided.
“What? You? Terrified of what?”
“Everything. Thanksgiving. Meeting your dad. All of it,” she said, shaking her head.
“You’re a highly skilled and trained member of the CIA and you’re terrified of meeting my father and a dinner?” Turner surprisingly asked.
“I know. I know. It’s so stupid. But I’ve been trained to kill things and blow things up. I wasn’t trained to…meet family.”
“Wow. I didn’t think you were afraid of anything.”
“Guess we all have our secrets,” she admitted.
“It’s actually a little refreshing.”
“It is?”
“Yeah. Here I thought you were a female Rambo who could charge into any situation without fear. I didn’t think you even knew what the word meant.”
“Well, I do.”
Turner moved over to the chair next to her and put his arm around her shoulder to try and comfort her.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine,” he said.
“I’m glad you think so.”
He gently touched her chin with his index finger and pulled her face over so she was looking at him. “I’ll help you get through this,” he said, softly kissing her lips.
“You will?”
“Of course. You can depend on me. Maybe not for blowing things up or anything,” he joked. “But for family things…I’m your guy.”
Parker laughed at his sense of humor. It was one of the things she loved about him. He seemed able to make fun out of any situation. She felt a little more comfortable with his soothing words and at ease with his arm around her.
“You know I’ve been trained to handle every situation that could be thrown at me. Bombs, torture, guns, language…but never a real relationship,” she told him.
“Well I guess I’ll just have to be your very own personal trainer,” Turner smiled, giving her another soft kiss. “And I won’t even charge you.”
Parker laughed. “I guess that’s lucky for me.”
As they walked back to the car, they heard some noises coming from the back of the parking lot. It sounded like someone was in trouble. As they got closer, the arguing got even louder. The arguing culprits didn’t even notice Parker and Turner arriving. A woman was leaning against the driver side door of a car with a man directly in front of her. They immediately noticed that she had a little bit of blood coming from the side of her mouth.
“Is everything OK?” a concerned Parker asked the woman.
The woman opened her mouth as if to say something but then looked at the guy in front of her and decided against it. The man turned toward Parker and Turner in a defiant posture.
“Everything’s fine,” he said in a nasty tone.
“Looks like she’s bleeding,” Parker replied.
The man looked back at the woman, not concerned with her injury. “She slipped getting into the car.”
“Hey man, we’re just trying to help,” Turner said.
“Fine. You checked it out. Everything’s fine. Now get out of here before I break your scrawny neck,” he threatened.
Turner’s heart started beating heavier, not enthusiastic that he’d be abl
e to take the taller, heavier man standing in front of him. He’d hate to get beat up in front of Parker. He turned his head to look at her to see if they should leave but she didn’t seem concerned.
“If I were you, I’d turn and run now before you not only get your ass beat, but also your pride hurt,” Parker told him.
“Oh yeah? And who’s gonna do this? This guy?” he asked, smirking.
“No. I am.”
“That’s some tough talk there, blondie.”
“Oh no,” Turner said. “She doesn’t really like that.”
“Shut up,” the man told him as he moved closer to Parker.
“Take your best shot,” Parker said. “I’ll let you lead.”
The man laughed. “I don’t really enjoy hitting women but I think I might in your case.”
“Well let’s see how much you enjoy this woman kicking your ass.”
Parker spun around and gave him a leg kick across his face, stunning him momentarily. As he stumbled back, she dropkicked him in the shin. He dropped to a knee, a perfect spot for her to unleash a couple more roundhouse kicks. As he was on the ground, Parker took his arm and applied pressure in such a way that it was a guarantee that he tore some ligaments in his shoulder. The man was stupid enough to get to his feet, giving Parker the opportunity to do even more damage, showing off more moves in her arsenal. Turner watched it all in amazement. He was proud of what his girlfriend was able to do, though also a bit of fear etched in his mind, knowing what she was capable of, just in case they ever had a bad argument. It was impressive watching her in action though, going up against a man much bigger than her, and her handling him with such ease. The whole fight lasted only a minute or two, the man bleeding profusely from his nose and a cut on his forehead. Something in his shoulder was torn, along with a broken nose, and a probable concussion.
“Guess I’m not too out of practice,” Parker mumbled.
She went over to the injured woman who was in awe of her and what she’d just done.
“I can’t believe what just happened,” the woman said.
“Are you OK?” Parker asked.
“Yeah.”
“You know this guy?”
