by Mike Ryan
“Oh. Well, I guess I better get going too. Have to be up early,” she said, starting to leave.
“Oh yeah, so how’d your night go? Any luck with uhh, what’s his name?”
“Nazarov? Uhh, too soon to tell yet. Have to go break into a nightclub he’s rumored to be involved with to see if he’ll be there at some point this week.”
“Oh. Do you need some help?” Turner asked. “Sounds dangerous.”
“No. Thanks for the offer though. But we got it. Besides, you’re not an agent. You’re not trained for field work.”
“Are you sure? Cause I can help you guys. And what happened to me helping the team?”
“It’s only a two man job, Ryan. And as far as helping…if there’s computer work, or behind the scenese, then yes…but I can’t put you in a possibly dangerous situation. But thank you anyway. Besides, you have work in the morning so you need to get your rest,” she diplomatically said.
“I could do that job in my sleep,” he joked.
There was an awkward pause between the two of them, neither really wanting to leave, but neither really having anything else to say.
“Well, you should go get some sleep,” Turner stated.
“You too.”
“Yeah. Good luck with the mission. Let me know how it goes and everything.”
“I will,” she nodded.
“Goodnight,” he finally said, both of them finally going back into their apartments.
Chapter 7
It took Cole a few minutes longer than he anticipated, but he disabled both the alarm and video system.
“You’re good to go, Parker.”
“Roger,” she replied, shooting a rope over the top of the building.
Parker scaled the back of the building, getting up the two story building in no time at all. It wasn’t the first time she’d done that sort of thing and actually kind of enjoyed it. It broke up the usual routine of going through doors. Once she got to the roof, she saw the skylight. It was the only one there so it made it easy to find the office. She knelt down beside the skylight and got her glass cutters out of her belt. She cut a small piece along the corner, letting it fall to the floor. She then cut the edge of the rest of the glass, putting her hand through the open part she just cut, so she could carefully remove it. In case there was anybody in the building, she didn’t want a giant piece of glass shattering on the floor, alerting them of her presence. Once the glass was removed, she tied a piece of rope around the chimney and roped down through the now open skylight.
The idea was to make the break-in look like a robbery by burglarizing their safe or whatever valuables was inside the office. Parker took off her backpack and removed her safe auto dialer and walked toward the safe. It was a tall safe and she was a little surprised it wasn’t concealed somehow but it must’ve been bolted to the floor she imagined. She placed the auto dialer on the safe and it started spinning the possible combinations. Depending on the type of safe and the auto dialer used it usually could take between ten minutes and over an hour to break into a safe. The CIA had partnered with a safe company to devise a device that would break into a safe much sooner than those available on the open market. The dialer Parker had should’ve been able to get into this safe in less than twenty minutes. Once the dialer started working she immediately headed for the desk and looked for books or files that would indicate who the guests were for that week. She rummaged through every drawer and within a few minutes found the book that included the guest lists. She took out her phone and took pictures of the names in the book for the next two week period. She carefully put everything back in the drawers the way she found them and then proceeded over to the safe. It’d been about five minutes. She didn’t like just waiting there so she looked around the room to see if there was anything else worth retrieving, whether it just be information or of actual physical value. It took about fifteen minutes for the dialer to reveal the numbers for the safe. Parker opened the door and noticed a large amount of money, along with a few file folders, and a couple of guns. She quickly looked through the folders but didn’t see anything that would be of interest to them. She then put all the money in her bag, most of it seemed to be in stacks of twenties, fifties, and hundreds. She then pulled herself back up the rope and onto the roof.
“I’m done Cole. On my way down,” she said.
“You’re all clear.”
Parker was back down within two minutes and Cole came screeching by with his car, Parker jumping in.
“Get anything?” Cole asked.
“Yeah. Nazarov is on the guest list. He’ll be there Wednesday,” she replied.
“Two more days. Nice.”
“And I got a lot of money,” she said, opening up the backpack for him.
“Wonder how much is there. We’ll count it once we get back and contact Burnett. See what she wants us to do.”
They just missed Turner once they got back to the apartment complex, him leaving just five minutes before the agents returned.
“Hmm. Looks like your boyfriend left already,” Cole stated.
“Really, Cole? He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Not yet anyway.”
“We both know that can’t and won’t happen,” Parker replied.
“Where there’s a will there’s a way.”
“Once we’re done here, he’ll forget all about me.”
“And you him I suppose?” Cole asked. “He’s gotten to you.”
“No, he hasn’t.”
“Really. Anybody with half a brain can see the two of you are interested in each other.”
“Fine. I will admit that he has good qualities that are appealing if I was looking for a boyfriend to settle down with but obviously with our profession…is not happening,” she explained.
“OK,” Cole said, smirking, not believing a word she was saying.
They went inside Cole’s unit and started counting the money, which eventually turned out to be fifty thousand dollars. As Cole was putting the money away, Parker got Burnett on the video conference.
“So what do you have?” Burnett asked.
“We made the nightclub look like a burglary and took out fifty thousand from their safe,” Parker said. “Very clean job. They’ll never figure out what happened.”
“Very good. I’d expect nothing less from you.”
“Thank you.”
“Did you get any leads while you were there?”
“I saw on the guest list that Nazarov will be there on Wednesday,” Parker told her.
“So what’s your plan?”
“The plan is to grab him then take him to a secure location and beat out of him whatever he knows,” Cole interjected.
“I might have known that would’ve been your plan, Cole. Especially knowing how you prefer to go in blazing with both barrels. But I would hope there would be an alternative plan. One that wouldn’t endanger you both and one that would be less public. You can’t just grab him out of the nightclub.”
“We’ll come up with something, Lisa. I’ll let you know once we come up with a better plan,” Parker said.
“What do you want done with the money?” Cole asked.
“For now, sit on it. If you need money to use for any informants, or other situations that may arise, take it out of that,” Burnett told them.
“Ten-four,” Cole said.
Turner had just pulled into the GameTech parking lot, parking in his usual spot near the back. Just as he turned off the ignition and opened his door, his passenger side door swung open. He looked in horror as Heath Davis quickly got in.
“Hi Ryan,” Davis said. “Guess you didn’t expect to see me again, huh?”
“Uhh, no. No. I didn’t,” Turner nervously replied, pulling out his phone.
“What’re you doing?”
“Calling Alex and letting her know you’re here.”
“Put the phone down. I’m not gonna hurt you,” he told him.
“Why should I believe that? You lied to me abou
t everything,” Turner said, dialing Parker’s number.
“You can’t trust her.”
“But I can trust you?”
“Yes. I can explain everything,” Davis said. “Just put the phone down.”
Turner did as instructed and lowered the phone, hanging up after ringing Parker’s number two times. Parker picked up her phone just as Turner hung up. “Ryan just called,” she told Cole. “That’s kind of unusual, don’t you think?”
“Maybe.”
“What do you think he could’ve wanted so early in the morning?”
“Probably just wanted to blow kisses in your ear. Probably upset he didn’t get a chance to give you some smooches goodbye,” Cole laughed. “If it’s bothering you just call him back.”
Parker called Turner back. Turner looked down as his phone started ringing and contemplated answering it.
“What do you really know about her?” Davis asked.
“I know enough.”
“You don’t know anything about her.”
“Why wouldn’t I trust her and Cole?”
“Cole? Jim Cole’s here?” Davis asked in surprise.
“Uhh…no,” Turner lied, knowing he screwed up. “No. I don’t know who that is really.”
“Really? You just happened to throw out the name of a CIA agent and you don’t know who he is?”
“Uhhh…yeah.”
“She wasn’t right about me. I haven’t gone rogue,” Davis said.
“Why would she lie?”
“I’m on a deep undercover mission like I told you. The only one who knows about it is the director. That’s it.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell Alex. She was your partner. And girlfriend I take it.”
“Because they’re not sure they can trust her.”
“Why should I believe you?” Turner asked.
“Because I’m keeping my word,” he told him, handing over bag.
“What’s this?” Turner asked, looking inside.
“That’s your cut. Just like I promised. Ten thousand dollars.”
“I don’t know if I should take this.”
“Why not? You earned it,” Davis said, handing him a file folder.
“What’s this?”
“Alex’s file. Read it. See if you know her as well as you think you do. She’s not the person you think she is. She’s a trained killer. A master at deception. You can‘t believe anything she tells you. All she cares about is getting the job done. She doesn’t care who gets hurt along the way. I learned that the hard way. Her code name is Night Terror. She didn’t get that for being all sweet and innocent.”
Turner took it, starting to think Davis wouldn’t be trying so hard to convince him if he wasn’t really telling the truth.
“Ask her about France,” Davis said.
“France?”
“It’s not in there. It’s been removed. Ask her and see what she tells you.”
“What happened?”
“Just ask her.”
“So why are you telling me all this?” Turner wondered.
“I just want to set the record straight between us. I might have another job for you if you want it.”
“I don’t know, Heath.”
“It’s all a lot to process, I know. If you want further proof I’m telling you the truth, go home and see how many bugs they planted in your apartment,” Davis told him.
“Bugs? They’re spying on me?”
“They don’t trust you, Ryan. You need to be careful.”
“How would I know if they planted anything?” Turner asked.
“They’re probably so small you can’t even see them,” he said, thinking. “I got a way. When you get home tonight. Wait a few minutes then just say out loud my name, pretending I’m there with you. If they come charging in, you know the place is bugged.”
“I still don’t quite understand everything. Why would they be doing that to me?”
“Because they’re using you to get to me. The fact they’re out here looking for me proves that they’ve gone rogue and they’re on the take. They’re looking for me so they can silence me before their covers are blown,” Davis explained. “If I was looking to hurt you, you’d be dead already.”
Turner looked at him and knew he was right. Davis could’ve taken him out anytime he wanted. Davis then left and Turner just sat there for a few minutes thinking about everything. He wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. He initially believed Davis, then believed Parker, now he wasn’t exactly sure who was telling the truth and who was lying. They all sounded convincing. He put the bag of money in his trunk then proceeded to go into work. He went straight for his desk and read his emails. That was the most amount of work he’d end up doing for the day. He still had Parker’s file in his hands and the curiosity was killing him. As soon as he was done on the computer he opened up the file. He eagerly read the contents, both surprised and horrified with what was in it. It listed all of her aliases, code names, her missions and their details. There were even some pictures of some of the people she’d killed. Turner found it hard to believe the woman he’d just started getting to know was capable of some of the things he was reading about. He re-read the file several times, finding it hard to digest everything. Since he didn’t get much work done at the office he left early, packing it in around three o’clock.
Turner went straight home and immediately noticed that Parker and Cole’s cars were both there. He quickly walked to his apartment and as soon as he went inside, thought about what Davis told him. He wasn’t sure whether or not he was going to do as Davis wanted and call out his name. He debated his options as he grabbed a bottle of water. After twenty minutes he decided to go through with it and walked into the living room.
“Heath,” Turner said loudly. “What are you doing here in my apartment?”
Within thirty seconds both Parker and Cole came bursting through his door, their guns drawn. Turner was startled even though he figured they were coming. He wasn’t quite expecting the guns though, even though he probably should have.
“Where is he?” Parker yelled.
Turner didn’t reply. “Turner. Where’s Davis?” Cole asked.
Once again, Turner didn’t respond and simply stood there, unsure how to say Davis was never there. His mouth opened like he wanted to say something, but no words came out.
Parker could tell something wasn’t right by Turner’s expression and was starting to get a little worried about him.
“Check the rooms,” she told Cole.
She put her gun in the back of her pants and slowly approached Turner, who was looking around the room.
“What’s wrong?” Parker asked, the look on her face showing great concern.
“Heath’s not here,” Turner replied.
“OK. Where’d he go?” she asked, putting her hand on his arm, thinking he was just a little frazzled. “Just relax and calm down.”
“He never was here,” he blurted out quickly.
“What?” Parker asked, confused.
“Heath wasn’t here.”
“Then why did you yell that he was? I don’t understand.”
Turner took a few seconds to respond, clearing his throat and sighing. “Because I wanted to see if the apartment was bugged,” he admitted.
“You what?” Cole angrily asked, coming back into the room. “Place is clear,” he told Parker.
“What’s going on?” Parker wondered.
“I just wanted to see if you guys had planted bugs in the apartment. I figured that was the best way to find out. Looks like I was right,” he replied, upset. “Why would you guys do that?”
“Why’s none of your business, moron!” Cole sternly said. “We’re here to find Davis and we’ll use every means necessary that’s at our disposal.”
“You know, I’d expect an answer like that out of you. But until you give me more answers, I’m not telling you everything I know about Heath,” Turner warned.
“You know more than you’ve been t
elling us?”
“Yep.”
“Why you little…,” Cole snorted, starting to move closer to Turner, ready to knock him out. Parker stepped in front of him and put both her hands on his chest to stop him.
“Calm down,” she told him. “Just cool off.”
Cole stopped his charge and backed off, realizing bashing Turner’s head in wouldn’t do anybody any good. He grunted and stayed behind Parker as she turned her attention to Turner.
“Ryan, what’s going on?” she nicely asked.
“It’s just like I told you before.”
“Something else is going on here,” she said, noticing his demeanor was different. “You’re not acting like yourself.”
“I just wanted to see if I could actually trust you guys. Apparently I can’t.”
Parker looked at him for a moment, convinced something else was in play here.
“Did you talk to someone or something?” she asked.
“No,” Turner replied with an emphatic expression on his face.
“Cause this doesn’t seem like something you would come up with all of a sudden by yourself.”
“Got that right,” Cole interjected.
Turner shrugged.
“Ryan, we can stay here all night till we get the answers or you can just talk to us,” Parker told him.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me why you bugged my apartment,” Turner relented.
“We put those in before we knew what was going on,” she told him. “We needed to find out what you knew and if you were involved. It wasn’t to invade your privacy or anything and if you’re offended or anything then I apologize.”
“Now spill it,” Cole told him.
“I talked to Heath this morning,” he said.
“What?” Cole asked. “Where?”
“I had just parked when I got to work and before I knew it he jumped into the car and started talking.”
Parker was stunned that he saw Davis again but now Turner’s behavior was beginning to make sense. It was obvious to her that Davis had said some things that Turner believed and was causing him to not trust them.
“So what did he tell you?” Parker wondered, concerned about what Davis might have said.
“Just, you know, about you guys and that he wasn’t rogue. That only the director knew he was deep undercover and that you guys were actually rogue and that’s why you were chasing him,” Turner explained.
