Rogue Ghost (CIA Ghost Series Book 1) (13 page)

“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 telling 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.

Cole laughed at the preposterousness of the claim. “Yeah right,” he said.

Parker wasn’t as quick to laugh it off though. She knew it was serious and that Turner was having doubts about them. She grabbed Turner’s hand and led him over to the couch, sitting down next to him.

“Ryan, the director is the one who sent us after Heath. And besides, it doesn’t work like that. Even if you’re deep undercover you still have a handler and support team who can get you out of trouble,” she patiently told him.

“I guess, I mean, how do I know I can trust you?” Turner said, throwing his hands up. “Any of you. He says things that sound good. You guys say things that sound good. I just don’t know what to believe.”

“You can believe I’m gonna put my foot up your ass in a minute,” Cole threatened.

“That is not helping,” Parker admonished. She then sat there for a minute, silently, with her elbows on her knees and her hands folded between them as she thought of how to convince him they were on his side.

“I dunno,” Turner stated. “He told me I shouldn’t trust you because you’re a trained killer and a master at deception and you’ll tell anyone anything in order to get your mission accomplished. That you’d tell me anything and not to believe anything you’ve said to me.”

“He told you that?”

“Yeah, he did. I guess it’s just hard to believe someone with the name Night Terror is actually on your side.”

“What?” she asked, not believing what she just heard.

“Heath gave me your file.”

“You read top secret information?” Cole asked. “Not a smart move, game boy.”

“What else?” Parker asked.

“Huh?” Turner said.

“What else did you read?”

“All your aliases and missions and stuff. It was all there.”

“And?” she asked, knowing there was more to come.

“He said to ask you about France,” he softly told her.

Parker angrily looked at him, giving him an icy stare. “And what did he tell you about it.”

“Nothing. Nothing. He said it wasn’t in your file cause it’d been taken out for some reason and to just ask you what happened.”

Parker’s face went from concern about convincing Turner that they were really there to help him to anger about him now knowing certain facts about her. As much as she wasn’t ashamed of the things she’d done, she didn’t want Turner knowing all the intimate details about the things she’s had to do.

“So what happened in France?” Turner asked.

Parker looked down for a minute before looking at him. “I’m not gonna talk about what happened in France,” she told him.

“Why? What was so bad?” he asked again.

“Listen, I am not gonna sit here and tell you what happened, OK? I’m an agent, you’re a civilian, and you do not need to know everything that I’ve been through, OK?”

“OK. I was just asking.”

“Well don’t ask again. What happened there is none of your business,” she angrily said. “If you wanna believe everything that Heath’s told you, then fine, believe it. If you think that he’s actually the good guy here, then I don’t know what else to tell you, or how to make you believe otherwise, and I’m not even gonna try anymore. So if that’s the way you wanna play it, then go find him and I’ll leave you alone permanently.”

“Alex…,” Turner started.

Parker had gotten so angry that she didn’t even want to hear anything else he had to say. She got up and stormed out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. Turner felt bad that he got her upset. Deep down, he knew most of what Davis was telling him was a bunch of junk. But he did read Parker’s file, it was all there, there wasn’t anything that Davis needed to lie about in it. While Turner felt badly, Cole was actually impressed with Parker’s fire. It was the most pissed off he’d seen her be yet. He actually kind of liked it.

“Good job, dope,” Cole said. “Looks like you just pissed off the girl that’s kept you alive so far. Great work. By the way, she’s probably the only one in all of this, me and Davis included, who actually cares what happens to you. Don’t ever forget that.”

While Turner sat there contemplating everything, Cole left the apartment and saw Parker standing on the porch, leaning against a railing just looking into the distance. He could see that she was crying and wiping at her eyes. He wasn’t very good at being a person to lean on with his gruff persona, and didn’t always give the impression that he cared, but he very much cared about his job and the people he worked with. He took a step toward his apartment but stopped and thought about what he’d say if he walked over to her. Even though he knew he probably wasn’t the best person to be around for that sort of thing, he decided to lend her his support.

“I’d offer you some tissues but I’m uhh…I’m fresh out,” he opened.

Parker looked away and wiped her off the tears on her face, not wanting him to see her crying. “It’s OK. I’ll be fine.”

Cole hesitated, not knowing how else to comfort her. He pulled out his weapon and offered it to her. “Wanna shoot him?” he asked.

Parker laughed. “No. No, I don’t want to shoot him.”

“If it makes you feel better, you don’t have to kill him. Just give him two in the knee caps. Make you feel brand new.”

Parker shook her head and laughed. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Mind if I shoot him?” he joked.

“No you can’t shoot him.”

“Always taking away my fun,” Cole said, putting his gun away. He then sighed and asked some questions that he usually wouldn’t ask someone, but considering they were now partners, felt more of a connection. “So what got to you in there?”

“I don’t know,” Parker sighed.

“Was it France? Or something else?”

Parker looked at him, Cole putting his hand up to calm her down before she said anything. “I don’t need to know any details,” he told her. “Whatever happened in France or anywhere else can stay there. I know sometimes we do things that maybe we don’t look back fondly on. We make decisions on a daily basis that most people never have to make in their lifetime. Decisions that are life and death, decisions that get people killed, and sometimes we’re the ones that pull the trigger. And we have to live with that.”

“I dunno. I guess it was just everything. Not just France. That was just the iceberg I guess,” she said.

“The fact that he now knows everything about you and your past?”

“Yeah. I guess I uhh…well, you don’t wanna hear what I’m thinking,” she said, waving her hand at him.

“I’m here.”

Parker looked at him and hesitated, not sure if she really wanted to divulge everything that was on her mind. But after thinking about it for a minute she thought, why not? She didn’t really care at that point.

“I guess it’s cause when I’m around him I feel…like a normal person. Like I’m just a regular girl talking to a regular guy. No aliases, no missions, no guns, none of that. I’ve never had that before and it’s kind of nice.”

“And now he knows all your dark and dirty secrets. Maybe he’ll think of you differently?”

“I guess. I’m just torn between my job and…,” she stopped.

“And pursuing someone you clearly have feelings for?”

“Look, I have no family. Don’t really have any friends either. I was recruited when I was seventeen and this is all I’ve ever known. And for a long time it was great. I never really thought of anything but the mission I was on or wanted to do anything else. But now,” she said.

“But now you’ve finally met someone who makes your heart go pitter patter and you’re wondering if maybe it’s time to walk away,” he stated.

“Yeah. Just before we came here I started having doubts. But meeting him…now I don’t know. I’ve been on my own since I was ten. I never had the normal life or was able to do the things most girls did. Now I guess I’m starting to want all those things that I’ve been missing. I guess part of me just really wants that without all the spy stuff.”

“Understandable.”

“I mean, blowing things up and killing people, and having aliases, that can’t be all that life is, can it?”

Cole made a face, “well it’s worked for me so far.”

“I’m just tired of seducing drug lords, and arms dealers, and crooks, and…”

“You know what you need?” Cole asked.

“What?”

“You need a day off.”

“We have too much to do here. I can’t take a day off,” she resisted.

“Take tomorrow off.  Go to the beach. Soak in the sun. Relax. Come back refreshed, you’ll feel better, and the day after, we get Nazarov. There’s nothing going on tomorrow anyway. I’ll keep working and plugging away on Davis,” Cole told her.

“You really think so?”

“Look, you’ve obviously got a lot on your mind. You need to just relax for a day. It’ll do you good. And when you get back you’ll feel better and work better. If anything important comes up, I’ll call you.”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I just need a day off. Thank you,” Parker said, giving Cole a hug.

Cole froze, surprised and not sure how to respond. He wasn’t used to affection.

“Thank you. I really needed to get all this off my chest,” she told him.

“Uhh, sure. That’s what a partner’s for.”

Cole bid her goodnight and went back to his apartment. A few minutes later Turner looked out his window and saw Parker still standing there. He figured it was his chance to go apologize to her and hope that she still wanted to talk to him and not take him out with a knife or something. He walked over to her and just stood next to her for a few seconds, not saying anything. He figured if she didn’t want anything to do with him then she’d just leave. But she still stayed, which he took as a good sign.

“It’s a nice night,” Turner stated.

“Yeah.”

“I just wanted to apologize for everything in there.”

“You don’t have to apologize,” she told him.

“I do. I know what you’ve done for me and I shouldn’t have questioned you and I’m sorry for that. It’s just…never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be in the middle of a CIA plot, with rogue agents, doing drops in theatres, apartment bugging,” he shrugged.

“It’s a lot to process. And I don’t blame you for being confused at times or not quite knowing who you can trust.”

“I guess when Heath told me that you bugged my apartment, and you would tell me anything, and not to trust you…I guess I just thought the worst.”

Parker looked at him, staring right into his eyes. “I didn’t lie about what I told you, about me. Everything I told you about me, about my past, was the truth.”

“I believe you. I do.”

“I guess part of what made me so angry was you knowing all my secrets. I mean, it’s one thing to know what I do and what I’ve done. It’s another to know all the details. I like you. And I suppose I got mad because I thought if you knew all that stuff it’d change your opinion of me. And I want you to like me too,” Parker said.