Sudden Recall (16 page)

But maybe this would jog her memory.

He smiled to himself even as he kissed her, hoping she would remember them.

“Whoa.” Ames's yell broke through Parker's thoughts. “What on...?”

The helicopter jolted.

“They're shooting at us!”

Parker pulled Sienna's seat belt on and then fumbled for his own.

Ames yelled, “Brace!”

The chopper was hit. The engine stuttered and Sienna screamed. Hailey prayed out loud for all of them, and Sienna said, “Amen.” Parker couldn't think. The chopper lost altitude, and they screamed again.

“Get us down!”

That was probably redundant, given Ames was already doing it, but their only hope was landing, and doing it in one piece. Going out in a fiery ball of flames wasn't in his playbook. Parker had plenty of stuff to do before he died, and that day wasn't going to be today.

Sienna grabbed his hand, and Ames flew the juddering helicopter to the closest spot he could land safely. Trees collided with the chopper and the windows cracked. An eternity later, Ames yelled, “Hold on!”

The aircraft clipped two trees and slammed into the ground. Sienna cried out and quickly went limp in his arms.

Parker lost the breath in his lungs. “Help us, Lord.”

SIXTEEN

P
arker coughed and tried to sit up. The helicopter was sideways, and he was lying on Sienna's legs. He shifted off her and brushed the hair back from her face.

Ames moaned, and Parker heard him move. “I'm okay.” He paused a beat. “So is Hailey.”

Sienna was passed out, so pale she looked dead. Parker didn't want to press two fingers to her throat to check for a pulse—and vowed to himself that he never would. Their future was not going to come to that. Instead, he moved his face down so they were almost nose to nose, and he could feel the small puffs of air on his lips. She was alive.

Parker squeezed his eyes shut.

“How is Sienna?”

“Alive.” Parker managed to choke the word out. Had he really prayed in that second before the helicopter had crash-landed? He wasn't the kind of man who felt he needed God's help. He was trained, capable. But in the heat of the moment, he'd looked to Sienna's Lord to help them all. And He had.

Thank You.

It felt awkward, talking to someone he didn't know, but Parker had to acknowledge his gratitude. They were all alive, and if God had done that, then he was willing to cough up a simple response. He couldn't deny there may very well be something to this “faith” thing.

Parker checked his pockets. He still had both flash drives. Who had shot them down?

He peered out the window but couldn't see much of anything from the angle the helicopter was lying at. The rotors were crumpled, long beams of twisted metal that had been destroyed when they'd tipped onto the ground. Thank God the whole thing hadn't exploded and killed them all.

A man in all-black fatigues with a rifle crept toward the helicopter. A second man appeared six feet to his right, just on the edge of what Parker could see.

The roar of an engine broke through the dull ringing in his ears. A pickup truck pulled up behind the two men. Another man in all black was driving, and Karen sat beside him. The same look she'd had at the hospital was on her face. She was going to get what she wanted, and nothing would stand in her way.

Parker scrambled to his knees and looked around for his gun.

Ames twisted around. “There's no way we can get out without getting shot.”

His teammate was right. Karen and her posse would spot them right away.

“That puts us on defense.”

Ames nodded his head. “Soon as I locate my cell phone, I'll call in.”

Parker located his weapon and pulled his backup out for his off-hand. He crawled toward what was the roof and peered out where the top of the window met the ceiling inside.

Eight feet.

Six feet.

The boom-boom-boom of shots fired echoed out as bullets hit the window. Cracks splintered up and down the tempered glass and Ames yelled, scrabbling around to get in position.

Parker lifted his foot and kicked the window out.

He aimed and fired three shots. A phone was ringing. Parker located the source and saw “Aunt Karen” on the display of Sienna's cell. He put the call on speaker. “What do you want?”

“Come out and we won't kill you.”

“Kill me, and you'll never get the flash drives.”

Karen didn't even hesitate; she replied immediately with, “I'll order my men to kill the other two marshals first. You can watch. When they're done, we'll kill you. Sienna will tell me where the flash drives are.”

“How do you know Sienna didn't die in the crash?” Parker glanced at her. She was still unconscious. Ames was in position, which meant if Parker had to get out and do this deal, his friend could cover him.

“I don't need her. If she's gone, you have no reason to keep the flash drives. They belong to the CIA, and we are the only ones who can safeguard them.”

Unfortunately for Karen, Parker could see the pickup and the man beside her. At the exact moment she had spoken so earnestly, the man beside her smirked.

Karen had no intention of turning the flash drives over to the CIA. Whatever she had planned, there were likely more sinister—or selfish—motives at work. And there was no way Parker could let her get to them.

“I'm coming out.” He waited a second so either of the men flanking the helicopter didn't shoot him when he stuck his head out.

Parker stowed his backup weapon back in his ankle holster and climbed out feet first.
You helped us before, Lord. Could You help us now? We didn't die. Help me not die now, keep us all safe and don't let the information I carry be used for evil.

Karen stood and climbed down from the cab of the pickup. She stepped aside, but didn't leave the cover of the open door. “Hand over the flash drives and we'll let you live.” She motioned to the man on Parker's left, slowly closing the distance between them.

They really assumed he would simply hand them over, no questions asked? Parker had to keep up the ruse that Sienna might be dead, so he shook his head. “You don't even care, do you? And you've been pretending to be her aunt this whole time. How can you be so cold?”

But the question went unanswered.

“Tell me how I'm supposed to get Nina back with no flash drives.” He waited, but Karen didn't deign to answer that, either. “Don't you want Amand arrested?”

Karen's cool facade cracked, and she snorted. “The CIA isn't in the business of ‘arresting' people. Our methods are far simpler. Faster, and more effective.”

“Snatch the flash drives and then order one of your people to take out Amand?” Parker raised his eyebrows. “Is that the plan for Loughton also? Will he be buried in the desert somewhere? Is that why you had him removed from Marshal custody, to silence him so that no one will find out you're trying to get the information for yourselves?”

He folded his arms. “Does the CIA even know you're after the flash drives, or that you spent a year babysitting Sienna just so you could steal them?”

It was all coming together now. The lying. Smothering Sienna every day hoping she would remember where she'd hidden the flash drives. All so Karen could make off with them herself.

Karen rolled her eyes. “Too bad the idiot I sent to get Loughton lost him.”

* * *

Sienna opened her eyes to find Hailey right in front of her. Hailey pressed her finger to her lips.

Sienna nodded. Her entire body was awash with pain, and she renewed every attempt to push it away before it overwhelmed her.

Hailey held Sienna's wrist with two fingers and stared at her watch. When she let go, she patted the back of Sienna's hand.
Guess I'll live.
Hailey pulled out her phone, called 9-1-1 and, whispering, asked for the sheriff's help.

“Give me the flash drives.”
Karen's scream was full of rage.

Hailey's head whipped around. Ames didn't move; his gun and attention trained on what was happening outside, he muttered, “You tell 'em, Park.”

Sienna whispered, “Karen?”

Hailey nodded.

She bit her lip and waited for Parker's reply.

“How are we supposed to get Nina back without them?”

“Fake it! I don't care,” Karen yelled. “Give them to me now, or I shoot everyone in that helicopter.”

“If I give them to you, Nina dies. If I keep them, Sienna and my teammates die.” Parker paused. She wished she could see him, to try and read what he was thinking or how confident he was feeling. “I'm supposed to choose who lives and who dies?”

He sounded composed, but was it all for show?
Lord, help keep him calm.

Karen replied, “The information on those flash drives are worth a hundred of my best agents. But I'll do you a deal.” She paused. “I'll give you the fakes we had made up for Sienna. They'll pass muster long enough for you to get Nina back.”

She spoke like she was doing them a major favor, being so gracious as to give them the imitations. Replicas that would never be foolproof despite her claim that they'd enable them to get Nina back. She didn't say anything about the potential problems.

“You expect me to be satisfied with that?” Parker sounded more annoyed than mad. “You think Amand will be satisfied with that? Either Nina or Sienna could die. You want me to choose between them?”

Sienna loved her friend, but if it came down to it, she wanted Parker to choose her and not Nina. Maybe that was the pain talking, or some other deep part of her that yearned to be the one that he wanted. But she'd messed up, and there was no fixing it.

She winced. Her head was a mess. What was she even thinking?

She didn't know why he'd kissed her, as much as she loved that he had. But Parker didn't love her. Not the way she loved him.

The prolonged silence brought her back to reality. Had she missed Karen's answer to Parker's last question? And where was he now? Why could she no longer hear them?

An engine revved, and the sound receded into the distance. Parker appeared at the broken-out window. “Karen and her posse are gone. Now it's time for us to go, too.”

* * *

Parker helped Sienna up and out of the helicopter. Had that been the right move, giving Karen the real flash drives? What was Sienna going to say when she found out he only had fakes?

Every inhale he took sent a sharp pain through his side, and he was pretty sure he'd broken the rib that had been cracked from the gunshot the night of the highway. Not the first time he'd broken one, and he doubted it would be the last, either. He surveyed her face. “You okay?”

Sienna shot him a look.

“Yeah, I know you're not. But I can still ask, right?”

Her lips curled up in a small smile. “Yes. Though hitting a pharmacy wouldn't hurt.”

If she was in pain and needed something to help, he was perfectly happy to find the nearest drugstore—on any normal day when they weren't crunched for time. “We're cutting it close. We still need to find a ride.”

If she hadn't been shot, they would already be headed to rescue her friend.

Ames climbed out.

“Okay?” Parker asked.

“Sure.” Ames stretched. “Feel like I got sat on by an elephant, though.”

Hailey climbed out, said something under her breath and got a “Hey! That's just mean.” Though Ames was laughing.

“Let's get serious, guys. We're nearly out of time.”

“I'll call Jonah and tell him we broke the helicopter and we need a new one.” Ames strode away.

Hailey glanced from Ames to where Parker stood with Sienna. “I have to...go check...something.” She smirked, then walked off and left him alone with Sienna, like this was junior high and he needed to tell her his friend had a crush on her friend.

Parker got Sienna's phone from the chopper. Karen had had the fake flash drives with her. Why, he wasn't sure. But Parker couldn't help wondering if maybe part of her cared—even just a little—what happened to Sienna and Nina.

Amand was determined, but they had to tell him they were ready to trade. Parker didn't want to know how he would react when he discovered the flash drives they had were fakes. But they had to try and get Nina back.

It hadn't sat well with him, giving up their only leverage to Karen—for who knew what purpose. The fakes might be really good facsimiles of the real flash drives, but at the end of the day, they were still pretend and not the real thing.

God, we're still alive when Karen could so easily have left us for dead. Help us through this, too. You know how dangerous these people are. Keep us safe.

Prayer was becoming more natural every time he did it. Parker listened when Sienna had talked about her relationship with God and how it gave her peace and strength at times when she really needed it. Hope for the future and a sense of belonging when life was seemingly otherwise fine.

To her, God wasn't just someone to fall back on when things weren't going right. Sienna looked to God in the good as well as in the bad. He was her Father. A relationship Parker hadn't understood, or trusted, given his own father's deplorable attempts at parenting. But he wanted to know what it was all about.

“Parker?”

He blinked and focused on her. Should he share the fledgling faith he'd stumbled upon through this crisis? It felt too new to expose to the light of day, like a baby bird struggling for those first few breaths out of its shell. When he had a more solid footing, Parker would share.

Hailey came back over. “Sorry to butt in. Jonah called the local FBI office. It's only a small satellite this far from the city, but they're sending their chopper to pick us up.”

“Good deal.”

He dialed Nina's number, and a man answered. “You have them?”

“We want Nina back.”

“Sienna comes alone and unarmed, or there's no deal.” Amand gave them an address. “One hour.” He hung up.

“An hour,” Sienna said. “Can we get there in time?”

Parker set his palm against the side of her neck and touched her cheek with his thumb. “Let's trust God.” He saw the surprise flare in her eyes. “Can you do that with me, show me how?”

Sienna nodded. He'd known giving her a task, even if it was simply being an example to him of what trusting God looked like, would help her focus on the solution and not the problem.

The sheriff arrived first and gave them a ride back to the ranch. Jonah met them there, and this time Parker was the one who flew them to Amand's meeting place. Sienna tried to rest, but it was next to impossible with the thoughts swirling in her head, the pain in her body and the ache in her heart. So she closed her eyes and prayed.

When the helicopter landed, they transferred to a car. Parker helped her walk to the vehicle, her limbs leaden and her head all groggy. She woke again when the car stopped.

Parker turned back from the front seat. “We're here.”

Sienna looked around but didn't see anything. “Where?”

“Up at the end of the street.”