Rogue Ghost (CIA Ghost Series Book 1) (8 page)

“Look like your dog just died,” Cole stated.

“Well, hasn’t exactly been a great day.”

“Gotta get over it. If you’re gonna help on this mission you need to be thinking clearly.”

“Yeah, well, when you’re lied to constantly by neighbors, friends, dates, it makes thinking clearly a little hard,” Turner replied.

“Your feelings are hurt. I get it. But if you’re gonna make it through this then you need to move past it.”

“What do you mean…get through this?”

“You want the nice, friendly, massage your feelings version or the blunt and honest version?”

“Umm…well,” Turner stated, not sure he liked the sound of either.

“Doesn’t matter. I don’t do nice and friendly anyway. I’m always blunt and honest.”

“I guess that makes it simpler.”

“Stop worrying about what you’ve lost and start being thankful you’re even alive at this point.”

“You’re trying to tell me something. I can tell,” Turner quipped.

“Need me to spell it out for you?”

“Please do. I guess.”

“You need to get your head in the game and help find Davis before time runs out on your ability to stand upright,” Cole sarcastically added.

“What exactly are you saying?”

“Fine. I’ll explain the game to you. You were in direct contact with a rogue CIA agent who has stolen classified documents. Thousands of top secret and classified files. You’ve seen what’s in those files. Know what that makes you?”

“Uhh…an extremely good person?”

“In the eyes of the CIA that makes you a security risk and possible leak,” Cole informed him.

“I wouldn’t tell anyone anything.”

“You say that now. But what if Davis gets into a sticky situation and dimes you out that you know things. Bad people come knocking at your door and beat the information that you know out of you.”

“Hopefully you and Alex would come save me?”

“We’re not gonna be here forever. So in order to prevent that scenario from happening, they would put a hit out on you.”

“Hit. As in to kill me?” Turner shockingly asked.

“They’d send a guy like me to come out here and put a bullet in your head,” Cole bluntly said.

“So what’s to stop them from doing that even if we find Davis?”

“Nothing.”

“I could always run.”

“Please. This ain’t like the movies. They’d find you in about thirty seconds. Your best bet is helping to find Davis and prove you’re not a liability.”

“I thought this was gonna be a pep talk to raise my spirits,” Turner stated.

“Wasn’t it? You should be feeling pretty good right now. You’re alive and breathing. Doesn’t get much better than that,” Cole smiled.

“So how do I know I’m not gonna get killed in the middle of the night while I’m sleeping?” Turner worried.

“The truth?”

“Aren’t you gonna give it to me anyway?”

Cole laughed. “Yeah. The truth is you may feel like you’ve been betrayed by Davis, Parker and whatever else. But that woman over there is the only reason you’ve got a fighting chance right now.”

“How’s that?”

“Because after we made our report they felt you had no value and were gonna put the order out on you,” Cole explained.

“So why didn’t they?”

“Parker. I know you probably think she lied to you or hurt your feelings or something and you lost your chance to stick your wee wee in the pickle jar. But she went against orders and fought for you. I don’t know if she thinks you’re just a good guy who didn’t deserve it or she thinks…something else. But she resisted. For whatever reason she thinks you’re worth fighting for. For some reason I can’t think of, she seems to actually have feelings for you. I, on the other hand, probably wouldn’t have done the same. So you better thank your lucky stars that she’s even here.”

“Maybe I will.”

“And before you go getting weepy and emotional just remember…Parker’s a top operative. A highly trained CIA assassin. She’s probably got over a hundred confirmed kills to her credit. She may seem all sweet and innocent…but looks can be deceiving.”

“I’ll remember that. Just out of curiosity, how many kills do you have?” Turner wondered.

“Ahh, I’m only up to ninety,” he said with a shake of his head.

“Sorry to hear it.”

Cole pulled out a cigar and lit it.

“Smoke?” Cole asked.

“No thanks. I prefer to keep my lungs intact.”

“Suit yourself,” he replied, puffing on the cigar.

“So what are the chances of us actually finding Heath at this point?” Turner wondered.

“Well, right now, we got no leads and no prospects. So what’s that tell you?”

Cole then left to go back to his place and Turner went inside his. Ten minutes later he knocked on Parker’s door. She opened it, wearing pajama pants and a tank top.

“I’m sorry. Were you getting ready for bed?” Turner asked, both hands behind his back.

“Not yet. Was there something you wanted?”

He brought both hands around to reveal an ice cream cone in each.

“Thought maybe I’d bring over a peace offering. I’m sorry about storming off a little while ago,” he told her. “Just my way of apologizing I guess.

Parker smiled. “Well, I guess you know my weakness. Come on in.”

They sat down in the living room and ate their ice cream while also talking about what was going on.

“So what do I call you now? Agent Parker, or do you have another name or something, or maybe an alias?”

Parker smiled. “You can call me Alex.”

“Oh, OK. Easy enough. I guess you can still call me Ryan.”

Parker laughed, followed by a slight laugh from Turner.

“So I talked to Cole a few minutes ago and he told me what you did.”

“What I did?”

“He told me that you fought for me,” Turner said, getting a little choked up. “I guess I should be thanking you.”

Parker smiled. “You don’t have to thank me.”

“I guess I’m just a little scared now,” he said, tears in his eyes. “You know, with whatever’s gonna happen to me.”

“Nothing’s gonna happen to you.”

Turner smiled at the thought, and though it was nice to hear, he knew it wasn’t exactly true.

“Well, I guess that’s a nice thing for you to say but we both know that it’s not necessarily the truth,” he said.

“Why isn’t it?”

“Well what happens when you’re far away from here and can’t fight for me anymore? I mean, next month you‘ll be somewhere far away probably fighting some terrorist or something.”

“What makes you so sure?”

“I dunno. Isn’t that what you do?”

“Ryan, I’ve been gone a long time. Being here with you is the first time I’ve been back in the U.S. in over five years. Every other mission has been in Russia, or the Middle East, or South America…it’s starting to feel good being back here,” she told him.

“Don’t you just go where they tell you?”

“Let me worry about that. I give you my word that nothing is going to happen to you.”

Turner smiled and looked down at the floor.

“I know trust is probably a little hard for you right now with everything that’s happened but I want you to know that you can trust me. As long as I’m here, nobody is going to do anything to you. You have my word. I will protect you,” she promised.

Parker’s voice was soothing and was exactly what Turner needed to hear to put his mind a little more at ease. Though he wasn’t completely convinced, he tended to believe that she meant everything she said. Whether she was able to live up to her words, he wasn’t sure. But he believed that she meant it.

“So why would you do that for me? Protect me…go against orders,” Turner asked.

“Because I think you’re a good guy. Maybe I’m just starting to get a little soft in my old age,” she laughed.

“While I’m thankful you think that, that can’t be the only reason, can it?”

“There’s probably a hundred reasons, most of which I really can’t talk about.”

“CIA stuff…I get it.”

“No. Personal, girl stuff,” she smiled.

“Oh. I see.”

As much as she liked being around Turner, Parker knew they would have to get some rest soon so they could focus on finding Davis tomorrow.

“It’s been a long day. Probably will be another long one tomorrow. We should probably get to bed.”

“Umm,” Turner said, tilting his head, waiting for clarification. “Oh, you mean separately. Right? Of course you do. Why wouldn’t you? I’ll let myself out.”

Parker smiled, thinking he was funny. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” she told him.

A second later, Turner came back in without knocking.

“You know I was thinking that being by myself is a bit scary right now….you know with the whole killing thing,” he explained. “If you’re really gonna protect me you probably shouldn’t let me out of your sight.”

Parker let out a smirk and tilted her head, appreciating his tenacity and humor.

“You know with the whole bed thing,” he said to no response. “Not buying it, huh?” he asked, with Parker shaking her head.

“OK. I’ll just let myself out again.”

His humor was one of the things that Parker found appealing about him. For a moment, she wished she wasn’t a CIA agent and could just do and say what she wanted. But she quickly realized that the only reason she was there in the first place was because of who she was.

Turner woke up in the middle of the night, sitting up and holding his chest, still haunted by the nightmare he just had. He rubbed his hand over his chest and stomach to make sure everything was still intact. He dreamt he was in his apartment and talking to Cole, who suddenly pulled out a gun and shot him three times in the chest. He laid down again though he stayed awake for half an hour, unable to go back to sleep. Once Turner did go back to sleep, he awoke only an hour later, another nightmare causing him to wake up sweating. This one had Parker telling him to trust her and as soon as he turned his back on her, a couple bullets shattered his insides as he fell over in a pool of blood.

“I think it’s time to get up now,” he said to himself. “Not having any more of that tonight.”

Turner’s eyes widened as he looked at the clock, noting it was only four. He yawned as he walked out to the kitchen and poured a bowl of cereal. After he finished he just sat there, wondering what else to do so early in the morning. He decided to waste some time by going on Facebook. He didn’t really feel like typing and basically just kept clicking on things that looked interesting. After a while, he stumbled on a picture from someone he didn’t know, who apparently was at The Fonda Theatre the previous night as well. He browsed through the photos since he didn’t really get to see much of the show. He browsed through pictures from other people who also went to the show and eventually clicked on one that made him pause and look at it more closely than the others. It was a picture of two good looking women posing for a photo but it was what was behind them that made Turner stare. Walking past them at the same time the picture was taken was the man he’d made the drop with. Turner was so excited that he thought he’d made an important discovery. He printed out the picture to take it to Parker and started walking toward the door when he stopped, remembering it was still early.

“I wonder what time CIA agents get up,” he said.

He thought about just going over to one of them and knocking on the door but then remembered the nightmares he had. What if he knocked on one of their door’s while they were still sleeping and it startled them, causing them to wake up firing their gun?

“Maybe I can wait a couple hours,” he said, going back to the computer.

Turner looked through more photos and came across one more of the man, exiting the theatre. He printed that one too. He looked for more but came up empty. At least he had two though to show his neighboring agents. He could hardly contain himself and wanted to just burst through their doors to show what he found. He looked at the clock every other minute it seemed, hoping it would just move in fast forward. He knew he couldn’t keep this up for a few more hours so he put the TV on to try and pass the time. After searching through what seemed like three hundred channels, he found nothing on. Then Turner knew what would keep him occupied. He went to his bookshelf and found his favorite movie. Star Wars kept him engrossed every time. Every time he watched it, it was like he was watching it for the first time. It would do the trick for sure. Sure enough, he put the movie in, and he forgot about everything else for a couple of hours.

“What a classic,” he said. “Never gets old.”

Turner sat back in his chair and then quickly jumped up, remembering the pictures he printed. He looked at the time and it was five after nine.

“They gotta be up,” he whispered.

He ran out the door and looked each way, not sure which apartment he should be going to.

“Go to the pretty one,” he said.

Turner ran over to Parker’s apartment and knocked at the door. He waited for a minute before knocking again. He still got no answer. Maybe she was in the shower, he thought. It was a pleasant thought, one he held on to for a few seconds. Once he shook that image out of his head, he knocked a few more times. Still nothing. He put his head to the door to see if he heard anything, but no luck. He stepped back and stood there for a second then scrambled over to Cole’s place. Turner got to the door and banged loudly. The door quickly opened up only to reveal a gun staring him right in the face. Surprised, his eyebrows raised and his face narrowed. He was sure someone was behind it though he could only see the gun at that moment. Turner moved his face as though to talk to someone but his eyes couldn’t move past the gun. Once the gun disappeared, he noticed Cole standing there. Parker was a few feet behind him.

“Hey guys,” Turner said.

“What’s the matter with you? Knocking like that on a government agent’s door…bad career move,” Cole told him.

“Sorry. I was just in a hurry.”

“Well slow down. We’re trying to do some work here.”

“That’s what I came over for.”

“To work. It’s fine. We can handle the heavy lifting here. Why don’t you go play some video games or something?”