Rogue Ghost (CIA Ghost Series Book 1) (9 page)

“No. Really, I can help,” Turner insisted.

“What do you want?”

“I had to tell you something.”

“Well hurry it up. We’re busy.”

“I wanted to show you this,” Turner said, holding the picture up.

“Girls. Very pretty. At least I know you’re not gay. Is that what you did all night? Searching for girls on the internet?”

“It’s not the girls, OK? It’s the guy in back of them,” he said, handing the picture to Parker. He handed the other picture to Cole.

“Who is this?” Parker asked.

“That’s the guy I did the drop with.”

“Oh. The one Cole let get away?” Parker teased.

“It was dark. People got in my way,” Cole grumbled. “You’re sure this is the guy?”

“Well unless I’m mixing him up with the other fifty guys I’ve done this with then I’m pretty sure this is the guy! It’s not like I do this every other week.”

“How’d you find these?” Parker wondered.

“I couldn’t sleep this morning so I just went on Facebook and started looking at pictures from last night.”

“Did you find any others?” Cole asked.

“No. Just those two.”

“That’s good work, Ryan,” Parker smiled.

“Eh. Just wanted to feel like part of the team.”

“You’re not part of any team,” Cole told him. “We’re just letting you stay here to pretend helping.”

“You know you’re a very angry person.”

“Thanks, moron.”

“You know your insults are very hurtful. Deep inside,” Turner sarcastically said.

“I think he really likes you,” Parker added.

“It’s always the ones who hurt you who actually like you the best.”

“Oh stop it,” Cole said, taking the picture from Parker. “I’ll send them up to see if we can get a facial rec.”

“What’s that?” Turner asked.

“He’s gonna send the pictures to our handler to see if she can put them through the facial recognition scan so we can get his identity,” Parker replied.

“How long will that take?”

“We should have an answer back within a few hours.”

Cole got on the phone with their handler to alert her about the pictures and to have them analyzed. After he was through he scanned them into the computer and emailed them to her. Once he was done he re-joined the other two.

“It pains me to say this but that was actually not too bad. Good work by you,” Cole said.

“Well thank you,” Turner replied with a smile.

“Maybe you won’t be useless after all.”

“It hurts you to say nice things, doesn’t it?” Turner asked.

Parker rolled her eyes at the pair’s banter.

“Can we get back to work now?” she asked them.

“What do you want me to do?” Turner wondered.

“Nothing,” Cole replied.

“What? After I did your job for you and found those pictures you want me to just stand back and not do anything? Come on.”

“Don’t you have a job or something?”

“It’s the weekend.”

“Uhh…yeah, that’s pretty much it,” Cole smirked.

“Alex,” he said, putting his hands up. “I can help. Give me something.”

“Uhh,” she replied, looking at Cole. “You’re gonna come with me.”

“Where we going?”

“Yeah. Where are you going?” Cole wondered.

“You don’t need us here. I’m gonna see if we can track down some other leads,” Parker answered.

“Such as?”

“I’m gonna see if we can knock on a few doors,” she replied.

“We are?” Turner asked, surprised.

“Hope those doors aren’t…,” Cole started.

“Shut up,” Parker said, sure he was going to say something sarcastic aimed at her and Turner. “Call me if Burnett gets back to you before I get back.”

“Roger that.”

Parker and Turner left and headed to her car. Once they got in, Turner saw something and asked Parker to stop before she pulled out of her spot.

“What?” she asked.

“I saw something in the bushes there.”

“What was it?”

“I dunno,” he replied, still looking.

A minute later, a cat emerged from the bushes, limping badly.

“It’s just a cat,” Parker said.

“Looks like it’s hurt.”

“C’mon, let’s go.”

“No, no, no.”

“What?”

“We gotta help it. He looks like he’s hurt bad,” he replied.

“It’s just a cat. C’mon.”

“Animals have feelings too. They can hurt just like we do.”

Turner kept a close eye on the cat who was having trouble walking. He wasn’t really a cat person, though he loved animals in general, but hated seeing any animal in pain. He suddenly got out of the car and headed for the cat.

“Ryan,” Parker shouted.

Parker sighed, knowing he wasn’t coming back in without helping the cat, and also got out of the car.

“Ryan, the cat will be fine.”

“Yeah? How? He’ll probably have trouble getting food. Won’t be able to run away from anything trying to catch it.”

“That’s part of life,” she said.

“Yeah, well I believe if something or someone’s in trouble, you should do what you can to help them. Isn’t that part of life too?”

Parker sighed. “I guess so.”

Parker knew that she wasn’t going to change his mind and a piece of her really respected his view on it.

“So what are you gonna do?”

“I dunno. I guess take it to a vet or something,” Turner said.

“What are you gonna put him in? He’s a wild cat, you never know what he might have or if he bites you or something.”

“Ooh, I know,” he said, coming up with an idea. “Get one of the boxes from when you moved in and put a piece of food in there.”

“That’s a good idea,” she said, running back to her apartment.

Parker came back a minute later with a box and put it on the ground. Turner took it and put it near the cat, looking in the box.

“A pretzel?” Turner asked.

“What? It was the closest thing I could find. It’s food. He’ll take it.”

She was right. The cat sniffed the box and then went inside a second later. Turner scooped the box up and carried it to the car. He got in and waited for Parker, who got in right after.

“Wait, I don’t know where I’m going,” Parker admitted.

“To the vet.”

“I don’t know where that is.”

“Oh. Well I’ll drive then,” he responded.

They both got out to switch sides, Turner handing Parker the box.

“Don’t ding the car. The CIA is paying for it,” Parker warned.

“OK. Thanks for making me more nervous.”

Turner drove carefully, but put his foot on the gas, and arrived at the vet’s office within fifteen minutes. Parker wasn’t ecstatic about holding the cat box but didn’t complain about it either. After entering, he explained the situation and waited a few minutes for the cat to be examined. They sat down and waited for news from the doctor about the cat’s injury. Parker looked at Turner, who seemed concerned for the cat as if it was his. As much as she initially balked at helping, she really admired what he did. Only a caring person with a good heart would’ve helped, she thought. A slight smile crept over her face as she continued looking at him. Turner thought he saw her looking at him out of the corner of his eye and turned his head toward her and noticed her smiling at him.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” she quickly said, breaking her stare.

“Do I have something on my face or something?” he asked, wiping his face with his hand.

“No,” she laughed.

“What were you looking at me for?”

“Can’t a girl just look at a guy?”

“Well you were smiling. I thought maybe I had something on me.”

“You look fine. I was just thinking of how good a guy you are,” she revealed.

“I’m not that great.”

“No? How many guys would’ve done what you just did and brought that cat in here? Most would’ve left it alone and not tried to help.”

“I just did what I thought was right.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a good thing you like cats I guess,” Parker said.

“Huh? I’m not really that fond of cats. I’m more of a dog guy myself.”

Parker looked at him again with a slight smile on her face. Him not really liking cats made her think even more highly of him. He saved an animal he wasn’t even fond of. It said a lot to her about his morals and personality. There were a few other dogs in the room, including one next to Turner, a Golden Retriever who kept pawing at him to pet her. Parker kept watching him and could tell he was having fun with her.

“If you like animals so much, why don’t you have a pet?” Parker wondered.

“I dunno. I’d like to get a dog. I love dogs. Part of me thinks it wouldn’t be right though, working all day, leaving the dog home alone,” he explained.

“Well, you’re home nights and weekends.”

“True. But if I ever were to find another girl worth dating then there’s the whole dating thing and going out. Then the dogs gets left behind again and shunned while you try to impress the other person and get to know them. I dunno.”

“Well, you could always start with fish or hamsters or something.”

“I had fish once. As you can tell by the fact there’s no tank in my apartment, tells you all you need to know about how that turned out. Lasted about a year before I gave up and faced the fact that I didn’t know what I was doing,” he laughed. “And as for hamsters, well, those little things ain’t my idea of a real pet. What about you?”

“Well, moving around as much as I have doesn’t really allow for any type of pet.”

“I mean before all this.”

“Before all this I was…”

Parker was interrupted by the vet coming out to talk to them.

“You the owner?” he asked.

“Me? No,” Turner said. “Didn’t they tell you. It was a stray I found in our complex. It was hurt so I just brought him in.”

“Oh. Well that was really nice of you.”

“Yeah. So how’s it doing?”

“He’ll be fine. Had a slight laceration in his paw. We put a bandage on it and he’ll be good as new in a couple days.”

“Well that’s good. How much do I owe you?” Turner asked.

“I thought you said it wasn’t yours?”

“It’s not but who else is gonna pay for its care?”

“A noble gesture but don’t worry about it. It’s a minor wound. We’ll take care of it.”

“So what’ll happen to the cat once it’s better? Just let it go?” Turner wondered.

“No. It’s a young cat so we’ll contact a local animal shelter to see if it can go through the adoption process. It’ll be fine.”

“OK. Well, thanks for your time.”

“Thank you for your efforts,” the vet said. “Could use more people like you out there.”

Parker and Turner left and got back in the car.

“So where we off to now?” Turner wondered.

“How bout a late breakfast?” she asked.

“I could go for that.”

They drove around for a few minutes, looking for a good spot to eat, before they finally settled on a diner. They both ordered pancakes and French toast. Turner carefully observed as Parker put syrup on her pancakes.

“What?” she asked.

“I’m just watching how you eat your pancakes. I notice they’re not completely plain. A little different than your usual style,” he joked.

She smiled and continued eating. Turner couldn’t believe how pretty she was. Even early in the morning she looked amazing. It was hard to believe that as sexy as she was that she was a CIA agent. Not only that, but a dangerous one who’s killed more people than he could even imagine.

“You never finished your thought back there,” Turner noted.

“Back where?”

“At the vet. About how you never had pets.”

“Oh. Well I was saying that this is all I’ve really known,” she said.

“Well what’d you do before this?”

She looked down at the table and hesitated before answering. “I’ve been with the CIA since I was seventeen. This is all I’ve ever been.”

“Seventeen?” Turner astonishingly asked. “Don’t you need to be a certain age and have a degree or something?”

“For most people. There are exceptions.”

“Well it’s already clear you’re an exception. I mean to look like you and be an agent is an exception.”

“Look like what?”

“Like, you know.”

“Like what?” she asked, moving her hands off the table, honestly not knowing what he was referring to.

“Like…gorgeous, and sexy, and stunning, and…it goes on and on.”

Parker laughed and looked away, a little flustered. “Well, thank you. I’m not sure I’d agree with all that but it’s nice of you to say.”

“Not agree? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?” Turner asked.

“Well, that’s very sweet of you.”

“And how’d you get into the CIA at seventeen anyway?”

“Well I told you I was in an orphanage. One of the places they recruit from is troubled teens with no family. Nobody to miss them.”

“And they just put you to work?”

“It’s not quite that simple. They identify certain criteria that they’re looking for. Once they select you, you’re put through a long, rigorous training process. They mold you into what they want you to be.”

“Which was what in your case?”

“To be a ghost.”

“A ghost?”

“Ghosts. That’s what we’re called.”

“So how’d they do it?” Turner asked.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” she replied, embarrassed.

“No, I’d like to know. Like how’d they do it?”

“They spent the next four years molding me into the agent that they wanted. They taught me new languages, how to blend in, how to disappear, how to survive, and…”

“And what?”

“And how to kill. How to kill in every possible situation, with whatever is at your disposal. They turned me into a killing machine. Unquestioning of orders, mission after mission, never missing home because, well, you have no home to go back to,” she explained, looking down at the table, upset and fighting back the tears.

“I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean to pry and…”

“No, it’s fine. It’s what I am and what I’ve had to deal with. For instance, did you know even without a gun I could kill you in eleven different ways right here?”

“Eleven. Wow. That’s uhh…very interesting. And frankly…a little disturbing,” he smiled.

“I’m sorry. I was just trying to make a joke,” she shook her head.