Milo said nothing. He stood where he was and stared down at his mother with his head cocked to the side like he was trying to figure her out, trying to decide if the things she’d said were real or just a way to ease her guilty conscience for ruining his life. She tried so hard the past few years to make him believe that his father was a bad man. She tried to convince him that he should leave the Dominican and never look back. He knew she was just jealous, jealous of the connection he had with his father that she would never have. She let him down when he was a child, abandoned him and never looked back. Never once did she check to make certain he was safe, that he was taken care of. His father at least kept an eye on him. Sure, he allowed Milo to be kicked around by a step-father who hated him, but he did it to make sure Milo would turn into a strong man. He used his contacts to make sure he was accepted into the military, to make sure he was offered a role as a Navy SEAL so one day he could join his organization and stand at his right hand. His father loved him. His mother left him.
“Well, now that one problem is out of the way, how about we move on to the next one?” Fernandez asked the guard by the door. The man pulled a phone out of his pocket and made a call. Several minutes later, a button was pressed and the call was placed on speaker phone for all to hear.
“Juan, are things secured?” Fernandez spoke loudly so the man on the phone could hear him.
“Si, Mr. Presidente,” the voice replied over the line.
“How about you put our friend on the phone?” Fernandez asked with a smile as he looked down at Parker.
The sounds of shuffling and a faint moan came from the speaker before a weak, raspy voice came on the line and wheezed a demand.
“What the hell do you want, Fernandez?”
Garrett watched the color drain from Parker’s face and wished, more than anything that he could go to her. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and tell her not to worry, tell her not to lose hope no matter what she saw or what she heard. He wanted to take away all the fear and anguish he could feel radiating from her from across the room. He never wanted to hear the terror in her voice when she choked out that one word into the room just loud enough for the speaker phone to pick up.
“Dad?”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Parker knew her father’s voice as soon as the first word left his mouth and traveled through the speaker. Even though they’d only spoken to each other for all of five minutes in the past twelve years, she'd know her father’s voice anywhere, even when it was raspy from having tubes down his throat and sluggish from pain medication. And yet she still felt the need to voice her question out loud just to make sure what she was hearing was real, to make sure her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her. She should have known by the smirk on Fernandez’s face that this was no trick.
“Annabelle? Sweetie, what’s going on? Are you okay?”
Fernandez clapped his hands together in glee before Parker could answer her father.
“Oh isn’t this family reunion just lovely?” he exclaimed with a smile. “I do enjoy a happy ending. You should thank Milo for this moment. He lost his concentration and the bullet that was supposed to go through your father’s head only went through his back.”
Parker’s eyes darted to Milo’s, and he actually had the decency to look embarrassed. Unfortunately his shame had nothing to do with the fact that he’d tried to kill Joe and everything to do with disappointing his father.
“I’m sorry, sir. I promise I won’t let you down again,” Milo assured him.
Parker had never felt white hot rage before as she had when she stared at Milo. This person she’d let into her life and into her heart was a monster, a cold-hearted, vile man just like his father. Whatever small inkling of hope she still harbored that maybe there was still some good in him disappeared in an instant. He deserved whatever he got.
Parker wanted to scream and wrench against the bindings that held her in place so she could kill Milo with her bare hands, but she knew that wouldn't get her anywhere. As much satisfaction as it would bring her to end his sad, miserable life, it wouldn’t fix anything. It wouldn’t get them out of this basement alive, and it most certainly wouldn’t ensure that Fernandez went down for his crimes. As much as it killed her to do so, she had to remain calm. She had to let this play out.
“Juan, would you be so kind as to give us a status update on our friend?” Fernandez spoke in the general direction of the cell phone his guard held out towards him.
“I was able to persuade the nurse we spoke of to call a code blue on Agent Parker here. She was reluctant until I reminded her that her niece was still in our employ and could easily be terminated from her work with us. She was all too happy at that point to do as I asked. The code blue was called when a majority of the staff was in a meeting so my men only had to take out one other nurse and an intern. I borrowed the intern’s hospital scrubs and identification and the nurse informed the CIA and Navy guards sent to keep an eye on Agent Parker that they couldn’t enter the room during an emergency. I entered the room while she stood just outside the door with the men, and after several moments, informed everyone I was unable to revive Agent Parker. The guards are now scrambling around downstairs trying to figure out what should be done now that their assignment is deceased. A healthy dose of Ritalin into Agent Parker’s IV perked him right up after being under heavy sedation for so many hours.”
Garrett and Parker both listened to the explanation of how anyone could have possibly got anywhere near Joe with equal parts shock and anger. He was supposed to be safe in the hospital. It should have been the one place where Fernandez’s far-reaching arms couldn’t penetrate. They had been fools to underestimate him in any way.
“Very good,” Fernandez replied. “I assume we will only have a few moments before someone realizes they need to see the body for verification purposes, so we’ll make this quick.”
Fernandez turned to face the guard who held Garrett’s arms behind his back.
“Let Lieutenant McCarthy go.”
It was obvious the guards and Milo were unaware of whatever Fernandez had planned at this point. They all looked at him and then each other in confusion.
“Sir?” the guard beside him spoke softly. “Do you think that’s wise?”
The man who held onto Garrett squeezed his arms behind him tighter, and Garrett winced at the extra force the man used in his uncertainty about what was going on.
Fernandez motioned to the man holding Garrett. “I don’t think it is in your best interest to question me,” he said sternly. “Let him go, Alejandro. I believe the lieutenant would feel better if he could ensure his lover is well, aside from the obvious damage that has been done to her pretty face. I fear I will not have his full attention until this has been accomplished.”
The guard only hesitated for a moment before he reached down and sliced through the rope that held Garrett’s hands together behind his back. Garrett pulled his arms in front of him and rubbed the raw areas on each wrist. Through the entire exchange he never took his eyes off of Parker. He wanted nothing more than to touch her, to pull her into his arms and feel the beat of her heart against his chest and smooth the hair off of her face. It seemed like a million years had gone by since he kissed her lips and lay in bed with her body wrapped around him. But having Fernandez grant him this wish, allowing him the freedom to touch Parker without being unencumbered by rope, made Garrett nervous. Fernandez didn’t do things just to be a nice guy; he did things for a reason. Right now Garrett’s gut was telling him that a heavily trained Navy SEAL was being permitted to roam freely in a room where he could easily access a weapon because Fernandez wanted Garrett to take everyone out for him, or because he knew Garrett wouldn’t live long enough to do much of anything.
Garrett didn’t want to waste any more time on trying to figure out what Fernandez was up to. In four quick strides he was across the room and down on his knees in front of Parker. If a bullet to the back of the head was what Fernandez had in store for him, he wasn’t about to go without touching his girl one last time.
“Are you okay?” Garrett asked softly as he cupped the back of Parker’s neck with one hand and ran the tips of his fingers over every inch of her face with the other.
Parker nodded, her throat closing up with emotion now that Garrett was so close. With him on the other side of the room, it was easy to be strong and confident. Having him touch her, speak to her, and be so gentle with the cuts and bruises on her face was enough to break her.
“Ahhh, the lovers are together once again,” Fernandez spoke from behind them. “Now we can finally get on with things.”
Garrett kept his back to Fernandez and continued to run his fingers over Parker’s lips and cheeks, staring deep into her eyes and promising her wordlessly that everything would be okay.
“Juan, would you be so kind as to let our young lovers know that everything is set on your end?” Fernandez asked.
Within seconds Garrett and Parker heard the distinct clicking sound of a gun being cocked through the phone. Garrett watched Parker’s eyes grow wide and saw her catch her breath. Before Garrett could fully process that Juan was most likely holding a gun to Joe’s head at the hospital, he felt the distinct press of the barrel of a gun against the back of his own head.
“The Parkers, father and daughter, both agents with the CIA, both the bane of my existence,” Fernandez spoke.
Garrett could tell Fernandez was the one who held the gun against his head since his voice was so close. With his back to the room, Garrett had no idea how many guns were trained on him right then, but he assumed the two guards and Milo were both taking aim to protect Fernandez. He could easily sweep his leg behind him and knock Fernandez down, but too many things could go wrong. Parker could be shot by a stray bullet or one of the other guards could take her out. It was best for him to just remain still for the moment.
“I found out about your father many years ago, Annabelle. I believe it was right before you buried your poor mother. Do you remember the day we first spoke, Joe?” Fernandez asked.
“You mean the day you threatened the only thing I had left to live for once my wife was gone?” Joe replied. Although he was forced to wake up from recovery abruptly, he still had fight left in him as his bitter words radiated through the phone line and echoed around the room.
“Well, I suppose you could put it that way. I prefer to think of it as the day I found out who in the CIA was so determined to ruin me. The day I received a name, a face, and the information about everything he held so dear. It was a very good day for me, Joe.”
Fernandez spoke like he was talking to an old friend. The ease with which he said Joe’s name made Parker sick to her stomach as she listened to the back and forth conversation.
“You see, Annabelle, it would have been so easy to kill your mother, the love of your father’s life, his reason for existing and all that other nonsense. It would have shown him that by digging into my life and trying to put a stop to my livelihood, he would have to pay. But when we were told she was on her deathbed, it just didn’t seem prudent. To kill her would have been a waste of resources, so to speak, when Mother Nature was doing such a fine job. But then luck was on our side. Joseph Parker, CIA agent extraordinaire, had a daughter. A beautiful, teenage daughter who meant the world to him and had such a bright future ahead of her. Some photographs delivered to his mailbox at work of this daughter doing a few mundane things like painting her toenails in her room after a shower and walking through a clothing store in the mall were sufficient incentives to get him to back off,” Fernandez explained. “It also put just enough fear into dear old Dad that he thought the only way to protect you was to push you away.”
Parker closed her eyes as a tear slid down her cheek. Garrett wiped it away and wished he could shut Fernandez up once and for all. His only redeeming quality was this information proved to Parker that her father had never hated her. He never pushed her away because she reminded him too much of his wife. He did it to protect her.
They heard Joe sigh on the other end of the line.
“Why are you doing this, Fernandez? What is the point in bringing all of this up now? I tried to stop you, but I couldn’t. Too many people know about what you’ve done now. It’s over. You’re over,” Joe stated.
“I decide when it’s over. ME! You have no say in the matter.”
Garrett felt the barrel of the gun being pushed harder into his skull with each word Fernandez spoke as he pressed down on the gun he held there.
“You thought you were so smart bringing your daughter into the CIA. You assumed she’d be safe and protected, learn ways to thwart people such as myself. But you didn’t anticipate the fact that the CIA would use her to continue the work you started, that they would put her on the case of trying to take me down. In all your efforts of keeping her as far away from me as possible, all you did was wrap her up in a neat little bow and deposit her in my lap. I have to tell you though, Joe, being able to keep an eye on her through my son over the years has been a joy. You have a very smart daughter. It’s too bad she chose the wrong side to align herself with.”
Garrett knew whatever insane idea Fernandez had planned was going to come to fruition any moment now. He needed to get him to talk immediately.
“How exactly do you think you’re going to get away with this?” Garrett asked, turning his head a little so he could see Fernandez out of the corner of his eye. “Joe is right. Too many people know about what you’ve done. Do you honestly think everyone who works for you will remain faithful? Especially once they know about the girls? You might be able to lie your way out of the embezzling and money laundering, but do you really think they’re going to believe you when you try to tell them you had nothing to do with their missing daughters? Their missing sisters, cousins, nieces, and granddaughters? Do you think the people of this country will stand by your side when they know you had sex with underage children and then sold them to the highest bidder?”