Chapter Twenty Five: Parker's Truth

"Agent Clover, the woman Hans killed eleven years ago, was Julien Hira's adoptive mother."

There was a moment of silence, before Classified suddenly spoke up. His voice was angry. "And you know this how, precisely?"

Parker looked down, and suddenly, he seemed more plaintive than anything else. "I fell in love with Julien from the moment I first saw him. Never thought I could love, but he… He was something else. Clemson invited us over and I knew right away that he wasn't right for him, you know? I thought that after all this was over, I could elope with Julien, take him away from this life. We could go to my other house in Havana and just escape there…"

The North Wind all sent each other very surprised glances. Parker had a notorious reputation of being a heartless murderer who would do anything for money; the idea that he'd taken a job for the sake of love was shocking to all of them. And it seemed to surprise and sadden Parker himself.

"I couldn't see him every day, so I just decided to look into him a bit… Figure out what I could. Blowhole doesn't really trust people, but he's worked with me for so long that he doesn't even notice when I'm in his facilities or not, doesn't know when I'm using his resources. I'm not CIA, but I can do a bit of research. Julien has almost no record of existence, not really, but after a bit of digging I started to put some pieces together…"

"You're early, darling," Julien looked to Parker through the mirror as he put in an extravagant hoop earing that extended down into a thin golden chain all the way to his shoulders before concluding with a pearl. "I thought you were saying before that you would not be being to me until ten. You know I have to be doing a show in thirty minutes?"

Parker closed the window behind him and grinned. "Good to see you too, doll. There's a lot we could do in half an hour…"

Julien laughed as Parker wrapped his arms around him from behind, still focused on decorating himself with the expensive jewelry that was part of his costume for the show. His smile faded slightly when Parker kissed his neck, and Parker wished to himself that he knew how to bring it back. Instead, he only helped Julien clip his necklace.

"You went to college, didn't you?" Parker suddenly asked. "Was it here in New York?"

He felt Julien stiffen beneath his touch, and he looked down suddenly. "...Yes, it was."

"Mm," Parker hummed as he brushed his fingers over Julien's arms. "What'd you go for?"

They made eye contact through the mirror again and Julien winked, his smile having returned but no longer genuine in the slightest. "Guess."

"Advertising design… No. Exotic dancing. Is exotic dancing a major?" Parker pinched his side.

Julien laughed and waved his hand away. "Not that I am knowing of, but no. Neither of those."

"Then?" Parker prodded expectantly.

"Fashion merchandising." Julien replied quietly, his smile now faint.

"Business," Parker kissed his cheek. "I always knew you had a knack for business... I think the two of us can manage a business venture in the next thirty minutes, don't you?"

"Julien Hira - a twenty eight year old exotic dancer at New York's Park Zoo nightclub. Four years at LIM college, two degrees. No remaining biological family, they died back when he lived in Madagascar. Got adopted by two family friends and moved to the states. But only one of them is still with him - Maurice Hira - so what happened to the other?" Parker laughed to himself tiredly.

He looked up at them expectantly. Slowly, Corporal spoke, in a very quiet voice that indicated how uncomfortable this conversation made him. "...She died."

"She disappeared," Parker corrected cynically. "Disappeared. That's what happens when you work in the CIA - you disappear. Agent Clover Hira, CIA agent under Francis Blowhole's division that specialized in espionage and hand-to-hand combat. She went on all the riskiest missions and was a prime target to any CIA enemies… Not to mention she was a double-agent for the Red Squirrel. Or was she a triple agent? Who knows?"

The North Wind all looked away in abject discomfort.

"She lived in Madagascar for awhile, with her boyfriend Maurice and some close family friends. One day I'm guessing one of her enemies found out where she was and tried to eliminate her. Completely sabotaged the car she was in. Only, they ended up killing just about everyone in the car but her - her, and one little ten year old boy named Julien. Got married to Maurice and moved back to the states with little Julien... She was in her prime. Seven years later, though, she's lost her edge, isn't as good as she used to be - she's gotten a bit older… And on a mission in Copenhagen-" Parker drew his finger across his neck to show what he meant.

"But why?" Classified demanded. "Why did Nigel order Hans to kill Clover?"

"I'm guessing you don't know much about Nigel's history with the Red Squirrel either, do you?" Parker sighed in a suffering manner. "That, I can be a little more sympathetic about. It's not easy to come across information on Red, not even with Blowhole's files. Nigel was around when the Red Squirrel first popped up - that was back when he and Buck Rockgut were the CIA's pride and joy. Red was so elusive, so hard to find and yet so damaging, some people weren't even sure if he really existed or if it was just an inside man. And then, on a mission to try and find him - I think it was in Moscow - Buck Rockgut just disappeared. Gone without a trace."

"What does that have to do with Clover and Hans?" Shortfuse spoke up, his brows furrowing in agitated bewilderment.

"Everything." Parker pulled a cigar out of his pocket and lit it up.

At first, Corporal went to take it from him, but Classified put up a hand to stop him. It didn't matter; everything in the North Wind's van was inflammable. After too many incidents with Shortfuse, it became apparent that they could only use certain materials. A cigar wouldn't be any problem for them.

Parker was seated in the very corner of the Park Zoo, indiscreet as he could be. He didn't exactly want to run into Clemson. Though it wasn't as if Clemson could antagonize him for watching one of Julien's late-night shows, Parker honestly just hated the guy. He was insufferable beyond all words; his loud, eager laughter, greedy smiles and over exaggerated hand gestures. He was like a snake-oil salesman, only to the extent of drugs. That, and he considered Julien his property, which wasn't something Parker liked. At all.

No one who knew his identity knew he was there. Not his boss, Dr. Blowhole, not his girlfriend, Doris, not even his secret lover Julien that he was currently watching. Julien was dancing sensually and slowly to a very heartfelt jazz song on stage, two large feathery fans connected to his hands as he swept them over his body, speckled in fine jewelry and make-up. Julien's eyes were shut as he slowly twisted, lying on the floor and lifting his legs in various positions.

Parker gazed yearningly. He'd thought that maybe just touching Julien, sleeping with him and kissing him and being able to see him every so often would be enough to satiate his romantic and carnal desires. But it wasn't enough, it was never enough. There was something he could not reach that belonged to Julien, something that he was not given access to. Julien was beyond him, beneath his fingertips but never really there. Parker could look and touch all he wanted, but no matter what he did, he could never have. He left in a rush, pushing his hat down over his eyes and hoping that Julien hadn't seen the tears.

"Nigel was incredibly paranoid - very suspicious about anyone related to the Red Squirrel. To him, it was like Red killed Buck Rockgut and - well, I'm not sure what their relationship was like, pretty sure it wasn't like Skipper and Hans', but they were close - Nigel would never forgive the Red Squirrel for that. So of course, when Dr. Blowhole goes and assigns a double-agent to spy on Red, Nigel gets really freaked out. Especially since Blowhole doesn't have the best track record, isn't the nicest guy, and constantly bad mouths Buck Rockgut's work. Not a trustable man, and I can confirm that, I've worked for him for years... Nigel gets it into his head that maybe Dr. Blowhole is actually a double agent for the Red Squirrel." Parker explained.

He watched as the North Wind mentally began to put things together, their expressions of horror growing when they realized what this meant.

"So if I'm understanding you properly," Classified blinked widely, his mortification tangible. "Nigel commanded Hans to kill Clover because of the off-chance that maybe she was working for the Red Squirrel all along?"

"Now you get it," Parker grinned sharply. "Nigel thought that Clover was going to reveal something horrible or turn on them, so he made her disappear. And of course, Blowhole is furious that his top agent is killed, but he can't do anything to Nigel since Nigel is so powerful. But he can hurt his lackeys - and so he captures Hans to torture him out of spite."

"Which has been going on for an entire eleven years." Eva clarified darkly.

"Nonstop. Well, until you guys freed him." Parker elaborated casually.

"You can't just decide to kill someone like that, especially with so little evidence!" Corporal protested. "That's awful!"

Parker sent him a rather alarmed glance. "How long have you all been working for the CIA, specifically?"

"The North Wind was formed about a year and a half ago." Classified sniffed pretentiously. "Why?"

Parker took a long drag from his cigar, before blowing it out the side of his mouth with the shake of a head. "You're all green if you think your bosses don't have their paranoia caps on twenty four seven. Hell, I'd be on your toes if I were you - they probably have their suspicions about you too, whether or not you've actually done anything to merit that suspicion."

"Nigel would never-" Classified began, but cut off abruptly when he realized that Parker was right. Clover had been a seasoned professional with an immaculate record, and as the story went, Nigel had ordered for her elimination without a hint of hesitation.

"You found out all this because you wanted to marry Julien?" Eva questioned when the silence drew on for a bit too long.

"The things people do for love," Parker gazed out the window wistfully as he tapped his cigar on the table. He then laughed sadly and hung his head. "Marrying him was the end-game, you know… I could have retired a happy man as long as I had him."

Shortfuse bit his lip, before he finally spoke up. "I can't take it anymore - Julien was seeing Skipper! And Clemson! And you, all at the same time! Three lovers! Doesn't that bother you at all?"

"Correction. We were all seeing Julien, not the other way around. I don't even know that Julien's capable of love - he certainly didn't love me. I knew he never would, but… I thought maybe I could get as close as I could with him. If I just took him away from all this, took him somewhere where he'd never have to deal with this life again, I thought…" Parker trailed off, his voice cracking even as he smiled plaintively and took another puff of his cigar. He then looked back to the North Wind. "There is more to the story, though…"

"Julien?"

The man who'd burrowed his way into his heart turned away from the mirror to look at him. "Hmm?"

Parker found himself unable to look back and instead stared down at his lap. "Have you ever been in love before?"

Julien's smile faltered. "Love?"

Parker nodded. "Yeah, love."

Julien stood, the motion so simple yet so elegant as he stepped away from the dresser and turned to face his paramour. Drawing a finger under Parker's chin, he smiled. "I don't fall in the loves, Parker. I make peoples believe what they want to believe."

Parker swallowed thickly, knowing that if he dared blink, he would cry. "But why?"

Julien took a step backward, sashayed his hips, and winked. "That's just business, baby."