Thanks for the encouragement. Keep letting me know what you think so far.
Now- it's back to the suspense.
Enjoy
Chapter 17
She stared off into the distance, over the familiar cityscape; the glass of her balcony door reflecting her beautiful living room even as it laid the dingy industrial world outside at her feet. There was a magical quality to the place at night. Being high above the crowd gave her the distance and the perspective to appreciate its charms- like the dim lamp posts that illuminated a faraway street, hugging the curves of the road to look, to her discerning eyes, like a discarded necklace.
The flute of white wine she'd been nursing for the better part of an hour was warm in her hand; the beverage inside flat and tasteless- much like the life she lived now, the life she'd been forced to live for three years. She wore and had nice things and she conversed and dined with mostly nice people but she had no illusions about her station. She was prisoner- albeit in a gilded cage.
The click-clicking of the front door lock called her attention and she turned in time to see him step just over the threshold. He smiled at her, his teeth large and immaculate, "You were perfect tonight. Just perfect. Don't forget that we go to the South American board tomorrow."
His reminder wasn't warranted. She had a computerized schedule that mercilessly squawked her awake every morning, an unneeded 'assistant' who followed her everywhere like a trained monkey, and her doorway dweller himself charged into her room whenever the mood struck him.
But she nodded anyway and turned back to her window gazing.
"Why do you insist on staring at that broken down city? Don't you think your time would be better served reading up on our meeting tomorrow or better yet getting your beauty sleep?"
She flung an angry glare in his direction.
"I'm just saying… you don't belong in that world anymore." He shrugged dismissively and withdrew from the doorway, pulling it shut behind him.
With another click-click of the door's lock from the outside, he was gone. And she was alone, again.
Anger churned to life inside of her and she threw the crystal flute at the door. She'd imagined his face as she aimed but the momentary satisfaction she felt at the release faded quickly. She realized that it resulted in nothing but wasted wine, a few pieces of broken glass, and questions she'd have to answer tomorrow.
She was so tired.
Nothing felt real or valuable to her anymore. It was funny that she now had access to any of the riches she'd once conned her way into possessing and now that she could request any of them at a whim, she had absolutely no interest. She craved one thing now, the one thing that seemed the most elusive of all for the past three years- freedom. She craved something else too, for a long time until she finally given up. She stopped crying herself to sleep over it and stopped fighting her captors for it- family. She missed them but she accepted that they were all gone from her.
The room was beginning to feel too small, she needed fresh air.
She unlatched the lock on the balcony door and with a protesting pop the door opened, letting in the crisp air and fresh water smell that covered the city. She stepped out onto the balcony and closed her eyes getting lost in the sounds of the bustling metropolis. Her penthouse terrace was so far up that sounds meshed together in a cacophony of undistinguishable babble. Out of the din, a baby's wail arrested her ears and she perked to attention to find its source. She strained her eyes and ears through the streets and windows below but nothing satisfied her search. She smiled and exhaled a deep breath. Perhaps it was a cat or a bird. She took another satiating look at the city and turned to head back inside, the cold chasing her into her warm quarters.
Once inside she walked straight to her desk and opened the file on the South American board that her assistant left for her review. She reasoned that she might as well be prepared- a grifter's job is never done.
The midday drive to Galway felt longer than the two hours estimated by Alec's GPS. The sky was gray and the air was brisk and both he and Parker were tired and stiff from their 12 hour flight. But they both decided to forgo rest when they arrived in Knock. They quickly rented a car and were on their way.
Alec jumped behind the wheel- he remembered Parker's 'intense' driving stateside, he didn't want to find out how she drove 'on the wrong side of the road' or on the slick coastal blacktop that extended in front of them. He wanted to reach Nate as soon as possible too. Urgency and his own anxieties were building and he couldn't quite put a finger on the reason why.
Parker rolled her neck and arched her back slowly, stretching out the taunt muscles.
"Are you sure you don't want to stop for a bit and maybe get something to eat, maybe take a nap?" Alec asked, concerned about her discomfort.
Parker closed her eyes and leaned her head back and breathed slowly, deeply, "No. I'm fine. Thank you, though. I'm just gearing up."
He stole a quick glance at her and noted that she actually looked peaceful, calm. Demara's words came to life in his head again… infinitely more powerful than you can imagine.
His stomach flipped.
He wondered what Parker was really capable of. The Parker that he knew had limits, boundaries. He'd seen with his own eyes that this Parker can go cold in an instant. He'd seen her singlehandedly immobilize two large, armed men without breaking a sweat. It worried him to think there might come a time that she would do something that would render her unredeemable in her own eyes.
He gripped the wheel tighter and pressed just that much harder on the accelerator. He had to get to Nate. They had to figure this entire thing out; they had to save Sophie; and they had to 'fix' Parker.
He sat on the bench overlooking the cliff's edge. There were many of those in Galway- beautiful, sprawling, breathtaking, natural wonders; popular with the tourists and revered by the locals. He could sit there for hours watching the outsiders congregate at the edge of the world. Daring themselves and each other to go as far to the end as they could.
Funny that he would think of them that way- outsiders, when he too, didn't belong.
He didn't belong anywhere anymore. Not really. He had no claim to anything or anyone. He could go to sleep and not wake up for a week and no one would think twice about his absence. Life was strange that way. He'd spent so much of his time pushing away any form of attachment that he didn't even recognize it when it found him.
For better or worse he became the patriarch of a group of misfits who found in each other what their lives had been missing- whether they knew it or not. And although not every day was a good one, somewhere along the line he grew to expect them to be there, he grew to want them in his life …and then one day they weren't anymore.
Some days it didn't feel like it had been three years- the choice Irish liquor helped to erase time. But then some days it felt like it was just yesterday and he was standing in Hasting's Institute, dazed from the blow to his head, watching as Sophie's blurry figure got taken away.
And then, yesterday, he heard Hardison's voice saying that both he and Parker were alive and mobilized. That was the most amazing feeling. It had been a long time since he'd felt as good as he did hearing the hacker's voice. A long time since he'd felt…hopeful.
"LOGUE…"
He turned at the sound of his mother's maiden name. He saw Danny, the owner of the King's Wharf Bar and Grill, waving frantically at him from the doorway of the popular establishment.
He waved back at the short, red-haired man to signal that he was on his way.
He looked at his watch. certainly was prompt. But then again, she'd been on time or early with their weekly phone calls from the very beginning.
He stood and took a deep breath in, preparing himself for Sonia's new instructions but as he turned to head up toward the King's Wharf he caught sight of some tourists teasing each other right at the very edge of the cliff. A smile curled his lips. He knew he was the one about to take a huge leap. Even the wind felt different as it beat against his face.
"Yes, my father's family is from Galway," Parker smiled sweetly at the house woman at the quaint guest house where they'd reserved a room.
She wrapped her arm around Alec's waist and flashed the woman her dazzling yellow diamond.
"Do you know which part?" the woman asked in a heavy yet understandable brogue. Her eyes focused intently on Parker's beautiful jewelry.
"No, that's what we were hoping to find out," Parker smiled again and the woman finally took her eyes off of the ring to finish filling out their registration.
She smiled broadly at them both, "Here is your key. Your towels are in the chest. Please call down if you'll be needing anything. Enjoy your honeymoon."
Parker took the old style key and nodded graciously at the woman as she turned to head up to the room but Alec inched closer to the desk and bent his head to the woman conspiratorially, reading the name badge pinned on her jacket.
"Flora, is it," he smiled hoping he'd gotten her name correct. "We may need to skip housekeeping," he winked at the woman suggestively.
"Certainly. Enjoy your honeymoon, dears," Flora winked back with a blushing, knowing smile and Alec and Parker took their leave.
Once safely ensconced in their room, the two quickly went about making it their headquarters. Alec set up his computer and Parker assembled his infrared camera and perched herself at the window, taking aim at the King's Wharf.
"There's no obvious threat present at the restaurant," she called over her shoulder, "there are six people inside, not including the barman."
"Okay, I'm going to make the call now," Alec announced, ready to spoof the signal to block detection. He crossed his fingers and hoped their plan went as they'd discussed.
He dialed the number to the King's Wharf on his keypad and stilled to listen for an answer. He watched as Parker straightened her back, her focus intently set on the heat signatures of the figures milling about within the restaurant's walls.
"Hello," Alec responded to the answer's greeting with a British accent, "Is..there…a…um Samuel Logue at your establishment?"
Parker flashed him a thumbs up sign, indicating that she could see one figure passing the phone to another.
"This is Logue," Alec smiled as he recognized Nate's voice and then he promptly hung up without a response.
He removed his earpiece and walked over to Parker's perch at the window.
"Do you have him?" He asked her quietly and Parker nodded following Nate's heat trail with the camera.
"He's emptying his glass and talking to the one who answered the phone," Parker gave Alec the play by play.
"Okay, he's leaving now." Parker stood up, she and the camera still tracking Nate's movements.
Alec grabbed his computer and his rucksack and readied himself to leave at her signal.
"He's out," she announced finally and Alec squinted at the tiny dot approaching a tiny white car parked outside the bar.
Alec turned on his RF monitor to check for any chatter coming from or going to the bar. There was silence.
He nodded to Parker, "All clear. Let's go."
Parker nodded her agreement and turned to head out of the room with Alec hot on her heels.
They had the advantage in following Nate in the little town of Barna because there was one main road and their guest house was perched high enough to see a healthy stretch of it. They knew he had to be heading further into town or he would have driven right past them. They jumped into their rental to follow the road into town and it didn't take them long to make out Nate's small white car ahead of them. They kept a safe distance and Alec scanned for any radio chatter.
Nate's car slowed and pulled off of the main road and up a slight incline into the driveway belonging to a small white house.
"There," Parker pointed to a small building that looked to be an office of some kind, "that's close enough." They building sat neatly at the edge of a cliff and at the base of a hill. It was perfect for their plan.
Alec nodded and drove to the lot of the office building and he and Parker turned back to look at Nate's house once more before they made their move.
"Still nothing on the scanner," Alec said looking at Parker, his concern clearly etched on his face.
"I know what you mean," Parker responded, "it is a little too quiet."
"I know if I had a man in exile and two potential threats in play," he indicated between himself and Parker, "…I'd have this place littered with eyes and ears."
"I would too," Parker nodded before she shifted her gaze to the hills and far set houses that dotted the landscape, "but that's not how Sonia operates.
"Anyone and anything could be a threat, don't forget that."
At Parker's words a new worry formed in Alec's mind. What if this had all been a trap? There was so much he didn't know, so many loose ends that made no sense.
He looked to Nate's house again and he noticed that a window shade had been opened giving whoever was inside a clear view of the office building and of him and Parker.
"Okay," he took a deep breath and turned to Parker, "Are you ready?"
She nodded, "Be careful," she offered although it felt strange to say.
Alec smiled and nodded back at her, "You too."
They adjusted their hoods and covering and Parker tucked her ponytail into her hat before they turned in unison and exited the car.
Alec popped the hood of the car and leaned into the engine bay while Parker walked up and into the building.
"Hallo. How may I be of assistance?" a male voice greeted her as she entered the reception area.
"Hi," Parker smiled beguilingly at the young, rosy-cheeked man, "my husband and I, well we've just had the worst luck today. Our car is just making the most awful noise and we're on our honeymoon and I just wanted to see where my father's was born. He was from Galway and we've been looking everywhere for this little stone castle he used to tell me about, but then the car… it's so annoying."
She pouted and batted her eyes lashes at the clearly smitten attendant.
"Oh that's no good at all," he offered as he made his way from behind the desk, "Perhaps I can go and lend a hand."
She clasped her hands and brought it to her cheek, "that would be so awesome of you."
He approached her looking into her face like a love struck teen.
"It's just out there," she pointed and stepped out of his way, "Oh and by the way do you have a little girl's room? I think I've had one too many 'tinis." She smiled and winked heavy lidded eyes for added effect.
"That'll be that way Miss," he answered blushing at her gaze.
She smiled and reached out to touch his shoulder, "You're my hero,…wait I didn't get your name," she leaned closer to him.
"Rory," the attendant squeaked before he spoke again with added timbre to his voice, "My name's Rory."
Parker smiled and hugged her 'hero', pressing her body into his and in the process relieving him of a set of keys clipped to his belt loop.
"Thank you Rory," she breathed into his ear and she felt Rory shudder slightly. She pulled out of the hug and hiccupped demurely. She put a hand to her lips feigning modestly, and smiled as she sauntered away from him.
She entered the ladies room and waited behind the door until she heard the front door to the building open, then she slipped out quietly and made her way to the back door or the building. She used Rory's keys to open the door and she slunk down the back stair case and quickly made her way up the hill.
Thankfully the hillside was covered in the same tall willowy grass that covered most of the Irish countryside. It gave her cover but didn't impede her climb. She raced up the hill and over stopping at the top of the hill overlooking Nate's house to look down at Rory chatting with Alec beneath the car's hood.
She lay flat on her stomach and scanned the hill tops that surrounded her. She paid individual attention to the houses around her as well, looking for anything out of the ordinary but nothing caught her attention.
Satisfied that she wasn't being watched she shimmied down the hill behind Nate's house and inched along the wall leading to a back door.
She did a visual search for any cameras or wires that would lead to sensors or anything that would detect her presence. There was nothing and Parker couldn't help but feel uneasy at her good fortune.
She climbed the stairs slowly, making sure to keep herself as flat as possible against the wall of the house for added protection. She reached the door and handled the knob to find it unlocked. Uneasiness assailed her and she paused for just a moment before she turned the knob and entered quickly.
The house was a one level, sparsely furnished, man cave. She tip-toed further into the house, her ears and eyes perked for any sudden activity but as she passed the door less entryway to the kitchen she froze. She heard the faint creak of an old floorboard. Her ears tingled to attention, straining for any further information.
The cocking of a gun was the next clear sound she heard and then it was too late.
"I promise you this gun is faster than you are so don't move."