A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(128)

Several minutes later he returned to the room with a stunned look on his face.

President Emilio Fernandez was dead. It came as a shock to the legal team, but not so much to the Navy SEALS who brought him down. They knew karma had a way of coming back to bite you in the ass.

While awaiting transport at La Victoria, the largest prison in the Dominican Republic, Fernandez got what was coming to him. Word traveled fast, even in a third world country. Too many people knew what he did. Too many inmates, guards, and visitors wanted him to pay for what he’d done to their sisters, cousins, nieces…

A riot broke out and chaos ensued. When the fighting was under control and the prisoners were all back in their cells, Fernandez’s holding area remained empty. His body was found within the hour. His head was no longer attached to his body, three of his fingers were sawed off with a crude instrument, and his testicles were stuffed down his own throat.

No one mourned his death.

The authorities turned a blind eye on the parties responsible.

After a few chaotic hours and the rearrangement of testimonies, the trial went ahead as planned. All individuals accused of wrongdoing were found guilty and charged. It would be many years before any of them would see the light of day.

Within fifteen minutes of leaving the courthouse, Garrett was handed back his military identification, weapon, and his cell phone. He immediately placed a call to Parker.

After four rings a computerized message informed him that his call could not be completed as dialed because the number he was trying to reach was no longer in service.



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Parker checked herself out of George Washington University Hospital six weeks after she got there with a promise to Olivia that she would call her as soon as she got settled. Parker conveniently didn’t tell her that she wouldn’t be going back to her condo in California, feeling like she didn’t need to divulge that type of information to her nurse.

Her cell phone was confiscated by Agent Charles since it was property of the CIA, and she had no idea when or even if she’d resume her employment there. She programmed Olivia’s number into the new phone she ordered just to make the woman stop hounding her about it. As they said their goodbyes, Olivia raised an eyebrow and stared at Parker suspiciously, making her wonder if the woman knew Parker had no intention of ever calling it. Caring about someone, sharing secrets with them, relying on them, and letting them rely on you…it never seemed to work out very well for Parker. She decided then and there she would never make any more mistakes where friendship was concerned.

As Parker’s plane touched down and she held onto the armrest with white knuckles, she remembered the flight into the Dominican. Garrett had tried to make her forget about her nerves by informing her they’d have to pretend to be husband and wife. The memory was bittersweet and made her chest ache.

She refused to think any more about that now. Thinking about Garrett only made things worse. Parker winced as she pulled her small suitcase out from under her seat. The bullet wound in her side was healed, but any bit of movement made a dull ache form where the hole had been. She stood up, pressed her hand to her side, and followed the small handful of other passengers down the aisle. Parker tried to smile back at the pilot who stuck his head out of the cockpit to bid her goodbye on the way out the door of the small plane that had taken her on the second leg of her journey, but being in that place, knowing what she was about to face, made it impossible for her to even fake happiness.

When she walked into the airport that morning and up to the counter to checkin, her palms started to sweat and grief began to overwhelm her. For the last few days, she did nothing but dream about sinking into her own bed in her own condo, turning off the lights, and ignoring the world around her for the.

In a split-second decision she changed her flight plans.

As she stepped out of the charter plane and made her way down the short set of stairs, she quickened her pace, trying to distance herself from the chipper words of airport security as they gave the same parting words to each and every flier.

“Thank you for flying with us today! We hope you enjoy your stay in Manchester, Michigan!”



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“I’m sorry, sir. No amount of yelling or harsh language is going to make me break the rules. Patient files are strictly confidential. Unless you are an immediate family member, I cannot give you the information you want.”

Garrett had reached the end of his patience ten hours earlier when he kept getting the run-around about what hospital Parker was transported to after she left the Dominican. After seven phone calls and a poorly executed threat to beat the crap out of each and every person at CIA headquarters if they didn’t tell him what hospital Parker went to, Risner stepped in to help before Garrett got himself arrested.

The most insane thing about the entire situation was that the entire time Garrett was locked away, unable to have any type of contact with Parker, she was closer than he ever imagined. Due to the high profile nature of the case, the trial was held in Washington, D.C., right around the corner from George Washington University Hospital.

“As I’ve told you three f*cking times already, she doesn’t have any family. I’m all she has. I need to find out where she is,” Garrett said angrily. “If you don’t tell me, I’m going to go up and down every single God damned hallway in this place and bang on every f*cking door until I find her.”