Sudden Recall (6 page)

Karen didn't look all that happy to hand Sienna over to him.

“If I'm going to protect her, I'll need to know everything you know.”

“I've put in the request. After I hear back is when I'll be able to share information.”

Parker nearly rolled his eyes. “I can't know what's coming if you keep me in the dark.”

At the end of the hall, Sienna shook hands with the officers and picked up her duffel. Parker pushed away from the wall and nodded to Karen. “If you'll excuse me.”

The cops wanted to talk, but Parker just said, “Call me when you know something.”

They needed to get out there and search for whoever shot at Sienna. But as with the men who'd tried to kidnap her, Parker didn't think the shooter's identity would give them anything. He needed to figure out who was hiring these people, and why they were doing this to Sienna.

Parker strode to the front door, determined to run after her. Where would she be going, anyway? Her truck was still broken down by the roadside, and he didn't think she'd leave Karen stranded. Was she going to hitchhike?

Parker strode onto the porch and clicked the locks on his truck, beside which were parked two cop cars. He was determined to find her wherever she might have run off to. But as he cracked open his door and the dome light came on, Sienna climbed in the passenger seat.

She looked so broken down. Not hurt physically. But for such a strong woman to have been brought low like this arrested him. Parker wanted to go to her and hug her until she felt better. But would she accept his comfort?

He shook away the thoughts and got in. “Where to?”

Sienna stared out the window. It was the second time tonight she'd been in his truck, and both times had been after she was almost hurt.

“How about some rest? You're probably exhausted, and my place is safe. I have a guest room.”

She nodded, but didn't look over. He had a million questions about what she wanted to do and where they should start, but he didn't have the heart to ask her. So he pulled out onto the road and glanced back at the porch. Karen was there, talking into a cell phone.

How long would it be before the CIA was on their tail? Parker had said his place was safe, but was that true? He couldn't know for sure he was making the right move.

He couldn't be sure if the CIA was even on their side.

SIX

P
arker pulled into an apartment complex and turned right around the back of a row of three-story apartments. He reached over her to hit the garage door opener on her visor and then pulled inside.

Sienna stared. There was nothing in there. No tools, no freezer...nothing anyone might keep in their garage.

She opened her door wide enough so she could get out, but not so wide she'd hit the wall with the door of Parker's giant vehicle. Maybe his truck fit in here better, because this government vehicle certainly didn't.

“Something funny?”

She blinked up at him. When had he come up behind her? He took the opportunity to swipe her duffel from her hand. Sienna shook her head. The quicker they got out of this cramped space, the better. “Nothing. Lead the way.”

She followed him into his kitchen. Half expecting empty pizza boxes and a sink full of dirty dishes, she was surprised to find only one plate and mug in there—probably from breakfast. Sienna pulled her attention from his kitchen so he didn't think she was stalking his nutritional choices.

The living room had one big leather couch and a chair that probably reclined to almost horizontal. His TV was gigantic, though he'd probably argue it was the right size for the room.

He dumped her bag by an open door to a bedroom and then passed her again going back into the kitchen. “Tea?”

She spun around. “Huh?”

He shook a box of the cinnamon tea she loved. “Want some?”

Sienna nodded, then slumped onto a vintage bar stool at the counter. She set her elbows on the surface and watched him fill a kettle.

“I'd have thought you'd be freaking out.”

She ran her thumbnail along a split in the surface. “What makes you think I'm not?”

He glanced up, a conciliatory smile on his face.

“Maybe I just freak out quietly, instead of out loud.” She glanced around. “Do you have paper and a pen?”

He pulled them from the end drawer and set them in front of her.

Sienna got the paper from her pocket. Sure, she had a shoebox of things that likely meant something to her once upon a time, but having been the only personal possession she'd had when she'd woken up, this verse had to mean something. Otherwise, why carry it on her?

Unfolding the sheet, she pressed it flat. She'd looked up the words, but couldn't find a match in her search. She'd figured it was a paraphrase she'd done to solidify the meaning by putting it in her own words.

Sienna picked up the pen.
Help me remember, Lord.

She copied the words onto Parker's notepad. As she wrote, Parker rounded the counter to read aloud over her shoulder. “‘Don't draw any conclusions when it's too early. God has to do that. He is the one who brings to light the hidden things. He's the one who reveals what each person has planned. He is the one who decides.'” He shook his head. “What does that mean?”

Sienna stared at it, not wanting to look at him when he was so close to her. She was already nervous enough. “I think I've forgotten something important.” She blew out a breath. “Forgetting sounds so innocuous. I don't remember anything at all about myself or my life. But I think this means there was something important. I just can't pry it out of my head. This is a message—from me. To remind me to trust God's timing, instead of trying to force things.”

“Is that going to work? I mean, until then, what? We just sit around doing nothing?”

Sienna shook her head. “We have to work at this, even while we're waiting.” She hopped off the stool and went to her duffel. The shoebox was on top, so she set it on the counter and showed him what she had gathered. “As far as I know, it's a collection of memorable but otherwise insignificant stuff I've accumulated over the years.”

Parker fingered the stack of photos. “Unless it isn't.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was on the phone with Nina, she said you hid something. These people who tried to take you tonight, they want whatever it is. They want you to tell them where it is.”

Sienna shook her head. “Then why try to kill me in my bedroom?”

Parker's eyes were dark. “It's a pretty inept assassin who sprays a room with that many bullets and doesn't hit anything. Unless he's not actually trying to kill you.”

Sienna had rolled off the bed. She'd gotten out of the way, and the shooter had continued to haphazardly spray the room. “Okay, so they were trying to scare me.”

“Or jog your memory with a stressful experience.”

She didn't like the idea of anyone attempting to force her to remember like that. “I
have
to remember. Kidnapping? Shooting at me? I can't afford to have amnesia anymore. This needs to be finished.”

“What can you do? You can't just decide this is going to go away.”

Sienna gritted her teeth. “I know that.” Her voice was quiet, even to her own ears. “I just can't bear the thought of being helpless.”

Parker set his hand on her shoulder. “You're not. I know you, Sienna. You're strong enough to beat this. The people threatening you, the memory loss. All of it.”

She backed up so that his hand fell back to his side. “That's exactly the problem. You might know me, or so you say. But I don't know myself. I don't know what kind of person I was. I don't know what I had to learn or how to fight this. All I have is that shoebox and a piece of paper. Neither of which mean anything.”

“You have me.”

She shot him a look.

Parker's face twisted with something that looked almost like hurt. “I don't mean anything, either?”

“That's not it.” She blew out a breath. “Up until six hours ago, I didn't even know who you were other than some random guy in town I'd have liked to talk to.”

Yeah, so she'd been nursing a pretty terminal crush since the first days she and Karen had come here. The day she'd spotted him at the grocery store she'd been a goner. She'd been back there every week, same day, same time, hoping he'd be there, but it was two months before she saw him again.

He was a good-looking guy, no ring on his left hand. What was the harm in attraction? She'd needed something in her life that made her smile, even if they never talked to each other.

When he'd only acted weird with her, she had shut that down fast. Though apparently that was because he thought
she
was the one acting weird. How was she supposed to know they'd known each other?

She sucked in a breath. “Did I know you lived here?”

Parker's features softened. “I told you about this valley. You said...”

“What?”

“I'm not supposed to tell you anything, remember? You're supposed to let it come back all by itself.”

“Please.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “Please tell me something.”

He stared at her for a moment and then acquiesced. “You said you'd never really had a home. That Nina was your family. When I told you about my hometown, you said you'd love to see it. That you'd visit me when I was back.”

Sienna shut her eyes. “She said she's my best friend.”

“She's with the CIA, too. An operative.”

Sienna was almost afraid to ask. “Do I...go on missions, as well? Like a spy?”

Parker nodded.

Sienna took two steps away, grabbed the hair on the sides of her face and tried to breathe. “I can't... I just... How?”

* * *

Parker wanted to hug her again. She was the strongest woman he'd ever met, and yet his reaction was to go to her with support. Why was that? It wasn't like there was much he could do to help her except tell her more.

“They recruited you and Nina out of college. They had you finish your degrees—yours was international politics and Nina's was economics. You both had the same bad hair.” He grinned. “Half the time you'd go to each other's classes and the professors couldn't tell the difference between you.”

“We look alike?”

Parker nodded. “You said sometimes on missions you'd pretend to be the same person, and you'd use identical wigs. Anyone tracking you would see two people leave and never know which of you was the right woman to follow. Or you'd give each other an alibi when one of you was in public and the other was on a mission. You didn't get close to anyone.” He shrugged. “People see...”

“What they want to see.” Sienna looked up at him, her big brown eyes surrounded by all that blond hair. He could easily imagine her enchanting some unsuspecting target before he even realized he was being charmed out of sensitive information.

And two of them? The CIA must have thought they'd hit the jackpot with Nina and Sienna.

“That's crazy, but in a sort-of-cool way.” She smiled for a second. “But doesn't that mean Nina should know what I did before I was in a coma? She has to know what I don't remember.”

Parker shook his head. “She indicated you're the only one with the knowledge of who these people are and what they want.”

“How is that possible, when we worked so closely together?”

Parker lifted his hands and let them fall back to his sides. “If she calls, we can ask her.”

Sienna perched on the back of the couch and hung her head. She'd really thought that paper from her pocket, and what was written on it, was going to solve this. He figured it was more likely that the answer was in the shoebox.

He crossed to it and looked through the things again. An old movie ticket, some photos. A few other things. Sienna wasn't the kind of person who kept souvenirs; CIA agents just couldn't do that. He pulled the paperclip from the photos and laid them on the counter of his breakfast bar. A little girl, blonde, maybe six years old, with an older boy, both completely covered with dirt, digging in a hole. Dirty smiles on their faces. A mountain. Two postcards. A ranch house with a red barn beside it.

Parker lifted the ranch picture and studied it. He felt Sienna come to stand beside him.

Her voice was quiet when she said, “Was that my house?”

He shook his head. “Not that you told me. Home was a mansion with your parents, then boarding school—where you met Nina—and later a condo on the beach in Virginia. You shared it with your friend, but you were never there at the same time. It was listed under one name, an alias both of you used.”

He kept studying the picture. “If I had to guess, I'd say this was your uncle's ranch.”

“Do you think this could be my brother? Do I have a brother?”

Parker didn't think she was ready for the answer to that.

He passed her the ranch picture. “This is why I said you only had an uncle. You told me he lived in northern California on a cattle ranch. You loved to go there when you were a little kid.”

Sienna blew out a breath and wound up yawning. She was fading fast.

“Look, it's really late. Why don't you sleep on all this? We can figure out a plan in the morning of what to do next.”

Relief flooded her face as she nodded. “If I can sleep.”

“I'll be in the next room if you need anything. Just holler or bang on the wall.”

A smile curled her lips. Parker pulled her to him and gave her a loose hug. “Sleep well, okay. We'll figure this out.”

She nodded against his chest. “Thank you.”

She trailed to the guest room and hauled up her duffel on the way past. When she shut the door, Parker exhaled. He'd gotten accustomed to the emptiness of his apartment, but it almost felt right having her here. Too bad he couldn't get used to it, or she'd leave an even bigger hole when she left this time.

He hoped the shoebox of things, and what was locked in Sienna's memory, was the clue they needed to find whatever was out there.

Parker pulled out his phone and took a picture of the ranch house. He sent the information he knew to one of the forensic guys at the office and asked him to get an address. It wouldn't be fast—it could even be days—but Parker would take whatever he could get.

The picture of Sienna and the little boy was gone. She must have taken it into the bedroom with her. Parker's heart clenched. He couldn't imagine how she felt, wondering if there was someone she was supposed to be missing, someone she was supposed to love, but who she couldn't remember at all.

He glanced at the photos on his dresser. His collection—like he figured was true of Sienna's—represented the pieces of his past he wanted to carry with him. His first SEAL team, all in a huddle, sweaty after a rough-and-tumble football game in some desert country. Playing pool on a ship. Going for a run in Alaska in their shorts for the fun of it.

Those men were his family. Older guys retired, like Parker had, when they found themselves slowing down. It was necessary to put the mission first for the last time in their careers. Others had been killed or injured. A few lived close enough that he hung out with them sometimes. Every picture held meaning.

He thumbed his phone, but there were no new texts or calls. Didn't Nina want to give him her number in case he needed to call her? Evidently that was a one-way street. But he did have Karen's number and the landline at Sienna's house. He'd looked that up at work.

Parker sat on the edge of his bed and dialed. He just couldn't rest until he knew more. Despite what he'd told Sienna about waiting until the morning, he needed a plan before he could sleep.

Karen's voice was groggy when she picked up the phone. “Yes?”

“It's Parker.”

Rustling. “Is she okay?”

“She's sleeping.”

“Then what do you want?”

He didn't care for her attitude. He was determined to get what he needed to help Sienna. “I want to know what her last mission was.”

“That's classified.”

“What do you need that she doesn't remember?”

“Also classified.”

Parker fisted his free hand on his knee. “Do you want them to torture it out of her?”