Questions by Odessa McNiel (ebook voice reader .txt) 📖

a little guilty that they were making their hot doctor scatter brained and bald.)  I took in his natural state briefly- more or less ignoring it completely- as he walked in the door and had gone straight for the “You Need to Spend More Time at Home with Me” speech I’d been preparing all day in my head during my shift at IHOP.

He hadn’t even closed the door yet when I started in on him, so, he just stood in the open doorway while I ranted on and on about me being more important than two dozen terminally ill patients seeking more and more treatment.  I have to admit, I was being a bit of a bitch, but wouldn’t you if your husband or wife or girlfriend or boyfriend was always at work?  It took me a whole five minutes to realize that he was barely listening to me.  This pissed me off even more to the point of silence, so, I just stood there fuming while he stared at me.

Finally he spoke, “Have I ever told you that you look so damn sexy when you’re mad?  It kind of turns me on.” He smiled from ear to ear.  I gaped at him.

“I can’t believe you find this amusing!” I scoffed.  “I’m being serious, Kyle!”

He laughed.  “I know you are, but you should see your face.  It’s cute.”  He sat his briefcase down, opening it.  “I’m also thinking that you’ll be much happier after I tell you what I have up my sleeve.”  He started pulling out brochure after brochure, piling it on the floor next to him.  I caught a glimpse of a passport and all my anger ceased to exist in that instant.

He stood up again, facing me with his arms full of packets of information.  “The hospital is giving me vacation time because of my hours.  I want to spend this time with you away from here, in a place where we can forget about everything.” He paused, taking in my change of mood.  “I’ve been thinking for awhile now where to go, and then I remembered our first date at that French place downtown.  I hated French food at the time, but you loved it so I went along with it because you were so damn hot that you had me lapping at your heels like a freaking dog.

“And I remember asking you about where your favorite place was in the whole world.  You told me-“

 “-Paris,” I had said, cutting him off.  I covered my mouth with my hands, tears streaming freely down my face.  “Oh my God, you got tickets to… Paris!” I instantly regretted cussing him about and being selfish about how he distributed his time. 

He dropped all the brochures in the middle of the floor and pulled two tickets out of his jacket pocket.  “What do you say to spending two weeks with me in your favorite place in the world?”

A day later on that Saturday, we caught our first class flight to Paris, France, sipping on champagne the whole way.  We visited the Eiffel Tower and had this random tourist, who didn’t speak a lick of English, take out picture when we reached the top- that was the picture on my boyfriend’s night stand.  It was the happiest moment of my life. 

 

***

 

I snapped out of my reverie as I slowly realized the buzzing had sounded again, loud and persistent, but not in our bedroom. I pulled the covers back and climbed out of bed.  I was determined to figure out what was making that sound.

I approached the door that separated our bedroom from the rest of the apartment and stopped.  The buzzing had gone silent suddenly.  I looked down, thinking I might have accidentally stepped on its origin, when I heard voices on the other side of the door.

“Hey, it’s me.” I put my ear on the door.  “I’m headed out the door right now, sir.” I heard Kyle’s voice and then a muffled response coming from what I guessed was a phone- what I hoped was a phone anyways.  I couldn’t necessarily tell through a closed door, though. 

I figured it was probably the hospital checking up on his arrival for the emergent surgery.  Then, Kyle answered, “I know, sir.  Make sure all exits and entrances are secured and locked before I leave.” This raised a red flag for a very panicked second.  Did Kyle know something I didn’t?  Were we supposed to expect company today? Tonight?

I racked my tired brain for anything that would make him say this to someone from the hospital.  Then, a revelation hit me, what if he wasn’t talking to someone from the hospital?  This raised even more questions than it answered.  Among them was: Was he cheating on me? and What the hell was he talking about? plus many more.

I paced the bedroom pondering these questions, until I my head ached.  I resigned to taking a hot shower to calm my nerves.  I knew I was overreacting and that Kyle would never do anything to hurt me, and he certainly would never lie to me.  Yet, I stood under the scorching hot stream of water doubting the truth of these obvious facts.  I needed to talk to Risha about this.  She was the only person who would be able to reassure me that Kyle wasn’t doing anything fishy.  

With this conclusion in mind, I washed quickly and hopped out of the shower.  I checked the clock.  It was five-thirty.  She should be up already.  I thought, grabbing my phone and clutching my towel tightly to my dripping frame.  I dialed her number while digging through my closet.  She picked up on the third ring.

“Well, good morning, princess!” She exclaimed in her classic ‘too much caffeine’ voice that I knew all too well.  “I just had the pleasure of chatting with your gorgeous boyfriend in the elevator this morning.  I didn’t know he was an early riser.” A car horn blared in the background.  I still didn’t understand why she drove to work in Atlanta traffic.  It was pretty much impossible when you worked downtown. 

“Yea, me neither.” I said preoccupied. “Did he seem off to you this morning when you spoke to him?” I asked on a whim. 

“Not really.  We joked about my obnoxious cubicle colleague that got fired.”

“Well, it’s about damn time!” I laughed. “I thought I was going to have to keep hearing about him for eternity.”

   “I know right!” she giggled. “He was worried about how well you were taking his long hours, especially since the ‘Paris episode,’ but other than that he seemed fine.  Why?” I heard her cussing someone out who cut her off in the turn lane.

“Well, I heard him talking on the phone this morning before he left.” I said, pouring the gas gently on the conversation.

This sparked her attention like high school gossip, “With whom?”

“I don’t know.  I was trying to go back to sleep, but I heard this buzzing sound.  It was irritating and annoying.  Anyways, after I realized it wasn’t coming from our room, I headed towards the living room, and before I opened the door, I heard him talking to someone.  And it’s been bugging me since then.” I pulled down a pair of jeans and my UGA sweatshirt from the top of the closet and threw them on my bed along with a pair of panties and a bra.

“Well, what did he say?”

“He was agreeing to check all the exits and entrances before he left.  Normally, a person would just lock the front door of their house, you know.  But what threw me off was that I thought he was talking to someone from the hospital.  Besides, who would tell someone that they were going to ‘secure all of the entrances and exits?’ That’s just weird right, or am I completely losing it and having another ‘Paris episode?’” She was silent.  I checked my phone, thinking she hung up on me, but the call was still connected.

“Risha, you have to talk to me.  I’m losing my mind on this end of the line.  I’ve been pacing like a mad man and would like some reassurance from an amazing friend like you.” I was kissing ass now, but I didn’t care.  I just wanted her to reassure me that everything was fine so I could stop freaking out, even if it was a lie. “Risha, is everything all right?” I could hear her breathing heavily.  “Risha!  For God’s sake answer me damn it!”

I heard the phone hit something hard.  Did she drop her phone? There was a loud bang followed by two- no three more.  Were those gunshots?

“OH MY GOD, RISHA!  RISHA, SAY SOMETHING, PLEASE, ANYTHING!” A sob escaped from my lips.  I couldn’t comprehend what was happening.  I didn’t know if someone shot Risha or if she was shooting at someone.  Did she even own a gun?  Was she… dead?

Tears rushed down my face at an alarming rate.  Finally, a rustling sound came from her end of the line.  “Oh no!  Nicole, are you still there?” It was Risha!  Thank God she wasn’t dead.

“I’m here.” I said my voice breaking.

“No, no, no, no, no, no.  Oh God, Nicole, I’m so sorry!” she was crying now. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. OH GOD!”

“Risha, you’re scaring me.  What’s wrong?”

“It’s Kyle, Nicole.  I think…”

“No, please.  No!” I sobbed harder now.  A thousand possibilities crossed my mind, but only one made sense.

“Nicole… I think he’s dead.”

 

 

  

Two: Kyle

“What are you talking about?” I asked, staring at him. 

“You know what I mean, Kyle.  It won’t be real.”

“She won’t know the difference.  Unless Nicole sees my body, she will not believe any of you- no matter how convincing you can be.  It won’t work.” I protested angrily.

“Kyle, trust us.  For the next operation you’re doing, you have to go undercover.  We can’t allow any part of this operation to fail or get out.  Do you know what would happen if our agency became public knowledge? They’d snuff us all out in an instant, and they’d go after Nicole, too- not just you.”

“You don’t think I know that already, Mark?  Of course I know that!”

“You have to decide, Kyle.  Fake your death or leave her.  What’s it gonna be?” he placed his hands on his hips.

I swallowed hard.  “Do I even have a choice in this?  Why can’t I just bring her with me like I have been?”

He sighed.  “It’s the confidentiality policy.  The less truth she knows about what you do the better.  Either way, you cannot be around her for this.  They could go after her while you’re on your mission.  This is supposed to protect the both of you.  When this is over, you can go back to her if you want.”

“Mark, she will never forgive me for this.  If I leave her for this operation, she won’t let me go back to her.  There is no ‘first class flight and two weeks here or there trip’ that will fix this with her.  She and I are done being a couple if I take this assignment.”

“This assignment can make or break your career.  If you do this, your spot at the agency will never be brought into question again.”  He parried as if