A Pretender Story
part I
by Evanescent

"Welcome back to the Center Jarod," Mr. Raines said as he pointed his gun at Jarod. As Jarod slowly got to his feet, Raines turned to Willie. "Cuff him."

Jarod backed up as Wily closed in on him with a triumphant gleam in his eyes. He was about to cuff Jarod when they heard Broots yell, "Miss Parker. No!"

When everyone turned to look at Broots, Jarod shoved Willie as hard as he could and started a dead run towards the seemingly lifeless form.

Willie raised his gun and was about to shoot when Mr. Raines stopped him.

"No! I need him alive."

"What if he tries to escape?" Willie asked.

"He won't go far," Mr. Raines answer smugly, "he has someone to save."

"Miss Parker, Miss Parker can you hear me?" Jarod asked as he frantically searched for her vital signs and breathing. Finding none, he yelled to Sydney, "Begin CPR." Sydney nodded as Jarod quickly took off his jacket.

"I've got a pulse," Sydney said to Jarod after he checked her vital signs after a few minutes.

"All right, let's turn her over," Jarod said as he, Sydney, and Broots gently rolled her over onto her stomach.

Broots asked, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to stop the bleeding," Jarod replied as he tightly pressed his jacked against the wound. He looked up into Mr. Parker's worried expression; "We'll save her." Mr. Parker looked at him for a moment before looking away.

"We need to get her to a hospital now," Jarod ordered. "Sydney, Broots, gently lift Miss Parker and take her to the car."

Jarod was about to follow Sydney when he suddenly felt a gun pressed against his back, "I don't think so love," Brigitte said. "If I let you go now, who knows when we'll be able to meet like this again."

"My daughter is going to the hospital and Jarod is going with her do you hear me?" Mr. Parker roared.

Willie pointed his gun at him.

"I don't think you are in any position at making any demands Mr. Parker," Raines said. "It's your daughter's fault that Jarod was able to escape for so long, now that she's gone she won't be able to cause anymore trouble like her mother." Mr. Parker angrily glared at Raines but back off.

"No! Please," Jarod begged, start to grow desperate.

He looked at Miss Parker's pale face he knew the decision he had to make to save her life. "I'll make a deal with you Raines. If you let me take her to the hospital and save her, I'll to go back to The Centre with you."

"And what makes you think you are in any position to make a deal with me right now Jarod?" Raines demanded.

"You know Miss Parker had caught me numerous times, but the problem is I got away every time right? You can't shoot me because that will be against all the rules of The Centre so I'm making a deal with you, my life for Miss Parker's," Jarod explained.

Sydney looked at Jarod with a stunned expression. ‘No, Jarod,’ he thought.

Mr. Parker said nothing but continued to star at him.

"And if I say no?" Raines asked

"If you say no you won't be able to keep me in the Centre because you know I'll escape. So what will it be, Mr. Raines, my life for hers? The clock is ticking and I may change my mind at any moment so you’d better make up your mind."

"All right," Raines agreed.

Mr. Lyle whispered, "Can we actually trust him?"

"Jarod knows that if he were to escape we can always come back and kill Miss Parker, he is also a man of his word so he won't escape."

"I would need to borrow your helicopter then," Jarod said.

"Fine, but Willie is going with you," Raines replied and turned to his cleaner, "Willie, follow him and if Jarod tries to escape, shoot Miss Parker. I'll have a sweeper team follow you there."

"We will follow you in the car Jarod," Sydney assured him. "Broots, help me lift Miss Parker into the helicopter."

When Miss Parker was settled in, Willie, Jarod, and Mr. Parker followed behind her and as the helicopter took off Mr. Parker turn to Jarod and asked, "Why are you doing this Jarod? You know as well as I do what Raines will do to you when you go back to the Centre."

"I know what it's like to lose a love one Mr. Parker and I don't want to see you lose your daughter."

Mr. Parker was still confused, "But my daughter tries to catch you everyday, why would you still want to help her?"

Jarod replied, "Even though she ruins my life I know that she has a kind heart, she just keeps it hidden behind the walls she created for herself." He checked her wound and the bleeding had almost stopped.

He glanced up and look at her face. Even with her pale skin, she still looked breathtakingly beautiful. What am I doing he thought and quickly look away. Mr. Parker quickly caught a look of tenderness on Jarod's face when he turned away from Miss Parker and asked, "You seem to know my daughter extremely well Jarod, is it possible that you love her?"

Jarod quickly look away and while Mr. Parker wasn't listening, he whispered, "That I don't even know yet."

****

St. Marie Hospital
1600 Hours

"Quickly! Get her into the ER now!" Jarod yelled, holding Miss Parker in his arms. He spotted a nurse. "My name is Jarod, Jarod Wright, I’m a doctor here in this hospital and I have a patient that has a gunshot wound in the back. I manage to stop the bleeding but I wasn't able to get the bullet out, we need to get her under to work on her now." The nurse nodded and rushed off to get help.

Jarod checked her pulse, when he looked up to Mr. Parker's anxious expression he said, "She's still alive but time is running out." The nurse returned with several other nurses and a wheelchair. "Get her prepared for surgery," Jarod said, he gently set Miss Parker down on the wheelchair. Mr. Parker caught his arm and looked into his eyes.

"Save her," he said.

"I will." As Jarod disappeared behind Miss Parker, Sydney, Broots and the others arrived.

"Where is Jarod going?" Raines asked.

"He's going to help with the surgery," Mr. Parker answered.

"What a shame, I was hoping it was already too late," Brigitte said, licking her lollipop.

Mr. Parker whirled around to face her, anger blinding his eyes and not caring about his life or the life of his unborn child, he wrapped his fingers around her neck and squeezed. Brigitte tried to scream but no sound came out, as she tried frantically to breathe she heard Mr. Parker say in a dangerously low voice, "If my daughter dies, you will share the same fate as my first wife so you better be wishing she comes out of this alive or else." He squeezed harder, as Sydney and Broots watched wide-eyed. "You'll be wishing you are dead once I am through with you do I make myself clear?" Brigitte feebly nodded and Mr. Parker let go of his grip, she fell down coughing and gasping for air.

Mr. Raines was about to say something but Lye whispered in his ear, "I don't think that is a good idea, right now my father has nothing to lose so if we kill him now, the truth is bound to come out and then we'll all be in trouble." Raines took a step back and said nothing.

Broots asked, "How long is the surgery going to take?" Everyone ignored him.

Sydney walked to where Mr. Parker was sitting and gently put his hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't worry, Jarod will save her." Mr. Parker looked back at him and gave him a sad smile.

****

The Centre
1700 hours

Angelo was frantically typing on a keyboard. [We see the computer screen as he moved the cursor to the "Send" button and clicked on it.] "Must save Jarod," he said.

****

St. Marie Hospital
2100 hours

An exhausted Jarod stepped out of the ER, tired but okay. He pulled his surgical mask and glasses from his face and walked to the figure sitting down on a chair. "Mr. Parker," he said quietly, Mr. Parker looked up, his eyes glazed, his expression sad.

"Your daughter is going to be okay. She lost a lot of blood so she's going to be weak for a little while but otherwise she'll be okay."

Mr. Parker took a deep breath and let it out, "Thank you Jarod," he said, "can I see her right now?"

Jarod smiled and said, "She's in the recovery room now but she'll be finished soon. Wait for her in room 301, it's just down the hall."

As he watched Mr. Parker rush down the hall to his daughter's room, Raines came up behind him. "Time to go now Jarod," he said.

Jarod turn to look at him, "I'm going to check up on her one last time." Before Raines could stop him, Jarod was already walking down the hall to the recovery room.

"I thought I wanted to bring Jarod back, but not like this." Sydney said sadly.

"I agree with you," Broots replied. "Jarod has helped me a lot during these past couple of years, I would hate to see him turn into one of Mr. Raines pet projects."

"Broots, we have got to do something to help Jarod," Sydney whispered urgently.
Broots answered, "Syd, if Jarod returns to The Centre, who knows what Raines is going to do to him. He may end up--"

"Like Kyle." Sydney finished for him.

****

Jarod quietly entered the recovery room, a nurse smiled at him as she recorded Miss Parker's vital signs and walked out the door. Alone with her, he raised his hand and stroke her face. She looked so beautiful he thought as he felt the softness of her skin beneath the palm of his hand. He bent down and touched his lips to her cheek and whispered, '"Don't forget me, Miss Parker," and walked out the door.

Mr. Parker was watching them through a window and stared after Jarod as the door of the recovery room slowly closed behind him.

****

"Before I go with you Raines, I want all of you to not tell Miss Parker that I had any part in saving her, all right?" Jarod requested.

"And why should we listen to you Jarod?" Lyle asked.

"Because Lyle, you forget that if Miss Parker is told what happened she will try and save me and with Matombo there that may cause a disturbance if I were to escape again." Jarod replied. "So will you all not mention a word of this to Miss Parker?"

"Fine," Raines said.

Sydney opened his mouth to speak but Raines glared him down. Sydney slowly closed his mouth and looked at Jarod silently.

"Lyle, Brigitte?" Jarod asked.

"If it's fine with Raines it's fine with me," Lyle answered.

"Anything for you love," Brigitte smirked.

"Willie, cuff him." Raines ordered.

Willie came up behind him, cuffed Jarod's wrists, and dragged him away.

Jarod looked back at Sydney and said, "Take care of her Syd, don't let anything happen to her." Sydney nodded and watched helplessly as Jarod disappeared through the door with Lyle, Raines, Brigitte, and sweeper team trailing behind.

Sydney turned to Broots and said, "We have work to do." Broots look back at him, not sure if he really wanted to get into this as they started walking down the hall to room 301.

In the shadows, Mr. Parker stood quietly behind a door.

He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

A doctor came rushing out from the other room holding a tape recorder, "It's all done Mr. Parker, I had the whole conversation between Jarod and the others recorded on tape."

"Well done Dr. Anderson, I'll see that you'll get a promotion for this," Mr. Parker promised. Dr. Anderson handed him the recorder and he pushed rewind and then play. On the tape Jarod said "Before I go with you Raines, I want all of you to not tell Miss Parker that I had any part in saving her, all right?" Mr. Parker's gaze remained unmoving and he walked on.

Dr. Anderson asked, "What are you going to do now?"

"I don't know, but I'll figure it out," Mr. Parker said as he walked out the door.

****

The Centre
2200 hours

Angelo was crouching down hugging his knees, huddling in a tunnel, shivering, muttering, "Jarod...caught...great danger down...," He look down, trying to concentrate, "Miss Parker...hurt bad...Jarod save...won't escape...why?" He slowly pieced the thoughts in his mind together, whispering, "Miss Parker...hurt bad...Jarod...know...he...in great danger...won't run...give up freedom...won't escape...helps her..." his eyes grew wide in surprise. "Jarod loves Miss Parker."
 
 

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