"In the flesh, baby brother." Parker purred.
"I don't have the time or the inclination to take on another project." Lyle asserted.
Parker holstered her weapon and sidled up to Lyle. "Let's get something straight right now: You failed to capture and return him, Lyle. Whatever he may or may not be, Jarod is not, nor will he ever be, your project." She stepped away and accepted Raines' offering.
A hush fell over the office when she stabbed the glass vial with the needle and filled the syringe. Jarod- - writhing and whimpering on the floor- - observed in terror as Parker knelt. "No. Please." Came his halting gasps, soft hiccuped sobs. "No. Please. Don't this to me." He cried softly. "Miss Parker, friend."
"Hush now, Jarod. Shh." She commanded. "Let us help you."
"Pwromise you'll help?" He asked.
"Yes." She smiled sweetly. "I'm going to pull up your sleeve and-"
"No!" He cried suddenly and flailed onto his side in an effort to escape. "Needles hurt! Mommy! Daddy! Daddy, help me!"
"Sam!" Parker ordered.
The sweeper joined the pair, held Jarod's cuffed hands, but was no match for the panicked Pretender.
"Lyle, Willie: hold his legs!" Raines rasped, his eyes large and filled with rage.
"Tighter!" Parker demanded and then in one fluid moment, brought the syringe down and emptied its contents.
"You pwromised." Jarod accused with tear-filled eyes- which to Parker, seemed like overkill. "You pwromised." He wailed, rocking onto his back and then onto his side, back and forth and again. "Miss Parker a wiar." He sniffled and then commenced to audibly sucking his thumb.
"A wiar?" Lyle asked mockingly, obviously amused.
"He's reliving the night he was first brought here." Raines observed. "He grew despondent and rebellious; he was just as difficult to handle the second time we captured him."
"Well then", Parker said, pressing both palms into her lower back, "let's not make the mistake of allowing him to escape the Centre a third time. Sam: put Jarod in his space."
The sweeper nodded, obeyed; he literally dragged Jarod to his "space" and then closed the door with a resounding clang. "Welcome back, Jarod." Sam said and then smile triumphantly.
Processing the Pretender.
The demands flowed effortlessly and were heeded without hesitation. No one defied the inestimable Miss Parker, and she had no qualms about reminding the staff of the fate they'd suffer should they dare to.
As promised, she deposited her reports onto Raines' desk, and then gloated at Lyle's expense. She finalized two vacation requests, signed off on nutritional requirements, menus and supplements and then graciously thanked both the boys in the tower as well as the recently installed Triumvirate head, Jaha Yeboah, for their praise as well as the promotion.
Day one of her "long term future" had gone off without a hitch.
The new Parker legacy begins with you, Mr. Parker's words came ricocheting through her mind.
"And so it begins." Parker said upon entering her new office.
"And so it does." A voice behind her echoed.
"Mr. Cox." She addressed him genilally, without turning and began the process of unpacking boxes.
"The Zulus are quite pleased indeed."
"Not half as pleased as I am." She replied.
"Oh, I can imagine." He returned with a light chuckle, slipping a single finger across the surface of the walnut desk. "All those bread crumbs leading you off into oblivion." He gestured slightly, sweeping his thumb across his fingers, seeking out dust- which was unheard of inside the Centre (a fact that caused him to ponder where precisely Jarod had found the mold and dust he'd use to create the sedative that had enabled his initial escape).
Cox shrugged, picked imaginary lint from his Armani suit and swept his palms together in a gesture one would typically use to dust off something unsavory or plot something of an equally unsavory nature.
"All those games." Cox continued. "The two of you, hunter and huntress, tokens moving on a board, always ending in a stalemate, if you will. But here you are." He smiled and gestured at her as if she were some glorious work of art. "Check and mate. The Queen still stands."
"I suppose that is one way of looking at it." Parker said nonchalantly.
"Your report indicates that Jarod lost control, that Sydney was injured in this", Cox grinned, "final pursuit."
"Sydney's whereabouts at this time are still unknown; however, I'd like to believe the umbilical between the pair acted to bridle Jarod's rage somewhat. My men are scouring the area as we speak."
"For a body?"
"Presumably."
"Ah, so you do fear the good doctor is dead then?"
"Good doctor?" Parker asked, skeptically. "Mm, I wouldn't go as far as that." She said and observed as Cox chuckled. "I was never very fond of headshrinkers myself, Miss Parker; however, Sydney does have Jarod on his résumé, and in the past, you have warned us against severing the emotional umbilical. Do you disavow your stance?"
"Absolutely not."
"Then there will be ramifications if Sydney is indeed dead."
"I can assure you that there will be." Parker asserted. "Sydney is the only person capable of harnessing the Pretender's intellect, the only person capable of squeezing high profit returns from the Centre's most valued asset."
"And our asset's psychological status?" Cox inquired standing rigid, arms akimbo, at parade rest.
"Certainly no one is more qualified to coddle Jarod than Sydney."
"Jarod is still unconscious?"
"He is." Parker replied. "There'll be much work to do when he wakes."
"Yes, Madam Chairman, there most certainly will be." He smiled amiably, not clamoring for a ride on her coat tails, not brown nosing as Lyle had.
Cox didn't have to grovel.
"I'd like to walk you to your car uh- if, of course, you'll permit me."
"Of course." Parker gathered her briefcase and then met the man's gaze. "That would be lovely."