Disclaimer: I still don’t own them and I still don’t make any money. Spare the effort to sue, because I’m as poor as a little mouse and so you won’t get anything.

Author's Note: This is the sequel to 'To End The Evil' I suggest you read that one first.

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good

Guns in a conference room


„Ready?“ Jarod asked and squeezed her hand again.

“No, but that won’t change the fact that we are going in there,” she breathed.

Jarod stopped and drew her towards him. Parker gratefully leaned into him, drawing strength from his embrace. She finally looked up and nodded.

“Don’t worry. Just stick close to me in the first few minutes. They will calm down quickly,” he reassured her just as he had done many times over the last few days.

They were back in Washington D.C. The heads of the FBI and CIA had scheduled a meeting.
Danny had called Jarod and asked him to come back so that the bureaus could pose more questions.

It had taken more than one and a half weeks for the agencies to get in touch with them again and that had been more than anyone of the group had anticipated. They had happily used the time to relax and grow together.

“Let’s go in,” Parker said, the determined expression returning into her eyes.

Jarod smiled. “That’s the spirit I like so much,” he bent down and captured her lips in a sweet kiss.

They both straightened and breathed deeply. Then Jarod let go of her hand and walked up to the door. He turned around to see if Parker was following and when Parker nodded, he swiftly opened the doors leading to the conference room and strode in confidently.

Parker followed graceful and smoothly and with a confidence she didn’t really feel. She had her Ice-Queen face back in place but it lacked the absolute coldness it had had before.

“Ah, Jarod,” Danny greeted when they entered.

All heads were turned towards the door and the intruders. There were fifteen people in the conference room waiting for Jarod’s arrival.

“Danny,” Jarod acknowledged with a curt nod of his head.

It was then that the first agents gasped at the sight of Parker standing not even a step behind Jarod’s shoulder.

Jarod’s and Parker’s faces remained neutral.

The realization sank into the agents’ minds. There was a stunned silence and then the room came to life.

The agent at the head of the large conference table reached for his telephone while several agents reached for their guns.

In swift motions, several guns were pointed at Parker.

In spite of everything, Jarod and Parker kept their ground and just returned the glances without so much as blinking an eye.

“Gentleman, there is no use in pointing guns around,” Jarod announced smoothly.

Just then, several agents, also with their guns drawn, barrelled through the door and circled the pair.

“Jarod, go away from her. Slowly,” Danny ordered.

Jarod stayed where he was and merely glanced around. “I said that there was no use to have your guns drawn,” he repeated, as calm as before.

“Jarod, she can’t harm you anymore, come over here. We will do the rest,” another agent called.

Jarod blinked confused at the agents comment and Parker had a hard time to keep from laughing.

“She won’t harm me,” the pretender announced still rather irritated at that thought and then looked directly at Danny. “If I wanted her in handcuffs, I would have brought her to the police and not into this conference room. She is no prisoner and neither am I,” he paused for effect. “And I don’t intend her to become a prisoner.”

The guns wavered slightly.

“What is all that about?” The agent at the head of the table, who had called the other agents into the conference room via phone, asked.

“Director Turner,” Jarod addressed to the head of the FBI. “We would like to discuss a few things with you and your men”, Jarod started and then looked around. He rolled his eyes slightly. “Look, we don’t have guns and I already informed you that you won’t need yours either, so could you please lower them?” Jarod half asked and half ordered.

The agents gazes flickered over to the Director, whose gaze in turn flickered over to Danny. Danny observed Jarod and finally nodded, putting his own gun down. The other agents followed suite.

Parker and Jarod both breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” Jarod said.

“Jarod, Miss Parker,” the CIA Director Braff looked at her sharply. “Please be seated.”

When they were both seated the Director went on, “Miss Parker. We know of your history and the position you held in the Centre. Consider the fact that you are sitting here without handcuffs as the benefit of doubt Jarod has just placed here. Don’t count on its staying,” he said sternly.

“I will not take it for granted and I thank you for hearing us out,” Parker nodded.

“Start then,” Assistant Director Kelsey instructed.

“We come to claim the Centre ours,” Jarod dropped the bomb.


To be continued…

Disclaimer: See chapter one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 2

Negotiations


“We come to claim the Centre ours,” Jarod dropped the bomb.

There was a collective gasp. The people in the room visibly had trouble coming to terms with that request. Some blinked at Jarod’s demand or frowned. Others were silently whispering among each other.

“And how do you come to make that request?” The director asked after clearing his throat.

The room was put into silence once more and everyone stared curiously at Jarod and mistrustfully at Parker.

“Miss Parker is the legal heir of the Centre. It has been passed down in the family from generation to generation,” Jarod stared back unaffected.

“Yes that certainly is true but don’t you think it is a request that we have to turn flat down exactly because of that fact. The Parker’s have not exactly been the right persons to run the place as the evil doings prove,” Assistant Director Kelsey replied.

“Jarod, you gave us the evidence yourself. You wanted our help to bring down that place. What made you change your mind about that?” Danny asked confused.

Jarod smiled sadly. “I never changed my mind, Danny. We want to take over the Centre and turn it around,” Jarod said.

“So you used us to take it down?” Danny asked incredulously. “You used me,” he accused.

The other agents shared some looks.

“No Danny, I never used you,” Jarod stated calmly and shook his head.

“What was that then?” Danny shot back. He crossed his arms in front of his chest in anger.

“I never lied to you or anything like that. True, I haven’t told any of you the whole truth but you didn’t need to know at that point. All you needed to know was that there was a company in Blue Cove that had been doing illegal business for years without anyone’s notice. We wanted to bring down the Centre and we wanted to do it with legal help,” Jarod replied.

Danny just stared at Jarod. Jarod returned Danny’s gaze, then looked around in the conference room and then back to Danny while speaking.

“Could we have done it without your help?” Jarod posed a rhetorical question only to answer it seconds later. “Most certainly. Did we want to do it alone? No, we didn’t! We wanted to have the legal agencies on our side and we wanted to get the world’s attention on the company. Which brings us directly back to our request we came to make,” Jarod looked away from Danny and over to the Directors.

“You better explain everything; from the beginning,” FBI Director Turner said.

Jarod nodded. “As I said, we want to take over the Centre and start anew,” when he saw the first agents were about to protest, Jarod put up a hand to silence them. “We want to take the whole company around and get away from the evil doings that have been part of the agenda for far too long. We don’t intend to continue the way all the other people in charge did,” Jarod said. “Let me repeat that: We ‘don’t’ intend to go on with what they have been doing for years,” he repeated forcefully, poking his outstretched finger around in the air for emphasis.

“That’s why you brought the legal agencies in,” Danny gasped, suddenly getting Jarod’s and Parker’s way of thinking.

Jarod looked back over to Danny and smiled at the sharp-witted agent. “Yes, Danny. That’s exactly why we brought in the agencies. You all know at least part of what I am capable of. Miss Parker here is a pretender, too,” he went on without so much as acknowledging the gasps that came from the agents in the room. “If we wanted to take over the Centre without anyone noticing, we most certainly would have succeeded but we didn’t want to do it that way. We wanted to bring everyone’s attention to the Centre so that there is a fair chance that similar companies will be put under serve observation and so that we can start to clean house here.”

“You took a huge risk and you made it all the more difficult for you,” the CIA Director frowned.

“Yes, we did and yes it will be more difficult for us now to start business again. The place will be crawling with newspaper agents, police officers and certainly your men for quite some time,” Jarod nodded.

“But that’s exactly what we wanted,” Parker finally stepped into the conversation. “We want the Centre to become legal and that will only be possible when everyone is aware of what has been going on there.”

“Give us a good reason to trust her, Jarod,” Danny challenged.

“You should trust her because I trust her,” Jarod answered the challenge without hesitating.

Director Turner tilted his head to the side. “Go on, Jarod.”

“Miss Parker and I planned the Centre’s demise together. We have spent the better part of the last few months to do it. Miss Parker never sympathised with the business the Centre had been doing but she couldn’t do anything against it. To go through with this plan she had to flee from there herself,” Jarod explained.

“You said she never sympathized with the Centre’s doings but we have other information proving the opposite,” Assistant Director Kelsey looked at Parker with a quirked eyebrow.

Parker’s lips twitched. “I always had to play along the Centre’s rules. I tried to step into their path several times and I have been punished for it. I didn’t really have an option other than playing along. No one plays foul with the Centre and stays unharmed,” she said.

“But you did play foul?” some agent asked.

Parker grinned. “Yes, I did. I never really played along with their plans. Though I was in charge of the hunt for Jarod, I never captured him.”

“He was better than you,” an agent suggested.

“Maybe that for once. But I am a pretender, too. Remember? I may not be trained and certainly not as good as Jarod is, but I’m a pretender,” she smiled.

“You said you’ve been punished?” FBI Director Turner half asked and half stated.

Parker looked down at her hands briefly and breathed. When she looked up, she was calm and composed again and she went on. “The man I loved and wanted to share my life with was murdered because I decided to walk away from the Centre. I have been threatened and shot,” she replied.

“How do we know that you don’t play foul now and… pretend?” CIA Director Braff asked.

“You don’t know. You can only trust Jarod’s and my word,” Parker replied evenly.

“We can trust her,” Danny suddenly said. He had quietly observed Parker and Jarod all the time they were in the conference room.

“Based on what do you say that, Danny?” Turner asked, turning to the younger agent.

“She was with him when they first came to me with the evidence,” he said.

“And you didn’t see the need to fill us into that?” Director Turner questioned sternly.

“I didn’t realize it at first and when I finally made the connection, I wanted to speak to Jarod myself first. I never got the chance to do so until now,” Danny shrugged evenly.

“I do have one more question,” CIA Director Braff spoke up. “Why do you even want to take over the Centre? Why not walk away?”

“Yeah, Jarod. I would like to know that, too. Why don’t you finally turn away from the place that ruled your life, now that you get the chance? Why do you still stick around the place that gave you,” Danny paused and looked over to Parker, “or obviously both of you, so much heartache?”

“We grew up in that place. It was certainly not a place where children or any other persons want to stay in but…,” Jarod struggled to find the words.

“Though we both wanted to take revenge on the Centre for all they put us through, we,” she smiled and turned to Jarod. “We couldn’t really do it and we decided that we want to try and make something better out of it,” Parker said.

“A lot of people got hurt because of what the Centre did and many died trying to fight against what they were doing,” Jarod looked over to Parker.

Parker swallowed and breathed deeply.

The room was plunged into silence again.

“I think it would be best if we discuss the case some more,” the FBI Director said and looked around the room at the agents sitting there.

Jarod and Parker nodded and got up from their seats simultaneously as it was clear that they weren’t invited to take part in that discussion.

“Thank you, Jarod,” Danny nodded to his friend.

Jarod turned back and smiled.

“We will call you back in, soon,” CIA Director Braff said.



To be continued…

Disclaimer: See chapter one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 3

Decisions


Danny poked his head out of the conference room.

Jarod and Parker were sitting side by side in the hallway, holding hands. Neither said a word. Both seemed to be sunken in their own musings and yet they seemed to have a connection that went above the physical bond.

Danny cleared his throat. “Jarod, Miss Parker. Would you come in, please?”

Jarod and Parker got up and looked at each other.

Jarod smiled encouragingly at Parker and she gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

They both turned and walked up to Danny who held the door open for them to enter the conference room.

“Jarod… Miss Parker,” Director Turner addressed to them both and went on, when they were seated. “It is our understanding that you don’t ask for our permission of your plan. We can not really keep you from going through with what you intend to do for Miss Parker is, as you said, the rightful and legal heir of the Centre,” he paused to look at them for confirmation.

Jarod smiled and nodded. Part of the tension left his body. It seemed as if they were on a good way. Despite whet the Director had said the agencies could have given them a hard time if they wanted to by going to judges in trying to keep the Centre away from them. And considering the present accusations against the Centre and the emotions running in the people, they would have had a chance to succeed in it.

“So you came to us and shared your plan because you wanted our support,” Director Turner went on and then waited for confirmation.

Again Jarod nodded. “Yes, that is why we came here. We don’t want to have you as an enemy. We will have enough of those without the legal national agencies.”

Several people in the room nodded. “That is most certainly true. You will have difficulties at first.”

This time, both Jarod and Parker nodded.

There was a brief silence.

“We will give you the support we can give you,” CIA Director finally announced and the others nodded earnestly. “You will have to do most of the work alone. We will help putting an end to all illegal doings the Centre did and shield you from the worst but the rest is in your hands.”

Jarod and Parker smiled. “That’s what we hoped for. Thank you,” Jarod said serenely.

“We do have a last question to that theme now though,” Braff spoke up.

Jarod and Parker turned towards the man.

“What exactly do you intend to do at the Centre. What kind of business dealings are you going to do?” He went on.

“That depends on the resources the Centre has. We would like to go there one of these days to see in what shape everything is and then we are going to make more detailed plans. Generally we contemplated staying in the research industry,” Parker explained.

Some agents nodded thoughtfully.

“Jarod, I asked you to bring along the boy you took with you from the Centre. How is he and can we talk to him?” Danny asked.

“He is here in Washington in the hotel. We figured that it would be best if he didn’t come along today. He is in better shape than he was when you found him. Do you want to talk to him today or will tomorrow be early enough? It is rather late,” Jarod answered with a look on his watch.

The agents looked around.

“I think tomorrow will be ok,” FBI Director Turner said. “Meeting is at nine o’clock in the morning,” he ordered.

Everyone got up from their seats and slowly left the room.

~~~~~~~

“Well?” Jay asked when Jarod and Parker entered the hotel room.

Ethan looked up as well and stared at them questioningly.

“They agreed,” Parker stated.

Jay and Ethan both cheered.

“But it took you quite long to convince them,” Jay challenged, looking at his watch provokingly after sobering down a bit.

“Watch it, bro!” Jarod threatened lightly.

Parker and Ethan chuckled at the mock staring contest that enflamed between the two look-alikes. Jay and Jarod easily joined their laughter.

“Where is our little boy?” Parker sobered down completely this time.

“He is over there in the bedroom,” Ethan said.

“Napping?” Jarod asked.

“He was only minutes ago,” Jay nodded.

Parker left Jarod’s side and went over to the bedroom door. She quietly opened the it and poked her head through the gap.

“Meli,” a delighted squeal came from within.

Jarod smiled when Parker pushed the door open further and the little boy flew into her arms.

“Hey, Andy,” she hugged her brother.

The brothers looked at the couple and all three smiled when the little boy’s eyes lightened up at hearing his sister calling him by his nickname.

He had yet to get used to the name he had chosen for himself and he loved his sister calling him by his new nickname.

“What have you been doing, little man?” She asked.

“We went to the park and afterwards I have been watching TV,” he grinned proudly.

Parker chuckled. “So you have already seen the park. That’s a pity because I wanted to show it to you but since you’ve already seen it…,” she shrugged her shoulders and put on a pout.

“We can go there again,” Andrew suggested, brightening at the prospect of being able to play there once more.

The adults chuckled and exchanged some looks.

“We have to inform the rest of the clan that everything went according to plan and that we succeeded in getting the agencies on our side,” Jarod objected.

“Ok and how about we go a little celebrating tonight?” Ethan asked.

“Dinner?” Jarod suggested.

Everyone nodded.

“Then let’s get going!” Jay grinned.


To be continued…

Disclaimer: See chapter one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 4

Hell itself


“Ready?” Parker asked and reached out to grab Jarod’s hand.

“No, but that won’t change the fact that we are going in there,” he repeated the words she had spoken before walking into the agencies headquarter only a few days earlier.

Parker grinned and squeezed his hand.

Ethan divided his attention between watching his siblings and looking at the imposing building that had held such a dark and dangerous prospect in all their lives. Through the car’s tinted windows one could see that the whole scene was still crawling with agents despite the fact that the raid had taken place over one and a half weeks ago.

The place had lost part of its evil atmosphere.

“Ok, people. Let’s move in,” he suggested.

Everyone produced dark glasses from their pockets and put them on. Next they flipped up their collars.

“Ok?” Ethan asked.

Parker nodded and looked over to Jarod who pushed the door open at that.

All three got out of the car quickly and moved towards the entrance. Within seconds a swarm of news reporters had gathered around them.

The story that revealed itself around the Centre had yet to get irrelevant.

“What do you have to do with the Centre?”

“Why are you here?”

”Do you have any information about the people heading this gruesome organisation?”

Jarod, Parker and Ethan pushed past the reporters without speaking and without even acknowledging their presence.

They quickly speed through the entrance doors. The second it closed behind them, everything was quiet. The sounds of the reporters faded away.

Once inside the Centre’s walls, all three heaved a collective sigh.

“Wow, I never thought that one day I would be glad to be within Centre walls,” Parker breathed.

Both Jarod and Ethan nodded.

“Jarod,” Danny welcomed the newcomers.

The trio turned around. “Danny. I didn’t know you would be here,” Jarod frowned.

“Yeah, and before you say anything, you are right. The agency sends me. They want me to keep an eye on you. Sorry,” the young agent grimaced.

Jarod shrugged. “Well, then… follow us.”

Jarod, Parker and Ethan started to move towards the elevator.

“Where do we start?”

“From the bottom. SL 26,” Parker replied, looking at Jarod and Ethan who both narrowed their eyes and then nodded.

“You want to go through every single level?” Danny asked astonished.

The three siblings shrugged and got into the elevator when the doors opened.

“This will be a long day then,” Danny muttered and joined them.

“Danny, I’m sorry I forgot. This is Ethan, my brother. Ethan, this is Danny,” Jarod introduced them, leaving out the fact that Ethan was also Parker’s brother.

Ethan and Danny shook hands firmly.

There was a little ‘ding’, announcing the arrival on SL 26. They would slowly work their way up and obtain themselves a general overall view of the situation the labs were in.

Originally they had wanted to start their tour on the closed down SL 27 but since the agencies never knew about that level, they had agreed that too many questions would arise if it was shown to them. There were a few too many dead bodies down there.

There was enough incriminating stuff in the whole building to get the key players locked away for centuries and there was no need in adding the ghosts from this deepest level.

~~~~~~~

Jarod breathed deeply and swallowed.

Parker looked over at him and frowned suspiciously.

Throughout the last few hours he had made a good impression. He had calmly assessed the state the labs and utilities were in together with Ethan and herself. At first he had been a bit edgy and nervous but that was to be expected, considering the place they were in. His nervousness had passed away slightly during their stay at the Centre.

Jarod had remained highly alerted and on his guard but Parker had seen some of the fright and tensions diminish.

When Jarod felt her gaze, he turned towards Parker. He straightened and shot her a reassuring smile.

Parker still frowned but didn’t voice her concern.

‘Keep an eye on him,’ her mother’s voice rang inside of her head. Parker grimaced and then nodded imperceptible.

They silently went on with their tour, stopping in front of one of the labs on SL-24.

Ethan opened the door and they proceeded through it to get a better look on the inside. They had sporadically searched through some labs and had only gotten a superficial gaze into others.

After looking through the lab, they moved further through the halls of the huge sublevel.

Jarod was walking at the end of the little group, a resistance forming in his every fibre.

They rounded a corner and left the main hallway to get a look on the labs and the other rooms there.

Ethan looked back and saw Jarod hesitating briefly only to push himself forward.

Jarod clenched his teeth. He didn’t know what had gotten into him. During most of the time they had spent inside of the Centre today, he had felt good. Ok, it wasn’t as if he was completely at ease with his being here but he got along fairly well. But ever since they had left the elevator on this sublevel, every cell in his body was screaming:

‘Bad idea, stop here, turn around; danger!’

He didn’t understand his feelings. He was fairly sure that he had never been on this sublevel before and so he didn’t know what to make out of the signs his body was screaming at him. He didn’t even contemplate asking to stop their tour for he was far too busy with sorting through his feelings.

The lights flickered and dimmed a bit, providing only little light in the corridor.

“Damn, the electricity again,” Danny grumbled. “It happened a lot the last few days; especially on these sublevels. We had to cut some of the generators short when we did the raid and since then the light down here has been flickering on and off. The technicians said that they had the problem under control today and until now they seemed to be right.”

Parker waved a dismissive hand at him. “Forget about it. As long as there is still some light, there is no problem here. Jar, do you know where this corridor leads to?” Parker asked.

Jarod looked over his shoulder, back to where they had come from and narrowed his eyes slightly. He shook his head vaguely. “N-no,” he shrugged.

The group moved on.

Jarod followed the ongoing conversation only half-heartedly. Suddenly a picture flashed in his mind; a déjà-vue. He was standing in the elevator held by several sweepers. The small light behind the numbers in the elevator showed SL-24 and then the doors opened, revealing the long main corridor.

So he had been here before.

Absentminded he followed Parker, Ethan and Danny through the corridors, his gaze cast downward on his shoes, absorbed in thought. He was just walking, putting one foot in front of the other in a monotone motion.

He was trying to find out when he had been here and why he didn’t remember being here in the first place.

They stopped in front of a door and Danny reached for the handle.

Ethan crocked his head to the side and listened to his mother’s voice.

Parker, too, had a faraway expression and listened to her Inner Sense.

‘No, move on; not here… Jarod….,’ Catherine mumbled incoherently into her children’s ears.

Danny on the other hand didn’t notice the strange tension coming from the persons around him.

Jarod looked up and winced at the site in front of him. Another picture flashed before his eyes. The same door they were standing in front of now, the same lab number on the right hand side.

Suddenly adrenalin was searing through his veins.

He tensed.

Parker and Ethan both turned towards Jarod at their mother’s strange message just when Danny opened the lab door. Jarod’s breath was shallow and he was pale. There were little droplets of moisture on his forehead.

When Danny moved out of the door frame and gave way to the sight inside the lab, another picture flashed before Jarod’s eyes. A strangled cry followed the look of pure shock and fright on Jarod’s face.

Jarod stumbled backwards, moaning. “No, no, please, don’t… noooo,” he mumbled, his voice getting louder and more frightened with each syllable.

Danny, Ethan and Parker were shocked at the expression on Jarod’s face.

Parker closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath to calm down. She then made a step towards the frightened man.

Jarod’s eyes dashed over to her but there was no recognition in them. He put his hands in front of him to protect himself.

“Jarod. It’s ok, it’s me, Mel,” Parker murmured soothingly.

Before Ethan could stop him, Danny made a movement towards Jarod.

The pretender’s eyes flew to the man and got even wider. There was another yelp of pure terror and before anyone could react, Jarod spun on his heel and dashed away.

“Shit,” Parker swore and set after him. “Jarod!”

Danny was about to storm of behind Parker but this time Ethan grabbed him. “No, Daniel. One person running after Jarod is enough. If there is somebody getting through to him, it’s her.”

Danny looked at Ethan confused and then relented.

When they looked towards the corridor where Parker and Jarod had been just seconds ago, it was empty.

Soft footsteps could be heard in the distance fading away and several times Parker called out Jarod’s name.

When there was not a sound anymore, Danny turned back towards Ethan. “What the hell was that about?” he asked.

Ethan shrugged his shoulders. “I have no idea but maybe we should have a look at the lab so that we can find out,” he suggested.

~~~~~~~

They were back in front of the lab, waiting, when Parker returned more than half an hour later.

Alone

Ethan looked at her questioningly and highly alarmed. “Where is Jarod?” he called and jogged towards her when he saw her coming.

Parker returned his look with despair in her eyes. It was easily to be seen that she had been crying. “I don’t know. He’s gone,” she sobbed and a hand flew to her mouth.


To be continued…

Disclaimer: See chapter one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 5

Shock and Frustration


“What do you mean gone?” Ethan questioned.

“I don’t know. I chased him through a whole lot of corridors but suddenly, when I rounded a corner…,” she gasped, “he was gone. I searched the area but I couldn’t find him. Ethan, where can he be?” Parker asked anxiously.

Ethan closed his eyes and breathed deeply. His forehead wrinkled in concentration but he couldn’t make out any words the voices screamed into his head. He shook his head sadly. “I don’t know.”

“Is it possible to access other levels without the elevator?” Danny asked, coming up behind them.

Parker snivelled. “Yes, of course. There are the stairs for once and then there are always the air vents,” she turned back to her half-brother, “damn Ethan, besides Angelo, Jarod knows the air vents best of all possible persons. If he is in there, we won’t find him.”

“Wait, Parker. Calm down,” Ethan hushed her and drew her close.

“Is there a place inside of the Centre, where Jarod might have felt secure?” Danny questioned further.

Parker frowned and then balled her fists. “Maybe the simlab or his room or Sydney’s office but I don’t think so.”

“It’s a start,” Danny said. “Lead the way, Miss Parker.”

~~~~~~~

“Nothing,” Parker breathed.

Ethan nodded. He had already anticipated that Jarod wouldn’t be here.

Parker sat down on the pretender’s old bed and put her face in her hands. “Where can he be?” she looked up at Ethan once more. “Where can he be?” she whispered again.

Ethan shook his head and raised his arms, indicating that he had no idea.

“What was down the in that lab that brought that kind of a reaction?” Parker sat up.

Before Ethan or Danny could reply something, she had already gotten up from the bed and brushed past them, back towards the elevator to get down to SL-24.

The ride down was spent in silence. Each person was left alone with its own musings.

Parker strode through the hallways with Ethan and Danny following her.

Reaching the door, she drew it open forcefully and grimaced at the sight.

The lab was very functional. There were some shelves, a cupboard and a desk with an office chair. But what caught Parker’s attention was the chair that stood in the middle of the room.

She moved into the room to inspect.

The chair could be transformed into different positions, from sitting upright to lying flat like on a table. What made her gasp though were the straps attached to the chair; straps to fasten a person in the chair.

There were several bunches of straps; down on wrist height, upper arm, torso, legs and one for the head.

Parker shuddered and a tear rolled down her cheek. She turned forcefully towards Ethan. “What have they done?” she accused.

Ethan swallowed at the look of utter despair and pain on his sister’s face.

He moved towards her to take her in his arms but Parker backed away, putting her hands up in a defensive gesture. Ethan hung his head. Then he heard his mother whispering that she needed some time to cope with this, before he could help her. He sighed.

~~~~~~~

Ethan and Parker stumbled back into the hotel room where they had left Jay and Andrew in the morning.

Jay looked up and clenched his jaw at the distraught faces, quickly assessing the situation. Parker was beyond speaking and Ethan looked shocked and worn out.

“What happened?” Jay uttered through clenched teeth.

Nothing

“Where is Jarod?” Jay groused darkly when he didn’t get a reply.

“We don’t know,” Ethan admitted. “Something happened down on one of the sublevels and he took flight.”

“Something happened?” Jay asked. “Could you please be a little more precise?” he got up from his seat and stepped up to his brother.

“Where is Andy?” Parker looked around, as if noticing that they were back in the hotel room for the first time.

“He is in the other bedroom. It’s late and he was tired,” Jay nodded towards the room.

“Go on, Mel, go to him,” Ethan encouraged.

Parker moved over to the bedroom in trance and vanished behind the door.

Jay turned towards Ethan again. “Ok, so now can you please tell me what the hell happened?”

~~~~~~~

“Goodness, why didn’t you call?” Jay asked after Ethan had told him what had happened down on SL 24 and afterwards.

“Because we were busy with trying to find him and not even thinking about calling you. Plus you couldn’t have done anything, anyway,” Ethan reminded his brother.

Jay grumbled quietly.

“What if something happened to him?” Parker’s voice floated over to the men from the bedroom.

Ethan and Jay both turned.

“No,” Jay shook his head. “No, he is not hurt, at least not physically.”

“How do you know?” Parker swallowed.

Jay smiled slightly but he quickly sobered again. “You know, I have some sort of connection to Jarod. It’s kind of a bond. I knew that something had happened today before you came back but I couldn’t get a hold on you via cell phone,” Jay explained.

“A bond?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah,” Jay smiled. “We both can somehow feel the other one. I knew when he was hurt those few weeks back the same way I knew that something happened today,” he paused. “Hell, don’t ask me why and how it works but I know that he is not physically harmed,” Jay stated.

Parker breathed somewhat relieved and also Ethan relaxed a bit.

“And what do we do now? How can we find him?” Parker questioned.

“That’s the problem. Most certainly we won’t be able to find him,” Jay said. “Parker, you know that best of all. If Jarod doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be found!”

“We can’t make him go through that alone,” she argued.

“But we can’t do anything, Mel. Jay is right. We will have to wait,” Ethan objected.

Parker moaned and sat down on the couch. “Yeah, I know but I don’t want it to be true,” she whispered.


To be continued…

Disclaimer: See chapter one

~~~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 6

Home is where the heart is


Parker was sleeping on the couch. She had waited in the living room together with Jay and Ethan and eventually she had drifted of into a restless sleep.

Ethan had covered her with a quilt and then the brothers left the room, leaving her alone.

‘Precious,’ her mother’s voice whispered in her head.

‘Mom…’

‘Shhh, I’m here,’ she soothed her daughter. Parker could nearly feel her mother’s hand running through her hair in an effort to calm her.

‘I’m so afraid,’ Parker replied.

‘I know’

“Where is he? Where is Jarod?” Parker murmured out loud, a tear escaping her closed eyes.

‘He is home,’ her mother’s voice hushed her.

‘Home? I don’t understand,’ Parker tossed in her sleep.

‘He is home. Home is where the heart is,’ Catherine’s voice faced away.

The words still ringing in her ear, Parker sat up and gasped for air.

She removed the quilt from her body and got up. Silently stepping over to the window, she repeated the ‘conversation’ in her head.

‘Home is where the heart is,’ she mused quietly, looking out of the window over the still dark city of Dover.

“Home is where the heart is,” she mumbled again. “Damn, that doesn’t make any sense.”

Parker sat down in the chair next to the window and continued to look outside. The stars were blinking brightly in the sky. She sighed, letting her mind wander and yet again repeating her mother’s message over and over in her head.

They were so close to Blue Cove, to the Centre.

‘Home is where the heart is.’

Jarod had once lead them on a wild goose chase, ending it with a note, saying that there was no place like home and why they didn’t leave him alone so that he could find his.

‘Home is where the heart is.’

Parker shook her head. Blue Cove was hardly a place Jarod would call ‘home’.

There was no place like that here that held that kind of a position in his heart, at least not as far as she knew; the area around Blue Cove had always meant danger and hurt for Jarod and not home.

‘Home is where the heart is.’

Yet he had stayed at her house during the early stages of their adventure.

Parker’s head snapped up.

Her house, the summer house.

She swallowed. Jarod had told her, after he came back from his first trip to Europe with the Scrolls that he was glad to be ‘home’ again. Home in the context of being back in her house and together with her.

In her house…

Parker’s thoughts reeled. Could he really be there?

She got up from the window seat and strode over to the hotel room door, grabbing the car keys and a jacket on her way. She just had to take her chances. Maybe he was at her house.

Maybe… hopefully.

~~~~~~~

Ethan and Jay both shot up in their beds when they heard the room door close. Racing through the adjoining door, they burst into Parker’s and Jarod’s hotel room.

They had hoped that Jarod had come home but instead, Parker was gone.

“Damn. What is it with people vanishing today?” Jay swore under his breath.

Ethan strode back into their room and retrieved his cell phone. Walking back over to where Jay was, he dialled Parker’s number. Only seconds later, her cell rang loudly… it was lying on the table where she had put it after coming back from the Centre this evening.

“Goodness, how can everything possibly go so wrong on just one day?” now it was Ethan who swore.

“What do we do?” Jay looked at his half-brother.

“We wait,” Ethan grumbled and looked over to the table where his sister’s cell phone lay. “We can’t do anything else. The car keys are gone with her,” he informed his brother.

“Great,” Jay muttered.

~~~~~~~

Parker speed down the road towards her house; only a few more minutes to go.

She had broken all tempo limits on her way. Normally she needed about forty to forty-five minutes from Dover to Blue Cove. She had made the distance in a little less than thirty minutes today.

The car skidded to a halt in front of her house and Parker jumped out without grabbing the keys out of the ignition.

She ran up the stair and quickly fumbled with the lock on her front door.

“Jarod? Jarod, are you there?” she called pleadingly while poking her head into the living room.

There was no light in the house. Everything was dark. She continued on her way through her house.

Nothing; not in her bedroom, not in the guest room where Jarod had been staying, just… nothing.

Dejectedly she walked back down to the living room. It was then that she realized that she hadn’t searched every room. One was still missing… her mother’s studio. She turned towards it.

The door was slightly ajar. Quickly crossing the room, she pushed it open further and there he was, huddled in the farthest corner of the room.

Jarod was sitting on the floor, his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms securing them in that position; his forehead rested on his knees. He rocked back and forth in an unconscious motion.

Parker closed her eyes briefly in gratitude that she had found him and sent a silent ‘thank you’ to her mother.

Drawing in a deep breath, she took a step towards Jarod. There was no reaction.

“Jarod,” she addressed to him in a soft and soothing voice.

Nothing

She crept one more step and called his name again, then another one and another one until she was standing directly in front of him.

Still, he didn’t even acknowledge her presence.

Parker crouched down so that she was at eyelevel with him. “Jarod,” she called once more and hesitantly reached out.

She braced herself for a frightened reaction but when she touched him, there was none at all.

She could feel him shivering under her touch but the rocking motion continued.

Parker swallowed. “Jar,” she murmured.

Working up the courage to do so, she gently drew his head up.

His face was clenched in sweat and his brow was wrinkled in a frown. His eyes were clenched shut tightly. The sight nearly broke her heart and she had a hard time staying calm.

“Jar,” she called again and softly brushed the sweat from his brow.

He drew in a shaky breath and shivered yet again.

Parker decided to take this as a good sign and continued to murmur soft words and stroke his face. Finally there was the smallest reaction when Jarod leaned into her touch so softly she nearly missed it.

“Shhh, I’m here Jar. No one can hurt you here. You are safe. I will protect you,” she whispered.

Parker moved so that she was sitting besides him, all the while talking to him.

“You are ok, Jar. You are safe,” she caressed his cheek.

‘Home is where the heart is,’ her mother’s voice spoke up in her head.

“Jarod, you are home; home where no one can harm you. I’m here,” she said, using her mother’s words.

There was a soft moan and then Jarod leaned towards her. Parker quickly steadied him and slowly let his head down so it was resting in her lap. Jarod was now lying on his side and she gently stroked his cheek while still talking nonsense to him.

Parker leaned her head against the wall behind her and sighed.

Once more thanking her mother and the odds that lead her to Jarod, she tried to relieve some of the tension that held her body captured. She was still worried about Jarod’s condition but at least she knew now that he was not harmed and she knew where he was and that he was not alone.

The last few hours had been pure torture. They had all been so worried.

She pushed her head away from the wall again. Jay and Ethan…

Grimacing, she scolded herself for completely forgetting about them. They were certainly worried that now not only Jarod was missing but she as well.

Parker withdrew one arm from Jarod’s still shaking form to grab her cell phone from where she usually kept it in her jacket pocket.

It wasn’t there.

“Great,” she muttered and then remembered leaving it at the table in the hotel room. The telephone in her house was in the living room and she didn’t want to leave Jarod alone. He needed her.

Parker gently ran her hands down his torso searching the pockets of his leather jacket. She breathed a silent sigh when she finally found the item.

She slowly removed it from his pocket. Jay’s number was the first on speed dial and so she didn’t search further for Ethan’s.

“Jarod?” Jay’s voice came over the line after the second ring.

“Jay, it’s me,” Parker replied.

“Parker,” Jay breathed.

“I’ve got him, Jay,” she informed Jarod’s brother quickly.

“Thank God,” Jay said and then forwarded her information to Ethan. “Where are you, Parker?”

“I’m at my old place. Jarod obviously felt secure here,” she answered.

“How is he?” Ethan asked out of the background.

“He is not harmed physically,” she responded, looking down at the shivering form.

“But?” Jay asked.

“He’s not in a good shape, Jay. He is nearly completely unresponsive,” she told him.

“Damn. You want us to come?” Jay questioned.

“No, don’t think that it would help,” she shook her head though Jay couldn’t see it.

“Maybe I could help?” Jay suggested.

“No, I don’t think so. I think he needs time. I will stay with him. I just wanted to let you know that he is ok so far and that I’m with him now. Stay where you are. I’ll call you once there are any changes,” she directed firmly.

“Ok,” Jay relented.

They both disconnected the call.


To be continued…

Disclaimer: See chapter one

~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 7

Wake up and relieving painful moments


A long time after ending the connection to Jay’s cell phone Jarod calmed down somewhat.

He was still shivering so Parker looked up to see if there was a blanket. There was one in the living room but not here in the studio.

She grimaced. When she carefully entangled herself from Jarod, he grasped her arm firmly.

“No, stay,” he gasped.

Parker’s eyes flew down to his face. It was partly hidden from her view because he was facing away from her. From what she could see, his eyes were still closed.

“Hush, I’m here,” she reached out to touch his face again. When she made contact with his skin, he leaned into her hand and breathed deeply.

He was still clinging to her arm, holding onto it as if it was life itself.

“Jar, look at me,” Parker pleaded. She wasn’t sure if Jarod’s movement had only been out of reflex or if he was indeed coming back to himself.

Jarod slowly turned his head towards Parker.

Parker sighed when she met his eye. Though she was grateful that he was conscious again, she was taken aback by the pain and fear that still lay in the pearls of soft brown.

“Hey,” she smiled sadly.

Jarod didn’t respond but merely continued to look into her eyes. Parker didn’t brake eye contact either and gently caressed his cheek and hair.

Feeling that he started to relax, Parker let herself calm down.

“Jar, what happened today?” she asked, her head crocked to the side.

Jarod swallowed with difficulty. He tried to turn his face away from Parker but she firmly and yet gently held him back in place.

“Come on, you told me once that to overcome a trauma, you had to work through it,” she paused. “I’m here. You won’t have to deal with it alone.”

Jarod’s eyes flew back to her face and Parker could still see hesitancy in them, so she went on. “You helped me so very often to work through my traumas over the years, let me help you now. You don’t have to do this alone.”

Jarod swallowed and clenched his jaw, yet he couldn’t stop the tears from escaping.

“It was… I never knew…,” he tried to start but the words failed him.

Parker brushed a stray of tears away from his face. “Hush, it’s ok.”

Jarod breathed deeply to regain his composure and organize his thoughts. “I felt strange the minute we got of the elevator on SL-24 but I couldn’t make out why. I had never been on that sublevel before… or so I thought. I had been on that sublevel, I just couldn’t remember being there,” he swallowed again and shivered.

Parker drew him a little closer and ran her hand up and down his arm in an effort to comfort and warm him.

“I had flashbacks when we were on that sublevel and when Danny opened that door, it was as if opening the door to the memory, opening Pandora’s box. It was as if I was back in the position I had been in all these years ago,” he hesitated. “I was reliving it all over again. I could see myself there,” he clenched his eyes shut tightly.

Parker kept on stroking his cheek.

When Jarod looked up at her again, desperation was written all above his face. It went till deep down into his soul. “I could feel the pain again,” he whispered.

Parker gritted her teeth and breathed deeply but stayed silent to give Jarod the time he needed before going on.

“It was Christmas time. Sydney was gone on vacation and I… I…,” his averted his eyes. “Raines was in charge. Raines and… Lyle,” he mumbled so softly that Parker could barely make out the words.

Anger rose in her chest, anger at what they had done to Jarod this time. She struggled to keep her own emotions at bay, failing in doing so.

“They tested…,” Jarod shivered violently and then pushed his emotions down vigorously. “They tested pain stimuli. How long I could perform correctly and how they could mix the stimuli to achieve the ‘best’ effect,” he continued in a detached voice, as if he was reporting the headline of a newspaper article.

Parker chocked and a hand flew to her mouth. “God, Jar,” she sobbed.

“My instincts kicked in, telling me to run.” The blank recital wavered and Jarod’s eyes filled with emotions again.

Parker only nodded and they both fell silent. Jarod averted his gaze but she had been able to see the turmoil in the soft brown eyes nonetheless.

After some long minutes, Jarod looked up at her again. “Thank you,” he whispered after breathing shakily. He reached up a hand to cup her cheek.

She leaned into his palm and tried to smile but it turned out to be more a grimace than a smile. “You have nothing to thank me for,” she shook her head. “You have done it for me more often than I can recount. I just wish that I could have helped you more often over the years.”

Jarod smiled. “You did without knowing it and you are here now. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to get out of this without you.”

He sat up slightly and turned towards Parker fully.

“Thank you, Melina,” he repeated and leaned into her, to hug her.

Parker easily accepted the hug and encircled his form with her arms.

They sat like that for a long time, rocking each other softly.


To be continued…

Disclaimer: See chapter one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 8

Recovering


Jarod awoke with a start and looked around frantically.

Parker’s hand came up to land on his side. “Hey, it’s ok. We are safe,” she mumbled incoherently.

Jarod breathed deeply and turned towards her.

She was lying besides him, her eyes still closed. She was half asleep and had yet reacted upon his fright.

He grimaced. During the night he had awoken several times due to one or another nightmare, sometimes screaming. Parker had been there for him each time.

“Come on, lie back down,” she mumbled.

Jarod relaxed and let himself be drawn back down into the mattress from her.

Parker had coaxed him out of the studio and up into her bedroom. They had held each other during the night. Jarod, glad that he was not alone and that Parker was there to help him and Parker, glad that she had found Jarod and that she could be there for him.

Parker had called Jay and Ethan sometime after Jarod and herself had calmed down following Jarod’s revelations.

Ethan and Jay had been relieved about her call, telling them that Jarod was aware of his surroundings again.

She hadn’t told them anything about what Jarod had shared with her. It was something that he would have to do if he wanted them to know.

Jarod quietly observed her face and reached up with one hand to touch her cheek. Parker’s lips curled into a smile, when she felt the feather light touch and her eyes open slightly.

“Hey,” she smiled.

Jarod’s face lit up. “Hey yourself,” he mumbled and stretched to capture her lips with his.

“Hmm, that’s a greeting,” Parker murmured with her eyes closed again.

Jarod chuckled.

“How are you?” she asked, her eyes now open and piercing into his.

“Better,” he said. “I’m just glad that you were here. I don’t think the night would have been that manageable without you.”

Parker barely kept from grimacing at that thought. The night had been interrupted several times and she didn’t really want to think about how it would have been if he had had to endure it alone.

“How did you cope with those memories when you were alone?” she swallowed.

Jarod’s smile faltered slightly. “Why do you think you got all those calls in the wee hours of the morning?” he asked back.

Parker scoffed. “What time is it?”

Jarod turned to the clock on her nightstand. “Nine o’clock.”

Parker didn’t reply but just stretched lazily and yawned.

“What did you tell Ethan when we will meet with him at the Centre?” Jarod asked.

Her eyes snapped back over to Jarod’s face. “I hope you didn’t mean that,” she growled.

Jarod quirked an eyebrow. “Why shouldn’t I?”

“You don’t mean to tell me that you want to go into the Centre today?!?” she snarled in a somewhat dangerous tone.

“Why not?” Jarod quipped back.

“Why not?” Parker barked incredulously. “Did you forget what happened yesterday?”

“No, we didn’t get half as far with our tour than we wanted to,” Jarod stated calmly.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it,” she snapped.

Jarod nodded. “I know that you didn’t mean that but we have to continue the tour.”

“That can wait. You should give yourself some time to get over what happened yesterday,” Parker directed firmly.

“No, I want to return there today,” he said and then quietly he added: “I have to.”

Parker’s eyes narrowed.

“Look, the earlier I return there and face that building again, the better. There is a saying that once you fall off of a horseback, you have to mount the animal again, the minute you are back on your feet otherwise you will loose the courage to do so entirely. This is no different,” he reasoned.

Parker contemplated that. “Not SL-24,” she relented. “That sublevel is off limits!”

Jarod smiled. “Agreed.”

“And the moment you don’t feel well, we stop the tour and go,” she requested.

“Ok,” Jarod replied although he didn’t intend to do so. He knew that if they stopped when he didn’t feel at ease with the situation, he wouldn’t set a foot into the building; neither today nor tomorrow or the day after.

“I will keep an eye on you,” she grumbled.

“I hope that you do,” he replied easily and grinned sheepishly at her.

“Then I call Ethan and tell him that we meet him there at eleven o’clock. He will have to take a cab,” Parker acknowledged still not entirely pleased with the venture.

“Ok,” Jarod replied and got up to walk over to the bathroom.

Parker shook her head at his retreating back.

~~~~~~~

“Jarod, Ethan, Melina,” Danny came towards them when they stormed through the Centre’s entrance doors to shut out the reporters still besieging the area.

“Danny,” Parker greeted him.

“I didn’t think you would come today,” he said and looked closely at Jarod.

“He insisted,” Parker grumbled with a nod of her head in Jarod’s direction.

Danny nodded. “He can be quite persistent.”

“It’s more like he is as stubborn as a mule,” Parker groused.

Everyone chuckled.

“So, SL-23 it is?” Jarod asked, shooting Parker a glance.

“Let’s go,” she growled through clenched teeth.


To be continued…

Disclaimer: See chapter one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 9

Moving on


Jarod kept a firm grasp on himself throughout the day.

It went by without any more frightening scenes. Nevertheless, the calmness that had set in over the course of the last day before the incident on SL-24 never returned on their way through the Centre today.

At first, Jarod had a hard time fighting the demons and panic attacks that lurked around every corner, later he relaxed at least somewhat.

Both Parker and Ethan kept a suspicious eye on the pretender.

Only with iron self-discipline was Jarod able to endure the day and to keep himself going. So, when they were back in Dover in the hotel room Jarod was completely worn out.

Andy flew into his arms, the moment Jarod set a foot into the hotel room and Jay let out a sigh of relief and came over to hug his brother.

These demonstrations of concern touched Jarod and reassured him that there were people who were important to him and whom he was important to.

“Thank God you are ok. You gave us some fright,” Jay whispered into Jarod’s ear when the brothers hugged.

Jarod breathed deeply and returned the hug. “I know. Sorry,” he replied with regret in his voice.

Just then, Andy demanded Jarod’s attention again by tugging at his pant’s leg.

Jarod drew away from his brother and reached down to scoop the little boy up in his arms.

“Hey my boy. Have you been good while I was away?” he asked softly. The boy bobbed his head up and down emphatically and Jarod smiled. “That’s good.”

“How about we order room service instead of going out for Dinner?” Jay asked judging the fatigue on Jarod’s face.

His brother shot him a look of gratitude and the others nodded in approval. The last forty-eight hours had been difficult for all of them.

Over the course of Dinner, Jarod relaxed a great deal. The tension that had held his body captive slowly left in the small circle of people that was around him, yet the tiredness multiplied.

They had informed the rest of the clan in Canada about the general developments, all the while effectively hiding last night’s events.

It would have only brought upheaval and anxiety into the group about Jarod’s state. Jarod had asked the others not to pass it around because he wanted to avoid that and everybody had agreed.

Another reason for concealing it had been that Jarod didn’t want to answer the questions that would arise about his well being. He didn’t feel strong enough to go through assuring the others time after time that he was ok. Everything he wanted was to go to bed and sleep.

They all retired early that evening. The next day held another expedition through Centre grounds. They had reached SL-11 today and wanted to get a look on the remaining sublevels.

Though Jarod still felt wary, he knew that he had done the right thing. Tucking his tail and trying to sit tight until anything happened that would get him into Centre walls again wouldn’t have brought them any further.

He had needed to face and overcome his fear just as he had supposed. The fact that he had done so gave him a satisfying feeling and some sense of victory over the facility that had nearly destroyed his life so many times. It had also meant a victory over himself.

He had succeeded over his demons.

Parker, Ethan and Jay had seen the subtle changes in Jarod’s behaviour during the evening.

Once Jarod had had the possibility to think about today’s events, he had made a somewhat more secure and content impression.

Parker had to admit that returning to the Centre so soon had indeed been the right thing to do. She had been very sceptical after finding Jarod the way she had but it had turned out to be right.

Maybe now that he had faced his fiend he was able to slowly build something new out of the ashes of the place that had haunted his dreams for so long.

She knew that it would haunt him for some more time but maybe healing had set in.

~~~~~~~

“Well Danny, we will consider everything we saw the last days and make plans then. The moment we come up with a direction we want this adventure to take, we will send information to you and the other agents involved,” Jarod shook Danny’s hand firmly.

“Good. Thanks for letting me tag along the last few days. I’m sure that it wasn’t just what you had planned,” he smiled apologetically.

“Don’t worry about that,” Jarod shook his head.

“I’m sure you have seen more than you had ever wanted to see?!?” Parker half stated and half asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Danny’s expression changed into one of dismay and he nodded.

“Don’t worry; we will make sure to swipe the place. It won’t keep the dark prospect it held for all these years,” Parker said firmly and let herself be hugged gently from Danny.

“I know,” he said aloud and then added silently, only for Parker to hear: “Keep an eye on Jarod, will ya?”

Parker smiled reassuringly when he drew away and winked with a conspirator-like smile.

“Say Danny, when do you think will all these reporters take off?” Ethan asked with a nod into the general direction of the vultures that lingered just outside the building, waiting for them to show up.

Danny’s eyebrows rose and he drew his shoulders up. “As soon as there is a better story, I suppose.”

“Or after we officially claim the Centre ours,” Jarod added.

“It is more likely that the trouble will begin afterwards,” Parker grunted.

“I didn’t mean that they won’t come back then but they will leave to write a devastating article for their papers after that announcement,” Jarod intoned, a small smile gracing his lips.

“That’s more like it,” Danny agreed.

“At least we can’t complain about not having enough media attention,” Ethan half joked.

“And it’s not as if we couldn’t do without,” Parker said.

“True,” Jarod admitted and reached for Parker’s hand. She swiftly placed hers in his outstretched one.

Danny grinned. “Shall we go?” he asked and turned around to lead the way to the door.


To be continued…

Disclaimer: see part one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 10

Considering the possibilities and then there was more


“So, what do you think?” Jarod asked.

“Well, I didn’t see anything of the state, the labs were in, because I had to baby-sit Andy…,” Jay grumbled only half-earnestly, “… but from what you guys told me, staying in the research-business is the direction to take.”

“Yeah, the labs are at high standard. It would be a waste to throw them away just because of what was done with them before,” Ethan agreed.

Parker and Jarod both nodded.

“Ok, and is there any special direction we want to take?” Parker asked.

Jarod got up and retrieved a piece of paper. “We wrote down the kind of labs and research materials we already have stationed there. Maybe we can determine a red line along which to go with that,” he suggested.

“Good idea,” Parker said in approval.

~~~~~~~

“The list didn’t exactly bring us any further,” Parker frowned. “There is just too much material in the Centre, so that we could follow nearly every route we wanted to.”

“So, maybe that is precisely what we should do,” Jay advised.

“How so?” she shot back.

“Well, maybe we should just say what we want to do there, what it is that we all feel most content with,” Jay replied.

Everyone nodded after following Jay’s way of thinking.

“Ok,” Jarod nodded. “So, we already determined that we want the Centre to make up part of what it destroyed. We wanted to take it somewhere where the people profit from its research and not profit in the sense of money being made.”

Again, everyone nodded.

“Ok, in the past, the Centre did illegal research on children and exploited them and others. How can we make up for that best?” Parker asked.

“By doing research and giving something back to them,” Ethan brightened.

Jarod, Parker and Jay frowned.

“Not by repaying any money or something like that,” Ethan said when he saw the expressions on his sibling’s faces. “What about we take the Centre mostly into the Pharmacology business?”

Small smiles enfolded themselves on the faces.

“That’s good. With the material already there, we could really achieve something that way. Doing pharmacological research, developing new medications and stuff,” Jay grinned.

“Yeah, and we could also use most of the other labs as well. Pharmacology goes well along with Biology and Chemistry,” Jarod said.

“What about patients? Will we only do research or also have patients there?” Parker asked.

“There were several really good psychiatrists at the Centre. Maybe we should also have patients but no stationed ones. Perhaps a day clinic or something like that?” Jarod stated.

“Psychic studies?” Ethan suggested. “In the long run maybe coupled with therapy.”

“Agreed,” Parker nodded.

Everyone sat back contently.

“So that’s the way it’s gonna be?” Ethan asked partly astonished at the now somewhat quick decision.

“Yeah, it’s seems like it,” Parker replied.

“How about we celebrate tonight?” Jay suggested.

“We have every reason to celebrate,” Jarod nodded and then smiled. “I think about a tour to the park with Andy, then some ice-cream and then Dinner.”

“The ice-cream was to be expected,” Parker laughed and the others easily joined in. Parker took Jarod’s hand and leaned her head on his chest.

Without hesitancy, his one hand moved up and came to rest on the back of her head and he held her close to him.

Parker looked up and stretched when Jarod moved down to meet her halfway.

“Ah, before we forget that,” Ethan interrupted with a sweet smile. “When do we let the other’s come down here to Blue Cove?”

Jarod grumbled softly against Parker’s lips. “I don’t care,” he mumbled.

Jay, who had caught the remark, chuckled heartily. “I don’t think, there is anything against them coming now,” he said.

“Let them come,” Jarod stated, still his gaze firmly locked with Parker’s. He was only partially following Jay’s statement.

Ethan and Jay chuckled at the faraway expressions on both, Jarod’s and Parker’s faces.

Jay got up and walked over to the bedroom, where Andy was napping. He gently woke the little boy.

Only minutes later, Jay and Ethan were out of the room with Andy in tow, to go over to the park Andy loved so much.

Jarod and Parker promised to join them later.


To be continued…

Author’s Note: I’ll leave everything that happens now to your imagination. #Chuckles#.

Disclaimer: see part one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 11

Complete again


“Ah, hello everyone!” Jarod welcomed the rest of the family, when they climbed out of the jet.

“Jarod,” his father hugged him tightly. Sydney followed shortly after Charles had released his son. Angelo grinned sheepishly and then also hugged his old friend.

“Did you have a good time in Canada without the others?” Jarod asked the empath who shook his head yes.

Next Jarod shook hands with Broots and gently hugged the tech’s daughter.

“Jarod, where are the others?” Charles asked, looking around.

“They are in town to get some things and to make the townhouse ready,” Jarod informed them.

“We won’t stay in the hotel?” Sydney asked surprised.

“No. Everything is fairly quiet around here and so we checked out of the hotel yesterday,” Jarod replied and looked from one to the other. Frowning, his gaze stopped at his sister whose eyes darted around and whose posture was that of a frightened dear caught in the headlights of an oncoming car.

“And where did you sleep last night then?” Sydney asked.

“We already were in the townhouse but the other rooms have to be prepared and we didn’t get the chance to do so before. So we decided to split up to get everything done before you guys got here,” he explained, only briefly taking his gaze off of his sister. “So, why don’t you get your things?”

Everyone started moving and Jarod easily brushed over to where his sister was still standing. “Hey,” he addressed to her.

Emily flinched and whirled around to come face to face with her brother. When she saw him, she let out a shaky breath of relief.

Jarod looked at her and then wordlessly drew her into his arms. Emily was shaking slightly and he tightened his hold on her. “Hush, everything is ok,” he soothed her.

It took her a moment to stop shaking but the tension didn’t leave.

“Pretty scary to be here, isn’t it?” Jarod asked quietly and his sister nodded against his broad chest.

Jarod softly stroked her hair.

“To be at the very place I was told to stay as far away from as possible for all my life…,” she trailed off.

Jarod drew away from her slightly. “You don’t have to worry. Everything will be alright. We wouldn’t have let you come here, if we didn’t think it to be secure,” he said earnestly.

Emily nodded. “I know but yet…”

Jarod smiled calmly. “It will take some time to get used to it,” he nodded. “Just keep in mind that we are all here and that no one can harm us anymore and when you want to talk, you will know where to find me.”

“Thanks, big bro,” she swallowed against the tears.

Jarod brushed a stray of hair out of her face and then bent down to drop a kiss on her forehead. “You are welcome, Em.”

“Jarod, we are ready to go,” Charles called.

“Ok, let me tell Jimmy to store the plane in the hangar and then we can leave,” Jarod called back.

~~~~~~~

The drive to Blue Cove was spent with easy conversation; what the family hadn’t heard until now and what Jarod and the others had missed in Canada.

“Wow, that house surely is big,” Emily gasped when Jarod parked the car in the driveway and everyone got out.

“Yeah, enough room for all of you to settle down for a while,” Jarod nodded.

They all went up to the entrance and Jarod opened the door.

“Parker, we are back!” he called out loudly.

Moments later, several pair of foot were coming down the hall and the stairs. The newcomers were warmly welcomed and soon the gathering scattered so that everyone could find his or her own room.

~~~~~~~

Dinner was equally lively as the drive home had been.

Everyone chattered amiably. Even Emily had managed to calm down once they were settled in the townhouse. Having the whole family back around was helping.

But not only Emily was feeling better with the little group finally complete again. Each and everyone of the group was feeling more secure.

Being informed that everything went well was one thing but seeing for themselves that the persons close to them were ok and that everything was running smoothly was an entirely different, more satisfying thing.

“So, when will you officially proclaim the Centre yours?” Sydney wanted to know.

“One of these days,” Parker replied and looked at Jarod for confirmation.

“Yeah, I think the news reporters are starting to get suspicious. We won’t be able to keep them back any longer and we will soon have business to do. We don’t need reporters to stick around and prevent us from starting things anew,” Jarod said grimly.

“So we can count on a deftly article in the next few days?!?” Charles grumbled.

“Yes. That is for certain,” Ethan nodded.

“What exactly do we tell them?” Sydney asked.

“The truth… mostly anyway,” Jarod grinned.

“Mostly?” Broots frowned.

“Yeah, mostly. You don’t want your head on an official penalty-list, do you?” Parker snapped half-heartedly.

“N-no, Miss…,” Broots stuttered and then stopped, when her face lit up at the effects her demeanour still had about Broots. She just loved tormenting him. Everyone around the table started chuckling. “Haha, very funny,” Broots grumbled.

“Yeah, don’t you think?” Parker smiled sweetly.

“We will stick to the story we made up in Canada. Sydney and Broots will not get into the picture before some time has passed and Jay is my brother,” Jarod stated.

“Ok, then let the party begin,” Charles lifted his glass to the toast and everyone joined in.


To be continued…

Disclaimer: see part one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 12

Starting business anew and old companions



“New business starting at the crime-company!
The place in Blue Cove, Delaware that has held our attention for some time now, is going to open its doors again.
Officials from the federal agencies confirmed the suspicions that there are plans to reopen the company that has been doing illegal business and awful experiments for so long without anyone noticing.
Federal agencies are supporting the plans the new leaders, who want to start the business anew, made up.
The persons behind the plans of reopening the Centre are not known to the public yet but a press conference is scheduled to take place today…,” the Major let the newspaper sink after reading the article out loud. “Are you sure that you want to do this?” he asked, looking at the others.

The family was eating breakfast with different newspapers sprawled over table.

“We don’t have much of a choice, now do we? At least not anymore,” Jarod retorted.

Everyone nodded sullenly.

“So, we stick to the plan?” Sydney asked.

“Yes, you all won’t show up there. Parker, Ethan and me are doing this alone. Jay will join us in a few days when the first wave of anger has evaporated,” Jarod confirmed.

“People, let’s bath in the feeling of calm. It won’t last much longer,” Parker grumbled.

Jarod took her hand and squeezed it lightly.

~~~~~~~

“Sorry, folks. The conference is concluded. We won’t answer any more questions. You got more than enough for now,” CIA Director Braff said loudly into his microphone.

Parker, Ethan, Jarod, Danny, Braff and Turner got up from their seats and purposefully walked over to the exit, followed closely by the reporters who still pushed their luck by posing questions.

No one paid attention to them and so the questions went unanswered.

Ethan drove them back from the Centre to Miss Parker’s old house.

Though the rest of the family stayed in the townhouse, they had agreed that Parker, Jarod and Ethan would go over to Parker’s old residence.

They didn’t want the reporters to make the connection to the others that soon. They would most certainly discover it but it would take them some time and so the family could stay in the background a bit longer.

The ride was spent in silence.

Not far away from home, Parker fell asleep with her head on Jarod’s shoulder.

Everyone was tired. Now that the adrenaline wore off, they all had difficulties to keep their eyes open. The press conference had been an ordeal. The reporters had cruelly picked upon the theme.

The three had answered all questions - mostly without hesitation - truthfully. The reporters on the other hand had also done their job and ripped into each and every aspect of the plan to reopen the Centre.

They displayed nothing but hostility towards them. It was also the public’s feedback to the news that the Centre would be brought back into business.

Though there was really nothing anyone could pick upon, the reporters did their best to make everything as hard as possible for them.

The articles would surely be no kind ones.

Jarod sighed. Well they had expected nothing less.

~~~~~~~

They had decided that they would start business as soon as possible so they were on their way to the Centre yet again to get things rolling. There was still a huge mountain of things to do before everything would run somewhat close to smoothly.

Again, Ethan drove the car, this time into the direction they had nearly fled from just yesterday evening.

In front of the entrance gate, the car came to a halt.

People were standing on the street, blocking their way. They had sings that clearly communicated their position against the Centre and more precisely against the people trying to reopen the company.

Parker groaned.

Jarod just grabbed her hand. “We expected the people to demonstrate against our plan. They will have to live with it nonetheless, so relax,” he soothed.

Parker nodded tiredly. “If I had known what difficulties we had to oppose, I wouldn’t have voted for this plan,” she sighed.

“Mel, you knew what difficulties would await us and you did vote for the plan,” Jarod smiled.

“I know. I just thought that maybe I would feel better after saying something like that,” she replied.

“And, do you?” he asked back.

“No,” Parker turned towards him and smiled sadly.

Ethan slowly eased the car through the people. “Hang on there. We are nearly through,” he said over his shoulder. “Is there another exit no one knows about; one we could use later without these disturbances?” he added.

Jarod grinned. “Yes, there is but we won’t get out of that one without crawling through air ducts and other dark tunnels. There will also be no car in the near distance,” he replied.

“No thanks,” Parker answered. “Business meetings would be a problem with dirty clothes, wouldn’t they?”

Jarod and Ethan both chuckled and Parker joined their laughter shortly afterwards.

Ethan accelerated and they were finally through the masses of people.

~~~~~~~

A few days later, the trio was in Jarod’s office, working separately on some files. Jay was somewhere in the archive - by now having joined his siblings in working to start business again at the Centre - searching for files that weren’t stored in the computer network.

They all had own offices that were lying directly next to each other but right now they tended to work together in one of them. They needed conferring over one or another file rather often and so they stayed in one office, minimizing the distance between them and therefore the amount of time needed.

“We should get ourselves a secretary one of these days,” Parker grumbled.

Ethan only nodded while Jarod didn’t even acknowledge her statement. He was too deeply immersed in the file he was reading.

They were organizing the first meetings on the way to take the Centre legit. The first step to make was getting a meeting with an attorney to set up the formalities.

There was a knock on the door.

Jarod looked up and over to the other two, who merely shrugged their shoulders equally puzzled at the interruption. The building was still empty, only Jarod, Jay, Parker and Ethan working were working. Staff had not been organized. Too many things had to be done before that. The only people visiting could be federal agents, asking for some information or stepping on their toes as to how far they were and what exactly they were doing.

“Come in,” Parker ordered brusquely.

The door opened and Parker gasped, a file falling from her hand and hitting the floor, scattering the papers all over the ground. “Sam,” she breathed.

“Yes, Ma’am,” her former personal sweeper straightened but his face gave away some of the satisfaction at hearing her greeting. There was also satisfaction at catching all of them off-guard.

“Sam, what are you doing here?” Jarod asked, when he saw that Parker was still not quite ready to speak.

“I heard about some new developments and I thought that you might need me,” Sam answered truthfully.

“What makes you think so?” Jarod questioned.

“The people standing in front of the gate with signs that communicate their position towards this, the articles of the reporters, the public opinion,” Sam suggested.

Jarod rolled his eyes and smiled. “Ok, you have a point. What job do you think you can do for us? The old one doesn’t exist anymore,” Jarod said and quirked an eyebrow.

“A job in the security maybe,” Sam answered without hesitation.

Jarod grinned. “You didn’t really come here without preparing yourself,” he chuckled. “You do know which cards to play.”

Sam smiled at the genius’ compliment. “I practised in front of a mirror for half a day. I sure as hell didn’t come here unprepared.”

Parker chuckled. “You have the job, Sam.”

“Not so fast, Mel. We do have a say in that one, too,” Jarod reminded her.

Sam winced slightly at the somewhat sharp tone in his former prey’s voices.

Ethan and Jarod shared a look. Without turning back towards Sam, Jarod said: “Make yourself useful. There are lots of things to do around here. We need a new security system.”

Just then, Jay returned to the office, balancing a stack of papers and files in front of him. “Hey, would one of you mind helping me?” he asked breathlessly. He walked further into the office and came to stand directly in front of Sam. He pressed the pile he had in his arms into Sam, who just took it, too stunned to react otherwise. Jay nodded and then took some files from the top of the mountain. “Thanks,” he mumbled and then he turned and calmly strolled over to the desk where he sat down.

Parker and Ethan both chuckled at the expression on Sam’s face, which caused Jarod to finally turn back towards the former sweeper.

Jarod started chuckling along with Parker and Ethan and Jay looked up from his place and smirked boyishly.

Sam was standing there, stunned. His jaw had dropped and there was an incredulous expression in his eyes.

“So, why are you still standing here, Sam? Get it going, you heard Jarod. We need a new security system. Get that done!” Parker snapped, only a minimum of the old venom in her voice and the smile on her face betraying the words.

Sam snapped to attention. “Yes, ma’am,” with that he turned towards the door to get the task done. He turned around again, frowning and walked over to the desk. He put the pile of files down in front of Jay which caused the others to laugh softly. Sam just blinked and then started grinning. Finally he turned and headed out of the office.

Parker chuckled and shook her head at the retreating back of the burly ex-sweeper.

Jarod turned towards her and shot her a smile. “You’re happy now, aren’t you?”

”Yes, I am,” she grinned back. “He will do a good job. We really need someone in the security and he will do the job well.”

“I know, otherwise I wouldn‘t have allowed him to stay,” Jarod replied and Ethan grinned at the slight bather.

“Back to business, people. Sam will not get everything done alone!” Ethan called.

“He is right you know,” Parker winked at Jarod.

“Then we better get on it,” he replied.

Everyone concentrated back on the files in front of them.

~~~~~~~

Parker stalked into the office.

“That’s it! Enough is enough! This has to change,” she muttered angrily under her breath and strode over to her desk, grabbing the telephone receiver somewhere along the way.

Jarod, Ethan and Jay looked up, frowning.

“Parker, what is it?” Jarod asked.

“Shut up, I’m on the telephone,” she snapped.

Jarod’s frown deepened. Her reaction confused him.

“No one picked up your call until now,” Jay objected and earned himself a deadly glare from the woman. He raised his hands, backing down from the argument.

“Yes, hello? Listen. There is a problem with our elevator… no, I don’t need to call a mechanic… no, the thing works… Yes, it’s still going up and down…,” she spoke into the receiver, getting angrier with every word.

Jarod, Jay and Ethan could easily see that she had nearly reached boiling point.

While Jay and Ethan were still clueless, it dawned on Jarod what she was up to.

“… no, you listen to me now, you idiot. I said that the elevator is still working. Damn it, just shut up and listen!” she screamed.

Jarod got up from his seat and walked over to where Parker was. He came up behind her and took the receiver out of her hand.

“Hello… yeah, yeah… yes, I know… Well… yes…. Yes, ok but would you please stop talking and listen to me now… yes, thanks. Ok, well we need a new façade for the elevator cabin. The one that is in there is not… acceptable anymore… What? Why I didn’t say that before???” Jarod asked incredulously into the receiver. He blinked. “It’s not like if you gave me a chance to do so. Well anyway, we would like to see what you could offer. Yes…,” the conversation went on for some more time.

When Jarod put down the receiver to terminate the call, he shook his head. “Idiot,” he grumbled.

“Just what I said,” Parker looked at Jarod. She had calmed down considerably while Jarod had been on the phone.

Jarod grinned. “Yes, you did,” he replied and the addressed to his brothers and Parker. “Ok, people. Melina just gave us a start signal. I think it’s time to clean house. We have a whole building to sweep clean of what we don’t want or need here anymore. So, I think we should call some people to arrange the rubbish we have in the bowls of the building to be taken away.”

Everyone nodded approvingly. “About time we start this!” Jay said.

They all went to work again after arranging a meeting with a firm the following day. Each of the four was thinking about the time to come.

They were slowly working through the layers of dust and evil that were still upon every item in the near grasp of the Centre, but the first steps towards a new Centre had been made.

The time to come would prove if they were able to not only convince themselves but more importantly the public that they could take the Centre legit and into clean business.

Time would tell if the public would accept that the evil past of the Centre was gone and new winds were blowing inside the intimidating building, showing the sincerity of those in power now.

Together they would try to reach their ambitious goal.


To be continued…

Sorry, just couldn’t resist Parker’s outburst. I don’t think you mind, though.

Disclaimer: see part one

~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 13

Everything is settling down; even the last missing pieces


“Sam, I need the files we spoke about now,” Parker looked up at her former personal sweeper when he entered the office.

“I have them right here,” Sam replied and produced some papers from out of a folder. He reached out and gave the papers to her.

“Thanks,” she smiled easily at him.

Sam nodded curtly and then turned to Jarod, who was sitting at his desk. Even though Parker’s office was just next to Jarod’s, they could more often be found working together in his than each of them alone in their own ones. They both liked working in the same room and so Parker’s office was more or less only used when she had an appointment that she would do alone without Jarod.

“Jarod, I think there is a flaw in security,” Sam said, addressing as much to Jarod as to Parker.

Jarod looked up at the burly ex-sweeper. He tilted his head, asking the man to go on with the gesture.

“Chris and I worked on a minor system problem but it turns out that there is a patch in the software that can easily morph into a bigger problem if not tended,” Sam explained.

“Did you show this to Broots, already?” Parker asked.

Sam turned to her. “No, he was busy with some other program for one of the pharmacological projects,” Sam shook his head.

“Ethan, will you come over for a moment, please?” Jarod called through the door to the adjoining office of their brother.

Ethan entered the main office only seconds later. “Hi Sam,” he easily greeted the head of security.

“Ethan,” Sam welcomed him warmly with a nod of his head and a bright smile.

“Ethan, Sam tells us that there is a security risk in one of the systems,” Jarod addressed to his younger brother.

“Can we get Broots on it?” Ethan asked.

Parker shook her head. “He is busy writing another program for one of the research groups.”

“Well, maybe Jay, Jarod or I should get a look on it then,” Ethan suggested.

Jarod nodded. “Do you think it’s a grave problem that needs to be looked at right away or can we leave it hanging until Broots is available?” Jarod questioned, looking at the table full of papers and files in front of him.

“It might not be that pressing, I mean it’s not like there are people around trying to get our necks anymore but I think sometime in the next few days we should get that thing done,” Sam voiced his opinion.

Jarod pushed the intercom button. “Sally, would you please give Mr. Broots a call and ask him how much time he will need with writing the program he is working on right now?”

“Sure thing,” Sally’s voice flowed over the line.

“You said a few days?” Jarod asked, looking at Sam who nodded.

“Ok, let’s see when Broots would be able to do it otherwise Jay and I will tend that problem tomorrow. He isn’t here today so tomorrow will have to do. Anything else that could be a problem?”

“No, not at the moment,” Sam shook his head.

“Good,” Parker sighed. “Now that everything finally settles down for real, we can start concentrating entirely on bringing the ship forward and not only making one small step forward and then pausing to extinguish a fire that was still burning from the last administration.”

“Yeah, it’s really about time that everything starts to get easier. It’s been nearly three months since we started and I’m really tired of playing fire-fighter while trying to get on with the company,” Jarod said and rubbed a hand over his eyes.

“Sir, Mr. Broots says that he can always make some time if it is important one of these days,” Sally’s voice beamed out of the speaker.

Jarod reached for the button. “Thank you, Sally.” He looked up expectantly, awaiting comments.

“Let Broots do it, we have enough to do here. This contract just came in and the pile there needs to get looked through as well,” Ethan spoke up.

“Ok, Sam. Would you mind making the arrangements with Broots directly?” Parker asked him.

“No, of course not,” Sam smiled.

“Ok, then I think we have everything for now, do we?” Parker asked the people in the room.

When Jarod, Sam and Ethan nodded, she smiled and then Sam turned and left the office.

“Ah, Sam, keep us up to date, will ya?” Parker called out before he closed the door.

“Sure thing,” Sam nodded and then shut the door behind him.

Parker leaned back in her office chair and closed her eyes. Jarod got up from his seat and walked over to her, coming to stand behind her chair. He put his hands on her shoulders and Parker drew a breath at his touch and relaxed.

“Hey, what about we call it a day earlier than usual? It’s been a hard time since all this started and we didn’t have so much as a break from then on,” Jarod suggested.

Parker shook her head. “I know but we will have to get some things done before that. These contracts need to be looked through. Now that business is finally starting to roll, we have to start that.”

“I know but it’s Friday after all. Maybe we should take the time and head into the weekend to start the new things early on Monday,” he tried to pursue her.

Parker stretched. “Let’s see how far I get with this one and then we can talk about it again.”

Jarod chuckled. “Ok, then we will come home tonight the normal time; midnight or later,” he sighed theatrically.

Parker grumbled lightly what made Jarod chuckle even louder. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

There was a knock on the office door and, the doors swung open, revealing Sydney.

The old psychiatrist’s face lit up when he caught Jarod and Parker in that embrace, like it always did when he observed such intimate moments.

“Ah, Sydney,” Jarod smiled up at his former mentor.

“Hello you two, hi Ethan,” Sydney greeted lightly.

“Anything important or is this a friendly visit?” Parker grinned already anticipating a new problem.

“No, nothing out of order. I just had to get out of my office. There is a small break in my schedule and I decided that I needed to get away from my patients for a short time,” Sydney replied. “I met Sam hurrying in the other direction. Is there something wrong?”

“Nothing grave. Sam discovered a slight security risk and he is on his way to ask Broots when he will be able to tend that problem,” Parker informed Sydney.

“Ah,” the older man mumbled.

There was a soft rustle and Parker and Jarod looked up to the air vent to see a pair of eyes lurking out of them.

“Hey, Angelo,” Parker greeted and got up to walk over to the vents opening.

Angelo got out of the tunnel and grinned at her.

“Angelo, you can stop crawling through the vents now, you know?” she smiled at his expression.

”Angelo knows,” the empath’s head bobbed up and down and the smile widened.

Jarod grinned and also walked over to his old friend to hug him. “You still like it in there, don’t you?”

The man’s head bobbed again in confirmation. He then crocked his head to his side and frowned. “Friend… happy,” he smiled.

Jarod’s smile widened. “Yes, Angelo. I am,” he said.

“Even happier soon,” Angelo grinned.

Jarod’s smile turned into a frown. “Even happier, Angelo?”

Angelo chuckled. “Surprise. Big surprise,” he murmured and the turned back to enter the vents.

Jarod watched Angelo disappear. “Ahm, what was that?” he turned towards the others, who had equally puzzled faces. “Can anyone of you tell me what he meant?”

There was a collective shake of heads.

Jarod’s frown deepened and he went over to his desk and sat down, plunging the room into silence.

“He could have been a little more precise,” Jarod grumbled.

The intercom buzzed and Sally announced that Sydney’s secretary had just called to have her sent Sydney back down for his two thirty was there.

So Sydney quickly left the group pondering and soon Ethan, Parker and Jarod were back to working on the files that piled upon their desks.

At least Ethan and Parker were working. Jarod on the other hand was still trying to find an explanation for Angelo’s statement and so he didn’t really get on with his work.

The surprise Angelo had announced was to arrive later that noon and thrust Jarod as well as the rest of the family into a new wave of happiness.

~~~~~~~

“Can I help you?” the clerk asked politely.

The person swivelled around and came face to face with the woman behind the counter. “Well… I hope so. I would like to talk to one of your chairmen… Jarod Roke,” came the shy response.

“Do you have an appointment?” the clerk questioned.

“N-no. I thought it…”

“Ok. No problem,” the woman tried to reassure the person opposite. “I will give his secretary a call and ask if he has time. Do you come from a firm,” she probed and then saw the negative shake of the head. She frowned.

“But… oh, please. I have to talk to him.”

“Ok. Let me make that phone call. Would you please sit down over there?” she pointed towards the comfortable looking chairs in the lobby.

~~~~~~~

“Jarod?”

“Yes, Sally,” Jarod answered the intercom call.

“There is obviously someone down in the lobby who wants to talk to you,” Sally announced.

“Who?” Jarod asked.

“I don’t know,” the secretary answered truthfully. “But it seems to be very urgent. Do you have time? The next meeting is in a little under one hour.”

“Yeah, send him or her up,” Jarod shrugged and ended the connection.

“Do you think that’s wise?” Parker asked.

Jarod looked over to her and frowned.

“I mean without knowing who that is. I don’t think Sam would approve of that,” she shook her head.

“I have you here. You are faster with getting your gun out than anyone else around here,” Jarod grinned and wiggled his eyebrows, making Parker chuckle.

“Shall I give Sam a call?” she asked nonetheless.

“No, let him be. He has more serious things to tend and I’m sure if that person was dangerous he would already know it. One of his men would have called him,” Jarod shook his head.

Parker grunted but didn’t argue further.

Some minutes later, there was a knock on the door and when it opened, Sally’s head appeared in the crack. Jarod waved for her to go on and bring the mysterious person in.

Sally opened the door further and stepped out of the way, revealing an elder looking woman.

Jarod gasped loudly and flew out of his chair. Parker, too, had a stunned expression on her face. Her eyebrows were high up on her forehead but a small smile started to form on her lips.

“Mom,” Jarod pressed out when he stood directly in front of the woman.

“Oh, Jarod,” Margaret chocked out, a hand flying to her mouth.

That was the only encouragement Jarod needed to make the last step and draw his mother in a tight embrace.

When mother and son drew apart some long moments later, tears were streaming down both their faces.

“Jarod, what is all this about?” Margaret asked through her tears.

Jarod snivelled and rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes. “This is what we have been doing for some months now, Mom,” he said.

“I don’t understand,” Margaret shook her head.

“The old Centre is gone, Mom. There is no more threat from this place. It’s over. And now… now… you are here,” he drew in a shaky breath and hugged his mother once again.

“I still don’t understand,” Margaret said.

Parker silently got up from her seat. “You will in time, Margaret,” she said friendly.

Margaret’s head snapped up and she eyes the woman warily.

“It’s ok, Mom. Melina is not a threat. She is my partner… and my fiancé,” Jarod smiled.

Jarod’s mother gasped. “She hunted you,” Margaret accused.

“Yes, she did but she also helped me to bring the Centre down. She is part of the new head of the Centre. Together with another person I want you to meet… Ethan. Can you come here for a moment?” Jarod called.

When Ethan appeared in the doorway and he saw the woman standing in Jarod’s embrace, there was a frown on his face at first but only moments later, his face lit up when understanding dawned on him. He crossed the room and came to stand in front of the older woman.

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Margaret,” he extended his hand to her.

Jarod’s mother shook it hesitantly and looked towards her son in confusion. “Jarod…”

“Mom, this is Ethan. He’s…,” Jarod broke off and shook his head. “It’s too long a story to tell right away,” he looked up to Parker. “Mel, would you mind… the last appointment?”

“We’ll cancel it!” Parker said firmly. “You should take your mother home, Jar.”

Jarod sighed thankfully and Parker walked out of the office to tell Sally to cancel the last meeting. Jarod turned back to his mother. “Mom, Mel is right. We should take you home. The others would want to know you are ok.”

“The others?” Margaret asked a little anxious.

“Yeah, I think Dad and Em would want to see you,” he smiled when Margaret’s gasp loudly.

“They are here?” Jarod’s mother asked, a hand flying to her mouth and a new wave of tears starting to flow.

“Yes, they are. They helped us a great deal over the last few months. You can stop worrying now, Mom. We are all ok and we are back together,” Jarod reassured his mother.

“Ethan, grab your things. We are out of here!” Parker announced when she re-entered the office and only a few minutes later, the little group was on its way home.


To be continued…


Well, people. We nearly made it. There is only one more chapter left and then this odyssey is over.
Ok, ok, I don’t know how believable it was for Margaret to get to the chairman without an appointment or a firm to back her up. The original idea was to leave you hanging somewhere in between but then I decided against it… lucky you! #smile# Anyway, if you don’t think it likely don’t chew me out, please. It was just more fun this way, having Jarod completely unguarded and without a clue.

Disclaimer: see part one

Author’s Note: Have fun with the last part of this story!!!

~~~~~~~~

Turn Evil Into Good
Part 14

Good wins


“Sydney, can you please bring the salad with you?” Parker called out loudly.

“Sure,” came the short reply.

“Andrew Roke, take your hands off of the cake,” Parker’s voice could be heard again only moments later.

“But, Mom,” the boy whined.

“No, Andrew, Melina is right. The cake is for only after dinner,” Jarod said sternly.

“I didn’t think you would one day acknowledge that dessert is for only after the meal,” Parker grinned at her husband.

Jarod’s eyes narrowed playfully and he advanced his wife. “I do know that there are more things for after dinner… but sometimes it’s just more fun to have them before a meal,” he wiggled his eyebrows and scooped Parker up in his arms who started giggling at that.

“Jarod, come on, let me down. We have some more things to do before everything gets started,” she shrieked.

Jarod obediently sat her down but kept her from dancing out of reach to sneak a kiss.

“Hey, you two. Where shall I put the salad?” Sydney roused them from the kiss.

Parker grinned against Jarod’s lips and gave him one more, quick kiss. Then she turned to Sydney and took the bowl out of his hands.

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” Jarod announced and jogged into the house to let their guests in.

Everyone had been invited and no one had declined which was not astounding considering the date.

Today was a special day for all of them. It was exactly one year ago that the Centre had reopened its doors under the new leadership. Exactly a year ago, Parker, Jarod and Ethan had started working on moving the Centre into legal business and making a 180 degree turn from evil to good.

Over the course of that year, a lot had changed in the once so intimidating building.

While the Centre had once meant nothing but evil and a threat to everyone who tried to mess with it and also for those who tried to stay away from it, it was now a place highly respected by everyone.

It had taken the public a lot of time but Parker, Jarod and Ethan had finally managed to convince even the last and most vicious opponents of their honesty.

By now, the Centre was creditable again and potential business partners fought against each other to start business with the Centre which was one of the leading research companies in pharmacology, chemistry, biology and psych studies.

Their research was highly appreciated and they worked together with several universities and offered them the chance to train the young researchers, supporting the next generation that way.

The best of each class would get offered a job at the Centre or one of their subsidiary companies. That way, Parker, Jarod and Ethan made sure that they got the best researchers so that the Centre would remain in one of the leading positions of research in their field of operating.

Though the last year had been stressful at first with their constant struggle to get the Centre credited in the public, the work had paid off in the end.

No one regretted having made the decision to take the Centre legit.

Their little group had grown together and supported each other in their quest. Though Jarod, Parker and Ethan were the three legal leaders of the Centre with equal rights, the whole family including Sydney, Broots and Sam were participating in making grave decisions.

The Centre had grown into kind on a family business. Of course, Jay had been in the business from nearly the first day on. He also had a leading position, directly supporting Jarod, Ethan and Parker. Charles and Emily, suspicious at first, had soon after reopening the Centre given up their grudge against the old building and helped putting things right there and Margaret, once welcomed and included into their community had loosened up and helped as well.

The first highlight after Margaret’s reappearance had been the ceremony of Parker’s and Jarod’s marriage.

Held in the circle of family, the ceremony had been small and full of feeling. The vows hadn’t been merely an obligatory part of the ceremony but a heartfelt acknowledgement to the other one.

Shortly afterwards, the adoption of Andrew had been made legal and he was now officially Parker’s and Jarod’s son.

Shortly after that, the trials against the former heads of the Centre, namely Raines and Lyle and others from the subsidiary companies, had been discussed back and forth in the public and thrown the new leaders of the Centre into another time of stress and uncertainty.

The trial had begun after everything had finally settled down and the first contracts had been signed for real. Parker, Jarod, Ethan and the rest of the family had been anxious that the beginning trial would set off a new salve against the Centre but in the end it had been the trial that brought the final breakthrough for the new Centre.

Reporters had still been doubtful but each and everyone had been allowed to get a tour through the Centre and convince themselves of the honesty of the company.

So after finding that there was nothing to hide anymore at the Centre, the articles had been of appreciation and that brought a wave of new clients.

When Ethan stepped out of the house into the garden, the rest of Jarod’s family close at his heels, Parker shook out of her reverie and walked over to hug her half-brother and welcome the family.

The gathering took place at Jarod’s and Melina’s home, Parker’s old house. Jarod’s family had at first inhabited the big townhouse but then Ethan and Emily had moved out.

The town house had been too big for only Charles, Margaret and Jay to live in and so they had purchased a smaller house, close to Jarod’s and Melina’s residence. By now, Jay had also left Charles and Margaret’s household and lived for himself.

Shortly after Jarod’s family, Broots and Debbie appeared. Broots was having a leading roll in the technology part of the Centre. He tended the requests from the researchers for new computer programs to work with, the intern network and also the security system.

Angelo stepped up behind Parker and touched her arm, making her turn towards him.

“Daughter is in thought. Is happy,” he grinned and then turned around and left to sneak up on Jarod.

Parker smiled.

Angelo’s condition had improved over the last year due to a new treatment Jarod and Jay had formulated. Though it hadn’t been as successfully as the ‘twins’ had hoped, Angelo’s skills and ways of communicating had gotten better with it. He was staying with Sydney but he didn’t need round-o-clock attention anymore and so he often strayed around freely.

Sam was the last to arrive and he was as warmly welcomed as the others.

Soon, the garden was filled with the whole family and conversations and laughter could be heard.

The festivity had been sat up in the garden for it was a warm day and so Parker sat at the table with Jarod besides her.

She sighed and Jarod shot her a glance. When he saw her gaze resting on the little gathering, he smiled and bent towards her. He drew her into an embrace into which she relaxed easily.

Parker looked up at him to find him staring at her. She stretched up to gather his lips in a kiss and Jarod, sensing her intention, met her halfway.

For a few moments, they forgot the people around them that were the most important people to them and just concentrated on their feelings towards each other.

A little less than one and a half years back they had lived in constant anxiety and fear. They had been alone and both had nearly given up all hope of changing that and when they looked up now to see the small group gathered around them, they both had to smile.

Not only had they finally found each other but they had also gotten a bunch of friends and people that loved and supported them.

All they had now, everything they had achieved in the last one and a half years had started with just a letter and their nearly unbreakable will to change the Centre and turn it from evil into good.


The End!!!

People, that was it! It’s unbelievable. The journey is over. This story, when I first got the idea to write it, hadn’t been intended to be even half as long as it now turned out to be.
In fact I had something around a maximum of thirty chapters in mind. And look where we are now… it turned out that I had to make two stories with more than seventy chapters on the whole.
I really do hope that you enjoyed this as much as I did.