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Disclaimer: I don't own Jarod, Miss Parker, or any of the other Pretender characters, yadda, yadda, yadda, etc., dot dot dot, and so on. I just like to play with them once in a while, so please don't sue. Thanks.
Note: This story picks up where the 2001 movie left off. Miss Parker and Jarod are on the phone staring at the mysterious picture on their computers...
Seeking Refuge
part 1
By Wandering Spirit
..."How? Why?" Miss Parker stuttered. "Jarod, if you knew anything about this and didn't tell me, I swear I will-"
"Don't you think I would've told you?" Jarod interrupted, still somewhat shaken. "I swear to you, I didn't know anything. Trust me."
"Trust you?" Miss Parker snorted. "What have you ever done to make me wanna trust you?" Miss Parker sneered.
"People change, Miss Parker," Jarod replied. "Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Need I remind you of the girl who gave me my first kiss?"
"Jarod, that little girl is long gone," Miss Parker replied.
"Yes, physically. But mentally, she's simply buried...alive," Jarod said. "But it doesn't have to be that way."
"My life has changed so much, I don't even know who I am anymore," Miss Parker sighed as she tipped the framed picture of her and her "father" so it was facedown on her desk. Ever time she looked at it she felt her heart sink.
"Well, now we have something in common, don't we?" Jarod asked.
"Jarod," Miss Parker began. "What's it's like to have your freedom?" she wondered.
"Well, I wouldn't know. With you always chasing after me, I don't have much freedom, now do I?" he retorted.
"Jarod, you know that I do it only because it's the only way I can get MY freedom," Miss Parker argued.
"Not the only way, Miss Parker. Not the only way," Jarod replied.
"Jarod, what exactly do you mean by that?" Miss Parker inquired as she heard a 'click' on the other end of the line.
"Jarod?!" Miss Parker screamed into the phone. "Dammit!" she sighed as she slammed the phone back down into its cradle.
At that moment, Sydney walked into her office.
"Parker, your father wishes to see you," Sydney reported. "He wants to apologize."
"He lied to me, Syd," Miss Parker snapped. "He's been lying to me my entire life about everything. And the truth is that you've been more of a father to me than that man, whoever the hell he is, will ever be."
"Just go and see him, Parker," Sydney replied, calmly.
"Stop calling me that!" Miss Parker shouted. "I'm not a Parker, and I'm nothing like that man, nor do I want anything to do with him!"
"He has your answers. He may want to give them to you," Sydney suggested, continuing to keep a straight face.
Miss Parker closed her eyes for a moment. Her mother's voice...it was faint at first, but Miss Parker was able to understand the message.
"Go. Go, my Angel," her mother's voice urged.
Miss Parker opened her eyes. With a sigh, she replied, "Fine, Syd. I'll go."
***
As Miss Parker stepped into her "father's" room in the Centre's infirmary wing, she felt a surge of anger run through her body. Even though her father was able to talk to her, he was still weak. Miss Parker, however, felt no sympathy towards the man. She found herself thinking that she really didn't care whether "her father" lived or died. True, he had all the answers, but someone else, her real father, knew the answers as well. Her mother had told her so. Her mother was the only person she could trust. So why had she told her to go see her "father?"
"Angel?" Mr. Parker asked in a hoarse whisper as Miss Parker approached his bed.
"Don't call me Angel," Miss Parker replied, coldly.
"I'm so sorry," Mr. Parker apologized. "For everything."
"I have done everything for you. I have even taken a bullet for you, and how do you show you care? By secrets and lies, and murder and betrayal-"
"Please...forgive me," Mr. Parker implored.
"Nothing. I mean, nothing could ever make me forgive you," Miss Parker replied as rage welled up inside her.
Her gaze drifted, from her father, over to the picture by Mr. Parker's bedside-a duplicate of the same picture that was currently facedown on her office desk. She slowly extended her hand towards it, picked it up, and stared at it for a second, in silence. Then in a swift motion, she threw it to the ground. Its impact with the cold cement floor shattered the glass and cracked the frame in half.
"Ever," Miss Parker repeated, for good measure.
"Angel, no," Mr. Parker said, panicked, as he extended his hand, waving it frantically towards the shattered frame.
Miss Parker thought nothing of it at first, but as she turned to leave, she did a double take. It wasn't the picture that Mr. Parker was attempting to salvage. It was something else that had been hidden inside the frame. It was then, Miss Parker remembered the conversation she had with Raines before her "father" shot him...
***
...Miss Parker aimed the gun at Raines, planning to pull the trigger.
"Then you never found it either?" Raines concluded.
"Found what?" Miss Parker inquired.
"Word has it that your mother left a DSA explaining exactly what her plan was. But it was the only piece of incriminating evidence I never found or destroyed. You find it, you find her plan," Raines explained...
***
...Miss Parker fell to her knees as she continued to stare at the DSA.
"Let me explain," Mr. Parker implored.
"I don't need anymore lies," Miss Parker quickly retorted. "And I'm fairly sure that this will explain itself," she added as she snatched up the DSA and briskly exited the room, her stilettos clicking against the hard floor.
On her way out of the infirmary wing, she passed the Centre nursery. She approached the big glass window and peered into the room.
"Gabe," she sighed in a whisper, as she stared at her baby brother. Just looking at the playing toddler made the ice around her heart melt away.
"You all right, Parker?" a familiar voice asked from behind.
"Syd?" Miss Parker asked, a bit startled, as she whirled around to face the Belgian, at the same time, stuffing the DSA up the sleeve of her black jacket.
"Something wrong?" Sydney wondered, responding to the shocked expression on Miss Parker's face.
"It's just that...well, Gabe's not even my real brother, but I feel like I have to be there for him. Sorta like..."
"Like a mother?" Sydney finished.
"He shouldn't be trapped like that," Miss Parker sighed as she shook her head and turned back to gaze into the window. "No one should."
"You're right," Sydney replied as he rested his hand on Miss Parker's shoulder, as a sign of affection. Almost as if he was reading her mind, he added, "I won't stop you."
Miss Parker turned towards Sydney, her pleading eyes, meeting his serious ones.
"I understand, Parker. There's nothing here for you now. You want to take your brother and get away from this place. We all want out. Jarod escaped, Broots is still missing...and I don't think either one of them is planning to come back. Not willingly, anyway."
"Syd, I can't just-"
"Get out of here, Parker," Syd interrupted. "And take little Gabe with you. I'll cover for you, no matter what they threaten to do to me. I'd do anything to help you...like I tried to help your mother."
"I don't want to end up like my mother," Miss Parker replied, almost immediately. "And I know I don't want anything happening to you."
"You won't end up like your mother," Sydney reassured her. "Listen to her voice, let her guide you. And don't worry about me, Parker. I can take care of myself."
There was a pause as tears began to well up in Miss Parker's crystal blue eyes.
"Syd, before I leave...there's something I want you to do," Miss Parker said.
"Anything."
"Watch this with me?" Miss Parker said as she slipped the DSA into the palm of her hand, showing it to her friend.
***
Jarod was puzzled. Who could've sent him the picture? Sydney? No. He would have wanted Jarod to know it was he who sent it. Whoever did this wanted to remain anonymous.
Ethan too stared at the screen.
"What does this mean?" Jarod wondered aloud. "How did they know each other?"
Ethan's gaze drifted. He was waiting for his mother's voice to tell him something...only there were no voices.
"I don't know, Jarod. She won't even tell me," Ethan replied, referring to Catherine Parker.
He paused another moment, his eyes wandering.
"What is it?" Jarod inquired.
"She wants to help," Ethan said. "But...she can't. It'll ruin it," he added, puzzled by his own response.
"Ruin what, Ethan?" Jarod asked.
"What you need to find along the way," was all Ethan said.
***
Miss Parker slowly sat down in her desk chair before playing the DSA. She slid the DSA into the player, and stared at the blank screen for a moment, hesitating to play the disk. Sydney was standing by her side.
"Syd...hold my hand?" Miss Parker requested, timidly as she looked up at him with pleading eyes. This was a side of herself she rarely showed. She usually acted so strong. Of course, that was just a façade, designed to protect her fragile soul...her real self. She was now acting like the little girl that she once was. Jarod was right, as he always was when it came to analyzing Parker. The real Miss Parker really was still alive.
***
Meanwhile, somewhere near Philadelphia...
"Daddy, I'm tired," Debbie Broots whined as she slumped down into the backseat of her father's car.
"It's okay, Debbie. It's okay. We'll stop and rest at a hotel soon," Broots promised as he glanced into his rearview mirror.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, honey?"
"...Where are we going, anyway?" Debbie wondered.
Broots paused before answering his daughter.
"Somewhere safe," was all he said.
***
"I guess this is it," Miss Parker said as she took a deep breath and played the DSA.
"Well, hello there, Sis," Lyle said, in his gleefully psychotic manner as he entered Miss Parker's office.
"Wadda YOU want?" Miss Parker sneered as she stopped the DSA and slammed the player closed.
"Ooh. That sure must be important," Lyle said as he approached the desk.
Miss Parker immediately claimed the DSA player by resting her hand on it as Lyle pulled out his 9mm and aimed it at his sister.
"Let go," Lyle ordered. "Mr. Parker's orders," he added with pride.
"Over my dead body," Miss Parker replied, automatically. She bit her lower lip as soon as she comprehended what she had just said.
"Parker..." Sydney warned.
"If that's how you want it," Lyle replied as he prepared to pull the trigger.
With tears in her eyes, Miss Parker let go of the DSA player. Lyle ejected the DSA, looked at it for a minute, and then let it drop to the floor. Miss Parker was about to dive for it, but not before Lyle took the liberty to step on the disk. Miss Parker cringed as she heard a 'crunch' as Lyle's overly priced shoes stomped on the disk two more times. She'd had enough! She opened her desk drawer, in search of her gun, but found nothing.
"How does it feel to be on the other side of the gun, Sis?" Lyle mocked. "The huntress suddenly becoming the hunted."
Miss Parker didn't say a word.
"I think I've made my point," Lyle said as he walked towards the door, pausing a moment to look back at his distraught twin, and then continued on his way out.
"Parker, will you be all right?" Sydney asked, once he was certain that Lyle was out of earshot.
"How...how can you ask that now, Syd?" Miss Parker said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It's all gone, all the answers. I'll have to leave with nothing."
"Not...necessarily," Sydney replied, mysteriously.
***
"Did you do as I asked?" Mr. Parker asked, weakly.
"Yes, the DSA is irreparable," Lyle replied with pride.
"You fool!" Mr. Parker chided. "I asked you to destroy all evidence!"
"But I did."
"Lyle, people count as evidence too," Mr. Parker replied, with a malicious grin.
***
"I gotta get outta here NOW, Syd," Miss Parker declared as she paced back and forth, now in Sydney's office.
"Here, Parker," Sydney said as he handed his colleague his gun.
"Syd, no. You need this in case-"
"You need it more than I do," Sydney replied. "Take it."
"Thank you."
"But there isn't much time," Sydney added as he turned towards his filing cabinets. "Not enough time for explanations, but..."
"What is it, Syd?"
"Ah-ha! Here," Sydney said as he handed Miss Parker a thick manila file folder.
"What's this?"
"It explains almost everything," Sydney replied. "That's all I have time to tell you. Now go."
"I need help getting Gabe out," Miss Parker declared.
***
Meanwhile, in the air ducts, a mysterious pair of eyes was watching the scene before him unfold.
"I need to sneak into the nursery, take Gabe, and then I'm leaving," Miss Parker announced as she reloaded Sydney's gun and left the room, cautiously, her eyes open. Sydney was not far behind.
***
"I want all evidence destroyed," Mr. Parker insisted. "Now, Lyle! Go!"
"Yes, 'father'. You won't be disappointed," Lyle replied with a mischievous grin as he left his father's quarters.
***
"Oh my God, Syd!" Miss Parker exclaimed as she peered into Gabe's room, her eyes wide. "He's not in there! They took him, Syd! Syd, they could kill him!" Miss Parker panicked.
"Parker calm down. They wouldn't hurt him. He's too valuable," Sydney insisted.
"Syd, what do you mean by-"
"How did I know you'd be here?" Lyle's voice echoed down the hall.
"Run, Parker!" Sydney ordered as he urged Miss Parker down the hallway. They kept running through the maze of halls until they came face-to-face with a dead end.
"We're trapped, Syd. There's no way out," Miss Parker sighed, about to give up hope.
"The air vent!" Sydney declared after he glanced around for a moment.
"But I don't know the way out, and I can't leave without Gabriel," Miss Parker argued.
"Trust your instincts, listen to the voices. It's the only way, Parker. I'll make sure that Gabe is safe," Sydney promised as he helped Parker remove the grateoff the vent. Seconds later, to their surprise, they came face-to-face with Angelo!
"Baby Parker safe," Angelo declared, with a broad smile as he showed Miss Parker her 'brother', safe in his arms.
Miss Parker was astonished.
"Sis, it's all over," Lyle declared as he turned the corner, his gun ready to fire.
"Go, Parker!" Sydney urged, once more.
As Miss Parker crawled into the air duct, she heard a gunshot and then a groan...Lyle had shot Sydney.
"Syd! No!" Miss Parker screamed in horror as she peered back out of the vent. "Oh my God. No, Syd," she sobbed.
"Go...Parker," was all Sydney was able to say as he cringed at the pain that ripped through his shoulder.
"I can't leave you like this," Miss Parker replied. She jumped at the sound of another shot. As Lyle fell to his knees, Miss Parker noticed the silhouette of a figure in a wheelchair disappear off into the distance.
"Angelo help Angel," Angelo declared.
"Angelo, you can have your freedom too. Come with me," Miss Parker blurted out.
"No. Save Angel, then save Sydney. Angelo not want freedom. Angelo want to help Sydney. Sydney...knows all the secrets," Angelo said. He twitched and then added in a hushed voice, "Your father knows all the secrets."
Dun, dun, dun....to be continued by either me, or one of my friends in a round robin.
Feedback is always welcome. If you liked it, hated it, whatever, I WANNA KNOW!!!
Note: This story picks up where the 2001 movie left off. Miss Parker and Jarod are on the phone staring at the mysterious picture on their computers...
Seeking Refuge
part 1
By Wandering Spirit
..."How? Why?" Miss Parker stuttered. "Jarod, if you knew anything about this and didn't tell me, I swear I will-"
"Don't you think I would've told you?" Jarod interrupted, still somewhat shaken. "I swear to you, I didn't know anything. Trust me."
"Trust you?" Miss Parker snorted. "What have you ever done to make me wanna trust you?" Miss Parker sneered.
"People change, Miss Parker," Jarod replied. "Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. Need I remind you of the girl who gave me my first kiss?"
"Jarod, that little girl is long gone," Miss Parker replied.
"Yes, physically. But mentally, she's simply buried...alive," Jarod said. "But it doesn't have to be that way."
"My life has changed so much, I don't even know who I am anymore," Miss Parker sighed as she tipped the framed picture of her and her "father" so it was facedown on her desk. Ever time she looked at it she felt her heart sink.
"Well, now we have something in common, don't we?" Jarod asked.
"Jarod," Miss Parker began. "What's it's like to have your freedom?" she wondered.
"Well, I wouldn't know. With you always chasing after me, I don't have much freedom, now do I?" he retorted.
"Jarod, you know that I do it only because it's the only way I can get MY freedom," Miss Parker argued.
"Not the only way, Miss Parker. Not the only way," Jarod replied.
"Jarod, what exactly do you mean by that?" Miss Parker inquired as she heard a 'click' on the other end of the line.
"Jarod?!" Miss Parker screamed into the phone. "Dammit!" she sighed as she slammed the phone back down into its cradle.
At that moment, Sydney walked into her office.
"Parker, your father wishes to see you," Sydney reported. "He wants to apologize."
"He lied to me, Syd," Miss Parker snapped. "He's been lying to me my entire life about everything. And the truth is that you've been more of a father to me than that man, whoever the hell he is, will ever be."
"Just go and see him, Parker," Sydney replied, calmly.
"Stop calling me that!" Miss Parker shouted. "I'm not a Parker, and I'm nothing like that man, nor do I want anything to do with him!"
"He has your answers. He may want to give them to you," Sydney suggested, continuing to keep a straight face.
Miss Parker closed her eyes for a moment. Her mother's voice...it was faint at first, but Miss Parker was able to understand the message.
"Go. Go, my Angel," her mother's voice urged.
Miss Parker opened her eyes. With a sigh, she replied, "Fine, Syd. I'll go."
***
As Miss Parker stepped into her "father's" room in the Centre's infirmary wing, she felt a surge of anger run through her body. Even though her father was able to talk to her, he was still weak. Miss Parker, however, felt no sympathy towards the man. She found herself thinking that she really didn't care whether "her father" lived or died. True, he had all the answers, but someone else, her real father, knew the answers as well. Her mother had told her so. Her mother was the only person she could trust. So why had she told her to go see her "father?"
"Angel?" Mr. Parker asked in a hoarse whisper as Miss Parker approached his bed.
"Don't call me Angel," Miss Parker replied, coldly.
"I'm so sorry," Mr. Parker apologized. "For everything."
"I have done everything for you. I have even taken a bullet for you, and how do you show you care? By secrets and lies, and murder and betrayal-"
"Please...forgive me," Mr. Parker implored.
"Nothing. I mean, nothing could ever make me forgive you," Miss Parker replied as rage welled up inside her.
Her gaze drifted, from her father, over to the picture by Mr. Parker's bedside-a duplicate of the same picture that was currently facedown on her office desk. She slowly extended her hand towards it, picked it up, and stared at it for a second, in silence. Then in a swift motion, she threw it to the ground. Its impact with the cold cement floor shattered the glass and cracked the frame in half.
"Ever," Miss Parker repeated, for good measure.
"Angel, no," Mr. Parker said, panicked, as he extended his hand, waving it frantically towards the shattered frame.
Miss Parker thought nothing of it at first, but as she turned to leave, she did a double take. It wasn't the picture that Mr. Parker was attempting to salvage. It was something else that had been hidden inside the frame. It was then, Miss Parker remembered the conversation she had with Raines before her "father" shot him...
***
...Miss Parker aimed the gun at Raines, planning to pull the trigger.
"Then you never found it either?" Raines concluded.
"Found what?" Miss Parker inquired.
"Word has it that your mother left a DSA explaining exactly what her plan was. But it was the only piece of incriminating evidence I never found or destroyed. You find it, you find her plan," Raines explained...
***
...Miss Parker fell to her knees as she continued to stare at the DSA.
"Let me explain," Mr. Parker implored.
"I don't need anymore lies," Miss Parker quickly retorted. "And I'm fairly sure that this will explain itself," she added as she snatched up the DSA and briskly exited the room, her stilettos clicking against the hard floor.
On her way out of the infirmary wing, she passed the Centre nursery. She approached the big glass window and peered into the room.
"Gabe," she sighed in a whisper, as she stared at her baby brother. Just looking at the playing toddler made the ice around her heart melt away.
"You all right, Parker?" a familiar voice asked from behind.
"Syd?" Miss Parker asked, a bit startled, as she whirled around to face the Belgian, at the same time, stuffing the DSA up the sleeve of her black jacket.
"Something wrong?" Sydney wondered, responding to the shocked expression on Miss Parker's face.
"It's just that...well, Gabe's not even my real brother, but I feel like I have to be there for him. Sorta like..."
"Like a mother?" Sydney finished.
"He shouldn't be trapped like that," Miss Parker sighed as she shook her head and turned back to gaze into the window. "No one should."
"You're right," Sydney replied as he rested his hand on Miss Parker's shoulder, as a sign of affection. Almost as if he was reading her mind, he added, "I won't stop you."
Miss Parker turned towards Sydney, her pleading eyes, meeting his serious ones.
"I understand, Parker. There's nothing here for you now. You want to take your brother and get away from this place. We all want out. Jarod escaped, Broots is still missing...and I don't think either one of them is planning to come back. Not willingly, anyway."
"Syd, I can't just-"
"Get out of here, Parker," Syd interrupted. "And take little Gabe with you. I'll cover for you, no matter what they threaten to do to me. I'd do anything to help you...like I tried to help your mother."
"I don't want to end up like my mother," Miss Parker replied, almost immediately. "And I know I don't want anything happening to you."
"You won't end up like your mother," Sydney reassured her. "Listen to her voice, let her guide you. And don't worry about me, Parker. I can take care of myself."
There was a pause as tears began to well up in Miss Parker's crystal blue eyes.
"Syd, before I leave...there's something I want you to do," Miss Parker said.
"Anything."
"Watch this with me?" Miss Parker said as she slipped the DSA into the palm of her hand, showing it to her friend.
***
Jarod was puzzled. Who could've sent him the picture? Sydney? No. He would have wanted Jarod to know it was he who sent it. Whoever did this wanted to remain anonymous.
Ethan too stared at the screen.
"What does this mean?" Jarod wondered aloud. "How did they know each other?"
Ethan's gaze drifted. He was waiting for his mother's voice to tell him something...only there were no voices.
"I don't know, Jarod. She won't even tell me," Ethan replied, referring to Catherine Parker.
He paused another moment, his eyes wandering.
"What is it?" Jarod inquired.
"She wants to help," Ethan said. "But...she can't. It'll ruin it," he added, puzzled by his own response.
"Ruin what, Ethan?" Jarod asked.
"What you need to find along the way," was all Ethan said.
***
Miss Parker slowly sat down in her desk chair before playing the DSA. She slid the DSA into the player, and stared at the blank screen for a moment, hesitating to play the disk. Sydney was standing by her side.
"Syd...hold my hand?" Miss Parker requested, timidly as she looked up at him with pleading eyes. This was a side of herself she rarely showed. She usually acted so strong. Of course, that was just a façade, designed to protect her fragile soul...her real self. She was now acting like the little girl that she once was. Jarod was right, as he always was when it came to analyzing Parker. The real Miss Parker really was still alive.
***
Meanwhile, somewhere near Philadelphia...
"Daddy, I'm tired," Debbie Broots whined as she slumped down into the backseat of her father's car.
"It's okay, Debbie. It's okay. We'll stop and rest at a hotel soon," Broots promised as he glanced into his rearview mirror.
"Daddy?"
"Yes, honey?"
"...Where are we going, anyway?" Debbie wondered.
Broots paused before answering his daughter.
"Somewhere safe," was all he said.
***
"I guess this is it," Miss Parker said as she took a deep breath and played the DSA.
"Well, hello there, Sis," Lyle said, in his gleefully psychotic manner as he entered Miss Parker's office.
"Wadda YOU want?" Miss Parker sneered as she stopped the DSA and slammed the player closed.
"Ooh. That sure must be important," Lyle said as he approached the desk.
Miss Parker immediately claimed the DSA player by resting her hand on it as Lyle pulled out his 9mm and aimed it at his sister.
"Let go," Lyle ordered. "Mr. Parker's orders," he added with pride.
"Over my dead body," Miss Parker replied, automatically. She bit her lower lip as soon as she comprehended what she had just said.
"Parker..." Sydney warned.
"If that's how you want it," Lyle replied as he prepared to pull the trigger.
With tears in her eyes, Miss Parker let go of the DSA player. Lyle ejected the DSA, looked at it for a minute, and then let it drop to the floor. Miss Parker was about to dive for it, but not before Lyle took the liberty to step on the disk. Miss Parker cringed as she heard a 'crunch' as Lyle's overly priced shoes stomped on the disk two more times. She'd had enough! She opened her desk drawer, in search of her gun, but found nothing.
"How does it feel to be on the other side of the gun, Sis?" Lyle mocked. "The huntress suddenly becoming the hunted."
Miss Parker didn't say a word.
"I think I've made my point," Lyle said as he walked towards the door, pausing a moment to look back at his distraught twin, and then continued on his way out.
"Parker, will you be all right?" Sydney asked, once he was certain that Lyle was out of earshot.
"How...how can you ask that now, Syd?" Miss Parker said, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It's all gone, all the answers. I'll have to leave with nothing."
"Not...necessarily," Sydney replied, mysteriously.
***
"Did you do as I asked?" Mr. Parker asked, weakly.
"Yes, the DSA is irreparable," Lyle replied with pride.
"You fool!" Mr. Parker chided. "I asked you to destroy all evidence!"
"But I did."
"Lyle, people count as evidence too," Mr. Parker replied, with a malicious grin.
***
"I gotta get outta here NOW, Syd," Miss Parker declared as she paced back and forth, now in Sydney's office.
"Here, Parker," Sydney said as he handed his colleague his gun.
"Syd, no. You need this in case-"
"You need it more than I do," Sydney replied. "Take it."
"Thank you."
"But there isn't much time," Sydney added as he turned towards his filing cabinets. "Not enough time for explanations, but..."
"What is it, Syd?"
"Ah-ha! Here," Sydney said as he handed Miss Parker a thick manila file folder.
"What's this?"
"It explains almost everything," Sydney replied. "That's all I have time to tell you. Now go."
"I need help getting Gabe out," Miss Parker declared.
***
Meanwhile, in the air ducts, a mysterious pair of eyes was watching the scene before him unfold.
"I need to sneak into the nursery, take Gabe, and then I'm leaving," Miss Parker announced as she reloaded Sydney's gun and left the room, cautiously, her eyes open. Sydney was not far behind.
***
"I want all evidence destroyed," Mr. Parker insisted. "Now, Lyle! Go!"
"Yes, 'father'. You won't be disappointed," Lyle replied with a mischievous grin as he left his father's quarters.
***
"Oh my God, Syd!" Miss Parker exclaimed as she peered into Gabe's room, her eyes wide. "He's not in there! They took him, Syd! Syd, they could kill him!" Miss Parker panicked.
"Parker calm down. They wouldn't hurt him. He's too valuable," Sydney insisted.
"Syd, what do you mean by-"
"How did I know you'd be here?" Lyle's voice echoed down the hall.
"Run, Parker!" Sydney ordered as he urged Miss Parker down the hallway. They kept running through the maze of halls until they came face-to-face with a dead end.
"We're trapped, Syd. There's no way out," Miss Parker sighed, about to give up hope.
"The air vent!" Sydney declared after he glanced around for a moment.
"But I don't know the way out, and I can't leave without Gabriel," Miss Parker argued.
"Trust your instincts, listen to the voices. It's the only way, Parker. I'll make sure that Gabe is safe," Sydney promised as he helped Parker remove the grateoff the vent. Seconds later, to their surprise, they came face-to-face with Angelo!
"Baby Parker safe," Angelo declared, with a broad smile as he showed Miss Parker her 'brother', safe in his arms.
Miss Parker was astonished.
"Sis, it's all over," Lyle declared as he turned the corner, his gun ready to fire.
"Go, Parker!" Sydney urged, once more.
As Miss Parker crawled into the air duct, she heard a gunshot and then a groan...Lyle had shot Sydney.
"Syd! No!" Miss Parker screamed in horror as she peered back out of the vent. "Oh my God. No, Syd," she sobbed.
"Go...Parker," was all Sydney was able to say as he cringed at the pain that ripped through his shoulder.
"I can't leave you like this," Miss Parker replied. She jumped at the sound of another shot. As Lyle fell to his knees, Miss Parker noticed the silhouette of a figure in a wheelchair disappear off into the distance.
"Angelo help Angel," Angelo declared.
"Angelo, you can have your freedom too. Come with me," Miss Parker blurted out.
"No. Save Angel, then save Sydney. Angelo not want freedom. Angelo want to help Sydney. Sydney...knows all the secrets," Angelo said. He twitched and then added in a hushed voice, "Your father knows all the secrets."
Dun, dun, dun....to be continued by either me, or one of my friends in a round robin.
Feedback is always welcome. If you liked it, hated it, whatever, I WANNA KNOW!!!
