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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here!" He was practically beaming. "Business is about to pick up, wouldn't ya say?" He directed his question at Miss Parker who was still firmly planted behind the kitchen counter.
Ramona and Claude had no idea what Lyle was talking about and shrugged their shoulders at each other. Ramona took the initiative to introduce Lyle to his date, Claude. She grabbed his hand and was about to lead him over to the couch where Claude was sitting but he resisted, instead snaking his gloved hand around her wrist and pulling it behind her back enough to cause discomfort.
Willie took this as his cue to pull his gun, motioning at Claude to stand up. When she was within his grasp, he grabbed her by the hair to hear her scream before he put the gun to her head and yelled, "Shut up!" He brought his head up from watching his new captive to look at Miss Parker's eerily calm face. Lyle must have noticed too, because he threw Ramona to the couch. She sat there stunned as the viciously cruel man pulled his gun and aimed it at her head. He cast another look at his sister to see if she was going to stop him.
Grounding her teeth in frustration, Miss Parker stepped out from behind the counter, slowly so as not to alarm the two armed men. Unfortunately her gun was in her purse again and that had been thrown haphazardly onto the chair when she had first entered the apartment.
"It's been a while." Her voice sounded a little to calm even for her, but seeing Willie start to sweat was very rewarding. She smiled coldly and winked for good measure, causing Willie to fidget some more.
Lyle now had his gun aimed directly at Miss Parker's heart allowing Ramona's pulse to come back to earth despite her best friend still being held by the other gun-wielding lunatic. Figuring that there was no other way out of this unless Claude and Ramona were out of her way, she addressed Willie.
"Why don't you let her go sit on the couch? We don't want anyone to think you two are monsters, do we?" Her steely-eyed glare convinced the Sweeper to let Claude join Ramona on the couch. Sparing one last glance at the very frightened ladies holding hands in shared terror on the couch, Miss Parker addressed Lyle resolutely.
"You let them go and I'll do whatever you want." 'Like that'll happen' she thought silently to herself.
Lyle threw his head back and laughed. Willie too thought her offer was ridiculous and cracked a smile.
Ramona chose that moment to speak up. "What is going on? What do you want?" Lyle met her cry of frustrated confusion and misery with a challenge.
"I think you're more suited to tell them than I, Parker." He grinned evilly at the glare he received.
"Lyle." She warned in vain, because he wasn't ready to stop.
"I mean, I have no idea why my sister would be traipsing around making friends with these two," Ramona and Claude cringed as he waved his gun at them. "when she's supposed to be DEAD." He took a step towards her and trailed his gun down the side of her face then whispered so only she could hear, "I shot you Parker, so why aren't you dead?"
She shoved him back when he started trailing his ungloved hand over her neck. Miss Parker looked at Claude and Ramona in deep remorse, wishing she had never met them, if only to spare them this ordeal. Ever since Lyle had said sister they had been shooting her dagger filled glares and she couldn’t exactly blame them. They were probably thinking along the same lines as her, only they were wishing that they had never met her. She sighed and fretted silently over what to do to get them out of this mess and make it up to them.
Lyle had moved over to the door to listen in on Willie's phone call back to the Centre. When someone knocked at the door, Lyle pushed Willie over towards Miss Parker ordering him to keep her under control. Meaning, hold the gun behind her back to obstruct the view of whoever was at the door. Lyle warned them all to stay quiet and put his gun in its holster to open the door with a smile. Miss Parker could only see Lyle, but whoever was at the door had a mean right-hook. With Lyle knocked out cold on the floor, she took the opportunity to disarm Willie with an elbow to the gut that made him bend forward. She grabbed his gun hand and flipped him while keeping a grip on the gun for herself.
When she looked up from her task, she saw that it was Jarod that had come to her rescue. He cast her a panic-stricken stare to question that she was all right. She smiled to reassure him.
"How did you know?" She wondered out-loud.
Jarod grimaced in remembrance of the phone call he received. "Sydney called me." He stated simply and walked away leaving Miss Parker confused as to how he ended up finding them at Claude's. Shrugging it off, she kept the gun trained on Willie and the now unconscious Lyle, waiting for Jarod to come back inside the apartment.
He had brought some rope with him and was now retrieving it from the bag he left outside the door. When he reentered, they snugly tied up Willie and Lyle, temporarily forgetting they had an audience. The fact that they were talking to her didn't even dawn on Miss Parker because she didn't recognize Lydia as her name. Ever since she saw Lyle walk through that door, it felt as though she was Miss Parker again. Her pretending skills weren't working the same in this stress-filled situation. Jarod noticed, and got Miss Parker's attention for them.
"Parker." Jarod called out loudly.
She whipped her head up at the name and realized she was in a daze.
"What?" Her voice sounded weary as she responded to her name.
He just swung his eyes over to the couch, where the two women had remained. He took the gun from her and waited for Lyle to wake up while she calmed her friends.
She sat down gingerly on the opposite end of the couch, aware that they were still shell-shocked and most likely debating whether they thought she was one of the good guys or not. She cast them a nervous smile before attempting to explain. A commotion at the front door caught her attention, and again she was distracted from being honest with them.
"Jarod, Miss Parker… I got here as fast as I could." Sam skidded to a stop with his weapon drawn ready to charge into battle, and took in his surroundings. The second he saw Lyle and Willie subdued, he re-holstered his weapon.
Miss Parker just looked at him, baffled as to his appearance there, until Jarod spoke up.
"But you took care of the kids first, right?" Jarod asked sternly.
"I did exactly what you said, Jarod. They're safe." Sam responded seriously.
"Good, then get over here. I think we're going to have to make these two disappear for a little while, while we make our great escape." Jarod chuckled to himself, but received no other laughs from the other occupants of the room. He cleared his throat, "Help me get them down to the car."
Given another chance to talk and explain what just happened, Miss Parker got right to the point before she was interrupted again.
"Look, Jarod and I are on the run from a place called the Centre. This place has no respect for anyone, and will perform cutting-edge experiments on anybody they can sink their claws into, no matter the consequence to that person. I was one of the Lab-Rats they experimented on and so was Jarod. He was their prize possession, a Pretender, a genius who can become anyone he wants to be." Building her courage up she pushed on somewhat haltingly. "Before that however, I worked there and led a team to bring Jarod back. I'm not proud of that, but it happened and I have to live with it."
She paused for a breath, registered the disbelief on their faces, and continued her spiel.
"My brother, Lyle, thought I was dead and was no longer looking for us… well, me. He was still hunting for Jarod. I thought we were safe here, apparently we weren't. I'm sorry you two were brought into this, but I really need to get going." She caught her breath, said goodbye and left them there on the couch, stunned.
She knew she had left a lot out, but she didn't really have the time to itemize all the horrible things she had witnessed at the Centre just to convince them of what she was saying. If nothing else, the events of the evening and her subsequent disappearance should lead them to believe that her story wasn't the plot to a TV show, but that it was actually her life.
Quickening her steps as she saw Jarod shutting the trunk of Sam's car, Miss Parker cut across traffic and stopped in front of him. He wrapped her in his arms, kissing the top of her head and for the first time since talking to Sydney, he was able to breathe easy again.
Ramona and Claude had no idea what Lyle was talking about and shrugged their shoulders at each other. Ramona took the initiative to introduce Lyle to his date, Claude. She grabbed his hand and was about to lead him over to the couch where Claude was sitting but he resisted, instead snaking his gloved hand around her wrist and pulling it behind her back enough to cause discomfort.
Willie took this as his cue to pull his gun, motioning at Claude to stand up. When she was within his grasp, he grabbed her by the hair to hear her scream before he put the gun to her head and yelled, "Shut up!" He brought his head up from watching his new captive to look at Miss Parker's eerily calm face. Lyle must have noticed too, because he threw Ramona to the couch. She sat there stunned as the viciously cruel man pulled his gun and aimed it at her head. He cast another look at his sister to see if she was going to stop him.
Grounding her teeth in frustration, Miss Parker stepped out from behind the counter, slowly so as not to alarm the two armed men. Unfortunately her gun was in her purse again and that had been thrown haphazardly onto the chair when she had first entered the apartment.
"It's been a while." Her voice sounded a little to calm even for her, but seeing Willie start to sweat was very rewarding. She smiled coldly and winked for good measure, causing Willie to fidget some more.
Lyle now had his gun aimed directly at Miss Parker's heart allowing Ramona's pulse to come back to earth despite her best friend still being held by the other gun-wielding lunatic. Figuring that there was no other way out of this unless Claude and Ramona were out of her way, she addressed Willie.
"Why don't you let her go sit on the couch? We don't want anyone to think you two are monsters, do we?" Her steely-eyed glare convinced the Sweeper to let Claude join Ramona on the couch. Sparing one last glance at the very frightened ladies holding hands in shared terror on the couch, Miss Parker addressed Lyle resolutely.
"You let them go and I'll do whatever you want." 'Like that'll happen' she thought silently to herself.
Lyle threw his head back and laughed. Willie too thought her offer was ridiculous and cracked a smile.
Ramona chose that moment to speak up. "What is going on? What do you want?" Lyle met her cry of frustrated confusion and misery with a challenge.
"I think you're more suited to tell them than I, Parker." He grinned evilly at the glare he received.
"Lyle." She warned in vain, because he wasn't ready to stop.
"I mean, I have no idea why my sister would be traipsing around making friends with these two," Ramona and Claude cringed as he waved his gun at them. "when she's supposed to be DEAD." He took a step towards her and trailed his gun down the side of her face then whispered so only she could hear, "I shot you Parker, so why aren't you dead?"
She shoved him back when he started trailing his ungloved hand over her neck. Miss Parker looked at Claude and Ramona in deep remorse, wishing she had never met them, if only to spare them this ordeal. Ever since Lyle had said sister they had been shooting her dagger filled glares and she couldn’t exactly blame them. They were probably thinking along the same lines as her, only they were wishing that they had never met her. She sighed and fretted silently over what to do to get them out of this mess and make it up to them.
Lyle had moved over to the door to listen in on Willie's phone call back to the Centre. When someone knocked at the door, Lyle pushed Willie over towards Miss Parker ordering him to keep her under control. Meaning, hold the gun behind her back to obstruct the view of whoever was at the door. Lyle warned them all to stay quiet and put his gun in its holster to open the door with a smile. Miss Parker could only see Lyle, but whoever was at the door had a mean right-hook. With Lyle knocked out cold on the floor, she took the opportunity to disarm Willie with an elbow to the gut that made him bend forward. She grabbed his gun hand and flipped him while keeping a grip on the gun for herself.
When she looked up from her task, she saw that it was Jarod that had come to her rescue. He cast her a panic-stricken stare to question that she was all right. She smiled to reassure him.
"How did you know?" She wondered out-loud.
Jarod grimaced in remembrance of the phone call he received. "Sydney called me." He stated simply and walked away leaving Miss Parker confused as to how he ended up finding them at Claude's. Shrugging it off, she kept the gun trained on Willie and the now unconscious Lyle, waiting for Jarod to come back inside the apartment.
He had brought some rope with him and was now retrieving it from the bag he left outside the door. When he reentered, they snugly tied up Willie and Lyle, temporarily forgetting they had an audience. The fact that they were talking to her didn't even dawn on Miss Parker because she didn't recognize Lydia as her name. Ever since she saw Lyle walk through that door, it felt as though she was Miss Parker again. Her pretending skills weren't working the same in this stress-filled situation. Jarod noticed, and got Miss Parker's attention for them.
"Parker." Jarod called out loudly.
She whipped her head up at the name and realized she was in a daze.
"What?" Her voice sounded weary as she responded to her name.
He just swung his eyes over to the couch, where the two women had remained. He took the gun from her and waited for Lyle to wake up while she calmed her friends.
She sat down gingerly on the opposite end of the couch, aware that they were still shell-shocked and most likely debating whether they thought she was one of the good guys or not. She cast them a nervous smile before attempting to explain. A commotion at the front door caught her attention, and again she was distracted from being honest with them.
"Jarod, Miss Parker… I got here as fast as I could." Sam skidded to a stop with his weapon drawn ready to charge into battle, and took in his surroundings. The second he saw Lyle and Willie subdued, he re-holstered his weapon.
Miss Parker just looked at him, baffled as to his appearance there, until Jarod spoke up.
"But you took care of the kids first, right?" Jarod asked sternly.
"I did exactly what you said, Jarod. They're safe." Sam responded seriously.
"Good, then get over here. I think we're going to have to make these two disappear for a little while, while we make our great escape." Jarod chuckled to himself, but received no other laughs from the other occupants of the room. He cleared his throat, "Help me get them down to the car."
Given another chance to talk and explain what just happened, Miss Parker got right to the point before she was interrupted again.
"Look, Jarod and I are on the run from a place called the Centre. This place has no respect for anyone, and will perform cutting-edge experiments on anybody they can sink their claws into, no matter the consequence to that person. I was one of the Lab-Rats they experimented on and so was Jarod. He was their prize possession, a Pretender, a genius who can become anyone he wants to be." Building her courage up she pushed on somewhat haltingly. "Before that however, I worked there and led a team to bring Jarod back. I'm not proud of that, but it happened and I have to live with it."
She paused for a breath, registered the disbelief on their faces, and continued her spiel.
"My brother, Lyle, thought I was dead and was no longer looking for us… well, me. He was still hunting for Jarod. I thought we were safe here, apparently we weren't. I'm sorry you two were brought into this, but I really need to get going." She caught her breath, said goodbye and left them there on the couch, stunned.
She knew she had left a lot out, but she didn't really have the time to itemize all the horrible things she had witnessed at the Centre just to convince them of what she was saying. If nothing else, the events of the evening and her subsequent disappearance should lead them to believe that her story wasn't the plot to a TV show, but that it was actually her life.
Quickening her steps as she saw Jarod shutting the trunk of Sam's car, Miss Parker cut across traffic and stopped in front of him. He wrapped her in his arms, kissing the top of her head and for the first time since talking to Sydney, he was able to breathe easy again.
