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Chapter or Story
Chapter 4
Jarod slammed his hands down on the table he was working at. His levels of frustration were rising and to top it all off he couldn’t concentrate. Only she was ever able to do this to him and the part of him that loved to be in control and even needed to be in control, hated it. Only Parker could make him lose control, and frankly that was one of the reasons he loved her. Only with her did he not need to control everything around him, only with her could he be simply, Jarod, simply himself. Everyone else had so many expectations of him that he found himself exhausted everyday from just trying to be whom they all wanted him to be.
Damnit he just wanted to find her so he could tell her all of this! At this point just hearing her answer the phone with her customary “What” would be nice. But she seemed to be nowhere and everywhere all at once. He the so called “Pretender” the man who could do anything and be anyone, couldn’t find her! When he had been searching for his family he’d had better luck, even if it had taken six years to finally find and bring together his biological family. His adopted family, Sydney, Parker, and even Broots, he’d always known where they where and that fact had always comforted him. That he knew where part of his family was had helped him focus on the missing parts of his family.
Now though the part that was truly the most important, the part that he was finding that he needed to have with him to truly live, was the part that was missing.
Parker.
He was now starting to understand why he was unable to just let her be, why he was unable to see her as just the person in charge of the pursuit team. Previously he had claimed that it was just because of their shared history. Because he missed his first and truly best friend. But it was more and only now, after finding what he had spent so much time and energy searching for, after finding what it was he’d thought was missing from his life that he realized what truly was missing.
Her.
He not only needed her in his life, but wanted her in his life.
He was also beginning to understand what he had put the pursuit team through for all these years. The only difference was she didn’t seem to be sending clues to her Centre pursuers. At the same time though, she seemed to be much better at slipping away without a foot chase than he had been. But, he thought, she had to be, if only because she had a small child with her. Something he had never had with him, at least not when he was running from them.
Having hacked into the Centre mainframe, he found the reports on her movements and her lairs. He also found the names of her pursuers, Lyle, Willie, Gar, Sam, Sydney, and Broots were all part of the team that was hunting his huntress. With Lyle in charge, he knew that if she were to be caught then there would be no mercy for her. Especially because she had taken young Master Parker with her when she left. He was the future of not only the Centre, but the Parker family. The sheer fact that she had found the missing toddler and rescued him was a telling reminder to the Pretender that he had underestimated her.
Damnit! Her movements made no sense, almost as if they were chosen at random. But he knew her, and knew that she, like he, did nothing at random. Like him, she always had a reason for doing something there was a point. Of course, those reasons she kept to herself, and something he thought she didn’t fully understand her reasons, like when she actually listened to her Inner Sense. Either way it make it that much harder for an accurate psychological profile of her to be made.
Glancing at the Centre’s profile on her, he was struck at how inaccurate it appeared to be. They appeared to fully believe her reputation as the Centre’s Ice Queen, even as they acknowledged her obsession with her mother’s death. Only months, even days before, he would have agreed with the basics of that profile, but now…now he didn’t know what to believe about her. And it seemed that the only thing he knew for sure was that she was as good at disappearing as he was.
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Margaret and Charles Russell watched in silence, as their eldest son appeared to go crazy.
Neither of them understood their son well enough to recognize his frustration or to help him work through it to focus on the problem at hand. Actually from what they understood of the problem, that he was trying to find his huntress Miss Parker, they didn’t know if they even wanted to help him, much less for him to succeed.
Charles, of course, had the experience of having Miss Parker have him at gunpoint, and with all the motivation and reason to shoot him necessary, and still letting him go. And while this behavior on her part confused him, he was certainly more sympathetic to her. Even if this sympathy was also based on hearing both Ryan and Ethan extol her virtues, something that, amusingly enough, Jarod never did. Instead his oldest child focused more on her challenging personality, her sarcasm, her sheer force of personality, and of course all the ways that she challenged and exasperated him. And having met Zoë, Charles could certainly say that the perky red-head had never challenged Jarod in any way. Something Jarod seemed to confirm when he described that failed relationship as being “fun” and nothing else.
Margaret, on the other hand, worried about her eldest’s obsession with finding that woman. Her only experiences with Miss Parker were when the Centre operative was keeping Margaret from reuniting with her son, both in Boston and on Carthis. And an much as she still treasured her friendship with Catherine Parker, the daughter seemed to have inherited only her mother’s physical features.
She had met Zoë, only briefly, near the end of the relationship, and frankly, she liked the perky young lady more than she could ever claim to like Miss Parker. But it was her son’s life, and he had grown into adulthood without her influence and she was thus wary of offering motherly advice to him. So even though she didn’t like or understand why Miss Parker was so important to her son’s happiness, she would let him make his own mistakes. And she would prepare to move her family again, because Parkers were tied to the Centre in more ways than one, and none ever truly left that piece of Hell behind.
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Ethan smiled to himself. Just like the voices had said, everything was coming together. Jarod was learning how to chase; his sister, who had always known how to run, was now listening to the voices and trusting in her visions. The baby was safe and everything would be all right soon. Settling back to watch the show, which was bound to be entertaining, his quiet smile broke out into a full grin; very very soon big brother would learn just how good a huntress Miss Parker was. Very very soon.
Jarod slammed his hands down on the table he was working at. His levels of frustration were rising and to top it all off he couldn’t concentrate. Only she was ever able to do this to him and the part of him that loved to be in control and even needed to be in control, hated it. Only Parker could make him lose control, and frankly that was one of the reasons he loved her. Only with her did he not need to control everything around him, only with her could he be simply, Jarod, simply himself. Everyone else had so many expectations of him that he found himself exhausted everyday from just trying to be whom they all wanted him to be.
Damnit he just wanted to find her so he could tell her all of this! At this point just hearing her answer the phone with her customary “What” would be nice. But she seemed to be nowhere and everywhere all at once. He the so called “Pretender” the man who could do anything and be anyone, couldn’t find her! When he had been searching for his family he’d had better luck, even if it had taken six years to finally find and bring together his biological family. His adopted family, Sydney, Parker, and even Broots, he’d always known where they where and that fact had always comforted him. That he knew where part of his family was had helped him focus on the missing parts of his family.
Now though the part that was truly the most important, the part that he was finding that he needed to have with him to truly live, was the part that was missing.
Parker.
He was now starting to understand why he was unable to just let her be, why he was unable to see her as just the person in charge of the pursuit team. Previously he had claimed that it was just because of their shared history. Because he missed his first and truly best friend. But it was more and only now, after finding what he had spent so much time and energy searching for, after finding what it was he’d thought was missing from his life that he realized what truly was missing.
Her.
He not only needed her in his life, but wanted her in his life.
He was also beginning to understand what he had put the pursuit team through for all these years. The only difference was she didn’t seem to be sending clues to her Centre pursuers. At the same time though, she seemed to be much better at slipping away without a foot chase than he had been. But, he thought, she had to be, if only because she had a small child with her. Something he had never had with him, at least not when he was running from them.
Having hacked into the Centre mainframe, he found the reports on her movements and her lairs. He also found the names of her pursuers, Lyle, Willie, Gar, Sam, Sydney, and Broots were all part of the team that was hunting his huntress. With Lyle in charge, he knew that if she were to be caught then there would be no mercy for her. Especially because she had taken young Master Parker with her when she left. He was the future of not only the Centre, but the Parker family. The sheer fact that she had found the missing toddler and rescued him was a telling reminder to the Pretender that he had underestimated her.
Damnit! Her movements made no sense, almost as if they were chosen at random. But he knew her, and knew that she, like he, did nothing at random. Like him, she always had a reason for doing something there was a point. Of course, those reasons she kept to herself, and something he thought she didn’t fully understand her reasons, like when she actually listened to her Inner Sense. Either way it make it that much harder for an accurate psychological profile of her to be made.
Glancing at the Centre’s profile on her, he was struck at how inaccurate it appeared to be. They appeared to fully believe her reputation as the Centre’s Ice Queen, even as they acknowledged her obsession with her mother’s death. Only months, even days before, he would have agreed with the basics of that profile, but now…now he didn’t know what to believe about her. And it seemed that the only thing he knew for sure was that she was as good at disappearing as he was.
JMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMP
Margaret and Charles Russell watched in silence, as their eldest son appeared to go crazy.
Neither of them understood their son well enough to recognize his frustration or to help him work through it to focus on the problem at hand. Actually from what they understood of the problem, that he was trying to find his huntress Miss Parker, they didn’t know if they even wanted to help him, much less for him to succeed.
Charles, of course, had the experience of having Miss Parker have him at gunpoint, and with all the motivation and reason to shoot him necessary, and still letting him go. And while this behavior on her part confused him, he was certainly more sympathetic to her. Even if this sympathy was also based on hearing both Ryan and Ethan extol her virtues, something that, amusingly enough, Jarod never did. Instead his oldest child focused more on her challenging personality, her sarcasm, her sheer force of personality, and of course all the ways that she challenged and exasperated him. And having met Zoë, Charles could certainly say that the perky red-head had never challenged Jarod in any way. Something Jarod seemed to confirm when he described that failed relationship as being “fun” and nothing else.
Margaret, on the other hand, worried about her eldest’s obsession with finding that woman. Her only experiences with Miss Parker were when the Centre operative was keeping Margaret from reuniting with her son, both in Boston and on Carthis. And an much as she still treasured her friendship with Catherine Parker, the daughter seemed to have inherited only her mother’s physical features.
She had met Zoë, only briefly, near the end of the relationship, and frankly, she liked the perky young lady more than she could ever claim to like Miss Parker. But it was her son’s life, and he had grown into adulthood without her influence and she was thus wary of offering motherly advice to him. So even though she didn’t like or understand why Miss Parker was so important to her son’s happiness, she would let him make his own mistakes. And she would prepare to move her family again, because Parkers were tied to the Centre in more ways than one, and none ever truly left that piece of Hell behind.
JMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMP
Ethan smiled to himself. Just like the voices had said, everything was coming together. Jarod was learning how to chase; his sister, who had always known how to run, was now listening to the voices and trusting in her visions. The baby was safe and everything would be all right soon. Settling back to watch the show, which was bound to be entertaining, his quiet smile broke out into a full grin; very very soon big brother would learn just how good a huntress Miss Parker was. Very very soon.
