Byrnes waited to be escorted up to Miss Parker's office, knowing how she was going to react. He had a preliminary report on the 'accident' and even some video footage they had spliced together. As he awaited to be announced, he was slightly worried that she might just shoot him on the spot and should have had this particular meeting somewhere else.

"What?!" Parker barked loudly as there was a knock on her door. When the agent walked in, “For your sake, you better have the rat in tow."

"Miss Parker,” He said heavily, just the right amount of regret in his voice. "I am afraid I have some very bad news."

"If he has escaped, I will kill your arse, along with everyone in your employment." Parker said dangerously, fear sitting heavily in her stomach at the tone of his voice.

"No, no, he has not escaped,” He said softly, still standing.

“Then where the hell is he?" Parker demanding, not liking the sound of this.

Byrnes shook his head sadly. “Jarod, along with Mr Lyle, and two of my men, well they... I knew allowing Lyle to come was a mistake, right from day one he was problematic, his hatred for Jarod clouding his judgement."

"What happened?" Parker asked, all anger gone, dread in her voice now.

“There was an accident, which our preliminary investigations are leading us to believe was caused by Lyle. There was an explosion in the lab..." He looked up at her. "I am sorry Miss Parker, you have my deepest sympathies, I know he was your brother."

“Jarod?” She whispered, not caring what so ever about Lyle. What ever had happened to Lyle, Parker knew the bastard had deserved it. Karma was a bitch. It was Jarod she was fearing for.

“There is no way anybody could have survived the blast. We are combing through the wreckage now for DNA confirmation."

"No," Parker whispered. "How could you allow this, how could you lose him!" Parker growled.

"We believe that Mr Lyle was harassing him during a chemical analysis of a passport and that something must have spilled. Had Mr Lyle not been killed in the blast, I would have suspected murder. He is far too narcissistic though, so we have ruled this out as a murder/suicide."

"I want proof." Parker demanded, trying not to lose it, thinking about having to tellSydney. This was going to destroy the older man.

"You will have access to all our findings of course and we can arrange for a visit if you wish.” He put down the thick folder on her desk. "Here is what we have so far." It didn’t bother him lying to this woman, knowing what kind of place she ran here. Her family had dealt in extortion, kidnapping, murder and who knows what for decades now, making money off the suffering of others. He despised them all.

Parker flicked through the pictures, closing her eyes at the room charred room and what she could see was a few bones on the floor. Closing the file, struggling with herself. “Thank you agent, I want any remains sent back here." Parker demanded in a very tightly control voice.

"Of course. I know what a devastating blow this is to the Centre, to the country Miss Parker. I believe millions of lives have been saved by what Jarod has done over these past two weeks. We have put together a compensation package for you that we hope will ease the loss." The fact they were paying them made him sick, but that was not his final decision and he was not about to cross the powers that be.

"I want you to find every single member of his family for me. No if's, no but’s. I will need to tell them about... about Jarod." Parker whispered, her hand running over the closed file. Just seeing the photos was enough to make her imagination run wild, how bad it would have been for Jarod and those other men. For Lyle though, it was just an introduction into an eternity in hell.

“They are of no use to you now Miss Parker.” He said, a little shocked by her request.

"No, they are not. But they have a right to know their second son has been killed." Parker whispered, thinking about how Jarod felt when Kyle was murdered, the least she could do for Jarod now was tell his family.

"Oh, of course. We will do everything in our power to help.” He said, softening a little, "We also know what pressure this will put on you and steps are being undertaken that will grant you your autonomy."

Parker rubbed at her face, “Just find me any remains, and find me his family so we can tell them." Parker whispered, breathing heavily, struggling not to cry now in front of this man. Weakness was not an option here, not now, not ever. It was a massive blow to her though.

"Of course, it will be done Miss Parker. I am very sorry. My number is there, that is my private number, you can contact me at any time. We should have our final report by the end of the week. I will see you get a copy of it."

Nodding, still touching the folder gently, she looked at him, “Thank you agent, good day." Parker whispered.

"My deepest sympathies Miss Parker.” He said softly, moving towards the door. He was surprised that was all she had to say, he had expected threats and protests.

When he finally left, Parker let the tears fall, in too much shock to deny her feelings. Picking up the phone she orderedSydneyto her office. Parker didn’t want to tell him, but he had a right to know.

Sydneyknew there was something terribly wrong by the sound of her voice and he made his way up there quickly, leaving his experiment running. "Parker, what has happened?” He asked moving into her office, a sick feeling of dread in his stomach.

Looking up at him, tears on her cheek, her make up smudged under her eyes. Holding the folder up to him, “Jarod,” She whispered.

"Parker,”Sydneysaid in a whisper, taking the folder but not looking at it. "He has escaped?”Sydneyasked her gently.

"He has been killed." Parker whispered.

"No Parker, that cannot be,” He said, denying it instantly. "We are talking about Jarod."

"He said there was an explosion. Was working on chemicals for a passport or something, and Lyle being Lyle, did not leave Jarod alone. They think something was spilt and mixed, end result Lyle, Jarod and two of his men were killed." Parker whispered, not stoping the tears falling from her eyes, not able to.

"Oh Parker,”Sydneywhispered, although he didn't believe it. He moved around to embrace her. “This is more than likely one of Jarod's tricks. He must have found a way to escape. Don’t you see? He has fooled them.”Sydneycouldn’t accept that Jarod could be dead, it was inconceivable.

"Look at the photosSydney, there is no way he could have escaped that." Parker didn't fight as he pulled her into a hug, too shocked to resist anything right now.

Sydneyjust held her, stubbornly refusing to look at the pictures, needing this to be what it could only be. Jarod would finally be free of them and if everyone thought he was dead, they would all stop looking. "Shhh, it's going to be okay,” He said softly.

"How? How is it going to be ok?" Parker demanded, getting angrier now, shovingSydneyaway as she stood up. “The god damn lab rat has gone and got himself killed! How is this going to be ok?"

"It can't be true Parker,”Sydneywhispered, seeing that she did believe it. “Jarod is not foolish enough to let an accident like that happen."

"Under how much pressure I guess he had been? With Lyle constantly breathing down his neck 24/7? The knowledge that if he failed, thousands and thousands of lives would be lost?”

Sydneyknew that was probably true enough. Before he had left, he could see how much it was wearing on Jarod, how desperate he was becoming. "We must be certain though Parker that this isn't one of Jarod's tricks. You know what he is capable of."

Parker nodded, "I know, they are sending us any remains they find." Parker winced at that. “At least he had his photo.” She whispered.

"Parker, this isn't your fault.”Sydneytold her gently. He could see she believed this, butSydneydidn't, not yet anyway.

"I knew something bad was going to happenSydney, I could feel it. I didn't want him to go. We had no choice though and he went. Now he is dead, gone."

"I know you didn't but there was nothing you could do,”Sydneytried to soothe her. “There was nothing you could have done differently." He had known of her misgivings and had dismissed them as nothing.

Parker wiped away the smudged make up and went and got a scotch. "I gave him his photo of his mother, to keep him safe.Lotof good that did for him.”

"I am sure it was a great comfort to him.”Sydneywatched her, focusing on her feelings instead of his own. Even though he was actively denying that it could be true, some part of him wanted to scream out in rage and grief.

"It’s not anything any more. The bastard! Why did he have to do thisSydney!” She roared in hurt and rage.

"Why did he have to leave you?”Sydneyasked her, understanding her pain.

Her face crumpled in hurt and sadness at that. "Why did he have to be so stupid and make this sort of mistake? Unless he just couldn’t take it anymore." It wasn’t something she would think Jarod would normally do. But these last few months and all the stress he had been under, how depressed and hurt he had been, he might have just snapped.

"No,”Sydneysaid instantly. "Don’t ever think that Parker. Jarod would never do that."

"He has seen outside once in over three months, he has Lyle harassing him and hurting him. He couldn’t escape, he couldn’t see his family, he couldn’t do anything."

“That is not a new situation for Jarod Parker, it would not have driven him to despair. You cannot let yourself think that.”Sydneytold her, not believing for one second Jarod could become suicidal.

"So what, this was just a stupid mistake?" Parker laughed hollowly at that. Jarod never made these stupid mistakes. And one of only a few ever in his life, he had lost his life because of it.

"If that is what they are telling you, then why would you doubt that and not anything else?"

Parker thought about it for a moment, "Because Jarod doesn’t normally make these kinds of mistakes." Parker whispered.

“Jarod never makes mistakes Parker, you know how precise he is.”Sydneythought about his capture though and still wondered if that had been a mistake on Jarod's part, or just bad luck.

"He has a few times, but nothing this serious."

"No, he does not make mistakes like this. We will know more after we read the report. If you don't want to, I will and tell you what it says."

Parker just nodded, "I need to get out.” She whispered and headed for the door. Parker needed to go get drunk, to not think about this, to try and forget in the end it was her fault he was killed

"Do you want me to come with you?” He asked her, very worried.

"No, I need to be myself." Parker said over her shoulder as she left the office

"I will be here if you need me.”Sydneytold her as she went, settling himself down to read the file.