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Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc. and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.
part XXII
By Rebeckah
part XXII
By Rebeckah
"He just drove in with his father, Ma’am." The man, like Centre Sweepers, was dressed in black. However, where the Sweepers wore suits, this man and his companions wore black T-shirts and jeans. Even their sneakers were black. The only contrast was a stylized asian-like temple in white incorporated in their T-shirts on the upper right side of each man’s chest.
Every one of the dozen men were blond, their eyes hidden behind wrap around sunglasses, and in peak physical condition. The leader, speaking to his boss at the Pagode, knew that they were up to the challenge they’d been given.
"The Centre?" Marion asked her prized ‘Seeker’, the best in a lot of highly intelligent and motivated men.
"We arranged for a delay in Pennsylvania. They’ll be delayed for several hours filling out paperwork and undergoing background checks." He assured her. "I had confirmation that they fell into our trap 15 minutes ago."
"Excellent, Alexander! Give them half an hour and if they haven’t left the house by then, go In and get them. Return with my prizes and you will be well rewarded." Marion promised, triumph gleaming in her blue eyes.
She ended the call, and swiveled her plush, leather chair around to look out of the expansive windows of her penthouse office. He was almost hers, it was only a matter of hours; she gloated silently.
She’d wanted Jarod from the first moment she’d seen him; just a glimpse into his Sim lab as she was hustled back to her room by a Sweeper. She’d only been 13 then, it was just hours before Catherine Parker had rescued her and another little boy and girl. Jarod had been focusing intently on something Sydney was telling him, his dark eyes narrowed in concentration and his lower lip trapped between his teeth. He was the most appealing boy she’d ever seen.
Granted, her years at the Centre hadn’t allowed her to meet many boys, but she’d had plenty of chances to know them after she’d been rescued. As she grew into a well endowed young woman, with her fair hair, blue eyes, and porcelain skin, she’d had more than her share of boyfriends and lovers. None of them had made her forget the boy, with his soft, sad brown eyes and gentle, caring face.
So she had kept tabs on Jarod almost since the day she had been rescued by Catherine. And when he’d escaped the Centre she’d been able to get pictures of him as her men tracked him. He’d grown into a magnificent specimen of manhood. Well muscled, tall, with the same dark eyes, one of which drooped endearingly. And, of course, he still had the same caring face; the face that she wanted to regard her with caring and love.
She knew, of course, about his infatuation with that irritating Parker female, but she knew that she could make him forget her with just a little persuasion. Unlike Parker, she was not afraid to be a woman, and once she’d won Jarod to her side the Pagode would rise in power to where nothing could affect them. And once Parker had the child she could be dismissed to the breeding project in Siberia. Marion and Jarod would raise the child, train it to use to the fullest its dual genetic gifts; intelligence and that extra sense that the Parker wench had no idea she carried.
And she and Jarod would have other children----heirs to take over the Pagode and carry it into the next millennium. Of course, creating those children wouldn’t be a burden either. A cat-like smile of satisfaction curled her lips.
Almost as if it sensed her thoughts, a gray/black tabby cat strolled over to Marion’s chair and leapt into her lap. She curled into a purring ball of contentment, kneading her mistresses thigh with her claws, as Marion stroked her gently, still imagining herself with Jarod.
*******************
"Broots, are you sure you don’t want me to take the gun?" Emily whispered once more as the three would-be rescuers crouched in the shadows around the house they had determined was the most likely to hold Debbie.
"Enough, Emily!" Broots snapped, his firmness still startling his two companions. "I am going to have every advantage I can get until Debbie is safely with me again. Besides," he admitted with a trace of his old timidity, "I don’t know any of the martial arts like you say you do."
Sydney smothered a smile with one gloved hand and rose quickly to peek into the window over their heads. He swept the room with his eyes and ducked back down in seconds, unnoticed by the room’s occupants.
"Well?" Broots demanded impatiently.
"Two men, in the center, playing cards. I didn’t see any sign of Debbie." Sydney answered thoughtfully, replaying the picture of the room he’d fixed firmly in his mind.
"Okay, are you ready, Emily?" Broots asked the young lady. She settled a lightweight coil of nylon rope to her shoulder and nodded silently. Broots took a deep breath, worry flashing on his face for a moment before determination pushed it off. "Wait for us in the car, Sydney." He whispered to the older man, and began making his way to the back door of the house. Sydney nodded and crept cautiously towards the front of the house.
He’d barely started the car and pulled it, with the headlights out, in front of the house when Broots and Emily burst out the front door, each holding one of Debbie’s hands. They tumbled breathlessly into the back seat and Sydney accelerated away from the house. As he did an angry figure appeared in the doorway, firing two shots at the fleeing car before it turned the corner and was gone.
"Daddy, I *knew* you’d come for me!" Debbie cried joyfully, hugging her father tightly. Broots blinked away the moisture in his eyes and passed his gun to Emily behind Debbie’s back before he enfolded her into his arms to return the hug.
"Did they hurt you, honey? Are you okay?" He asked her when she relaxed her hold on his neck. Debbie giggled mischievously.
"No, Daddy, they didn’t hurt me. They didn’t know *anything* about taking care of a little girl, though." She told him cheerfully, her eyes dancing as she remembered how she’d gotten her own little revenge on the two men with her temper tantrums.
"Rochester, Broots?" Sydney verified their destination quietly with a quick glance in the rear-view mirror to catch Broots’ nod.
"Are we going to visit Uncle Frank and Aunt Karen?" Debbie asked happily.
"Only for a few hours." Broots told his daughter, still watching her like she would disappear if he took his eyes off of her for a minute. "Then we’re going to have to leave again."
"They might come looking for us, huh?" Debbie asked solemnly, surprising the two men with her immediate grasp of the danger. Emily, however, knew that Debbie undoubtedly understood far more of what was going on at her father’s work than he wanted to know.
"Yes, Debbie." She answered the girl gently when it became clear that Broots couldn’t find the right words. "They aren’t happy that your father helped me, so now I’m going to help you two disappear."
"Okay." She accepted this simply and tried, unsuccessfully to smother a huge yawn. "I hope you remembered to bring Peter, though." She told her dad sleepily, referring to her favorite, battered old stuffed animal. It was a bunny, rather than the traditional bear.
"He’s in the trunk." Broots reassured his daughter, stroking her light brown hair softly as she snuggled her head into his lap a began to drift off to sleep. Her histrionics had worn her out.
************************
"Hello, Sam." Jarod’s voice was low and even, but a muscle jumped in his jaw and his brown eyes burned with an angry fire.
"Jarod." Sam’s own eyes were narrowed and wary.
"Are you going to let us in, or am I going to come through you?" Jarod demanded when Sam showed no signs of either opening the door wider or moving aside for the two men on the porch.
"Son!" The Major reproved sternly.
"Might as well come in." Sam answered tersely, finally stepping back to let them in.
"How is she?" Jarod asked as soon as the door closed behind them.
"She’s a little better right now." Sam answered grudgingly, but he kept the information that Catherine was with her to himself. "I think that if she doesn’t have to deal with anymore shocks she just might make it through this pregnancy." He added pointedly.
"Sam, that’s my baby she’s carrying. If you think I’m going to walk away and leave her to go through that alone, you’re dumber than I thought." Jarod responded acidly. A hand clenched and unclenched at his side, as if he was just itching for an excuse.
"Dad? Jarod?" JJ’s young voice interrupted the male posturing by Sam and Jarod. "How’d you find us?"
"The genius here announced to the hospital you stayed at where he was going." Jarod answered the boy bitingly, still glaring at Sam. "You’re just lucky the Centre hasn’t gotten here yet. We’ve got to get out of here before they do. Now which room is hers?"
"She’s in the first bedroom." JJ answered slowly, his puzzled gaze swinging between Sam and Jarod. "But she’s not-----" His voice trailed off as Jarod strode away without waiting for the rest.
Now Sam and the Major sized each other up. The Major broke the silent appraisal with a smile and an outstretched hand.
"Thanks for taking care of JJ and Miss Parker." He told the faintly surprised ex-Sweeper. "When he has a chance to think sensibly Jarod will realize what a debt we owe you."
"He’s got reason to dislike me." Sam admitted unwillingly.
"Well, now he’s got even more reason to thank you." The Major maintained. "And I’ll see to it that he remembers that, if he doesn’t remember on his own.
"Dad?" JJ pulled the Major’s attention to him. "You know I was right, don’t you?" He asked anxiously, afraid that Jarod would upset Miss Parker if he didn’t realize that she really was pregnant.
"Yes, son." He reassured him. "We do know, and Jarod was feeling bad about what he’d said to her even before that."
"That’s okay, then." JJ nodded once, satisfied. "I guess I’ll go get my things together then." He added, starting towards the hallway.
*********************
"Parker, just hear me out!" Jarod opened the door and spoke the words simultaneously, and was in the room with the door closed behind him before he realized that there was another person present.
"Parker?" His disbelieving eyes swept from one face to the other in shock.
"What are you doing here, rat-boy?" Parker demanded harshly, her hand clinging to her mother’s for strength.
"Angelina!" Catherine reproved her weakly.
"Mama, you don’t understand." Parker defended herself as Jarod spoke to her.
"Parker, please forgive me." He pleaded, shelving his shock at Catherine’s existence in order to focus on the matter at hand. "I should have trusted you----I’m so sorry."
"Jarod, get the hell out of my room and out of my life!" Parker answered steadily, although her grip on her mother’s hand had tightened.
‘Jarod?’ Catherine thought, her gaze on the man standing in front of the door sharpening with interest. She kept silent and watched the exchange between her daughter and the intruder with avid attention.
"Listen, Parker." Jarod demanded desperately, raking a hand through his hair and beginning to pace. "That gorilla in the next room might as well have left a trail of neon signs pointing the Centre this way. They’re going to be here any time now. You’ve got to stop fighting me and let me help you."
"I don’t have to do anything, Jarod!" Parker responded bitingly. "I’ve taken care of myself all of my life and if you think a baby is going to change anything you are sadly mistaken. Go find some other fool to listen to your drivel."
"Don’t be so stubborn!" Jarod flared. "You aren’t blameless in all of this either! You did everything you could to make me believe you’d had an abortion."
‘Bad move.’ Catherine thought, watching the anger grow in her daughter’s eyes. But she thought she saw a hint of guilt too.
"You’re the genius. You should have figured it out." She hissed furiously. "Trust me, Parker. I understand you, Parker! All those head games for all of these years and all of a sudden you no longer understand me? I don’t think so!"
"Parker, please! I was hurt and I was angry!" Jarod backpedaled frantically, finally realizing what a mistake his anger had been. "I wasn’t thinking clearly."
"You weren’t thinking at all, wonder-rat. You took what you wanted and you left. Just what did Lyle promise you to get you to cooperate anyway? A real chance at escape?" Parker’s eyes were the only thing with color on her face and the hurt she would have done anything not to show flared in those eyes.
"It wasn’t like that!" Jarod gulped, his heart pounding in response to the pain on her face, pain he’d caused. "I thought-----"
What Jarod was about to say was lost when an oval, metallic object crashed through the bedroom window and began spraying white gas.
"Parker!" Jarod managed two steps towards her before the gas overcame him and he stumbled to the floor. The last thing he saw was a dark figure stepping over him to brace a chair under the handle of the door.
**********************
"Sir, it’s Mr. Mutumbo." Raines’ secretary called out as he passed the door to his office. Raines’ swung around to face her, his already pale face growing paper white with fear. What was he going to tell Mutumbo?
Every one of the dozen men were blond, their eyes hidden behind wrap around sunglasses, and in peak physical condition. The leader, speaking to his boss at the Pagode, knew that they were up to the challenge they’d been given.
"The Centre?" Marion asked her prized ‘Seeker’, the best in a lot of highly intelligent and motivated men.
"We arranged for a delay in Pennsylvania. They’ll be delayed for several hours filling out paperwork and undergoing background checks." He assured her. "I had confirmation that they fell into our trap 15 minutes ago."
"Excellent, Alexander! Give them half an hour and if they haven’t left the house by then, go In and get them. Return with my prizes and you will be well rewarded." Marion promised, triumph gleaming in her blue eyes.
She ended the call, and swiveled her plush, leather chair around to look out of the expansive windows of her penthouse office. He was almost hers, it was only a matter of hours; she gloated silently.
She’d wanted Jarod from the first moment she’d seen him; just a glimpse into his Sim lab as she was hustled back to her room by a Sweeper. She’d only been 13 then, it was just hours before Catherine Parker had rescued her and another little boy and girl. Jarod had been focusing intently on something Sydney was telling him, his dark eyes narrowed in concentration and his lower lip trapped between his teeth. He was the most appealing boy she’d ever seen.
Granted, her years at the Centre hadn’t allowed her to meet many boys, but she’d had plenty of chances to know them after she’d been rescued. As she grew into a well endowed young woman, with her fair hair, blue eyes, and porcelain skin, she’d had more than her share of boyfriends and lovers. None of them had made her forget the boy, with his soft, sad brown eyes and gentle, caring face.
So she had kept tabs on Jarod almost since the day she had been rescued by Catherine. And when he’d escaped the Centre she’d been able to get pictures of him as her men tracked him. He’d grown into a magnificent specimen of manhood. Well muscled, tall, with the same dark eyes, one of which drooped endearingly. And, of course, he still had the same caring face; the face that she wanted to regard her with caring and love.
She knew, of course, about his infatuation with that irritating Parker female, but she knew that she could make him forget her with just a little persuasion. Unlike Parker, she was not afraid to be a woman, and once she’d won Jarod to her side the Pagode would rise in power to where nothing could affect them. And once Parker had the child she could be dismissed to the breeding project in Siberia. Marion and Jarod would raise the child, train it to use to the fullest its dual genetic gifts; intelligence and that extra sense that the Parker wench had no idea she carried.
And she and Jarod would have other children----heirs to take over the Pagode and carry it into the next millennium. Of course, creating those children wouldn’t be a burden either. A cat-like smile of satisfaction curled her lips.
Almost as if it sensed her thoughts, a gray/black tabby cat strolled over to Marion’s chair and leapt into her lap. She curled into a purring ball of contentment, kneading her mistresses thigh with her claws, as Marion stroked her gently, still imagining herself with Jarod.
*******************
"Broots, are you sure you don’t want me to take the gun?" Emily whispered once more as the three would-be rescuers crouched in the shadows around the house they had determined was the most likely to hold Debbie.
"Enough, Emily!" Broots snapped, his firmness still startling his two companions. "I am going to have every advantage I can get until Debbie is safely with me again. Besides," he admitted with a trace of his old timidity, "I don’t know any of the martial arts like you say you do."
Sydney smothered a smile with one gloved hand and rose quickly to peek into the window over their heads. He swept the room with his eyes and ducked back down in seconds, unnoticed by the room’s occupants.
"Well?" Broots demanded impatiently.
"Two men, in the center, playing cards. I didn’t see any sign of Debbie." Sydney answered thoughtfully, replaying the picture of the room he’d fixed firmly in his mind.
"Okay, are you ready, Emily?" Broots asked the young lady. She settled a lightweight coil of nylon rope to her shoulder and nodded silently. Broots took a deep breath, worry flashing on his face for a moment before determination pushed it off. "Wait for us in the car, Sydney." He whispered to the older man, and began making his way to the back door of the house. Sydney nodded and crept cautiously towards the front of the house.
He’d barely started the car and pulled it, with the headlights out, in front of the house when Broots and Emily burst out the front door, each holding one of Debbie’s hands. They tumbled breathlessly into the back seat and Sydney accelerated away from the house. As he did an angry figure appeared in the doorway, firing two shots at the fleeing car before it turned the corner and was gone.
"Daddy, I *knew* you’d come for me!" Debbie cried joyfully, hugging her father tightly. Broots blinked away the moisture in his eyes and passed his gun to Emily behind Debbie’s back before he enfolded her into his arms to return the hug.
"Did they hurt you, honey? Are you okay?" He asked her when she relaxed her hold on his neck. Debbie giggled mischievously.
"No, Daddy, they didn’t hurt me. They didn’t know *anything* about taking care of a little girl, though." She told him cheerfully, her eyes dancing as she remembered how she’d gotten her own little revenge on the two men with her temper tantrums.
"Rochester, Broots?" Sydney verified their destination quietly with a quick glance in the rear-view mirror to catch Broots’ nod.
"Are we going to visit Uncle Frank and Aunt Karen?" Debbie asked happily.
"Only for a few hours." Broots told his daughter, still watching her like she would disappear if he took his eyes off of her for a minute. "Then we’re going to have to leave again."
"They might come looking for us, huh?" Debbie asked solemnly, surprising the two men with her immediate grasp of the danger. Emily, however, knew that Debbie undoubtedly understood far more of what was going on at her father’s work than he wanted to know.
"Yes, Debbie." She answered the girl gently when it became clear that Broots couldn’t find the right words. "They aren’t happy that your father helped me, so now I’m going to help you two disappear."
"Okay." She accepted this simply and tried, unsuccessfully to smother a huge yawn. "I hope you remembered to bring Peter, though." She told her dad sleepily, referring to her favorite, battered old stuffed animal. It was a bunny, rather than the traditional bear.
"He’s in the trunk." Broots reassured his daughter, stroking her light brown hair softly as she snuggled her head into his lap a began to drift off to sleep. Her histrionics had worn her out.
************************
"Hello, Sam." Jarod’s voice was low and even, but a muscle jumped in his jaw and his brown eyes burned with an angry fire.
"Jarod." Sam’s own eyes were narrowed and wary.
"Are you going to let us in, or am I going to come through you?" Jarod demanded when Sam showed no signs of either opening the door wider or moving aside for the two men on the porch.
"Son!" The Major reproved sternly.
"Might as well come in." Sam answered tersely, finally stepping back to let them in.
"How is she?" Jarod asked as soon as the door closed behind them.
"She’s a little better right now." Sam answered grudgingly, but he kept the information that Catherine was with her to himself. "I think that if she doesn’t have to deal with anymore shocks she just might make it through this pregnancy." He added pointedly.
"Sam, that’s my baby she’s carrying. If you think I’m going to walk away and leave her to go through that alone, you’re dumber than I thought." Jarod responded acidly. A hand clenched and unclenched at his side, as if he was just itching for an excuse.
"Dad? Jarod?" JJ’s young voice interrupted the male posturing by Sam and Jarod. "How’d you find us?"
"The genius here announced to the hospital you stayed at where he was going." Jarod answered the boy bitingly, still glaring at Sam. "You’re just lucky the Centre hasn’t gotten here yet. We’ve got to get out of here before they do. Now which room is hers?"
"She’s in the first bedroom." JJ answered slowly, his puzzled gaze swinging between Sam and Jarod. "But she’s not-----" His voice trailed off as Jarod strode away without waiting for the rest.
Now Sam and the Major sized each other up. The Major broke the silent appraisal with a smile and an outstretched hand.
"Thanks for taking care of JJ and Miss Parker." He told the faintly surprised ex-Sweeper. "When he has a chance to think sensibly Jarod will realize what a debt we owe you."
"He’s got reason to dislike me." Sam admitted unwillingly.
"Well, now he’s got even more reason to thank you." The Major maintained. "And I’ll see to it that he remembers that, if he doesn’t remember on his own.
"Dad?" JJ pulled the Major’s attention to him. "You know I was right, don’t you?" He asked anxiously, afraid that Jarod would upset Miss Parker if he didn’t realize that she really was pregnant.
"Yes, son." He reassured him. "We do know, and Jarod was feeling bad about what he’d said to her even before that."
"That’s okay, then." JJ nodded once, satisfied. "I guess I’ll go get my things together then." He added, starting towards the hallway.
*********************
"Parker, just hear me out!" Jarod opened the door and spoke the words simultaneously, and was in the room with the door closed behind him before he realized that there was another person present.
"Parker?" His disbelieving eyes swept from one face to the other in shock.
"What are you doing here, rat-boy?" Parker demanded harshly, her hand clinging to her mother’s for strength.
"Angelina!" Catherine reproved her weakly.
"Mama, you don’t understand." Parker defended herself as Jarod spoke to her.
"Parker, please forgive me." He pleaded, shelving his shock at Catherine’s existence in order to focus on the matter at hand. "I should have trusted you----I’m so sorry."
"Jarod, get the hell out of my room and out of my life!" Parker answered steadily, although her grip on her mother’s hand had tightened.
‘Jarod?’ Catherine thought, her gaze on the man standing in front of the door sharpening with interest. She kept silent and watched the exchange between her daughter and the intruder with avid attention.
"Listen, Parker." Jarod demanded desperately, raking a hand through his hair and beginning to pace. "That gorilla in the next room might as well have left a trail of neon signs pointing the Centre this way. They’re going to be here any time now. You’ve got to stop fighting me and let me help you."
"I don’t have to do anything, Jarod!" Parker responded bitingly. "I’ve taken care of myself all of my life and if you think a baby is going to change anything you are sadly mistaken. Go find some other fool to listen to your drivel."
"Don’t be so stubborn!" Jarod flared. "You aren’t blameless in all of this either! You did everything you could to make me believe you’d had an abortion."
‘Bad move.’ Catherine thought, watching the anger grow in her daughter’s eyes. But she thought she saw a hint of guilt too.
"You’re the genius. You should have figured it out." She hissed furiously. "Trust me, Parker. I understand you, Parker! All those head games for all of these years and all of a sudden you no longer understand me? I don’t think so!"
"Parker, please! I was hurt and I was angry!" Jarod backpedaled frantically, finally realizing what a mistake his anger had been. "I wasn’t thinking clearly."
"You weren’t thinking at all, wonder-rat. You took what you wanted and you left. Just what did Lyle promise you to get you to cooperate anyway? A real chance at escape?" Parker’s eyes were the only thing with color on her face and the hurt she would have done anything not to show flared in those eyes.
"It wasn’t like that!" Jarod gulped, his heart pounding in response to the pain on her face, pain he’d caused. "I thought-----"
What Jarod was about to say was lost when an oval, metallic object crashed through the bedroom window and began spraying white gas.
"Parker!" Jarod managed two steps towards her before the gas overcame him and he stumbled to the floor. The last thing he saw was a dark figure stepping over him to brace a chair under the handle of the door.
**********************
"Sir, it’s Mr. Mutumbo." Raines’ secretary called out as he passed the door to his office. Raines’ swung around to face her, his already pale face growing paper white with fear. What was he going to tell Mutumbo?
