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Sorry for the long delay between chapters, but I had to fire 2 muses before I found one willing to work. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, you're the best.
“Sydney! Sydney, where are you?”
Sydney looked up from the laptop at Jarod’s yell. He had been documenting the changes in Jarod’s emotional and social growth. It was a familiar pattern for both: Jarod doing with Sydney observing. And that familiarity was a comfort to both.
“Sydney, pack up! They know where we are!”
Sydney’s heart seemed to stop at Jarod’s words. He knew that the Centre would consider him expendable now and he knew that his death would devastate his pupil. Free, Jarod still depended on Sydney to guide him in the confusing world he was now immersed in. And Raines would use Sydney’s death to completely break the young Pretender, if he was ever re-captured. Sydney broke away from that chain of thought and glanced up at the younger man.
“How much time do we have, Jarod?” he asked as he rose from his seat.
“Angelo says about three hours. He overheard a phone call to Miss Parker. It seems a sweeper assigned near here saw us in the grocery store. He called the Centre and was told to wait for Miss Parker to arrive.”
Jarod paused for a second and then looked over at Sydney, his brown eyes full of hurt and betrayal.
“Why is Miss Parker the one chasing us, Sydney? I thought she was my friend.”
Sydney’s heart ached at the anguish in Jarod’s voice. He wanted to hold him tight, but, as he had so often before, he stopped himself. What was once done to protect them both from the Centre’s PTBs was now done both from habit and from Sydney’s fear of Jarod’s rejection.
“She’s not the same person you were once friends with. The young Miss Parker had her mother to depend on and to learn from. The older Miss Parker is determined to win her father’s approval anyway she can. And if that means chasing after us, then she is willing to do so.”
“She’s not my friend anymore?”
“No, Jarod, she’s not. From the rumors I have heard, she is committed to the Centre and determined to be her father’s heir to the Chairmanship.”
Sydney gripped on of Jarod’s shoulders in an attempt at condolences, but knew that he had to get Jarod’s mind focused on the immediate problem.
“Come on, let’s get packed, and get out of here before anyone shows up. Any idea where we should go to next?”
Jarod thought for a minute and then perked up.
“I know, how about the beach? It looks wonderful on the television. And maybe I can try that surfing thing like on that movie we saw.”
Sydney grimaced at the thought of Jarod at the beach. Jarod in the sand, Jarod in the water, Jarod wandering loose amongst the junk food vendors that littered the shoreline. That was truly the stuff of nightmares. Maybe Jarod could be persuaded to pick somewhere else.
“You sure about the beach? You don’t know how to swim and the ocean is not a good place to learn. Maybe we can so someplace with an amusement park.”
Jarod grinned over at Sydney, the happy-little-boy smile that Sydney was growing fond of seeing.
“You can teach me. We can get a place with a swimming area and then you can teach me. Hmm, you do know how to swim, don’t you?”
“Yes, Jarod, I know how to swim and yes, I will teach you how to swim in a pool. That is something you should know, anyway. But, I want you to promise me that you will wait to swim or go surfing in the ocean until I say you’re ready. OK?”
Jarod nodded his agreement and then both men raced to pack up their belongings.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
“Six weeks, Broots! Why has it been so hard for you to find a runaway labrat and his keeper? It’s not like either one is really experience with the world outside of the Centre. The labrat has been in here most of his life and Freud might as well have been assigned quarters here. I think he slept in his office most of the time and only went home to shower and change clothes.”
Miss Parker paced around the interior of the jet as it sped through the air.
“A very minor level sweeper, off-duty no less, sees Jarod in the candy aisle of a grocery store. Does he grab the rat? Oh, no, he doesn’t do that. He follows him to an apartment complex, where he then loses him. And how many apartments are in this complex?”
“About sixty,” mumbled Sam as he tried to not catch his boss’s eye.
“Sixty! And what are we going to do? Go knocking on every door asking if the residents have seen our escapees?”
“I’ve been going through their database and, so far, no one named either Sydney or Jarod has rented an apartment in this area”, Broots reluctantly volunteered when Parker’s glare was aimed in his direction.
“Wonderful, just wonderful. I’m working with Tweedledee and Tweedledum.”
Parker stomped down to the bar and poured a shot of Scotch. Downing it in one quick toss, she turned back to her assistants.
“How do you geniuses expect to find our targets?”
Sam and Broots silently looked at each other, hoping the other would be the one to answer and thus drawing the wrath of the woman in black. Fortunately for both men, Miss Parker’s attention was diverted from them by the pilot’s announcement of the immanent landing.
An hour later, Parker screeched to a halt in front of the apartment complex’s main office. She jumped out of the car and stormed over to a group of teenagers skateboarding nearby. She pulled two pictures out of Broots’ grip and handed them out to the group.
“Have you seen either of these men?” she demanded.
“Jarod and his old man? Sure, they live here.”
“Well? Do you know which apartment is theirs?”
“I think its 34B.”
“No, man, 37E.
“You’re both wrong, its 19A.”
“Hey, find Max, he’ll know. Him and Jarod are tight.”
Miss Parker gave a snort of disgust. The boys in front of here were too busy both eyeing her legs and posturing for the nearby girls to be of any help. She turned to the two men with her and ordered them to spread out and look around the complex.
“They’re here somewhere, find them.”
She snapped her fingers at Broots and Sam and watched them rush off. She then headed to the manager’s office.
Broots was pacing in front of apartment 26C when Miss Parker appeared, the complex manager trailing behind her. The hapless manager had been elbows deep in repairing the lawn’s sprinkler system when Miss Parker found him. His statement that he had seen both men carrying luggage toward their car a couple of hours earlier did little to improve Parker’s already fiery temper.
“They’re a nice family,” the manager’s voice replayed in her memory. “They kinda kept to themselves when they first moved in, but that Jarod, he’s a hoot. It was like everything was a new experience for him, ya know what I mean?”
Miss Parker growled at the memory, causing the already nervous Broots to flinch away from her.
“Imbeciles,” she half-muttered in disgust.
The manager fumbled with the complex’s master key, hoping the rude lady with the search warrant wasn’t gonna shoot him. He had seen her gun when she had handed him the warrant and the look in her eyes told him she wouldn’t hesitate to use it. And he had the hardest time believing that Jarod and Sydney were capable of embezzlement. The Parker woman and the black suited thug coming towards them fit his idea of bounty hunters, but he just couldn’t picture the nervous, balding man as anything but a computer geek. Nothing was making sense, but, since Jarod and his dad had moved on, he didn’t ask anything else. He finally got his hands to cooperate and was able to open the door.
Miss Parker pushed the incompetent manager aside and entered the empty apartment. She gestured for Sam and Broots to spread out and to look around. She may have missed the two runaways this time, but they must have left clues as to where they were headed.
A picture on the living room table caught her eye. Striding over, she looked down at a photograph of Jarod and Sydney laughing together while Sydney was cooking at a BBQ. And, written in the upper left corner was a brief note that had Miss Parker clenching her fists in anger.
“To Miss Parker, Better luck next time. Love J & S”
Sydney looked up from the laptop at Jarod’s yell. He had been documenting the changes in Jarod’s emotional and social growth. It was a familiar pattern for both: Jarod doing with Sydney observing. And that familiarity was a comfort to both.
“Sydney, pack up! They know where we are!”
Sydney’s heart seemed to stop at Jarod’s words. He knew that the Centre would consider him expendable now and he knew that his death would devastate his pupil. Free, Jarod still depended on Sydney to guide him in the confusing world he was now immersed in. And Raines would use Sydney’s death to completely break the young Pretender, if he was ever re-captured. Sydney broke away from that chain of thought and glanced up at the younger man.
“How much time do we have, Jarod?” he asked as he rose from his seat.
“Angelo says about three hours. He overheard a phone call to Miss Parker. It seems a sweeper assigned near here saw us in the grocery store. He called the Centre and was told to wait for Miss Parker to arrive.”
Jarod paused for a second and then looked over at Sydney, his brown eyes full of hurt and betrayal.
“Why is Miss Parker the one chasing us, Sydney? I thought she was my friend.”
Sydney’s heart ached at the anguish in Jarod’s voice. He wanted to hold him tight, but, as he had so often before, he stopped himself. What was once done to protect them both from the Centre’s PTBs was now done both from habit and from Sydney’s fear of Jarod’s rejection.
“She’s not the same person you were once friends with. The young Miss Parker had her mother to depend on and to learn from. The older Miss Parker is determined to win her father’s approval anyway she can. And if that means chasing after us, then she is willing to do so.”
“She’s not my friend anymore?”
“No, Jarod, she’s not. From the rumors I have heard, she is committed to the Centre and determined to be her father’s heir to the Chairmanship.”
Sydney gripped on of Jarod’s shoulders in an attempt at condolences, but knew that he had to get Jarod’s mind focused on the immediate problem.
“Come on, let’s get packed, and get out of here before anyone shows up. Any idea where we should go to next?”
Jarod thought for a minute and then perked up.
“I know, how about the beach? It looks wonderful on the television. And maybe I can try that surfing thing like on that movie we saw.”
Sydney grimaced at the thought of Jarod at the beach. Jarod in the sand, Jarod in the water, Jarod wandering loose amongst the junk food vendors that littered the shoreline. That was truly the stuff of nightmares. Maybe Jarod could be persuaded to pick somewhere else.
“You sure about the beach? You don’t know how to swim and the ocean is not a good place to learn. Maybe we can so someplace with an amusement park.”
Jarod grinned over at Sydney, the happy-little-boy smile that Sydney was growing fond of seeing.
“You can teach me. We can get a place with a swimming area and then you can teach me. Hmm, you do know how to swim, don’t you?”
“Yes, Jarod, I know how to swim and yes, I will teach you how to swim in a pool. That is something you should know, anyway. But, I want you to promise me that you will wait to swim or go surfing in the ocean until I say you’re ready. OK?”
Jarod nodded his agreement and then both men raced to pack up their belongings.
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
“Six weeks, Broots! Why has it been so hard for you to find a runaway labrat and his keeper? It’s not like either one is really experience with the world outside of the Centre. The labrat has been in here most of his life and Freud might as well have been assigned quarters here. I think he slept in his office most of the time and only went home to shower and change clothes.”
Miss Parker paced around the interior of the jet as it sped through the air.
“A very minor level sweeper, off-duty no less, sees Jarod in the candy aisle of a grocery store. Does he grab the rat? Oh, no, he doesn’t do that. He follows him to an apartment complex, where he then loses him. And how many apartments are in this complex?”
“About sixty,” mumbled Sam as he tried to not catch his boss’s eye.
“Sixty! And what are we going to do? Go knocking on every door asking if the residents have seen our escapees?”
“I’ve been going through their database and, so far, no one named either Sydney or Jarod has rented an apartment in this area”, Broots reluctantly volunteered when Parker’s glare was aimed in his direction.
“Wonderful, just wonderful. I’m working with Tweedledee and Tweedledum.”
Parker stomped down to the bar and poured a shot of Scotch. Downing it in one quick toss, she turned back to her assistants.
“How do you geniuses expect to find our targets?”
Sam and Broots silently looked at each other, hoping the other would be the one to answer and thus drawing the wrath of the woman in black. Fortunately for both men, Miss Parker’s attention was diverted from them by the pilot’s announcement of the immanent landing.
An hour later, Parker screeched to a halt in front of the apartment complex’s main office. She jumped out of the car and stormed over to a group of teenagers skateboarding nearby. She pulled two pictures out of Broots’ grip and handed them out to the group.
“Have you seen either of these men?” she demanded.
“Jarod and his old man? Sure, they live here.”
“Well? Do you know which apartment is theirs?”
“I think its 34B.”
“No, man, 37E.
“You’re both wrong, its 19A.”
“Hey, find Max, he’ll know. Him and Jarod are tight.”
Miss Parker gave a snort of disgust. The boys in front of here were too busy both eyeing her legs and posturing for the nearby girls to be of any help. She turned to the two men with her and ordered them to spread out and look around the complex.
“They’re here somewhere, find them.”
She snapped her fingers at Broots and Sam and watched them rush off. She then headed to the manager’s office.
Broots was pacing in front of apartment 26C when Miss Parker appeared, the complex manager trailing behind her. The hapless manager had been elbows deep in repairing the lawn’s sprinkler system when Miss Parker found him. His statement that he had seen both men carrying luggage toward their car a couple of hours earlier did little to improve Parker’s already fiery temper.
“They’re a nice family,” the manager’s voice replayed in her memory. “They kinda kept to themselves when they first moved in, but that Jarod, he’s a hoot. It was like everything was a new experience for him, ya know what I mean?”
Miss Parker growled at the memory, causing the already nervous Broots to flinch away from her.
“Imbeciles,” she half-muttered in disgust.
The manager fumbled with the complex’s master key, hoping the rude lady with the search warrant wasn’t gonna shoot him. He had seen her gun when she had handed him the warrant and the look in her eyes told him she wouldn’t hesitate to use it. And he had the hardest time believing that Jarod and Sydney were capable of embezzlement. The Parker woman and the black suited thug coming towards them fit his idea of bounty hunters, but he just couldn’t picture the nervous, balding man as anything but a computer geek. Nothing was making sense, but, since Jarod and his dad had moved on, he didn’t ask anything else. He finally got his hands to cooperate and was able to open the door.
Miss Parker pushed the incompetent manager aside and entered the empty apartment. She gestured for Sam and Broots to spread out and to look around. She may have missed the two runaways this time, but they must have left clues as to where they were headed.
A picture on the living room table caught her eye. Striding over, she looked down at a photograph of Jarod and Sydney laughing together while Sydney was cooking at a BBQ. And, written in the upper left corner was a brief note that had Miss Parker clenching her fists in anger.
“To Miss Parker, Better luck next time. Love J & S”
