Miss Parker leaned back in her dining room chair and eyed her companion.  She and Jeff had been meeting off and on for a couple of years now.  They had met for dinner last night and now he was fixing her breakfast.

“A girl could get used to this,” she thought to herself as she gazed at the man-candy she enjoyed during the night.  Her musings were interrupted by the shrill sound of her telephone.

“Angel, I have a job for you,” her father announced when she answered the phone.

“But, Daddy, it’s Saturday and I have company.  Can’t this wait until Monday?”

“Business first, Angel.  You know that.  Be in my office in one hour,” and with that Mr. Parker hung up on his daughter.

Jeff peered around the kitchen door.

“Gotta go into work, right?” he asked.  “Give me a call next time you are free and I’ll try to meet you somewhere.”  And after kissing her deeply, he left the house.

One hour later Miss Parker was storming into her father’s office.  Mr. Parker was arguing with Raines across the desktop.  Watching her father putting Raines in his place was usually entertaining, but she had just had promising weekend ruined and she wanted to know why.

“OK, Daddy, I’m here.  What’s so important t hat I had to cancel my weekend plans?  A contract fall through?  Someone renege on payment?”

“One of our projects has escaped and I want you to bring him back.”

“Bring him back? Who?”

“The Pretender Jarod.  We aren’t sure how he managed to get out, but we need him back immediately.”

“But, Daddy, I’m not a Cleaner anymore.  I’m in Corporate.  What can I do?”

“You’re a Parker.  You can do whatever you need to do.  I have put a team together for you and here’s what little we do know,” and he handed her a slim file folder.

“What about Sydney?  Has anyone contacted him yet?”

“We have been unable to reach him,” Raines said.  “I believe they are together.”

Mr. Parker shoot Raines a glare to shut him up, and then turned back to his daughter.

“Your team is waiting for you in your office.  Do me proud, Angel.”

And with that final comment, Mr. Parker dismissed Miss Parker from both his office and his attention.

  ***********************************************************  

Jarod squinted out the car window.  The bright sunlight was giving him a headache.  His eyes were not use to this intense natural light, but he didn’t want to say anything to Sydney.  Sydney had gotten upset with Jarod during the long drive overnight.  Jarod knew that he had been asking a lot of questions, but Sydney didn’t have to snap at him the way he did.  There had been very little talking in the car since that time.

“Are you hungry?” Sydney’s voice brought Jarod’s attention back to the man sitting beside him.

“Uh, I …...” Jarod didn’t know how to answer that simple question.  He was hungry, but his wheat grass slop was not very appealing and truly smelt bad.  And he didn’t want to upset Sydney again by saying the wrong thing.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier, Jarod.  It’s natural for you to have questions.  This is all so new to you.  I forgot that and the reality of what we are doing hit me.  Let’s forget the last couple of hours and go have a nice breakfast.”

Jarod smiled back at Sydney and agreed to have breakfast.  Maybe the wheat grass would taste different out here.  Maybe.

 ************************************************************   

Miss Parker reached her office and did indeed find her team waiting for her.  Fortunately, she knew both men.  She had worked with Broots before, when a client was having software issues.  Sam was the main sweeper she trained with down in the gym.  He mad her work and didn’t grope her.  Some of the other sweepers used the hand-to-hand training as an excuse to feel her up.  That was fine after hours and with the man of her choice, but those muscle-bound suits were Neanderthals.

“OK, boys, we have a job to do.  It looks like either a project wander off on his own or that Sydney has made off with Centre property.  Either way, we have to track Jarod down and bring him back to where he belongs.

Both men nodded their agreements, but didn’t say anything to disrupt their new boss’ orders.

“Broots, I want you to track down Sydney.  Follow his credit card receipts, ATM withdrawals, things like that.  Sam, I want you to study the surveillance footage.  I want to know how and when Jarod got away…Now, boys.”

As soon as the door closed behind Sam, Miss Parker pulled the photograph of Jarod out of the file.

“Why haven’t I checked you out before now, Jar,” she thought to herself.  “You have definitely grown into one delicious looking specimen.”

 ************************************************************  

Sydney pulled into a respectable looking hotel/restaurant complex.  He may have gotten a few hours sleep before meeting with Jarod last night, but the non-stop driving coupled with the tension from the last two weeks was quickly zapping the last of his energy.  He looked over at Jarod and smiled softly to himself.  The smile left his face as regret filled his eyes.  Jarod was looking intently out the window and Sydney could see he was bursting with questions.  Questions he wouldn’t ask after the way Sydney had snapped at him earlier.

“We’ll stop here for a while.  Get something to eat, some sleep.  How long do you think we can stay here?”

“The Centre is probably just now setting things up.  Oh…here.  Angelo and I made this up for you.  It will help us to stay out of the Centre’s radar,” and Jarod handed Sydney a wallet.

Sydney accepted the leather billfold with a curious hand.  Inside he found a driver’s license, credit and bank cards, a social security card and some assorted photos.  All the cards bore the same name, the same name that matched the photo on the license.  A name that proclaimed his name was Sydney Parker.  And, to Sydney’s astonishment, a couple of the credit cards were Centre issue.

“Those are my favorites,” Jarod grinned.  “We set those up with a history going back about six years.  Sydney Parker travels a lot for the Centre.  Corporate Officer, you know.”

Sydney shook his head at Jarod’s audacity, but he did have to admit that he had been concerned about their finances.  This just made staying out of the Centre a whole lot easier.  And it was reassuring to know that Jarod was as meticulous in this as he was in all his other SIMs.

“Come on, Jarod.  Let’s get something to eat.”