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Chapter or Story
Author's Note: I just reposted this, I don't know what happened but I just noticed that the full version was not posted. Here is this chapter in it's entirety.
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Downtown Philadelphia
Saturday Nov. 17
12:45AM
-Hello
-What took you so long to answer the phone?
-Sorry I was in the other room. So are we still on for tonight?
-Uh… no something's come up on my end and I won't be able to make the meet tonight. We'll meet tomorrow night. I'll call you again tomorrow after 6 with the time. -Wait you want me to just sit around here and wait for your call.
-Yes I do expect you to wait for my call, especially since I'm the one with the money!
As the conversation carried on, Jarod's eyes looked on with shock as he tried to withhold himself from interjecting in the conversation. 'How the hell could They have set this one up?' he kept asking himself over and over, 'My god, I can't believe she's with the Centre!' Luckily the woman couldn't see his reaction since he was standing behind her. As the conversation abruptly ended, Jarod awakened from his thoughts and pulled out his gun. He held it against the base of Kate's skull. Kate froze as she felt the cool metal and started to tremble when she heard the gun cock. She was about to say something but decided against it.
"Who do you work for? And how do you know Lyle?" Jarod demanded.
"I work for no one and I don't know anyone named Lyle" was all she could muster up to say.
"There's no way you could get this type of surveillance equipment alone. Some of this stuff is barely out of development, which can only mean a few things... and I'm going to ask you one more time, how do you know Lyle, the man you were talking to on the phone?" he asked fearing that she would reveal that she worked for the Centre.
"The man I was talking to on the phone wasn't Lyle, and I won't give you his name... besides that conversation is none of your business."
"When it comes to the Centre it is my business!"
"What Centre?"
"You already know... you were just speaking to one of their employees, a thumbless man named Mr. Lyle"
When Jarod mentioned the defining characteristic of her contact, Kate suddenly froze as her mind raced trying to figure out what was happening and how all this had come about. 'How could he know about my contact, this Mr. Lyle as he calls him?'
"Rings a bell doesn't it?" Jarod stated as he came around her and stood in front of her, gun still aimed at her head. "How did you guys set this one up? How much time before they come up here?" he demanded of her.
"What are you talking about? Before who comes up here?"
Jarod looked into her eyes and saw that she genuinely did not know what he was talking about. 'Maybe she's not with the Centre after all?' "All right let's start at the beginning, what are you doing here? And I want the full story quickly."
"Why should I tell you anything? I-"
"Because I'm not the one tied up and looking down the barrel of a gun!"
Kate paused as she considered her options; there really weren't any options though if she wanted to live. "Okay then...A few weeks ago I find out about this thumbless man, you're Mr. Lyle, whom I know as Carl Smith, who wants to buy some information which I can provide him with."
"What kind of information?"
"He wanted some information on satellites and some federal mainframes."
"So you're selling secret information to the highest bidder? Is that it?"
"No, that's not it at all! I've been trying to set him up for a sting for the past few weeks, and it was supposed to go down tonight, but that was before you showed up. And don't bother asking me who I work for because I work alone and for myself." Jarod just looked at her studying her as he nodded his head, imploring her to continue on with the story, even though he doubted her working alone. "As I was saying I heard about Carl a few weeks ago and then contacted him about the information I could provide him with. We were supposed to meet tonight to make the trade. He would call a half hour before the meet to let me know when it would happen, and I would provide him with the place we would meet at. I chose this alleyway, and so I've been staking it out all day. Then you came running around the corner and I saw you climb up the fire escape as Carl and two others showed up, chasing you I presume. When I saw you climbing down I decided that I wasn't going to let you ruin this sting... except that didn't work out quite how I had hoped which brings us to here...So how do you know Carl? Or Mr. Lyle as you call him?"
Jarod continued to study her face. Determining whether or not she could be trusted. His mind came to a decision but he needed some supplies first. He went to the window and looked down into the alley to see Miss Parker, Sam and Lyle standing around the car looking at each other.
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"Where the hell could Jarod have escaped to?" Lyle asked out loud but to no one in particular.
"Well we did train him," Parker replied as her phone rang. Turning away from Lyle and Sam she answered the phone with her trademark,
-What? -Miss Parker, it's Broots. I think I may have a lock on Jarod's lair.
-Excellent Broots! That's possibly some of the best news I've heard today! So give it to me will you, I don't have all night!
-I think he's in an apartment on Walnut and 38th Street, it's called the Castle and it's apartment 503. I got this from a-
Miss Parker abruptly hung up the phone as she got the info she wanted. She wasn't in the mood to hear Broots' rambling. "We got a lock on Jarod's lair here in Philly. Let's go!" she said as she turned toward her companions and headed back to the car. Once they were all in the car they headed out the alley the way they had come in. They left the alley not knowing that their pretender was still there.
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As Jarod saw Miss Parker answer the phone and then looked on as he saw them all climb into the car and leave with a hurry he couldn't help but smile. He figured his time delayed program had done it's duty once again. Once he was done with a pretend he would activate his program and then after a certain amount of time, an 'anonymous' call would be placed to the Centre leaving them with enough information so that they could find his previously inhabited lair. Only this time it was a little too close for comfort. Jarod was distracted from the window when he heard Kate speak again, "So how do you know Carl or Lyle or whatever his name is?" Jarod just continued to look at her. He walked over to her with a half crazed look in his eyes that scared Kate as she wondered what he was going to do with her.
He slowly walked around her, never taking his eyes off her. As he stood behind her, Kate looked over her shoulder trying to conceal the fear in her heart that this was the end of the line for her. Jarod slowly untied the gag that still lay around her neck still pondering which course of action to take. He stood behind there just looking down at her, holding the gag in his hands. The silence was killing Kate. Slowly Jarod brought his hands out in front of Kate's face and held the gag stretched out in front of her mouth,
"Open up," he demanded of her. Kate reluctantly complied with the demand as she opened her mouth. Jarod slowly yet firmly affixed the gag in place. He then gathered some of the extra rope he had found earlier and proceeded to tie Kate to the chair around the chest, hands and feet. Once she was secured to the chair he laid the chair and Kate in it down on its side. The entire time Kate just kept trying to get a look into his eyes to find out what he had in mind, but the entire time he kept avoiding looking into her eyes, almost as if he felt sorry for what he was doing.
Once he was done immobilizing Kate, Jarod came around in front of her and finally looked down at her. "I'm going to be gone for a bit to get some things, but I'll be back," he told her before quickly walking around her and leaving through the door. As soon as Jarod had left Kate started to struggle against the ropes holding her in place, but it was to no avail. After 10 minutes of struggling, she just waited for him to return.
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2:00AM
Jarod reentered the room with several things with him. Along with him he brought the DSA case, which contained his entire life, his computer and a duffel bag filled with other supplies and some clothes. He set up his computer on the table and took out his digital camera from the duffel bag. Once he had everything all set up, he turned his attention back to his prisoner who had been silent the entire time. He brought her and the chair back up into an upright position on the other side of the table across from his computer. "I'm going to take this gag off now on the condition that you don't scream and cooperate with me, alright?" Once Kate nodded her head he slowly removed the gag from her mouth.
"Thank you"
"You're welcome. Now if you don't mind I'm going to take your picture," he told her.
"What do you need to take my picture for?" Kate asked back with a slight hint of fear in her voice. A trace of fear that Jarod picked up on.
"To find out who you are of course. And if you don't mind, please stop talking for now," he told her as he took her picture and then hooked it up to his computer and uploaded the new picture. Once he had cleaned up the image, he then connected to the internet to access federal mainframes. 'She mentioned having access to some satellite info, and Lyle's involved so I'll start with the NSA first, and then maybe the FBI,' Jarod thought to himself as he accessed the NSA through the backdoor he had found years ago. Doing a search of employee badges and the picture he had, he came up with nothing initially. Something in his gut told him that the NSA was the right place to start, as he looked over the computer at Kate. Working off the name she had given him, he looked for any file references to the name Kate Foster.
He came up with one match within the files of the assistant director. Jarod quickly read over the file and learned that there was a deep under cover operative whose mission was to smoke out anyone who was a traitor to the United States. There was no mention of the operatives' real name only some of the aliases she would use in her mission, a list which Jarod quickly committed to memory. Jarod once again looked over the computer at 'Kate', estimating that she was no older than 30. Jarod was impressed by this fact since the level of trust given to her within the NSA was very high for someone so young.
Looking at recruitment files for the years between 1992 and 1996 he cross- referenced all files with current assignments. He came up with only three names that had no current assignments, in fact they had no current record. Two of the names belonged to men, leaving one who had to be his prisoner. Looking at her recruitment file he was able to find out her real name. It had taken him a little over an hour to ascertain her true identity. All that time Kate looked on in awe over the speed with which Jarod used his computer, although she was unaware of what exactly he was doing or whether or not he had found who she was.
"So Kate, or should I say Melanie, or Suzan, or Tara, or Stacy," he started to say to her rattling off the first names of her aliases to the shock and fear of 'Kate', "or shall I just use Marie Lawson?" he asked her as he ended with her real name.
'How could he have found out who I am so fast? There's no way he could have done it? I don't exist in the eyes of the NSA anymore?' "What are you talking about, my name's Kate," she replied trying to recompose herself from the shock of his discovery.
"Come now Ms. Lawson, there's no sense hiding it now. I know you work for the NSA, and have been for the past 8 years. You were recruited right out of Northwestern University where you graduated with degrees in Chemical Engineering and Psychology. And based on your current assignment I would say that you rose rapidly within the ranks of the NSA. You have no family. You speak four languages fluently: English, Spanish, German, and Russian. Are an expert marksman, good with explosives, and are learned in the martial arts. Would you like to hear some more?" he asked her with a smile on his face as he turned the computer screen toward her so that she could see the file that he had brought up.
Marie was in complete shock as he rattled off her history to her, looking from the computer screen to her captor and then back again. "How... how did you find out?" she asked him in a quiet whisper.
"It wasn't that hard actually, especially when you're as smart as me and know your way around all the federal agency mainframes."
"What?" she asked still in shock that she had been found out, "who are you?"
"Someone truly without a past," Jarod replied introspectively as his thoughts turned to the family he did not know. After a pause he continued on, "Don't worry about your identity, it's safe with me, besides I'm on your side. I would though recommend that your assistant director take out all references to your aliases in his personal files."
"What do you want with me?"
"You found me remember. But I will tell you to stay away from Lyle, he's someone you don't want to trifle with. Besides he's mine, I owe him," he told her as he thought of his slain brother.
"No way am I going to back off Carl now, he's mine. And just what exactly do you owe him? We're talking about national security here."
"Yes and I'm telling you to stay away from him! He killed my brother and stole my life! And if you get involved with him, you'll get hurt too, I can promise you that."
Marie was trying to decipher what exactly he was saying as a look of confusion and sadness came across her face, "I'm sorry about your brother and all, but I can't and won't back off now!"
"Yes you will if you want to live. He's hurt to many people in his lifetime and I won't let you be one of his victims!" Jarod stood up and came around the table toward Marie.
"I can take care of myself thank you very much!" she told him as she looked at him as he neared her. She was shocked when he pulled out the gag from his pocket and then forced it into her mouth. She tried to say some more since she didn't feel that this conversation was over.
Jarod just looked at her and wondered how he could sever the ties between Marie and Lyle. "Sorry to do this to you again, but it is for your own good," he told her.
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Downtown Philadelphia
Saturday Nov. 17
12:45AM
-Hello
-What took you so long to answer the phone?
-Sorry I was in the other room. So are we still on for tonight?
-Uh… no something's come up on my end and I won't be able to make the meet tonight. We'll meet tomorrow night. I'll call you again tomorrow after 6 with the time. -Wait you want me to just sit around here and wait for your call.
-Yes I do expect you to wait for my call, especially since I'm the one with the money!
As the conversation carried on, Jarod's eyes looked on with shock as he tried to withhold himself from interjecting in the conversation. 'How the hell could They have set this one up?' he kept asking himself over and over, 'My god, I can't believe she's with the Centre!' Luckily the woman couldn't see his reaction since he was standing behind her. As the conversation abruptly ended, Jarod awakened from his thoughts and pulled out his gun. He held it against the base of Kate's skull. Kate froze as she felt the cool metal and started to tremble when she heard the gun cock. She was about to say something but decided against it.
"Who do you work for? And how do you know Lyle?" Jarod demanded.
"I work for no one and I don't know anyone named Lyle" was all she could muster up to say.
"There's no way you could get this type of surveillance equipment alone. Some of this stuff is barely out of development, which can only mean a few things... and I'm going to ask you one more time, how do you know Lyle, the man you were talking to on the phone?" he asked fearing that she would reveal that she worked for the Centre.
"The man I was talking to on the phone wasn't Lyle, and I won't give you his name... besides that conversation is none of your business."
"When it comes to the Centre it is my business!"
"What Centre?"
"You already know... you were just speaking to one of their employees, a thumbless man named Mr. Lyle"
When Jarod mentioned the defining characteristic of her contact, Kate suddenly froze as her mind raced trying to figure out what was happening and how all this had come about. 'How could he know about my contact, this Mr. Lyle as he calls him?'
"Rings a bell doesn't it?" Jarod stated as he came around her and stood in front of her, gun still aimed at her head. "How did you guys set this one up? How much time before they come up here?" he demanded of her.
"What are you talking about? Before who comes up here?"
Jarod looked into her eyes and saw that she genuinely did not know what he was talking about. 'Maybe she's not with the Centre after all?' "All right let's start at the beginning, what are you doing here? And I want the full story quickly."
"Why should I tell you anything? I-"
"Because I'm not the one tied up and looking down the barrel of a gun!"
Kate paused as she considered her options; there really weren't any options though if she wanted to live. "Okay then...A few weeks ago I find out about this thumbless man, you're Mr. Lyle, whom I know as Carl Smith, who wants to buy some information which I can provide him with."
"What kind of information?"
"He wanted some information on satellites and some federal mainframes."
"So you're selling secret information to the highest bidder? Is that it?"
"No, that's not it at all! I've been trying to set him up for a sting for the past few weeks, and it was supposed to go down tonight, but that was before you showed up. And don't bother asking me who I work for because I work alone and for myself." Jarod just looked at her studying her as he nodded his head, imploring her to continue on with the story, even though he doubted her working alone. "As I was saying I heard about Carl a few weeks ago and then contacted him about the information I could provide him with. We were supposed to meet tonight to make the trade. He would call a half hour before the meet to let me know when it would happen, and I would provide him with the place we would meet at. I chose this alleyway, and so I've been staking it out all day. Then you came running around the corner and I saw you climb up the fire escape as Carl and two others showed up, chasing you I presume. When I saw you climbing down I decided that I wasn't going to let you ruin this sting... except that didn't work out quite how I had hoped which brings us to here...So how do you know Carl? Or Mr. Lyle as you call him?"
Jarod continued to study her face. Determining whether or not she could be trusted. His mind came to a decision but he needed some supplies first. He went to the window and looked down into the alley to see Miss Parker, Sam and Lyle standing around the car looking at each other.
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"Where the hell could Jarod have escaped to?" Lyle asked out loud but to no one in particular.
"Well we did train him," Parker replied as her phone rang. Turning away from Lyle and Sam she answered the phone with her trademark,
-What? -Miss Parker, it's Broots. I think I may have a lock on Jarod's lair.
-Excellent Broots! That's possibly some of the best news I've heard today! So give it to me will you, I don't have all night!
-I think he's in an apartment on Walnut and 38th Street, it's called the Castle and it's apartment 503. I got this from a-
Miss Parker abruptly hung up the phone as she got the info she wanted. She wasn't in the mood to hear Broots' rambling. "We got a lock on Jarod's lair here in Philly. Let's go!" she said as she turned toward her companions and headed back to the car. Once they were all in the car they headed out the alley the way they had come in. They left the alley not knowing that their pretender was still there.
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As Jarod saw Miss Parker answer the phone and then looked on as he saw them all climb into the car and leave with a hurry he couldn't help but smile. He figured his time delayed program had done it's duty once again. Once he was done with a pretend he would activate his program and then after a certain amount of time, an 'anonymous' call would be placed to the Centre leaving them with enough information so that they could find his previously inhabited lair. Only this time it was a little too close for comfort. Jarod was distracted from the window when he heard Kate speak again, "So how do you know Carl or Lyle or whatever his name is?" Jarod just continued to look at her. He walked over to her with a half crazed look in his eyes that scared Kate as she wondered what he was going to do with her.
He slowly walked around her, never taking his eyes off her. As he stood behind her, Kate looked over her shoulder trying to conceal the fear in her heart that this was the end of the line for her. Jarod slowly untied the gag that still lay around her neck still pondering which course of action to take. He stood behind there just looking down at her, holding the gag in his hands. The silence was killing Kate. Slowly Jarod brought his hands out in front of Kate's face and held the gag stretched out in front of her mouth,
"Open up," he demanded of her. Kate reluctantly complied with the demand as she opened her mouth. Jarod slowly yet firmly affixed the gag in place. He then gathered some of the extra rope he had found earlier and proceeded to tie Kate to the chair around the chest, hands and feet. Once she was secured to the chair he laid the chair and Kate in it down on its side. The entire time Kate just kept trying to get a look into his eyes to find out what he had in mind, but the entire time he kept avoiding looking into her eyes, almost as if he felt sorry for what he was doing.
Once he was done immobilizing Kate, Jarod came around in front of her and finally looked down at her. "I'm going to be gone for a bit to get some things, but I'll be back," he told her before quickly walking around her and leaving through the door. As soon as Jarod had left Kate started to struggle against the ropes holding her in place, but it was to no avail. After 10 minutes of struggling, she just waited for him to return.
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2:00AM
Jarod reentered the room with several things with him. Along with him he brought the DSA case, which contained his entire life, his computer and a duffel bag filled with other supplies and some clothes. He set up his computer on the table and took out his digital camera from the duffel bag. Once he had everything all set up, he turned his attention back to his prisoner who had been silent the entire time. He brought her and the chair back up into an upright position on the other side of the table across from his computer. "I'm going to take this gag off now on the condition that you don't scream and cooperate with me, alright?" Once Kate nodded her head he slowly removed the gag from her mouth.
"Thank you"
"You're welcome. Now if you don't mind I'm going to take your picture," he told her.
"What do you need to take my picture for?" Kate asked back with a slight hint of fear in her voice. A trace of fear that Jarod picked up on.
"To find out who you are of course. And if you don't mind, please stop talking for now," he told her as he took her picture and then hooked it up to his computer and uploaded the new picture. Once he had cleaned up the image, he then connected to the internet to access federal mainframes. 'She mentioned having access to some satellite info, and Lyle's involved so I'll start with the NSA first, and then maybe the FBI,' Jarod thought to himself as he accessed the NSA through the backdoor he had found years ago. Doing a search of employee badges and the picture he had, he came up with nothing initially. Something in his gut told him that the NSA was the right place to start, as he looked over the computer at Kate. Working off the name she had given him, he looked for any file references to the name Kate Foster.
He came up with one match within the files of the assistant director. Jarod quickly read over the file and learned that there was a deep under cover operative whose mission was to smoke out anyone who was a traitor to the United States. There was no mention of the operatives' real name only some of the aliases she would use in her mission, a list which Jarod quickly committed to memory. Jarod once again looked over the computer at 'Kate', estimating that she was no older than 30. Jarod was impressed by this fact since the level of trust given to her within the NSA was very high for someone so young.
Looking at recruitment files for the years between 1992 and 1996 he cross- referenced all files with current assignments. He came up with only three names that had no current assignments, in fact they had no current record. Two of the names belonged to men, leaving one who had to be his prisoner. Looking at her recruitment file he was able to find out her real name. It had taken him a little over an hour to ascertain her true identity. All that time Kate looked on in awe over the speed with which Jarod used his computer, although she was unaware of what exactly he was doing or whether or not he had found who she was.
"So Kate, or should I say Melanie, or Suzan, or Tara, or Stacy," he started to say to her rattling off the first names of her aliases to the shock and fear of 'Kate', "or shall I just use Marie Lawson?" he asked her as he ended with her real name.
'How could he have found out who I am so fast? There's no way he could have done it? I don't exist in the eyes of the NSA anymore?' "What are you talking about, my name's Kate," she replied trying to recompose herself from the shock of his discovery.
"Come now Ms. Lawson, there's no sense hiding it now. I know you work for the NSA, and have been for the past 8 years. You were recruited right out of Northwestern University where you graduated with degrees in Chemical Engineering and Psychology. And based on your current assignment I would say that you rose rapidly within the ranks of the NSA. You have no family. You speak four languages fluently: English, Spanish, German, and Russian. Are an expert marksman, good with explosives, and are learned in the martial arts. Would you like to hear some more?" he asked her with a smile on his face as he turned the computer screen toward her so that she could see the file that he had brought up.
Marie was in complete shock as he rattled off her history to her, looking from the computer screen to her captor and then back again. "How... how did you find out?" she asked him in a quiet whisper.
"It wasn't that hard actually, especially when you're as smart as me and know your way around all the federal agency mainframes."
"What?" she asked still in shock that she had been found out, "who are you?"
"Someone truly without a past," Jarod replied introspectively as his thoughts turned to the family he did not know. After a pause he continued on, "Don't worry about your identity, it's safe with me, besides I'm on your side. I would though recommend that your assistant director take out all references to your aliases in his personal files."
"What do you want with me?"
"You found me remember. But I will tell you to stay away from Lyle, he's someone you don't want to trifle with. Besides he's mine, I owe him," he told her as he thought of his slain brother.
"No way am I going to back off Carl now, he's mine. And just what exactly do you owe him? We're talking about national security here."
"Yes and I'm telling you to stay away from him! He killed my brother and stole my life! And if you get involved with him, you'll get hurt too, I can promise you that."
Marie was trying to decipher what exactly he was saying as a look of confusion and sadness came across her face, "I'm sorry about your brother and all, but I can't and won't back off now!"
"Yes you will if you want to live. He's hurt to many people in his lifetime and I won't let you be one of his victims!" Jarod stood up and came around the table toward Marie.
"I can take care of myself thank you very much!" she told him as she looked at him as he neared her. She was shocked when he pulled out the gag from his pocket and then forced it into her mouth. She tried to say some more since she didn't feel that this conversation was over.
Jarod just looked at her and wondered how he could sever the ties between Marie and Lyle. "Sorry to do this to you again, but it is for your own good," he told her.
