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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Baltimore, MD
Saturday December 22
12:30PM
Jarod couldn't believe what had happened. There he was, in a hotel room with the four people who had been chasing him since he'd gotten out. Granted Lyle and Sam were on the couch with their hands handcuffed behind their backs, Miss Parker was between the two with her hands taped together in front of her. Jarod was speaking to Broots in the other room gathering as much information as possible. Jarod couldn't believe what he was hearing from Broots but he had no choice to not believe it- Broots didn't have it in him to lie, especially where Debbie was concerned. Jarod looked down at Broots, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, and then out into the room where the three were looking at him in silence, "All right then Broots. Come on." Jarod then led him back into the other room, and stood before the couch. Jarod pointed at Lyle and told him to stand up, "Come on get up."
Lyle did as he was told, not uttering a word. He did however exchange a look of uncertainty with Miss Parker. Jarod led him into the bedroom and sat him down on the edge of the bed.
"Who's Simone?"
"Broots already told you, she's my daughter."
"Who's her mother?"
"Someone I met five years ago. Her mother left Simone with me about two weeks ago, which is when I found out."
"What's her name? And why would anyone leave a child with you?"
"Her name is Lauren Matthews and she's dying so she left her with me. Look Jarod I'm telling you the truth. I can't lose her, not after I just found out about her."
Jarod looked down at Lyle and couldn't help but laugh, "You're kidding right? You want me to help you get your new found family back, while you guys have been chasing me for years and have kept my family from me. Don't you find that the least bit ironic?"
Lyle didn't know how to respond to that, "Look she's just a little girl-"
"So was I when I was taken from my family!" Jarod just continued to look down at a silent Lyle who had nothing to say in response. "Why should I even bother reuniting someone with a monster like you?" There was still no response from Lyle. "Lyle I swear to you, that if you try anything, and I mean anything at all, I will walk away from the four of you and let you deal with the consequences of your actions. Do you hear me?" Lyle excitedly nodded at Jarod's threat. "You'd better not cross me Lyle, you step out of line by even so much as a hair and I'm gone."
"I got it, I won't."
"Get up." Jarod then led Lyle back into the first room. "Sam get up and come over here." Sam looked over at Miss Parker and complied with the request. "Turn around. Now I want you to escort Mr. Lyle here downstairs, try anything and I'm outta here. You let him get away and I'm gone, you understand?" Jarod told him as he uncuffed his hands. Sam turned around and nodded his head before walking over to Lyle and grabbing his arm.
"Come on Miss Parker, we're leaving, and throw this over your hands," he told her as he passed her a coat. "Broots you can lead the way. We're going down to the parking lot and we're leaving. If anyone tries anything while we're going down there, or tries to contact anyone, or anything and I'm gone, but not before shooting Miss Parker."
With that comment, everyone looked back at Jarod and Miss Parker. Miss Parker couldn't believe her ears, he had never threatened her before. 'I can't believe I just threatened Miss Parker. I've never done that. God I can't believe I'm doing this'
They all made it to the parking level without incidence or running into anyone luckily. When they got down there, a blue van pulled up, and the driver exited the vehicle and walked away without looking at what was happening or who was involved. 'Thank god he made it here on time,' Jarod thought to himself. "Broots you drive, everyone else in back."
Once they were all in the van Jarod took out the unused pair of handcuffs once again and put them on Sam. As they were pulling out of the hotel parking garage, Jarod climbed into the front seat next to Broots, where he could still keep an eye on the other three. Jarod directed Broots towards the port and dockyards where there were hundreds of warehouses. Jarod led them to an abandoned warehouse at the end of one street.
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What Jarod wasn't aware of was that as they were pulling out of the garage, an old friend noticed the van and happened to look in and was shocked at what she saw in the passenger seat. 'My god what's he doing here? I can't believe my luck!' As the van turned away from her she took down the license plate number and committed it to memory. Before she lost sight of the van, she ran to her own car and started to follow the van with Jarod in it. Marie thought about calling for some help, even if it was from the local authorities, but decided she wanted to handle this one alone. She followed them to the dockyards where she had to increase her tailing distance so as not to be noticed. She followed him down to the last street, but didn't know which warehouse he had turned into. She then exited her own car and decided that she would have to proceed on foot and check each warehouse one by one. With her gun in hand she began her search.
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The warehouse that Jarod had Broots pull into, was one he had used during previous pretends in the Baltimore area. There were several escape routes from the building; some were by land and some by water. In fact Jarod owned this not so abandoned warehouse, it merely had that appearance from the outside and on the lower level. On the upper level he had sleeping quarters, a kitchen, and some very nice office equipment kept behind a security system he had created himself.
Once the van was inside the warehouse Jarod had Broots drive the van close to the stairs for the upper level. When the van had stopped Jarod turned around in the front seat and spoke to the three Centre operatives in the back, "Sit tight you three." Jarod then turned to Broots retrieved the van keys from his hands and motioned for him to get out of the van. Once they were outside Jarod spoke to a slightly scared Broots, "Broots I want you to go up these stairs and head to the last door on the right side. Inside, in the back of the room there's a closet, inside there on the floor there's some rope. Get it for me."
"Okay," and with that Broots scurried up the stairs.
As Jarod waited for Broots to return, he merely paced wondering what he was doing and how he was going to save the three children. When Broots returned with the rope they walked around to the back of the van and opened the doors. "Get out," Jarod ordered Miss Parker, Sam and Mr. Lyle. The three all clambered out of the van and stood there, waiting for what Jarod would say next. Jarod led them to one of the storerooms on the lower level. Once they were all inside he tied them all up not uttering a word, only glaring at them.
As he left the storeroom he locked it up and then ran up to the upper level where his computer was. From his computer he accessed the Centre's mainframe to find any files to find out if this was a trap. Jarod had a bad feeling about this. He never got to finish his search of Centre files when one of his alarms went off. Jarod looked up from the computer to the TV screen where shots of the perimeter were being displayed from the security cameras he had throughout the building. Outside the building was a woman carrying a gun who was looking through the windows. Jarod quickly switched to another camera angle to get a better look at the woman's face, what he saw surprised him. Jarod then got up from the computer to go meet his guest.
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Outside the warehouse Marie was looking into the warehouse and saw the van she had seen Jarod leave the hotel in. All she had to do now was a find a way in without his finding out. She continued around the building until she found a door that wasn't locked near the van entrance. She was ten feet inside the warehouse when she heard a gun cock behind her. She couldn't believe it.
"Marie I'm surprised to see you here."
"Jarod. Right now I can't say it's nice to see you, considering the situation."
"Yes well once again you found me. Now how about you hand me your gun over your head."
Marie looked down at the ground for a few seconds. She then stood up straight and held her gun over her head where Jarod retrieved it from her hands. Marie then held her hands up and slowly turned around to face Jarod.
"What are you doing here?"
"I've been looking for you since we first meet. You're a hard man to find Jarod."
"Well I've had practice in staying under the radar. So how'd you find me?" Jarod was anxious to hear her answer, he didn't think he had screwed up anywhere.
"By chance actually. I was downtown walking down the street when I see this van pull out of an underground parking lot with you in the front passenger seat. When I saw you I just started to follow you and here I am, once again staring down the wrong end of a gun barrel," she told Jarod with a smile trying to lighten the situation.
"It would appear so. Why have you been looking for me?"
"You interest me Jarod. I mean come on who wouldn't be. You're a very mysterious person who has no record yet there are stories about you, different last names but same first name- the man who helps people put their lives back together. I want to know who you are Jarod."
Jarod looked at Marie and saw the genuine curiosity on her face. He had a choice to make, he could either trust her and tell her his story or get rid of her while he tried to get back the three children. Jarod decided to take a chance. He lowered his gun and placed it in his back, at the same time holding out Marie's gun to her. Marie was slightly shocked at this, she didn't expect him to do this. She retrieved her gun from Jarod's outstretched hand and placed it in her back.
Jarod led her up to the upper level where they sat at a table and just looked at each other. "So what do you want to know about me?"
"Well first, what's your full name? And none of that 'I'll give you the one for this week' stuff."
"I don't know my full name, all I know is that my first name is Jarod."
"What? Do you have amnesia or something?" When Marie heard him tell her that he didn't know his name, she detected the underlying sadness and felt pity for this mysterious man.
"When I was young I was kidnapped from my parents. I was taken by an organization called the Centre because of my abilities. You see I am what some call a Pretender, I can become anyone I want. I don't know what my last name is and I don't know who my parents are, but I've been searching for them for the past three and half years..." Jarod continued on with the story much to the shock and dismay of Marie. He told her about some of the sims he had run in the Centre, the pretends he had while he was free, the things he had discovered, his search for his family, Mr. Lyle, Broots, Sydney, Miss Parker and other Centre employees.
"My God..." was all Marie could say once Jarod had finished his story. She didn't know what to say or whether to believe him, but all the signs were there that he was telling the truth. The desire to help others and place them out of danger and the words he had used in their previous encounter. "I don't know what to say Jarod except that I'm sorry."
"For what? You didn't do this, the Centre did." To Marie, he seemed rather calm despite all that had happened to him. She was surprised when he suddenly started laughing to himself. She looked at him asking him what was so funny with her face. Jarod told her, "The funny thing is that four of the people chasing me are tied up downstairs, and I'm going to help them!"
"What? They're downstairs? Let's call the police then and have them arrested."
Jarod only smiled, "You can't arrest the Centre, they have too many connections. Even if those four were arrested the Centre will never stop chasing me and allow me to be reunited with my family."
"Then why don't you just disappear? You're a genius remember."
"I can't because I need information from them to find my family... Hopefully though soon I will get that information."
"What do you mean?"
"The reason they are downstairs tied up is because three of them had their children kidnapped and they need me to get them back. I have four days."
"And they're tied up because you don't trust them? Let me help you Jarod."
"No I can't, I won't let you get involved with the Centre, they're too dangerous." 'Why does she want to help me?' Jarod asked himself.
"Oh come on Jarod, you can't do this alone. You can't watch over four people while trying to find the kidnappers. You need help. And besides I can take care of myself," Marie told him as she stared him down, 'There's something about him...,' she wondered to herself.
Jarod couldn't believe what he was about to tell her, "All right you can help me but first we lay out the ground rules okay." When she nodded in agreement he continued, "First this is my show and I run it. Second, you do what I tell you to do. Three, you don't talk to them and try and get info from them, and don't let them know anything about you-not even your name. Trust me it's for your own good. If they see you helping me then they'll think that you can lead them to me, and I won't let them put your life in danger, so it's just best if they don't know who you are. Four, once this is all over, you forget about the Centre. You never try and find them or take them down. That's it, those are the ground rules."
"That's not very fair... but okay. What can I do?"
"Well can you go get some things we'll need. I need you to go see someone for me," as he was telling her this he took out a piece of paper and wrote a name and address on it. "Tell him that I sent you. I'll call him and let him know you're coming. Ask him for..." and he rattled off a list of electronic equipment he needed among others which he also wrote down on the paper. Once he was done he handed the list to Marie.
"That's quite a list Jarod," she told him as she looked over the list as she mentally added up the value of the equipment, 'This is over $40,000 worth of gear, how does he plan on paying for this stuff? And what kind of guy has all this stuff lying about?'
"Oh yeah, also ask him for a wig and some colored contacts."
"You want what?" she asked him.
"They're for you... so that they won't know the real you."
"Jarod that's ridiculous they're-" she stopped when Jarod glared at her. "All right one wig and some contacts as well. Anything else?"
"No that's it, thanks. You'd better get on your way, I want to get out of here in a couple of hours." And with that they both got up from the table and headed downstairs. As Marie was heading out of the warehouse he called out to her, "Hey Marie, thank you for helping."
"No problem Jarod."
Saturday December 22
12:30PM
Jarod couldn't believe what had happened. There he was, in a hotel room with the four people who had been chasing him since he'd gotten out. Granted Lyle and Sam were on the couch with their hands handcuffed behind their backs, Miss Parker was between the two with her hands taped together in front of her. Jarod was speaking to Broots in the other room gathering as much information as possible. Jarod couldn't believe what he was hearing from Broots but he had no choice to not believe it- Broots didn't have it in him to lie, especially where Debbie was concerned. Jarod looked down at Broots, who was sitting on the edge of the bed, and then out into the room where the three were looking at him in silence, "All right then Broots. Come on." Jarod then led him back into the other room, and stood before the couch. Jarod pointed at Lyle and told him to stand up, "Come on get up."
Lyle did as he was told, not uttering a word. He did however exchange a look of uncertainty with Miss Parker. Jarod led him into the bedroom and sat him down on the edge of the bed.
"Who's Simone?"
"Broots already told you, she's my daughter."
"Who's her mother?"
"Someone I met five years ago. Her mother left Simone with me about two weeks ago, which is when I found out."
"What's her name? And why would anyone leave a child with you?"
"Her name is Lauren Matthews and she's dying so she left her with me. Look Jarod I'm telling you the truth. I can't lose her, not after I just found out about her."
Jarod looked down at Lyle and couldn't help but laugh, "You're kidding right? You want me to help you get your new found family back, while you guys have been chasing me for years and have kept my family from me. Don't you find that the least bit ironic?"
Lyle didn't know how to respond to that, "Look she's just a little girl-"
"So was I when I was taken from my family!" Jarod just continued to look down at a silent Lyle who had nothing to say in response. "Why should I even bother reuniting someone with a monster like you?" There was still no response from Lyle. "Lyle I swear to you, that if you try anything, and I mean anything at all, I will walk away from the four of you and let you deal with the consequences of your actions. Do you hear me?" Lyle excitedly nodded at Jarod's threat. "You'd better not cross me Lyle, you step out of line by even so much as a hair and I'm gone."
"I got it, I won't."
"Get up." Jarod then led Lyle back into the first room. "Sam get up and come over here." Sam looked over at Miss Parker and complied with the request. "Turn around. Now I want you to escort Mr. Lyle here downstairs, try anything and I'm outta here. You let him get away and I'm gone, you understand?" Jarod told him as he uncuffed his hands. Sam turned around and nodded his head before walking over to Lyle and grabbing his arm.
"Come on Miss Parker, we're leaving, and throw this over your hands," he told her as he passed her a coat. "Broots you can lead the way. We're going down to the parking lot and we're leaving. If anyone tries anything while we're going down there, or tries to contact anyone, or anything and I'm gone, but not before shooting Miss Parker."
With that comment, everyone looked back at Jarod and Miss Parker. Miss Parker couldn't believe her ears, he had never threatened her before. 'I can't believe I just threatened Miss Parker. I've never done that. God I can't believe I'm doing this'
They all made it to the parking level without incidence or running into anyone luckily. When they got down there, a blue van pulled up, and the driver exited the vehicle and walked away without looking at what was happening or who was involved. 'Thank god he made it here on time,' Jarod thought to himself. "Broots you drive, everyone else in back."
Once they were all in the van Jarod took out the unused pair of handcuffs once again and put them on Sam. As they were pulling out of the hotel parking garage, Jarod climbed into the front seat next to Broots, where he could still keep an eye on the other three. Jarod directed Broots towards the port and dockyards where there were hundreds of warehouses. Jarod led them to an abandoned warehouse at the end of one street.
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What Jarod wasn't aware of was that as they were pulling out of the garage, an old friend noticed the van and happened to look in and was shocked at what she saw in the passenger seat. 'My god what's he doing here? I can't believe my luck!' As the van turned away from her she took down the license plate number and committed it to memory. Before she lost sight of the van, she ran to her own car and started to follow the van with Jarod in it. Marie thought about calling for some help, even if it was from the local authorities, but decided she wanted to handle this one alone. She followed them to the dockyards where she had to increase her tailing distance so as not to be noticed. She followed him down to the last street, but didn't know which warehouse he had turned into. She then exited her own car and decided that she would have to proceed on foot and check each warehouse one by one. With her gun in hand she began her search.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The warehouse that Jarod had Broots pull into, was one he had used during previous pretends in the Baltimore area. There were several escape routes from the building; some were by land and some by water. In fact Jarod owned this not so abandoned warehouse, it merely had that appearance from the outside and on the lower level. On the upper level he had sleeping quarters, a kitchen, and some very nice office equipment kept behind a security system he had created himself.
Once the van was inside the warehouse Jarod had Broots drive the van close to the stairs for the upper level. When the van had stopped Jarod turned around in the front seat and spoke to the three Centre operatives in the back, "Sit tight you three." Jarod then turned to Broots retrieved the van keys from his hands and motioned for him to get out of the van. Once they were outside Jarod spoke to a slightly scared Broots, "Broots I want you to go up these stairs and head to the last door on the right side. Inside, in the back of the room there's a closet, inside there on the floor there's some rope. Get it for me."
"Okay," and with that Broots scurried up the stairs.
As Jarod waited for Broots to return, he merely paced wondering what he was doing and how he was going to save the three children. When Broots returned with the rope they walked around to the back of the van and opened the doors. "Get out," Jarod ordered Miss Parker, Sam and Mr. Lyle. The three all clambered out of the van and stood there, waiting for what Jarod would say next. Jarod led them to one of the storerooms on the lower level. Once they were all inside he tied them all up not uttering a word, only glaring at them.
As he left the storeroom he locked it up and then ran up to the upper level where his computer was. From his computer he accessed the Centre's mainframe to find any files to find out if this was a trap. Jarod had a bad feeling about this. He never got to finish his search of Centre files when one of his alarms went off. Jarod looked up from the computer to the TV screen where shots of the perimeter were being displayed from the security cameras he had throughout the building. Outside the building was a woman carrying a gun who was looking through the windows. Jarod quickly switched to another camera angle to get a better look at the woman's face, what he saw surprised him. Jarod then got up from the computer to go meet his guest.
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Outside the warehouse Marie was looking into the warehouse and saw the van she had seen Jarod leave the hotel in. All she had to do now was a find a way in without his finding out. She continued around the building until she found a door that wasn't locked near the van entrance. She was ten feet inside the warehouse when she heard a gun cock behind her. She couldn't believe it.
"Marie I'm surprised to see you here."
"Jarod. Right now I can't say it's nice to see you, considering the situation."
"Yes well once again you found me. Now how about you hand me your gun over your head."
Marie looked down at the ground for a few seconds. She then stood up straight and held her gun over her head where Jarod retrieved it from her hands. Marie then held her hands up and slowly turned around to face Jarod.
"What are you doing here?"
"I've been looking for you since we first meet. You're a hard man to find Jarod."
"Well I've had practice in staying under the radar. So how'd you find me?" Jarod was anxious to hear her answer, he didn't think he had screwed up anywhere.
"By chance actually. I was downtown walking down the street when I see this van pull out of an underground parking lot with you in the front passenger seat. When I saw you I just started to follow you and here I am, once again staring down the wrong end of a gun barrel," she told Jarod with a smile trying to lighten the situation.
"It would appear so. Why have you been looking for me?"
"You interest me Jarod. I mean come on who wouldn't be. You're a very mysterious person who has no record yet there are stories about you, different last names but same first name- the man who helps people put their lives back together. I want to know who you are Jarod."
Jarod looked at Marie and saw the genuine curiosity on her face. He had a choice to make, he could either trust her and tell her his story or get rid of her while he tried to get back the three children. Jarod decided to take a chance. He lowered his gun and placed it in his back, at the same time holding out Marie's gun to her. Marie was slightly shocked at this, she didn't expect him to do this. She retrieved her gun from Jarod's outstretched hand and placed it in her back.
Jarod led her up to the upper level where they sat at a table and just looked at each other. "So what do you want to know about me?"
"Well first, what's your full name? And none of that 'I'll give you the one for this week' stuff."
"I don't know my full name, all I know is that my first name is Jarod."
"What? Do you have amnesia or something?" When Marie heard him tell her that he didn't know his name, she detected the underlying sadness and felt pity for this mysterious man.
"When I was young I was kidnapped from my parents. I was taken by an organization called the Centre because of my abilities. You see I am what some call a Pretender, I can become anyone I want. I don't know what my last name is and I don't know who my parents are, but I've been searching for them for the past three and half years..." Jarod continued on with the story much to the shock and dismay of Marie. He told her about some of the sims he had run in the Centre, the pretends he had while he was free, the things he had discovered, his search for his family, Mr. Lyle, Broots, Sydney, Miss Parker and other Centre employees.
"My God..." was all Marie could say once Jarod had finished his story. She didn't know what to say or whether to believe him, but all the signs were there that he was telling the truth. The desire to help others and place them out of danger and the words he had used in their previous encounter. "I don't know what to say Jarod except that I'm sorry."
"For what? You didn't do this, the Centre did." To Marie, he seemed rather calm despite all that had happened to him. She was surprised when he suddenly started laughing to himself. She looked at him asking him what was so funny with her face. Jarod told her, "The funny thing is that four of the people chasing me are tied up downstairs, and I'm going to help them!"
"What? They're downstairs? Let's call the police then and have them arrested."
Jarod only smiled, "You can't arrest the Centre, they have too many connections. Even if those four were arrested the Centre will never stop chasing me and allow me to be reunited with my family."
"Then why don't you just disappear? You're a genius remember."
"I can't because I need information from them to find my family... Hopefully though soon I will get that information."
"What do you mean?"
"The reason they are downstairs tied up is because three of them had their children kidnapped and they need me to get them back. I have four days."
"And they're tied up because you don't trust them? Let me help you Jarod."
"No I can't, I won't let you get involved with the Centre, they're too dangerous." 'Why does she want to help me?' Jarod asked himself.
"Oh come on Jarod, you can't do this alone. You can't watch over four people while trying to find the kidnappers. You need help. And besides I can take care of myself," Marie told him as she stared him down, 'There's something about him...,' she wondered to herself.
Jarod couldn't believe what he was about to tell her, "All right you can help me but first we lay out the ground rules okay." When she nodded in agreement he continued, "First this is my show and I run it. Second, you do what I tell you to do. Three, you don't talk to them and try and get info from them, and don't let them know anything about you-not even your name. Trust me it's for your own good. If they see you helping me then they'll think that you can lead them to me, and I won't let them put your life in danger, so it's just best if they don't know who you are. Four, once this is all over, you forget about the Centre. You never try and find them or take them down. That's it, those are the ground rules."
"That's not very fair... but okay. What can I do?"
"Well can you go get some things we'll need. I need you to go see someone for me," as he was telling her this he took out a piece of paper and wrote a name and address on it. "Tell him that I sent you. I'll call him and let him know you're coming. Ask him for..." and he rattled off a list of electronic equipment he needed among others which he also wrote down on the paper. Once he was done he handed the list to Marie.
"That's quite a list Jarod," she told him as she looked over the list as she mentally added up the value of the equipment, 'This is over $40,000 worth of gear, how does he plan on paying for this stuff? And what kind of guy has all this stuff lying about?'
"Oh yeah, also ask him for a wig and some colored contacts."
"You want what?" she asked him.
"They're for you... so that they won't know the real you."
"Jarod that's ridiculous they're-" she stopped when Jarod glared at her. "All right one wig and some contacts as well. Anything else?"
"No that's it, thanks. You'd better get on your way, I want to get out of here in a couple of hours." And with that they both got up from the table and headed downstairs. As Marie was heading out of the warehouse he called out to her, "Hey Marie, thank you for helping."
"No problem Jarod."
