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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
North of Blue Cove, Delaware
Saturday December 22
7:00PM
The elevator doors opened and six people walked out. Jarod came out first with a grip on the arms of both Mr. Lyle and Broots, Marie followed with Sam and Miss Parker. The four Centre employees were being led unknowingly with hoods over their heads that prevented them from seeing their surroundings. Their surroundings were an abandoned wing of a state psychiatric hospital. They walked down the hallway before stopping in front of one of the doors for one of the patient rooms. Jarod unlocked the door and pushed Mr. Lyle into the room before closing the door and re-locking it. The remaining group continued on two more doors before once again stopping where Jarod unlocked the door. Jarod and Marie led the remaining three into the room before taking off the hoods. "All right, we'll be camping out here until this is all over, so get used to it. Also the handcuffs and tape stay, and I don't want any of you tampering with them, remember I run this show now. We'll be by in an hour or so with some food." And with that said Jarod and Marie headed out the door, but not before Miss Parker could speak.
"Jarod wait... I need to talk to you." However her request fell on deaf ears as the pair continued out of the room.
Once Jarod and Marie were outside of the rooms Marie turned to Jarod and asked him a question, "Why did you isolate Lyle from the other three?"
"I don't trust Lyle at all, the other three I can trust to a certain degree. I know about Debbie and Tyler, but not Simone so I'm a bit skeptical about him."
"Fair enough. So where should we start?"
"Well if I got you all set up I was hoping you could do a search for one Lauren Matthews, I want to know if Simone is legit."
And so the two of them went to work on their computers trying to find any information they could, Marie on public domains and Jarod checking Centre files.
Later that night Broots' cell phone rang. Luckily the tracking device programs had all been set up on the phone. Marie and Jarod donned a pair of headphones while Jarod ran down the hall to where Broots was and handed him the phone. "Keep them on the line as long as you can."
Broots opened the phone and spoke,
-H-hello?
-Mister Broots I advise that you don't keep me waiting. I have some precious cargo with me.
-S-sorry I was in the other room. Let me talk to Debbie.
-Not quite yet. So have you thought about my proposition?
-Yeah, I'm working on it.
-Well the clock is ticking Mr. Broots.
-That's a lot of information you wanted, it's going to take some time. But I'm working on it. Now let me talk to Debbie and the other kids.
-I don't think so. You know how it works, you give me something, and I'll give you something in return.
-What do you want?
-Any information you have right now will do.
-I don't have anything yet.
-Well then I guess you get nothing. Good-
-Wait, give me a couple of hours and I'll have something for you.
-That's much better Mr. Broots.
-And...
But the line was already disconnected. Marie looked up from her watch, "We only had them on the line for 60 seconds. We needed two minutes before we would get a lock on their location. We won't even have a general area as to where they are calling from. Maybe we'll have the state that they are calling from, but if it's a cell phone then it gets all the more complicated..."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that..." Jarod told Marie as they headed out the door. Behind them Broots started to follow. "Where you going Broots?"
"With you so I can hack into the Centre's mainframe and get the kidnappers some information."
"Uh I don't think so... I think you should stay here."
Jarod wasn't the only one to reply. Miss Parker also spoke up, "Broots you are not authorized to give out information on the Centre!"
"Right now Miss Parker all I care about is my little girl, and if that means hacking into the Centre to get some menial information so I can find out if Debbie is okay while Jarod tries to get them back, then so be it." Jarod, Sam, Miss Parker, and Broots himself were all surprised by the conviction in his voice and the fact that he was finally standing up against Miss Parker. Once the shock in Broots' mind had cleared he turned back to Jarod, "Jarod you gotta let me help you."
Jarod looked at everyone in the room as they waited in silence for his answer. His gaze finally fell on Marie who shrugged her shoulders thinking that they could use all the help they could get. "Allright Broots you can help. But we'll be watching you, and remember you screw up and we're outta here, got it?"
A grateful Broots followed them out the door glad to be finally helping in the search for his daughter. As they were all leaving Jarod noticed that Miss Parker was about to object, "Parker not now," he told her as he left the room and locked the door behind him.
When the three reached the makeshift command center down the hall, Jarod and Marie walked over to the computer that had run the trace on the phone call. "All right let's see what we got... okay looks like we can trace this phone call to a four block region west of Blue Cove… here," Jarod told Marie as he pointed to the map on the computer screen.
"How did you get that good a trace on the call? I haven't seen a tracing program that works faster than two minutes, how can you be so sure about this?"
"Well I am genius remember so I made some improvements to the program which cut the time nearly in half, I don't know why it hasn't been done elsewhere, it's rather a very easy fix. Marie can you run a check on all buildings in this four-block region. First start with any buildings and then look at houses. If you need access to any mainframes just give me a holler okay."
Still amazed at Jarod's abilities she gave him an empty nod as she sat down at the computer and started her search. "Broots come over here will ya," Jarod said as he motioned over at Broots and indicating a chair for him to sit in next to Marie. "I want you to help Marie right now in-"
"I thought I was going to get Centre information."
"Not now you won't I-"
"But Jarod they're going to call back and-"
Jarod looked down at Broots with a stern face, and with an even sterner voice went on, "Broots, you will do as I tell you to do if you want my help in getting Debbie back. Besides I don't know yet if I can trust you fully," Broots was about to speak up when he was silenced by Jarod's raised hand imploring him to stop. "And until I can know for sure, I am not going to let you go rummaging around the Centre's mainframe where you can leave a note with our location. And until then, we run this the way I say we do. So right now you are going to help Marie check these places out and see if any of them would make for a good place for kidnappers to sit tight. Do we understand each other now?" Broots looked up at Jarod and silently nodded in compliance. "Good then, I promise you Broots we will get some information so that you can speak to Debbie and the other kids, but later okay?"
"All right, can you at least take off the handcuffs please, they'll make this easier."
"Not quite yet, but maybe later. Very well then, I'll be right back I'm going to go speak with our other guests."
And with that Jarod left the room while Broots and Marie started their search. Jarod walked down the hall and paused in front of the room where Miss Parker and Sam and were. He stepped to the doorway and looked through the window to find that both were lying down on the beds, whether they were asleep or not he didn't know. Jarod then continued on down to the room where Lyle was and entered the room. Jarod found Lyle crouched in one of the corners with his hood still on and his hands still cuffed behind his back. As Lyle heard the footsteps approaching him, he began to rise yet still remained against the walls. Jarod noticed that Lyle was starting to sway, 'Probably from the fact that he hasn't eaten all day...' Jarod thought to himself.
"Jarod... I bet you're enjoying this..."
"If you think working with you is fun, you are drastically mistaken Lyle... Tell me about Simone and her mother."
"Why are you so interested in them?"
"Because I still find it hard to believe that someone would have a child with you, a monster…and then to find out that you are raising a four-year old daughter on your own. Pardon me but that's a little out of character for you Lyle."
Lyle then recounted his history with Simone's mother and how he came about to having custody of Simone over the past few weeks. Jarod repeatedly interrupted asking questions or clarifications trying to determine if Lyle was telling the truth or just making it up.
"I still don't know if I can trust you and your story. So if she really is your daughter, then you better stay in line and not do anything stupid, if she isn't you will have just signed your death warrant. If this is a trap Lyle, you better hope that you kill me because if not then I will come find you and make your life a living hell for endangering the lives of Tyler and Debbie, do you hear me. You won't be safe from me, no matter how hard you try and hide or how much protection you have, I will get to you Lyle, mark my word."
Even though Lyle couldn't see Jarod's face through the hood, he could tell that Jarod would keep his promise. Lyle then started to slightly shake, which Jarod noted and was pleased to see since it meant that Lyle had gotten the message. Below the hood, Lyle came close to speaking up a few times, but words never formed in his throat out of fear. As Jarod left the room, Lyle fell to the ground and started to tremble even more, 'My God what have I done?' he asked himself.
Jarod then returned to Sam and Miss Parker's room. As he entered the room both occupants sat up on the beds, Sam was the first to speak.
"Where's Broots? Any word from the kidnappers?"
"No Sam, nothing else from the kidnappers yet. Broots is working on the computers trying to get some information for me. Miss Parker will you please come with me?" he directed at his old childhood friend. The two then left the room and headed down to the room where Broots and Marie were working away on the computers. "How's the search coming?"
"Well we got one block done so far, that one didn't turn up anything special or suspicious. We're about to start on one of the other blocks," Marie told Jarod as she continued her work on the computers.
"Okay then, if you two need any help, I'll be in the room next door," Jarod calmly told them as he started to leave the room with Miss Parker. As Jarod was leaving, Marie finally looked up from the computer towards Jarod. Marie curiously watched Jarod and Miss Parker leave the room and head next door. Once they had left, she then looked back down at her computer and resumed her search.
In the other room Jarod led Miss Parker to a chair by the table in the center of the room, her back to the room they had just exited. "So what happened Miss Parker?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I want to know exactly what happened from the beginning of this mess."
For the next forty-five minutes Miss Parker recounted to Jarod the initial phone calls she had received, the planning that had gone on during the night, and the eventual temporary capture of Jarod earlier that morning. As she told her story, Jarod walked around the room analyzing and staring at Miss Parker.
"Is Simone real?"
"What? You don't think she's real? Well genius, she is. I've been helping Lyle with her. She's a great kid and-"
"So why didn't you tell me initially that Lyle's daughter was involved?"
"Because I knew that if you knew Lyle was involved you wouldn't help us at all, and you know it too Jarod," Jarod didn't know how to respond since he also felt it to be true. "I did what I had to to help Debbie."
"Hmm..."
"Look I can see that you don't exactly trust me, but this isn't a Centre plot. I mean come on, do you think Broots would put Debbie at risk? Or even be able to lie to you so that you would believe it?" she asked Jarod half laughing.
Still thinking about the entire situation he was in, he then grabbed Miss Parker's arm and led her back down to her room. After she had been secured in her room, Jarod returned to Broots and Marie and helped in the search, still trying to decide if this was a Centre plot.
Saturday December 22
7:00PM
The elevator doors opened and six people walked out. Jarod came out first with a grip on the arms of both Mr. Lyle and Broots, Marie followed with Sam and Miss Parker. The four Centre employees were being led unknowingly with hoods over their heads that prevented them from seeing their surroundings. Their surroundings were an abandoned wing of a state psychiatric hospital. They walked down the hallway before stopping in front of one of the doors for one of the patient rooms. Jarod unlocked the door and pushed Mr. Lyle into the room before closing the door and re-locking it. The remaining group continued on two more doors before once again stopping where Jarod unlocked the door. Jarod and Marie led the remaining three into the room before taking off the hoods. "All right, we'll be camping out here until this is all over, so get used to it. Also the handcuffs and tape stay, and I don't want any of you tampering with them, remember I run this show now. We'll be by in an hour or so with some food." And with that said Jarod and Marie headed out the door, but not before Miss Parker could speak.
"Jarod wait... I need to talk to you." However her request fell on deaf ears as the pair continued out of the room.
Once Jarod and Marie were outside of the rooms Marie turned to Jarod and asked him a question, "Why did you isolate Lyle from the other three?"
"I don't trust Lyle at all, the other three I can trust to a certain degree. I know about Debbie and Tyler, but not Simone so I'm a bit skeptical about him."
"Fair enough. So where should we start?"
"Well if I got you all set up I was hoping you could do a search for one Lauren Matthews, I want to know if Simone is legit."
And so the two of them went to work on their computers trying to find any information they could, Marie on public domains and Jarod checking Centre files.
Later that night Broots' cell phone rang. Luckily the tracking device programs had all been set up on the phone. Marie and Jarod donned a pair of headphones while Jarod ran down the hall to where Broots was and handed him the phone. "Keep them on the line as long as you can."
Broots opened the phone and spoke,
-H-hello?
-Mister Broots I advise that you don't keep me waiting. I have some precious cargo with me.
-S-sorry I was in the other room. Let me talk to Debbie.
-Not quite yet. So have you thought about my proposition?
-Yeah, I'm working on it.
-Well the clock is ticking Mr. Broots.
-That's a lot of information you wanted, it's going to take some time. But I'm working on it. Now let me talk to Debbie and the other kids.
-I don't think so. You know how it works, you give me something, and I'll give you something in return.
-What do you want?
-Any information you have right now will do.
-I don't have anything yet.
-Well then I guess you get nothing. Good-
-Wait, give me a couple of hours and I'll have something for you.
-That's much better Mr. Broots.
-And...
But the line was already disconnected. Marie looked up from her watch, "We only had them on the line for 60 seconds. We needed two minutes before we would get a lock on their location. We won't even have a general area as to where they are calling from. Maybe we'll have the state that they are calling from, but if it's a cell phone then it gets all the more complicated..."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that..." Jarod told Marie as they headed out the door. Behind them Broots started to follow. "Where you going Broots?"
"With you so I can hack into the Centre's mainframe and get the kidnappers some information."
"Uh I don't think so... I think you should stay here."
Jarod wasn't the only one to reply. Miss Parker also spoke up, "Broots you are not authorized to give out information on the Centre!"
"Right now Miss Parker all I care about is my little girl, and if that means hacking into the Centre to get some menial information so I can find out if Debbie is okay while Jarod tries to get them back, then so be it." Jarod, Sam, Miss Parker, and Broots himself were all surprised by the conviction in his voice and the fact that he was finally standing up against Miss Parker. Once the shock in Broots' mind had cleared he turned back to Jarod, "Jarod you gotta let me help you."
Jarod looked at everyone in the room as they waited in silence for his answer. His gaze finally fell on Marie who shrugged her shoulders thinking that they could use all the help they could get. "Allright Broots you can help. But we'll be watching you, and remember you screw up and we're outta here, got it?"
A grateful Broots followed them out the door glad to be finally helping in the search for his daughter. As they were all leaving Jarod noticed that Miss Parker was about to object, "Parker not now," he told her as he left the room and locked the door behind him.
When the three reached the makeshift command center down the hall, Jarod and Marie walked over to the computer that had run the trace on the phone call. "All right let's see what we got... okay looks like we can trace this phone call to a four block region west of Blue Cove… here," Jarod told Marie as he pointed to the map on the computer screen.
"How did you get that good a trace on the call? I haven't seen a tracing program that works faster than two minutes, how can you be so sure about this?"
"Well I am genius remember so I made some improvements to the program which cut the time nearly in half, I don't know why it hasn't been done elsewhere, it's rather a very easy fix. Marie can you run a check on all buildings in this four-block region. First start with any buildings and then look at houses. If you need access to any mainframes just give me a holler okay."
Still amazed at Jarod's abilities she gave him an empty nod as she sat down at the computer and started her search. "Broots come over here will ya," Jarod said as he motioned over at Broots and indicating a chair for him to sit in next to Marie. "I want you to help Marie right now in-"
"I thought I was going to get Centre information."
"Not now you won't I-"
"But Jarod they're going to call back and-"
Jarod looked down at Broots with a stern face, and with an even sterner voice went on, "Broots, you will do as I tell you to do if you want my help in getting Debbie back. Besides I don't know yet if I can trust you fully," Broots was about to speak up when he was silenced by Jarod's raised hand imploring him to stop. "And until I can know for sure, I am not going to let you go rummaging around the Centre's mainframe where you can leave a note with our location. And until then, we run this the way I say we do. So right now you are going to help Marie check these places out and see if any of them would make for a good place for kidnappers to sit tight. Do we understand each other now?" Broots looked up at Jarod and silently nodded in compliance. "Good then, I promise you Broots we will get some information so that you can speak to Debbie and the other kids, but later okay?"
"All right, can you at least take off the handcuffs please, they'll make this easier."
"Not quite yet, but maybe later. Very well then, I'll be right back I'm going to go speak with our other guests."
And with that Jarod left the room while Broots and Marie started their search. Jarod walked down the hall and paused in front of the room where Miss Parker and Sam and were. He stepped to the doorway and looked through the window to find that both were lying down on the beds, whether they were asleep or not he didn't know. Jarod then continued on down to the room where Lyle was and entered the room. Jarod found Lyle crouched in one of the corners with his hood still on and his hands still cuffed behind his back. As Lyle heard the footsteps approaching him, he began to rise yet still remained against the walls. Jarod noticed that Lyle was starting to sway, 'Probably from the fact that he hasn't eaten all day...' Jarod thought to himself.
"Jarod... I bet you're enjoying this..."
"If you think working with you is fun, you are drastically mistaken Lyle... Tell me about Simone and her mother."
"Why are you so interested in them?"
"Because I still find it hard to believe that someone would have a child with you, a monster…and then to find out that you are raising a four-year old daughter on your own. Pardon me but that's a little out of character for you Lyle."
Lyle then recounted his history with Simone's mother and how he came about to having custody of Simone over the past few weeks. Jarod repeatedly interrupted asking questions or clarifications trying to determine if Lyle was telling the truth or just making it up.
"I still don't know if I can trust you and your story. So if she really is your daughter, then you better stay in line and not do anything stupid, if she isn't you will have just signed your death warrant. If this is a trap Lyle, you better hope that you kill me because if not then I will come find you and make your life a living hell for endangering the lives of Tyler and Debbie, do you hear me. You won't be safe from me, no matter how hard you try and hide or how much protection you have, I will get to you Lyle, mark my word."
Even though Lyle couldn't see Jarod's face through the hood, he could tell that Jarod would keep his promise. Lyle then started to slightly shake, which Jarod noted and was pleased to see since it meant that Lyle had gotten the message. Below the hood, Lyle came close to speaking up a few times, but words never formed in his throat out of fear. As Jarod left the room, Lyle fell to the ground and started to tremble even more, 'My God what have I done?' he asked himself.
Jarod then returned to Sam and Miss Parker's room. As he entered the room both occupants sat up on the beds, Sam was the first to speak.
"Where's Broots? Any word from the kidnappers?"
"No Sam, nothing else from the kidnappers yet. Broots is working on the computers trying to get some information for me. Miss Parker will you please come with me?" he directed at his old childhood friend. The two then left the room and headed down to the room where Broots and Marie were working away on the computers. "How's the search coming?"
"Well we got one block done so far, that one didn't turn up anything special or suspicious. We're about to start on one of the other blocks," Marie told Jarod as she continued her work on the computers.
"Okay then, if you two need any help, I'll be in the room next door," Jarod calmly told them as he started to leave the room with Miss Parker. As Jarod was leaving, Marie finally looked up from the computer towards Jarod. Marie curiously watched Jarod and Miss Parker leave the room and head next door. Once they had left, she then looked back down at her computer and resumed her search.
In the other room Jarod led Miss Parker to a chair by the table in the center of the room, her back to the room they had just exited. "So what happened Miss Parker?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I want to know exactly what happened from the beginning of this mess."
For the next forty-five minutes Miss Parker recounted to Jarod the initial phone calls she had received, the planning that had gone on during the night, and the eventual temporary capture of Jarod earlier that morning. As she told her story, Jarod walked around the room analyzing and staring at Miss Parker.
"Is Simone real?"
"What? You don't think she's real? Well genius, she is. I've been helping Lyle with her. She's a great kid and-"
"So why didn't you tell me initially that Lyle's daughter was involved?"
"Because I knew that if you knew Lyle was involved you wouldn't help us at all, and you know it too Jarod," Jarod didn't know how to respond since he also felt it to be true. "I did what I had to to help Debbie."
"Hmm..."
"Look I can see that you don't exactly trust me, but this isn't a Centre plot. I mean come on, do you think Broots would put Debbie at risk? Or even be able to lie to you so that you would believe it?" she asked Jarod half laughing.
Still thinking about the entire situation he was in, he then grabbed Miss Parker's arm and led her back down to her room. After she had been secured in her room, Jarod returned to Broots and Marie and helped in the search, still trying to decide if this was a Centre plot.
