“This is total bullshit.”

Sydneywas silent, his ever-present smile in place, and Broots was just trying to keep his head down in the face of Parker’s wrath.  They were stuck in a small mid-western town, nowhere near the interstate.  Mysteriously, the jet had been recalled to the Centre from the small airport they had arrived in, but a rental car had been delivered to them as they sat in a Golden Corral.  Then, to add insult to injury, the Centre-issued accounts specifically for these trips, were cancelled.  Between them, they had just enough cash for two rooms in a very cheap motel on the other side of town, the information courtesy of a sweet but simple farm hand with a pickup.

“I’m going to kill your boy this time, Sydney,” Parker raged.

“You can’t be sure he’s behind this.  We haven’t heard from him in months.”

“So, it’s just a coincidence a tall, dark handsome stranger appeared in town to defend a man being railroaded by the county prosecutor, only to vanish without a trace after said downtrodden man was acquitted?”

“Well—”

“Exactly,” Parker interrupted.  “Get real, Freud, it was Wonder Boy and we all know it.  Who else has access to our travel IDs and accounts?”

“Well, the Centre—” Broots stopped speaking at the poisonous look Parker shot him.

“They wouldn’t cut us off, moron.  We’re doing their bidding.”

“Parker is right, Broots, this isn’t the work of the Centre,”Sydneystated, looking around the dingy room with interest.  “This is the type of game Jarod would play.  But why now after all this time?”

“You’re supposed to have the answers to these questions, Freud, that’s why I drag you along on these outings,” she snapped.

“Not everything in readily apparent with him.  I should think you would know that by now.”

Glaring at him, Parker removed her jacket, laying it over the back of a chair.  Hands on her hips, she stalked over to the window, peering out.  It was hotter than Hell’s kitchen outside in mid-July and she was waiting for the sun to set before venturing out to think, to discover if the little bastard was, or still is, hanging around town for another round of his Centre-style reindeer games.

“Parker.”

“Don’tSydney.  I’m not in the mood for a therapy session,” she spat bitterly.

“I was going to suggest you rest for a bit.  You’ve been up since the wee hours of the morning and you didn’t nap on the trip out here.”

“You know what?”  She sighed heavily and raked a hand through her hair, “That’s a good idea.”

Both men did a double take.  It did not go unnoticed by the brunette, who narrowed her eyes at them, and Broots scuttled into the bathroom to escape the angry words that would certainly be forthcoming.  To both of their surprise, none did.  She grabbed her jacket and her garment bag and left the room without a word.

“You can come out, Broots.  She’s gone.”

The balding man poked his head out and looked around.  “Geez, Syd, I thought she was gonna kill us both there for a second.”

“You know how she is, Broots.  I can’t help but think she was happier with Jarod’s silence.”

“Well, yeah.  If he’s back, things are gonna get ugly fast.  You know what Raines told them.”  Broots looked at the older man anxiously.  “Do you think he really meant it?”

“Unfortunately, I do.  We’re all aware of what he is capable of.”

“But they’re his kids!”

“I know,”Sydneysaid calmly, patting Broots’ back, “That’s why we must do everything we can to help her.”

“Even bring Jarod back?”

“Especially that.”

His face fell and he nodded, unhappy but resigned.  He never wanted to get between the pretender and the ice queen, at least not again.  Since Carthis, she was different, distant, quiet and sometimes without focus.  With Jarod’s silence, she still went through the motions of having him scour the web for signs of the missing pretender, but wasn’t as upset as she’d once been when he came up empty.  Though he never spoke his suspicions aloud, he believed something changed her forever on that island and it had something to do with Jarod.

~*~

Parker lay on her back, staring at the ceiling.  Her lip curled in disgust as the glitter sparkled and winked at her.  Turning onto her side, her back to the window, she closed her eyes.  Her mind raced, the voices whispering loudly for the first time, but she could not make sense of them.  Nor could she shut off her thoughts, which flitted from topic to topic.  This wasn’t uncommon for her, she’s had trouble sleeping most of her life, whether it was Jarod calling in the wee hours of the morning or the nightmares of her past attacking her subconscious in her most vulnerable moments.

She didn’t bother to share with Sydney and Broots that she knew Jarod was still in town.  They would dismiss it as paranoia and she really didn’t want to get truly pissed off.  AfterScotland, the anger drained away.  She honestly didn’t care anymore about uncovering the secrets or catching Jarod, it was an act within and act.  With that ambition gone, Raines and Lyle ceased to hound her every step, even the pressure to capture Jarod had lessened when he vanished off the radar a year before.  They all knew once he’d gone to ground, they would never find him except by sheer dumb luck.

“Please, God, all I want to do is sleep,” Parker groaned quietly, wrapping the pillow around her ears.

Ssh, baby, Catherine soothed.

Her eyes flew open and she stared at her mother in shock.  “Mama?”

Yes baby, it’s me.

“Why now, after all these years?”

You’ve been seeing me for years.

“I have?”

In your dreams.

“But those are just dreams.”

No, they aren’t.  It was your subconscious reaching out through your gift.  And yours is so much stronger than mine ever was.

“But—but why am I always a child?”

Only you can answer that, baby.

“All this time, I could have seen you whenever I wanted?”  Her voice is small and emotional, tears filling her eyes.

Yes, as if I were still here.  Just as Sydney can.

“I’m sorry, mama.”

Why, baby?  You have nothing to be sorry for.  You didn’t know and that has protected you all these years.  It’s the one thing Mr. Parker did right.

“He kept it a secret.  He knew?”

Of course he did.  The day you saved his life, you inadvertently revealed your gift to him.  But he knew what the Centre would do to you if they ever found out and we made a pact, the first of many, to conceal your ability from everyone, even from you.  Baby, he loved you like you were his own, he always did.  I don’t agree with the way he raised you, but he did it to protect you.

“Protect me?  What a joke!  He turned me into a monster!”

To him, that was better than the alternative.  Imagine what the Centre would have done to you.  You were so much like me and he feared that one day you’d get too curious, just as I did.  He couldn’t bear losing you, so he did the only thing he could think of, he made you in his image.

“I don’t want to talk about him.”

I know you’re angry, but you shouldn’t direct it all at him.  I deceived you too.

“I was a child.  Daddy-Mr. Parker-I don’t even know what to call him now.”

You can still call him daddy.  He raised you, he loved you.

“Whatever.”

Maisie, don’t be this way.

“You don’t know what he put me through, the things he made me do for the promise of his approval.”

I do know.  He wanted better for you than what they did to the other red files.  Forgive him, baby, he loves you so much.  He died protecting you.

“What?”

Forgive him, Maisie.

“Mama.  Mama?”  Catherine vanished before her eyes and Parker scowled, cursing angrily.  “What the hell is it with people disappearing before I’m satisfied with their explanations!”

Flopping onto her back, she laid spread-eagle on the bed, staring at the ugly ceiling that annoyed the hell out of her.  It was almost dark when she awoke with a start, temporarily forgetting where she was.  It came back to her in a rush and she growled irritably.  The landline rang and she answered it with her customary “greeting.”

“What.”

“Miss Parker?”

“Yeah, Broots?”

“We were just wondering if you were awake.  And if you had any ideas about what we’re going to do for food since our cash is gone.”

“I don’t know, Broots,” she sighed.  Sitting up, she scratched her head and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.  “Give me a minute and I’ll check another account.  Maybe Wonder Boy hasn’t discovered and frozen that one.  Otherwise, you’re getting a second job until we find Jarod or can afford to make a long-distance call.”

“Me?  Why do I-”

She hung up on him in mid-whine.  Padding across the room, she snagged her bag rifling around for her wallet.  Behind the fake license was a credit card and ID under a different fake identity she had set up shortly after she was pulled from Corporate and sent on the wild goose chase for Jarod.  She had used it a few times to give it legitimacy, but she was careful about when and how she used it, and never while on one of the many snipe hunts for Jarod.  It was her secret, her safety net, neither Jarod, and certainly not the Centre, was going to mess that up for her.

Changing into jeans and fitted t-shirt, she tucked her secret ID and bank card into her back pocket, grabbing her room key on her way out.  She shoved it into her front pocket and set off across the parking lot without speaking to her cohorts.  Crossing the busy parking lot of a neighboring pizza joint, she made her way to a gas station to test her card.

As she stepped through the doors, she perked up at the sight of liquor bottles on the wall behind the clerk.  Striding to the counter, she slapped her card down and said, “A bottle of Grey Goose and a pack of Newports.”

Despite her “don’t care” attitude, she was anxious, praying the card would work or they were screwed.  Smirking as the receipt printed out, she scrawled the name of her false identity on it.  Almost giddy, she grabbed the bag and left the store.  Outside, she handed the bag to a kid who was grabbing bills from a truck bed full of guys and sauntered back to the motel.

“Open up, moron!”

Broots peered out at her, his eyes widening at her casual attire.  “C-come in, Miss Parker.”

Huffing, she pushed the door open and barged in.  “Relax boys, we can eat.”

“Thank God, I’m starving.”

Shooting him a contemptuous look, she barked, “Keep in mind you’re reimbursing me for this.  I’m not a charitable institution.”

“Of course we will, “Sydneysoothed, nodding and giving Broots a reassuring look.  “Where do you suggest we go?”

“There’s no decent food in this whole town, I’m sure.”

“I took the liberty of checking out the phone book and there are a lot of places to eat.”

“Not any place I’d be caught dead.”

“You chowed down on that chocolate chess pie at Golden Corral today,” Broots muttered audibly.

“Do they have any Chinese places in town?”

“Yeah, but it’s like, four miles from here and they don’t deliver.”

“God!  So, what are our options, Broots?”

“Well, delivery-wise, nothing.  But there is a Pizza Hut next door, so no driving or waiting in line.”

“Son of a bitch,” she growled in disgust.

“Maybe the pizza place has a salad bar,”Sydneysuggested calmly.

“Yeah, and maybe Jarod will be our waiter.”

“It’ll be a twofer.  Can we go now?  I’m starving!”

“If you don’t drop the attitude pronto, I’m going to hurt you.”

“Stop it, both of you,”Sydneyscolded, looking at each of them with a frown.  “Now, let’s decide on a place to eat and go.”

“I vote Pizza Hut!”

“Of course you do.  Fine, Pizza Hut.  Maybe they serve beer.”

“It’s a pizza joint.  Of course they do.”