Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc. and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used
without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.




Whiteout
Part 1
Miss Allison







Somewhere in Maine
January 8, 2002
8:00 A.M.

He was confident with the decision he made about starting a new pretend so soon after the events that occurred on the Island. Although he was still slightly unnerved by the newest information he….they had uncovered there, he decided that worrying about it all the time was not going to uncover more answers any quicker. So here he was in the beginning of another pretend. This time he found himself in Maine during the worst months of winter. He always enjoyed New England, the people, the countryside and the food, but he was not so partial to the sometimes-unpredictable weather that could often hit the area during this time of the year.

As he walked towards the old brick building, he wrapped his long coat around him more securely and looked up at the gray clouds that had formed above the town. He thought that they could imply the arrival of snow and then again they could just signify another cold and dismal day here. Since he arrived in this small town a couple of days ago he got the distinct impression that the weathermen in this area had no better idea of what the weather would be than the cows he had read about in the Farmer’s Almanac, a new discovery of his at the general store.

The shrill ring of the school bell tore Jarod out of his thoughts and he quickened his pace up the concrete stairs of the school and into the smell of old heat and leather boots, and the sounds of many students talking about everything they could before another day of class had to start. As he walked down the hallway towards the office he took in all of the sights and sounds of a place that was foreign to him. He cursed the Centre once again for all the small parts of a normal childhood they had taken from him. The only way he knew what school was like was from reading books and seeing pictures of them.

He had done his homework though and knew what to expect on this pretend. Therefore he was aware that as a new teacher he would have to report to the office to meet the principle and find out where his classroom was.

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King Elementary School
Somewhere in Maine
January 8, 2002
8:20 A.M.

“Good morning everyone, my name is Mr. Neil and I will be replacing your regular teacher Mr. Jacobson for a short time while he recuperates from his accident”.

The sixth grade class stared back at him and he could almost see the mischief in their eyes. Jarod may not have gone to a regular school, but he heard about how children tend to treat substitute teachers.

“Do you have any questions for me before we start with the lesson you left off with?”

They all sat there looking at each other, and some whispered back and forth what they did not want to say out loud to him. Finally one brave girl, who seemed to take the lead, asked the question they all wanted to know,

“Mr., where are you from?”

Jarod should have seen this one coming. Their town was so small that almost everyone knew everybody else and any new person would be picked out quickly. As he pondered what exactly to tell the children, he thought of how much the little girl reminded him of Miss Parker as a child; always the outspoken one, leading the way, and so innocent. Too bad they took that vibrant young girl and turned her into such a hard, vindictive and lonely woman. Yes, Miss Parker was lonely, he could tell. Under her hard shell, she was just as lonely as he was.

Bringing his thoughts back to the class Jarod decided to go for almost the truth to the children.

“Well, I come from many different places, but the place I spent the most time was Delaware. Do you know where that is?”

“Of course we do” one boy yelled out and all the others laughed.

Jarod smiled, “Very good, nice to see you pay attention in class”

Jarod glanced outside and realized that it had begun to snow pretty hard outside and he smiled more. He always liked to see the snow fall, it reminded him of how free he was now. The children soon noticed the snow as well and excitement ran throughout the class.

“Okay, okay, you’ve all seen snow before, this is New England isn’t it? Let’s start with the reading lesson that Mr. Jacobson left for me to teach you.”

A groan went through the class but all the students sat down and took out their reading books.


12:30 P.M.

Jarod came back from lunch to see his whole class in the room where the lunch monitor had dropped them off. Most of them were socializing and some were reading various volumes of Harry Potter books. He glanced out the window and realized that the snow just kept on falling and he wondered how any of them would be able to leave school at 3:00 when the bell rang. In the teacher’s lounge he had questioned a few of the teachers to see if they would let the children go early, but they all said that they were not allowed to let them out since most would go home to empty houses with no keys.

“Okay everyone, lunch time’s over, it’s time to start social studies now, so get out your textbooks and U.S. maps”

As Jarod talked to the class he walked towards the teacher’s desk to settle in for another lesson and when he got closer to it he saw a Superwoman Pez dispenser perched right on top of his teacher’s manual. Just as he started to ponder its strange appearance, considering no one here would know of his Pez fetish, he heard a familiar voice emanate from the back of the classroom.

“So Mr…..Neil, I guess it is, are you going to tell the children about all of the glorious states you have gotten to see in the past years? You have seen quite a few have you not?”

Jarod spun around to see Miss Parker strutting her high-healed boots and fur coat up one of the aisles of desks. All of the children turned to see the pretty lady with long legs and fire in her eyes and began whispering to each other about who she could be and how she knew their new teacher.

“Actually, I was going to teach them all about certain places, or one particular place in the U.S. to stay away from, if they want to lead a normal life that is”

As she reached the front of the room Jarod could see that Miss Parker was about ready to pull her weapon on him in the middle of the classroom. He looked at the belt of her pants, where he knew her gun was hiding, and then caught her eyes, pleading with her not to do this in front of the children. Luckily, somewhere inside of her there was still that caring child he knew and she stopped her hand that was partway to the back of her blouse and brought it back out.

“Well class, I think that right now its time for all of you to start reading you little books and time for Ja….I mean Mr. Neil to step out in the hall and talk to one of his old, dear friends that has traveled a long way to see him” Miss Parker told the children with a no nonsense tone in her voice that kept them all quiet in their seats.

“Miss Parker’s right, why don’t you all turn your books to page 78 and read about Alabama. When you’re done get in pairs and decide upon five facts about the state that you will share with the class when I get back”

Miss Parker escorted Jarod into the hallway where she made no waste of time in drawing her gun and sticking it into his back.

“This time there’s no place to go wonder boy. I have sweepers posted on every road out of this crap-hole of a town and besides you wouldn’t want to make a scene in front of all those impressionable kids in there would you?”

“It would be just like you to use children against me Parker. Sounds like something your father would have done.”

“Shut up Jarod. Don’t be a sore loser. I told you that it would be the same as always, you run, I chase. But it ends now. No more cross country traveling to capture your ass, no more stupid letters and packages and no more Centre. As soon as I bring you in I’m out of there and no sweeper team big enough will be able to get me back”.

Just as she finished the last words the whole school went entirely black. Screaming could be heard from all of the classrooms down the hall and Jarod took this opportunity to get in a better position. He spun around and wrestled the gun from Miss Parker’s stunned hands, holding it on her while he emptied all of its rounds into his pocket.

“Guns aren’t allowed on school property Miss Parker so I will just have to hold onto this until the end of the day”

Though his eyes had not yet adjusted to the dark hallway, he could feel the daggers emanating from Miss Parker’s eyes at the moment. Jarod slipped the gun into his pocket as Miss Parker steamed and he remembered his class sitting in the dark room.

When he entered the classroom all the children were out of control. Some were still screaming about the dark while others were running around and exclaiming how cool it was.

“Everybody needs to stop right now!” he said forcefully.

All the students turned to where Jarod stood in the doorway and the room became quiet. Just at that moment a flashlight was shone in his face and an office worker came in and told Jarod that he was to bring all of his students to the gym until they could find someone to get the generator up and running.

“Where’s the generator located?”

“I think it’s in the basement. Bob our regular janitor would know if he were here today but of course he’s out sick”

“Well how about if you take my class to the gym for me I will head to the basement to get that generator on”

So Jarod grabbed the man’s flashlight and went down the hallway to the door that the man said led to the basement. That’s when Jarod remembered Miss Parker was roaming the halls somewhere in the school.

“Where the hell did she go?” he thought as he headed back towards the main entrance to the building. As he rounded the corner that led to the main door he saw her standing with the door open and staring at the swirling snow outside. It was now a full-blown blizzard and you could not see anything beyond two feet outside of the door.
“Not thinking of going out in that mess are you Parker?”

When she didn’t return with a caustic remark of her own Jarod became concerned and approached her cautiously. As he got up beside her he expected the look on her face to be that of hatred and spite but instead he saw one of sadness and defeat. It even almost looked as if she could cry, almost.

“Well you win again wonder boy. This time not on any merit of your own but it seems as if even the weather is on your side. There’s no way I can get myself out of here, never mind Houdini himself. I was so close this time, why do I always fuck it up? Why can’t you just disappear for good and I can leave the center and try to lead a normal life?”

“Do you really believe that when or if I return to the Centre they will let you walk away? How can you trust people that continually screw you over? You could drag my dead corpse in there right now and they still wouldn’t let you leave. You belong to them and they know it”.

Miss Parker slammed the front door shut and brushed the snow off her coat, not happy with the truth that Jarod had just flung in her face.

Ignoring her anger Jarod went on, “But enough about the Centre, right now I have a job to do in order to get some lights back on in this place. You can either stay here and stare at the white-out or you can come help me find the generator”

“Oh, such choices. I can’t believe what my life has come to. Stare at a blank white world or follow super boy around in an old, dank basement. What the hell, lead the way.”


1:30 P.M.

Jarod’s flashlight bounced off the cobwebs in the stairwell as he opened the door that led to the basement.

“Oh God, I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

“You’re not afraid of some little spiders are you Miss Parker?”

“No jerk, its just that every dark hole in the floor reminds me of all the sub levels at the Centre where God knows what goes on”

“I promise you Mr. Raines isn’t around any corners in this basement”

“Ha, yeah but there could be a few of his furry rat kin down here”

Jarod laughed as they descended the basement steps. Miss Parker let go of the door and as it closed they heard it click as if it locked behind them. They both stopped where they were on the stairs for a second and then both scrambled for the door only to jiggle the handle to no avail.

“You have got to be kidding me!! Not only am I in the middle of nowhere cow town in a blizzard with you, but now we’re locked in a dark, damp basement with a dying flashlight, no food, breathable air or useable weapons!!”

“Pez?” Jarod stated as he held out the Wonder Woman Pez dispenser which Miss Parker had left on his desk.

“Uhhhhhh! I cannot deal with this! Just point that flashlight down so we can at least get off these wretched stairs and onto solid ground!”

When the pair reached the bottom of the stairs Jarod shined his flashlight around the basement to see what they were facing next. It looked as if the old school basement had not been cleaned out since the first World War.

“Look at all this crap. It looks like a PTA garage sale in here. How the hell are we going to find the damn generator under all this, we can barely even move around it all.”

“Hey Parker, I didn’t do all those simulations for nothing. When there’s a problem I can fix it.”

“Yeah right, fix my life. That would be the ultimate simulation. Maybe I’ll get Syd to make that the first one you do when you get back, before Raines gets his newly crafted fingers on you.”

“One question Parker”

“What?”

“Why not just leave it all behind? The man you’ve always known as your father is gone now, so who do you owe anything to?”

“Oh what and leave someone else to bring you in? You’ve always been my responsibility, I’ve been trained to hate you and hunt you and I won’t leave it behind until you’re back at the Centre”

“But have you ever asked yourself why? Why are you supposed to hate me and track me down all the time? If you remember right, we used to be friends and now they use that against us to keep us both as captive at the Centre as we were as children. Why can’t you just let someone else take over the hunt, like that bastard brother of yours Lyle? I’m sure he’d do a fine job hunting me down”.

“So, I leave the Centre, then what? Ride off into the sunset with no job, no ties, no friends? I’ll admit that you were right before when you said that the Centre owns me, and I don’t think I know how to live outside its walls.”

Miss Parker gave in to her feelings of defeat from before and sunk into an old, dusty teacher’s chair in the corner of the basement.

“Ah, Jarod, you must love seeing me this way; your enemy stricken with defeat. Go on make some snide comment, this day can’t get any worse anyway.”

Jarod felt sorry for Miss Parker and wanted to comfort her, but besides the pity he felt he also had the stirring inside of the things that he has always felt for her since they were young. These feelings always get pushed aside because he knows that he will always run and she will always chase, but at times like this he can’t help but let the feelings take over for a while.

“Yeah sort of like they did on the island last month” he thought to himself. They were so close to crossing the line where she might let him into the steel fortress she has built up around herself. He thinks it’s her defense mechanism against everything that has happened to her at the Centre and really he doesn’t blame her, but he wishes that she would at least recognize what could be between them.

“The truth is Parker”, Jarod started as he came up beside her, “I don’t think of you as my enemy, always, and I don’t enjoy seeing you in pain either”.

“You’re so strange sometimes Jarod. I chase and chase you, push guns in your face, I’ve even shot at you on numerous occasions and still you don’t consider me your enemy. Sometimes you take this wonder boy thing way too far”.

Jarod kneeled in front of Miss Parker and put his hand on her knee to comfort her. At first he thought she was going to pull away but then something changed in her eyes.

“I know it’s crazy but some things are worth fighting for and one of those things is your trust and friendship. You were the only friend I ever had for a long time at the Centre and they took you away from me. I know its not your fault that you hunt me down and pull guns on me. I also know that you’re a better shot than you lead on and that if you really wanted to hit me I would have been dead and buried in the Centre basement by now.”

“Nothing gets by you does it?”

Jarod looked up right into Miss Parker’s eyes and held her there,

“You do”.

Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc. and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used
without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.




Whiteout
Part 2
Miss Allison







The Basement of King Elementary School
Somewhere in Maine
2:30 P.M.

‘What is he talking about’ Miss Parker thought. ‘This is genius boy who knows everything. He must have figured out by now that I shoot to miss for a reason. No, stop it! You can’t let yourself do this! He’s the target, the mission, your chance at freedom, he’s not that cute little boy that you kissed once’

‘She has to know what I mean when I say that’ Jarod thought as he studied her beautiful eyes. ‘It looks like she’s fighting an inner battle right now’ he thought as he wondered if he should continue with what his heart was telling him to do.

Before he could even finish his thought Jarod felt his body leaning into Miss Parker and he was just waiting for the punch that would roll him clear across the basement. ‘God, they were still in the basement’ he almost forgot. As he held her eyes and leaned in, he realized that she was leaning in slightly as well and a feeling of déjà vu washed over him.

The feeling soon left as he made contact with her lips for the first time in too many years. They held there for what seemed like forever, and just when Jarod thought it was over Miss Parker breathed in and opened her mouth, deepening the kiss. He cupped her face with both hands as she laid her hands on his upper arms. Finally, when neither one could last any longer, they drew apart and just sat back in shock.

Neither one could see the other anymore since while they were kissing the flashlight flickered for the last time and went out entirely. This made Jarod nervous because he could not see how Miss Parker was reacting to what just happened. He hoped that she wasn’t regretting or denying it, and erecting her steel fortress as they stood there. Just as Jarod was about to give up hope of ever even talking to her again, Miss Parker spoke:

“Wow wonder boy, I didn’t think you had that in you”

‘Leave it to Miss P. to be sarcastic even at a time like this’ he thought.

“I could say the same about you…….but I’d be lying” he shot back at her with a smirk in his voice.

He hoped that she was smiling through the dark, but with Parker you never can really tell what she’s thinking.

“So how about that generator?” she asked trying to get away from the reality of what just occurred.

“Well I think it’s going to be quite hard to find with no flashlight”

“Well we can’t get out of this hell hole and we can’t even get the lights on for everyone else, so what do you suggest we do”

‘Well there’s a couple of things that I could suggest’ Jarod thought evilly ‘and the dark is the perfect place for them too’. Good thing Miss Parker couldn’t see the grin spreading across his face at the moment. He probably would have gotten that punch he was expecting before.

“How about we hold hands and make our way around the room slowly, feeling at things with our feet until we hit something that could be the generator?” he offered.

“That is your ingenious plan? All those years at the Centre, and your plan is to ‘feel around with our feet’?”

“Hey, if you’ve got a better idea let me know”

“Fine, fine, where’s your hand anyway?”

Somehow they found one another’s hands, and the minute they touched both could feel the electricity from just minutes before move through them again. He thought he heard Miss Parker take a quick breath in when they made contact but he couldn’t be sure. Jarod just stood there for a moment reveling in the softness and heat of her hand but was quickly jarred out of his stupor, as suddenly Miss Parker leaned in towards him so close he could feel her hot breath on his neck,

“Let’s get going” she said breathily. “First one to find the generator wins”.

As he tried to shake off the shiver that was running through his whole body, Jarod contemplated asking what the winner got, but thought better of it. After all, he did want to get out of the basement alive.

Fighting hard to get control over the situation again Jarod decided that two could play that game and as Miss Parker moved away from him, he tugged the hand clasped within his and pulled her body towards his own. She let out a surprised gasp but said nothing.

“Ladies first” he whispered back, his tone of voice matching hers. He then pushed her back away from him and into the direction of the back basement.

With no biting comment flung back, the pair, with hands still clasped, slowly made their way into the darkness filled with old, dusty desks, chairs, blackboards and maps. Every few seconds their feet would hit a new object, but nothing sounded quite large or metallic enough to be the generator they sought.

At one point they reached a wall and had to change direction. Not really knowing where in the basement they were, because being in the dark so long had disorientated them, they moved along randomly praying that the generator would be in their path at some point.

“I am going to smell like must for weeks after this!” Miss Parker complained angrily.

“Hey, this place is no different than where you go to work everyday” Jarod said only half jokingly. “It’s dark, scary, littered with filth and it smells bad”.

“At least I have a real job”.

“Yeah one your daddy got for you”

“That would have been a good comeback if it weren’t for the little paternity issue of late” ,Miss Parker shot back at him but sounded sad at the same time and Jarod immediately felt sorry for what he had just said. He forgot that the man she had known as her father for so long was possibly never her father at all.

“Hey Parker, I’m sorry that I said that.”

“Don’t apologize Jarod. It’s not your fault my family’s so fucked up. No one can take credit for that except the Parker’s themselves”.

As she said this she tried to get away from the conversation and took a long stride in the direction they were moving, forgetting that shuffling was the only way of avoiding the potentially hazardous objects everywhere. When she stepped down, her stiletto boot got tangled on something throwing her off balance. Jarod felt her stumble and rushed to keep her upright. As he did this she quickly set herself up straight and knocked right into Jarod coming to help. Jarod fell over a pile of junk and crashed onto the floor.
Miss Parker heard the crash and the distinct sound of something hard hitting something large and metal.

“Jarod, are you okay?!” she cried out as she tried to feel around in the dark for him.

“Mmmm, I think I found the generator” Jarod groaned as he tried to unsuccessfully sit himself up.

Miss Parker found where he laid and knelt down beside him.

“What did you hit?”

“My head, of course” he said as he attempted to sit up again and could feel the pounding headache already starting where he had made contact.

“Let me check it out” Miss Parker said as she felt around on his head.

“Ouch!”

“Sorry, I don’t think you’re bleeding from anywhere but I bet you have a concussion. Can you try to stand up?”

“I can try”

Miss Parker held on to Jarod as they both tried to get to their feet. They were both half way up when Jarod’s head started to spin and this time they both toppled to the floor in a heap.

“Thanks for all your help Parker”

“Shut up wonder boy” she shot back, but did not make any attempt to move off of him.

“For two people with greater than average intelligence who grew up in a place that breeds competence and the ability to get a job done we are certainly having a difficult time in getting the lights on in this place” Jarod half joked.

When he didn’t get another response from Miss Parker, Jarod reached his free hand up to find her face and make sure she hadn’t injured herself. He felt her cheek and brushed his hand down its side. He was surprised to feel that it was wet.

“Miss Parker, are you okay? Did you injure yourself on the fall?”

“No, I’m fine Jarod” she insisted, angry with herself for letting her emotions show.

“You’re not fine Parker”, Jarod persisted. “Tell me what’s wrong”.

Jarod pulled himself up and Miss Parker untangled herself from him so that the two were sitting side by side on the floor.

‘Why can’t I keep it together lately?’ she thought angrily. ‘I’m a Parker, we don’t cry and we certainly don’t show emotion, especially to our enemies. I just can’t keep doing this, being this way. It’s killing me. I want to tell him. I want to be who I really am and feel how I really feel for once. But I shouldn’t. I’m letting my emotions mess up the project. I hate him for making me feel this way! No stop it! You don’t hate him; you hate yourself…’

“Parker?” Jarod said anxiously after Miss Parker didn’t responded for a while.

Just the sound of his voice and the care and concern steeped deep within it made her lose any control over her emotions that she was fighting for, and before she new what she was doing she began to talk, ramble, really was the more appropriate word.

“I was just thinking, when you were talking about the Centre this whole time, pointing out what it is and what it has done to us…it’s really killed us. The place is evil and what we’ve been doing down in this basement has just reminded me of my whole life and that place and my future. I feel like I’m caught in a dark hole…..I’m left by….my father….to just grope around for truths…..stuff I don’t even feel exists anymore. I can’t leave, I can’t find my way out, I can’t do what I want to or be with the people I care about…..the dark has just taken over everything….even my personality….I’m such a bitch Jarod…I’m everything you say I am…cold, heartless, uncaring….”

“But Parker it’s not your fault” Jarod said reaching for her hand to try and reassure her.

“Please, just let me finish” she pleaded but let Jarod take her hand in his.

“It may not be my fault but what have I done to take charge of my life? I’ve done everything to please my father and still I’m so unhappy and lonely I want to die. I just don’t think I can take it anymore, the mind games, the chase, Raines, Lyle…..it has to end sometime but I can’t see the light anymore that I could see as a child. My mother was always my light then, I thought she would make things better but she couldn’t even do it….there’s no way anything I do will help. I’m just ready to give up on everything, I think I’ll just stay here in this basement alone and in the dark for good, like you said, it wouldn’t be any different than what I’m used to anyway…”

The last thing Miss Parker said was barely a whisper as she let defeat take her again. Jarod couldn’t stand to see such a strong woman be so beaten, but he was happy that she finally opened up to him.

“Hey” he said as he found her other hand, “you may not be able to change all of the things in your life, but you can change some things. For instance, you don’t have to be someone you aren’t and you don’t have to stay at the Centre out of some warped sense of duty to your father, and you certainly don’t have to be lonely”

“God I wish that were true Jarod. I also wish I had your optimism and charm sometimes, but I can’t do anything, I’m stuck. I’ve been stuck since I was born into that hell hole”

“Don’t you see Parker? You can’t change things and I can’t change things, but we can”, as he said this he cupped her face with his hands and even through the dark he knew he was looking straight into her beautiful eyes.

“You make it sound so easy Jarod”, she said as the tears started to fall again. “I want to believe in it so badly”

“So for once let yourself dream about how things could be and be who you are and do what you want to”

Miss Parker fell silent as Jarod stroked her cheek with his thumb, trying to wipe her tears away. Just as Jarod was about to talk again and tell her that they should really get up and get the generator on he felt Miss Parker shift and her hands came to rest on his face as well. Before he knew what was happening Miss Parker leaned in and somehow found his lips in the dark and covered them with hers. This kiss did not last quite as long as the first one, but it was no less mind-blowing in its effect on the two. Miss Parker broke the kiss and both sat in silence until she spoke again.

“I thought I’d start on the whole ‘do what you want to’ advice right away” she explained.

“Best advice I ever gave”, Jarod returned still reveling in the remains of Parker on his lips. He snaked his arms around her waste to pull her to him and as he did so the lights suddenly came on in the building. The few lights that were scattered through the basement were not close enough to Jarod and Miss Parker to stun their eyes with their sudden brightness, but they illuminated the two just the right amount to let each one see the raw emotions on the other’s face; emotions that they only let loose freely because of the pitch-blackness that had surrounded them.

As they realized what was reflected in the other one’s face they both gasped at their nakedness and what they were showing the other. They tried to hide it away quickly but both knew that it was too late and their deepest secrets had already been revealed and could not be taken back. Jarod couldn’t catch his breath by what he saw on Miss Parker’s face. He always hoped that she felt the same way as he did, but he could never be sure. But there it was out in the open and he couldn’t believe it. He diverted his eyes, because at the same time he felt badly for invading her privacy in that way, but she didn’t.

She took his face in her hands again so he would look at her and when he did her same emotions were still there, open for him to see.

“You are so beautiful”, she said as she traced his face with her hands.

“Hey, that’s supposed to be my line”, he said in a mock hurt voice with a shy smile.
“You can have it next time”

Suddenly there was a loud pounding sound coming from the direction of the basement stairs.

“Mr. Neil! Are you down there still?!” came a cry from behind the door as the office worker who showed Jarod where the basement was knocked on the door.

“Yes we’re down here but we can’t get out, the door is locked!” Jarod yelled as he and Miss Parker got up and started to make their way back to the stairs through the maze of school crap. The two reached the stairs and Jarod glanced at Miss Parker and saw what a state she was in. Her usually perfect clothes, hair and makeup were all awry and she was covered in dust.

“What are you smirking at?” she demanded, although not in her usual ‘I’m Miss Parker from the Centre and don’t give me any crap!’ tone of voice.

“Only if you tell me what you’re smirking at first?” he answered as he saw her fight back the need to laugh. All of a sudden the two just burst out laughing and pointing at each other.

“You look like a wreck!” Miss Parker exclaimed through her laughter.

“Well you don’t exactly look like Cosmopolitan material yourself!” he shot back.

Just then the door opened and the two looked at the office worker who looked down on the two dirty and hysterical people with a puzzled expression on his face.

“Um, thanks for getting the lights back on, sorry you got locked down here, I forgot to tell you that the door automatically locks when it closes.”

Jarod and Miss Parker looked at one another wondering if they should tell the man that they never really made it to the generator, but decided against it.

“You’re welcome” Jarod said with a smile as the two ascended the stairs in style.

“Oh, by the way, there are some men that came looking for a woman that matches your description, Miss. Um, I didn’t realize you were in the building so I sent them away. They were also asking about you Mr. Neil but at the time I forgot where you were”

Once again Jarod and Miss Parker exchanged a knowing glance.

“Thank you for your help sir” Miss Parker stated. “Will you excuse Mr. Neil and I? We have some business to take care of with those men”

“Oh sure, the storm cleared and all the children have been picked up, so you’re free to go Mr. Neil. Have a great weekend!”

“Thanks you too!” Jarod yelled as Miss Parker started to pull him down the hall towards the back door of the building.

Afraid that she would forget or deny everything that happened to them in the basement and still try to take him in he took his hand away so she would stop and look at him.

“What are you doing?!” she said in an angry whisper, “You heard that man, they’re looking for us, you have to get out of here!”

“So you’re not going to take me in?”

“Of course I’m not, I’ve never really wanted to anyway, except for my own selfish reasons”

“But what about you? I get to go free but you still have to go back to that place and pretend you’re a coldhearted bitch”

“Please, don’t worry about me, I’ve always taken care of myself fine, and this is no different. I will keep in touch with you and I promise we’ll change things soon. We just need to take the time to plan things out. If we just run away now we won’t stand a chance against the Centre”

“Ok, fine, you’re right. But it’s going to be hard to keep playing this game with each other”

“It’s always been hard. But now that we both are sure that it is just a game we can actually have some fun with it” she said with a certain sparkle in her eyes that made Jarod almost want to resume the ‘you run, I chase’ scenario as soon as possible.

“As long as you keep chasing me in those short designer power suits and high heels of yours, I’m in” he returned with an equal sparkle in his eyes.

“You’ve got a deal wonder boy, although after today I’m a little less inclined to agree to the high heels”

“So how are we going to get out of this small town without your sweeper goons chasing me down and bringing me in?” Jarod wondered out loud.

“Actually I think I might have an idea”




Outside King Elementary School
Somewhere in Maine
5:00 P.M.

“Freeze Jarod!! Stop or we’ll shoot!”

“Sorry, not today boys!” Jarod shouted as he slammed the door to Miss Parker’s car and peeled out of the school parking lot, barely missing the shots being fired by the sweepers.

“Shit!!” they yelled as the car disappeared down the road.

“Where the hell is Miss Parker?!” the two looked at one another and at the school Jarod just bolted out of and they ran up the stairs to find their boss.

“Miss Parker!” they yelled into the now empty school. From down the hall they heard someone’s angry cries and pounding on a door. They ran to where the sound was coming from and Miss Parker’s ranting could be heard coming through the door.

“One of you two idiots get me out of here NOW!!!” she screamed as they fumbled for the doorknob. Upon opening the door they found a disheveled and dusty Miss Parker with a look that would have sent poor Broots straight to the emergency room if he had been there.

“What the hell took you ass holes so long to get here!? Jarod’s got me locked in this basement and somehow you two are nowhere to be found as usual! Please tell me you’ve got him and he’s dead in this school somewhere?!”

“Uh, no, sorry Miss Parker, he took your car and got away before we could get him”

“You are all fucking idiots!! No wonder we’ve been tracking lab rat for years now, it’s because you’re so ridiculously incompetent! Go get the other car so we can fly out of this trash heap, I’m done with this!”

The two sweepers sunk away from Miss Parker and practically ran down the hall to get their car, too bad they left so soon, because they missed her produce a Superwoman Pez dispenser from her pocket and pop a little pink candy in her mouth as a devious smile played on her lips.