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.



Buy A Clue
part 1
by Selenameridia



An alarm sounded. It rang through the halls and rooms of the Centre. Doors began shutting and locking. From behind her, one could see her usual regal bearing falter, as she stopped. She had no choice but to stop...she was trapped in a corridor where she did not want to be caught. For a fleeting moment, she felt like a little girl, about to be caught doing something bad. Annoyed at herself, she shook the feeling off, and resumed her usual, no nonsense look. All that was seen from behind was a clenching of her fists. She stood in that one spot, as she pulled out her cellphone. Tossing her head to get her hair out of the way, she dialed it, and put it to her ear.

Static. Nothing but static.

She pulled her gun from it's place in the waistband, at the back of her skirt. Now she moved...immediately... to the wall at her left. There were some bends in this corridor and shadows. She melted into blackness. She waited to see if anyone else was in here. After about 5 minutes, when nothing happened, she moved carefully along the wall, to her left, toward the bend in the corridor that was closest. Glancing quickly the other way, to be sure no one was coming up on her, she stepped slowly across the lighted part of the wall. She couldn't shake the feeling she wasn't alone. Just as she reached the edge of the wall, she leaned back against it, and took a silent, deep breath. One more glance to the right, and her gun dissappeared from her hand. Before she could react, someone was in front of her, putting his hand on the wall to her right.

****

Jarod knew the Centre better than anyone thought he did. And he still had friends inside. He moved his mouse to reply. Angelo had recently found a computer in a room, hidden away. He was in one of the few rooms that had escaped the conflagration of a few years ago. No one ever came here. No one had ever discovered that he even had a computer...much less, managed to intercept his transmissions. He knew who had left him the computer, and he knew the only one who would know where to put it for him to find.

Although empathic, he was not as retarded as he seemed. He had some skills which came naturally to him. The computer was one such skill. It had already been encrypted to a certain e-mail address. And, though he never thought about it, he just knew it would be safe to use.

It seemed that whenever he was on the computer, he was as close to normal as he could be.

It was night. The pool on the main street was shooting up fountains of water in red, then green, then blue. People were sitting on the edge of the square pool, which ran about 100 yds. down the center of Main Street. It was getting close to closing time, but there were still people waiting in the rides line. Everyone who loved rollercoasters wanted to be among the first to ride the new SuperSonic. The fifth person in line was eating cotton candy. But, he wasn't just eating cotton candy...he was eating the first of 4 cotton candies. Finally, he just put the paper cones together in one hand, like a bouquet....ahhh...that was much better! The smile on his face was that of a kid's...one who has discovered something new and exciting.

As he reached the front of the line, he finished his treat and moved up to be the next one on.

"Hi, Jarod!", the attendant at the ride smiled and ushered him into a seat. Jarod smiled back, and sat back to be strapped in. Then he sat forward, into the thrill of the ride.

He stood outside the front gate, watching the last guests leave the park. Then he walked back through the front exit gate. No one stopped him. He said Hi to the Security people, and walked toward the wood wall that went to the back of the park, behind the scenes. Walking, he smelled the newly mown grass, and felt the balmy air all around him. Smiling to himself, he headed toward the Security Office. He walked up the steps, opened the door and saw no one was there. Walking over to the phone, he punched in his ID and hit the number for shift end.

He walked through the Security Gate and let the metal detector do it's job. Of course he beeped. The Guard at the Gate waved him on, saying: "Have a good night, Jarod!" Jarod smiled back at him, and headed toward his car.

As he unlocked the car door, he reflected on his assignment. This time he was an undercover Deputy from the local Police. They worked part time at the Park, and he had been sent there to ascertain what it was that made his boss feel something was wrong. Something was going on in the Park.

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.




Buy A Clue
part 2
by Selenameridia



It was night. The Pool on the main street was still shooting up fountains of water in red, then green, then blue. People were sitting on the edge of the square pool, which ran about 100 yards down the center of Main Street. It was getting close to closing time, but there were still a few people waiting in the rides lines. Everyone who loved rollercoasters wanted to be among the first to ride the new SuperSonic. The fifth person in line was eating cotton candy. He was not just eating coton candy...he was eating the first of 4 cotton candies. Finally, he just put all the paper together in one hand, like a bouquet...ahhhh ...that was much better! The smile on his face was that of a kid's...one who has discovered something new, and exciting.

As he reached the front of the line, he finished his treat and moved up to be the next one on.

"Hi, Jarod", the attendant at the ride smiled, and ushered him in to a seat. Jarod smiled back, and sat back to be strapped in. Then he leaned forward, into the thrill of the ride.

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.



Buy A Clue
part 3
by Selenameridia



The local Chief of Police...his boss...was Donald Woodrow Johnson. The Chief had worked at the Park for about 5 years, now, to assist Security, whenever he had time. He liked it there. He even took the shifts of others who didn't want to work an Amusement Park. Somehow, he felt at home, there.

Several Security people always walked the Park after closing, to make sure there weren't any stragglers still inside.

Jarod was working the front gate. As the Park was declared clear, he walked toward the square fountain. He loved it here after dark. The Main Street was still lit, all the little bulbs that outlined the quaint buildings...the jets of colored water. He stopped, and sat on the tiles, by the Pool. Running his hand through the water he allowed himself to fantasize, for a brief moment. He imagined his Father taking him to just such a Park. The laughter they would have shared. The closeness. A single tear wended it's way down his cheek. He wiped it away, and got up to head toward the wood wall that separated the main Park from the areas behind the scenes.

The Security Guard, part of the Park Police, called out to Jarod to stop, and raise his hands, then turn around slowly. As he turned he saw the Officer, dropped onto one knee, had his Glock trained on him. Jarod asked: " Looking for me?" In reply the Officer asked him who he was, and why he was still in the Park. " My name is Jarod and I work for the Security Dept., but I don't think I know you. Who are you?"I'm Officer Johnson...but you can call me DJ." " Oh, you are the Chief's son! Nice to meet you." "You know my Dad?" "I work with the local PD because your Dad thinks something is going on here. And, I do, too." They both walked to the back, to the Security Office. Jarod punched the card for shift end. "If you want, when you get off work, come by the trailer over at the Maintenance yard. I have some questions for you. We can compare notes." "Sure. Thanks."

They sat on the floor, drinking Tang, and talking. DJ said: "People keep popping up working at the Park. People no one seems to know. And, every time we go to get one of these people, they disappear. Then one or two others pop up. Seems they're always a jump ahead of us." Jarod sipped in silence, a moment, then asked: "Where do you usually work? I don't remember seeing you at the Dept." "I work for the BATF. That's why I'm allowed to carry a gun." "Hmmm. Interesting work, huh?"

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.



Buy A Clue
part 4
by Selenameridia



Jarod was back in the rides lines, the next day. He had stopped by the cotton candy vendor, but there was something unusual about the kiosk, today. He paid the kid, and reached for a new flavor...he wanted to sample the purple cone, but the associate grabbed the one he was reaching for, and handed him a pink one. Well...this was certainly odd, so Jarod retreated to a spot from which he could watch what happened to the purple one. He was eating his pink candy, and, about 3/4 of the way through it, he noticed someone come up from behind the seller and tap him on the shoulder. The youth handed him the purple cone, over his shoulder, without looking at the man. Then he put another Purple cone in the same spot. There was always only one purple cone. Jarod wanted to follow the man, but the need to know what would happen to the next cone

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.



Buy A Clue
part 5
by Selenameridia



Ok. Now what? Chances were good the purple eating people knew each other, so he put the candy under his jacket as well as he could, and walked the 25 yds. to the front gate. He stopped, like any other guest, and got his hand stamped so he could re-enter, unknown. The stamper looked at the cone under his coat, then at Jarod, both eyebrows raised. "Uh...the heat. It'll melt it before I can get to my car!" He then walked to his car and went to the trailer.

The cone didn't want to come cleanly out of his jacket. No matter what he tried, it stayed stuck to the jacket lining. All Jarod could get out was the cone, and he laid it on the passenger seat, open end facing away. He managed to get his jacket off, and preserved most of the sugar. He wanted to get it to his place, and run some tests for drugs, or chemicals.

Jarod's trailer was parked on the lot by the maintenance buildings.

The Chief had arranged for that.

Jarod brought the jacketed candy and the cone inside, and pulled out a tray drawer in his closet. It was a chem lab, small sized. He went to work on the sugar samples. After an hour he still had nothing unusual, on the sugar, or the dye. He sat back in his chair and looked at the table where his jacket was. And, the paper cone. Suddenly, Jarod jumped up and grabbed the cone from the table. He first held it up to the light. Then, he carefully unrolled it. He walked to the lamp and looked carefully at the paper for water marks or drawings. Turning off the lamp, he switched on a blacklight. There it was. Part of what looked like a map, and some writing in a code, of some sort.

DJ was sitting in a chair at Jarod's, leaning forward, looking at the paper. Jarod had a theory. " How easy would it be to collect several pieces this way, until the whole plan was acquired?" "Not hard.", was DJ's reply. "Then, we just have to find out what the maps is and break a code." "Yeah...code. Not always so easy." Jarod just smiled that little smile of his, again.

Jarod pushed the disk into the computer and watched. He was 10 years old, and Sydney was making him concentrate on breaking a code to save the lives of people on a doomed airplane. He only had 45 seconds, before the plane would begin losing altitude, and eventually crash. Jarod kept telling Sydney that the plane should be evacuated...now! Sydney said it was not an option, so he was frantically trying to break the code and yelling, in his childish voice, the plane should prepare to evac on landing. Then, suddenly, the code just came to him

***

Jarod went to the local copy store and bought a thousand sheets of the same paper the cones were made out of. While he let the sheets soak in the purple dye, he worked the code. The code took him about 1/2 hour to break.

He had borrowed an old cotton candy machine from the maintenance building, and started to spin the sugar, carefully adding the purple dye.

"What have you concluded about the maps and the code, Jarod? ", was the Chief's next question.

TBC