1. Chapter 1 by M
2. Chapter 2 by M
3. Chapter 3 by M
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Don't sue. You'll only get a handful of lint, maybe some string (if you're lucky) and spit. That's all I've got.Summary: Uh oh... Miss P's in trouble... Someone's come up and burst her bubble... (If ya'll don't know... That's a Shampoo song... Might Morphing Power Rangers... *sheepish grin*)Keyword and Category: YGIAGAM. (Your guess is as a good as mine.) It's also kinda romantic... Sorry... Couldn't help it...
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The Rescue
1/?
by -M.
5:32 A.M.
Miss Parker was sleeping. Her long hair was strewn across the pillows; her forehead was laced with sweat. She was running a slight fever so she was warm under her covers. Her alarm went off. She moaned and turned to see it read
6:00.
"Oh, God," she moaned. She got up and felt her knees go weak. She sat down hard on the bad and stood up again, getting a firmer stance.
"No, this is not going to work." She said. After all that had happened in the last months, Miss Parker needed some time off. She wanted a vacation from the Centre, but was afraid to ask for it.
"What the hell, Parker. Go for it." She told herself as she dressed. She pulled a blouse on and grabbed her gun, fixing it and it's holster tightly on her belt. She walked to her Porsche and put the key in ignition. With a tired nod of her head, the car started and she drove out, following the road she knew so well.
Miss Parker pulled up to the building. She sighed, sadly. The emptiness that radiated from the building affected her already. She could feel the void that cut through her soul already affecting her. She walked out of her car into the Centre and was greeted stonily by a guard.
"Hello, Miss Parker," the guard said. He nodded at her and opened the door.
She walked in not saying a word and felt the coldness of the room rush upon her making her whole body shiver. It was cold, but what made her shiver more was that the halls seemed so empty and desolate. The walls teemed of voices of people crying, screaming, their silent voices falling on deaf ears. Ears that had been clouded with lies to cover up the truth.
She walked down the hall; the sound of her heels ringing in the corridor giving all a warning the Parker bitch was back. She walked her mind on autopilot, walking the halls she knew so well. Her mind was weary as well as her body. And perhaps it was that that made her walk into the elevator. The same elevator her mother had been killed in.
She looked around and felt the tightening around her heart. As if an ice cold hand was slowly squeezing her heart, causing the air to escape her lungs and the thoughts to burst out of her mind. She waited for the images, as she knew they would. It was only a matter of waiting. There. They came. A flash of light! A sound of a gun ringing in her ear.
"No! Mama, no! Mama!" a young Miss Parker yelled as the sweeper pulled her away. Cold and inanimate, her mother lay on the ground, still grasping the gift she would never get to give her beloved daughter.
The elevator bell rung. Miss Parker snapped away from the nightmare that had seeped into her life in every way.She walked to her father's office only to find Brigitte there.Oh, goody, Miss Parker thought.
"Daddy." Miss Parker stated and walked towards him.
"Angel." Her father said and kissed her cheek.
"Miss Parker." Brigitte said.
"Bridget." Miss Parker replied raising her eyebrow slightly.
"What reason do you have for brightening my day today?" Mr. Parker said.
"Daddy, I came to ask you a favor." Miss Parker said.
"Mhmpf." Mr. Parker said in reply. He nodded.
"I wanted to know if I could get couple days off from work. I know I need to have an excuse, and I do--" she started but her father cut her off.
"You can have the days off, Angel." Mr. Parker said as he smiled at Miss Parker," With a good rest you'll have a better chance at catching Jarod. I understand that fully."
Miss Parker smiled and she kissed her father's forehead.
"Thank you, Daddy." She said as she walked out of the room.
"Brigitte and I are coming over later, Angel. We'll see you later." Mr. Parker winked and smiled at Brigitte, who smiled at Miss Parker and winked and laughed.
"Okay, Daddy." She said through gritted teeth. She tried as hard as she could not to slam the door.
She walked out of the Centre not bothering to inform Sydney, but to let him find out on his own. She walked to her car and leaned her head on the steering wheel. She was tired. She needed rest and she thanked her father with all her heart for letting her have a couple days off. Miss Parker drove off fatigued but didn't feel or see the other set of eyes following her the whole way home.
At her house Miss Parker slipped into her pajamas and lay in bad. Her head lolled to one side and she closed her eyes, welcoming sleep with open arms.
1:32 AM, the Next Day. Miss Parker's House.
Miss Parker's eyes snapped open. Someone was in her room. Her mind raced wildly, her heart slammed against her ribs, adrenaline pumped into her veins and caused her not be able to think clearly. She looked around the room and reached for her gun, which was right nets to her bed, on her nightstand. A light clicked on.
A man in black pointed his gun at her.
"Miss Parker. So glad we could finally meet." He said and smiled a grin that made Miss Parker shiver," Little Catherine Parker."
"Who the hell are you?" Miss Parker demanded.
"Oh. You don't know?" he smiled again.
Miss Parker glanced over at the gun on her nightstand.
He raised an eyebrow and he shook his head. He grabbed the gun.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." The dark man said," Not a good idea, Little Catherine. You wouldn't want to end up as dead as mommy now would you?"
"Who the hell are you?!" Miss Parker snapped again, the mention of her mother's name.
He pulled out a black hood and looked at her.
Miss Parker's eyes widened. She looked at the man in her room.
"Now, shall we do this the easy way or the hard way?"
10:00 AM. The Next Day...
"Thank you, Jarod. From the bottom of my heart." Maria said," With Timmy's murderer behind bars, you've saved many others from meeting the same fate."
"It's nothing, Maria. Anyone else would have done the same." Jarod said and smiled," Have a good day."
Maria, whose son was killed by a serial killer, hugged Jarod again and walked off her other son in her arms.
Jarod sighed happily and walked into his office. He took off his coat and logged on to the Internet.
"You have mail." The automated voice said.
Jarod clicked the icon found he had three different e-mails.
Did he want to apply for a Visa card? No.
Did he want a free subscription to People™? No.
Hmm. One e-mail from "InTheShadows."
It had a picture. Jarod double clicked the mail icon and waited for the picture to load.
Jarod sipped a bit of his coffee and saw the picture upload.
He almost gagged.
Jarod scooted up as close to the computer as he could as he saw the rest of the picture upload. It was picture of Miss Parker tied to a chair bruises and dried blood evidently in place.
"Oh, no. Oh, crap." Jarod cursed under his breath, he frantically pulled out his cell phone and dialed Sydney. He waited.
"Sydney." Sydney announced as he answered the phone.
"Sydney, where is Miss Parker?" Jarod barked, a little bit harsher than he wanted.
"Jarod? What's wrong?" Sydney asked alarmed.
"Where is Miss Parker?" Jarod asked again.
"She took a couple days off." Sydney informed Jarod, "Why?"
Jarod forwarded the e-mail he had gotten to Sydney.
Check your mail, Sydney." Jarod hung up.
He didn't need to count the minutes before his phone began ringing, almost frantically.
"Jarod, where did you find this picture?!" Sydney demanded.
"I received it today in my mail. When did Miss Parker take those days off?" Jarod asked.
"Yesterday, Lyle informed me that she had taken the days off." Sydney said.
"Yesterday." Jarod repeated.
"You have mail."
Jarod jumped and tried to calm his heart. He double clicked the icon and read the message.
"Jarod
That is it right? Jarod? Doesn't Miss Parker look absolutely stunning in this picture? In my opinion she looks extravagant. Should I bruise her up a little more? It'll go nicely with a black eye. Hmm. You tell me what I should change in this picture.
InTheShadows"
"Jarod, are you sure this isn't a hoax?" Sydney asked.
Jarod let out a low growl as he forwarded the e-mail to Sydney.
"I don't really think it is." Jarod said." I'll find out some more. Keep you informed. And Sydney?"
"Yes?"
"Don't tell anyone," Jarod said and hung up the phone.
Jarod grabbed his coffee gulped half of it down. He went to work on finding the origin of the e-mail. He hacked into the Internet server and checked out any information on the user but anything that came up had been erased or tampered with. Nothing. Jarod pushed back the computer furious. No sooner had he done that than did his cell phone ring.He picked it up.
"Got my e-mail?" a mechanical voice, said before Jarod could say 'Hello.'
"Who are you?" Jarod demanded of the voice, knowing he would not get an answer.
"If I told you that wouldn't be any fun, now would it?" the voice said, but before Jarod could ask about Miss Parker he said," You want to talk with Miss Parker?"
"Yes," Jarod replied.
"I'm sure she'd love to talk to you."
Suddenly Miss Parker's voice made it's way onto the phone. A far away voice that strengthened slightly as time passed.
"You son of a bitch! Bastard! What…?"
Jarod strained to hear her.
"Jarod? Jarod?!" Miss Parker asked breathlessly.
"Yes, Miss Parker. I'm here."
"New Mexico! I'm in--" she got cut off.
"Stupid, stupid woman." The voice said. A sound of something being thrown and clattering on the floor and then Jarod could hear Miss Parker yelp.
"What did you do?!" Jarod bellowed into the phone.
"Oh. Nothing much. I just wanted to see what color Miss Parker's blood was."
The dead automated voice said.
Jarod glared.
"If you hurt her anymore I swear I'll-"
"You'll what?" The voice laughed," You'll what?"
"I will do something." Jarod said with a menacing tone in his voice.
"Ooh. Scary." The voice said," Go to this address, Jarod." He hung up the phone.
The mail icon on Jarod's computer went on.
"You have mail."
Jarod clicked the message icon and read the address. He wasn't sure how fast he could get there but he decided to try it out.
Back at the Centre. About 10:43.
Don't tell anyone. Jarod's message rang in Sydney's ears.
He walked swiftly into the Centre's tech room. Sydney trotted to where Broots was a whispered in his ear what was going on.
Broot's eyes tightened and sweat began to appear on his forehead.
"What?!" Broots asked quietly.
Lyle walked into the room and Sydney silenced Broots.
"Doctor, Mr. Broots, have you seen my sister?" Lyle asked adjusting the maroon glove that covered his missing thumb.
"You informed us yesterday Miss Parker had taken the day off, Lyle." Sydney said quite casually.
Broots looked up at him nervously. Sydney gave him a reassuring look. Lyle glanced at the two.
"I'll go check with my father." Lyle said nonchalantly and walked casually out of the room.
"What do you mean--" Broots started yelling. When Sydney glared at him.
"Keep quiet, Broots, keep quiet for your sake..." He said and added, "And for Miss Parker's sake as well..."
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Author: M. Monica. Parker. Park. Anna. Whatever. Wanna archive? Sure, just ask. I don't bite... Too hard.
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Disclaimer: Story is mine. Characters are the Universe's (In other words, NBC's.. TNT's. God. Whoever.)
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The Rescue
2/?
by -M.
Back In Mystery Man’s Complex
Miss Parker sat up, slowly inching so as not to turn someway she shouldn’t. She could feel the hidden pain in her veins, a monster just waiting to rear it’s ugly head. She turned her head slightly and it roared at her, the blinding red pain blocking her vision and capability to think. For a moment there was nothing but the pain, and the horrifying thought it would never end.
But it did. It subsided and Miss Parker unclenched her teeth.
She looked around her sterile room and sighed in disgust. She moved, the pain reemerging, but made her way back to the door she had been thrown against only a few hours ago. She backed off, staring at the whole while. She tried to recall what had happened. There had been darkness and red. Pain, that wanted to consume her whole.
The door flew open (disturbing her thoughts), and she looked up, moving her neck a bit too quickly thus causing red pain to flare in her eyes, blinding her for a second.
"So... Sleeping Beauty is awake," came the derisive sneer from the door. A tall, muscular man stood firmly in the door way, arms crossed. He had sandy blond hair—the roots blonder than the top—and the oddest green eyes Miss Parker had seen.
Miss Parker advanced to him, glaring fiercely-her blue eyes as cold as ice.
"Where the hell am I? Who are you?" She snapped viciously, moving to push him aside or at least break a bone in the man’s body.
"You don’t remember?" He catechized, angry at her act of defiance
As she planted her hands on his chest to push him back, he grabbed her forearm and spun her around. Her shoulder blade pinched her back painfully, and the anguished cry that escaped Miss Parker's lips made the man smile in joy. He pulled her close to her, tightening his grasp on her arm and pulling her arm a bit higher, making her squeal.
"You definitely knew when you were talking to Jarod..." He hissed at her and pushed her down to the floor.
Miss Parker landed with an angry thump and moved her hand to her tender arm. "I don’t remember talking to Jarod...! Who are you?!" She snapped, eyes wide.
"You’ll learn In due time, Parker... You’ll learn everything." The man stated in a tone that had a resemblance to that of a College Philosophy teacher.
"Damn it, damn you: Answer me!" Miss Parker yelled getting to her feet
with a groan.
The man shook his head and commented cheerily, "We’re going to have some trouble with you..." He turned sharply on his heels and moved outside to close the heavy lead door with a sickening slam.
Miss Parker leaned up against the door, looking out the small double paned window. She scanned for anything in the hallway, but, as bare as the Centre, there was nothing.
She turned around, leaned her back against the cold door and gazed at the floor.
* * * * *
Jarod shook his hand, undoing the fist he had created. He sat in traffic, terribly mad at the world—and himself. He looked down at his palm to see the indentations of his fingernails in his flesh. The pain had gone unnoticed.
Any other person who had seen Jarod would have thought that he man was trying to get to his wife in the hospital or to pick up a thousand dollar check for a loan shark before the bank closed. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel nervously, and closed his eyes. He took In the smells of the car: the leather that was practically new, the Starbucks coffee he had brought out to the car, the air freshener that hung from the rearview mirror. A little green pine tree that smelt like real pine. Jarod had picked it up at a gas station three days before. Swish, swish, swish. It swung back and forth moving like a ballerina in the current of air coming from the air conditioner.
Jarod was tense mostly because the fact of anyone being kidnapped unnerved him beyond belief. But the fact that it was _Miss Parker_ shocked him as well as disturbed him. He and her had not had a Kosher relationship since they were children. He often tried to remember why. He supposed it was the fact she had left for boarding school and they had separated. But they had had such a surprisingly, passionate friendship that Jarod serious doubted the above reason was viable. Something clicked in his mind every time he thought about it. It had an extensive collection of DSA’s—mostly all of them--- yet nothing led up to why Miss Parker left or why they became suddenly distant. His memory failed him, which disturbed him, partially why he never brought it up.
Jarod growled and pulled into a ditch on the side of the road, to drive on a slant as he neared the oncoming accident that had caused the back up. He sighed as he saw a body being brought up onto an ambulance, draped in a yellow sheet, stating he or she was dead.
A distant memory flashed before his eyes...
A girl...
A boy...
Darkness...
*Click.*
Jarod pulled onto the road, his thoughts agitating him, ignoring the yells of the police, only concentrating on trying to save another soul and in the process patch up a hole in his own.
* * * *
Broots typed for Miss Parker's dear life, his fingers doing most of the work while his mind drifted. Miss Parker was gone? Some one had taken her? But... She was so strong and aware. No one could have taken her.. Unless they had not taken her alive.
He shuddered at the thought and continued searching through the mainframe for anything about Miss Parker he or Sydney should know about. There seemed to nothing other than the norm—personnel files and such. There was a slightly humorous bit about her having her tonsils and wisdom teeth removed in the Centre clinic, but whatever the article had said that was appealing to the mind was replaced in Broots’ mind with images of Miss Parker writhing in pain. He growled, feeling very protective all of a sudden. The same look he saw in Miss Parker's eyes was the same look he often saw in Debbie’s when she woke up with bad dreams. That same scared, trapped look that rabbit’s often wore when surrounded. The look that pleaded for someone to come and kiss her fore head, hug her, protect her from the world and tell her "Every thing’s going to be all right." But there was no one for Miss Parker. At least no one she let in. Broots found nothing and shoved the keyboard away in uncharacteristic anger. He got up but froze as a familiar voice brought him to attention.
"Why so angry, Broots?" Lyle called to him from behind. Broots turned around to face the man in the sharp blue suit, a black glove replacing his maroon one from yesterday.
"M-Mr. Lyle... I, uh, was s-searching, uh, for a bit of, uh, information, for, uh, Jarod’s chase... Couldn’t find, uh, what I, uh, wanted..." Broots stammered, his random use of "uh’s" making Lyle smirk. "Can’t stop working just because, uh, Miss Parker's out, uh, of office..."
"Looking in files about Miss Parker?" Lyle said raising an eyebrow.
Broots nodded. "Jarod left a clue about something in her file about teeth, Mr. Lyle..." He didn’t stammer as he lied, which Lyle noticed and took into consideration.
"If anything comes up, tell me... We’ll get Sweeper teams on it right away..." Lyle said and then shook his hand in dismissal.
Broots moved out of the room, wringing his shirt in a distraught manner. He shook his head as he neared the vending machine down the hall. He searched in his pocket for change and noticed that no one else was out. Weird, he thought as he bought a yellow and green bag of Funyuns.
* * * *
Sydney sat at his desk, looking at the bridge Jarod had built oh so many years ago.
Jarod had sounded angry, mad and disturbed that someone had kidnapped Miss Parker. Sydney realized this.
After all they had been friends since they were both little, very good ones at that. You wouldn’t be surprised to see Miss Parker and Jarod walking down one of the Centre’s hall talking, laughing and whispering to each other.
But it had all come to end... Somehow. Sydney couldn’t recall what had sent Miss Parker to boarding school... What could have possibly torn a gash in the Pretender’s relationship with this young girl.
He fought desperately to remember, because he felt it had something to do with what was happening to Miss Parker. He felt it had all to do with that he was aging and his memory was going. He could not remember anything, no glimpses of light or thoughts of people. He supposed it was nature’s cruel way of making him helpless in this situation. It was just life taking its course. But an even more startling and real thought crossed his mind: What if he had been _made_ to forget?
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Author: M. Monica. Parker. Park. Anna. Whatever. Wanna archive? Sure, just ask. I don't bite... Too hard.
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Disclaimer: Story is mine. Characters are the Universe's (In other words, NBC's.. TNT's. God. Whoever.)
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The Rescue
3/?
by -M.
Traffic: Truly the meaning of Hell on Earth. Jarod stood still, waiting patiently in traffic as he moved slowly towards nowhere.
"Come on!" He shouted, his grated voice scratching the window in front of him. "Move it!"
Groaning in disgust, Jarod leaned back and wondered again why the hell he was such a pacifist. If Miss Parker had been in this situation—There he went again. Miss Parker. He had thought about her 30 times in the last ten minutes.
Hooooonkkkk. A Corvette and it’s human honked from behind. Jarod growled, and turned around, flashing the driving a deadly stare. Up went the birdie.
Jarod loosened his tie and threw it behind him.
That shows how smart men are, Miss Parker retorted once as a teenager, They wake up to tie a noose around their necks. Jarod smiled to himself. When had she said that? Oh, yes… When Jarod had scrounged around Raines’ office and stolen a battered tie from him. Sneaking into his room to try it on, he was confronted by the 16-year-old Parker, who crossed her arms and smirked.
"Want to be a man, already, Jarod?" She asked gently, her smirk changing into that of a rueful grin.
"Yeah…" Jarod had admitted his voice already that of the man he would be when he was older. Miss Parker’s smile disappeared as she stared him, 5’9", his baby fat gone, and hair already beginning to grow on his chest. And she had stared at him, her eyes no longer jeering or remorseful, but of almost fear.
But fear of what? Jarod asked himself as the traffic began to loosen up.
*~*
It was the fear of him becoming a man.
"Ahh--" Miss Parker cried out, her voice strangled by the blow dealt to her a second later. No sooner had the angry stranger left her, had he come back in, this time accompanied by another man, this one with deep brown eyes, and dark red-brown hair. He too was well built, a few inches taller than the blond/green eyed man was, and with much colder, more decisive thoughts behind his eyes. He watched as the smaller man grabbed Parker by the shoulders and threw against the wall.
"Sonofabitch!" Miss Parker shouted, her reeling head not preventing her from lunging at the man and socking him once, twice and almost three times before he grabbed the arm about to hit him and jerked it hard, pulling up slightly as he did.
Miss Parker yelled in pain as he yanked her arm (She could have sworn she heard a pop) and angry, bitter tears sprung to her livid blue eyes as she kicked him in the groin, slipped her leg through his two and dropped, tripping him in the process.
Although her respectful attempts were to be admired, the man wasted no time in jumping up and on top of her, grabbing her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up and slamming her onto the ground, her head hitting the concrete/linoleum underneath with a hollow thump.
"Oh!" Miss Parker said in a moan. She stopped moving and gave up, her head throbbing, aching and stinging: three things she never thought could happen all at once.
"That was fun.." The man decided, getting up from the fallen figure, he moved to the other man and clapped him on his shoulder. "Have fun with her…. But don’t bang up my new to toy much.." He left.
The man with the brown eyes stared down at her.
"So… You’re the famous Miss Parker." Brown eyes declared, looking down at her. He moved quietly over to her and nudged her crumpled form with his foot. "Pitiful. I thought you would be in better shape…"
Miss Parker got to her knees slowly, drawing strength from recesses she didn’t even know she had.
Brown eyes Hmmpfed. "Ah, well.. You’ll have to do." He concluded, shaking his head silently.
Miss Parker turned her eyes up at him, her face contorted into a grotesque mask of pain and disbelief.
"What do you want with me?" She droned, her eyes filling with pain. Brown eyes smirked.
"Your father." He informed her gaily.
****
Jarod breathed deeply in relief as the traffic broke up and he could continue his drive to the address given to him.
"Where are you..? Where are you..?" Jarod whispered as he neared the store he was supposed to go to.
1892 NE 15th Ave… 1892 NE 15th Ave…
A house, house, another house, ‘nother house, for sale, not for sale, foreclosure. Wait! Foreclosure! 1892 NE 15th Ave!
"What the…?" Jarod asked as the shabby gray house passed him by. He slammed his foot down, his tires _screeeeeching_ on the asphalt below him. He backed up quickly, and read the number on the house. "1892. Great."
He turned off the car quickly and hopped out, surveying the outside surroundings before moving up quickly to the front of the gray, broken down house before him. Off white gravel surrounded the entrance to the house, while the overgrown jungles of grass created a difficult obstacle to get around: stickers and other delightful buggers that stuck to your clothes were lying deep within the deepest pits of the mound of grass. Jarod trudged across the grass and straight up to the paint chipped door. He put his hand to the handle and turned it. Open.
He pushed.
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TBC