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Thanks for the feedback guys! As always, this is co-written. Hope you all enjoy.
He was too tired for this right now. He had gone for much longer periods of time without sleep but his body was protesting that he needed rest now, and the painkillers were making him a little drowsy. He didn’t want to argue with her, and he was extremely worried about Sydney.

“You should not sulk so much Jarod, your new boss will not tolerate it." And she knew, she had learnt her lesson there.

“He is not here right now, and I am not sulking, I am exhausted. There is a difference." Jarod tried to explain to her but he was fast realising the futility of arguing with her.

“Not when it comes to your boss there won’t be any difference Jarod.” She said gently. "I want you to sleep, but I can’t allow you to leave us now and I am afraid I might have to restrain you."

Jarod forced himself to look at her trying to follow her logic. "I did not expect you to allow me to leave,” He told her frankly. "But I do not understand what that has to do with me sleeping at the moment."

“The way we would restrain you in order to guarantee you not leaving us would be too uncomfortable and unpleasant for you to even think about sleeping."

Jarod closed his eyes and then looked at her again. "I think it is safe to say that I can’t get out of this room, and I don’t need to be a pretender to figure that out. At the moment I don’t even have the energy to try. Restraining me would be unnecessary.” He tried to reason with her.

"I understand why you are saying this Jarod, I know how badly you want sleep. But if I fail now, after giving my boss such good news, I would be killed, I am sure of it. And I can’t allow that to happen. It was so nice to hear him praise me for once, that I couldn’t stand it if I lost you now and had nothing to give him."

He nodded, quickly understanding that he was not going to win this argument by resisting her. He hated the thought of being restrained, in any form, but he also understood there were degrees of restraint. “Why don’t you cuff my leg to the bed then, I won’t be able to get out and still sleep and while I am sleeping, I am not escaping.” He tried to flash a smile at her.

She titled her head and frowned at him. “Why are you trying to manipulate me Jarod?"

"I just want to sleep, even for a few hours, please."

She looked up at him from where she knelt next to the cot. "Do you understand what would happen, not only to me, but my boys, and unfortunately to your handler if you were to leave us?” She asked seriously, needing him to understand how bad the repercussions were if he left.

"I understand,” He said to her. “The room is secure, you have Sydney, anything else is plain overkill."

"Do you promise me not to try and leave Jarod?” She pleaded with him.

Jarod nodded, it was an easy promise to make at the moment. He could do nothing while they held Sydney, and he knew that he would not be able to get outside of this room, not without help from outside, or taking a hostage.

Gracie sighed. "Alright. Will you be alright if I left you to sleep now? Or would you like some water, or to use the bathroom first?" She offered him.

“Sleep,” He told her quickly.

She smiled at him gently and reached under the cot. She pulled out the shackles linked to the chain that was secured to the bed. There was a cuff linked to each of the corners of the bed. Bringing it up, she cuffed Jarod's ankle tight enough that he wouldn’t get out of it but not tight enough to do any damage to him.

Jarod sighed again, hating the feel of the metal around his ankle. When he had suggested that, he didn’t think she would actually do it. He had only offered in the hope it would relax her enough not to worry about it. It was so redundant. But he told himself he should be happy, because whatever else she had in mind was probably much worse than this.

She sat up near his head again and watched him. “You are a curios project Jarod."

He looked at her again. “How so?” He asked, trying to sound interested.

She shrugged. “Your passion, your lust for life. Your need to help those you believe you have done wrong by. I have never met a project like you. Or even most normal people."

"I hurt a lot of people, was responsible for death and pain,” He whispered. “The very least I can do now is try to help."

“That is one thing I disagree with. You did not hurt anyone. You did as you were told, the consequences are of no concern to you. If anyone should feel guilty, it should be your handler and owners. Not yourself."

Nothing would ever take away that guilt. They could say what they liked, rationalise it away, but Jarod knew. People died because of what he thought up. It was as simple as that.

Grace stroked his cheek. “You shouldn’t pain yourself like this Jarod. You are such a wonderful man, it is not right. You need to put that pain into your work. Ease it that way." She tried to give him something to help with his guilt.

Jarod nodded, that was precisely what he had done, and it helped a little. It kept him going through the long and lonely days, that sense of purpose of righting the things that nobody else would or could. That driving sense of purpose that gave hope to him that it might all mean something.

"I will let you sleep now Jarod. But only for an hour or two. There are things to be done.” She stood up and watched him for a moment. She had no intentions of letting him sleep that long. The less sleep he had the better.

Jarod hated to think what kinds of things, but he let his eyes close. He needed even just a few hours so he would have his wits about him. He could not let her take him wherever she was planning to.

Gracie walked out, letting Jon lock the door firmly after her. "In half an hour, I want you to start playing the CD's, loud enough to wake him.” She said in a cold voice.

“Yes of course Grace.” He nodded, a smile on his face. This was where Wil had come into it. He had prepared some files he had found on the mainframe, and burnt to disk. Jarod would have one hell of a wake up call.

"I need to speak with both you and Wil, come along.” She said, trying to hide her excitement as they walked to the security room, seeing Wil fiddling around trying to do what she asked. She was ecstatic about going home, and she had to admit to herself, she was fearful and worried as well.

Jarod finally let himself relax fully as the door closed. He rattled the chain attached to the cuff, but didn’t bother checking to see if he could get out of it. He tried to get comfortable on the metal surface and allowed his mind to turn off for a little while. His arm was down to a dull throb and he slipped into the mediation routine that would help him rest at least if he couldn’t sleep.

Wil looked up, but continued to work. This place was incredible and he had struck gold. There wasn’t anything they couldn’t find out now if they were patient enough to sift through it all. He had isolated what he thought were the most critical files and prepared them for her.

“Wil, stop for a moment please,” She said as she sat on one of the chairs. “We need to talk." She said in a serious voice. Her shoulders were back, head high, voice strong. But knew once she muttered the words, her cool façade would disappear.

“Sure Grace,” He said, closing his file and looking at her expectantly.

She looked at Wil and Jon for a long time before her face broke out with a grin, “We are going home!” She squealed with excitement, her eyes sparkling like they haven’t in a long, long time. Both of them, she knew, missed home just as much as she did, even if they never admitted it verbally.

Wil smiled broadly at her and picked her up, swinging her around in a hug. “You did it?” He asked her. “He is the one?"

She laughed happily. “He must be. Our boss called, and I told him we had Jarod, a pretender. He got excited over having a pretender, then asked again if his name was Jarod and I said yes. We need him secured, and in one piece. He is sending out a team. So in 24 hours or less boys, we are going home!" She couldn’t stop smiling, couldn’t stop wanting to laugh. She was beyond happy she, they, were finally allowed to come home. After so many years in this place, she wanted nothing more.

Jon hugged Grace and gave her a kiss before giving Wil a quick hug. “Well done Grace. We are both so proud of you.” He said with a huge smile on his face. He would miss this place, having been his home for the last few years. But he missed his real home, his few other friends from previous assignments. He missed everything.

“Yes we are," Wil agreed, still smiling. "It will be good to get home again, it has been a long time. And don’t you worry about a thing Gracie, we won’t let him go anywhere." Although Wil was a little worried. He had gathered everything on Jarod's numerous escapes from the Centre, and from the custody of sweepers. He had even gone in and out of the Centre with impunity it seemed.

"I have his leg chained to the bed for now, but we need to focus on Sydney. Jarod won’t go anywhere without his mentor. As long as we keep an eye on Sydney, so if Jarod did get out, he couldn’t get to him, I think we might be ok." Gracie was forcing herself not to think about Jarod being able to leave too much, knowing if she did, she would have a panic attack. So many things were riding on Jarod’s obedience to come home with them. And she knew, Jarod wasn’t very obedient, nor did he want to come home.

Wil nodded, thinking. "24 hours?” He asked. “Much can happen in that time. You be careful around him Miss Gracie, he is very clever, sneaky too."

“Yes I know. Once he is awake, I am thinking about locking him in the box for the rest of the time. Just so I know he can’t get out." Grace knew he would never be able to get out of the box. Houdini himself couldn’t do it. But she also knew the high risk’s to Jarod’s emotional, mental and physical self if he were locked in there for so long.

“That is a long time for something so extreme, might be enough to send a person crazy."

“Then what can we do? We cannot afford to lose him now. We would not survive." And none of them would. Having lost such an important and worthy project, would guarantee the death of herself and her boys. And that is something she would not ever allow.

“Maybe just chain him up. Lock his wrists and ankles so he can’t move, but isn’t cramped up like he is in the box?" Jon suggested to the two. Just chain him up in his room. It was hard enough to get out of this place, let alone when one was trussed up.

“The building is secure, he won’t be able to get out, but better safe than sorry." Wil mused.

“So you finished what I asked? All new locks and codes? All exits and vents electrified?"

"A fly couldn’t get in or out now without getting zapped or us knowing about it. If he touches anything he is not supposed to, he will be zapped hard enough to sit him on his arse, but not do too much damage to him."

"I want the vents in his room and his door electrified right now too please.” She asked. She knew if they put the right code in and scanned the right hand print to enter, they would be fine, but Jarod touches that door and he would be in for an unpleasant surprise, and the sheer thought of it sent a smile to Grace’s lips.

“The vents aren’t much bigger than his hand, so there is no escape there, but I can if you want. I will make it so.” He said, standing up and logging back into his own mainframe, setting up the new lockdown protocols.

“We will go in after Jon wakes him up and undo the shackles, see if he will try anything with the door once he is left alone."

"And if he does?" Wil asked, wondering if she would punish him beyond the shock he would get.

“Then we put him in the box for a few hours.” She said shrugging, but she had to guess the shock from the door would be enough punishment for him to know not to do it again.

"I bet you fifty bucks he tries," Wil grinned.

Grace smirked, "I am not taking that bet, because I am sure he will try anyway.” She laughed and watched as Jon went about setting up to wake Jarod in a few minutes. “Wil, come to his room and watch through the door to see how he wakes up."

He had never seen her this animated and excited before and he guessed she missed home much more than she probably realised herself. He wondered if they would give Jarod to her to retrain or they would take him and do whatever they were going to do with him. If that were the case, he wondered what would become of this team. Wil got up and followed them.

They got to the door and peered in through the reinforced glass, careful not to touch it. He was sound asleep on the bed, quite as a church mouse. But all of a sudden, the noise started. She didn’t know quite what it was from, but she was filled with sadness, pain, terror so strong she almost collapsed and had to fight her own tears. “No, let her go! They are hurting her!” She heard a young boy’s voice cry out, followed by a girl’s crying out for her Momma. It was followed by crying, the girl asking why she left. Jarod's young voice crying refuge. She listened as the sounds were played over and over loudly into Jarod’s room, knowing it had a bad and sad meaning for the trapped man.

Jarod came awake with a start, frowning in confusion. He tried to sit up, forgetting about the chain at his ankle and pulled on it painfully. It took him a moment to realise the sound was not from his dream but was playing in the room. It was the DSA from the day Catherine had died. He could hear the anguish in Parker's wails and he put his hands over his ears. “Why are you doing this!” He shouted in anguish.

Gracie grinned darkly, trying to hide her weakness as she was assaulted by both Jarod’s and the girl’s emotions, as she watched him, “Keep it playing, see what he does in a few moments of it blasting into his head.” He was exhausted, more so than Gracie herself. Both had not slept, but Jarod had been through a bit of bad stuff and had worn him out terribly.

Jarod couldn’t see the speakers, but they were loud and he reasoned that that had got into the archives. He clamped his hands over his ears, trying to block it all out, his tired mind replaying every instant as clearly as if he were watching them on the screen. He started rocking back and forth, his knees drawn to his chest, his back against the wall.

Wil watched passively, his only concern at the moment to make sure he didn’t escape. He would leave the 'fun' stuff up to Jon.

They had a few disks ready to use. Each time a painful memory for Jarod and she knew exactly which one she would use next. "Cut it!” She shouted out and waited a few minutes until it was turned off. Immediately she pressed the codes in, scanned her hand and unlocked the door, walking in. “Good morning Jarod. Enjoy your sleep?” She asked innocently.

It took Jarod more than a moment to realise it had stopped. He looked up at her, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. “Why?” He asked brokenly, appalled at the level of her casual cruelty.

"Because I can Jarod and I will do what it takes to assure you do not leave us.” She lied slightly, watching him with fascination. She knew she had to do anything to make sure he did not escape, but it was protocol to put them through this, and she was not one to break the rules. “That hurts you to hear her cries. You were close to Miss Parker, no?"

"Once,” He said softly, tugging on the chain at his ankle, tyring to prove the point as to how unnecessary this was. She kept telling him it was to prevent his escape, but he was sealed in a room, and chained to the bed. He wasn’t going anywhere any time soon by the looks of things.

Ignoring his movements completely, she watched him. “Why would the chairman allow such a thing as yourself near his daughter? I do not understand it." And she didn’t. Jarod was a project, a lab rat, an experiment, a piece of meat for the owners to enjoy themselves with. Why would such a respected man such as the chairman, let his daughter near such a lower class thing?

Jarod tried to ignore the insult and looked at her slowly. “She means nothing to him."

"And you mean nothing to her." Grace said back causally, watching him closely.

Jarod hissed in a breath at that, shaking his head, needing to deny it.

"Don’t fool yourself Jarod. Everyone can see it. They all know it. She has used you so many times for herself. She used you for comfort, for fun, for pleasure. Used you to teach her things for school. She used you to further her career. There was never any real feelings towards you Jarod."

“No,” He said hotly, moving as far from her as the chain would allow. “No, that is not true. We were friends."

She laughed in his face. “No you weren’t Jarod. Can you tell me one time you saw her as a child that didn’t involve her wanting something from you?" She asked genuinely interested. These were the best times to find out the smaller details of her guest’s relationship with others.

Jarod dug through his memories, trying to find one, just one, there had to be one time. “We were friends,” He protested feebly, not prepared to deal with this kind of assault. He had prepared himself for more jumper cables and coercion, not this.

"Point proven Jarod. Not one time did she ever in your life came to you to be a friend to you. To give you something, to help you. Every time she wanted or needed something from you. You are smart enough, you should know how easily she had played you, and still does.” Grace told him emotionally, fighting to control herself. He was trying to deny it to himself, trying to hold onto the one thing in his life he used to help him through dark times. “You risked your freedom for her, got taken back to the Centre for her. And did she care? No."

“That is just her way,” He defended her.

“So her way to show you she was thankful and cares was threatening to bring you back in. As I know it, as soon as she was out of the hospital, she went into a building, gun armed, sweepers at her side, with all intentions of bringing you back in to serve your life as a project. And this was right after you saved her life. Strange way to show your gratitude and friendship wouldn’t you say Jarod?"

Jarod shook his head in mute denial. She had to act that way, but she would never really have brought him in. “She was just upset because of her father, I don’t blame her."

“You are so naïve Jarod," Gracie said, shaking her head, her voice holding its disgust. “She has you so wrapped around her little finger all she has to do is bat her eyes and you come running, no matter the danger. You gave her all these truths about her mother, and yet she still hates you, despises you, wants to hurt you."

“That's not true,” He told her.

“Why didn’t you ever ask her then?" She asked with raised eyebrows, crossed arms.

Jarod shifted uncomfortably, and refused to participate in this conversation any longer. She was only trying to hurt him, for some spiteful reason of her own he was unable to fathom at the moment.

“Well? Why didn’t you ask her? All these years... Why didn’t you ask her to leave the Centre and come with you? Why didn’t you ask her how she felt about you? Why didn’t you ask her if she loved you like you love her?" Gracie asked curiously, really interested in his answer. The love and affection for Miss Parker shined from Jarod every time anyone just mentioned her name, and she hated she had to do this to him.

Jarod's eyes opened wide at that. He snapped his mouth shut, refusing to give her the satisfaction of a response.

"I will tell you why Jarod, because you know the answers. You know she would never leave the Centre for something like you. You know she would never love you. You know she would tell you she hated you, was disgusted and disgraced by you. All you have ever done was hurt her, all she has ever done was use you."

“No,” He whispered. "I never hurt her, I just wanted to help, she deserved the truth, she deserved a real life, we both did."

"And look at what that real life has done. She lost her mother, then with your 'truth' made her lose her father. You tried to help, and give her a man. Thinking you were doing the right thing, and she lost him too. Every time you tried to 'help' you hurt her. You humiliated her in front of her father and work associates and bosses. Why would she ever want to be with someone like you?"

“No, I have never hurt her, never humiliated her. I wouldn’t do that,” He whispered.

“No, you won’t admit you have done that. How many times has she tried to tell you what you have been doing to her has been hurting her, humiliating her, disgracing her. And you never listened. You gave her an ulcer Jarod, nearly killed her!" Gracie exclaimed loudly, animatedly. He just didn’t seem to comprehend how much his helping was hurting.

“Why are you doing this?” He pleaded, not even Lyle was capable of this kind of cruelty.

“You nearly killed her Jarod, did you never realise how much you believing you were her friend hurt her?” She asked, ignoring his words, trying to get him to understand this.

“No,” He whispered in weak protest.

“You have these delusions Jarod. You refuse to listen to what she tells you, believing she will change. Even as a child, you refused to acknowledge she was just using you. She was bored, you were a welcome plaything for her. And because you were so desperate for human contact, you took that ‘friendship’ regardless of the fact you were getting the bad end of the deal."

Jarod hugged his knees closer to his chest, wanting nothing more than to just run away.

She watched him, refusing to smile at him, “She wants nothing to do with you. If she knew you were dying, and she was the only one that could save you. You know she wouldn’t do it. You know she wouldn’t care."

Jarod had wondered sometimes, if their roles had been reversed that day on the airfield, would she have gone back for him, tried to save him. He knew the answer, although never wanted to admit it to himself. He remembered her face the night Kyle had died. He wasn’t even cold in his arms and she had her gun in his face telling him it was time to come home.

“You know I am right, admit it. Stop pretending she cares for you when it’s only you caring for her." Gracie begged him almost.

“Why? What difference does it make to you?” He said spitefully.

"I want you to understand the truth. So many things in your life you lie to yourself about. I know you know what I say is the truth, yet you still seem to want to hang onto the stupid lie."

That 'stupid lie' was one of the reasons for his entire life. “No, you are wrong about her. She showed me what it was like to really be alive. She brought light into my life."

“How Jarod? Explain to me how?" She pushed him, genuinely wanting to know.

“She taught me to have fun, she showed me there was more than just SIM's and Sydney. She gave me my first kiss, she showed me how to smile again."

"And how many times when she came to you was she bored? Was just looking for something to occupy her as she waited for her father? And this kiss,” She laughed, "Did you realise she was interested in a boy? That she kissed him the next morning at school?"

“No,” He hissed at her, trying again to move further away. That was his most treasured memory. It was what sustained him in his darkest hours.

Gracie laughed at him. “You didn’t know? You seriously didn’t know? As I have been informed, his name was Mark. She had liked him for a few weeks. But was too scared to kiss him because she didn’t know how to kiss. And she saw you alone one day and thought it might be good to practice first." Gracie said easily, her voice smooth, soft, strong.

“You’re lying,” He told her. “You can’t know that."

“You know the school she went to when she was a child, has security cameras every where. It was very high profile school.” She smirked.

Jarod shook his head, refusing to listen to any more. He withdrew into himself, into his safe places, blocking her out.

"Can’t handle the truth can you Jarod? I bet you didn’t know how she watched as you got punished one time. You know, when she showed you a way to get out to one of the biotracts when you were about 19. When she was on spring break. You snuk out with her. Got caught as soon as your feet touched the dirt outside. She sat in her father’s office, watching the DSA of you being beaten senseless. She was laughing at you. She found it so amusing."

Jarod would never believe that, never in a million years. He refused to look at her, trying to block her out. None of it mattered anyway, he told himself. The past was the past, and he was slowly coming to accept that their futures were on different paths. He consciously accepted that the day he thought that Thomas might be able to make her happy and went about pairing the two of them up.

She nodded to Wil to go get the disk they had fabricated. There was no possible way you could know it was a fake. Everything about Parker was real. Her voice, her laugh her face her body. Only they had changed where she was, what she was smiling and laughing about, changing the pitch of her voice so it wasn’t a high, happy laugh. But more of a dark, cruel laugh. Jarod wouldn’t know the difference, and would believe he was watching what really had happened.

Wil rushed off to grab his notebook, but he was worried about Jarod's reaction. So far he had reacted pretty calmly to everything, including the box, but after seeing that, he didn’t think he would just lie down for this one, and he didn’t want Gracie within striking distance of him.

She waited silently as Wil got it for her. She grabbed it from Wil and thanked him. She sat the notebook on the floor, out of the range of Jarod and played the disk. She stood watching and listening as you saw Parker watching the DSA of Jarod’s punishment, laughing, calling him a stupid fool, an idiot naive lab rat. You saw a few clips of the screen she was watching, seeing Jarod being punished before it would pan back across to her.

Jarod watched it in dawning horror, remembering that day clearly. He had been so excited that she was back, had missed her terribly and the thought of going outside made him giddy with anticipation.

"Do you see why I am trying to get you to understand she is not your friend Jarod?” She asked him gently, making her eyes look sad and pained. “She just uses you to amuse her, help her when she thinks you can. That’s all. She doesn’t even like you.” She kept her voice soft and gentle, knowing what this was doing to Jarod. Grace had to stop her own tears at the heart wrenching pain Jarod was feeling over such a betrayal.

Jarod wanted to smash the computer, knowing how irrational it was, the only thing stopping him was that he knew he couldn’t reach it.

Wil moved in closer, sensing an explosion about to come, ready to stop him if he tried anything.

“She saw you the next day. And she pretended to be sorry she had gotten you into trouble. Do you remember? She lied to you. She had sat there watching it the night before, then the next day acted as if she were actually concerned."

Jarod turned on her, his eyes a mix of pain and fury and before he had even moved, he found himself in a headlock, hardly able to breathe.

“You weren’t thinking of hurting Miss Gracie there were you Jarod?" Wil asked coolly, tightening his grip.

Both of Jarod's hands came up to pull at the arm at his throat, struggling to breathe.

“Wil, loosen the grip a bit please. He is just hurting, angry that I am trying to show him this. He wasn’t going to hurt me, were you Jarod?" She asked in a sickly sweet voice, letting Jarod know the answer she wanted to hear from his mouth.

Wil loosened his hold marginally, letting Jarod breathe freely, though not enough for him to really move or try anything. He knew he was dangerous. For all of his quiet acceptance of everything so far, underneath was a dangerous man who had nothing to lose at the moment.

“Were you Jarod?” She asked him again, looking into his eyes. He was hurting so much right now, but if it helped him accept his life as a project, she had to do it to help him.

Jarod wasn’t sure what he had been about to do, but he gave her the answer he knew she wanted. ”No,” He whispered.

While Wil had a good grip on Jarod, she moved to sit next to him. "I am sorry it hurt you so much Jarod. But you needed to know about it. Lying to yourself about these things will never do you any good."

Jarod looked at her dully, not wanting to believe it, but his treacherous mind had already run the SIM and he knew how likely it was that she was right. He sagged in Wil's grip, all anger and fight draining from him at the realisation.

"I’m sorry Jarod,” She whispered. "I really am." And her voice eyes and body language would tell Jarod she was.

Jarod didn’t want to hear any of this. He didn’t want her pity or her false sympathy. "Just leave me alone,” He told her softly.

"Jarod,” She sighed, "All right. Wil let him go, remove the shackle. He won’t need it.” She picked up the notebook and moved to the door and look at him. Right now she was feeling sorry for him, but this was her job, her assignment, and she would be damned if she would not complete it because she felt sorry for him.

Wil let him go, undoing the shackle and watched as he curled on the cot, hugging himself tightly, staring at her dully.

"I’m sorry.” She said again and shut the door after Wil left, locking it, automatically re-engaging the electricity running through it. She had to hide her excitement over see what Jarod would do when he was free and alone.

Jarod lay there for a long time, listening to his own breathing, wrapped up in his own misery before finally deciding that enough was enough. Whatever they wanted from him, they were not going to get, it was that simple. He slowly forced himself to pull it together and looked for any weakness in the cell. He remained still on the bed after giving it a thorough visual examination. Now he was no longer shackled, he could move freely in the small room. Not that there was much to examine, but the locking mechanism was worth a look at.

Gracie and Wil re-entered the security room and watched the TV, watching as Jarod slowly got to his feet. She leaned in closer, waiting for it.

“He just can’t help himself," Wil observed. "But he is careful, methodical, not rushing to the most obvious, patiently checking it all out first."

“He is a genius Wil, what did you expect?” She laughed, but knew it was a bad thing what Jarod was doing. He was eyeing ever single millimetre of the room, looking for some way out.

“Well we will see if he anticipated this."

Jarod finally got around to the door. He looked through the glass, seeing that it was reinforced and tapped it with his knuckle to confirm it. He snorted, guessing even a bullet probably wouldn’t be able to penetrate it. He couldn’t see anybody standing guard as he looked through it, scanning his limited field of vision. He guessed that they were pretty confident he couldn’t get out.

Grace watched. "Come on Jarod, touch the door, touch the metal for me honey." She whispered, a huge grin on her face, just waiting for it. She knew he would touch the door, he wouldn’t be able to help himself.

Jarod followed the line of the door with his eyes, the hinges were on the outside, so no help there and the crack at the bottom was very small, so it was extremely well fitted. He put his hand over the locking mechanism, knowing it was electronic by the sounds of it and yelped in surprise as he was thrust backwards, slamming his back into the opposite wall.

Gracie laughed, “Gotcha Jarod.” She grinned, watching him. "I wonder if he will try again. You know, thinking it was a once off.” She spoke mainly to herself, but knew he wouldn’t. But she oh so loved seeing his reaction.

"I doubt it," Wil snorted, even the dumb ones don’t go back for a second taste of that.

Jarod sat there, totally stunned, his hand and arm numb from what he guessed had been a pretty severe electric shock.

"I’m going down there." Gracie said and got up suddenly, running though the hallways to Jarod's room.

Wil chased after her after a moment, not trusting Jarod not to hurt her. He was fast realising how hopeless his cause was and the more desperate he became, the more dangerous he would become too.

Gracie unlocked the door, knowing it was safe for the moment and walked in, about to shut the door but found Wil behind her, and let him do it. “Hey Jarod.” She grinned like a kid who just saw the best movie of the year.

Jarod looked up at her, curling his lip in distaste, not moving from his position on the floor, still a little winded. "Enjoy the show?” He snarled, knowing she had watched and was the only reason she had taken the shackle off, and like a fool, he had performed exactly as she had wished.

"Very much so.” She grinned, "But seriously now Jarod, how are you?” She asked, noting him cradling his arm, concern now in her eyes.

"I’ll live,” He grumbled.

"Come show me your arm please Jarod.” She said kindly, knowing Wil was there in case Jarod tried anything.

Jarod got up slowly, moving back to the bed. He sat next to her, not offering it to her, but not holding it away either. "I was shocked, there is nothing to be done for it."

She took it from him, running a gentle hand over it. She looked at his fingers. “You have brunt them slightly Jarod. We might have some burn cream somewhere to help.” She offered him but knew he was right, there was little to nothing she could do to help him.









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