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Gracie moaned as someone shook her awake. "Gracie, you have to put your seat in an upright position we are about to land." Jon said gently to her before moving to Jarod and punching him in the back, "Wake up." He ordered in a deep voice.

Jarod groaned as he tried to move away only to be pulled up short by the cuff. He blinked, trying to clear his head and realised that they must have drugged him. He looked around, blinking.

Grace groggily sat her seat up and yawned loudly. "We are home already? We only just left a few hours ago.” She asked in absolute confusion. Her head was fuzzy, and she felt slow and tired still. She remembered having some juice on the trip and that it tasted a bit metallic and she guessed Wil or Jon had knocked both of them out.

Jon looked at Wil back to the two waking passengers. "You were real tired grace.” He tried to explain.

"I think you needed the sleep honey, and the flight was pretty boring after all. Now you will be all refreshed and at your best for your meeting." Wil used his most fatherly tone.

Jarod sat up, trying to ignore the dull throb radiating from the blow to his back.

She nodded and smiled. "Yes, I must have needed the sleep.” She reached over and strapped Jarod back in tightly for the descent and gripped her seat nervously. She hated take offs and landing. It scared her so much, and she simply did not understand why.

Jarod didn’t even put up a token fight as she buckled him in, hoping they would believe he had admitted defeat to himself. An opportunity would present itself, and he would need to be ready, and he also needed to be relatively undamaged.

Grace squeezed her eyes shut tightly as they hit the runway, bumping a little. She kept them shut until the engines turned off and Jon told her it was safe now. Grace opened her eyes and looked outside before quickly slipping the hood over Jarod before he caught a glimpse.

Jarod sighed as the hood went back on and he knew that she didn’t want him trying to guess their location. He waited for them to let him out of the seat, needing to stretch his legs.

Jon climbed to his feet and let him out of the straps and the cuff chaining him to the seat. Pulling him up, he snapped the other cuff behind his back, locking his hands. "Let’s go.” He ordered, walking him off as Wil and Gracie followed. He was hit with an intense heat the minute the door opened to let them out of the air condition jet, it was almost like a wall of fire closing around them. He had forgotten how hot and dry the outback was, and he almost felt sorry for Jarod as his bare feet hit the burning tarmac.

Jarod felt the heat hit him like a furnace and knew he had to be in the desert. It was that dry kind of heat, all the moisture sucked from the air. That ruled out Asia and Europe, which left the middle-east, Africa or Australia. When his feet hit the ground, he screamed in pain and surprise trying to pull back to get off the burning tarmac.

“Don’t be such a baby boy, get moving.” Jon said, hauling him forward. They would walk the ten minutes back to the home, no need for a car. He still wished for the comfort and coolness of a car though. Ten minutes in his heat after having been in such a cool country for three years was like walking inside an oven.

Jarod was hopping from foot to foot as they dragged him forward, trying not to stumble. "Please, it’s so hot,” He begged, his feet being scalded. Hitting the hardpan was only a minor improvement from the tarmac which felt like it was melting.

Gracie followed them off of the tarmac to make the short walk back to her home. She watched as Jarod tried not to touch the ground, and listened to his pleas. "Jon, come on, it won’t do any good if he can’t walk.” She said gently as she stopped the pair. She slipped out of her shoes, taking her socks off before quickly slipping the shoes on for protection once more. "Jarod, lift your foot for me.” She asked him, standing in front of him, sock ready. It wasn’t much, but would help a lot more then being barefoot.

Jarod tried to stay still as she slipped it on. "Thank you,” He said grateful for the small protection the socks offered. Only a few minutes and his body was drenched in sweat already and he wished for clothing that wasn’t black, though he was thankful for the long sleeves. The only heat he could ever remember that had been this brutal had been when he had taken that camel safari in the Sahara.

"Won’t take long Jarod. It’s only a short walk. Inside is nice and cool.” She said, taking Jarod's other arm and slowly leading the blind man forward towards the little shack that was their only visible entrance. Her home was so big, nearly the size of the Centre. You could drive half an hour in one direction and find a hidden entrance.

Wil followed her forgetting just how hot it could be out here. He fumbled with the lock, which was more for show than any real security, but the bastard thing was boiling hot and it took him a moment to get it undone.

Gracie looked at the open door, leading down to home and didn’t know if she could walk through. Her hands were sweating as she held Jarod's arm, but not because of the heat. "What happens if he doesn’t like Jarod? He would be disappointed in me for getting his hopes up. What if they don’t want me anymore? What if he sends me back out on assignment so I can’t stay home? What if he doesn’t want me? Will trade me now that I might have brought him something worthy?” She asked, scared of being taken from her only home.

Wil turned to her and grabbed both of her hands, pulling her away from Jarod. "Grace,” He said very seriously. He did not call her that very often. “I want you to listen to me.”

She looked up at him with wide green eyes, knowing Wil would make it better for her. He always did.

"Everything is going to be just fine. You know Jarod is the find of the century, and even if it turns out he can’t make use of him, I am just betting the Centre will pay enough to get him back to make this a success either way. You know deep down that he is the one they want."

She bit her lip and nodded. "He will be happy won’t he?” She asked in a tiny voice, sounding like the unsure child she was years ago.

"Yes he will, he will be proud of you. You were the only one that found a real pretender for him, nobody else could have done that."

Grace smiled a little at that. "We best not keep him waiting then.” She said happily and led Jarod down the stairs and into the facility. Once they passed the secured and manned doors she removed the hood, "Jarod, welcome to Gandi."

Jarod sighed loudly as they entered the air-conditioning, guessing that they were probably below ground now. He blinked in the harsh fluorescent glare and looked around.

"Isn’t it just beautiful?” She asked as she led him through the corridors to the lobby. Gracie would take him straight to her boss.

"Yeah,” He agreed half-heartedly, just glad to be out of the heat, as his eyes scanned everywhere, trying to absorb as many details as possible. He didn’t know when, but sooner or later he would try to escape, and this might be his only opportunity in a while to see the layout of this place.

She stood nervously in front of her boss' door and hesitantly knocked, gripping Jarod's arm tightly in nervousness, Jon holding his other arm.

"Come," Marcus said, without looking up from his computer.

Grace stomach knotted as she opened he door to walk in. Seeing him, she sighed in relief and smile broadly, "Good morning Sir."

Jarod guessed that he was being presented like a prized trophy to her boss, and he could feel her nervousness.

"Grace, what have you got for me there?"

"This is Jarod.” She said with unmistakable pride. "He is your new pretender." She was grinning proudly, hoping she made her boss happy too.

Marcus looked at the man and there was no mistake. "Welcome Jarod,” He said with a cold smile.

Jarod looked at the man and noted the Australian accent and guessed he was somewhere in what was known as 'the outback'. He kept his mouth shut, looking around the room.

Gracie looked at him, fearful he would get her in trouble, "Manners Jarod.” She scolded him, holding his arm tighter, trying to plead with him to be respectful. If Jarod ruined it for her now, she would kill him.

"With a name like Gandi, I expected an Indian accent, not an Australian one," Jarod observed, ignoring her tug on his arm.

Gracie looked between her boss and Jarod with wide eyes. "Sir, please forgive me, he is just tried and worn out. He does not mean to be so rude."

"I should hope not. This is not a conversation Jarod, it would behove you to remember your place." Marcus said casually, ignoring Grace for the moment, watching Jarod intently.

Gracie looked at her boss back to Jarod, "Sir, may I have a word with Jarod please?" She asked, wanting to plead and beg and order Jarod not to be like this.

"He needs to be taught his manners, his place in the new scheme of things, you think you can teach him Grace?” He asked her with a curious look.

She looked frantically at Wil and Jon. “If it pleases you Sir, I can.” She said back in a soft voice.

Jarod was fuming as they talked about him. He was used to this of course, but it didn’t make it any easier to cope with. He had always hated it, and even more so now.

"We will see,” He stated non-committal. He could see her nervousness, her desire to please him, and he could use that to help her keep Jarod in line. He had no illusions about the difficulties he expected to face with Jarod.

"What will happen now Sir?” She asked curiously, though fearfully. She had no idea about the new rules for her now. And she wanted to know what would happen to Jarod.

He steepled his fingers in front of his face, leaning back in his chair. "I would be curious to hear your thoughts on that girl. What do you think we should do? You caught him, if you want him, I might consider it."

"I would do whatever would please you Sir. Jarod can be taught his place. Just takes a bit of time, and the right methods. I would like to see him back at work, but he seems to have a problem with wanting to work for anyone Sir.” She apologised. She knew Jarod was going to cause huge amounts of problems.

"But we know how to deal with recalcitrant projects, don’t we girl?” He grinned at her, and then looked significantly at Jarod.

"Yes Sir.” She said, lowering her head. She knew all too well of their methods.

Jarod had heard all of this before, of course, but he got that sick feeling in his stomach, guessing that he was in far more trouble here than he first thought. This seemed to be a tight operation, and he had noticed the cameras everywhere. They were well hidden, but he was rather adept at finding such things.









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