Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: see Chapter one
~~~~~~~
To End The Evil
Part 8
Making Plans
His head shot up. Panting he tried to regain his senses and get back into reality. The nightmare had brutally roused him from his sleep. He frantically looked around.
He was half lying, half sitting on Parker’s couch with her head leaned on his shoulder. She was still sleeping peacefully. Calming down considerably by her soothing presence he leaned back on the couch again. He took several deep breaths to relax some more.
He would probably get no more sleep after this nightmare so he allowed his mind wander back to the last evening.
Dinner had been as pleasant as the preparations before. They had further extended their friendship.
After the meal the atmosphere had cooled down some, when they again approached the subject of plotting their moves against the Centre.
They had exchanged their ideas and worries.
They agreed that they needed to find the Scrolls and the DSA Catherine had made. After that they would plot their next moves.
What worried them though was the fact that Mr. Parker had jumped out of the airplane with the Scrolls. They were probably destroyed by that.
After some time Parker had asked him what Catherine had told him in Raines house in the wood. What she had told him about the secret plan. Parker hoped that the knowledge would bring them any further.
The problem was that he had no idea what Catherine had told him. He didn’t know. He wasn’t even sure that she had told him more than they had already found out due to Sydney’s hypnosis.
He had been thinking about it ever since he first read the letter. He didn’t come up with anything.
They would have to wait. Maybe he would remember something. Catherine had said that she would see to it that no one was able to pry something out of him. Not even Sydney.
That meant that hypnosis wasn’t the key. Sydney had tried that. Well, ok, they had succeeded in finding out something but there had to be more and obviously Catherine had been able to hide that very well in his consciousness.
Hopefully not too good, so that he ‘would’ remember something eventually.
Catherine had mentioned that only together with Parker he would be able to recover that piece of memory. So they had dropped the subject.
Instead they had started to consider where they should begin with their search for the DSA.
A list with some places still lay at the coffee table in front of him.
They must have been fallen asleep over the list with possible places.
He closed his eyes after finally having calmed down to do so without getting agitated again.
In his mind he once more went through a list where Catherine might have hid something.
Eventually he dozed off again, listening to Parkers rhythmic and calming breathing.
~~~~~~~
When he woke up again dawn was just breaking. He didn’t know how long he had slept that night but he was wide awake now. His sub consciousness told him it was time for him to get up. He had slept long enough.
Slowly as not to wake Parker he got up from the couch. He padded to the kitchen to make some coffee.
A look on his watch told him that it was nearly six o’clock. No wonder that he was wide awake. Almost seven hours of sleep was more than he was used to. Normally he would wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and not be able to go back to sleep. He rarely slept more than five hours.
~~~~~~~
When Parker woke up barely an hour later she found herself on the couch in the living room, covered with a quilt.
She stretched and groaned quietly when her back protested. Sleeping on the couch wasn’t very comfortable. She craned her neck and groaned again when a bone slit back into his original position.
Upon entering the kitchen she found Jarod sitting at the table sipping at his cup of coffee, lost in thought. In front of him there was a sheet of paper. She easily recognized as the list they had started to put together last night.
On her way over to the coffee pot she placed her hand on his shoulder as a greeting.
“Morning,“ she yawned.
“Morning. Slept well?” he asked.
“Yes but my back isn’t awfully pleased upon my choice of bed,“ she replied, helping herself to some coffee.
“There is fresh brewed coffee. I used the guest bathroom to take a shower. I hope you don’t mind,” he told her.
She came over to the table and sat down next to him.
“No, of course I don’t mind.” She sipped at her coffee.
They spent the next minutes in silence. Parker struggled to wake up some more and Jarod played with the pen in his hand.
“Ah, now that’s better,” Parker breathed. ”I just can’t wake up without coffee in the morning,“ she explained when Jarod looked up at her, confusion clearly visible on his face.
“Ah yeah, sorry I was a few miles away so I didn’t get it at first,“ he answered, slowly getting back to reality.
“You could say that!” she smirked. “Say, what did you do all the time you were up besides using my bathroom to shower and making coffee?”
“I continued with our list,“ he responded.
“So I saw. Let me have a look”, she requested, reaching out for the paper.
He shoved the sheet over to her. She silently looked the words over. Jarod had added some more places to the list.
“You were busy, weren’t you?” she looked up at him and grinned.
He shrugged. “These are just ideas. Some are pretty unlikely but I added them nonetheless. It’s better to search some places unnecessarily than to say ‘Had I just searched there’. It also depends on how long your mother had planed on bringing the Centre down.”
“How are we going to do this now?” Parker wanted to know.
“We have to keep up appearances. You will go to work, cursing me like you always do,” he grinned. “And I will be the pain in the ass you curse me to be and sent my clues.”
“And when will we go and search the places on this list?” she questioned pointing at the letter.
Jarod remained silent and intensely studied his mug, trying to avoid looking at her.
She huffed. “Com on. I know now that I won’t like it but spill it anyway.”
Jarod looked up again, watching her. “I will do most of the search alone.”
“Just as I said, I don’t like it,“ she growled. “Jarod, I…”
He put up a hand to silence her. “I know that you don’t like it and I understand that. I contemplated the scenarios but believe me when we want to get any further than planning without getting caught by the Centre, we have to keep our covers. You can’t drop of the face of the earth without the Centre getting suspicious. Plus it will be easier for us when we have insider information.”
“I could tell them I need a break and I want to go on a vacation,“ she argued.
“And you think that won’t make the Centre even more suspicious? “ he shot back.
She clenched her teeth angrily.
“Parker… be reasonable. You never take a vacation.”
“I know,” she grumbled. “But it doesn’t make it better. I don’t want to stay back and let you go discover everything alone.”
“Hey, I’m gonna share!” he promised, putting a hand over hers. “You do trust me with that, do you?” he suddenly probed carefully.
Her head shot up. “Of course! It’s not that I don’t trust you. I know that I can rely on you. It’s… I feel left out,” she admitted.
“I tell you what: To the places we can go to together without making the Centre suspicious because you are AWOL, we go together. And the other ones I will have to do alone,“ he paused. “Maybe we can even arrange some of the investigations during the hunt. I could pick up a pretend in the general area and when you come to analyze the lair and such we can get you away from the team for some time. It’s not like they are always close on your heals while pursuing me. Deal?” he asked, reaching out his hand again.
She quickly contemplated his suggestion. “Deal!” she took his hand. “Wait! What time is it?”
He looked at his watch. “About half past seven.”
“Damn. I’m late,” she got up to hurry to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
“Relax Parker. First off you don’t have to justify all your moves in front of the Centre, second: you still have plenty time to get there and third: you can always say that you’ve got a hang over and didn’t get out of bed. They won’t question that considering what day was yesterday,” Jarod soothed, following her moves with his eyes.
“You’re probably right but I better get the day started anyhow,“ she said, somewhat reassured by his words, and went out of the kitchen.
“Shall I make you something for breakfast?” he called after her.
“No, I never have breakfast and before you say something else, I know that it’s not healthy but usually I don’t have the time,“ she retort.
Jarod closed his mouth and shrugged.
He had in deed wanted to inform her about how unhealthy it was to go without breakfast.
~~~~~~~
When she came back down she was dressed in her usual business outfit. She wore a perfectly fitting beige suit and a red blouson beneath. Completing the outfit she wore high heel stilettos.
“So, when do we start exploring?”
Jarod just stared at her.
“Jarod?”
“Hmm?”
“Hey, pez-head. Come back from lala-land and stop staring.”
Jarod shook his head vigorously trying to clear his mind. “Sorry. It’s just that I normally don’t have the time to admire your outfit. Every other time I turn around and get away as fast as possible when I get a glimpse of you,” he shrugged, grinning.
When last night it was Jarod being surprised at her honesty it now was her turn to be astonished. Her eyebrows rose high up on her forehead.
“Ugh, to get back to the question at hand, when do we start exploring?” she asked again, still slightly shocked.
“We still have some research to do before we go out investigating. I think we should put up our headquarters here.”
“Ok. Sounds fine to me,“ she agreed easily.
“If you don’t mind I would stay here for the time being. I could use the guest room.”
“You want to stay here permanently? In my house?”
“Yes. But when you do mind we will find another solution. I could rent a house in the neighbourhood. But it would spare time when I won’t have to cruise around all the time,” he said after seeing her shocked expression.
“No. I don’t mind. It’s just… you here in my house… with the Centre nearby… You know what I mean?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty strange for me, too. But the advantage besides the time factor is that the Centre sure won’t come to look for me here,” he grinned.
“Probably not,” she assented.
“Ok, now that’s settled, you better hurry before you’re real late. I will go and get my laptop to get some of the research done. If everything goes smoothly we might start investigating places tomorrow or the day after.”
“Ok, I’m gone then.” With that she was already out of the kitchen on her way to the front door.
“Parker, wait,“ he called.
Her head appeared in the kitchen door once more. “What?”
“Do you have any wishes for dinner? I’ll stop by the supermarket on my way back,“ he told her.
“Your choice,“ she responded shortly, turning on her heel and heading out again. She called out “See you later” over her shoulder and with that the front door closed behind her.
Walking to her car she shook her head in wonder. So much had changed in the last twenty four hours. She still had a hard time to keep up to date with the development.
It would take some time getting used to the thought of working together with Jarod.
~~~~~~~
Before she went to her own office, she strolled into the simlab where Sydney and Broots were already waiting for her.
Broots looked as if he had bitten into a lemon. He scurried around and fidgeted with his hands. Parker observed his movements without comment. She secretly smiled. Broots would always make these movements when he didn’t know in what a mood she was in.
Today being the day after ‘that’ day, he was even more nervous as usual.
Sydney on the other hand had his clam, psychiatrist face firmly in place. He, too, didn’t know what awaited him and how bad her mood was today.
His expression was schooled determinedly to neutral. He had decided to wait and not approach her in any way.
She had to stifle a chuckle.
“Ok, boys, what do we have, if we have anything that is?!?” She looked expectantly at Broots who seemed to get even more nervous under her stare.
“Miss Parker. We didn’t await you just now,” Sydney’s soft voice flowed around the room.
“And why would that be?” She asked.
“Yesterday was…” Broots started.
“I know what day was yesterday, but well that day is over, isn’t it?!?” She said, raising an eyebrow.
“I suppose so,” Broots mumbled.
“You seem to be in quite a good mood today, Miss Parker,” Sydney observed.
“You want to change that, Freud?” She snapped. She wasn’t really angry but she realized that she would have to be on her guard. Damn, he was good.
“No. Not necessarily. I was just wondering if anything happened…,“ Sydney let the sentence hang in the air.
“No,” she answered plainly and hoped that she would turn him flat down with that. “Can we get back to business now?”
“Sure,” Broots stuttered. Sydney merely nodded, still keeping his psychiatric face. She rolled his eyes. “Well, then…,” she snapped her finger at Broots.
~~~~~~~
She walked into her office to find Lyle waiting for her. He was sitting in her leather chair behind her desk.
The moment she saw him she groaned. The day had started good but obviously there was someone who didn’t want her to be content.
“What are you doing in my office and in ‘my’ chair?” She snarled.
“Easy, sis!” Lyle replied smoothly.
“What do you want?” She asked.
“I wanted to thank you for yesterday,“ Lyle said.
Parker quirked an eyebrow questioningly.
“I know that you didn’t want me there. Thanks that I could come,“ Lyle told her.
She looked at him in bewilderment. Drawing a breath she just nodded dumbly.
They stared at each other for a few moments.
“Is there anything else or do you think I can work now?” She asked sarcastically but lacking her usual sharpness.
“No, nothing else. Any leads on Jarod?” Lyle questioned.
“No.”
“Well, then I’ll better let you start working. You need all the time you can get,” he said smugly and went out of her office.
“Arrogant bastard,” Parker grumbled.
She just didn’t get it. One time he actually was behaving like a normal person and only a moment later he went back to being his annoying, arrogant usual self.
Maybe she would understand it sometime.
Obviously it wouldn’t only take some time to getting used to working with Jarod but also time to getting used to Lyle’s ‘new’ persona.
If it even was a new Lyle or just a temporary weakness or abnormality.
She silently laughed at that thought.
Everything concerning Lyle was abnormal. There was nothing new to that but still…
To be continued…
~~~~~~~
Part 8
Making Plans
His head shot up. Panting he tried to regain his senses and get back into reality. The nightmare had brutally roused him from his sleep. He frantically looked around.
He was half lying, half sitting on Parker’s couch with her head leaned on his shoulder. She was still sleeping peacefully. Calming down considerably by her soothing presence he leaned back on the couch again. He took several deep breaths to relax some more.
He would probably get no more sleep after this nightmare so he allowed his mind wander back to the last evening.
Dinner had been as pleasant as the preparations before. They had further extended their friendship.
After the meal the atmosphere had cooled down some, when they again approached the subject of plotting their moves against the Centre.
They had exchanged their ideas and worries.
They agreed that they needed to find the Scrolls and the DSA Catherine had made. After that they would plot their next moves.
What worried them though was the fact that Mr. Parker had jumped out of the airplane with the Scrolls. They were probably destroyed by that.
After some time Parker had asked him what Catherine had told him in Raines house in the wood. What she had told him about the secret plan. Parker hoped that the knowledge would bring them any further.
The problem was that he had no idea what Catherine had told him. He didn’t know. He wasn’t even sure that she had told him more than they had already found out due to Sydney’s hypnosis.
He had been thinking about it ever since he first read the letter. He didn’t come up with anything.
They would have to wait. Maybe he would remember something. Catherine had said that she would see to it that no one was able to pry something out of him. Not even Sydney.
That meant that hypnosis wasn’t the key. Sydney had tried that. Well, ok, they had succeeded in finding out something but there had to be more and obviously Catherine had been able to hide that very well in his consciousness.
Hopefully not too good, so that he ‘would’ remember something eventually.
Catherine had mentioned that only together with Parker he would be able to recover that piece of memory. So they had dropped the subject.
Instead they had started to consider where they should begin with their search for the DSA.
A list with some places still lay at the coffee table in front of him.
They must have been fallen asleep over the list with possible places.
He closed his eyes after finally having calmed down to do so without getting agitated again.
In his mind he once more went through a list where Catherine might have hid something.
Eventually he dozed off again, listening to Parkers rhythmic and calming breathing.
~~~~~~~
When he woke up again dawn was just breaking. He didn’t know how long he had slept that night but he was wide awake now. His sub consciousness told him it was time for him to get up. He had slept long enough.
Slowly as not to wake Parker he got up from the couch. He padded to the kitchen to make some coffee.
A look on his watch told him that it was nearly six o’clock. No wonder that he was wide awake. Almost seven hours of sleep was more than he was used to. Normally he would wake up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat and not be able to go back to sleep. He rarely slept more than five hours.
~~~~~~~
When Parker woke up barely an hour later she found herself on the couch in the living room, covered with a quilt.
She stretched and groaned quietly when her back protested. Sleeping on the couch wasn’t very comfortable. She craned her neck and groaned again when a bone slit back into his original position.
Upon entering the kitchen she found Jarod sitting at the table sipping at his cup of coffee, lost in thought. In front of him there was a sheet of paper. She easily recognized as the list they had started to put together last night.
On her way over to the coffee pot she placed her hand on his shoulder as a greeting.
“Morning,“ she yawned.
“Morning. Slept well?” he asked.
“Yes but my back isn’t awfully pleased upon my choice of bed,“ she replied, helping herself to some coffee.
“There is fresh brewed coffee. I used the guest bathroom to take a shower. I hope you don’t mind,” he told her.
She came over to the table and sat down next to him.
“No, of course I don’t mind.” She sipped at her coffee.
They spent the next minutes in silence. Parker struggled to wake up some more and Jarod played with the pen in his hand.
“Ah, now that’s better,” Parker breathed. ”I just can’t wake up without coffee in the morning,“ she explained when Jarod looked up at her, confusion clearly visible on his face.
“Ah yeah, sorry I was a few miles away so I didn’t get it at first,“ he answered, slowly getting back to reality.
“You could say that!” she smirked. “Say, what did you do all the time you were up besides using my bathroom to shower and making coffee?”
“I continued with our list,“ he responded.
“So I saw. Let me have a look”, she requested, reaching out for the paper.
He shoved the sheet over to her. She silently looked the words over. Jarod had added some more places to the list.
“You were busy, weren’t you?” she looked up at him and grinned.
He shrugged. “These are just ideas. Some are pretty unlikely but I added them nonetheless. It’s better to search some places unnecessarily than to say ‘Had I just searched there’. It also depends on how long your mother had planed on bringing the Centre down.”
“How are we going to do this now?” Parker wanted to know.
“We have to keep up appearances. You will go to work, cursing me like you always do,” he grinned. “And I will be the pain in the ass you curse me to be and sent my clues.”
“And when will we go and search the places on this list?” she questioned pointing at the letter.
Jarod remained silent and intensely studied his mug, trying to avoid looking at her.
She huffed. “Com on. I know now that I won’t like it but spill it anyway.”
Jarod looked up again, watching her. “I will do most of the search alone.”
“Just as I said, I don’t like it,“ she growled. “Jarod, I…”
He put up a hand to silence her. “I know that you don’t like it and I understand that. I contemplated the scenarios but believe me when we want to get any further than planning without getting caught by the Centre, we have to keep our covers. You can’t drop of the face of the earth without the Centre getting suspicious. Plus it will be easier for us when we have insider information.”
“I could tell them I need a break and I want to go on a vacation,“ she argued.
“And you think that won’t make the Centre even more suspicious? “ he shot back.
She clenched her teeth angrily.
“Parker… be reasonable. You never take a vacation.”
“I know,” she grumbled. “But it doesn’t make it better. I don’t want to stay back and let you go discover everything alone.”
“Hey, I’m gonna share!” he promised, putting a hand over hers. “You do trust me with that, do you?” he suddenly probed carefully.
Her head shot up. “Of course! It’s not that I don’t trust you. I know that I can rely on you. It’s… I feel left out,” she admitted.
“I tell you what: To the places we can go to together without making the Centre suspicious because you are AWOL, we go together. And the other ones I will have to do alone,“ he paused. “Maybe we can even arrange some of the investigations during the hunt. I could pick up a pretend in the general area and when you come to analyze the lair and such we can get you away from the team for some time. It’s not like they are always close on your heals while pursuing me. Deal?” he asked, reaching out his hand again.
She quickly contemplated his suggestion. “Deal!” she took his hand. “Wait! What time is it?”
He looked at his watch. “About half past seven.”
“Damn. I’m late,” she got up to hurry to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
“Relax Parker. First off you don’t have to justify all your moves in front of the Centre, second: you still have plenty time to get there and third: you can always say that you’ve got a hang over and didn’t get out of bed. They won’t question that considering what day was yesterday,” Jarod soothed, following her moves with his eyes.
“You’re probably right but I better get the day started anyhow,“ she said, somewhat reassured by his words, and went out of the kitchen.
“Shall I make you something for breakfast?” he called after her.
“No, I never have breakfast and before you say something else, I know that it’s not healthy but usually I don’t have the time,“ she retort.
Jarod closed his mouth and shrugged.
He had in deed wanted to inform her about how unhealthy it was to go without breakfast.
~~~~~~~
When she came back down she was dressed in her usual business outfit. She wore a perfectly fitting beige suit and a red blouson beneath. Completing the outfit she wore high heel stilettos.
“So, when do we start exploring?”
Jarod just stared at her.
“Jarod?”
“Hmm?”
“Hey, pez-head. Come back from lala-land and stop staring.”
Jarod shook his head vigorously trying to clear his mind. “Sorry. It’s just that I normally don’t have the time to admire your outfit. Every other time I turn around and get away as fast as possible when I get a glimpse of you,” he shrugged, grinning.
When last night it was Jarod being surprised at her honesty it now was her turn to be astonished. Her eyebrows rose high up on her forehead.
“Ugh, to get back to the question at hand, when do we start exploring?” she asked again, still slightly shocked.
“We still have some research to do before we go out investigating. I think we should put up our headquarters here.”
“Ok. Sounds fine to me,“ she agreed easily.
“If you don’t mind I would stay here for the time being. I could use the guest room.”
“You want to stay here permanently? In my house?”
“Yes. But when you do mind we will find another solution. I could rent a house in the neighbourhood. But it would spare time when I won’t have to cruise around all the time,” he said after seeing her shocked expression.
“No. I don’t mind. It’s just… you here in my house… with the Centre nearby… You know what I mean?”
“Yeah, it’s pretty strange for me, too. But the advantage besides the time factor is that the Centre sure won’t come to look for me here,” he grinned.
“Probably not,” she assented.
“Ok, now that’s settled, you better hurry before you’re real late. I will go and get my laptop to get some of the research done. If everything goes smoothly we might start investigating places tomorrow or the day after.”
“Ok, I’m gone then.” With that she was already out of the kitchen on her way to the front door.
“Parker, wait,“ he called.
Her head appeared in the kitchen door once more. “What?”
“Do you have any wishes for dinner? I’ll stop by the supermarket on my way back,“ he told her.
“Your choice,“ she responded shortly, turning on her heel and heading out again. She called out “See you later” over her shoulder and with that the front door closed behind her.
Walking to her car she shook her head in wonder. So much had changed in the last twenty four hours. She still had a hard time to keep up to date with the development.
It would take some time getting used to the thought of working together with Jarod.
~~~~~~~
Before she went to her own office, she strolled into the simlab where Sydney and Broots were already waiting for her.
Broots looked as if he had bitten into a lemon. He scurried around and fidgeted with his hands. Parker observed his movements without comment. She secretly smiled. Broots would always make these movements when he didn’t know in what a mood she was in.
Today being the day after ‘that’ day, he was even more nervous as usual.
Sydney on the other hand had his clam, psychiatrist face firmly in place. He, too, didn’t know what awaited him and how bad her mood was today.
His expression was schooled determinedly to neutral. He had decided to wait and not approach her in any way.
She had to stifle a chuckle.
“Ok, boys, what do we have, if we have anything that is?!?” She looked expectantly at Broots who seemed to get even more nervous under her stare.
“Miss Parker. We didn’t await you just now,” Sydney’s soft voice flowed around the room.
“And why would that be?” She asked.
“Yesterday was…” Broots started.
“I know what day was yesterday, but well that day is over, isn’t it?!?” She said, raising an eyebrow.
“I suppose so,” Broots mumbled.
“You seem to be in quite a good mood today, Miss Parker,” Sydney observed.
“You want to change that, Freud?” She snapped. She wasn’t really angry but she realized that she would have to be on her guard. Damn, he was good.
“No. Not necessarily. I was just wondering if anything happened…,“ Sydney let the sentence hang in the air.
“No,” she answered plainly and hoped that she would turn him flat down with that. “Can we get back to business now?”
“Sure,” Broots stuttered. Sydney merely nodded, still keeping his psychiatric face. She rolled his eyes. “Well, then…,” she snapped her finger at Broots.
~~~~~~~
She walked into her office to find Lyle waiting for her. He was sitting in her leather chair behind her desk.
The moment she saw him she groaned. The day had started good but obviously there was someone who didn’t want her to be content.
“What are you doing in my office and in ‘my’ chair?” She snarled.
“Easy, sis!” Lyle replied smoothly.
“What do you want?” She asked.
“I wanted to thank you for yesterday,“ Lyle said.
Parker quirked an eyebrow questioningly.
“I know that you didn’t want me there. Thanks that I could come,“ Lyle told her.
She looked at him in bewilderment. Drawing a breath she just nodded dumbly.
They stared at each other for a few moments.
“Is there anything else or do you think I can work now?” She asked sarcastically but lacking her usual sharpness.
“No, nothing else. Any leads on Jarod?” Lyle questioned.
“No.”
“Well, then I’ll better let you start working. You need all the time you can get,” he said smugly and went out of her office.
“Arrogant bastard,” Parker grumbled.
She just didn’t get it. One time he actually was behaving like a normal person and only a moment later he went back to being his annoying, arrogant usual self.
Maybe she would understand it sometime.
Obviously it wouldn’t only take some time to getting used to working with Jarod but also time to getting used to Lyle’s ‘new’ persona.
If it even was a new Lyle or just a temporary weakness or abnormality.
She silently laughed at that thought.
Everything concerning Lyle was abnormal. There was nothing new to that but still…
To be continued…
