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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Part 10
by N.R. Levy
Two planes streaked across the sky on their way to San Diego, California. Each plane contained men with pointed objectives, the occupants completely oblivious to the plans of the other.
A private charter arranged by Sydney carried him, Broots, Angelo and Sam to the city where they hoped to find Miss Parker. Sydney had worked with painstaking precision to use specific triggers as he unearthed the small details Angelo was able to provide. After putting the pieces together, they had all agreed that San Diego was the most probable location of their friend and so they worried men had all found reasonable excuses for disappearing and headed to the airport.
Sydney watched as Angelo tossed in a dreamless sleep, his body twitching and jerking as he fought off images of Miss Parker suffering. Broots moved to the sleeping man and tried to soothe him, but Sydney knew it was no use. The only thing that was going to help Angelo was finding his sister and making certain she was all right.
His sister --- Sydney was still trying to get his mind wrapped around that fact because its truth carried with it some very hard to take implications. Namely, that Catherine's little boy, the one she had mourned so completely, had been alive and waiting to grown old enough to suffer at Raines' hands. He knew Miss Parker's thoughts would have run along these lines - the betrayal of her mother and the suffering that her twin had endured.
And then there was the logic of the choice - why had it been the boy sacrificed to the Centre, not the daughter? Certainly, there were many reasons possible, but Sydney was hard pressed to narrow it down to any of the possibilities. All he did know was that if they didn't hurry, there was a chance Miss Parker would still be a sacrificial lamb for the Centre.
On board the second plane, Jake Barnes sat back in his seat drinking a rather large glass of scotch as he tried to calm his nerves. His orders from Mr. Lyle were best described as terrifying, and Jake knew the acting chairman did not intend for him to return home. He had sent him on a suicide mission after a man that he sensed Mr. Lyle himself was a bit afraid of.
His gut told Jake to try and reach Sam again to ask for help, but Mr. Lyle had made it clear to him that he was going to be tracking his every move and that he was to have contact with no one. As much as he wanted to not believe that the Centre could watch everything, could know everything - I mean, they still didn't know the truth about the freak he'd handed over to Sam, right? He still worried that somehow the boss would know exactly what he was up to.
His confidence a little high for the moment, Jake pulled out his cell phone. He partially dialed Sam's number, then stopped. Sam had been around to make sure that the call between their two phones was erased before...what if he couldn't reach him now? The call would be there, and Lyle would know he had tried...
Jake snapped the phone shut and tried to force himself to focus on the man he was going to "find." Right, he, Jake Barnes was going to be able to find a guy that had been eluding the authorities for nearly a decade.
He had read the file Lyle had given him on Damon. The man was a monster of the first order - the kind of guy that would make kids have nightmares if they knew about him. Thankfully, they didn't know about him, and it was supposed to be Jake's job to make sure they never did. Apparently the guy had snapped and was attacking innocent people in San Diego. His job was to get out there and "subdue" him before the police found him.
The problem was, Jake knew he was overmatched. Why then, had Lyle sent him? He wasn't sure - maybe just to let Damon know the Centre wasn't just sitting back doing nothing? But then why send him - a virtual novice - after a guy like this?
The questions threatened to drive the young sweeper insane, and so he decided he was better off just finishing his glass of scotch. Who knew, it might be his last one.
****
Emily sat beside Parker's bedside, her heart pounding. Ever since Parker had opened her eyes earlier and begged her to stop Jarod from going after Damon, she had been trying to find a way to accomplish that goal.
It had taken two different tries to reach Detective Hanson, and once she had, Emily found she wasn't certain what to tell him. She couldn't risk revealing all of Jarod's past to him, but she had to tell him enough to get him out looking for Damon.
She was relived when Hanson's answers made it clear to her that Jarod had told him enough to get him out following up leads on Damon. When she told him that Jarod was going after Damon on his own, she had noted that he didn't really sound like it was unexpected news. She wasn't sure if that made her feel better of worse.
Parker stirred and Emily moved closer to her friend, wishing that she would wake up. Parker would know what to do to help Jarod. Slowly, Parker's eyes fluttered open, and she began scanning the room, looking for anyone who might be there.
"Emily, where is he?"
"Parker, he's not here right now. Don't worry, Detective Hanson is looking for him."
"Did he take his phone?" Emily glanced over at the bedside table where Jarod's phone sat on top of the book he had left her.
"No, he left it with us. He wanted me to get help if...um, if I needed to get you out of here.
"Hand it to me." Emily was about to protest, but then she remembered her earlier wish. Parker probably did know exactly what to do right now, so she picked up the phone and moved it toward Parker.
"Speed dial two." Speed dial two - as Emily pushed the button, she remembered the night she'd called Parker, a slight chill running through her. As the phone began to ring, Emily moved so she could hold it to Parker's ear.
"This is Sydney."
"Syd..."
On the plane, the look that passed over Sydney's face at the sound of that one spoken syllable told the other men on board who he was speaking with. Leaning forward, almost as if it would get him closer to her, Sydney began speaking.
"Miss Parker, Thank God. Where are you?"
"San Diego. I'll have...someone will tell you where in a minute, okay? Syd, you have to get here and find Jarod."
"Parker, what happened?"
"Please, Syd, just hurry." Emily could tell that Parker's energy was gone, and she pulled the phone over to her own ear.
"Hello?"
"Hello. This is Sydney. Who is this?"
"Sydney - Jarod's mentioned you. I'm Emily."
A knowing smile passed over Sydney's face. So, Parker had helped Emily escape...and now it seemed, she was receiving help herself from the young woman she'd saved.
"Emily, where are you?"
"We're at University Hospital. Damon, he -- I told Parker where we were and he got to her. She's hurt pretty bad."
"We know. We're about half an hour from landing. I'm going to send three men named Sam, Angelo and Broots there to be with the two of you. Emily, what can you tell me about where Jarod might have gone?"
"I don't know. He left behind this book and his phone and told me somewhere safe to take Parker to if he didn't get back. That's all he told me."
"Before that, before all this happened, he was looking for Damon?"
"Yeah, he - oh, that's why I called Parker. He had gone off to do some simulations and I was worried about him."
"Did he have his computer with him?"
"No, I think he had a separate one set up at the storage place."
"Emily, can you tell me how to get there. Maybe I can find something to help me figure out where he's gone."
Sydney wrote furiously as Emily recounted the directions Jarod had given her just a day earlier. Once he'd read them back, he lowered his voice and tried to make it as soothing and comforting as he could.
"We'll do our best to help him, Emily. Tell Miss Parker her brother loves her very much, and he'll be with her soon. If you need anything before we get to you, just call us back on this line."
"Okay, Sydney. Thank you."
Emily hung up the phone, and glanced over at Parker. She was asleep again, and so Emily leaned close to her, whispering.
"Your brother loves you very much, Parker. He'll be here with you soon."
And then, much to Emily's surprise, a small smile slid across Parker's face.
****
The waves of fear that washed through Jarod were undampend by the anger and rage he felt towards Damon. As he drove to the place he knew his enemy waited for him, the Pretender tried to remind himself to act only for justice, to let his feelings of vengeance slip away. He was finding this far easier said than done.
Every time he began to calm himself, he started to see Parker in his mind. She had looked so positively lifeless lying there on the floor of his apartment. And the sound of her voice as she whispered Damon's name...it wouldn't leave him. He knew Damon was probably counting on this. Emotion would distract him, and it would take away his edge. For the first time, he understood why it was Parker tried to keep her emotions locked away --- she could never have done the things she did if she let her heart have free reign, and she had to do them to survive.
But Parker had years of practice at shoving her emotions down deep inside of her. For Jarod, it was a new exercise, one he had to master in a very short period of time because Damon was waiting for him, and Jarod knew that only one of them could walk away from this confrontation. It was time to end it.
He arrived at the deserted military base, his hands gripping the steering wheel. With a slight chill, he remembered the point in his SIM in which he'd picked up on this place --- the things he knew that Damon had done here horrified him. Apparently, the rapes were not the only activity he'd been keeping himself busy with while he waited for Jarod to fall into his lap. Contract killing was a lucrative business, and this place had been the scene of more than one of Damon's crimes.
Moving cautiously, Jarod began his assault on the base. He knew that care was of the utmost concern. Damon was a master at using explosives, and the place was bound to be booby-trapped. He had barely traveled 50 yards inside the fence when he found the first one - a trip wire that would have left Jarod bleeding profusely from cuts in his leg where 3-inch metal spikes would have caught him.
Next, he stumbled upon something Jarod knew had been designed especially for him in order to keep his emotional level in an uproar - Damon had set up a table in the corner of the courtyard - it had two items on it. One was an origami swan, the other, a Polaroid of Parker lying on the floor of his apartment.
Jarod's first instinct was to reach out and pick up the items, but he knew that's what Damon wanted. Careful inspection revealed a pressure sensitive device on the table - one so finely tuned that even a few ounces of pressure one way or the other would arm the small explosive pinned to it.
Sighing heavily, Jarod moved past the obvious trap, and eyes pealed, he continued to search for his enemy. An open door 200 yards in front of him caught his attention, and he headed there knowing that these other diversions were just for Damon's entertainment. There was no chance Damon wanted any result to occur here today but Jarod's death at his hands.
Jarod moved into the warehouse, and he knew instantly that Damon was somewhere inside. Where would be the problem. Damon had chosen a room filled with old obstacle course equipment, and it made the cavernous space both difficult to navigate and easy to hide in.
>From his vantage point atop the warehouse in the communications office, Damon watched Jarod enter the building. There were so many more little diversions waiting for the Pretender before they met face to face, yet he felt his pulse rising with anticipation. It was not surprising that Jarod had not fallen for the small traps he'd set outside - he hadn't really counted on him doing so - but there were bigger, more dangerous hazards awaiting his nemesis, and he couldn't wait to see how this whole ordeal played itself out.
****
Hanson had tried to sound surprised when he'd finally spoken to Jarod's sister, but he'd been worried all along that Jarod was planning to try and take on this psycho on his own, and now he knew his timetable had been drastically reduced - if he didn't get to this Damon guy soon, then he just might take another victim with him.
Clearly, Jarod was not who he had first appeared to be, and he had no idea who the woman in the hospital really was, only that she was extremely important to Jarod - important enough to drive him over the edge, which meant Damon would have the upper hand when they met.
He had been at the station for hours trying to find a possible location on the guy when Emily called again.
"Detective Hanson?"
"Yeah, Emily. Any news?"
"Kind of. Some other friends of my brothers are on the way. His, um, well, Dr. Greene wanted you to meet him at this address, 27550 Rio San Diego Drive. He thinks you might be able to find some leads on Jarod there."
"Are you sure you can trust this guy?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Jarod told me to call him if there was any trouble."
"Okay, I'm on my way. Emily, how's your friend doing?"
"Better. If you see Jarod - tell him she's going to be fine, and he needs to get back here."
"I will."
Emily hung up the phone, certain that she was doing all she could to help her brother, and yet hating that she could do no more. Still, she knew her most important task was to be here for Parker.
When the door opened and the three men walked in, Emily felt a momentary sense of panic, especially when she saw the man she remembered being called Sam - a Centre sweeper. Her nervousness was somewhat offset, however, by the movement of the one who was a bit strange looking -- with big, wild eyes and a tight crew cut. Quickly, he made his way to the bed and he took Parker's hand in his own, his head leaning down to rest on her shoulder.
"Sister hurt, but better. Worried about Jarod."
Emily looked up from the two people at the bed to the two men who still stood near the doorway.
"How does he know that?"
"Angelo is Miss Parker's twin," Broots tried to keep his normal shakiness out of his voice as he explained, "They have a - well, a pretty tight connection. That's how we knew she was hurt."
Sam looked over at Broots, impressed with the poise the little nerd was showing. There was no sense trying to explain what still seemed unexplainable about Angelo to the girl, and Broots had done a good job of covering. His attention turned back to the girl as she stood and walked over to them.
"I'm Emily." Broots extended his hand first, followed by Sam.
"We know. I'm Broots and this is Sam. Don't worry, he's on our side for the time being."
That comment got a small smile from Emily and a harrumph of disdain from Sam. The sweeper's eyes fell on Miss Parker, lying so still in the bed, and he felt his hands turning into tightly fisted balls.
"Sydney should have let me go after that freak!"
Emily was about to be insulted, thinking Sam meant her brother, when Broots quickly stepped in.
"Sam, you know he's worried about Lyle showing up. Miss Parker needs you right now. Damon will get what's coming to him, don't worry."
That seemed to make Sam feel at least momentarily better, and he stepped out into the hallway to begin standing guard as Broots moved over to Angelo.
"Angelo, she's going to be okay?"
The savant picked his head up, turning slightly to look at his friend.
"Sister better."
As he said the words, Parker again began to open her eyes, and the rooms occupants all stepped a little closer to the bed as she managed to get a real focus on the room around her.
"Oh, God. I'm dying after all, aren't I?"
Broots couldn't keep back the chuckle her comment brought to him, or the sense of relief he felt at hearing her voice, weak as it sounded.
"No, Miss Parker, you're not getting away from us that easily."
Parker smiled and looked at Angelo, her face immediately gaining color at the sight of him. She reached a hand toward her brother, prompting him to move closer to her, her hand clutched in his.
"Brother knows. Missed you too."
Emily again watched mystified, suspecting there was more to Miss Parker's brother than had been explained to her, but for now, she would leave it alone.
"Did they find Jarod yet?"
"Sydney's working on it, Miss Parker." Broots reached out, placing his hand on her arm to try and reassure her. "We'll find him. He...he faced Damon before."
"Not like this, Broots. He's too angry this time. I know it."
Broots nodded, knowing she was right. His eyes found Emily's and he could see the concern on her face, too.
'Please, Sydney,' he thought, 'please find Jarod soon.'
*****
The storage unit was exactly the type of place Sydney imagined Jarod using to run his SIMs outside of the Centre. Small, confined, dark - it gave him the ability to create any mental atmosphere he needed in order to make the simulation more believable. Thankfully, he still used a computer to record all of his observations, and the computer was there when he arrived.
He had just finished reviewing the materials in Jarod's file when a gruff looking man in his early 40's walked into the open door of the unit.
"Dr. Greene?" Sydney stood at his words and moved toward the man.
"Detective Hanson. I'm glad you could make it."
"Look, I don't know who this guy is, but I know he wants to stop this sicko, which is what I want, only I don't want him taking Jarod out with him."
"No, neither do we. I may have found a lead on where they are. Jarod's files indicate that Damon was operating his murder-for-hire business out of an abandoned military facility. Any ideas?"
"Well, throw a rock in San Diego and you can hit one. Anything to help me narrow it down?"
"There was nothing more specific, only that it was an old training base and that..."
"Training base, well, why didn't you say that? Yeah, I got an idea."
"Then we better get going."
*****
Jarod had already been inside the warehouse for more than an hour, his clothes now torn and dirtied from the nasty surprises Damon had left for him throughout. He had narrowly escaped being knocked unconscious by a 20-pound bag of sand after tripping a well-camouflaged wire-trigger. Minutes later, he'd received a deep cut in his side as a pile of shrapnel was released into his body by what could only have been a timed explosive.
Now Jarod felt his nerves nearing the breaking point. He wanted this over with. He had tried putting himself into a SIM to break the tension, returning to the military survival skills he'd learned in Texas, but it hadn't helped. His own emotions were too raw now for him to suppress them, and he realized he was wasting precious energy.
Instead, he tried to move forward, all the while thinking not like himself, but like Parker. She was the most efficient hunter he had ever known, and she would have moved through this building with uncanny ease - that he knew. He had not always believed that to be true about her. She had fallen into so many of his traps so easily - it was only after careful observation that he realized she was usually trapped in them by the people around her -- Broots, the sweepers, and Lyle, definitely Lyle, were always stumbling over his triggers, usually after stern warnings from Parker to watch their every step.
No, she was an expert at surviving, at finding the hidden trick, and so he focused on what she would do, how she would handle the situation. Immediately, he felt his nerves begin to relax. That was the key, stay relaxed, stay focused on your goal, and know what your enemy wants. Jarod knew Parker was always certain that despite his tricks, he had never really wanted to see her hurt. Damon was a different story. Damon wanted him weakened, disadvantaged, and so Jarod would have to try hard not to give him the results he sought.
Again, he began to move through the warehouse, Parker with him in his mind as he locked on to her instincts. Deftly, he avoided three more traps Damon had laid for him, and with some sense of relief he saw that there was now only 25 feet of space between him and the stairs that would take him to the top of the room and a better vantage point.
He was almost to the stairs when he heard the muffled cries. He began to look around, nearly losing the calm he had so recently found, but he heard Parker's voice reprimanding him, reminding him to be calm - panic would only get him killed.
Slowing down, Jarod began to edge up the stairs, toward the source of the sounds he'd heard. He reached the landing, a louder, more desperate cry reaching him. It's coming from behind me, he thought, and he turned cautiously in that direction.
A woman was kneeling on the floor in the doorway at the end of the hall. She was bound and gagged with heavy electrical tape and her eyes were wide with fear. It took Jarod less than two seconds to realize who it was.
Stephanie Hart.
How Damon had managed to get her out of the rehabilitation hospital was irrelevant, she was here and now Jarod had to get her out. Destroying Damon had to remain a priority, but now he had a life to save. Quickly, he forced his mind to bring Parker forward again, knowing that he needed her tactical edge right now in order to get him through this. Funny, the very skills she used to make his life a living hell were quite possibly the ones that were going to save him today.
Jarod used his eyes to tell Stephanie that he'd get her out of this. Slowly, he scanned the rest of the hallway, trying to find Damon. Seeing nothing, he weighed his options. He could move toward Stephanie, but Damon would have expected that and it probably would lead to another trap. He could go search for Damon, but that would leave Stephanie all alone and at Damon's mercy, which he also could not do. Finally, he thought about Parker. When she chased him, when she knew she had him cornered, she frequently called out to him, trying to make him react. Sometimes, if he were especially anxious, it would work, and he would make a sound that told her the general direction he was in.
"Damon, I'm here. I'm waiting for you."
Click. A gun cocking. It came from the room behind Stephanie, Jarod thought. That's where he is.
"Come on, Damon. You got me all the way down here. Don't you want to come show me how tough you are? Or do you only beat up on women?"
"I'd hardly call that thing in the hospital a woman. She's a viper, Jarod, and you're throwing your life away for her."
Trying to get me angry, Damon? Jarod thought. Fine, I'll let you think you're winning.
"You shut your mouth, Damon. Don't say anything about Parker, do you hear me?"
Jarod could almost hear the smile crossing Damon's face, and he could almost hear Parker in his head, telling him what a good job he'd done at "pretending" to be angry. 'That's what you do, Jarod, she whispered, 'just keep letting him think he's winning.'
"Let Stephanie go."
Now Damon stepped out of the shadows. He moved to Stephanie, pushing a gun toward her head.
"Now why would I want to do that? You can consider Stephanie a visual aid. I'm going to use her to show you what I'm going to do to your precious little bitch once I take care of you."
For a moment, Jarod felt his rage flicker inside of him. The thought that he might put his hands on Parker...but no, that's what he wants. He wants you to see that, to imagine it. Parker's safe. Emily will get her to New York and...
Barely a second passed and Jarod had his control back, though he carefully constructed the look on his face to mirror the surge of anger he'd momentarily felt. 'Think you're winning, Damon. Keep thinking it.'
"If you touch her again..."
"Oh, I'm going to, Jarod. I'm going to do more than touch her. I'm going to use her until there's nothing left of her. And I'm going to tell her over and over again that it's your fault because you weren't man enough to kill me, not in D.C. and not here."
"I will kill you." Jarod screamed the words, watching as a satisfied smile crossed Damon's lips. 'Keep thinking you're winning.'
"Not if I kill you first."
Jarod watched as Damon brought the gun up from Stephanie's head to aim it his direction. Think, Jarod, what do you do? What would she do?
'Use what you have, Jarod.' As quickly as her voice appeared it vanished again, and he looked at Stephanie, hoping she would understand, see the movement his hand was making as he raised the other, Parker's 9mm extended forward in it.
Stephanie threw her body back, knocking Damon several steps back into the room. Jarod surged forward, using the little time he had to push Stephanie out of the room and lock the door, at least temporarily shielding her from Damon.
Damon recovered his footing and moved across the room, his gun trained on Jarod just as Jarod's was on him. The two men circled each other, each trying to decide what to do next.
"You showed more control than I thought, Jarod. Maybe she isn't as important to you as I thought. Maybe you just want her in your bed, but you feel disgusted by having her in your heart, hmm? Maybe I almost did you a favor by killing her? Excising the sickness, so to speak. Maybe you should thank me."
Jarod could feel his control slipping away with every word Damon said. Parker was slipping away under the power of his hatred for this man standing in front of him. He tried to reach out to her with his mind, holding on to her strength, but his rage was stealing it away. He could only now see her, helpless and dying in his arms, and Stephanie, the night he'd first gone to the hospital, and the photos of all the women he'd hurt, and the bodies of all the people Damon had killed, and finally, the rage boiled over inside of him, clouding his eyes with a haze of hatred.
Damon saw the change and knew he was back in control. He also knew how he wanted this to end. He stopped moving, taking his gun and dropping it on the floor. Then he raised his hands.
"Go ahead, Jarod. Kill me. Take your gun and get revenge for all the little whores. Get back at me for how much pleasure I took in tearing apart their lives. Make me pay for the joy I felt when I saw that Parker was dying."
Jarod tightened his grip on the gun. He wanted to do it so badly. He wanted more than anything to pull the trigger. 'Don't!' He didn't know whose voice was in his mind now, but it made him hesitate. This wasn't like D.C. Damon had dropped his gun - if he pulled the trigger, he would be committing cold-blooded murder.
"Go ahead, Jarod. Do it. Or are you not man enough? Oh, not a fair fight, hmm? Can't bring yourself to do it? Then how about this? Put your gun down, and we'll settle this like two highly uncivilized men.
Come on, then you can kill me without feeling all guilty. Come on, Jarod."
Jarod dropped his gun and lunged at Damon, his fury driving him as the two men began to beat each other in a wild frenzy.
****
Jake Barnes arrived at the location Mr. Lyle had given to him after spending three hours lost in the city. He knew that would have given his fellow sweepers a good laugh, but it didn't really matter. He wasn't getting out of this alive anyway, was he?
He moved to the gate and seeing that it was padlocked, he climbed up it and dropped over, pulling his gun as he walked across the courtyard. He had barely gone 50 yards when he tripped over something, and then felt a searing pain in his leg as something ripped through it. As he fell to the ground, Jake's fingers tightened reflexively around his gun, and he fired two shots into the air.
In a car not half a mile away, Sydney and Detective Hanson were trying to decide which entrance to use when they heard the gunshots. Quickly, they moved their car in that direction, where they soon found the startled and badly injured young man.
The gunshots brought both Jarod and Damon's heads up for a moment, the carnage of their fight stopping. Each man had suffered painful injuries, eyes blackened, ribs broken, and muscles in agony as the war went on and on. Then the shots had gone off, and they had stopped for one second.
Damon's thoughts were simple. Someone is here. End this now.
Jarod's thoughts were simple. Someone's here, you don't have to do this alone.
Then the Pretender felt Damon's arm slip around his neck and he knew the man was trying to finish him. He fought against the hold, protecting his neck so that a fatal injury couldn't be inflicted. Then his eyes fell on Parker's gun, now lying near the door where it had been pushed in the fight.
Jarod tried to move toward it, knowing he had limited time. Even if Damon couldn't get an angle to break his neck, he was still limiting Jarod's oxygen supply and eventually, the Pretender knew he would weaken and be unable to defend himself. He also knew from his position, he couldn't get Damon off of him, so he tried using his adversary to his advantage. Using Damon's weight, Jarod threw his body toward the door, the two of them rolling twice before Damon managed to stop them. Now the gun was just out of reach, and Jarod struggled to get to it, his body beginning to show the first signs of oxygen deprivation.
That's when the footsteps on the stairs began to sound. Damon's full focus was on keeping Jarod's hand away from the gun, and so he did not respond to the sounds that barely reached him, but Jarod did. With every last ounce of strength he could muster, he called out to whomever was on the other side of the door.
"In here!"
Suddenly the door flew open, and a gunshot rang out, sending Damon flying away from Jarod's body. Jarod, light-headedness now taking over, slumped to the floor, hoping only that whoever had just saved his life wasn't yet another sworn enemy.
Detective Hanson kept his gun trained on Damon from the same spot where he'd fired. It had taken less than a second for it to happen, and only the sight of Jarod in clear trouble to tell him that he had a righteous shooting in front of him.
As he moved forward to check on the man he'd just shot, he saw Dr. Greene step to Jarod's side, turning the injured man over on to his back.
"He okay, Doc?"
"Yes," Sydney said with some relief, "He'll be fine, but we should get him to the hospital."
Detective Hanson nodded as he leaned down over Damon, checking for any signs of life. There were none.
"Well, this one needs a meat wagon."
"Be sure. Make sure." Jarod's voice was ragged as it tore from his badly bruised throat.
"I'm sure, kid. No more return visits for this guy. His ticket's been permanently punched."
Jarod nodded, his eyes heavy with exhaustion and relief, but he managed to focus on Sydney for one moment.
"Parker?"
"She's going to fine, Jarod."
And with that Jarod let unconsciousness take him. He had no idea how they were going to clean up the mess around him, but he didn't care. Parker was safe, and that was all that mattered.
****
Jake Barnes had never much fancied himself anybody's hero, and when Sam showed up at the hospital offering him a chance to be one, he decided to take it. After all, he couldn't go back to Blue Cove, not with Mr. Lyle gunning for him, and after failing to bring back this Damon guy, and not dying in the process, he was definitely living on borrowed days.
So Jake became Matthew Hart, Stephanie's previously unknown brother, who had arrived in town to visit his sister only to find out what had happened to her. Angry, he had tracked down her attacker using his skills as a private detective and he had confronted the killer, but not before placing a verifiable call to Detective Hanson from his cell phone. That call brought the detective to both Stephanie and Matthew's rescue, ending the vicious attacks of the Silk Scarf Stalker forever, and making Matthew into the biggest hero in California, though he would shun media attention to protect his privacy.
Mysteriously, no mention of Jarod or the brunette woman who was lying in University hospital ever made it into Detective Hanson's report.
As the cover story came into place, Sydney marveled again at the loyalty both Jarod and Miss Parker inspired in the people around them. Detective Hanson was risking his career to protect them, and Sam was risking his life by helping them, and yet neither man seemed to question that they were doing the right thing.
Jarod, meanwhile, was resting in the room next to Parker's, his own body battered beyond belief from his confrontation with Damon. He had been asleep for more than twelve hours, and therefore knew nothing about what was happening around him. It had fallen to Broots then to create Jake's new life as Matthew, which included stealing a few hundred thousand Centre dollars for him and Stephanie to use to disappear as soon as their statements were given to the police.
****
Back in Blue Cove, Lyle wasn't sure what was making him more furious, the complete lack of intelligence of anyone around him or the lack of results that every more he seemed to make these days were showing. He'd been about to burn his "sister" with the Triumvirate when she'd called in, reporting that her ulcer had flared up while she was following the Major and the boy, and that she'd been rushed to the hospital. She'd only just recovered enough to phone him, and assured him she'd be back in a week or two, as soon as her doctor said she could travel. He'd had his computer guys check out her story, but sure enough, there she was, admitted to a hospital in Fallbrook, New Jersey, and so he had nothing to use against her for the moment.
There had been no report from Jake Barnes, which meant the inept little creep was probably dead, and that Damon was still on the loose. Not that he hadn't predicted that outcome, it meant he could at least create the illusion he had tried to handle the situation for Mutumbo, and he had done it without risking his own neck, but the thought of Damon still on the loose sent chills up his spine -- what if the psycho came after him?
And still there was no trace of Angelo. The idiot had just disappeared, and now he had nothing to use as leverage against Parker when she came back.
All in all, it was one really shitty day.
****
Jarod knew that they would yell at him for being out of bed, so he waited until he was sure that Broots and Sydney had taken Emily home for the night. He maneuvered himself into the wheelchair beside his bed and then started on his way to Parker's room.
When he got there, Sam's imposing figure was standing outside the door. The man never turned his eyes to look at Jarod, but as the Pretender reached for the doorknob, he spoke.
"I'll let you go this time, for her. Don't expect it to happen again."
Jarod nodded and opened the door, wheeling his way to Parker's bedside. She was doing much better. Her color was back and the doctors were ready to let her go home provided she had somewhere to get a lot of rest. Clearly, that wasn't Blue Cove, so Jarod had come to plead with her to follow one bit of advice from him.
She woke when he took her hand, and she turned to him, looking at the bruises and cuts on his face and wondering how much worse he was hurt in the places she couldn't see.
"Jarod, you shouldn't be here. Sam..."
"Sam and I have a temporary understanding. Parker, I want you to take this and I want you to follow it."
He took a piece of paper and put it into her hand.
"Jarod, I don't have the energy for any more bread crumbs."
"No crumb, the whole piece this time. Take Angelo and go to this house. You'll be able to rest there, and, I think you'll really enjoy the people you meet there."
Parker looked at the address, and though her natural instincts were to argue with Jarod about everything, she found herself only wanting the peace he seemed to be promising her.
"All right, I'll go. I have to find a safe place for Angelo, anyway. I can't take him back home with me."
"This may be exactly what you're looking for. By the way, what exactly is going on with Angelo anyway?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why the sudden interest in him?"
Parker looked at him a little wide-eyed.
"You mean, no one told you?"
"Parker, I've been asleep since I got to the hospital. I barely know what day it is."
"Sorry, I just thought...Angelo is my brother, Jarod. My real brother. Lyle doctored the tests."
Jarod could see the obvious happiness that those words brought to Parker, and now he realized that must have been what she'd wanted to tell him in Maine. More than ever, he realized what it had cost her to send Emily to him instead of coming herself.
"So, it looks like we both have a family to fight for now, doesn't it?"
"Yes, Jarod. I guess we do."
The sat there looking at each other, unable to say the myriad of other things they wanted to say to each other as silence filled the room. He didn't tell her that she had saved him in the warehouse and she didn't tell him that every time she had woken, her first thoughts had been of him.
When Sydney returned in the morning to check on Jarod he found an empty bed. Moving quickly to Parker's room, he found the Pretender asleep in the chair next to Parker's bed, their hands clasped as they dreamed.
