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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer and additional info: see part I
Feedback: Absolutely.
Thanks to Mel for editing this.
Precious Moments
Part V
By Miss Bit
Ostvadt
Greenland
02:31 a.m.
Jarod tossed and turned in his bed. The wind was howling outside his house, reminding him of the unrelenting storm that had effectively trapped him here.
He had been lying awake for hours on end, thinking, brooding. His every instinct was screaming at him that something was wrong, and his imagination came up with ever new reasons to feed his worries.
Sighing, Jarod turned over, and stared at the display of his alarm clock. In the faint light of the illuminated digits he could see his cell phone lying on the side table. It was utterly useless; there was no one he could reach with it now.
After a long minute, during which he stared at the clock with unseeing eyes, he admitted to himself that the person he would have called wasn't Sydney. And no matter how much he wanted to know what was going on at the Centre, it also wasn't Angelo. Jarod turned again, abruptly, trying not to think of the person he wanted to call so badly in the middle of the night.
~~~
Miss Parker's house
431 Mountain Spring Road
Blue Cove, Delaware
05:17 a.m.
A repeated ringing dragged Miss Parker mercilessly from the pleasant depths of sleep. She blinked in confusion and then recognized the source of the intruding noise. Squinting at her alarm clock, she reached for her phone.
"What?" she asked, not quite as sharply as intended.
"Miss Parker, this is Sydney. Broots found a promising lead on Major Charles. You'd better return here as soon as possible."
"On my way," she said, stifling a yawn. She hung up and let her head sink back on the pillow. This was exactly the news she'd been waiting for. So why was she feeling so disappointed?
Miss Parker closed her eyes as she admitted the answer to herself. She'd expected Jarod to be the nightly caller. He'd used to call her in the early morning hours, driving her to distraction, basking in her wrath. Were those times over now that he'd offered her his friendship?
Oh, great. Now she was starting to miss his calls. Sighing, she got up, determined not to think about Jarod for the rest of this wretched day.
~~~
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
05:37 a.m.
"So, what gives?"
Miss Parker didn't waste any time on pleasantries when she entered the tech room. Broots merely flashed her a look, but Sydney rose to meet her.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked.
His face was creased with worry lines as he scrutinized her, and she bit back a sharp retort, giving him a brief nod instead. Then she brushed past him, moving to stand behind Broots.
"What did you find out?"
The technician straightened on his chair and tried to relax his sore muscles by rotating his shoulders. The movement made him wince and he stopped, a somewhat defeated expression on his face. If he had looked exhausted the night before, 'near dead' was the only fitting description for him now.
"Sydney and I worked through the file you gave us. We wondered exactly how Raines planned to lure Major Charles into that trap of his."
Miss Parker raised her brows in a silent question, but said nothing. She noticed that Broots's feet were tapping the ground incessantly. The man had obviously consumed so much coffee that he could no longer keep his feet still - literally.
"Jarod's mother," Broots said triumphantly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Raines will make it look like she was captured by the Centre."
"All right, so now we know how Raines plans to get a hold of Major Charles. That leaves the question of *where* all this is going to take place."
"Alaska," Sydney suddenly said right next to her. She managed not to jump at the sound of his voice, unlike Broots who very nearly lost his balance. Miss Parker frowned at the technician's jumpiness; then the meaning of Sydney's information sank in.
"Alaska," she repeated in a deadpan voice.
"Claremont, Alaska," Sydney specified.
"Great. That means 15 below, on a good day. How come Raines seems to be drawn to icy deserts? What's wrong with, say, Hawaii?"
Sydney threw her a reproachful look, which she returned without so much as batting an eye.
"Just give me the details, I'll go alone. There's no need for the two of you to be deep frozen, too. You'll stay here and watch my back. The last thing I'll need up there is for Raines or Lyle to interfere with our 'rescue'." Miss Parker stared gloomily ahead. "And, Broots?"
"Yes?" the technician asked, wincing again.
"As soon as I left - get some rest. You look horrible, more so than usual. You're going to be my backup, my insurance, and you're going to be well-rested and fully alert, that clear?"
"Crystal, Miss Parker."
Broots didn't even try to protest. Out of the corner of her eye, Miss Parker saw Sydney trying to suppress a knowing smile, and failing horribly at it.
"There's no time to waste, so you'd better tell me everything you know," Miss Parker said. Broots opened his mouth to say something, but before he even got the chance to get the first word on the way, Miss Parker added darkly: "And I was just referring to our dear Major's impending accident."
~~~
Ostvadt
Greenland
01:17 p.m.
The howling of the wind had finally subsided. The storm had passed, and all it had left behind was a slight drizzle of snow.
Jarod was sitting on the couch in his living room, staring at the screen of his laptop. He simply didn't believe his eyes. A quarter of an hour ago, he'd finally managed to get Angelo's file off the Internet, and he'd watched the incredible scene four or five times already.
His eyes still fixed on the now dark screen, Jarod leaned back. He was horrified. A mixture of worry about his father and anger at Raines washed through him, paralyzing him.
How dare Raines?
Jarod got up and started pacing the room. He had to warn his father, but how?
A few seconds passed, filled only with furious pacing, then Jarod returned to his computer. Apart from the video file, Angelo had also sent him a text file and a short email.
He skimmed through the text file first. Apparently, it was a synopsis of one of the two files Raines had wished to get rid of; the one about his father. Jarod briefly wondered if Angelo also had a copy of the other file, but a mere few moments later his full attention was back on his father.
He opened Angelo's mail and held his breath as he read the few words.
'Friend's father in danger. Daughter helps.
- CJ'
The pretender shook his head in disbelief. Why on earth should Miss Parker choose helping his father over finding Tommy's killer? This was the chance she'd been waiting for. The answer to his question hit him with the force of a jackhammer. Angelo must have asked for her help when he couldn't reach him, Jarod. She was the only other person he could think of who'd care enough about Major Charles to try and help him.
Jarod was suddenly filled with foreboding. His father no longer was the only one he worried about.
He left the room in a hurry to get packed. Crossing the hallway, he took out his cell phone and hit speed dial. Still no connection. Damn. Jarod stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the phone in his hand. If she was already on her way to warn his father, there was a good chance that he couldn't reach her for that reason. Nodding once to himself, he hit another button, waited for a few seconds and sighed with relief when he heard a familiar voice at the other end of the line.
"Sydney speaking."
"Sydney, where's Miss Parker? I need to talk to her, now."
"Jarod?"
The surprise in the older man's voice was evident, and Jarod briefly closed his eyes when he thought of the pain he must have caused his mentor before he'd escaped. Well, his apology would have to wait.
"Yeah, Syd, it's me. Where is she?"
"On her way to Alaska. Jarod, we learned that Raines plans to lure your father--"
"Damn! You've got to call her back, her life may very well depend on it."
"You know about the trap?" Again, Sydney sounded surprised, even more so than before.
"I watched the vid," Jarod explained impatiently. "You must tell her to return to the Centre immediately."
There was a pause as Sydney hesitated.
"Why? She's trying to warn your father."
"Call it a hunch. My father's been hiding from the Centre for years. He knows Raines's ways. There's every chance he saw through whatever Raines prepared for him, and I don't think he'll show up in Alaska at all."
"What makes you so sure?"
"I'm not sure. All I'm sure of is that I don't want Miss Parker to risk her life over this. It's an extremely dangerous situation. Raines wants the boy back, and he wants my father dead. So whatever he came up with, it'll be a serious threat to everyone involved. With all she's been through lately, I'm afraid Miss Parker won't be able to handle it all on her own."
A sharp intake of breath was Sydney's audible reaction to Jarod's words.
"We can't reach her, Jarod. She took the jet, and when I last talked to her a few hours ago, the connection was severed all of a sudden. They must have got in bad weather and according to the forecast they might be stuck in it for quite a while."
"I'd better get on my way, then. Perhaps I'll be in time to prevent the worst. I'll be in touch."
Jarod severed the connection and started to pack what little he'd brought with him, hoping that he wouldn't be too late.
~~~
Devil's Ridge
Alaska
05:45 p.m.
Miss Parker stamped her feet, shifting her weight from one icy leg to the other. The cold was biting, and despite the fur lined hood that covered large parts of her face there was hardly any feeling left in her nose and ears.
Her patience was wearing thin as she pounded at the door in front of her for the third of fourth time. All around her, the ever present snowflakes were sailing through the air in ever denser clouds. Wonderful. She looked up at the sky, frowning at the massive gray clouds that seemed to speak of only one thing: more snow.
"Open the door already, will you!" Miss Parker shouted at the top of her voice, her fist pummeling the wood so heavily that it was painful even through the thick glove. "Goddamn cold," she muttered. Her teeth started to chatter. She looked down at her feet, just to make sure they were still there. "When I'm back at the Centre, I'll see to it that Raines spends the rest of his life in a nice cold fridge, freezing off his sorry a--"
"'Scuse me, there something I can do for you, lady?"
Taken by surprise, she raised her eyes. Then, she raised them some more to frown at the stranger's face. He'd only opened the door ever so slightly so that all she saw of him was one sleepy looking eye somewhere above the crown of her head and a narrow strip of his flannel-clad body.
"There'd better, or someone's going to be very sorry. I need a rental, preferably yesterday, but right now will do just as fine."
Seconds ticked by. The eye kept staring at her, then the door opened a little wider, revealing the rest of the man's bearded face and an even broader strip of his massive body. There was amused disbelief all over his face as he looked past her and at the thick, white dots whirling through the air. When he looked back at her, she saw the corners of his mouth twitch just before he started to laugh. It was a good-natured laugh, but Miss Parker was in no mood to tolerate it. Her features darkened threateningly.
"And what's so damn funny about that?" she asked, barely restraining herself. The cold was beginning to creep through the various layers of her thermal clothing and she hardly managed to suppress a violent shiver.
It was only then that the man seemed to realize that she was serious.
"You've got to be kidding me, lady," he said, giving his head a little shake. "Look at this weather, will ya? Can't give you a car in this kind of weather. It'd freeze. You'd freeze. Whoever told you to come here, asking for a rental?"
"Guy at the airport," she said between chattering teeth. "Large head, small brain. Now, listen. I'm stuck here. The jet's not an option, or else I'd be out of here in a flash. What I need is a car that'll take me to Claremont, snow or no snow."
"Claremont?" Sleepy eyes whistled through his teeth. "That's 200 miles from here, you know that?"
Miss Parker's restraint was shy of collapsing.
"Yes", she hissed, "I know. But that's my business. Yours, I was told, is renting cars. Why don't you just do your damn job and give me--"
"Sorry, lady. Couldn't possibly rent a car to you in this kind of weather. You'd better head back to the airport before the weather gets any worse." And with that, he closed the door in her face. She stared at the dark wood for a few seconds, then she raised her fist, stopped in mid motion and let her hand sink back to her side. There really was no point.
"Bastard," she muttered, not really angry with him. A surge of hopelessness washed through her. What if she didn't reach Claremont in time? What if Major Charles died while she was stuck in a godforsaken town in the middle of nowhere? How could she ever face Jarod again? Miss Parker threw back her head and stared at the gray sky. Ever so slowly, her determination returned.
"I won't give up yet," she whispered, still staring skywards. "I won't be beaten, not by a few damn snowflakes."
Her words seemed utterly unimportant in comparison to the threat of the cloud laden sky, but it was with fresh resolve that Miss Parker turned and walked back to the nearby airport.
~~~
Somewhere over the Atlantic
10:43 p.m.
It was almost completely dark aboard the small airplane heading for Alaska. Most of the passengers were asleep; only two or three of them were reading in the faint light from their overhead lights.
Jarod was staring out of the window, his gaze drawn to the only bright spot out there. The moon seemed close enough for him to reach out a hand and touch it; its silvery light was reflected in the endless plains of water below. Wisps of cloud were drifting over the sky, telling of a change in the weather.
After a long while of staring Jarod closed his eyes. It'd be hours before they'd reach Alaska and it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold his worries at bay. By now he was almost sure that Major Charles must have seen through Raines's plan. He'd probably not even show up in Claremont, because that'd mean to endanger not only his own life but also, more importantly, the clone's freedom.
In addition to his concern for his father's safety, Jarod was rather worried about Miss Parker. When he'd last seen her at Ben's, he'd noticed how exhausted she was, both in the physical and the emotional sense. In her current condition, she was no match for Raines.
Jarod opened his eyes and rose. He went past his sleeping neighbor and headed for the cockpit to ask the pilot about the Alaskan weather forecast and their presumed arrival time. Granted, it wasn't much, but anything was better than doing nothing.
~~~
Claremont, Alaska
03:27 p.m.
The sun was high and bright in the sky, turning the snowy landscape into a sea of gold and crystal. Miss Parker was standing in front of the town's station, scanning the area. The beauty of her surroundings didn't register with her; she had other things on her mind, mainly the question how she'd get to the harbor without wasting any more precious time.
She reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out her cell phone. Grimacing at the cold, she pulled off one of her gloves and hit speed dial. Like all the other times before, there was no connection. With her frustration going up a notch, she put her phone back into the pocket. Time for Plan B.
Miss Parker produced a creased slip of paper and a photograph from the other pocket. The picture was a recent one of Major Charles; the only chance of finding him here before he walked into Raines's trap.
The paper contained a set of emergency instructions from Broots for the eventuality of Miss Parker not being able to reach him and Sydney at the Centre. Silently thanking the technician for his foresight, Miss Parker memorized the address on the note and put it back in her jacket. The she crossed the street, heading for one of the cabs waiting on the other side of the street.
"To the harbor, as fast as you can," she told the driver as she got in in the back. She felt utterly exhausted, mostly due to the fact that she had spent the last night and the better part of this morning on a train - the last one that had left Devil's Ridge for Claremont. The trip had lasted over 20 hours, because the rails had been blocked by snow slides in several spots. They'd paused more times than Miss Parker cared to remember, and the heightened activity in and around the train had made it impossible to get any sleep. But even without the noise, her feeling of anxiety would have kept her up.
"This your first visit to Claremont, miss?" the driver asked politely, eying her in the mirror. Miss Parker blinked. The last thing she wanted right now was a complete stranger trying to make conversation with her.
"The first", she said glumly, "and definitely the last."
And that was that. The driver shrugged and shifted his attention back to the street. Miss Parker tried to get comfortable in her seat, desperate to relax her sore muscles. When they reached the docks a few minutes later, a blur of color caught her eye and she straightened abruptly, ruining what little success her earlier attempts at relaxation had achieved.
"Stop the car!"
"What, here?"
"Stop. The. Car," Miss Parker repeated angrily, and the driver complied with her wish, throwing her an odd glance.
"We haven't reached--"
"Never mind. Here, keep the change."
She handed him a twenty dollar bill and got out of the cab. Then she walked a few yards in the direction they'd come from and froze. So she'd seen right. Parked on the other side of the street, only a few yards away from her, was an oddly familiar looking, dark car. Paranoia did pay, whenever the Centre was concerned.
Had the circumstances been different, Miss Parker might have taken a different view on her reaction. Now she thanked her intuition, grateful that it hardly ever failed her. She got as close to the car as she dared, close enough to get a glimpse of the license plate. A Centre car, all right. But why was it here?
All of a sudden, one of its doors swung open, and Miss Parker hurried behind a parked car. Whoever it was that Raines had trusted with this 'job', she didn't want them to spot her. She watched as someone got out of the car and felt a sharp pang of frustration shoot through her as she recognized the man. Lyle.
Of course. Fitting, that he should be the one to supervise the assassination of Major Charles. She frowned as a wave of disappointment washed over her. Did that mean that her father was involved in this?
Miss Parker shook her head to get rid of this thought. Her top priority was finding the major. Careful, so as not to be spotted by her brother, she left her cover and walked in the opposite direction.
It only took her a few minutes to find the street that, according to Broots's instructions, would lead her to the warehouse where Raines had set up his trap. The road led away from the docks and ended at a low, long-stretched building that stood lonely in a large field.
On her way to the warehouse Miss Parker stopped several people and showed them the picture. Much to her relief, none of them had seen Jarod's father. If he hadn't arrived here yet, then all she'd have to do was to intercept him before he could walk into the ambush.
She bridged the last few yards between her and the decaying building with a growing feeling of reluctance. Something wasn't right, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The sound of the snow crunching under her feet seemed unnaturally loud to her; the air seemed to get colder with every second that passed. Miss Parker became slower with every step she took until she eventually came to a stop a few steps away from the building. She just knew that something was very wrong here, but what was it?
And all of a sudden she knew, never wondering how or why. It was right before her inner eye - a vision of the major's death, vivid and fiery and highly disturbing. Miss Parker spun around and started to run. She ran faster than ever before in her life, trying to ignore the icy air that seemed to cut into her lungs and steal her much needed breath. She kept running even though she knew she'd never make it in time.
When the building exploded behind her, seconds stretched into little eternities that nevertheless weren't long enough to allow Miss Parker to escape. At first, she saw the reddish glow coming from behind her, overtaking her, spilling over the snowy field like ghostly blood. Then she felt the heat like a solid wall behind her, replacing the icy cold. A heartbeat later she heard the earsplitting sound of the explosion as the structure behind her burst apart. Soon afterwards, molten metal rained down on the snow-covered field, accompanied by hissing sounds and wisps of smoke.
Eventually, the shock wave of the explosion reached her. Miss Parker felt as if she were gripped by a gigantic fist that thrust her into the air, pressed the air out of her lungs and then dropped her back on the ground. Heat engulfed her, and the landscape became blurry. Her face sank deep into the pleasantly cold snow, which provided relief from the heat and the shock of the impact. She just lay like this for a while, only raising her head when she was out of air.
A dark speck was moving towards her, getting closer fast. In a daze, she squinted at it but despite her effort it remained a blurry shadow.
"Miss Parker!"
It was Jarod's voice. But there was no way he could be here! She tried to force herself upright. Searing pain flashed through her body, making her sink back to the ground and moan.
"Parker, you've got to get up!" Jarod shouted above the roaring of the flames. Miss Parker tried, and failed, to wrap her mind around his words. Reflex took over, and despite the pain her body moved into a sitting position. Sensing that this was not enough, she struggled to get up and finally got to her feet. She was breathing hard and her legs were pretty wobbly, but at least her eyesight had returned to normal, allowing her to see that Jarod had almost reached her. There was fear contorting his features. Still feeling confused, she stood and stared at him. The expression on his face changed and was much closer to panic now--
The second shock wave hit her completely by surprise. Pain exploded in her head and shoulder. She heard nothing but the pounding of her blood in her ears. The world around her became a blinding whiteness.
"PARKER!"
Jarod's yell pierced through the pounding in her ears as she slowly sank forwards. A soft impact broke her fall, and then she felt Jarod's arms around her uncooperative body, gently supporting her weight.
"Parker."
His voice was wavering with emotion, but she was so tired she couldn't tell which emotion. Perhaps he was annoyed that she hadn't reacted fast enough. Even as she pondered that, she felt him lowering her to the ground, his arms still tightly around her.
"Talk to me, Parker." There, the waver was gone. Now his voice sounded... taut. "Please, talk to me."
Miss Parker opened her mouth, but no sound came past her lips. She didn't even find the strength to open her eyes and look at him, even though she really wanted to see his face and the expression on it.
The pain she'd felt earlier slowly faded, leaving her so numb that all she felt were Jarod's arms enfolding her. He drew her close and held her, whispering words of encouragement. 'Fool', Miss Parker wanted to say. She wasn't going to leave! She wasn't dying. Was she? She tried to hold on to his voice, even as the brightness inside her head slowly turned into darkness. The last thing she felt before she slipped into unconsciousness was Jarod's lips on her brow.
Feedback: Absolutely.
Thanks to Mel for editing this.
Precious Moments
Part V
By Miss Bit
Ostvadt
Greenland
02:31 a.m.
Jarod tossed and turned in his bed. The wind was howling outside his house, reminding him of the unrelenting storm that had effectively trapped him here.
He had been lying awake for hours on end, thinking, brooding. His every instinct was screaming at him that something was wrong, and his imagination came up with ever new reasons to feed his worries.
Sighing, Jarod turned over, and stared at the display of his alarm clock. In the faint light of the illuminated digits he could see his cell phone lying on the side table. It was utterly useless; there was no one he could reach with it now.
After a long minute, during which he stared at the clock with unseeing eyes, he admitted to himself that the person he would have called wasn't Sydney. And no matter how much he wanted to know what was going on at the Centre, it also wasn't Angelo. Jarod turned again, abruptly, trying not to think of the person he wanted to call so badly in the middle of the night.
~~~
Miss Parker's house
431 Mountain Spring Road
Blue Cove, Delaware
05:17 a.m.
A repeated ringing dragged Miss Parker mercilessly from the pleasant depths of sleep. She blinked in confusion and then recognized the source of the intruding noise. Squinting at her alarm clock, she reached for her phone.
"What?" she asked, not quite as sharply as intended.
"Miss Parker, this is Sydney. Broots found a promising lead on Major Charles. You'd better return here as soon as possible."
"On my way," she said, stifling a yawn. She hung up and let her head sink back on the pillow. This was exactly the news she'd been waiting for. So why was she feeling so disappointed?
Miss Parker closed her eyes as she admitted the answer to herself. She'd expected Jarod to be the nightly caller. He'd used to call her in the early morning hours, driving her to distraction, basking in her wrath. Were those times over now that he'd offered her his friendship?
Oh, great. Now she was starting to miss his calls. Sighing, she got up, determined not to think about Jarod for the rest of this wretched day.
~~~
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
05:37 a.m.
"So, what gives?"
Miss Parker didn't waste any time on pleasantries when she entered the tech room. Broots merely flashed her a look, but Sydney rose to meet her.
"Did you sleep well?" he asked.
His face was creased with worry lines as he scrutinized her, and she bit back a sharp retort, giving him a brief nod instead. Then she brushed past him, moving to stand behind Broots.
"What did you find out?"
The technician straightened on his chair and tried to relax his sore muscles by rotating his shoulders. The movement made him wince and he stopped, a somewhat defeated expression on his face. If he had looked exhausted the night before, 'near dead' was the only fitting description for him now.
"Sydney and I worked through the file you gave us. We wondered exactly how Raines planned to lure Major Charles into that trap of his."
Miss Parker raised her brows in a silent question, but said nothing. She noticed that Broots's feet were tapping the ground incessantly. The man had obviously consumed so much coffee that he could no longer keep his feet still - literally.
"Jarod's mother," Broots said triumphantly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Raines will make it look like she was captured by the Centre."
"All right, so now we know how Raines plans to get a hold of Major Charles. That leaves the question of *where* all this is going to take place."
"Alaska," Sydney suddenly said right next to her. She managed not to jump at the sound of his voice, unlike Broots who very nearly lost his balance. Miss Parker frowned at the technician's jumpiness; then the meaning of Sydney's information sank in.
"Alaska," she repeated in a deadpan voice.
"Claremont, Alaska," Sydney specified.
"Great. That means 15 below, on a good day. How come Raines seems to be drawn to icy deserts? What's wrong with, say, Hawaii?"
Sydney threw her a reproachful look, which she returned without so much as batting an eye.
"Just give me the details, I'll go alone. There's no need for the two of you to be deep frozen, too. You'll stay here and watch my back. The last thing I'll need up there is for Raines or Lyle to interfere with our 'rescue'." Miss Parker stared gloomily ahead. "And, Broots?"
"Yes?" the technician asked, wincing again.
"As soon as I left - get some rest. You look horrible, more so than usual. You're going to be my backup, my insurance, and you're going to be well-rested and fully alert, that clear?"
"Crystal, Miss Parker."
Broots didn't even try to protest. Out of the corner of her eye, Miss Parker saw Sydney trying to suppress a knowing smile, and failing horribly at it.
"There's no time to waste, so you'd better tell me everything you know," Miss Parker said. Broots opened his mouth to say something, but before he even got the chance to get the first word on the way, Miss Parker added darkly: "And I was just referring to our dear Major's impending accident."
~~~
Ostvadt
Greenland
01:17 p.m.
The howling of the wind had finally subsided. The storm had passed, and all it had left behind was a slight drizzle of snow.
Jarod was sitting on the couch in his living room, staring at the screen of his laptop. He simply didn't believe his eyes. A quarter of an hour ago, he'd finally managed to get Angelo's file off the Internet, and he'd watched the incredible scene four or five times already.
His eyes still fixed on the now dark screen, Jarod leaned back. He was horrified. A mixture of worry about his father and anger at Raines washed through him, paralyzing him.
How dare Raines?
Jarod got up and started pacing the room. He had to warn his father, but how?
A few seconds passed, filled only with furious pacing, then Jarod returned to his computer. Apart from the video file, Angelo had also sent him a text file and a short email.
He skimmed through the text file first. Apparently, it was a synopsis of one of the two files Raines had wished to get rid of; the one about his father. Jarod briefly wondered if Angelo also had a copy of the other file, but a mere few moments later his full attention was back on his father.
He opened Angelo's mail and held his breath as he read the few words.
'Friend's father in danger. Daughter helps.
- CJ'
The pretender shook his head in disbelief. Why on earth should Miss Parker choose helping his father over finding Tommy's killer? This was the chance she'd been waiting for. The answer to his question hit him with the force of a jackhammer. Angelo must have asked for her help when he couldn't reach him, Jarod. She was the only other person he could think of who'd care enough about Major Charles to try and help him.
Jarod was suddenly filled with foreboding. His father no longer was the only one he worried about.
He left the room in a hurry to get packed. Crossing the hallway, he took out his cell phone and hit speed dial. Still no connection. Damn. Jarod stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the phone in his hand. If she was already on her way to warn his father, there was a good chance that he couldn't reach her for that reason. Nodding once to himself, he hit another button, waited for a few seconds and sighed with relief when he heard a familiar voice at the other end of the line.
"Sydney speaking."
"Sydney, where's Miss Parker? I need to talk to her, now."
"Jarod?"
The surprise in the older man's voice was evident, and Jarod briefly closed his eyes when he thought of the pain he must have caused his mentor before he'd escaped. Well, his apology would have to wait.
"Yeah, Syd, it's me. Where is she?"
"On her way to Alaska. Jarod, we learned that Raines plans to lure your father--"
"Damn! You've got to call her back, her life may very well depend on it."
"You know about the trap?" Again, Sydney sounded surprised, even more so than before.
"I watched the vid," Jarod explained impatiently. "You must tell her to return to the Centre immediately."
There was a pause as Sydney hesitated.
"Why? She's trying to warn your father."
"Call it a hunch. My father's been hiding from the Centre for years. He knows Raines's ways. There's every chance he saw through whatever Raines prepared for him, and I don't think he'll show up in Alaska at all."
"What makes you so sure?"
"I'm not sure. All I'm sure of is that I don't want Miss Parker to risk her life over this. It's an extremely dangerous situation. Raines wants the boy back, and he wants my father dead. So whatever he came up with, it'll be a serious threat to everyone involved. With all she's been through lately, I'm afraid Miss Parker won't be able to handle it all on her own."
A sharp intake of breath was Sydney's audible reaction to Jarod's words.
"We can't reach her, Jarod. She took the jet, and when I last talked to her a few hours ago, the connection was severed all of a sudden. They must have got in bad weather and according to the forecast they might be stuck in it for quite a while."
"I'd better get on my way, then. Perhaps I'll be in time to prevent the worst. I'll be in touch."
Jarod severed the connection and started to pack what little he'd brought with him, hoping that he wouldn't be too late.
~~~
Devil's Ridge
Alaska
05:45 p.m.
Miss Parker stamped her feet, shifting her weight from one icy leg to the other. The cold was biting, and despite the fur lined hood that covered large parts of her face there was hardly any feeling left in her nose and ears.
Her patience was wearing thin as she pounded at the door in front of her for the third of fourth time. All around her, the ever present snowflakes were sailing through the air in ever denser clouds. Wonderful. She looked up at the sky, frowning at the massive gray clouds that seemed to speak of only one thing: more snow.
"Open the door already, will you!" Miss Parker shouted at the top of her voice, her fist pummeling the wood so heavily that it was painful even through the thick glove. "Goddamn cold," she muttered. Her teeth started to chatter. She looked down at her feet, just to make sure they were still there. "When I'm back at the Centre, I'll see to it that Raines spends the rest of his life in a nice cold fridge, freezing off his sorry a--"
"'Scuse me, there something I can do for you, lady?"
Taken by surprise, she raised her eyes. Then, she raised them some more to frown at the stranger's face. He'd only opened the door ever so slightly so that all she saw of him was one sleepy looking eye somewhere above the crown of her head and a narrow strip of his flannel-clad body.
"There'd better, or someone's going to be very sorry. I need a rental, preferably yesterday, but right now will do just as fine."
Seconds ticked by. The eye kept staring at her, then the door opened a little wider, revealing the rest of the man's bearded face and an even broader strip of his massive body. There was amused disbelief all over his face as he looked past her and at the thick, white dots whirling through the air. When he looked back at her, she saw the corners of his mouth twitch just before he started to laugh. It was a good-natured laugh, but Miss Parker was in no mood to tolerate it. Her features darkened threateningly.
"And what's so damn funny about that?" she asked, barely restraining herself. The cold was beginning to creep through the various layers of her thermal clothing and she hardly managed to suppress a violent shiver.
It was only then that the man seemed to realize that she was serious.
"You've got to be kidding me, lady," he said, giving his head a little shake. "Look at this weather, will ya? Can't give you a car in this kind of weather. It'd freeze. You'd freeze. Whoever told you to come here, asking for a rental?"
"Guy at the airport," she said between chattering teeth. "Large head, small brain. Now, listen. I'm stuck here. The jet's not an option, or else I'd be out of here in a flash. What I need is a car that'll take me to Claremont, snow or no snow."
"Claremont?" Sleepy eyes whistled through his teeth. "That's 200 miles from here, you know that?"
Miss Parker's restraint was shy of collapsing.
"Yes", she hissed, "I know. But that's my business. Yours, I was told, is renting cars. Why don't you just do your damn job and give me--"
"Sorry, lady. Couldn't possibly rent a car to you in this kind of weather. You'd better head back to the airport before the weather gets any worse." And with that, he closed the door in her face. She stared at the dark wood for a few seconds, then she raised her fist, stopped in mid motion and let her hand sink back to her side. There really was no point.
"Bastard," she muttered, not really angry with him. A surge of hopelessness washed through her. What if she didn't reach Claremont in time? What if Major Charles died while she was stuck in a godforsaken town in the middle of nowhere? How could she ever face Jarod again? Miss Parker threw back her head and stared at the gray sky. Ever so slowly, her determination returned.
"I won't give up yet," she whispered, still staring skywards. "I won't be beaten, not by a few damn snowflakes."
Her words seemed utterly unimportant in comparison to the threat of the cloud laden sky, but it was with fresh resolve that Miss Parker turned and walked back to the nearby airport.
~~~
Somewhere over the Atlantic
10:43 p.m.
It was almost completely dark aboard the small airplane heading for Alaska. Most of the passengers were asleep; only two or three of them were reading in the faint light from their overhead lights.
Jarod was staring out of the window, his gaze drawn to the only bright spot out there. The moon seemed close enough for him to reach out a hand and touch it; its silvery light was reflected in the endless plains of water below. Wisps of cloud were drifting over the sky, telling of a change in the weather.
After a long while of staring Jarod closed his eyes. It'd be hours before they'd reach Alaska and it was becoming increasingly difficult to hold his worries at bay. By now he was almost sure that Major Charles must have seen through Raines's plan. He'd probably not even show up in Claremont, because that'd mean to endanger not only his own life but also, more importantly, the clone's freedom.
In addition to his concern for his father's safety, Jarod was rather worried about Miss Parker. When he'd last seen her at Ben's, he'd noticed how exhausted she was, both in the physical and the emotional sense. In her current condition, she was no match for Raines.
Jarod opened his eyes and rose. He went past his sleeping neighbor and headed for the cockpit to ask the pilot about the Alaskan weather forecast and their presumed arrival time. Granted, it wasn't much, but anything was better than doing nothing.
~~~
Claremont, Alaska
03:27 p.m.
The sun was high and bright in the sky, turning the snowy landscape into a sea of gold and crystal. Miss Parker was standing in front of the town's station, scanning the area. The beauty of her surroundings didn't register with her; she had other things on her mind, mainly the question how she'd get to the harbor without wasting any more precious time.
She reached into the pocket of her jacket and pulled out her cell phone. Grimacing at the cold, she pulled off one of her gloves and hit speed dial. Like all the other times before, there was no connection. With her frustration going up a notch, she put her phone back into the pocket. Time for Plan B.
Miss Parker produced a creased slip of paper and a photograph from the other pocket. The picture was a recent one of Major Charles; the only chance of finding him here before he walked into Raines's trap.
The paper contained a set of emergency instructions from Broots for the eventuality of Miss Parker not being able to reach him and Sydney at the Centre. Silently thanking the technician for his foresight, Miss Parker memorized the address on the note and put it back in her jacket. The she crossed the street, heading for one of the cabs waiting on the other side of the street.
"To the harbor, as fast as you can," she told the driver as she got in in the back. She felt utterly exhausted, mostly due to the fact that she had spent the last night and the better part of this morning on a train - the last one that had left Devil's Ridge for Claremont. The trip had lasted over 20 hours, because the rails had been blocked by snow slides in several spots. They'd paused more times than Miss Parker cared to remember, and the heightened activity in and around the train had made it impossible to get any sleep. But even without the noise, her feeling of anxiety would have kept her up.
"This your first visit to Claremont, miss?" the driver asked politely, eying her in the mirror. Miss Parker blinked. The last thing she wanted right now was a complete stranger trying to make conversation with her.
"The first", she said glumly, "and definitely the last."
And that was that. The driver shrugged and shifted his attention back to the street. Miss Parker tried to get comfortable in her seat, desperate to relax her sore muscles. When they reached the docks a few minutes later, a blur of color caught her eye and she straightened abruptly, ruining what little success her earlier attempts at relaxation had achieved.
"Stop the car!"
"What, here?"
"Stop. The. Car," Miss Parker repeated angrily, and the driver complied with her wish, throwing her an odd glance.
"We haven't reached--"
"Never mind. Here, keep the change."
She handed him a twenty dollar bill and got out of the cab. Then she walked a few yards in the direction they'd come from and froze. So she'd seen right. Parked on the other side of the street, only a few yards away from her, was an oddly familiar looking, dark car. Paranoia did pay, whenever the Centre was concerned.
Had the circumstances been different, Miss Parker might have taken a different view on her reaction. Now she thanked her intuition, grateful that it hardly ever failed her. She got as close to the car as she dared, close enough to get a glimpse of the license plate. A Centre car, all right. But why was it here?
All of a sudden, one of its doors swung open, and Miss Parker hurried behind a parked car. Whoever it was that Raines had trusted with this 'job', she didn't want them to spot her. She watched as someone got out of the car and felt a sharp pang of frustration shoot through her as she recognized the man. Lyle.
Of course. Fitting, that he should be the one to supervise the assassination of Major Charles. She frowned as a wave of disappointment washed over her. Did that mean that her father was involved in this?
Miss Parker shook her head to get rid of this thought. Her top priority was finding the major. Careful, so as not to be spotted by her brother, she left her cover and walked in the opposite direction.
It only took her a few minutes to find the street that, according to Broots's instructions, would lead her to the warehouse where Raines had set up his trap. The road led away from the docks and ended at a low, long-stretched building that stood lonely in a large field.
On her way to the warehouse Miss Parker stopped several people and showed them the picture. Much to her relief, none of them had seen Jarod's father. If he hadn't arrived here yet, then all she'd have to do was to intercept him before he could walk into the ambush.
She bridged the last few yards between her and the decaying building with a growing feeling of reluctance. Something wasn't right, but she couldn't put her finger on it. The sound of the snow crunching under her feet seemed unnaturally loud to her; the air seemed to get colder with every second that passed. Miss Parker became slower with every step she took until she eventually came to a stop a few steps away from the building. She just knew that something was very wrong here, but what was it?
And all of a sudden she knew, never wondering how or why. It was right before her inner eye - a vision of the major's death, vivid and fiery and highly disturbing. Miss Parker spun around and started to run. She ran faster than ever before in her life, trying to ignore the icy air that seemed to cut into her lungs and steal her much needed breath. She kept running even though she knew she'd never make it in time.
When the building exploded behind her, seconds stretched into little eternities that nevertheless weren't long enough to allow Miss Parker to escape. At first, she saw the reddish glow coming from behind her, overtaking her, spilling over the snowy field like ghostly blood. Then she felt the heat like a solid wall behind her, replacing the icy cold. A heartbeat later she heard the earsplitting sound of the explosion as the structure behind her burst apart. Soon afterwards, molten metal rained down on the snow-covered field, accompanied by hissing sounds and wisps of smoke.
Eventually, the shock wave of the explosion reached her. Miss Parker felt as if she were gripped by a gigantic fist that thrust her into the air, pressed the air out of her lungs and then dropped her back on the ground. Heat engulfed her, and the landscape became blurry. Her face sank deep into the pleasantly cold snow, which provided relief from the heat and the shock of the impact. She just lay like this for a while, only raising her head when she was out of air.
A dark speck was moving towards her, getting closer fast. In a daze, she squinted at it but despite her effort it remained a blurry shadow.
"Miss Parker!"
It was Jarod's voice. But there was no way he could be here! She tried to force herself upright. Searing pain flashed through her body, making her sink back to the ground and moan.
"Parker, you've got to get up!" Jarod shouted above the roaring of the flames. Miss Parker tried, and failed, to wrap her mind around his words. Reflex took over, and despite the pain her body moved into a sitting position. Sensing that this was not enough, she struggled to get up and finally got to her feet. She was breathing hard and her legs were pretty wobbly, but at least her eyesight had returned to normal, allowing her to see that Jarod had almost reached her. There was fear contorting his features. Still feeling confused, she stood and stared at him. The expression on his face changed and was much closer to panic now--
The second shock wave hit her completely by surprise. Pain exploded in her head and shoulder. She heard nothing but the pounding of her blood in her ears. The world around her became a blinding whiteness.
"PARKER!"
Jarod's yell pierced through the pounding in her ears as she slowly sank forwards. A soft impact broke her fall, and then she felt Jarod's arms around her uncooperative body, gently supporting her weight.
"Parker."
His voice was wavering with emotion, but she was so tired she couldn't tell which emotion. Perhaps he was annoyed that she hadn't reacted fast enough. Even as she pondered that, she felt him lowering her to the ground, his arms still tightly around her.
"Talk to me, Parker." There, the waver was gone. Now his voice sounded... taut. "Please, talk to me."
Miss Parker opened her mouth, but no sound came past her lips. She didn't even find the strength to open her eyes and look at him, even though she really wanted to see his face and the expression on it.
The pain she'd felt earlier slowly faded, leaving her so numb that all she felt were Jarod's arms enfolding her. He drew her close and held her, whispering words of encouragement. 'Fool', Miss Parker wanted to say. She wasn't going to leave! She wasn't dying. Was she? She tried to hold on to his voice, even as the brightness inside her head slowly turned into darkness. The last thing she felt before she slipped into unconsciousness was Jarod's lips on her brow.
