Jarod groaned as he came back to reality. The intense pounding in his head was debilitating. He had seen what the deadly virus had done to Amanda and he knew he didn’t have much time left. He had been so close to developing a cure for the engineered virus when he had fallen ill. He may no longer be able to save himself, but he could still save Parker.

But he couldn’t do it locked in a cell.

Jarod shot up from the small cot he was curled up on, as he became aware the electronic lock was disengaging. He groaned as an intense wave of nausea overcame him. Panicked he backed into the corner, acutely aware that even the smallest of touch could be a death sentence for whomever entered his room.

“Sydney.” Jarod croaked, coughing violently, immensely relieved to see his mentor. His face tensing slightly as Lyle followed in behind the psychiatrist, but stopping at the edge of the doorframe, clearly not pleased to be here. They knew.

“Don’t touch me.” Jarod commanded, surprised at the strength he was able to project in his voice as he shrank further back into the corner.

“Jarod, Miss Parker has fallen ill, as have every member of the sweeper team who escorted you back here. We need to know what we are dealing with.” Sydney asked authoritatively approaching the pretender with caution.

“AJO Pharmaceuticals, Engineered viruses.” Jarod whispered hoarsely, aware his garbled sentence sounded more like something that would come out of Angelo’s mouth, not his. Unable to remain standing any longer, he sank down into the corner, hugging his knees as he began to tremor violently.

Lyle scoffed. “We’ve all read the infamous red notebook; tell us something we don’t know genius.”

Sydney shot his head around. “Lyle.” He warned.

Jarod struggled to remain conscious, Miss Parker’s life depended on him. He had to fight for her. “It’s terminal.” He croaked, allowing his head to fall into his knees. He clenched his fist, fighting the black void that was trying to swallow him back into unconsciousness.

Sydney bent down in front of him, concern evident in his eyes. “How is it transmitted? Is it airborne Jarod?”

“Touch.” Jarod stated with great effort, he was loosing the battle, noticing how Sydney backed up slightly.

“What can be done?” Sydney asked fearfully.

Jarod took several laborious breaths. He knew it wouldn’t be long before he would need to be placed on a respirator. Time was so precious.

“I had just deciphered the genetic code of the artificially engineered virus and had begun working on the necessary immune response when Miss Parker caught me.” He managed to state.

“Where is it Jarod?” Sydney pressed.

“Paper.” Jarod demanded, squeezing his eyes shut tightly as another wave of intense nausea hit him.

Sydney quickly reached into his suit and grabbed a small notepad, carefully dropping it on the floor in front of the pretender.

Aware his limbs were shaking badly, Jarod slowly picked the pad off the floor, struggling to bring it to his knees. He scribbled a few directions he knew Broots would be able to decipher, giving the tech the tools he needed to hack into Jarod’s workstation at AJO.

“Broots.” He stated, knowing Sydney would understand, his eyes again closing as his head wobbled from side to side. Jarod knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

“Jarod, stay with me.” Sydney pleaded desperately. “Tell me what we need to do.”

“T-cells.” Jarod managed to spit out before erupting into another coughing fit. He could feel the fluid building up in his lungs, knowing Sydney would understand. The human body fought off viruses using a combination of B-cells and T-cells. B-cells produced the necessary antibodies, while the T-cells served to both activate the B-cells, but also they also attack and destroy any diseased cells they came across. The engineered virus that had been created by the pharmaceutical company was so deadly because the body simply could not recognize the diseased cells, and hence the necessary process of producing disease-fighting antibodies was not initiated. Jarod knew if he could just engineer T-cells with the capability of recognize the foreign virus, the human body would take care of the rest.

“Jarod?” Sydney called out, his voice becoming more and more distant.

Jarod tried desperately to open his eyes, but his eye lids felt like leaded weights. He began to panic as he realized he was beginning to slip away.

“No…” He whispered. He had to save Miss Parker.

“Jarod?” Sydney called out frantically. “Don’t leave me dammit, you can fight this Jarod. Fight it with everything you have. I promise, I won’t rest until we have this figured out.”

Jarod shook his head, his breathing becoming more erratic.

“I’m sorry.” Aware his voice was virtually inaudible.

“You have nothing to be sorry about Jarod.” Sydney stated, tenderness in his tone. “You’ve given us everything we need to make this better. Fight it Jarod. Don’t give up.”

There was so much to say, so much to do, but Jarod realized for once in his life he would not be the one to save the day.

As the dark void got closer and closer, Jarod focused his thoughts on Miss Parker. It couldn’t end like this, him locked up back in the Centre and his huntress slowly dying from one of his mistakes.

He could hear Sydney calling out desperately, trying to pull him back to reality. Jarod wanted nothing more than to return, but his body felt like it was encased in cement. With one last frantic effort he tried to force his eyes to open but fell short with a large sigh, his panic hitting a new high. Never had he felt so trapped, so helpless.

As the blackness swallowed him completely, Jarod could feel his breathing returning to normal, his migraine fading away. He was hardly aware as his body fell the remaining distance to the floor, Sydney’s cries were barely audible.

His fight was over.