Chapter Five

Chicago, Illinois

Unlike Miss Parker, Jarod didn't have the patience to drive his way across the country. Once upon a time, he had done so, he had enjoyed seeing the sights and meeting strangers. There was a certain urgency to Ben's lack of response, an instinct that was telling Jarod to waste no time in reaching the older man's residence.

Since Ethan's mumbled words to Jarod's mother had directed him to Catherine Parker's old lover, he could only assume that Ben was somehow involved. Since Miss Parker wasn't intending on willingly including Jarod in her plan, then ... he would force his way into her plan.

Whatever those plans may be.

Driving back to Las Vegas was a hassle, but it was also the closest big airport with enough flights leaving often enough that it wouldn't be too big a problem getting a flight to Maine. It took little resources to create a new identity for Jarod to use while booking himself a seat on a plane and the only hitch in his plan was the lack of a direct flight.

His layover in Chicago, though, did give him plenty of time to think. Mostly about the assumptions Parker was making about his emotions concerning his family, sore points of insight that were only just slightly off the mark.

It wasn't that he felt his family was a burden, or that he didn't appreciate the joy it was to have them in his life. He just... wasn't used to them. He'd grown up family-less, with only Centre employees to buoy his emotional needs. To have people whose ties to him were so close, blood-close, was... discomforting for him. The holidays, the birthdays, the special events, he could deal with; these were the things he'd dreamt about in his every spare moment as a child, and every waking moment as an escaped adult.

It was the everyday comfort that continued to elude him. The waking up to breakfast his mother had made, pancakes on Mondays, bacon and eggs on Fridays. It was someone mending the tears in his clothing without being asked or expecting to be thanked. It was someone buying his favorite brand of soap and leaving it in his bathroom, disposing of the near empty one without a word. It'd taken him nearly two weeks to realize that his mother had done that.

His mother, how he loved her, how he loved his entire family...

It was all just another pretend.

He couldn't be the normal brother, the normal son, they so desperately wanted him to be. He'd tried and found it didn't fit. Due to the nature of his upbringing, he would never be normal. He was fascinated by things commonplace to them, tended to obsess about the small details of childhood he'd missed. When he became fascinated by inane things to the point of exclusion of all other things, it hurt his parents. They didn't realize that he could be no other way.

The great Pretender, the man who could be anything and anyone, had finally found a situation that he couldn't adapt to.

Maybe that was why he'd started searching for Miss Parker.

She was, after all, the only person he'd never had to pretend with, that he could be himself with completely. Jarod had never realized that before recently. He hadn't been anyone but Jarod with her. Quirky, genius Jarod with serpentine moods that reared their heads at any time. Parker knew the light Jarod that delighted in Pez and children's cartoons, and Parker knew the dark Jarod that had a sense of justice a mile wide and the sense of humor to carry it out in unexpectedly appropriate ways.

After months of being 'Jarod the good son', he'd longed to be 'Parker's prey Jarod' again.

In a way, it meant that Miss Parker had been right when she'd said that he had finally learned the true meaning of family. Family was something intangible, something tied to your emotions deep inside you. You couldn't see it, couldn't touch it, but it had more control over you than anything else in the world.

"Flight 220 to Portland, Maine, is now loading first class passengers. Please have your ticket ready as you arrive at the gate. Have a nice flight."

Jarod pasted a broad smile on his face and slid the large sunglasses off his face, his eyes glinting as he strode up to the attractive stewardess near the gates. "Any chance I could get an extra bag of peanuts?"

She stuttered her way through a reply as her eyes became the size of plates and her cheeks flushed. "Y-y-y-yeah."

Jarod rarely realized the effect he had on women.

Denver, Colorado

"What do you mean you don't eat steak?" Parker asked incredulously as she pushed the door open. Inside a sumptuously decorated room with several vases of fresh flowers and a complimentary gift basket beckoned to her with irresistible luxury.

Ethan smiled as he set her suitcase just inside the door. "We have eaten a total of six meals together, Parker. I guess you didn't notice I never ate meat?"

Parker mock-sneered at him, her eyes shining with mirth. "That's just perfect. I've got one brother who's a cannibal and one who's a vegan. Guess that makes me the normal one."

Ethan snickered and moved to help her as she removed her lengthy overcoat. It was only fifty degrees outside, but Parker always got cold easily. Ethan knew without asking that it was because of the medication she took for her ulcer, it thinned her blood and made her more susceptible to temperature changes.

Her skin was like ice under his fingers as he set her coat aside and hugged her from behind. She allowed the demonstration of affection, and knew that it was mostly to comfort himself and not her. Ethan was too soft-hearted for her life, for her hard edges that she used with blunt force to continue on.

The fact that he was willing to follow her, rough edges and all, as she pursued her plans was more touching to her than he'd ever know.

Parker patted his hand absently and moved further into her rooms, her hands itching from the urge to go to the liquor cabinet and pour herself a scotch. Instead, she clenched them at her sides and moved to the large expanse of windows that covered an entire wall of the suite. "No matter what city I'm in, or how much it costs, I always have to have a room with a view."

Ethan didn't know where the sudden statement came from, and confusion wrinkled his brow. "Why?"

"I like looking," Parker replied simply. "Cities all look the same at night. While I was... traveling... I drove all day. The scenery was just a blur. By the time I stopped to get some sleep, it was always late at night, so all I could see from the windows was darkness. Darkness interrupted only by the distant sparkling lights of people's homes. For months, that was the only reason I stopped. In each city, just to see the lights."

Ethan still didn't quite understand what she was trying to say, but it was clear it was important to her. He moved across the distance between them slowly, his shoes scuffling on the thick carpet not quite silently. He asked softly, "What's so important about the lights?"

Parker smiled and pressed her chilled fingers against the colder glass of the window. "Do you know what I saw every time I looked out the window of my office at the Centre? Darkness. Unending darkness. The same from my bedroom at home. Everything about the Centre was always so isolated, placed far out of reach of the common man. Being here, seeing these lights..." Her voice trailed off, but she didn't need to finish her statement.

Ethan smiled and took her hand as they stood together and looked into the night. "...makes you feel less alone."

Parker nodded slowly. "Yes. Exactly."

Before Parker was even fully awake the next morning, she found the hotel phone in her hand and an order for coffee on its way up. She'd never been able to truly function without at least one cup of coffee in her body, and it was an indulgence she hadn't been able to break her ulcer-suffering self from.

Listening carefully for the room service to arrive, Parker slid from the large bed and reached for the silk robe she'd thrown over the nearby desk chair. Ethan was in the room next door, but she had no idea if he was a light or heavy sleeper.

Her plans today were meant for her and her alone, and as much as she appreciated her brother's presence, he was not going to accompany her.

Parker would like to say that choosing Denver as their first point of travel was sentimental in nature, though it was nice to see Sam again, there was another more important reason she chose Denver. There was an old enemy here who'd known more about the new force rising out of the ashes of the Centre than anyone else.

Even locked up, he'd have his fingers, the ones he had left anyways, in a lot of pies.

Less than thirty minutes after her coffee arrived, Parker slid a note under Ethan's door explaining that she'd be back in a few hours and forced herself to walk slowly and calmly to the elevator. She had a cab waiting to take her where she needed to go, prearranged and paid for that would wait for her until she was done visiting. She wouldn't be taking her car because the facility was under surveillance, both by the United States government and other more nefarious organizations. Even though she changed the plate numbers every time she crossed a Stateline, to willingly give up any information was against her nature.

Hopefully when she returned she'd have more information than when she left.

It'd taken her coffee longer to arrive at her room than the cab ride to the holding facility, though of course, getting past security took easily double the time of both. The fact that she was one of few on the approved list made the process shorter than it would be for anyone else. The government wanted to make sure that no reporters or immoral sort were accidentally granted access to the man many considered the most dangerous person in the United States.

Parker walked into the conference room with enough confidence to buoy her shock at seeing him again. No preparation could stunt her delight at seeing Raines in an orange jumpsuit handcuffed to a table.

"Orange is a good color for you, Raines. Brings out the sallow in your skin."

"Miss Parker," Raines replied with one of usual 'I know more than you do' smiles that never failed to irritate her. "Welcome to my home. You're my first visitor in over a year."

"Sorry, Daddy Dearest, I'll make an effort to visit more often," Parker replied acidly as she slid into the seat across from him. Her smile was as cold as ice as she gazed at Raines, taking note that he appeared thinner than ever before and that his oxygen tank made a soft whistling noise as he turned up the dosage. "How's prison treating you? Dropped the soap yet?"

"Parker, you know very well that I'm in permanent isolation. Other than the guards who drop off my meals, you're the first person I've seen in months." His words weren't self-deprecating, but rather matter-of-fact. His face was carefully blank as he continued to speak. "After your rather passionate testimony condemning me at the trial, I must say this is somewhat of a surprise."

Miss Parker waited patiently for him to stop wheezing his way though his explanation before replying. "Despite the circumstances, I believe we can help each other, Raines."

"I live in a windowless cell under 24 hour guard with cameras that feed directly to the Pentagon. My meals are delivered through a slot in the wall, and my only interaction is generally with my soap and my hand. In what way can you help me, Parker?" The faster he spoke, the harder it became for him to breathe, yet Parker made no move to assist him.

She shrugged. "Now you know how your 'experiments' felt." She grinned maliciously. "How does it feel?" She asked smugly. "Lonely? Cold? Losing your mind a little?"

Raines sighed and his hands clenched on the table in agitation. "Why are you here?"

"Someone has been searching for me, sending low-level thugs to try and capture me. They've also been moving through the former ranks of the Centre, tying up loose ends, including destroying the main base of the Centre. There's also the problem of people who have worked for the Centre going missing, presumably taken in the same way they tried to 'take' me. I want to know who's doing it and why."

Raines' lips quirked at the corners as he leaned back in the hard metal chair. "I have no idea."

"You're lying," Parker replied immediately. "You and I both know that nothing keeps you from being in the know. Hell, for all I know, you may be the one orchestrating it all."

"I'm not." His raspy voice still had the ability to make her skin crawl, but it gave her an idea.

Parker crossed her arms smoothly, managing to look both smug and curious at the same time. "Don't forget that I have some influence here, Raines."

"What could you have that I want, Parker?" He cocked his head patronizingly as if she were a child, the effect ruined by the wracking cough that shook his body from speaking too quickly.

Parker smiled and reached into her pocket, pulling an unopened pack of cigarettes out. Raines' eyes widened. "I'm told you're not allowed to smoke in here. I know from experience that the cravings must be killing you. You're not even allowed any nicotine patches or gum."

"And?"

"And I might be persuaded," Parker started as she slowly patted the end of the cigarettes against her hand, banging all the loose tobacco to one end of the pack, before opening it with a zealous rip, "to convince the guards to look the other way for a few minutes."

"What would it take to persuade you to do so, Miss Parker?" Raines asked, emphasizing the 'Miss' as his eyes tracked the movements of her fingers as she shook out several cigarettes.

"Information, Mr. Raines. I want information." She pulled out a lighter from the same pocket she'd withdrawn the cigarettes from and held it out to him.

With a sigh, and a calculated glint to his eyes, Raines took the lighter and held it quietly. Finally, his eyes glancing at the closed door, he reached for a cigarette. With the smoke curling in aesthetically pleasing patterns in the air between them, he began to speak. "He's-"

"He?" Parker interrupted. "He who?"

"Do you want to hear what I have to say or not, Miss Parker?" Raines asked as he began to cough roughly. His hold on the cigarette was iron-clad, however.

She shrugged but remained silent.

"He's started up an old project, is what you're thinking. It would explain the missing scientists and sweepers." Parker kept her face completely blank, even as he gave her information she hadn't known. She'd known about the scientists, but not the sweepers. Raines continued to speak. "Which project he's trying to restart is relatively easy to figure out, if you take the time to think about it."

"I've taken the time to think about it and I can't figure it out," Parker pointed out.

"You're too close to the situation," Raines replied with a shrug, gazing at the half-gone cigarette in his hand with affection. "You're a fool if you think he's the one trying to kill you, however."

Parker's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "Prison really hasn't kept you from being informed."

"I have my sources," Raines replied cryptically, the statement all the creepier because of the coarseness of his voice. "You're stuck between a rock and a hard place, Miss Parker."

"I always was, Mr. Raines," she replied with mocking politeness. "No mysterious words of wisdom for me?"

Raines shrugged and gestured to the bland room he found himself entombed in. "Don't get caught."

Parker quirked her eyebrow much to Raines' amusement. He cackled for several moments before falling into a coughing fit that shook his whole body.

When he could breathe again, Parker posed her final question. "Who is 'he'?"

Raines merely gave her a blank look.

"Should've figured you were too much a coward to do the right thing for once," Parker sneered at him as she stood, moving to the door quickly.

She was through the door and on her way down the hall when she heard his voice echoing through the small gap remaining between the door and frame as it shut.

"Bobby is quite a beautiful animal, Miss Parker. You always had wanted a pet."

Parker froze; her legs locking up and refusing to let her budge any further down the hall.

She hated him, completely, and felt no remorse over that hate.

They were all but what the Centre had made of them however. He'd had no more a chance to escape that place than she had.

For all their faults, and there were many, Raines and her father had been the legacy of the Centre. Just as she was. Both nature and nurture had damned the brothers from the start, and if she wasn't careful, she would be just as damned.

Parker turned and started back to his cell, though she wasn't sure why. His words had clearly demonstrated that he knew a lot more than he was letting on, and as usual, he kept most of the truth to himself, letting slip only a few details that would send her down the right path. He was, and always would be, a bastard, right down to his dying breath.

He'd been playing this game with her and Jarod for years. He'd probably play the game until he died.

Parker was reaching for the door knob, her mind still unsure of her own intentions, when the world caught on fire.

Extreme force blew the door off its hinges, striking her and sending her flying back into the wall opposite. She could feel heat licking at her face, her body sent into extreme overload by the sensation, her mind spinning as the blow to her head sent her thoughts spiraling out of control. Her skin was crawling and her muscles ached as if she'd run a marathon...

Then it was over as quickly as it'd begun.

Miss Parker pushed the charred door off of her and stood on unsteady feet. The corridor was covered with debris and ash, and the air was uncomfortably full of smoke. Waving a hand in her face, she tried to clear it out of her eyes and failed miserably. Alarms were blaring in the building but they had nothing on the pounding in her head.

Finally, Parker felt stable enough to move and closed the few feet that separated her from the now door-less frame of Raines' cell. The smoke was clearing as the vents started to work overtime and the sprinklers rained down heavily, but the smell that lingered just inside the room was clear enough.

It was the smell of burned flesh.

Raines had finally gotten his comeuppance after all.

She didn't know whether to laugh...or, well, to just laugh.

With a scoff of disbelief, Parker slid down the filthy wall just inside the room and shook her head slowly. She seriously couldn't see a way for this situation to get any worse.

Suddenly the sound of heavy boots running towards her reached her ears and she knew, without a doubt, that the situation had just gone even further down hill.

Lake Catherine, Maine

It'd taken roughly five hours of flying, two hours of layover, and then another two hours of driving for Jarod to reach Ben's home, but the sight of the beautiful house, whole and complete, made it all worth it.

Jarod barely waited for the rental car to shift into park before he was out of the car, moving quickly to the front door. Ben's truck was parked in plain sight so the man should be home, if nothing had happened to him yet.

Jarod knocked on the door several times, loud thumps that echoed through the house quickly. He waited impatiently, only seconds between his knocks, before he decided to try the door and found it unlocked.

It took only seconds for Jarod to search the first floor and find no sign of the older man. He knew he wasn't doing this smartly, knew that if something truly had happened to Ben, if someone had come here and harmed him, that they could still be here and that his running around was only making him a prime target.

His shoulder twanged with pain as if to remind him that he was a very good target.

Jarod couldn't stop this panicky feeling in his stomach however. If something had happened to Ben, and if Parker and Ethan had been here when that something happened...

His stomach knotted up even more and Jarod moved to the staircase, leaping up every three steps in his rush.

The first two bedrooms were empty, perfectly immaculate in their cleanliness. The soft scent of flowers was heavy in the air and Jarod recognized it as meaning that Ben had gone to the market and bought flowers today. Ben liked to walk down to town to do so, enjoying the exercise it gave him.

Jarod felt a small hitch of hope. Maybe Ben was still at the market and that's why Jarod couldn't find him.

It was irrational hope, however, that Jarod felt, for if Ben was still at the market, why were the flowers already placed around the house?

Finally, Jarod reached the final bedroom of this floor and stepped into it quickly. His urge was to call out Ben's name but common sense kept him from doing so.

Jarod saw no one in the bedroom, or under the bed, but the bathroom held more revelations.

Jarod saw his fears realized as his eyes alit upon poor Ben as he lay on the bathroom floor.

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