Unfortunately, I don't own any of the Pretender characters. They belong to NBC and the wonderful people that wrote this show! Please R&R! Enjoy!
THE INSANITY OF OUR LIVES
CHAPTER 2
He suddenly felt a sharp searing pain in his left leg, which caused him to fall to the ground. He knew he wouldn't be able to get up again, so he examined his leg. The bullet had hit him in the shin. There appeared to be no exit wound, so the bullet was probably lodged somewhere inside of him. It would require surgery for its removal.
"It looks like your nine lives are up Jarod," said Miss Parker with an obvious smirk on her face.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you."
It was about three o'clock. The students were already gone, but many of the teachers were still around. The sound of gunshots had attracted quite a gathering the first of which was a man named, Allen Henderson. Allan was about 6 feet tall, and he weighed about 165 pounds. He was tall and slender. He had brilliant blue eyes, and jet-black hair.
" Oh my goodness! Jarod! Who are you people?" asked Allen.
" Nobody you wanna be concerned with," replied Parker menacingly.
" I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't concerned," he remarked coolly.
" Oh really," said Parker with her usual icy, sarcastic tone.
" If you don't leave us alone, and let us do what we came here to do Mr…," said Sam, the sweeper, piping up from the background, " Mr. Henderson, then the only way you'll be leaving this school is in a black bag."
" I think you're gravely mistaken," said Allen, as he pulled a gun from the holster underneath his black suit jacket, "I'm an undercover F.B.I. agent. I've been working with Agent Hollis for some time now. And trust me, I'm willing to do whatever it takes to protect the people in this school."
" Are you now?" smirked Parker, giving him a cursory glance. Jarod wasn't sure if she was checking him out or seeing if he was capable of doing what he said he was.
She scrutinized him one more time before saying, "Come on. We're leaving."
" Miss Parker, what are you doing? We have Jarod right where we want him," said Sam.
" This guy looks like the type that's bark and bite. And I'm sure a murder case is the last thing we need. Like it or not, we're leaving."
With that, they all turned around and left, leaving Jarod and the rest of the school in shock.
"Jarod who were those people?" questioned Allen, breaking the silence.
" Some old friends of mine. I'll explain it to you later," grimaced Jarod. His leg was really starting to hurt. He also knew that he would have to tell Allen about his past. He tried to avoid giving away too much information away to people federally connected, but he felt obligated now. This man could have been shot, and like all of the many deaths he had witnessed over the years, it would have been his fault.
" One of the teachers called an ambulance about five minutes ago. It should be here sometime soon. Are you alright?"
" I'll be fine. Thank you Allen. I don't know what I would have done without you."
" Hey, it was no problem, but you definitely owe me an explanation," he replied.
Yes, he would explain everything as best as he could. He just hoped Allen didn't take it to the next level, and get himself killed.
**************************************
" I heard about your bumbled capture Miss Parker, and I'm not pleased," said the raspy voice of Raines.
" I made the only choice I had at the time," replied Parker. She knew he wouldn't understand. He was the man that had murdered her mother. All he cared about was bringing Jarod back by any means necessary. It didn't matter to him if an innocent life had to be taken in the process. But it did matter to her.
" It doesn't look that way to me. It seems to me like there was a single armed man standing in your way of capturing Jarod. You had three sweepers and yourself. The man was out numbered four to one. We had Jarod right where we wanted him, and yet you let this man stop you from taking full advantage of this opportunity. Needless to say, the Triumvirate isn't too happy about this."
" A murder is the last thing the Centre needs. The man was an F.B.I. Agent. We'd have the feds all over us if we killed the man in cold blood."
" The Centre is very well capable of dealing with issues such as that. Priorities, Miss Parker, priorities," he said, in that voice of his that still sent shivers up her spine whenever she heard it.
" I'll try to keep that in mind. You were leaving weren't you?" she replied, glaring at him.
He slithered out the door, dragging his oxygen tank along with him.
*****************************
" I think I know a way to catch Jarod," said Lyle stepping into Raines' office with a very smug look on his face.
" I'm listening."
"Jarod's been searching for his family for five years now, so it's obvious all we have to do is give him his mother. We give him and his family a clue so obvious they won't be able to miss, but when Jarod goes to find his mother, we'll be there," he stated. He knew it would work. Jarod wouldn't ignore any clue that he found about his mother's current whereabouts, no matter what.
"Jarod will probably see through this."
"He might be suspicious, but he'll come alright. I know how this guy thinks. He'll think it's too easy, but he won't be able to forget about it because one question will gnaw at him for hours: What if my mom really is there? Catch my drift?"
Raines smiled as realization of what Lyle was saying dawned upon him.
"This just might work. The question is how should we send him a clue?"
"That's the easiest part of all. We know that Jarod is in constant communication with Major Charles. We give the Major an anonymous tip, and the Major will pass it to Jarod. It's as simple as that. Jarod will believe it more coming from his own father."
"That's genius. Pure genius. I can't believe somebody didn't think of this sooner."
Lyle merely smirked. He would make sure to be there the day they caught Jarod. . He relished the thought of capturing Jarod, and making him pay for getting his thumb cut off and for all the other things he did to him
