I don't own any of the Pretender characters.  They belong to the geniuses that created the show.  Although I wish I did. 

THE INSANITY OF OUR LIVES

CHAPTER 4.  CAPTURE

"Hey Sydney!  You feeling better?" excliamed Broots, as Sydney came strolling through.

            "Much better.  Thank you.  I heard you had another lead on Jarod, and that in the process of trying to capture him, he was shot.  Is that true?" he asked.  He wanted Jarod to come back to the Centre, but he never wanted him to return dead.

            " It's true, Sydney, but before you start to get all emotional on us, I just want to clarify two things with you:  Number one, I didn't shoot Jarod one of the sweepers did.  Number two:  It was only in the leg," said Miss Parker.  She was happy to see that Sydney was all right, but she would never let him know.  She would never show how much she cared about anybody.  The last person she had cared for had wound up dead.  She didn't know if she could take something like that again.

            "Have you had any more leads on him?" asked Sydney.  There was something different in her eyes.  She had that look she always got whenever she figured out a secret about her past that she would have been happier not knowing about. 

            " Miss Parker, is something wrong?"

            "I'm fine Sydney.  There's nothing wrong with me."

            A sudden thought occurred to him. 

            "Jarod sent you something didn't he?  Something about the true identity of your real father," he said, his voice free of any emotion.

            " He did.  Raines is my father.  He sent me a DSA of a conversation Raines, and my fath… my uncle had.  And just in case you're wondering, I'm very fine with the notion of having a murderer for a father and brother.  As they say, like father like son."

            "If you ever need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

            " Thank you Sydney.  I've needed to get that off my back for sometime now."

            "You're welcome," he replied with a smile.

            Leave it to him to figure out exactly what was on her mind.  Sydney was like a father to her in many ways.  He had always been there for her whenever she needed him.  Whereas her real family was never there.  Never.  Her mother was there for her, but then she was murdered.  Murdered by her own father.  She wanted to hurt him so bad.  She wanted to cause him as much pain as he had caused her, but she knew that try as she might she couldn't kill him.  She would just have to think of some other way to get back at him.  Once and for all.

            ************************************

            "Everything's in place.  We sent the message a day ago.  Jarod will be well on his way," said Willy, the sweeper, to Raines.

            Of all the sweepers, Willy was definitely the most competent, and he would do whatever he asked of him.  No questions asked.  He didn't trust him.  How could you trust someone who could easily take your life away?

            "Excellent.  If all goes according to plan, we should have Jarod soon," said Lyle.

            Once they captured Jarod, he might go have some fun with an Asian woman.  That would be perfect.

            "The Triumvirate will be very pleased if this works out," said Raines.

            Yes, they would be pleased.  They would lower their guard, and then he would strike.  He would make his ultimate power play.  With one swift blow he would be in charge of the Centre.

            *******************

            Major Charles drove silently down the highway.  His plane into Raleigh had landed an hour ago.  According to the tip, Margaret was not too far away, in a town called Fuquay-Varina.  He was both excited and nervous about seeing her.  After all, he hadn't seen his wife in at least twenty years.  His stomach was turning.  But it wasn't all about seeing his wife for the first time in twenty years, he had a gut feeling that something was gonna go terribly wrong.

            He convinced himself it was just nerves, but still something gnawed at him.  Margaret had always been a hard person to follow.  Yet, the tip had stated that she had been working as a waitress at a local restaurant for only two days, and that she had been staying at a hotel the entire time.   He knew his wife, and something about this scenario felt amiss.  Something big was about to happen.

            ************************

            " There's a white Honda Accord pulling into the driveway," said Lyle.

            "Is it Jarod?" asked Raines.

            " I can't tell yet.  He hasn't gotten out of the car."

            He peered intently from his vantage point out of an apartment window, a glitter in his eyes.  It had worked.  They were finally about to catch Jarod.

            His delusions of grandeur were foiled, when instead of Jarod, Major Charles stepped out of the car.

            " Man!  It's not Jarod.  It's Major Charles!" exclaimed Lyle furiously.

            Raines wheezed a snickering laugh, which sounded much more like a man grimacing in pain.

            "You may know Jarod pretty well, but you apparently don't know the Major at all."

            " The way I figure it's still a win-win situation.  We've got the Major.  Let's use this for our advantage," replied Lyle.

            ******************

            He was really nervous now.  He was about a foot away from seeing his wife again for the first time in years.  He walked up the long set of steps, and rang the doorbell.  He could hear the shuffling of feet.  He was getting more and more nervous as the minutes went by.

            He soon heard the telltale sound of an opening door, but instead of Margaret, all he found were sweepers.