Rings of Truth
A "Pretender" Fan Fiction
By MissKate

Chapter 2:

Hours ticked by as Broots sat in front of his computer flipping between files in an endless search. There was not a trace of the girl for whom he was searching with so little information and he could not see himself getting any closer to finding her identity.

Only minutes before he was about to give up, Broots received an e-mail. With curiosity ruling his mind, he clicked on the message only to find it's contents empty. The only word he could detect was in the subject head: RUHTT.

"Ruhtt?" he asked himself.

Desperate for any answers, he tried to trace the e-mail to its origin. Moments later, his answer was clear. It was from a library in Lewes, Delaware, located near The Centre. "Jarod."

Broots knew that Jarod was always trying to help Miss Parker, as much as she hated to admit it. He hated seeing her hurting and continually did what he could to ease her pain. Knowing this, he typed "RUHTT" into the search on his computer, hoping that it was a clue to something he was trying to have him help Miss Parker with. Why else would he have sent the e-mail?

Within seconds, more than ten matches had been found, all with the case name RUHTT. "Jarod's done it again," he sighed, clicking on the first file, his eyes widening as he read its contents.

***

Miss Parker sat at her desk, frustrated, guiding her hand through her hair. She hated her father for always doing this to her, leaving without any explanation, with only a simple e-mail telling her that he is alive and not to tell anyone anything. There was something odd about this disappearance however. She could feel a sickness in her stomach that something awful was in the works and she could not feel anything but helplessness.

A knock came at the door causing her to look up. "Come in," she said annoyed.

"Miss Parker?"

"Broots! Thank God. Did you find anything?" she asked, noticing more papers in his hand in addition to the mysterious folder.

"Yeah, you could say that." He tone was reserved and his expression was not one of pleasure, but he knew that Miss Parker had a right to the truth.

"So?"

"Uh, you might want to sit down for this…" he began.

Miss Parker rolled her eyes. "What do you think I'm doing? Brain surgery?"

"Right, well…this is pretty big."

"Just get over here, Broots." She was not in the mood to be messed around with and, although she could tell that Broots was trying to save her from some kind of hurt, she wanted to know what he was hiding. She knew she was strong and that if she ever felt vulnerable, her eyes could shield her pain from anyone, except Sydney and Jarod.

Broots set the folder in front of Miss Parker and opened it up, placing the pictures in chronological order. Then, he gave her the stack of papers that were printouts of the files he had uncovered.

"Sixteen years ago, your father was sort of distant from the Centre," he began. Do you remember that?"

"No, I was away in Europe. What about it?"

He sighed, knowing that his news would be hard for her to hear. "Well, for about ten months, he was kind of seeing a woman that he tried to hide from the Centre, but we both know how hard that is to do. He would leave for large periods of time without any notice specifically to see her. One day, the Centre had him followed to see what he was up to, and when they found out, they tried to kill her."

"Because they thought that he would tell her their secrets…"

"That's part of it." Broots continued. "One month previous to their attempt to murder her, she had given birth to a baby girl."

Miss Parker looked up from the pictures she had been staring at and glanced at Broots, horrified. "My sister? I have a sister?"

He nodded before going on. "After they tried to kill the woman, your father sent her away with the baby to escape them, knowing that they wouldn't try much else if she was out of the vicinity, and he was right. But ever since, they have been monitoring the girl, knowing that she has the Parker blood and is therefore property of the Centre."

"Those monsters," Miss Parker said quietly as she picked up the papers Broots had handed to here. She gently closed her eyes as her mind flashed back through endless conversations and DSA's. This was just another cover-up made by the Centre, and one too many. Opening her eyes, she looked down at the papers in her hands for the first time. After scanning over them, she quickly pointed to a word on one of the sheets. "What's this? 'RUHTT?'"

"The case name, I guess."

"Don't be an imbecile, Broots, I know that. But look. Rearrange the letters and it says 'TRUTH.'"

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I'm working on the next chapter right now!! Please review in the meantime!!

*misskate*