Title - High Price of Freedom
Author - Nicky
Rating - PG to PG-13 (for some violence)
Category - JMPR, Pretender/Profiler Crossover
Summary - The ramifications of a past mistake come back to haunt Jarod and could be the key to the freedom Miss Parker's searching for. But is the high price worth it in the end?
Disclaimer - Most of these characters don't belong to me. Just using them for a bit. No harm intended.
* * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 7
* * * * * * * * * *
Rachel leads the team into Miss Parker's house, carelessly
searching through the wreckage left behind. It was obvious that
some kind of struggle had taken place before. And there were a
few splotches on the floor that looks suspiciously like blood.
Although it was impossible to tell who's blood it was. But she
had a feeling that it belonged to Jarod.
"Bag it," she says with a quivering voice, pointing to the stains
on the floor. She moves through the house sifting through Miss
Parker's personal belongings. She tries to tell herself she's
looking for clues to their where-a-bouts, but in all honesty
she's just trying to get a feel of the woman who owns Jarod's
heart.
"Agent Charles?" she calls, finally giving up when her search
through Miss Parker's racy underwear drawer only made her more
depressed. Not a panty girdle or nursing bra in sight. "I think
they may be headed towards the Centre since both Miss Parker and
her brother work there. We should move our search there."
"Agent Burke, we have no idea where this so called place is. It's
a bit of an urban legend around here. Everyone's heard of it,
but no one knows if it actually exists," Agent Charles explains.
"We wouldn't know where to begin to look for this place. And
once we found it, we wouldn't know where to begin to look for the
hostage."
Rachel lets out an impatient sigh. She didn't come this far for
nothing. She was going to find the Centre. And she was going to
find Jarod. She wasn't going to let anyone stop her.
"Agent Burke. There's someone down here claiming to know the
suspects," a young agent calls from downstairs. Rachel instantly
perks back up. Maybe all hope wasn't lost after all. She
straightens her shoulders and marches downstairs. She'd scare
the information from this person if necessary.
"I'm Agent Burke," she introduces herself the tall, gangly man.
"And you are?"
"Broots," he replies nervously. "What's going on here? What are
you all doing here?"
"Mr. Broots," Rachel drawls, pulling out the southern charm. She
can see this man is harmless and won't be needing intimidation.
"You
know the owner of this home?"
"Miss Parker? Yeah, we're coworkers. And friends. I've known
her for years," he says. He looks around at the condition the
house is in and starts to panic. "Did something happen to her?"
"We're trying to find her now," Rachel admits. "We have some
questions for her. We think she may have gone to The Centre, but
we don't know where that is. You think you could tell us?" A
couple of bats of her eyelashes and she has Broots eating out of
her hand. He tells her all he needs to know and then some. When
she has enough information, she dismisses him.
"Agent Burke?" Broots asks before leaving. "There was an older
gentleman here earlier. Sydney. Do you know where he is?"
"Check with FBI Headquarters in Dover. He should be there," she
tells him, smiling when the man is visibly relieved. Miss Parker
seemed to have very good and very loyal friends for some reason.
She didn't deserve them.
Rachel watches Broots get in his car and pull away, presumably to
retrieve his friend from FBI Headquarters. She then turns to
search for Agent Charles. She's surprised to find he's right next
to her.
"Did you get the address?" he asks.
"Yeah. It's not too far from here," she tells him. "Let's move
out. It's going to be dark soon."
* * * * * * * * * *
Jarod lets out a painful moan as he tries to shift his body into
a more comfortable position.
"I think they may have broken a few ribs," he groans.
"Are you going to be okay, Jarod?" Miss Parker asks, concern
masking her face. She moves his head onto her lap and soothingly
runs her fingers through his hair.
"I will be when they let you out of here," he says.
"Jarod, I'm not leaving you in here all . . ."
"You can't be here," he interrupts her. "I promised you your
freedom."
"That freedom's not going to mean anything without you," she
whispers, leaning over to kiss him on the forehead.
"Well, Lyle's talking to your father right now to see if they
agree to the deal."
"You really think they want the DSA's that badly?" she wonders
out loud. "Why? Is it all just about the money?" She looks
down on him when he noticeably tenses. "Jarod?"
"Don't worry about the why, Lanie." Jarod lifts his head from
off of Miss Parker's lap, taking a moment to get his equilibrium
back before standing up all the way. He stumbles across the cell
and turns away from her.
"You know what's so important about them." She stands up and
walks right behind him, hands on her hips ready to drag the truth
out of him if necessary. "Jarod, why are they so desperate to
get these DSA's? What's on them that's so important?"
"The secrets of the universe," he laughs cynically. "One of
life's biggest mysteries, unraveled and reduced to a simple
scientific equation."
"Jarod, what did you do?" she whispers. "What did you discover?"
He turns to face her and his dark eyes bore straight into her
soul.
"Something that no man should *ever* know," he growls through
clenched teeth. Shutting his eyes, he leans back against the
wall and slides down until he's sitting again. A moment later,
she can hear his sobs wracking his body, obviously causing pain
to his battered frame.
"What is it, Baby?" she cries along with him. Sitting on the
floor next to him, she wraps him in her arms and rubs his back to
calm him down. "You're scaring me."
"I scared myself," he sniffs. "The things that I'm capable of
thinking up are terrifying. The things that I'm able to do.
Things that I refused to allow them to do you you. To us.
That's the real reason I left all those years ago. And I took
the DSA's with me so that my SIMs wouldn't allow them to . . . "
He stops, not wanting to say any more than that.
"To what?" She's shaking now, truly afraid of what he has to say.
But she notices that he's gone still. "Jarod? Jarod can you
hear me?" She shakes him and gets no response.
"Jarod," she screams. She lays him out on the ground and tries
to revive him. "Please wake up, Jarod."
None of her efforts are successful and she gets scared.
Remembering how Jarod summoned Lyle earlier, she runs over to
where the camera is situated and screams for help. A second
later she hears Lyle's footsteps come through the door.
"What's the problem now?" he asks in an irritated tone. "What's
wrong with Loverboy? He's not a pro like you, Sis. You really
should take it easy on him."
"Shut up, you idiot. There's something wrong with him," she
yells.
"Hey, it's not my fault if he can't handle your stamina . . ."
His words are cut off by her hand shooting through the bars and
grabbing around his neck.
"I suggest you get him medical attention immediately," she
growls. "Especially if you want to see your precious DSA's
again. If he dies, then all the secrets die with him."
"Fine," he gasps, finally pulling out of her grip. He reaches in
his pocket for his cellphone and dials a few numbers.
"It's me," he says, rubbing his sore neck. "Send a medical team
down. We need to transfer him to the renewal wing." He hangs up
the phone and places it back in his pocket.
"Happy now? He's going to be taken care of. So that when he
wakes up, he can tell you where the DSA's are and you can run and
go get them like a good little girl."
"Daddy agreed to the deal," she comments with some surprise, her
emotions mixed. Part of her hoped he would so that she could get
out. But part of her wanted to stay with Jarod, even if she had
to be a prisoner of that place along with him.
She walks over to Jarod's unconscious form and kneels next to
him, bending over his head.
"Get better," she whispers into his ear. "Get better so that you
can help me think of a way out of here. For both of us." She
kisses his lips gently just as the medical team arrives to take
him away.
* * * * * * * * * *
"How do you want to do this?" Rachel asks Agent Charles once they
arrived at the Centre. They didn't know much about the place and
didn't want to rush in with guns blazing. They just needed to
make sure that Jarod was inside before deciding how to proceed.
"It's your call," he replies, looking at the intimidating
building. "Like I said, this is the first any of us have ever
seen this place. Up until now, it was just a myth."
"The place seems to be very well guarded. Too guarded for us to
try to sneak in. We're going to have to go in through the front
doors," she says. Agent Charles widens his eyes at her nerve,
but follows her anyway after making a quick check for his weapon.
Rachel leads him to the doors and waits patiently for him to open
them for her. Smiling her thanks, she walks through and looks
for an information desk or something. Spotting a guard off to
the left, she heads that way, grabbing Agent Charles' arm in mock
affection.
"Just play along," she whispers to him, leading him to the desk
with her.
"May I help you?" the young officer asks.
"Hi. My name's Rachel. And this is my husband, Jamie," she says
by way of introduction. "I have an old friend who works here. I
wanted to stop by and surprise her."
"What's the name?"
"Parker. Miss Parker," Rachel tells him nervously. She begins
to panic for a second when a terrified look crosses the officer's
face.
"M-M-Miss Parker? Ho-hold on a second," he stutters in obvious
fear. He quickly turns and dials a number on the phone behind
him. After a few 'uhm-hmms' and 'are you sures', the officer hangs up
and faces them again. "Take those elevators over there up to the
fourth floor. Turn left and her secretary's at the end of the hall."
"Thanks a lot," Rachel smiles, squeezing Agent Charles to prompt
him to do the same.
"I can't believe it was that easy," Agent Charles says once
they're in the elevator. "But why are we going to this woman's
office? She wouldn't be holding your hostage in there, would
she?"
"No, but I think I'll be able to persuade her to lead me to him,"
Rachel says, imagining her sweet revenge. "It won't be long now.
I'll have Jarod back and Miss Parker will have what she deserves
- nothing."
Agent Charles takes a breath like he's about to say something,
but the look in Rachel's eyes suggest he should just keep his
mouth shut. Something tells him that there was more to this
situation than what Agent Burke was telling him. She was in this
for personal reasons. Suddenly he began to wonder what he'd
gotten himself involved in.
* * * * * * * * * *
The Centre medics take Jarod into a room in the renewal wing and
unceremoniously dumps him on a bed, causing Miss Parker to cringe
at the pain he would be feeling if her were awake.
"Watch it," she yells, pushing one of the orderlies out of her
way. She stands next to Jarod's bed and lays her hand on his
chest to reassure herself he was still breathing.
"That'll be all," Lyle tells the men. "Let the doctor know he's
here." The orderlies nod and silently let themselves out.
"Alright. Your little Boy Toy is all safe and tucked in. Let's
go talk to Dad now," Lyle says, grabbing Miss Parker's arm.
"I'm not leaving him," she insists, yanking her arm from Lyle's
grasp. "Not until I know he's going to be okay. Not until I
know what you had your goons do to him." She narrows her eyes,
shooting him an accusing glare.
"Parker, we need to . . ."
"Ah, Miss Parker," the doctor says as he walks into the room,
cutting off whatever Lyle was about to say. He smiles at the
woman standing next to the bed and holds out his arms. "It's
been so long."
"Dr. Parini!" she exclaims cheerfully, running to the man like
she did when she was a little girl. Next to Sydney, he was the
nicest adult working at the Centre. He was the only doctor ever
able to give her shots without a big fuss. "I thought you
retired years ago."
"Just took a sabbatical for awhile," he tells her. "I've been
back for a few months."
Her smile turns into a grimace when she turns back to Jarod's
badly broken form. The doctor hears her dejected sigh and takes
note of the patient on the bed.
"I see you two are still inseparable." He places a hand on her
shoulder and feels her lean slightly into his touch. "Don't
worry. I'll patch Jarod up, good as new. Just like always.
So, what kind of trouble have you gotten him in this time?"
"I know some of our adventures back then got a little . . .
dangerous. And that most of them were my idea," she smiles
in reminisence. "But it wasn't me this time. I swear."
They both laugh for a minute at how many times in the past she's
given Dr. Parini that same excuse after her and Jarod showed up
in his office with various mysterious injuries. The moment is
short lived as they look over in Lyle's direction, shooting
daggers at him. They know he's to blame this time.
"Do you have any idea what's wrong with him?" she asks.
"I'm assuming he was beaten pretty badly, but I don't see any
evidence of internal bleeding. Probably a couple of bruised or
broken ribs. I'll wrap his chest and give him something for the
pain. Once his body recovers a bit from the shock, I'm sure he'll
wake up." He sends her a gentle smile to let her know Jarod would
be fine. His smile is contagious and Miss Parker soon finds
herself smiling back, believing everything would be alright.
"You heard the man, Sis. Now, let's go," Lyle insists, bringing
a frown to Miss Parker's face.
"Go on," the doctor nudges her. "He's in good hands."
"Alright," she relents. "But I'll be right back to check on him
as soon as I'm done." She leans down to give Jarod one more kiss
on the cheek before following Lyle out the door.
Halfway down the hall, she turns in the opposite direction from
her father's office.
"Where are you going?" Lyle is puzzled.
"Lyle, you kidnapped me from my home sometime last night, I
assume. I'd like to get into some fresh clothes, if you don't
mind,"
"Whatever," he sighs. "Just hurry it up." He sits on the sofa
outside her office to give her some privacy.
She rolls her eyes and then pushes her door open, barely taking
time to notice her assistant absent from his desk. She walks
straight to the little closet she keeps for times such as this, stopping
only when she sees her missing assistant now sitting at her desk.
"Dennis, what are you doing in here?" she asks with some
annoyance. She continues on to the closet and pulls out the
first suit she comes to.
"He's here with me," an icy voice drips behind her.
Miss Parker starts to turn around, only to feel the butt of a gun
pressed into her back, mere inches from where the last bullet
pierced. She looks at Dennis and can now see that the man is
sitting there in handcuffs, not trying very hard to mask his
fear.
"Put your hands up and turn around very slowly," the voice says
again.
Miss Parker complies, her anger growing once she realizes who her
assailant is. And she can see that she's not alone this time.
"Rachel," Miss Parker growls. "What brings you here?"
To be continued . . .
Author - Nicky
Rating - PG to PG-13 (for some violence)
Category - JMPR, Pretender/Profiler Crossover
Summary - The ramifications of a past mistake come back to haunt Jarod and could be the key to the freedom Miss Parker's searching for. But is the high price worth it in the end?
Disclaimer - Most of these characters don't belong to me. Just using them for a bit. No harm intended.
* * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 7
* * * * * * * * * *
Rachel leads the team into Miss Parker's house, carelessly
searching through the wreckage left behind. It was obvious that
some kind of struggle had taken place before. And there were a
few splotches on the floor that looks suspiciously like blood.
Although it was impossible to tell who's blood it was. But she
had a feeling that it belonged to Jarod.
"Bag it," she says with a quivering voice, pointing to the stains
on the floor. She moves through the house sifting through Miss
Parker's personal belongings. She tries to tell herself she's
looking for clues to their where-a-bouts, but in all honesty
she's just trying to get a feel of the woman who owns Jarod's
heart.
"Agent Charles?" she calls, finally giving up when her search
through Miss Parker's racy underwear drawer only made her more
depressed. Not a panty girdle or nursing bra in sight. "I think
they may be headed towards the Centre since both Miss Parker and
her brother work there. We should move our search there."
"Agent Burke, we have no idea where this so called place is. It's
a bit of an urban legend around here. Everyone's heard of it,
but no one knows if it actually exists," Agent Charles explains.
"We wouldn't know where to begin to look for this place. And
once we found it, we wouldn't know where to begin to look for the
hostage."
Rachel lets out an impatient sigh. She didn't come this far for
nothing. She was going to find the Centre. And she was going to
find Jarod. She wasn't going to let anyone stop her.
"Agent Burke. There's someone down here claiming to know the
suspects," a young agent calls from downstairs. Rachel instantly
perks back up. Maybe all hope wasn't lost after all. She
straightens her shoulders and marches downstairs. She'd scare
the information from this person if necessary.
"I'm Agent Burke," she introduces herself the tall, gangly man.
"And you are?"
"Broots," he replies nervously. "What's going on here? What are
you all doing here?"
"Mr. Broots," Rachel drawls, pulling out the southern charm. She
can see this man is harmless and won't be needing intimidation.
"You
know the owner of this home?"
"Miss Parker? Yeah, we're coworkers. And friends. I've known
her for years," he says. He looks around at the condition the
house is in and starts to panic. "Did something happen to her?"
"We're trying to find her now," Rachel admits. "We have some
questions for her. We think she may have gone to The Centre, but
we don't know where that is. You think you could tell us?" A
couple of bats of her eyelashes and she has Broots eating out of
her hand. He tells her all he needs to know and then some. When
she has enough information, she dismisses him.
"Agent Burke?" Broots asks before leaving. "There was an older
gentleman here earlier. Sydney. Do you know where he is?"
"Check with FBI Headquarters in Dover. He should be there," she
tells him, smiling when the man is visibly relieved. Miss Parker
seemed to have very good and very loyal friends for some reason.
She didn't deserve them.
Rachel watches Broots get in his car and pull away, presumably to
retrieve his friend from FBI Headquarters. She then turns to
search for Agent Charles. She's surprised to find he's right next
to her.
"Did you get the address?" he asks.
"Yeah. It's not too far from here," she tells him. "Let's move
out. It's going to be dark soon."
* * * * * * * * * *
Jarod lets out a painful moan as he tries to shift his body into
a more comfortable position.
"I think they may have broken a few ribs," he groans.
"Are you going to be okay, Jarod?" Miss Parker asks, concern
masking her face. She moves his head onto her lap and soothingly
runs her fingers through his hair.
"I will be when they let you out of here," he says.
"Jarod, I'm not leaving you in here all . . ."
"You can't be here," he interrupts her. "I promised you your
freedom."
"That freedom's not going to mean anything without you," she
whispers, leaning over to kiss him on the forehead.
"Well, Lyle's talking to your father right now to see if they
agree to the deal."
"You really think they want the DSA's that badly?" she wonders
out loud. "Why? Is it all just about the money?" She looks
down on him when he noticeably tenses. "Jarod?"
"Don't worry about the why, Lanie." Jarod lifts his head from
off of Miss Parker's lap, taking a moment to get his equilibrium
back before standing up all the way. He stumbles across the cell
and turns away from her.
"You know what's so important about them." She stands up and
walks right behind him, hands on her hips ready to drag the truth
out of him if necessary. "Jarod, why are they so desperate to
get these DSA's? What's on them that's so important?"
"The secrets of the universe," he laughs cynically. "One of
life's biggest mysteries, unraveled and reduced to a simple
scientific equation."
"Jarod, what did you do?" she whispers. "What did you discover?"
He turns to face her and his dark eyes bore straight into her
soul.
"Something that no man should *ever* know," he growls through
clenched teeth. Shutting his eyes, he leans back against the
wall and slides down until he's sitting again. A moment later,
she can hear his sobs wracking his body, obviously causing pain
to his battered frame.
"What is it, Baby?" she cries along with him. Sitting on the
floor next to him, she wraps him in her arms and rubs his back to
calm him down. "You're scaring me."
"I scared myself," he sniffs. "The things that I'm capable of
thinking up are terrifying. The things that I'm able to do.
Things that I refused to allow them to do you you. To us.
That's the real reason I left all those years ago. And I took
the DSA's with me so that my SIMs wouldn't allow them to . . . "
He stops, not wanting to say any more than that.
"To what?" She's shaking now, truly afraid of what he has to say.
But she notices that he's gone still. "Jarod? Jarod can you
hear me?" She shakes him and gets no response.
"Jarod," she screams. She lays him out on the ground and tries
to revive him. "Please wake up, Jarod."
None of her efforts are successful and she gets scared.
Remembering how Jarod summoned Lyle earlier, she runs over to
where the camera is situated and screams for help. A second
later she hears Lyle's footsteps come through the door.
"What's the problem now?" he asks in an irritated tone. "What's
wrong with Loverboy? He's not a pro like you, Sis. You really
should take it easy on him."
"Shut up, you idiot. There's something wrong with him," she
yells.
"Hey, it's not my fault if he can't handle your stamina . . ."
His words are cut off by her hand shooting through the bars and
grabbing around his neck.
"I suggest you get him medical attention immediately," she
growls. "Especially if you want to see your precious DSA's
again. If he dies, then all the secrets die with him."
"Fine," he gasps, finally pulling out of her grip. He reaches in
his pocket for his cellphone and dials a few numbers.
"It's me," he says, rubbing his sore neck. "Send a medical team
down. We need to transfer him to the renewal wing." He hangs up
the phone and places it back in his pocket.
"Happy now? He's going to be taken care of. So that when he
wakes up, he can tell you where the DSA's are and you can run and
go get them like a good little girl."
"Daddy agreed to the deal," she comments with some surprise, her
emotions mixed. Part of her hoped he would so that she could get
out. But part of her wanted to stay with Jarod, even if she had
to be a prisoner of that place along with him.
She walks over to Jarod's unconscious form and kneels next to
him, bending over his head.
"Get better," she whispers into his ear. "Get better so that you
can help me think of a way out of here. For both of us." She
kisses his lips gently just as the medical team arrives to take
him away.
* * * * * * * * * *
"How do you want to do this?" Rachel asks Agent Charles once they
arrived at the Centre. They didn't know much about the place and
didn't want to rush in with guns blazing. They just needed to
make sure that Jarod was inside before deciding how to proceed.
"It's your call," he replies, looking at the intimidating
building. "Like I said, this is the first any of us have ever
seen this place. Up until now, it was just a myth."
"The place seems to be very well guarded. Too guarded for us to
try to sneak in. We're going to have to go in through the front
doors," she says. Agent Charles widens his eyes at her nerve,
but follows her anyway after making a quick check for his weapon.
Rachel leads him to the doors and waits patiently for him to open
them for her. Smiling her thanks, she walks through and looks
for an information desk or something. Spotting a guard off to
the left, she heads that way, grabbing Agent Charles' arm in mock
affection.
"Just play along," she whispers to him, leading him to the desk
with her.
"May I help you?" the young officer asks.
"Hi. My name's Rachel. And this is my husband, Jamie," she says
by way of introduction. "I have an old friend who works here. I
wanted to stop by and surprise her."
"What's the name?"
"Parker. Miss Parker," Rachel tells him nervously. She begins
to panic for a second when a terrified look crosses the officer's
face.
"M-M-Miss Parker? Ho-hold on a second," he stutters in obvious
fear. He quickly turns and dials a number on the phone behind
him. After a few 'uhm-hmms' and 'are you sures', the officer hangs up
and faces them again. "Take those elevators over there up to the
fourth floor. Turn left and her secretary's at the end of the hall."
"Thanks a lot," Rachel smiles, squeezing Agent Charles to prompt
him to do the same.
"I can't believe it was that easy," Agent Charles says once
they're in the elevator. "But why are we going to this woman's
office? She wouldn't be holding your hostage in there, would
she?"
"No, but I think I'll be able to persuade her to lead me to him,"
Rachel says, imagining her sweet revenge. "It won't be long now.
I'll have Jarod back and Miss Parker will have what she deserves
- nothing."
Agent Charles takes a breath like he's about to say something,
but the look in Rachel's eyes suggest he should just keep his
mouth shut. Something tells him that there was more to this
situation than what Agent Burke was telling him. She was in this
for personal reasons. Suddenly he began to wonder what he'd
gotten himself involved in.
* * * * * * * * * *
The Centre medics take Jarod into a room in the renewal wing and
unceremoniously dumps him on a bed, causing Miss Parker to cringe
at the pain he would be feeling if her were awake.
"Watch it," she yells, pushing one of the orderlies out of her
way. She stands next to Jarod's bed and lays her hand on his
chest to reassure herself he was still breathing.
"That'll be all," Lyle tells the men. "Let the doctor know he's
here." The orderlies nod and silently let themselves out.
"Alright. Your little Boy Toy is all safe and tucked in. Let's
go talk to Dad now," Lyle says, grabbing Miss Parker's arm.
"I'm not leaving him," she insists, yanking her arm from Lyle's
grasp. "Not until I know he's going to be okay. Not until I
know what you had your goons do to him." She narrows her eyes,
shooting him an accusing glare.
"Parker, we need to . . ."
"Ah, Miss Parker," the doctor says as he walks into the room,
cutting off whatever Lyle was about to say. He smiles at the
woman standing next to the bed and holds out his arms. "It's
been so long."
"Dr. Parini!" she exclaims cheerfully, running to the man like
she did when she was a little girl. Next to Sydney, he was the
nicest adult working at the Centre. He was the only doctor ever
able to give her shots without a big fuss. "I thought you
retired years ago."
"Just took a sabbatical for awhile," he tells her. "I've been
back for a few months."
Her smile turns into a grimace when she turns back to Jarod's
badly broken form. The doctor hears her dejected sigh and takes
note of the patient on the bed.
"I see you two are still inseparable." He places a hand on her
shoulder and feels her lean slightly into his touch. "Don't
worry. I'll patch Jarod up, good as new. Just like always.
So, what kind of trouble have you gotten him in this time?"
"I know some of our adventures back then got a little . . .
dangerous. And that most of them were my idea," she smiles
in reminisence. "But it wasn't me this time. I swear."
They both laugh for a minute at how many times in the past she's
given Dr. Parini that same excuse after her and Jarod showed up
in his office with various mysterious injuries. The moment is
short lived as they look over in Lyle's direction, shooting
daggers at him. They know he's to blame this time.
"Do you have any idea what's wrong with him?" she asks.
"I'm assuming he was beaten pretty badly, but I don't see any
evidence of internal bleeding. Probably a couple of bruised or
broken ribs. I'll wrap his chest and give him something for the
pain. Once his body recovers a bit from the shock, I'm sure he'll
wake up." He sends her a gentle smile to let her know Jarod would
be fine. His smile is contagious and Miss Parker soon finds
herself smiling back, believing everything would be alright.
"You heard the man, Sis. Now, let's go," Lyle insists, bringing
a frown to Miss Parker's face.
"Go on," the doctor nudges her. "He's in good hands."
"Alright," she relents. "But I'll be right back to check on him
as soon as I'm done." She leans down to give Jarod one more kiss
on the cheek before following Lyle out the door.
Halfway down the hall, she turns in the opposite direction from
her father's office.
"Where are you going?" Lyle is puzzled.
"Lyle, you kidnapped me from my home sometime last night, I
assume. I'd like to get into some fresh clothes, if you don't
mind,"
"Whatever," he sighs. "Just hurry it up." He sits on the sofa
outside her office to give her some privacy.
She rolls her eyes and then pushes her door open, barely taking
time to notice her assistant absent from his desk. She walks
straight to the little closet she keeps for times such as this, stopping
only when she sees her missing assistant now sitting at her desk.
"Dennis, what are you doing in here?" she asks with some
annoyance. She continues on to the closet and pulls out the
first suit she comes to.
"He's here with me," an icy voice drips behind her.
Miss Parker starts to turn around, only to feel the butt of a gun
pressed into her back, mere inches from where the last bullet
pierced. She looks at Dennis and can now see that the man is
sitting there in handcuffs, not trying very hard to mask his
fear.
"Put your hands up and turn around very slowly," the voice says
again.
Miss Parker complies, her anger growing once she realizes who her
assailant is. And she can see that she's not alone this time.
"Rachel," Miss Parker growls. "What brings you here?"
To be continued . . .