Trapped In A Box

by Bec-Bec

Raines knows about Jarod and Parker, now what's gonna happen? Chapter 9 is up!!... Jarod decides to end the chase, but he and Ms. Parker end up locked in a warehouse and...well, there's some arguing, some anger, and maybe something more.

2. Penlights On Hidden Maps

Disclaimer: Pretender = not mine. The characters aren't mine, the actors aren't mine, the title isn't mine, the sets aren't mine, the production companies aren't mine, anything having to do with the show is not mine. Sigh…tell me if there's something else that I don't own because I'm feeling really sad and that will just be the final nail in the coffin. Maybe someday, I'll buy the show and then it really will be mine…someday. By the way, if there is a company called Chief Shipping, I apologize for the use of their name because I didn't even know that they existed…if they do. It may be that it's just an imaginary company that exists within my head which imports and exports thought processes…hmm. I also do not own Mighty Mouse…in fact, I don't know who does.

Summary: Jarod decides to end the chase, but he and Ms. Parker end up locked inside of a warehouse and…well, there's some arguing, some anger, and maybe something more.

Author's Note: Um, I made up the pretend in New York that Jarod mentions in here. Realistically, he had to have done far more pretends than we know about. Hope the concept isn't too farfetched. I personally think that Jarod would make a very funny mime…but my humor is often lost on others.

Trapped In A Box

By Bec-Bec

Chapter 2

Penlights On Hidden Maps

"Syd, what do you mean the building is owned by the Centre?"

"Look, the address of this building is printed next to the Centre logo."

"Do you think the Centre set this up to hurt Ms. Parker?"

"I don't know, with the Centre, anything is possible. They may just be holding her here to keep her from finding something else that is going on."

"You mean a diversion."

"Yes, it wouldn't be unlike the Centre. It resembles the time that they locked down the Centre to attempt to murder Mr. Parker."

"So, what are we going to do?"

"Well, I suppose we'll have to check the Centre's databases to see what's going on."

"Okay, but Syd, there's no power on these computers."

"Well, I suppose we'll have to find the electricity breaker."

"Um, where's that?"

"How should I know, Broots?"

"Lucky guess?"

"I presume that it's in the basement of the building, but obviously, we've been sealed out of the building."

Sam, who had been standing silently by the door during this entire exchange, suddenly interjected, "Excuse me, sirs, but there's a map of the warehouse on that wall over there." He pointed to a rather large color-coded map on the back wall of the office. The light coming from the doorway just happened to fall in a line across a bright red marker, which said, "you are here."

"Thank you, Sam," Sydney said to the sweeper. Then, he turned back to Broots and raised his eyebrows at him. Broots just blushed a little and ducked his head. Sydney pulled a small penlight out of his shirt pocket, "Here, Broots."

Broots took the penlight and he and Sydney investigated the map.

The warehouse had three levels, one above ground, and two below.

"Syd, what kind of work do you think the Centre does here?"

"If they wanted someone to know, I'm sure they would have put up a big sign declaring what their purpose was. I didn't even know the Centre had a building in Los Angeles. I know we've got facilities in London, Tokyo, and Dublin, and there were rumors of branches in Australia and Germany, but I assumed Blue Cove was the only office in America."

Sam cleared his throat, "Actually, there's a sign on the front of the building that says Chief Shipping on it."

This time, Broots raised his eyebrows at Sydney who simply glared back at him.

"Thank you, Sam," Sydney answered.

Broots returned his eyes to the map, "A shipping company as a front, how unoriginal. You know, there are about a million movies in which shipping companies are used to illegally smuggle things into the country and…"

Sydney cut Broots off, "Broots, what does the map say?"

"Well, there are seven entrances into the building."

"I only remember seeing five doors."

"That's because one is a roof access door and the other is an underground entry."

"Underground? Where?"

Broots walked into the center of the room and pulled back a plastic mat on the floor, "Right here."

"Okay, Sam, you check the roof access door and Broots and I will investigate this entrance."

Sam exited the office and Broots pulled on the handle of the trap door, but it wouldn't budge. "Syd, it won't open."

"Perhaps it's locked," he leaned down to give Broots a hand, and after some very forceful pulling, the door opened.

There was a soft glow of red light coming from below, which just barely illuminated the rungs of a ladder. Broots leaned in, stuck his head through the hole, and pointed the penlight around, but the ladder went down too far and the penlight was too weak to reveal what exactly the black depth concealed.

Broots gulped, "Well, here we go." He lowered himself into the hole and began climbing down the ladder. His hands were sweaty, and his hands slipped as he nervously went farther and farther down into the blackness.

Sydney watched as the younger man receded into the murkiness, and followed him closely, making sure that the door was propped open and wasn't going to slam shut on them.

When they reached the bottom, they could see that the red light was an emergency back-up powered light. The walls of the corridor were made of large grey stones. It smelled faintly of mold, and there was a barely audible dripping noise in the background. The corridor extended in both directions, but they went down the one which went in the direction of the warehouse.

Broots wondered what was concealed at the other end of the hall, but decided it was better not to investigate, who knows what he may have found. Thoughts of horror movies involving Frankenstein-like creatures hidden in dungeons came to mind, and he shivered at the thought. He wouldn't put it past some of the people who worked at the Centre to create monsters, not after what he'd seen over the years.

They walked about a hundred feet before they came across a door. Broots turned the knob and the door gave way easily. Inside of the small room, the walls were covered with circuit breakers, covered with little switches and various colored wires. There was another door on the other side of the room, but it was one of the doors which had sealed shut when the alarm went off, and when Sydney pulled on the handle, it wouldn't budge.

"Well, Broots, it looks like all we can do for now is turn the power back on."

Broots was already examining the panels with the miniscule amount of light that the penlight could muster, "Uh, Syd, these wires were cut. The lights didn't go off when the alarm did."

"What do you mean?"

"Someone definitely wanted Ms. Parker trapped in this warehouse."

"I wonder why? Can you fix it?"

"I can try, but these wires are tricky, if they aren't twisted together correctly, the whole system can completely go out and never start up again."

"Broots, you've done this a million times, I have complete faith that you know what you are doing."

Broots didn't look as sure as Sydney did, but began to gather together the cut wires. He pulled out the multi-use pocketknife he always carried with him, and flipped out the little set of pliers. He began connecting red to red, green to green, yellow to yellow, blue to blue, white to white, and black to black, but he ended up with three yellow wires.
"Uh oh."

"What?" Syd questioned.

"There are three yellow wires."

Sydney frowned, "Well, I guess you'll just have to pick two."

"I don't understand how this happens. Every time I try to reconnect wires, there's always an extra one. Who wired these buildings? Why on earth would you need a wire that doesn't do anything?"
"I don't know, Broots. I suppose it's one of the great mysteries of the world."

"You mean like how when you wash socks, four socks go in, and only three come back out? What happened to the other sock? Did the washing machine eat it, or…"

Sydney cut Broots off, "Broots, we can discuss the mysteries of the world another time. I know that you don't want to incur Ms. Parker's wrath when she discovers you've left her in there any longer than she has to be because you wanted to talk about socks."

"Right," Broots turned his attention back to the wires. "Eenie meenie minie moe, oh, screw it." He twisted two of the wires together randomly and squeezed his eyes shut, preparing for the oncoming explosion, but nothing happened. A whirring noise started as the ventilation fans kicked back on, and the lights flickered on, one by one. "Hah, it must be my lucky day."

"Good job, Broots," Sydney patted him on the back. Then, he walked over to the sealed door and pulled on the handle again. The door still didn't budge.

"The doors must be on a different system," Broots commented, "We'll have to check from the computers in the security office."

The two men exited the little room and walked back into the corridor. Now that the power was back on, you could see a variety of pipes running along the ceiling of the hall. One of them had a leak and the water trickling out of it had left a mossy trail on the left-hand wall. When they came back to the ladder, the door on top was flipped shut.

"Syd, I thought you propped that door open."

"I did."

Broots crawled up the ladder and pushed against the door, but it wouldn't move. "Uh, Syd, I think we're gonna be here for a while." He climbed back down the ladder. "Did I mention that I don't like being in enclosed spaces for long periods of time?"

"I never knew you were claustrophobic."

"Um, yah, well, I am."

Sydney sighed, "I don't know what's going on, but I certainly hope that Ms. Parker is okay."

****

Inside of the Warehouse

Jarod stroked Ms. Parker's bare back as she slept with her head resting on his chest.

He couldn't believe everything had happened so fast. Ms. Parker had agreed to leave the Centre for him, something he never believed she would do. And now, here they were. They had made love in a warehouse, not his choice of a romantic backdrop, but he'd take Parker anyway and anywhere she would let him have her. Her eyelids fluttered in her sleep.

"Parker," Jarod whispered. He didn't receive a reply, so he leaned down and kissed the top of her head. Then he moved his lips close to her ear, "Parker."

She moved her hand until her fingers found his and laced them through each other, "I heard you before," she mumbled.

"Oh, good, I'm hungry. Do you want something to eat?"

"Mmm…" she didn't open her eyes, "Sure, as long as it's not just pez, pop tarts and ice cream."

"Oh, Parker, that's the best stuff to eat."

"It has no nutritional value whatsoever."

"So? It tastes good. Wait, I forgot, the refrigerator power probably went out when the power turned off."

Ms. Parker opened her eyes and propped her chin up on his chest so she could look at him, "Oh yah, I forgot we were locked in here."

Jarod frowned, "Me too," he reached up the hand that wasn't held in hers and brushed some of her hair back behind her ear, "I suppose we should investigate."

Ms. Parker smiled at him, " I suppose so."

She rolled over, letting go of Jarod's hand, and grabbed one of Jarod's shirts off of the floor, "Mind if I borrow this? It's more comfortable than my suit and it smells so much better."

"Nope, go ahead. But, I think you smell amazing."

"Hah." She slipped the shirt over her head and looked down at the picture silk-screened on the front, "Hmm…Mighty Mouse."

"Yah, I got that while I was on a pretend in New York."

"Which one was that?"

"I think I left you a box of Sugar O's and a color change spoon from that Pretend," Jarod said as he pulled his boxers and jeans on.

"Ah, one of your many gifts meant to remind me of the little girl trapped inside fighting to get out."

"Exactly. Plus, the spoon was really fun."

"What did you do on that pretend?"

"I was a mime in the park. A hot dog vender had been selling drugs to kids and a mime in the park had found out. The mime ended up in the hospital with severe head trauma and I took it upon myself to enact some revenge on the hot dog vender."

"Always the crusader for the little guy. How'd you get him?"

"The same way he got the mime. A little snip snip," he gestured like scissors cutting, "and something actually fell on him."

"Ooh, what'd you drop? A piano?"

"How would I drop a piano?"

"Never mind, it's just old cartoons. Would you happen to have some pants I could borrow? It's kind of cold in here."

Jarod ruffled through his duffel bag and pulled out a pair of black silk pajama pants. He tossed them over to Parker.

"Mmm, nice. How is it you own pajamas that are nicer than mine?"

"You own nice pajamas."

"How would you know?"

"I've watched you when you were sleeping before."

Ms. Parker stood there, looking stunned, "Wh-when?" It wasn't that she felt her privacy had been invaded, but that she was shocked he would have come that close the Centre just to watch her sleep.

"Whenever I was feeling particularly lonely or I sensed you were in danger."

"How could you tell when I was in danger?"

"It was just a feeling, I would close my eyes, and I would feel that something bad was going to happen to you."

Ms. Parker was silent as she pulled on the pajama pants and walked over to Jarod, "Thank you," she whispered as she picked up his hand and kissed his fingertips.

"Anytime, Parker, anytime." He pulled her to him and kissed her softly on the lips and then on the neck.

"Ah, come one," she pulled away, laughing, "Otherwise, we'll never get out of here."

"Sounds okay to me."

Ms. Parker feigned shock, "You'd stay trapped in a box just to be with me?"

"As long as the box isn't the Centre and I've got you with me, I'm just fine."

They smiled at each other.

Ms. Parker tried to put on a serious face, "Now, what do we know?"

"Well, I was just about to leave the building when an alarm went off. I assumed it was the Centre's doing and decided I'd ask you one more time if you'd leave, before I pulled my final vanishing act."

"Right, and I ran in, with Sydney, Broots, Sam, and two other sweepers in toe. Ah hah," her head snapped up, "Sydney and Broots will be trying to get me out."

As if on signal, the lights in the building turned back on.

Ms. Parker smiled, "You've got to hand it to them, they're devoted."

"Well, can I let them see me here with you?"

A frown came to Ms. Parker's face, "I don't know." She sighed, "That was the problem all along, what kind of repercussions am I facing when I disappear with you?"

Jarod frowned too, "Parker, don't regret making this choice."

"I wouldn't ever," she assured him.

"Good. Now, who do we know that would want to lock you or me into a building?"

"The Centre," they both answered.

"Ah, yes," Jarod continued, "But who at the Centre and why would they do it?"

"Who's behind everything at the Centre?" Ms. Parker asked.

"Raines," they again answered simultaneously.

Author's Note: I'll explain how Jarod ended up in a building owned by the Centre as soon as I decide why that is. I'm still not sure where this is going, but it's easy to pin everything on Raines. Somehow, he always comes out to be the bad guy…which is moderately interesting, considering he sent Ms. Parker and Jarod that picture of their mother's together in "Pretender 2001". But, was that just so that he could get them to find the scrolls, or was it something else? And, why did he say "my children?" The writers were never aiming in the direction of Jarod and Ms. Parker being brother and sister, so what deranged thought does Raines have? Also, in the last episode, "The Inner Sense," how did Ms. Parker get on the train? If Jarod boarded on the last car and walked through every car to get to where Ethan was, wouldn't he have seen her if she were there? Just one more question, when the airplane crashes in Morocco in "IOTH" and Jarod escapes, where did he escape from? Wouldn't he have had to go out through a door on the plane? Ms. Parker was in the passenger area; she would have seen him. Did she let him go? If you have any answers to these questions that I've had burning in my head for the last year, please tell me what they are. Also, Please Review!!! Even if it's just to say that I've confused you with this extremely long Author's Note.

On a special note to Sauron 764, I'm not sure if I'm gonna involve the scrolls in this fic, but my one titled The Truth Is Waiting, also currently in progress, is all about the scrolls. Check it out.