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.
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: And now the fun begins, Raines finally showed up, yay! Everybody knows how much his presence is NOT appreciated. We'll just see where this chapter goes because I don't even know yet, Cheerio! (Wonderful British saying, don't you think?) Bonne Chance! (Good luck in French, a most wonderful language) Love Ya! (Standard Bec-Bec line from not-so-sunny-right-now California)
Trapped In A Box
By Bec-Bec
Chapter 9
Daddy's Home, Let's Blow His Top
"What have you ever done for us?" Jarod said, a dark expression hardening the features of his face. He was already in the process of SIMming how to get out of this newest predicament.
Raines ignored Jarod's comment, focusing his cold gaze on Ms. Parker, "This has all made for very interesting watching."
Ms. Parker answered with her usual disdain toward Raines, "Oh I'm sure it was a wonderful Friday night rental. Did you enjoy the view? Have a nice bag of popcorn?"
Raines pained smile was replaced by his only other facial expression, coldness. "Tell me, Ms. Parker, how long have your alliances been with the Centre's botched Lab Rat?"
"That's none of your business."
"My children are my business."
"We are not your children, you sick bastard," Ms. Parker said through gritted teeth. She wanted to run up the stairs and punch his smug face in, but Willie would have had a gun trained on her in a second and she didn't want to risk anything without a signal from Jarod. She could tell he was SIMming how they would get out, she'd wait until he had found the safest way to exit this dilemma.
"I created you, both of you. You have no control over your miserable existences. Everything that's happened has been a product of my exquisite planning. Look at you two, the Centre's left over science project and the Chairmen's useless emotional daughter, I hope you enjoyed your time together, you won't be getting anymore."
In a bold action that surprised even him, Broots ran to the wall, grabbed a fire extinguisher, and managed to pop the top off of the pressurized container, causing it to fly through the air directly towards Raines face.
Willie let off a shot in the chaos as he threw himself in front of the rocketing fire extinguisher. Jarod jumped protectively in the direction of Ms. Parker, knocking her to the floor and covering her body with his own to protect her against the gunshot.
Luckily, the shot was aimed too wildly and ended up soaring high, shattering the glass of an industrial lamp hanging from the ceiling of the warehouse and sending the fixture plummeting toward the floor. Jarod rolled himself and Ms. Parker out from under the path of where it would fall.
As the lamp crashed to the floor, Jarod looked down into Ms. Parker's face to make sure she was okay.
Reading the look in his eyes, she merely nodded a response that she was okay.
Jarod pulled himself and Ms. Parker up from the floor and gestured for Sydney and Broots to follow him as he grabbed Ms. Parker's hand, closed up his laptop and seized his DSA case and duffel bag. They ran for the office that Broots and Sydney had entered the building through.
Once they were all inside of the office, Jarod put his things down and he and Broots flipped the desk in front of the door to buy themselves a little time.
"Jarod, there's no way out of here, what are you doing?" Sydney asked.
"Actually, this is the only way out," Jarod stated confidently.
Broots started to panic, his sudden adrenaline rush beginning to wane, "Oh my god, we're trapped. I can feel the room getting smaller already. I feel like I'm trapped in a pillbox…oh pills, I wish I had some right now, I'd knock myself out, hey, do you hear that knocking noise, noise it's so noisy…"
Broots' crazy ramble came to an end as Ms. Parker slapped Broots softly on the face, "Broots, get a hold of yourself. Now, shh, your obsessive rambling isn't going to get us out of here any faster and I'm sure it's not helping Jarod to concentrate."
"Okay," Broots mumbled.
Ms. Parker gave him a soft smile, "Thanks Broots. We couldn't have done it without you."
Jarod was about to chime in that they could have gotten out fine without Broots, given certain logistics, but why ruin the thought, it obviously made him feel better and calmed him down.
Ms. Parker turned her attention to Jarod, "So, how are we getting out of this one, Houdini?"
Jarod walked over to the door that locked only from the other side, "The doors."
"What? Jarod, they're locked."
"And I'm the number one locksmith," he gave her a cocky grin.
"How can you pick a lock that doesn't have a lock?" Ms. Parker raised one eyebrow skeptically.
"Simple," he turned his attention to Sydney, "Syd, can I have a credit card?"
"Sure," Sydney pulled out his wallet and handed Jarod a credit card.
Jarod began to slide it in the gap between the door and the frame and wiggle it around.
Broots mumbled almost unintelligibly, "I could have done that."
After a minute of maneuvering, the lock slid open, and Jarod stood up holding the door wide open, "After you." He handed the card to Broots, "You do the next one."
Broots nodded in acquiescence as he and Sydney moved through the door. Ms. Parker came up and stood in front of Jarod, letting the others get ahead a little.
"Thanks for saving me," she stared intently at him, letting him get lost in the beauty of her eyes.
"Thank me later," Jarod answered huskily. He tucked some of her hair behind her ear and was just about to kiss her when someone started thrashing against the barricaded door. "Come on." He pulled Ms. Parker by her arm, sending her down the stairs in front of him, before turning back just a moment to grab all of his things again. The door closed behind them and snapped back into place.
Broots just got the door open as they approached, and then they were back in the labyrinth.
Ms. Parker and Jarod walked down the hallway they had entered slowly, gazing into each of the rooms.
"What is it?" Ms. Parker asked in slight astonishment.
"We're not sure, but it resembles simulation sets," Sydney answered.
As they came in front of the living room set, Jarod was hit by a strange feeling of déjà vu. He had a feeling he'd been here before.
Ms. Parker saw the look come to his face and became worried, "What's wrong, Jarod?"
"I think I've been here before, "Jarod replied slowly, trying to grasp at the flashes of pictures that started to run through his head and place them in some synchronicity of the events from the past.
Sydney's brow furrowed, "Jarod, we never worked in this SIM lab before."
"No, but Raines and I did." The one picture that came through the clearest was an image of Raines smiling wickedly.
****
The Warehouse SIM Lab, 1979
Jarod was about nineteen years old and, despite his mature age, was desperately upset at the thought of the week he had to get through without Sydney. As he did every year, Sydney had left on a week's vacation. Jarod wouldn't have minded so much if it meant that he got a break as well, but, instead, it meant that he had to continue his simulations with Mr. Raines.
The particular simulation that Jarod was working on stunned and scared him…something about it was familiar to him…or maybe it was just the fact that Raines stared at him the entire time…and sometimes put the smoldering ends of his cigarettes against Jarod's flesh, burning little circles onto his body.
With Jarod's build, he could have easily taken the older man. However, then he would have had to deal with the sweepers. Raines' sweepers, Thor and Gard, were ex-heavy weights and they could have crushed Jarod in seconds if need be. So, he was stuck complying to Raines every demand…even when his gut told him not to trust a thing the man said.
Supposedly, Jarod was simulating the kidnapping of a young girl, playing the part of the kidnaper. His job was to figure out how the girl was abducted without the girl's parents noticing and without making any noise.
He was given black clothing to wear, as well as a ski mask.
The simulation started off to the side of a room set up to resemble a living room. The first thing he was supposed to do was enter the house through a window, which had been set up along the left part of the set.
"I enter through the window along the west side of the house. It's late, everyone is asleep. I'm afraid the window may make a noise as I push it open, it's old and doesn't move easily. So, I work slow, easing it open. Before I climb through, I make sure I haven't left any footprints in the mud on the ground, it will be one of the first things the police would look for. I climb onto the window sill and wipe off my shoes to avoid tracking mud into the house." Jarod paused in his actions and turned toward Mr. Raines. "Are you sure the kidnapper wore these kinds of shoes? They'd be too noisy once he got into the house," he said as he looked down at the cleats they had given him to wear, obviously because of the mud.
"Jarod, those are exactly the shoes that the kidnaper wore. If he did it without making any noise, you can too. Continue the simulation," Raines said cruelly.
Jarod moved his mouth into a firm line as he gritted his teeth and then continued. "I slide through the window, leaving it open, and walk slowly toward the stairs. The carpet helps to cushion the noise from my shoes, but I walk slowly anyway. I make my way up the stairs and I enter the girl's room. Her bed is facing the window because she likes to wake up and look at the sky. She's restless, she knows something's about to happen. I walk over and place a hand over her mouth, my other arm grabs a hold of her wrists and lifts her from the bed. Her eyes are full of terror as she stares at me, but her scream can't be heard through my hand because it's too big over her small mouth." Jarod paused again. "How old is she? She's not really a little girl anymore. She looks like she's fourteen."
"Her age is unimportant, continue the simulation," Raines growled.
"She struggles in my hands, she's rather strong. I slap her across the face, I'll make her come easily. I must have slapped her too hard because she doesn't move. I check her pulse, she's okay. I lift her in my arms and exit the room. As I walk down the stairs I see how pretty she is and wonder why they want her. I wonder how such a girl could be so important to them. I'm actually worried about what they'll do to her. Maybe I shouldn't take her." Jarod stopped in his tracks. "Who wants her, Mr. Raines? What could they want to do with her?"
"That has nothing to do with this simulation, tell me how he manages to get out silently, still wearing the cleats, with this added weight." Mr. Raines eyes widened in anger. "If you stop again, we're going to have to take a trip to SL27," he hissed menacingly.
Jarod hated SL27, that's where Raines hurt him. He continued the simulation.
"I can't keep looking at her or I'll want to put her back. I throw her over my shoulder and carry her down the stairs and through the living room. It's slower this time. With her weight added, my footsteps are heavier and harder to muffle in the carpet. It takes almost twenty minutes to reach the window. I'm worried about the amount of time it's taken, perhaps my rendezvous partner has left. I place the girl on the floor for a moment and pull out my walkie-talkie. I tell the person on the other end that I'm on my way. They must be there because I slip it back on my belt and pick up the girl again. I can't climb through the window with her, so I have to go first. Once I'm on the outside, I lean through to pull her with me. Only, my walkie-talkie gets stuck. I feel the resistance. I don't move, until I realize I can cut the walkie-talkie out of its loop on my belt. I move my arm slowly and pull out my pocketknife. I slice through the material and the walkie-talkie falls onto the carpet, silently. I think I hear a footstep, so I pull the girl through the window quickly, placing her on the ground, away from the mud, and close the window. I forget the walkie-talkie as I hurry to ease the window shut without making noise. I cover my tracks in the mud with some leaves that have gathered nearby. I pick the girl up again and we make it to the rendezvous point."
The SIM ended and the lights in the room came back on.
"Jarod, if he were to do this again, how could he manage to not leave the walkie-talkie behind?"
"Did he do it again, Mr. Raines?"
"That's irrelevant. If he were to do it again, how would he manage to not leave it behind," Raines repeated spitefully.
"He could put it on another part of his belt, though, it would be a hindrance if it was on the back of the belt and it can't be anywhere on the front because it will get caught again. He can't put it in a backpack because that would also make his travel harder. I'd suggest that he finds a way to make a smaller model that will fit easily into his back pocket."
Raines eyes lit up ever so slightly, "Good, tomorrow you will work on replicating this small walkie-talkie."
"Mr. Raines, why would someone want to steal young girls like this? Are they okay?"
"The girls' wellbeing is none of your concern."
"So, he did do it again. You said girls'."
Raines face tensed into a horrible despising look as he realized his mistake in speaking, "Forget about the girls."
"But I want to know if they're okay. Maybe we can help them."
"You already have Jarod, by giving us this simulation," Raines lied, he wasn't any good at it.
"I don't believe you, you're lying. We should help them, that's what I do I help people."
Raines was incensed at his point in time and had Thor and Gard carry Jarod away as he fought against them saying that he wanted to help the girls.
Just before they had pulled Jarod from the room, Raines turned to him and smiled wickedly, "You've already helped them, Jarod, they're just like you."
Jarod didn't understand and was pulled from the room before he could reply.
****
The labyrinth under the warehouse
Ms. Parker shook Jarod back into the present as his mind concluded it's journey through the past, "Jarod, are you okay?"
Jarod's mouth trembled and his eyes were full of tears that he wouldn't let fall, "They used me to kidnap children like me…"
Ms. Parker pulled Jarod to her and hugged him close, "Shh it's okay, it wasn't your fault."
Jarod wrapped his arms around her and let her run her fingers through his hair comfortingly.
It had only taken him a little while to pull the event from the recesses of his mind. But, he could still feel that there was something more to the situation, that's what worried him the most. The little girl had looked so familiar. Then it hit him, in 1979, his sister was probably fourteen…what if he had helped them to kidnap Emily in the past.
"Oh my god," he whispered against Ms. Parker's arm, "I think I helped them kidnap Emily."
Author's Note: My mind is suddenly spinning through all of the directions I can take this story now. Thank God! I hate being stuck without ideas. Anyway, I hope the trip through the past worked okay, it's hard to make up a SIM. For all of you Parker and Jarod fans, don't worry, I've got more for them coming up. In other words, Gina don't kill me, more romance is on the way, I just have to keep the story moving before I slip back into the lovey dovey scenes. Thanks to everyone for reading I hope this new twist with Emily is interesting…I've got plans now. If you have any ideas to further the story along, I'd greatly appreciate hearing them. Thanks SO much for reading! Please send along a review!!! Reviews help so much! Love Ya All!!!