Disclaimer: Please see Part I for the usual statements
Author's note: Please give me some feedback & let me know how you like this part.
Memory Ronin
Part XI
By Callisto
Jarod's family home
Franconia, NH
The picnic was in full swing. Everyone was gathered around a large shade tree talking and joking. Jarod, fulfilling a promise, was using Parker as a model to show Trent some martial arts moves. Jarod had Parker twisted in a wristlock demonstrating how this gave him limited control through incapacitation and pain.
"Miss Parker, have you ever been in this position before?" Trent asked amusedly.
"Only in demonstrations, anyone who would allow themselves to get caught like this is an idiot," she replied a little hotly.
"Now Parker, where is that feisty spirit you're so famous for? If you think you can extricate yourself then go ahead," Jarod replied smoothly.
Just as she was about to answer him with a smart quip, Margaret, who was thoroughly sick of hearing that particular surname, spoke instead, "Wait a minute, Miss Parker, I'm sorry. I hate your name, probably because of the associations that go with it. I remember your mother called you by your first name all the time. Please, calling you 'Parker' irritates the daylights out of me."
Parker stared at her with a little surprise in her eyes. Again she was on the verge of answering when Jarod's voice stopped her.
"That's a wonderful idea. I've gotten so used to calling you Parker, I'd forgotten you told me your first name. Now Maggie, were you about to say something?"
Smiling at the cheeky smirk in his voice, she kicked him swiftly in the shin. He immediately released her and leaped away from the possibility of further assault.
"Is your name Margaret also?" Emily asked with startled curiosity.
Straightening her clothes, she answered, "No, that's the nickname Jarod gave me when we were kids. My first name is Magdalena. My mother insisted on it and my father who didn't want to seem weak by giving in, insisted on everyone calling me Parker."
The major smiled happily and said, "I like it and since I never liked your father, Maggie it is."
The soft, ringing burr of her cell phone precluded her answering comment. Answering the phone, she immediately switched languages and spoke in rapid-fire Japanese.
Otsu Compound—Winter 1974
Mie Prefecture, Japan
In the morning, Parker was in a great deal of pain. She was incapable of rolling over at all. The thought of paralysis frightened her for a moment until she forced her legs to move. A brilliant smile lit her face as she felt her legs squirm under the heavy comforter.
"You should remain still. Oishi-san will bring you some medicinal tea to drink. It should prevent you from developing an infection and help you sleep." Sensei Otsu's deep mellow voice filled the room. He was sitting leaning against the wall at the foot of her bed and out of her line of sight.
"Thank you, Sensei. I apologize for making you so angry last night. Oishi-san was correct, I should have known better," Parker said apologetically. She realized she must have dosed off because she hadn't seen Sensei enter her large and austerely beautiful bedroom.
"Why? Why were you kissing this boy in the garden? You are so young now, there will be plenty of time for boys when you are older, what is the rush?" he asked tightly.
"I like him and he likes me. I want him to be one of the three, I didn't think that would be too much to ask," Parker replied quietly.
"He is at least four years older than you. He is taking advantage and I will put a stop to it!"
"No! Please, Sensei punish me all you want, don't take Naizen away." In her distress, Parker rose half way up before falling back on the bed in exhaustion, sweat beading on her brow.
Mrs. Oishi hearing the argument quietly walked to the doorway and listened. When Parker attempted to get up, Mrs. Oishi entered the room and glared angrily at Sensei Otsu.
"She is in no shape to argue, please leave her to me," Oishi-san said in an impassive tone of voice. Kneeling next to Parker, Oishi-san placed a heavily laden tray complete with teapot, cups, rice and miso soup on the hardwood floor.
Watching as Mrs. Oishi deliberately poured tea for his student, Sensei Otsu rose to his feet. Before he left the room, he looked down at his protégé and said, "I have no intentions of punishing you. I understand your motivations and disapprove of your actions. We will discuss this further once you are able to sit up on your own."
Looking at Parker after the Sensei's departure, Mrs. Oishi explained in a quiet voice, "Flower, he sees you in a slightly unrealistic light. You are his dutiful and talented student and not someone who is afflicted with normal emotions and needs."
Parker asked with growing fear, "Do you think Sensei will send me back home? I don't want to go back now. I don't want to lose you or him; you are the only ones who have made me feel like you don't mind having me around. Perhaps Sensei will let me apologize and explain, I don't want him to think less of me."
"Calm yourself, Flower. I will have a talk with Sensei; don't worry. You won't be going anywhere if I have anything to say about it," Oishi-san said as she gently stroked the girl's soft hair. Sympathy filled her heart at the obvious distress Flower was feeling.
Several hours later, Mrs. Oishi presented herself at Sensei Otsu's office chamber. She wanted to explain a few things to him and had waited until she knew she had her emotions tightly controlled. Once she knew she had his complete attention she began, "Master, Flower is very unhappy knowing she has disappointed you."
"Perhaps her fear of disappointing me will prevent her from developing alarming and harmful habits," he said carefully watching his housekeeper's face.
"Flower is a proud, joyful, dutiful soul. She would rather die than to disappoint you. She will never admit to it but she views you as a surrogate father, someone who cares about her happiness and welfare," Mrs. Oishi said calculatingly.
"You have a reason for saying this, I presume. I had hoped that you would be able to guide her towards a moral and respectable path, was I incorrect?"
Taking a covertly deep and cleansing breath, Mrs. Oishi wisely paused before answering. Once she knew her impatience with his ignorance had passed she continued, "We are both fully aware of her beauty and the effects it will have on her life as well as those around her. With that in mind I have given Flower a formula to follow and since her mother is dead, I have taken up the duty of guiding Flower very seriously. She will not be used as I have seen done to others like her."
"Tell me, what is this formula you have given her? She mentioned something about three. Is this part of your formula?" he asked curiously. He was starting to feel ashamed at questioning Oishi-san's commitment to the child. Her comment, about Parker-san viewing him as a surrogate father, filled his heart with love and pride. He couldn't have hoped for a more perfect daughter.
"I have told her to consider her sexuality as seriously as she takes her training. She will limit herself to three lovers in her life; apparently she has chosen this Hideaki Naizen to be the first of her chosen. She is a thoughtful, careful child, she chose him for a good reason but most importantly it was her decision. Please do not interfere. I suspect she has already experienced the pangs of a first love. I believe his name is Jarod and this boy doesn't realize he owns her heart. Until she can come to terms with her feelings for this Jarod her heart will be forever tethered. She understands this; her intelligence is remarkable and excellent. When she decides to begin intimate relations she will be of the proper age and it will be with a carefully selected partner. "
Sensei Otsu listened to this explanation thoroughly. Every inflection and stray expression, which escaped Oishi-san's iron control, was noticed and weighed against her words. Sensei remained silent for a time before answering.
"Thank you for your complete explanation. I will not interfere and will drop the matter entirely. I will tell Parker-san that she is free to choose her own companions and that I am depending on her using her good sense to choose wisely." Sensei Otsu met Mrs. Oishi's eyes veiling his inner emotions completely.
Mrs. Oishi having accomplished what she had wanted bowed deeply and rose to take her leave. As she reached the door, Sensei Otsu decided he didn't want Parker-san's chief advisor to leave his office with so little after expending so much effort.
"Oishi-san, Flower has become the most precious thing in my life. Her remaining family is useless and corrupt. They will use her and emotionally abuse her but now I feel more confident that between the two of us, she will have all the tools she needs to persevere. I am not her natural father but apparently I am not immune to making the usual and typical mistakes. Thank you for taking care of my most precious daughter." He rose and returned Oishi-san's bow.
Mrs. Oishi astonished by such an admission from the life-long bachelor bowed again and quickly slipped out of the room before he could see the tears of gratitude slip quietly down her cheeks.
Jarod's family home
Franconia, NH
Parker continued speaking into the cell phone, oblivious to the wondering looks on the faces of Jarod's family.
"Trent, I'm still drawing a blank. They could have hidden the real location anywhere in the world. There must be a way to narrow this search down, I had no idea the Centre had so many different subsidiaries and branches," Ethan said abstractedly as he paged through the laptop computer.
Turning to the older version of himself, Trent said, "Have you tried asking her anyway? You never know, she might have an idea where they keep the real lab."
Jarod, rolling his eyes realized the only way to appease Trent was to ask Parker in front of him. In a loud voice he called her name several times before finally catching her attention, she asked the caller to hold for a second but didn't remove the small phone from her ear.
"Par—um, sorry Maggie, do you have any idea where the Centre's actual biotech labs are located?" Jarod didn't expect an answer; he honestly didn't believe she knew.
An irritated look suffused her features and distractedly she said, "Yeah, in Hamilton, DE." She returned to the cell phone and continued with her conversation.
Her answer caused almost everyone to pause. Ethan started rapidly typing on the laptop.
"Bingo. Here we go, there is a facility there and get this they process hazardous materials on site," Ethan said with a note of triumph in his voice.
Jarod's jaw clinched reflexively as he stared off into space. He glanced at his father then turning, looked at his lover.
Sensing a change in the atmosphere she turned to see what had caused it. Everyone's eyes were on her and as her eyes settled on the disturbed expression in Jarod's face she figured something from her past must have slithered it's way out of Ethan's computer.
The caller on the phone was saying something to her and she recalled her attention to the important conversation she was having with Hideaki. He was telling her that he had finished making preparations for her visit. Hideaki was in the middle of asking her opinion on an important detail about their plans on subverting Lyle's grotesque desires for Asian women, when Jarod tried to grab the phone from her.
In a slick move, she tossed the phone in the air, bent down and swept Jarod's feet from under him. Catching him by the shirt before his head could hit the ground, she reached up snatched the phone from the air and sat down on top of Jarod straddling his body. Without missing a beat she asked Hideaki to repeat what he had said. Laughing delightedly she explained what she had done to Jarod and listened with great amusement at Hideaki's remonstrations. When she last pulled that move on Hideaki, she had just graduated from college.
"Parker! What the Hell is going on?!" Jarod asked in a loud angry voice.
Finally Jarod succeeded in gaining her complete attention. Suddenly she recalled telling him where the Centre's biotech facility was located and fully understood the source of his anger. She gingerly stood up and offered her hand to Jarod which he ignored and got off the ground without her assistance. She walked cautiously away from him, an intensely interested look of saddened fear had settled in her eyes.
The lover's stared at each other mutely. Jarod was the first to speak, "You should have told me. You knew I was looking for the facility, you know what they are doing."
Parker slowly licked her lips as her heart constricted in her chest. She blinked once and looking away from the angry glare Jarod was giving her she said in English into the phone, "It appears I'm going to be needing those preparations of yours a little sooner than I expected. I believe I've just worn out my welcome," she said grimly. Nodding and struggling to keep back the tears which started to sting her eyes, she listened to Hideaki's instructions. After a few seconds, she thanked her old friend who then asked her a question.
"No, I'm okay, really. I opened my big mouth and got what I deserved. With my past, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I'll see you in a few days." She abruptly ended the call and turned her now dry eyes on Jarod.
"Why? Why did you do this?" Jarod repeated heatedly.
A disbelieving expression came to her face as she smiled cynically to herself shaking her head. Shoving her cell phone into her jeans pocket she looked at the man she had always hoped to love openly. A deep pain seared her being as she forced the loss of that hope from her mind; her voice shook with emotion despite her resolve.
"The Hamilton facility is a high-tech, heavily guarded compound. There is no way you would be able to get in and out without being immediately detected. Call me stupid but genius or not you won't be able to breach security without getting killed or worse," she replied adding a touch of anger to her own voice.
"It was my decision to make. You had no right making any decisions for me, that's been done to me my entire life. You know how important this is," he stated, his anger overruling his hurt feelings.
"Another moment of weakness," she said in self-depreciating humor. "I've grown very attached to you. The thought of sending you to your death was more than a little unattractive."
"I can take care of myself. There isn't a facility the Centre has established that I haven't been able to break into. I was responsible for developing most of the security protocols that are in place!" Jarod was almost beside himself in anger as he started pacing in an effort to calm down.
"The security protocols you put in place have since been completely revamped," she replied wearily. The disgusted look on his face made her heart sink further but she continued, "The sweepers you saw me with in Pennsylvania were Lyle's little pets. They were practically useless; didn't you wonder why I had so many idiots dancing around out there?
"The sweepers guarding Hamilton make Sam look like Pollyanna. They are combat trained, Hell a few of the most elite military units in this country were trying to recruit some of them while they were still in training. I know all this because I had to sit in on one of their seminars while I was still working Corporate security. If anything happens to you…" she concluded sadly unable to verbally continue the sentence.
Hearing her words and the emotion behind them made Jarod pause. He was fully aware of his own feelings towards her and made sure she knew how he felt, but she had never expressed her own feelings for him in words. Her last sentence pushed his anger into the back of his mind. This was the closest she had come to admitting she loved him. Testing his suspicions he pushed at her a bit.
"From your phone conversation, it sounds like you're ready to leave. When did you plan on telling me?"
"When you got tired of me. I didn't expect anything between us to last this long," she said miserably.
"Call whomever you were talking to and tell him you're not leaving," he said challengingly.
Parker closed her eyes resignedly. What she really needed right now was for him to hold her. Realizing that wasn't likely going to happen she said in a quiet voice, "No. I'm not going to hang around here while you and your father commit suicide by trying to breach Hamilton. What do you care if I'm here or not? Your genetic material is more important than me anyway," she countered shrewdly. Two could play this 'push-your-lover-into-an-admission' game.
"You know that's not true. Where are you planning on going?" he replied determinedly.
"I'm going home. I need to be somewhere people like me and don't see me as a scheming monster who withholds important information so people they learn to care about can't get themselves killed," she answered angrily.
"I'm going with you," he declared resolutely.
"What are you talking about? You're sperm is more important than anything I'm doing!" she replied as her anger began to mount.
Wanting to break the wall she was starting to reconstruct to protect herself from him, Jarod said with humor, utterly ignoring the complete interest his family was having in their argument. "Yes, you're right; I'm being selfish. However, I'm willing to share, want some?" He said with a quick lift of his eyebrows and a small lascivious smile.
His comment caught her off guard, causing her to laugh abruptly. She refrained from voicing the rejoinder Jarod's remark sparked in her mind—fully aware of the attention his family was giving their conversation. Her rakish smile accompanied by a slow, sexy laugh, made him hornier than any skimpy outfit could manage.