Note: I'm basically sticking to what known canon there is regarding The Pretender, although some of this is definitely AU. Because Pretender 2001 occurs immediately after The Inner Sense, I placed it in the year 2000. By this timeline, Island of the Haunted occurs shortly after in 2001, and "Revenge" happens a little after that.
Part I
Chapter One: Day The First
Miss Parker fumbled for the key that would unlock the door to her modestly lavished home. She had lived here since she was a child and could maneuver through it blind if she had to. She probably would. It was dark – she'd stayed at The Centre late tonight because Jarod had hidden his clues well. All they'd manage to find so far was the address to her house, and it wasn't in his handwriting. Mr. Raines had made her Broots, Sydney, Lyle, and a couple of Sweepers stay until he was sure they couldn't find anything else. By the time she'd returned from the nowhere in Maryland – the name of the small town currently escaped her – it had been nearly 4:00 P.M. She'd had a couple shots before returning to empty her office of the things she wanted to take home. There, Mr. Raines had detained her and reprimanded her for her incompetence, threatening to hake her off the team. It was the same speech she had heard countless times, and she acknowledged the wheezing man with a snarl as she left slamming the door after her. Traffic had kept her, and her mood had not brightened when premature snow started falling. No, it had not been a good day.
When she finally got the door open, Miss Parker decided she was feeling a bit peckish and turned on the light. Preoccupied, she didn't notice Jarod's unconscious form until she nearly tripped on him while on her way to get some ramen noodles. Smiling, she saw that he was cuffed and that he would be knocked out for a while. The back of his neck had recently stopped bleeding from the withdrawal of a hypodermic needle. When she noticed his bag of belongings to her left, she murmured, "Today is my lucky day." She dug through the identifications cards, DSAs, PEZ dispensers, bag of Fritos, and wallet, isolating his laptop, cell phone, unfinished picture, and red notebook. It was small wonder there hadn't been many clues at his last lair: Jarod's capturer had left it devoid of clues and hid them somewhere else. She looked back at Jarod, wondering how he could have possibly been caught so easily when she spied a small note tucked in his caller which read:
Dear Miss Parker –
I am sure you are glad to have Jarod under your control after so long. Six years! More than half a decade! Some people would have given up. You will have to – someone's gone and caught him for you. Not only that, but he has been sedated since three in the afternoon.
I assume that you have a spare room with easy access to the bathroom. Or rather, I know, having gone through your house. I suggest you chain him to a wall there and move everything out of reach. Just make sure not to give him anything he could possibly use to pick those handcuffs. Don't underestimate him.
You have until midnight which is when the sedation wears off (I gave him a fairly large dose), so go and clean out that room. Be prepared to hold him for a while – Mr. Lyle will be making a bid for power soon, and Jarod is your trump card.
Have fun.
PS. There is another syringe full of sedative in the bag next to you in case you need it.
PPS. You should replace your locks.
Now less certain of what to do, Miss Parker called Sydney.
"Yes?" he answered.
"Come over to my house. Now," Miss Parker said, her voice tight and hung up the phone.
Slightly confused, but hearing the urgency in her voice, Sydney left right away. He hoped the melting slush would not be such a hazard to his driving tonight.
Sydney rang the doorbell. When she did not come, he rang it twice more. Expecting a more prompt response, he yelled her name. "Parker?"
There was a flurry of footsteps, a pause, a small thump, and another small during which Sydney assumed she composed herself. When the door opened suddenly, Sydney studied her face. "Hello, Miss Parker. What seems to be the problem?"
She stuck her head out, looked up and down the street, and hissed, "Come in!"
She withdrew her head and Sydney stepped inside and hung his coat. He watched Miss Parker impatiently tapping her foot and glanced around the room as she shut the door.
Sydney gasped when he saw his former protégé on his side, cuffed and unconscious, and dashed to Jarod's side, all things temporarily forgotten. After several attempts to wake him up failed, Sydney glared at Miss Parker and, not quite thinking clearly, said, "Parker! What have you done to him?!"
Miss Parker became slightly annoyed. "I haven't done anything to him. I was at The Centre all day, remember?" She moved to Jarod's other side and kneeled opposite Sydney. "Now help me move him. He's in the way."
Together, Miss Parker and Sydney put their arms under Jarod's neck and knees and moved him to the spare room Parker had set up. Currently an unfinished study, whose renovation had stopped after Catherine Parker's death, the bare room contained but a lonely bookshelf and a pristine desk and chair set.
When Miss Parker saw Sydney notice the newly installed chain, she expected him to ask her if she really intended to try to hold on to Jarod, and composed an answer in her mind. Instead, Sydney asked her, "Miss Parker? How long have you had that chain?"
On the spot, she stammered out a reply. "I ... I wanted a dog. It'll do for now."
She linked the chain to the middle link in the chain that connected Jarod's feet-cuffs, tightening the screw with a wrench so that there was no way for him to possibly undo it by hand. Taking her tools with her, she left the unconscious man with Sydney.
Sydney looked sorrowfully at Jarod and asked Miss Parker a question. "You're just going to leave him here?"
Looking over her shoulder, Miss Parker gave Sydney a quizzical 'What else?' expression. "Of course."
"Don't you have a blanket or something?" Sydney asked out of concern for Jarod.
With her left hand, she vaguely gestured at a closet situated next to the bathroom. Sydney nodded his thanks and, after rummaging through the closet for a few minutes, was able to drape Jarod with a fluffy blue blanket. Jarod's lack of response hurt Sydney's heart, although he knew it wasn't the man's fault he was out.
"Miss Parker, do you have any idea who could have done this to Jarod?" Sydney asked once he left the room.
"I got a letter," Miss Parker indicated the coffee table on which she placed the note from Jarod's collar. "Don't touch it!" she reprimanded as Sydney began to pick it up. When she saw his surprised and bemused look, she added, "Do you have a fingerprint set?"
Sydney hit the sound of the click his brain made as he made the connection very well. "I'll bring one tomorrow." He looked at Miss Parker. "You intend to make Jarod match the print to an identity on an online database!" He gave a small chuckle.
A somber look settled on Sydney's face once more. "Did you glean anything else about this person?" He started to read the letter.
With an emotionless face, Miss Parker said, "He's one hell of an arrogant son of a bitch."
Taking this as his cue to leave, Sydney locked the contents of the note in his mind and bid her goodnight.
"Hmm..." Miss Parker murmured as he walked out the door.
The door shut, and Miss Parker snapped out of her reverie. Making a note to change the locks on all of her odors, she went through her nightly ritual, eating a dinner and showering. Smiling maliciously as she glanced once more at Jarod, Miss Parker closed the door and cut him off from the world he had come to love and despise.
Miss Parker went to sleep knowing her nest egg had finally hatched. If she was lucky, her brother would get the boot.
Sydney went to sleep troubled by his colleague's apparent lack of emotion.
Jarod quivered slightly under his blanket and stopped.