Chapter Thirteen (unlucky for some (including a certain pretender?))
Disclaimer: Oh, yeah right, as if anyone ever reads these things.
There was a hollow click that seemed to unlock Jarod's muscles. He dived for Lyle's gun, and grabbing it, locked his arm around his throat and held him in front as a shield. There was the sound of twelve guns being cocked then just the gentle sound of Raines' wheezing breath.
'Let's try this again,' growled Jarod, 'Let us go or I blow his brains out. And there are actually bullets in this gun.' He was bluffing hard trying to cover his racing heart and shaking knees from his near death experience. No one spoke.
'Tell them Lyle' ordered Jarod, tightening his arm around Lyle's throat.
'Do it' ground out Lyle. Twelve guns were put on safety. 'Hand them to Miss Parker' ordered Jarod, 'left hands, thumb and forefingers only.' The sweepers complied. Raines' face looked like a thundercloud. Parker put all the guns but one on the floor a few feet away.
'Parker does that room have a lock on the door?'
'Yes.'
'Right, everybody in.' Heads hung low, the sweepers filed one after the other into a room that was probably once some unfortunate's cell. Raines was last. 'You will regret this Jarod' he growled. Jarod just smiled and shook his head before pushing Lyle into the crowded room and slamming the door.
'There's no functioning cameras down here' commented Parker.
'It could tomorrow before anyone goes looking for them' replied Jarod, grinning at the irony of locking his captors in one of their own cells.
Parker returned the grin then they made their way to the exit. The climb out was long and dirty and they both had to rest a few times before finally heaving the cover off and emerging on Centre grounds a little way from the main building.
Coughing Centre dust out his lungs Jarod looked up at the night sky and laughed out loud with joy. 'The stars are so beautiful' he breathed.
That made Parker laugh. 'Trust you in the middle of an escape to stop and smell the roses.'
'That's what the roses are there for,' he said, and kissed her. He was warm against the cold night air and Parker pulled him closer to her. She was disappointed when they finally had to come up for air. 'Come on, they'll catch us at this rate' he teased gently then led the way towards the car park.
***********************************
'And tonight we have a choice of vehicles, ranging from Volvos, to Ferraris.' He said in a fair imitation of a game show host as they walked among the few cars left at the Centre car park overnight.
'Not my car?' asked Parker.
'They might have a tracer on it'
'Let's take Lyle's car then' she said wickedly.
'Good idea' said Jarod, grinning like a schoolboy and leading the way to a black sports car. He unlocked in and hotwired it, all with just the help of a paperclip from one of Parker's pockets and then they were away.
In the darkness within the car, Jarod finally remembered to ask. 'When did you take the bullets out of your gun?' Parker laughed, realising the thoughts that would have gone through his head when she pulled the trigger.
'The night after I first pulled the bullet out of your leg. Oh, and again when I remembered everything again.'
'Why didn't you tell me' he asked, and there were slight tones of whipped puppy dog in his voice. Parker thought about it and grinned.
'People find it less threatening if they know the gun you're pointing at them is unloaded.'
Jarod snorted in agreement and fell silent.
Once they had been driving for a few minutes Jarod realised he head no idea where he was going. 'Where to?' he asked. Parker looked at him in surprise and had to suppress a giggle. 'I thought you knew.'
'Whatever gave you that impression? I've got a cache of money and ID's here in Blue Cove. Why don't we pick them up and decide from there.'
'What about Sydney, Broots and Debbie?' asked Parker. Jarod stiffened suddenly.
'I thought . . . Lyle said . . .'
'Broots and Syd were fired a day after you were caught. They were reluctant to leave with you down in the sublevels but they weren't exactly given a choice. At least they got severance pay.'
A weight on his heart that Jarod had buried to deal with later evaporated. 'We'll find them once we've got a plan to stay out of reach.' He said confidently, the future suddenly looking much brighter.
The cache turned out to be a post office locker, the key to which was hidden on top of the lockers. 'Sometimes the most obvious hiding place is one where no one thinks to look.' he explained.
Parker didn't answer Instead she took a step closer to him and began to stroke the soft hairs on the back of his neck. He turned to look into her eyes. This kiss lasted longer and Parker found her back against the lockers as Jarod's hands began to roam up her shirt. It felt very good but she mustered all her will and pushed him away.
'No,' she gasped, 'not here'
He groaned in protest but took a step back and stood staring at her, his eyes burning dark with need. 'We're too close to the Centre.' Jarod nodded in acceptance and they walked back to the car.
After driving until 2 am Jarod decided it was time to find a hotel. Parker doubted that any place would be open so late at night but am old style pub was found that boasted twenty-four hour check-ins.
They drove Lyle's car off a handy nearby bridge then walked back to the '24 hour motel.' Sure enough, someone turned up at the first ring of the buzzer and gave them a room for the night. Jarod turned on the charm and managed to get her to agree not to tell anyone that they had come here.
Then Jarod and Parker were alone in a small dingy hotel room with one double bed.
'I don't have anything to sleep in' murmured Parker, eyeing the bed.
'So sleep in nothing,' whispered Jarod.
***************************************
Jarod woke the next morning to find Parker's head resting on his chest, their legs entangled. The night's memories wafted into his sleepy mind and he smiled. He brought one hand up to stroke the silky hair that was spread across his chest and watched as Parker came gently awake.
She opened her eyes and smiled at him sleepily. They kissed and then Jarod reluctantly decided it was probably time to get moving again. As they pulled on the clothes that lay scattered on the floor they discussed plans.
'We don't have a vehicle' pointed out Parker.
'That's okay. Public transport will do fine.'
'For you maybe' grumped Parker jokingly.
'For you then m'lady I will buy a car' replied Jarod, bowing. 'And after that?'
'Find Sydney and Broots'
'The Centre will be expecting that. We'll have to contact them first and give them time to prepare. Maybe set a decoy too'
'And then?"
'We'll see about that when we get to it.' Parker grinned and led the way out of the room. They paid for the night at the front desk and Jarod left a generous tip, just to be certain.
The hotel was situated in a medium sized town just outside of Delaware. With directions gleaned from the hotel lady they headed towards a car dealer. On the way they passed an internet café and Jarod paused suddenly.
'What is it?' asked Parker, worried.
'I just thought of a decoy' he said and Parker followed his gaze to the rows of computers. 'Come on. We'll buy a car then I'll arrange an IRS audit for the Centre.'
'You can do that?' asked Parker, smothering a giggle at the thought of her brother dealing with a tax agent after spending the entire night in a small cell with twelve other people. Jarod gave a grin in response and strode forwards toward the car dealer.
The car dealer turned out to be a shoddy-looking second hand car shop. The salesman tried to ask twice the value of the car but Jarod haggled the price down then made the man's jaw drop by paying in cash.
They drove the car back to the internet café and Parker parked it as Jarod went in to pay for three hours of internet time.
She pulled a chair over to watch as he took eight minutes to hack through a world-class security system and arrange an audit for a mysterious company in Blue Cove, Delaware. What took the rest of another two-and-a-half-hours was finding out where Sydney and Broots had disappeared to after leaving the Centre. The last half-hour was used to plant a few tax discrepancies in the Centre system and cover any tracks.
'Broots could have done it faster' teased Parker as they got back in the car and headed north. 'Broots has had more practice' defended Jarod.
'Yes but you're a genius'
'So is he'
'Whatever you say Labrat' she said in mock disbelief. Jarod laughed and they spent the rest of the very long drive talking and laughing together. All remnants of the old ice queen had melted.
After the first few hours they took turns driving and sleeping and within a day they were entering New York. When a parking space had been found Jarod gently woke Parker and they walked the two blocks to a front door that they had left what felt like a lifetime ago.
Jarod rang the doorbell. There was a cry of 'just a minute' then the door was pulled wide. There was a disbelieving pause before Jarod was enveloped in a tight hug as Marina loudly berated him. 'You naughty boy, you had me worried sick, why didn't you tell me where you went, your friends have been moping around like wet rags . . .'
At the mention of Sydney and Broots, Parker managed to break in on the monologue. 'They're still here?' she asked but the question was made unnecessary as the two men and one little girl came to investigate what all the noise had been about.
'Jarod, Miss Parker!' exclaimed Sydney in complete shock. Marina released Jarod and he stood there grinning at the look on his mentor's face. Debbie ran out to hug Miss Parker.
'What happened? How did you get here? How did you escape?' gushed Broots all at once as he finally got over his speechlessness. Jarod opened his mouth to answer but Marina interrupted him and insisted they all get off the door step and come inside so they all crowded into her tiny kitchen whilst she made tea.
Jarod and Parker told the story of their capture and escape, interrupting and filling in bits for each other the whole way. Broots and Sydney were suitably impressed. Sydney apologised profusely for not coming to rescue them but Jarod would have none of it saying that they would have only put themselves in danger by going back to the Centre.
'And it turned out fine without you trying to get yourselves killed' chipped in Parker.
'You still haven't told us how you came to be here' Jarod reminded them
'Not much to tell really' replied Sydney
'Yeah,' agreed Broots, 'the day they captured you we were given one weeks notice. Once we had cleared out our offices we had a discussion about what to do next. We both agreed it was not a good idea to stay exactly where the Centre knew we'd be and then Sydney suggested we came here until we could set up something more permanent.'
'And they're all extremely welcome here. It's nice to have company at my age. And any friends of Jarod's are friends of mine.' Marina declared happily.
'We won't be able to stay for long Marina' Jarod warned her, 'now that everyone is out, there's no reason not to tick off the next item on my 'to do' list.'
Parker looked at him sharply and he turned to her and winked. 'You mean . . .' started Broots.
'Yep,' replied Jarod, 'Mr. Parker is going to have to look for a new job.'
The End
PS. No I'm not going to write about how they bring the Centre down because that just gets boring after a while so don't ask please (just in case you were going to, even though you probably weren't)
Thanks to Gemini006007, ICD, Nans, Jaccione, Kimmi G, pretender-gurl, Anna, Carolina, 3173, story reviwer, rev, inchridie, lynn, max and any one else who might review this after I post this chapter. I couldn't believe it when I opened my inbox and there were 18 new reviews. I did a bit of choking then a bit of crying then a lot of laughing, then bounced around the house for an hour on an incredible high. Thanx you guys, I couldn't have finished the story without your reviews.
Disclaimer: Oh, yeah right, as if anyone ever reads these things.
There was a hollow click that seemed to unlock Jarod's muscles. He dived for Lyle's gun, and grabbing it, locked his arm around his throat and held him in front as a shield. There was the sound of twelve guns being cocked then just the gentle sound of Raines' wheezing breath.
'Let's try this again,' growled Jarod, 'Let us go or I blow his brains out. And there are actually bullets in this gun.' He was bluffing hard trying to cover his racing heart and shaking knees from his near death experience. No one spoke.
'Tell them Lyle' ordered Jarod, tightening his arm around Lyle's throat.
'Do it' ground out Lyle. Twelve guns were put on safety. 'Hand them to Miss Parker' ordered Jarod, 'left hands, thumb and forefingers only.' The sweepers complied. Raines' face looked like a thundercloud. Parker put all the guns but one on the floor a few feet away.
'Parker does that room have a lock on the door?'
'Yes.'
'Right, everybody in.' Heads hung low, the sweepers filed one after the other into a room that was probably once some unfortunate's cell. Raines was last. 'You will regret this Jarod' he growled. Jarod just smiled and shook his head before pushing Lyle into the crowded room and slamming the door.
'There's no functioning cameras down here' commented Parker.
'It could tomorrow before anyone goes looking for them' replied Jarod, grinning at the irony of locking his captors in one of their own cells.
Parker returned the grin then they made their way to the exit. The climb out was long and dirty and they both had to rest a few times before finally heaving the cover off and emerging on Centre grounds a little way from the main building.
Coughing Centre dust out his lungs Jarod looked up at the night sky and laughed out loud with joy. 'The stars are so beautiful' he breathed.
That made Parker laugh. 'Trust you in the middle of an escape to stop and smell the roses.'
'That's what the roses are there for,' he said, and kissed her. He was warm against the cold night air and Parker pulled him closer to her. She was disappointed when they finally had to come up for air. 'Come on, they'll catch us at this rate' he teased gently then led the way towards the car park.
***********************************
'And tonight we have a choice of vehicles, ranging from Volvos, to Ferraris.' He said in a fair imitation of a game show host as they walked among the few cars left at the Centre car park overnight.
'Not my car?' asked Parker.
'They might have a tracer on it'
'Let's take Lyle's car then' she said wickedly.
'Good idea' said Jarod, grinning like a schoolboy and leading the way to a black sports car. He unlocked in and hotwired it, all with just the help of a paperclip from one of Parker's pockets and then they were away.
In the darkness within the car, Jarod finally remembered to ask. 'When did you take the bullets out of your gun?' Parker laughed, realising the thoughts that would have gone through his head when she pulled the trigger.
'The night after I first pulled the bullet out of your leg. Oh, and again when I remembered everything again.'
'Why didn't you tell me' he asked, and there were slight tones of whipped puppy dog in his voice. Parker thought about it and grinned.
'People find it less threatening if they know the gun you're pointing at them is unloaded.'
Jarod snorted in agreement and fell silent.
Once they had been driving for a few minutes Jarod realised he head no idea where he was going. 'Where to?' he asked. Parker looked at him in surprise and had to suppress a giggle. 'I thought you knew.'
'Whatever gave you that impression? I've got a cache of money and ID's here in Blue Cove. Why don't we pick them up and decide from there.'
'What about Sydney, Broots and Debbie?' asked Parker. Jarod stiffened suddenly.
'I thought . . . Lyle said . . .'
'Broots and Syd were fired a day after you were caught. They were reluctant to leave with you down in the sublevels but they weren't exactly given a choice. At least they got severance pay.'
A weight on his heart that Jarod had buried to deal with later evaporated. 'We'll find them once we've got a plan to stay out of reach.' He said confidently, the future suddenly looking much brighter.
The cache turned out to be a post office locker, the key to which was hidden on top of the lockers. 'Sometimes the most obvious hiding place is one where no one thinks to look.' he explained.
Parker didn't answer Instead she took a step closer to him and began to stroke the soft hairs on the back of his neck. He turned to look into her eyes. This kiss lasted longer and Parker found her back against the lockers as Jarod's hands began to roam up her shirt. It felt very good but she mustered all her will and pushed him away.
'No,' she gasped, 'not here'
He groaned in protest but took a step back and stood staring at her, his eyes burning dark with need. 'We're too close to the Centre.' Jarod nodded in acceptance and they walked back to the car.
After driving until 2 am Jarod decided it was time to find a hotel. Parker doubted that any place would be open so late at night but am old style pub was found that boasted twenty-four hour check-ins.
They drove Lyle's car off a handy nearby bridge then walked back to the '24 hour motel.' Sure enough, someone turned up at the first ring of the buzzer and gave them a room for the night. Jarod turned on the charm and managed to get her to agree not to tell anyone that they had come here.
Then Jarod and Parker were alone in a small dingy hotel room with one double bed.
'I don't have anything to sleep in' murmured Parker, eyeing the bed.
'So sleep in nothing,' whispered Jarod.
***************************************
Jarod woke the next morning to find Parker's head resting on his chest, their legs entangled. The night's memories wafted into his sleepy mind and he smiled. He brought one hand up to stroke the silky hair that was spread across his chest and watched as Parker came gently awake.
She opened her eyes and smiled at him sleepily. They kissed and then Jarod reluctantly decided it was probably time to get moving again. As they pulled on the clothes that lay scattered on the floor they discussed plans.
'We don't have a vehicle' pointed out Parker.
'That's okay. Public transport will do fine.'
'For you maybe' grumped Parker jokingly.
'For you then m'lady I will buy a car' replied Jarod, bowing. 'And after that?'
'Find Sydney and Broots'
'The Centre will be expecting that. We'll have to contact them first and give them time to prepare. Maybe set a decoy too'
'And then?"
'We'll see about that when we get to it.' Parker grinned and led the way out of the room. They paid for the night at the front desk and Jarod left a generous tip, just to be certain.
The hotel was situated in a medium sized town just outside of Delaware. With directions gleaned from the hotel lady they headed towards a car dealer. On the way they passed an internet café and Jarod paused suddenly.
'What is it?' asked Parker, worried.
'I just thought of a decoy' he said and Parker followed his gaze to the rows of computers. 'Come on. We'll buy a car then I'll arrange an IRS audit for the Centre.'
'You can do that?' asked Parker, smothering a giggle at the thought of her brother dealing with a tax agent after spending the entire night in a small cell with twelve other people. Jarod gave a grin in response and strode forwards toward the car dealer.
The car dealer turned out to be a shoddy-looking second hand car shop. The salesman tried to ask twice the value of the car but Jarod haggled the price down then made the man's jaw drop by paying in cash.
They drove the car back to the internet café and Parker parked it as Jarod went in to pay for three hours of internet time.
She pulled a chair over to watch as he took eight minutes to hack through a world-class security system and arrange an audit for a mysterious company in Blue Cove, Delaware. What took the rest of another two-and-a-half-hours was finding out where Sydney and Broots had disappeared to after leaving the Centre. The last half-hour was used to plant a few tax discrepancies in the Centre system and cover any tracks.
'Broots could have done it faster' teased Parker as they got back in the car and headed north. 'Broots has had more practice' defended Jarod.
'Yes but you're a genius'
'So is he'
'Whatever you say Labrat' she said in mock disbelief. Jarod laughed and they spent the rest of the very long drive talking and laughing together. All remnants of the old ice queen had melted.
After the first few hours they took turns driving and sleeping and within a day they were entering New York. When a parking space had been found Jarod gently woke Parker and they walked the two blocks to a front door that they had left what felt like a lifetime ago.
Jarod rang the doorbell. There was a cry of 'just a minute' then the door was pulled wide. There was a disbelieving pause before Jarod was enveloped in a tight hug as Marina loudly berated him. 'You naughty boy, you had me worried sick, why didn't you tell me where you went, your friends have been moping around like wet rags . . .'
At the mention of Sydney and Broots, Parker managed to break in on the monologue. 'They're still here?' she asked but the question was made unnecessary as the two men and one little girl came to investigate what all the noise had been about.
'Jarod, Miss Parker!' exclaimed Sydney in complete shock. Marina released Jarod and he stood there grinning at the look on his mentor's face. Debbie ran out to hug Miss Parker.
'What happened? How did you get here? How did you escape?' gushed Broots all at once as he finally got over his speechlessness. Jarod opened his mouth to answer but Marina interrupted him and insisted they all get off the door step and come inside so they all crowded into her tiny kitchen whilst she made tea.
Jarod and Parker told the story of their capture and escape, interrupting and filling in bits for each other the whole way. Broots and Sydney were suitably impressed. Sydney apologised profusely for not coming to rescue them but Jarod would have none of it saying that they would have only put themselves in danger by going back to the Centre.
'And it turned out fine without you trying to get yourselves killed' chipped in Parker.
'You still haven't told us how you came to be here' Jarod reminded them
'Not much to tell really' replied Sydney
'Yeah,' agreed Broots, 'the day they captured you we were given one weeks notice. Once we had cleared out our offices we had a discussion about what to do next. We both agreed it was not a good idea to stay exactly where the Centre knew we'd be and then Sydney suggested we came here until we could set up something more permanent.'
'And they're all extremely welcome here. It's nice to have company at my age. And any friends of Jarod's are friends of mine.' Marina declared happily.
'We won't be able to stay for long Marina' Jarod warned her, 'now that everyone is out, there's no reason not to tick off the next item on my 'to do' list.'
Parker looked at him sharply and he turned to her and winked. 'You mean . . .' started Broots.
'Yep,' replied Jarod, 'Mr. Parker is going to have to look for a new job.'
The End
PS. No I'm not going to write about how they bring the Centre down because that just gets boring after a while so don't ask please (just in case you were going to, even though you probably weren't)
Thanks to Gemini006007, ICD, Nans, Jaccione, Kimmi G, pretender-gurl, Anna, Carolina, 3173, story reviwer, rev, inchridie, lynn, max and any one else who might review this after I post this chapter. I couldn't believe it when I opened my inbox and there were 18 new reviews. I did a bit of choking then a bit of crying then a lot of laughing, then bounced around the house for an hour on an incredible high. Thanx you guys, I couldn't have finished the story without your reviews.
