Chapter Two

A/N: any grammatical or spelling errors when Snowy is speaking is cos that's just how he speaks. You know? Thirteen year old boys don't have the best of grammar. Sorry if it upsets you but it's true.

Parker paced the small room swearing. 'I mean it, that bastard has pulled his last trick, when I get my hands on him I swear I will . . .' She tailed off, to angry to speak. Sydney and Broots watched her like bemused tennis match spectators.

They were all covered in a strange green slime, locked in a tiny police cell. The police officer that had arrested them on the street after they had fallen to the 'bucket balanced on a door' trick had alluded to a charge of kidnapping, which defiantly sounded like one of Jarod's stunts.

They spent the entire night in the cell, Parker not pausing her pacing for a moment and Sydney and Broots too uncomfortable to sleep.

The door to the cell opened the next morning to reveal an amused yet embarrassed looking police officer. Parker stopped pacing and stood with her hands on her hips, the menacing effect spoiled slightly by the green slime that dripped out of her hair and ran down her face. The slime hadn't dried overnight, just turned sort of sticky and impossible to get off.

'Um, sorry folks, bit of a mix up. Turns out that the 911 call was a fake. You're free to go.'

If looks could kill the officer would have been hung drawn and quartered by Parker's glare. He gave a nervous smile then backed out of the cell, leaving the door open for the three inmates to follow.

They collected their confiscated belongings and left the station to begin the long drive back to Delaware. Neither of the men in the car dared say a word the entire journey.



Jarod and Snowy laughed in glee together with the police officer that had arrested the pursuit team. 'Oh my god, the look on her face' gasped Snowy. He may have been a complete genius with computers but he still had a wicked streak a mile wide.

Jarod grinned. 'Fun isn't it. I never would have thought of that bucket idea. It's so simple.'

The police officer smiled. 'I better get back to work. It was a pleasure to help Jarod.'

'Thanks Riley' said Jarod and he poked Snowy in the ribs to stop him laughing. The boy managed to control himself enough to thank the policeman then they left to start cleaning up their latest lair.

Even though it had only been their first pretend together at the police station, Jarod could already tell that Snowy was an extremely intelligent kid. He had showed Jarod dozens of tricks to use in cyber space in order to evade the Centre and had also taken Jarod's laptop to pieces and put it all back together again in just two hours. And It Had Worked Afterwards.

Apart from that, Snowy was also lots of fun to be around. He knew all about Jarod's strange life and this meant that he understood why it was that Jarod was completely oblivious of some of the more basic items of American culture. It was a relief for the pretender to not have someone look at him strangely whenever he asked what seemed like a perfectly simple question. What's more, Snowy was only too happy to teach Jarod everything from prom etiquette to the joys of ordering a dozen pizza's to the wrong address (he used Miss Parker to demonstrate). They had hours of fun with the 'Why did the chicken cross the road?' jokes.

As Jarod stuffed his PEZ containers into a small black rucksack, Snowy connected to the internet via a satellite linkup with the laptop to deal with some business. He hacked into the city's police records and filled in all that he had erased from the permanent records of Big Joe and the gang. He also left a few small pointers for the police about the financial states of certain individuals within the gang and those they dealt with. He knew he didn't need to do anything else. He could leave it to the police to take down the people that had stolen his childhood.

Although Jarod knew what Snowy was doing he didn't comment on it. He knew that Snowy needed his own final revenge on his enemies; just like one day Jarod would need his.



One week later . . .

Parker, Sydney and Broots were talking, some would say arguing, in the office from which they normally tracked down Jarod.

'Something is definitely different in the computer trails he leaves' pronounced Broots, confident when talking about technology.

'It does seem that Jarod's method has changed slightly,' said Sydney in that psychoanalysis tone of voice, 'the tricks that he has been playing recently are more childlike yet his evasion of us has become more sophisticated.'

'Well maybe Jarod's got a friend' said Parker sarcastically.

'A friend?' queried Broots

'Yeah Broots, like a little pixie that's helping him run circles around you on the computer' her retort was cut off by the phone ringing. Parker hit the speaker button and snarled 'what?'

'We were wondering how long it would take you to figure it out Miss Parker' Jarod's jovial tone emanated from the phone.

'Figure out what Jarod?' asked Sydney before she could bite Jarod's head off verbally.

'Me of course' said a younger voice down the line. The three on the pursuit team looked at each other in surprise.

'Adopted a pet Jarod?' snarled Parker caustically. But Jarod didn't answer. There was a small giggle and then the younger voice said 'I hope you guys enjoyed the slime I made for you' before they all heard the click and the dial tone.

Miss Parker looked like she was about to explode. 'Oh man,' whispered Broots, 'they're in for it now'

Tbc...