Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters, they are owned by others . I'm not making any money off this.

Author's note: This story isn't the sequel to 'The things I do' that I mentioned at the conclusion . Instead I am submitting this tale while I gather my thoughts on the sequel. I truly hope all those who honor me with reading this story enjoy it.

Joint Venture

Chapter 1

By Callisto

Lindbergh Field

Denver, CO

The morning was bright and sunny and held a gentle promise of the pleasant day to come. Inside the dim warehouse confines were a handful of task force detectives rummaging through the remains of a madman's lair. One of the group stood quietly just inside the open door, unhappily watching his colleagues as they shifted about hoping to find a clue.

"Hey, Douglas instead of holding up the wall, how about coming in here and giving the rest of us a hand?" Field Lieutenant Randall asked with heavy sarcasm. The Lieutenant had grudgingly accepted the newcomer onto his team, mainly because his commander refused to hear any argument. So far, this pretty boy had offered plenty of suggestions and helped them better organize their efforts--which Randall had to concede was a big contribution but had yet to deliver on any of his suppositions or point out the serial killer who had already claimed 6 lives. Randall continued to be a hard ass, mainly for the sake of his men who were beyond frustration and had been tagged as incompetent and not up to the job by the media and by some of their publicity hungry colleagues.

Jarod shrugged himself away from the doorway and walked carefully towards the others. He stopped abruptly three feet from the center of the scene and stood still. Randall who had expected Jarod to walk over to him, looked over his shoulder, slightly surprised not to find Jarod there. He turned in irritation towards the doorway, believing Jarod had ignored him and instead out of the corner of his eye, saw his subordinate standing unexpectedly in the middle of the room. Irritated impatience suffused Randall's features as he asked in a loud voice, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"He's the only one doing what he should by attempting to preserve what the rest of you seem bent on destroying--valuable evidence." A deeply melodic female voice answered. The lieutenant and most of his team looked up at the doorway to find a woman flanked by two tall, bureaucratic types the government specializes in churning out of their academies.

"My name is Agent Summers, you're in my crime scene now and I believe you are destroying what little evidence the perpetrator left behind," she continued forcefully, staring directly into Lieutenant Randall' eyes. "Kindly, leave."

Randall, finally being supplied a target to vent his mounting frustration on, squared his shoulders and stared at the woman. She was slightly built, of medium height with dark brown, almost black hair, dark complexioned and sporting a hard expression.

"We called you people in to assist us, not to start barking orders. Besides that, we asked for you over two weeks ago. You sure did take your sweet time getting out here," Randall replied evenly. "Let's set the record straight. This is our crime scene, our case. We asked for you folks to come down in a support capacity, however that was before Douglas here," Randall nodded slightly in Jarod's direction, "came on the scene. As it stands, we have enough hands in the pot without adding some showboating, glory-hounds to the mix."

The woman stared evenly at Randall during his short speech. The anger in her eyes was evident but tightly controlled. Jarod, as well as the rest of the task force members watched the power struggle with interest. If the FBI took over now, they would all be shoved into the background and delegated to fetching coffee and reports instead of actively working the case.

"You rang the bell, it's too late to try and unring it now. My delay isn't important. The Unsub hasn't committed any further crimes that we're aware of yet but we're fast approaching his deadline. I suggest we get started. That happens by all of your men leaving, when my people are finished with the scene, we'll share our analysis," Agent Summers said dismissively, cautiously watching the expression of anger in her opponent's eyes. She had been through this sort of turf war before and would undoubtedly go through it again with another male cop who felt his competence and command were based solely on his ability to control those around him.

"We've already had our tech people process the scene, that's why we're out here now. If you would like to take a look at the evidence they've already gathered then you'll be third on the list. You came late to the table and scraps are all you're going to get, lady." Randall replied with satisfaction. Turning to his people he said, "Come on fellas, the FBI is here and wants to have a belated look. Let's wrap this up." Randall shook his head slightly and then brushed past the agents with a look of disgust on his face. One by one the rest of the task force followed suit. Jarod remained where he was standing until all his fellow team members had left. During their verbal sparring, Jarod had watched both his boss and the FBI agent with interest. Both were probably talented and good at what they did but they also shared the pressure of resolving this case too quickly from impatient and media-conscious bosses.

Jarod stepped back from the object he had been protecting and retrieving a small digital camera from the inside pocket of his leather jacket, started taking pictures of the small marker left behind by the crime scene techs. He took a total of 4 pictures and then backed off.

"A vial containing an unknown substance was found on that spot. We haven't any idea as to it's significance and the techs collected it along with the rest of the most relevant evidence. I'll have them preserve some of it for your labs as well," Jarod said quietly in response to Agent Summers unspoken question. He was about to leave when he stopped just short of the door and turned with a slight smile on his lips. "You don't have to worry too much about them trampling over the evidence or destroying any of it, I supervised its collection. Happy hunting." With that, Jarod left the stressed out FBI agent and her colleagues to shift through the remains.

Several days latter, after more intra-agency infighting and reports having returned back from the labs, the task force was still at a loss of figuring out the killer's motive or what his next move would be. Also during this time, Agent Summers discovered that Jarod was a FBI-trained profiler recently added to the task force in the wake of her delay. From what Summers was able to make out, he had practically reorganized the unit's focus and had drawn up a profile of the Unsub that was identical to her own independent examination. The rest of the task force was comprised of a talented group of local law enforcement officers committed to stopping the serial poisoner.

The next incident occurred the following week. Following her preparation of her son's morning bottle, dizziness overcame a young mother of two who, out of habit, tested the temperature of the milk she had just prepared for her infant. Seconds after splashing a small dollop of milk on her wrist she absently dipped a finger in the liquid and tasted it. That was enough to quickly render her unconscious where her 4 year old toddler found her on the kitchen floor. The boy walked to a neighbor's house seeking help, worried about his Mommy sleeping in the kitchen.

The task force along with the FBI sprang into action, backtracked where the mother had brought the tainted formula, had the store pull the remainder of the formula off the shelves and obtained information on all the customers who brought the formula using the bar-code scanner to track all non-cash paying patrons. The task force spent the time-consuming effort with the help of local law enforcement in finding and interviewing each customer and collecting the formula they had brought.

The Centre

Blue Cove, DE

Standing across the main mezzanine area of the Centre, Sydney watched his former colleague with concern. For the past eighteen months or more, she had been officially pulled from the Jarod pursuit and was now working closely with Mr. Raines. It had taken a few months after the overthrow of the past regime for Raines to realize the support structure he needed in order to run a monolith like the Centre had been effectively dismantled. His brother, out of paranoia--well founded in this case, had thoroughly scattered his own well-oiled machine of talented and dependable people. Those left behind had hidden agendas of their own which were highly suspect to Raines. As it turned out, it was Miss Parker, who made no secret of her hatred and disdain for him that turned out to be the only person he could trust. He knew she hated him, on that he could rely and served to make her reactions predictable, but he knew she was competent. So, in an effort to secure her assistance, he decided to change the direction of his threats as well as her focus. Summoning her into his office, he boldly laid bare his dilemma and a fresh proposal for her continued service to the Centre. First, he would pull her from the Jarod pursuit, stating he understood her distaste of the project and Jarod's unusual habit which bordered on the sadistic of uncovering the sordid underbelly of her family's conduct and corruption. He kept to himself the real reason he wanted her off the pursuit was he feared Jarod's clues were starting to get through to her despite her training and losing her altogether because of Jarod's interference was a situation he would never allow--even if it meant her untimely termination. To keep her further distracted from any reasonable yearnings, like wanting a normal life, Raines entrusted her with running most of the routine operations of the massive corporation while diligently keeping her away from the seamier side of Centre reality. The results were what he had been hoping for, Miss Parker effortlessly attracted a group of competent Centre loyalists around her and the beginnings of dependable machine began to form.

Sydney watched these events develop discontentedly. His contacts sprinkled throughout the Centre's hierarchy kept him well informed. He knew Raines was up to something and apparently keeping Parker in the fold was part of his plan. Sydney decided to bide his time before approaching her and finding out what was said to entice her to cooperate with the one person she hated above all else. He watched as his friend and former colleague was drawn deeper into the organization as her mother had decades before. Sydney was afraid for Parker, knowing the corruptive power of the Centre and the strange way it had of changing the best of people or crushing them.

Parker had a strained expression on her face as she walked distractedly through the main mezzanine towards her office trailed by her ever present bodyguard. The extremely intimidating sweeper swore allegiance to protect Miss Parker and took his role very seriously. Respectful stares followed her wherever she went and too often sycophants brazenly followed after her ready to do her bidding. The deal she had struck with Raines kept her in line but still had the power to disgust her to the core. Like her `father', Raines wanted her help, only this `father' wanted her assistance in running a Centre whose employees didn't trust him and wouldn't work for him. In exchange, she would enjoy the same level of freedom she had with Mr. Parker. All her privileges would remain intact and she would finally be freed from the albatross of trying to return Jarod. She had stared at her mother's murderer with unrelenting contempt. Raines had assured her that should she decline his offer, the current level of surveillance on her life would be heightened and any deviation from his directives would result in her immediate termination along with those closest to her who might feel compelled to protest or retaliate. Before her throat would tighten any further in frustration, Parker nodded her acceptance. She understood that it might be the last thing she did, but she was determined to permanently free herself from the soul-leaching presence of this air-sucking ghoul.