Disclaimer: Please see Chapter 1 for the disclaimer.
Joint Venture
Chapter III
By Callisto
Quigley Arms Apartments
Fort Collins, CO
The joint task force had swarmed the tiny apartment after learning that the serial killer/bio-terrorist had used this as a base of operations for the past month. Jarod glanced around after most of the search had been finished. There was precious little to pick through and the team did a thorough job within an hour. Instantly knowing that this wasn't the killer's real lair but a dummy apartment set up to throw authorities off the trail, Jarod walked outside for some fresh air. The afternoon was quickly turning to dusk as he breathed deeply, drawing as much air into his lungs as possible and slowly releasing it. He walked further away from the established crime scene, deliberately clearing his mind and focusing his pretender skills on the problem at hand. With a conscious effort, Jarod closed his eyes and slipped under the mental skin of the killer, trying to figure out what was wrong with the location. Slowly, Jarod opened his eyes and looked around. His eyes wandered until settling on the upstairs windows of the building across the street. The killer preferred being up high so he could look down on those below. Curiosity sparked in his mind as he walked towards the decrepit, abandoned building.
Once inside, he looked carefully around making sure nothing escaped his notice. The downstairs hallway was extremely filthy and the walls were enthusiastically marred with profane graffiti. Gingerly climbing the rickety stairs, Jarod immediately found himself in a trash strewn hallway with numerous doors on either side. A curiously pleasant scent was mixed in amongst the more offensive odors. Following his nose, he walked slowly through the hall glancing at the closed office doors when he suddenly stopped. This door was as filthy as the rest with a suspicious goo smeared on its surface, the cleanliness of the doorway was the one clue that told him this was the right place. Slipping on some thin gloves, he tried the door knob. It turned easily and noiselessly in his hand. Jarod entered cautiously and pulled the door almost shut behind him. Still following his instincts, he searched the sterile interior of an office converted into living quarters. Once he was finished, he then opened another interior door and walked noiselessly into a makeshift professional lab situated in the middle of a large empty space. Finally the source of the scent he smelled upon entering the second floor came into view. Huddled over a puddle on the bare cement floor and collecting a sample was a person bundled warmly in a dark coat. Jarod looked at what the person was doing then said in a loud voice, "I was beginning to wonder how much longer it would take until the Centre decided to send someone out to snoop around. I just never conceived that it would be you."
The dark, huddled figure stopped for a brief moment and without looking around completed the job of obtaining a sample of spilled chemicals, slipped the vial into another container and then into a deep inside coat pocket. Slowly the figure rose and turned to face Jarod. The weak light from several grungy, dirt encrusted windows created a flattering halo on her smooth, thick hair. Her figure was obscured by her overcoat, the cost of which would probably equal the monthly payroll of at least half the task force. Oddly she was wearing sunglasses which served to hide her eyes---her most striking feature. Jarod stared at his long time nemesis for several moments, taking note that the 9mm trained on his face had a slim finger on the trigger. He showed his surprise when the weapon was slowly lowered, then holstered.
"How did you know?" she asked quietly, wondering how Jarod made the connection between the poisoner and the Centre.
"I didn't when I first read about the attacks in the newspaper. After I hacked into the forensic examiner's computer files and found out the weapon was a compound that was purposely manufactured using some unusual components---most of which are practically impossible to obtain in this country. At first the symptoms are painful but not particularly lethal. The next attack turned out to be lethal. It was obvious that the bio-terrorist was conducting experiments and trying to perfect his little potion. There could be only one use for this unusual compound and that alone meant the Centre."
She listened with uncharacteristic patience to his explanation and watched as he approached. Jarod was looking good since the last time she saw him. He trimmed down a bit and seemed even more fit that he had before. His hair was as short as he wore it after his initial escape from the Centre, giving him a boyish appearance. She preferred him this way but kept her opinions to herself. He walked up to her and stopped just a few feet away.
"Long time, no see. You look good. Why are you here? Still doing their dirty work---Raines' bidding?" he asked with disappointed concern.
Parker had already had a dose of this criticism from Sydney and wasn't interested in hearing Jarod's version. She responded with a heat he had grown used to over the years. "What I'm doing and who I'm doing it for is none of your business. You're the one who decided to walk in on me, not the other way around. Keep you opinions to yourself before I change my mind and call in your little charade."
A smirk appeared irritatingly on Jarod's face. From the tone of her voice, he could tell she was annoyed and enjoyed it for a few minutes. He knew she understood only part of his motives for taking digs at her. He liked getting under her skin---reveled in it. It was the quickest way to discover if she still retained that part of her personality he had access to, so their usual contentious banter was important to his personal assessment of her. Their time together on the island suggested that there just might be some room to expand on a certain weakness of hers that interested him.
"If you're here looking for a bio-terrorist, then that means Mr. Lyle must have been assigned to my capture. I'm curious, how does he propose to bring me in?" Jarod paused as he slowly circled Miss Parker. It was as he was about to complete his circle that his eyes lit on a dark mountain of a man standing in a nearby corner. He had the air of sweeper and was dressed in typical fashion with a dark suit. His imposing attitude gave away his chosen profession as well as the calm steadiness with which he trained his 9mm on Jarod. "I see you've brought some company. It's about time you got someone to watch your back. By the way, where's Sam?"
"Where I need him and I can take care of myself," she replied with weary heat. The conversation was suddenly beginning to bore her. Running into Jarod here of all places, surprised her but she was no longer in the mood to banter with him. It had been almost two years since she had last seen him but so much had changed since then. Her circumstances were greatly different than they were when her father had been alive.
"Why are you here, Miss Parker? What is it you're looking for?"
"I'm on a bug hunt. There's a human insect wandering around who has a sanction placed on him by the Centre. I complete delivery then I can dictate a few terms for myself. Stay out of my way, Jarod." With that, Parker moved to the entrance, her bodyguard following her at a distance, his 9mm still trained on Jarod.
"I have a feeling we'll be seeing each other soon," Jarod called out to her. She stopped and turned slightly to look at him. "You see, we're both searching for the same thing though for different reasons. Perhaps we can pool our efforts once you realize your 'bug' is a bit more industrious than the usual Centre henchman."
Parker stood still for several seconds taking Jarod's measure. Then with a disinterested shrug, she exited the room for good. Jarod stared at the spot where she had been standing, wondering what twists were going on and how they would shape up in the end.
Task Force Headquarters
Denver, CO
Several days later the bio-terrorist struck again. This time several children were hospitalized in critical condition with signs that at least one or two wouldn't make it through the night. The method of introduction was a coated touch pad of a game counsel at a local computer game store that drew kids like bears to honey. Every time a child tried the newly released game, they smudged the poison onto their fingers and occasionally on to the hands and arms of their friends.
The Task Force along with the community at large was appalled by the terrorist's intended target. Pressure was brought to bear on them and their FBI counterparts by City and State officials and now there were a few Senators making pre-election crime control noises. Regrettably, the leads law enforcement had went from slim to non-existent. The video cameras in the store were trained mainly on the door and cash register areas leaving the game consol in particular on the outer edge of the camera's view. No clear picture could be obtained of any of the consol players until they left the store. The tape was old, used often and provided pictures of a very poor quality. None of the powers that be had any patience for excuses, no matter how reasonable. All they wanted were results and demanded them at every turn, along with career-ending threats if failure continued.
Jarod stood back from the fray and watched the political maneuvering and infighting with disgusted cynicism. He returned with Teddy to the crime scene to take another look and possibly find a new or different perspective of what occurred. Teddy accompanied him in an effort to find further evidence that might have been previously overlooked. As the feeling of running into another dead-end began to settle on Jarod, he was about to walk outside of the store when he spotted a familiar visage. He frowned at the sight of the huge sweeper when he made a sudden decision. He jotted a few lines in his tiny notebook and ripped out the page. With purposeful strides he approached the man he encountered in the abandoned building with Parker. The inscrutable sweeper noticed Jarod and paused to wait for the Pretender.
"Since you're here, I take it your boss is in town. Give her this and tell her that I need to speak with her as soon as possible. We have the same interest in this case and perhaps we can help each other." Jarod handed the mute sweeper the note, then nodding at the man, he turned to leave, walking slowly towards his city vehicle sitting in the packed parking lot. Watching the curious exchange from inside the store, Teddy took a long look at the man Jarod briefly spoke to and the closed expression on his face as he watched Jarod walk away.
Jarod had returned and driven only a block and a half before noticing the background sound of Teddy's enthusiastic dissertation on subconscious suggestions was blatantly missing. "Is there something bothering you?"
"No, nothing," Teddy replied in a rush. He was preoccupied by what he had witnessed and trying to figure out what was going on with Jarod.
Realizing his behavior and the suspicious nature of his meeting with Parker's bodyguard had the sensitive IT expert concerned, he decided to distract Teddy. Jarod knew exactly how to draw Teddy out and to push from his mind any doubts or concerns he was starting to harbor. "You were telling me about the author's belief that suggestions made to a person who is either asleep or on the brink of sleep has the best chance of being accepted by the host." The light in Teddy's face brightened considerably when he realized he hadn't been speaking to himself and his brainy friend had been listening. Jarod continued, "I have a little experience with hypnotism and I've found self-hypnosis is the best method for overcoming certain mild addictions and to bring forward long buried memories."
"So you do agree with the author that the human mind records every second of a person's day? He says no one ever forgets anything they have seen, done or experienced and…."
Teddy continued expressing his enthusiasm for the lessons and opinions of the author. All his prior misgivings had been erased from his face and temporarily set aside as he espoused his own thoughts on the subject. Jarod listened for several more seconds, then allowed a tiny smile to form on his lips. He had accomplished what he had set out to do.