Disclaimer: Please see Chapter 1 for the usual statement.
Author's note: I'm no medical expert. There are substances which are capable of achieving the effects discussed here.. However, medical observations made in this chapter spring mainly from my imagination and to facilitate this story.
Joint Venture
Chapter V
By Callisto
Sorority Row
Colorado Springs, CO
Three days after their meeting, the terrorist struck again. This time his target was a sorority house. Eighty percent of the students in the house were afflicted by a mysterious ailment which had disturbingly similar symptoms to the poison used in the other incidents. Parker and her team responded to the first reports but the swarm of state, local and federal police on the scene made her pull back and reconsider her options. She ordered her people back into the van to await orders, then struck out on her own to canvass the outer perimeter. Her dark overcoat hid the fashionable clothing she was wearing underneath and the dark shades further enhanced her mysterious air. She stared at the Chi Omega house over a block away and the buzz of activity that swirled around it. Getting to the house at this point was useless, any data or trace evidence that existed now was either being destroyed by clumsy, uneducated hands or collected for analysis furthering the chance of Centre exposure.
A short huff of frustration escaped her carefully made-up lips. There was nothing she could do about that situation, so she quickly refocused her concentration. A thought stuck her and she began to look upwards. Her actions began to attract some unwanted attention, causing her to step away from the crowd and continue glancing around. Looking to her left and behind the sorority house, she spotted what she was looking for and immediately ordered her team to converge on the new target.
Jarod was in the middle of the forensic furor that surrounded the mass poisoning. He oversaw the gathering of evidence and directed the CSI teams to specific points of interest to the investigators. He took care in performing his duties but they hardly required his full attention. Glancing around, he noticed a few investigators had branched off on their own, looking at the small puddles of defecation that were scattered through out the house as the college students one by one were overcome by sickness. The toxin simultaneously shuts down the major organs until it finally reaches the heart or liver. In cases where the liver was attacked first, the victims suffered traumatically, resulting in exsanguination from each orifice causing a gory mess. The instability of the compound caused it to react slightly differently in each subject depending on overall health and stamina. An idea that had been niggling at him suddenly came into sharp focus as he thought about the mind that was responsible for this horror. This thought captured his imagination and he devoted all his attention to it. Within minutes, he handed over control of the forensic teams to Teddy and ventured outside. Looking up, he scanned the skyline until he found what he was looking for----a vantage point from which the murderer/serial poisoner could watch through the uncurtained lower floor windows of the sorority house as his victims writhed in agony until unconsciousness or death slowly overcame them. The Unsub would've derived a sense of accomplishment and achievement from the terror and suffering he had caused.
With a determined sense of curiosity and purpose, Jarod left the crime scene and walked two blocks to the high-rise warehouse that overlooked the sorority house. The upper floors of the building offered a bird's eye-view of the young college students' Victorian home. As he was leaving, Jarod was unaware that one of his colleagues had noticed his strange behavior and became suspicious when Jarod left the house. At a discrete distance, he followed the Pretender to see what was going on and what possible lead he was following that the other could claim as his own.
Two blocks and several stories later, Jarod entered the floor he felt the Unsub used as his base of operations. He had climbed the stairs noiselessly as a precaution. He was reasonably certain the Unsub was no longer occupying this location but there was still a small possibility that existed. Jarod was holding his 9mm at his side as he walked cautiously towards the end of the building that faced the sorority house. Turning the corner, he warily peeked around and found something he hadn't expected----three clean-room suited Centre cleaners were carefully shifting through what appeared to be the Unsub's abandoned quarters. Their attention to detail and careful movements were on a professional level that would cause the crack team he had left behind at the sorority house to blush at their own lack of sophistication. Scanning the expanse of the warehouse floor his eyes finally lit on the one figure that meant something to him. She was leaning over one of her cleaners answering a question. Stepping into the open, Jarod with slow careful movements holstered his weapon and approached Parker. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her ever present bodyguard watching him with interest, his sidearm already out but pointing towards the ground.
"We've got to stop meeting like this," he said quietly. He saw her body tense at the sound of his voice. Then slowly she turned to face him. Instead of answering, she signaled to her bodyguard to clear the room. With a few words spoken loudly in Japanese, the cleaner team quickly left without disturbing their work. The room next door was also a subject of interest.
Parker looked at Jarod with mild amusement. He too was dressed in dark clothing. He wore a black leather coat, black turtleneck, black jeans and black boots. His slim, muscular physique, short hair, dark ray-ban sunglasses and half smirk made him look at least 15 years younger than she suspected him to be.
"It seems for once that I've beaten you to the prize, Genius. What took you so long? I was beginning to think you were losing your touch," she taunted with a smirk of her own.
Ignoring her dig, he widened his smirk into a smile of appreciation and replied, "If I had your resources, we would be closer to the murderer by now. How about sharing? Were your people able to find anything out with the sample I gave you?"
"Hemmings is in Phase 3 of his experiments. Two phases behind where he was supposed to be when he met with the development branch of the Tower. He's got to be stopped before he can get to phase 5. That phase involves the agent being tested in a simulated environment. We both know Hemmings doesn't believe in simulations."
"What exactly made Raines think he could control something like this? The chance of something going wrong and the toxin either falling in the wrong hands or unsuspecting innocents being contaminated was too high. Why are you supporting him?" Jarod asked again.
"He thinks my curiosity about all the secrets and lies will be never ending. Raines has threatened to kill anyone close to me--to finish the job my father had started," she answered blandly.
"Why?" Jarod asked in a harsh whisper.
"When Da--my father planned his take over of the Centre, he had spies planted in strategic positions to watch and identify all of Raines' supporters. While we were chasing our tails on Carthis, his loyalists were busy eliminating Raines' people in preparation of his ultimate takeover. Call it 'corporate cleansing' and he was determined to make sure there wasn't anyone to oppose him or anyone around who could blame him since most of the terminations were being conducted while he was drooling in his so-called stupor. We all brought the act, he should've gotten an Academy award," she answered, while looking around at the remnants of the cleaner's examinations. "When we returned Raines tried to reassemble his team only to find out they were all dead and he was surrounded by hostile employees. There wasn't anything he could say or do to get Lyle to help him without facing a price tag he wasn't ready or willing to pay. So he decided on a slightly different tactic and like his brother focused his manipulations on me." She heaved a deep sigh and continued to scan the area to insure nothing was overlooked.
Jarod looked at her sadly, finally understanding the inducements imposed on her to cooperate. An intense feeling of empathy ran through him and he took another step towards her. When she turned he was there and looking into her eyes. With deliberation, he leaned towards her and kissed her passively yielding lips tenderly. He kept kissing her, enjoying the moment when another voice interrupted him.
"What the hell is going on here? Douglas, is that a woman you're kissing? Now I know I've seen everything."
Parker pulled away from Jarod and stared at him inquiringly. The man's tone was both arrogant and envious. Jarod, who had removed his sunglasses during Parker's explanation of the Centre's intrigues, glanced over her shoulder to find the Task Force's resident Lothario, Conner Elliot staring at him from across the room.
"Nothing that concerns you, Conner. Why did you follow me? You're supposed to be at the crime scene," Jarod answered with calm anger.
"I thought you were up to something, so I decided to follow you to see what was going on," Elliot responded as he walked towards the couple. "Who's the chick? Some gender confused loser you're trying to take advantage of?" he asked not having gotten a good look at Parker.
"None of your business. Why don't you get out of here and I'll join you in a minute," he responded, knowing the attempt to distract his colleague would fail.
"Well, I'm making it my business, Douglas. Besides, I'm curious to see who in their right mind would bother with a freak like you," Elliot taunted with barely suppressed anger.
Parker had yet to turn around to look at the intruder; instead she studied Jarod who was becoming angrier by his colleague's jealousy. He knew Elliot, out of some juvenile jealousy, was the one spreading the rumors that he was homosexual. Affected by the bemused and irritated expression on Parker's face, Jarod was becoming angrier by the minute.
Elliot had finally reached them and walking around he leaned to the side slightly to get a look at Parker, whom he assumed was homely. His reaction would have been amusing if Jarod wasn't already annoyed. "Whoa, you're gorgeous, Gorgeous. What the heck are you doing with a loser like him?" Elliot asked with genuine interest. A switch flicked to life in Elliot's one-track mind, the same one that seemed to activate whenever there was an attractive groupie within a 2 mile range. "Why not trade up, Honey?" he asked, placing his hand on her arm.
With fluid speed, Parker had pushed Elliot up against a stone pillar; one hand was pressed against his throat, the other contained her 9mm which was resting tightly against his solar plexus. "Never, ever touch me. Being that you're such a good friend of Jarod's, I'll spare myself the dry cleaning bill your snake-oil blood would require to remove your stink off my clothes," Parker said in a menacing whisper.
Confusion swam in his eyes as Elliot tried vainly to shrink further away from the comely woman who was so effectively threatening him. In another not brilliant move Elliot croaked from his constricted throat, "He touched you."
"As the man said, it's none of your business. Now be a good civil servant and go back to your little pals outside and act like the little dog who just discovered he could lick his own ass." With that she released him and with surprising strength grabbed his lapel and propelled him towards the door.
Choking, Elliot was holding his throat and turned back to look at the stunning woman, just in time to see her give a hand signal to a human mountain that responded quickly by ushering him unceremoniously out of the door. Jarod and Parker listened to the sounds of Elliot stumbling down the stairs ahead of Moriyama. When silence finally enveloped the room, neither occupant was eager to disturb the sudden calm.
"I need you to do me a favor, actually a couple of favors," Jarod began after choosing his words carefully.
Parker turned mutely towards Jarod, she had used the few moments of quiet to collect her thoughts and to bring her temper back under her usual steely control. Unbeknownst to Jarod, she was close to seriously hurting the pedantic jerk who treated her like a simpering, brainless slut happy to gain any man's attention.
"First, I would like to know what your people come up with. We can work together and share information in order to bring this guy down." Handing her some neatly folded sheets, Jarod said "As for my part, I drew up this list of the type of equipment and locations the murderer would need in order to weaponize the toxin. The list is based on my profile of him. The quicker we find him, the better for both of us and in exchange I'll also get you a copy of the report from the sorority house."
Parker listened and considered without committing. Her temper finally put in its safe place; she wandered around the open area, still careful to avoid the places her team was in the mist of processing. Stopping next to one of the stone pillars she asked quietly, "What's the second thing you want from me?"
Jarod paused for a few beats before answering, "I need you to touch the lenses of my glasses. Elliot has a big mouth and I'm fairly sure by the time he reaches the ground floor you would have turned into a dozen burly men intent on killing him. I need this so Broots can create a file for you." Jarod explained what he needed and the reasons behind his request.
"Alright, I need to bring my team back in here to finish up and get out before your pal Elliot returns," Parker said turning to Jarod with her hands on her hips. The dark blue overcoat she wore was opened, revealing a tight pair of black leather pants, short matching boots with 2" heels and a deep blue cashmere turtleneck sweater. Her thick hair was draped over her shoulders and her brilliantly pale complexion was in stark contrast to her clothing. To Jarod, she looked simply lovely. Looking away for a few seconds, he decided to try once again.
"There is one other thing I want to ask," he started uncertainly. Unconsciously extending his nervous anxiety, Parker stared at him, tilting her head gently to one side, she was wondering what was eating at Resident Genius. "Would you have dinner with me? Not tonight but perhaps this weekend. The Unsub seems to take the weekends off and I need some time away from the task force as you can see. His profile doesn't indicate the Unsub will strike soon again, anyway," he said as he slowly ran down. He had the feeling he was rambling and was baldly showing his anxiousness. A sinking feeling grew inside of him as he began to feel like an idiot. The other women he had asked out to dinner and who eventually became his lovers never drew this reaction out of him or would've taken matters into their own hands by now.
A puzzled look formed on Parker's face. Not since her boarding school days had she ever been asked out in such an artless fashion. Even Tommy had a smoother delivery than Smarty-pants here. "Are you asking me out on a date?"
Jarod rolled his eyes in helplessness, then turned his eyes back to her and raised his eyebrows without responding.
"Dinner at your place, not out in public. If I meet that moron co-worker of yours again, I swear I'll hurt him."
Jarod's smile almost blinded her in its brilliance. There was only one other time when he grinned at her like that, they were children and it was just before she gave him his first kiss. Shaking her head slowly, Parker said, "Get out of here, Jarod. I've got work to do."
Jarod approached her, held out his sunglasses and watched silently while she rolled her thumb print along the side of the lens. She handed them back without looking at him and listened attentively as he left the building.