Chapter 37
Irina let go of her niece, then looked back towards the bathroom door.
'Uh, let's go to another room, okay?'
Emily nodded, although her eyes strayed towards the bathroom door that Mr. Parker was showering in.
'Who is that in there?' she asked, as Mr. Parker's bad singing, reached her ears.
'Uh...well, dear, he's my new husband.'
'Husband?' Emily repeated, looking towards the door again. Irina Derevko had reached out to her weeks ago, a few days after the shooting incident with Mallory and Lyle. Missing her own mother, it didn't take long for her to see her 'Aunt' as a mother figure. She even confided in her about her attraction to Michael Vaughn. She still marveled at how Irina pushed her to pursue him, even though he was her daughter, Sidney's boyfriend.
'Yes, but we'll talk about that later. Let's go somewhere else and talk.'
'Okay, but what is this place? I mean I've always wanted to see Scotland but this island...and why are there guards here?'
'Irina!'
Emily turned and her heart almost jumped out of her chest! Lyle was walking up to them. Emily turned back towards Irina.
'What the hell is he doing here?!'
Lyle smiled at Emily. He recognized her as Jarod's sister and a woman he had tried to murder once. He would've found her attractive...if she had been Asian.
Irina put a hand on her niece's shoulder.
'It's alright, Emily.' she said calmly. But Emily flinched and pulled out of her grasp!
'No, it isn't! He shot Mallory! He shot his own sister at Thanksgiving! You knew that! What's going on here with...'
Emily stopped speaking abruptly, as she looked past Irina and into the room. Mr. Parker had come out of the bathroom, swathed in a white, terrycloth robe. Emily looked from him, to her aunt.
'Your husband is Mr. Parker? The man who ran that damned place that broke up my family?! I trusted you! You were my mother's sister! I trusted you!'
'You can still trust me dear, if you do right.' Irina said calmly.
'Shut up! You're a liar! You're planning something, aren't you?!'
Lyle chimed in, ignoring Emily's hysterics and speaking directing to Irina.
'I called Jarod...'
'JAROD!' Emily screamed. 'You leave him alone! He's suffered enough because of you...because of all of you!'
Mr. Parker came towards them. He grinned at Emily.
'Well, well! I see you finally got Jarod's sister here, as per our agreement.' he said, planting a kiss on Irina's cheek. Emily's eyes became wild!
'What 'agreement'?! My God! Did you ever want to get to know me at all?! And after I was willing to forgive you for accidentally shooting my mother! You aren't sorry about it, are you?! You did kill her in cold blood!'
Lyle rolled his eyes!
'I would say the answer to that is quite obvious! My, you don't appear to be the genius's your brothers were....though Kyle was never as gifted as Jarod.'
Emily balled up her fist and punched Lyle in the mouth! He stumbled back and was prepared to backhand her, when Irina stepped in the way.
'What did Jarod say, Lyle?' she asked impatiently. Emily gave Mr. Parker a withered look of disgust.
Lyle took his eyes off of Emily and looked at his new step-mother.
'Jarod is coming back to the Centre. He knows that Mallory's life is at stake.'
Mr. Parker's head whipped away from Emily, towards Lyle.
'What?! What are you talking about?!'
Lyle looked from his father, to Irina. Irina turned and smiled up at her new husband.
'Dear, I had to take out a little insurance, just to make sure that you actually kept up your end of the 'agreement'. That memory erasing drug that was given to Mallory is breaking down in her system and killing her as we speak. She'll be fine...when Jarod makes himself useful!'
'Oh God!'' Emily began to wail. Irina eyed her, then motioned to two Sweepers, who had just come walking up.
'Emily, I'm sorry, but we need to see if you have any skills as a Pretender as well. If you do, we will make this a 'family' operation. You'll know power that you never thought was possible.' Irina said soothingly.
Emily felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her, as the Sweepers dragged her off to a cell. Lyle smiled after her, then looked at Irina and his father.
'I think I'll go and check on my sister...you know, to see how she's holding up.'
Lyle walked off whistling. Mr. Parker grabbed Irina's arm...hard! Irina managed to twist away and knock Mr. Parker back into a wall! He slumped down to the ground, his eyes wide with shock!
Irina smiled down at him.
'There's going to be much more where that came from, if you don't learn to keep your hands to yourself. And after your distasteful performance in bed just now, that goes for our sex life as well!'
'I can't believe I had Brigitte killed for this! I though you 'wanted me'! I thought that you 'had to have me'! I thought you said that you didn't 'want to share me with Brigitte'!' Mr. Parker growled, struggling to get up.
'And I thought you said you didn't want raise another child? I thought you said that it would be easier to kill her, rather than hear her whining when Bobby became a Pretender?'
'We BOTH agreed that killing Brigitte was the best thing!' Mr. Parker hissed.
'And we both agreed that fulfilling our obligations to the Covenant, was more important than anything else. Our lives are on the line here! We need to prove our worth and the way to do it is to have top people working for us. Jarod and my daughter will be able to retrieve the things we want and need to bring us the power we'll need to take over the Covenant.'
Mr. Parker was standing up by now. He glared at his wife.
'You don't think I understand that! How do you think I felt, being indebted to them for hiding me all of these years! The power and resources we'll have to make this Centre truly phenomonal....I can't even imagine it.'
'They helped me hide as well!' Irina snapped. 'But we can't stay under their thumb forever! We have to move now! Look, I agreed to bring you Emily and Jarod....I did what I did to your daughter to that you would give me what I need too. I've made side deals as well and one of them in particular will make us both a lot of money. But, I sense your reluctance, why?'
Mr. Parker reached out and touched his wife's shoulders.
'That virus, in the wrong hands...not even Raines knows where it is or how I came by it.' Mr. Parker said. It was the same virus that he had hoped to market over 30 years ago. The same one that he recently found out, the Triumvirate 'tested' on Catherine Parker.
'Cure my Angel now, and I will keep my word, I promise.'
Irina almost felt for him...almost.
'When Jarod gets here. And he will. Okay?' she said, touching his hand briefly before she walked back into their bedroom. Mr. Parker swallowed, then reluctantly followed his wife back into their room. It was clear who wore the pants in this relationship.
FIVE HOURS LATER
It was getting dark, and Melanie was wearing a black leather suit and carrying a gun that she did not know how to really use. She held on to Jarod, as they approached the entrance of the Carthis 'Centre'.
'I don't know if I can pull this off.' Melanie whispered, as a gate came open automatically. Jarod looked up and saw a camera.
'Mallory would never say that.' Jarod answered in a no nonsense tone.
Melanie ignored the rude remark. She could sense he was scared. She tried not to look around. She knew that there were CIA agents tailing them. She felt a little better.
Jarod looked over at her.
'I'm sorry.' he whispered. 'I want to thank you for helping me. But you have to know that neither one of us may ever leave this place.'
'Alive?'
'No, we'll be very much alive, unfortunately.'
'Sidney and Vaughn would never let that happen. So don't worry. We won't end up prisoners here.'
'I'm not worried about being a prisoner, Melanie. I'm worried that my wife is already dead.'
Melanie said nothing more. There were no soothing words in a situation like this. She decided to just not say anything more.
Jarod and Melanie walked through the gates. They didn't have to go far, before they were greeted by two Sweepers, Irina Derevko and Mr. Parker. All four were more than a bit startled to see Melanie. They gaped.
'Hello, Daddy.' Melanie said, sticking her gun in Jarod's side. Irina eyed the two.
'What is the meaning of this? Why are YOU here? This was not the agreement, Jarod.'
'And hello to you too, Aunt Irina.' Jarod said coolly.
Irina raised a brow, then looked behind Jarod and Melanie. She didn't see anyone out there in the forest. But that didn't mean that there wasn't someone there...someone like the CIA.
Irina turned to the two Sweepers.
'I'll take care of this. Go and check around and make sure these two didn't bring back up.'
'Irina, please. Melanie is just trying to...' Mr. Parker began.
Irina turned back to Mr. Parker and slapped him hard across the face! Jarod's eyes widened and he shot Melanie a look. She clutched the gun, but her hands were sweating.
'Shut up! Okay?' Irina asked sarcastically. She then walked up to Melanie and pulled on a lock of her hair! Melanie jerked back!
'What is the meaning of this?! I tried to help my father here by bringing him the one thing he really wants...'
'How did you know that Jarod was that 'one thing'? Huh, dear? How did you know?'
But Melanie had been prepped by Sidney. She had been prepared for that question.
'My mother. After I finally got to meet my real father, I demanded the truth. She told me everything....everything about her faking her death. About her denying me a right to know my father, brother and sister. I decided I wanted to know everything about the Centre...it's just as much my heritage as it is my sister's.'
Irina wasn't buying any of that horseshit! But, she decided to say nothing for now.
'You can drop the gun, dear. We're in charge here. And Jarod, you are not a prisoner here...you never will be, as long as you do what we ask. Now, I know you're anxious to see Mallory. Follow me.'
But before Jarod went anywhere, he looked into Mr. Parker's eyes. The handprint from his aunt's slap was still visible.
'How could you let this happen? You never gave a damn about Mallory, did you? Where is Bobby?'
'Shut up!' Mr. Parker snarled. 'You're the one who did this! I sent my daughter after you, all of those years ago, to break that goddamned stranglehold that you've always had on her! But, you're a slick one! You always were.'
'And maybe I wouldn't have had any hold on her, if you had been a halfway decent father! You never gave her your time, attention or love!'
'Oh, and you did?'
Jarod's eyes narrowed.
'Brian is proof of that.'
Mr. Parker swung his arm around to hit Jarod, but Irina jumped in between them. She glared back at her husband.
'Unless you want to feel the weight of fist again, you won't damage the merchandise.' Irina hissed. She then linked arms with Jarod and began to escort him inside.
'We're family, Jarod. And I have big plans for us. Plans that don't include any of the Parkers.' Irina whispered, as she lead him inside.
Meanwhile, Melanie inched over to Mr. Parker. She gently touched his face.
'Are you alright?'
Mr. Parker gave his newfound daughter a reassuring smile, but inside, he was dying! Getting involved with that crazy psycho bitch, Derevko had been a mistake! His back was still killing him from when she threw him into that wall! And now that slap...and in front of Jarod, of all people!
But, he covered.
'I'm fine, Ang...Melanie. What did you do to your hair? I liked it blonde.'
But Melanie didn't respond to that. She eyed him.
'You don't want to go along with this, do you? Was it your idea to poison my sister?'
'I didn't...I didn't know the drug could be fatal to her after all of this time! If Jarod acts right everything will be alright! I don't want anything to happen to any of my children. In fact, it was always my hope that I could get to know my grandkids too...have you met your nephew and niece?'
But Melanie wasn't going for that!
'Nope. Haven't seen them. Why don't we get inside? Your cheek looks like it got cut.'
Mr. Parker reached up and touched his cheek. He drew back blood.
'It must've been Irina's ring that cut me.' he murmured. The Sweepers came back.
'There's no one out there.' one of them said.
Mr. Parker nodded, but then gasped shortly, as the other Sweeper turned his gun on Melanie!
'What the hell do you think you're doing?!' Mr. Parker snarled.
'Sorry, Mr. Parker. But we're following your wife's orders.'
'You work for me!' he snapped.
But the other Sweeper pulled his gun and turned it on Mr. Parker.
'Not anymore. Sorry.' he said, grabbing Melanie's arm and dragging her inside. The other Sweeper kept his gun trained on Mr. Parker, until they were safely inside. Mr. Parker shook his head in disbelief! All he had wanted to do was build a new Centre...and enjoy a new, exciting wife...and build a new Centre! But now...
He barely felt the blow dart that hit the back of his neck! He dropped to the ground, just as Agent Michael Vaughn, dressed in combat gear, dismantled the camera at the gate. Sidney and another agent rushed in an dragged the unconscious man off of the property. A van was waiting as they hurled him in the back. Michael jumped in to drive, but Sidney lingered.
'Don't worry! I'm telling you, we have agents inside that your mother knows nothing about. Jarod, Melanie and the others will be fine, Sid, but we have to get going if we're going to interrogate old man Parker here!'
Sidney seemed unsure, but had little choice but to jump in the van and leave Jarod, Mallory, Melanie and little Bobby behind...for now.
Jarod walked into a stark white room. Mallory was lying on a bed. Her eyes were closed.
Irina closed the door.
'She's in a coma now. You can have your wife back again, if you do a few things for us.'
Jarod nodded. Irina turned away slightly to pull out a cellphone. That was when Jarod reached down and pulled a small gun out from the inside of his boot! He then wrapped his forearm around Irina Derevko's neck!
'Did you really think that I would do anything for the woman that murdered my mother?!' he hissed. 'Give my wife that drug now, or you won't live another moment!'
'Jarod!' Irina gasped, 'you're not a killer!'
'Oh yeah? Watch me!'
'Jarod! Jarod..alright...alright...I'll get the drug!'
Jarod loosened his grip around his aunt's neck. Irina pulled away and rubbed her throat. What would it hurt to cure Mallory now? It wasn't as if they were leaving anytime soon. Besides that, they had all of the leverage in the world against Jarod now.
Irina slowly reached into the jacket pocket she was wearing and pulled out a vial of something, and a syringe. Jarod cocked his gun at her.
'How do I know that won't kill her?'
'Because I won't get out of here alive if it does.' Irina said simply. She walked over to the comatose Mallory, injected the the contents of the vial into the syringe, then plunged the syringe into Mallory's neck!
Jarod moved closer to his wife and aunt, but kept his eyes on Mallory the whole time. After a few moments, Mallory's eyes began to flutter, and she sat up with a start, coughing!
Jarod shoved Irina aside and saw to her. Mallory focused in on him.
'Jarod? What are you doing here? Where am I?'
'What is the last thing you remember?' he asked gently.
Mallory appeared to be thinking. She then nodded.
'I was visiting Brigitte when...oh my God! My father and Raines! Jarod, where are we?!'
'You're in the heart of the New Centre.' Irina almost purred. Mallory noticed her for the first time.
'God in hell, what are you doing here?!' she snapped. Jarod stroked her hair.
'Your father and I got married.'
Mallory looked her up and down.
'My father is still married to Brigitte.'
Irina whipped out her phone again. She told someone to 'bring it in'. Jarod eyed her.
'You don't need to bring in anything for us. Your time is running out.'
'Hmmmm. So you'd think.' Irina answered. A Sweeper opened the door and brought in a small TV and a remote. He then turned and left the room. Irina turned it on. The first 'channel' was a room filled with about ten or more dead, unrecognizable bodies.
'My,' Mallory said with disgust, 'you've been making up for lost time. Did Raines help you with that?'
But Jarod was revolted! He would never understand his wife's ability to stay cool after witnessing such an atrocity!
'Yes actually he did. You see, Jarod, those are the bodies of all of the 'Undercover' CIA agents that were sent here to bring us down. So, you see, there will be no 'help' for you. Oh and also, I believe two of them we were wrong about. I do think that were just regular nobodies.'
'Bitch!' Jarod spat. Mallory grabbed his hand. Jarod usually didn't swear like that, but he was facing the woman who had murdered his beloved mother.
'What do you want, 'step-mommy'?' Mallory sneered.
'I need Jarod's help with a virus. Oh, and we need to test Abigail to see if she is already as gifted as Brian. Our people have been unable to find them. Where are they?'
Mallory glanced over at Jarod, who gave his aunt a hard look.
'You'll never find them, so don't even try.'
Irina nodded, then turned the TV on the next channel. Melanie was in her cell. Jarod gasped, never thinking that she would be locked up! Mr. Parker really didn't run things around here! Mallory frowned.
'Who is that?'
Jarod glanced at her.
'Honey, she's your twin, Melanie...she's helping us.'
A Sweeper came to the cell door and unlocked it. They all watched as Melanie backed back, then screamed as the Sweeper pointed his gun at her and fired! The screen suddenly went black! Mallory put her face in her hands, Jarod stood up and faced off with his aunt.
Irina Derevko smiled coldly at them.
'Now, let's try this again: where are Brian and Abigail?'
Irina let go of her niece, then looked back towards the bathroom door.
'Uh, let's go to another room, okay?'
Emily nodded, although her eyes strayed towards the bathroom door that Mr. Parker was showering in.
'Who is that in there?' she asked, as Mr. Parker's bad singing, reached her ears.
'Uh...well, dear, he's my new husband.'
'Husband?' Emily repeated, looking towards the door again. Irina Derevko had reached out to her weeks ago, a few days after the shooting incident with Mallory and Lyle. Missing her own mother, it didn't take long for her to see her 'Aunt' as a mother figure. She even confided in her about her attraction to Michael Vaughn. She still marveled at how Irina pushed her to pursue him, even though he was her daughter, Sidney's boyfriend.
'Yes, but we'll talk about that later. Let's go somewhere else and talk.'
'Okay, but what is this place? I mean I've always wanted to see Scotland but this island...and why are there guards here?'
'Irina!'
Emily turned and her heart almost jumped out of her chest! Lyle was walking up to them. Emily turned back towards Irina.
'What the hell is he doing here?!'
Lyle smiled at Emily. He recognized her as Jarod's sister and a woman he had tried to murder once. He would've found her attractive...if she had been Asian.
Irina put a hand on her niece's shoulder.
'It's alright, Emily.' she said calmly. But Emily flinched and pulled out of her grasp!
'No, it isn't! He shot Mallory! He shot his own sister at Thanksgiving! You knew that! What's going on here with...'
Emily stopped speaking abruptly, as she looked past Irina and into the room. Mr. Parker had come out of the bathroom, swathed in a white, terrycloth robe. Emily looked from him, to her aunt.
'Your husband is Mr. Parker? The man who ran that damned place that broke up my family?! I trusted you! You were my mother's sister! I trusted you!'
'You can still trust me dear, if you do right.' Irina said calmly.
'Shut up! You're a liar! You're planning something, aren't you?!'
Lyle chimed in, ignoring Emily's hysterics and speaking directing to Irina.
'I called Jarod...'
'JAROD!' Emily screamed. 'You leave him alone! He's suffered enough because of you...because of all of you!'
Mr. Parker came towards them. He grinned at Emily.
'Well, well! I see you finally got Jarod's sister here, as per our agreement.' he said, planting a kiss on Irina's cheek. Emily's eyes became wild!
'What 'agreement'?! My God! Did you ever want to get to know me at all?! And after I was willing to forgive you for accidentally shooting my mother! You aren't sorry about it, are you?! You did kill her in cold blood!'
Lyle rolled his eyes!
'I would say the answer to that is quite obvious! My, you don't appear to be the genius's your brothers were....though Kyle was never as gifted as Jarod.'
Emily balled up her fist and punched Lyle in the mouth! He stumbled back and was prepared to backhand her, when Irina stepped in the way.
'What did Jarod say, Lyle?' she asked impatiently. Emily gave Mr. Parker a withered look of disgust.
Lyle took his eyes off of Emily and looked at his new step-mother.
'Jarod is coming back to the Centre. He knows that Mallory's life is at stake.'
Mr. Parker's head whipped away from Emily, towards Lyle.
'What?! What are you talking about?!'
Lyle looked from his father, to Irina. Irina turned and smiled up at her new husband.
'Dear, I had to take out a little insurance, just to make sure that you actually kept up your end of the 'agreement'. That memory erasing drug that was given to Mallory is breaking down in her system and killing her as we speak. She'll be fine...when Jarod makes himself useful!'
'Oh God!'' Emily began to wail. Irina eyed her, then motioned to two Sweepers, who had just come walking up.
'Emily, I'm sorry, but we need to see if you have any skills as a Pretender as well. If you do, we will make this a 'family' operation. You'll know power that you never thought was possible.' Irina said soothingly.
Emily felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her, as the Sweepers dragged her off to a cell. Lyle smiled after her, then looked at Irina and his father.
'I think I'll go and check on my sister...you know, to see how she's holding up.'
Lyle walked off whistling. Mr. Parker grabbed Irina's arm...hard! Irina managed to twist away and knock Mr. Parker back into a wall! He slumped down to the ground, his eyes wide with shock!
Irina smiled down at him.
'There's going to be much more where that came from, if you don't learn to keep your hands to yourself. And after your distasteful performance in bed just now, that goes for our sex life as well!'
'I can't believe I had Brigitte killed for this! I though you 'wanted me'! I thought that you 'had to have me'! I thought you said that you didn't 'want to share me with Brigitte'!' Mr. Parker growled, struggling to get up.
'And I thought you said you didn't want raise another child? I thought you said that it would be easier to kill her, rather than hear her whining when Bobby became a Pretender?'
'We BOTH agreed that killing Brigitte was the best thing!' Mr. Parker hissed.
'And we both agreed that fulfilling our obligations to the Covenant, was more important than anything else. Our lives are on the line here! We need to prove our worth and the way to do it is to have top people working for us. Jarod and my daughter will be able to retrieve the things we want and need to bring us the power we'll need to take over the Covenant.'
Mr. Parker was standing up by now. He glared at his wife.
'You don't think I understand that! How do you think I felt, being indebted to them for hiding me all of these years! The power and resources we'll have to make this Centre truly phenomonal....I can't even imagine it.'
'They helped me hide as well!' Irina snapped. 'But we can't stay under their thumb forever! We have to move now! Look, I agreed to bring you Emily and Jarod....I did what I did to your daughter to that you would give me what I need too. I've made side deals as well and one of them in particular will make us both a lot of money. But, I sense your reluctance, why?'
Mr. Parker reached out and touched his wife's shoulders.
'That virus, in the wrong hands...not even Raines knows where it is or how I came by it.' Mr. Parker said. It was the same virus that he had hoped to market over 30 years ago. The same one that he recently found out, the Triumvirate 'tested' on Catherine Parker.
'Cure my Angel now, and I will keep my word, I promise.'
Irina almost felt for him...almost.
'When Jarod gets here. And he will. Okay?' she said, touching his hand briefly before she walked back into their bedroom. Mr. Parker swallowed, then reluctantly followed his wife back into their room. It was clear who wore the pants in this relationship.
FIVE HOURS LATER
It was getting dark, and Melanie was wearing a black leather suit and carrying a gun that she did not know how to really use. She held on to Jarod, as they approached the entrance of the Carthis 'Centre'.
'I don't know if I can pull this off.' Melanie whispered, as a gate came open automatically. Jarod looked up and saw a camera.
'Mallory would never say that.' Jarod answered in a no nonsense tone.
Melanie ignored the rude remark. She could sense he was scared. She tried not to look around. She knew that there were CIA agents tailing them. She felt a little better.
Jarod looked over at her.
'I'm sorry.' he whispered. 'I want to thank you for helping me. But you have to know that neither one of us may ever leave this place.'
'Alive?'
'No, we'll be very much alive, unfortunately.'
'Sidney and Vaughn would never let that happen. So don't worry. We won't end up prisoners here.'
'I'm not worried about being a prisoner, Melanie. I'm worried that my wife is already dead.'
Melanie said nothing more. There were no soothing words in a situation like this. She decided to just not say anything more.
Jarod and Melanie walked through the gates. They didn't have to go far, before they were greeted by two Sweepers, Irina Derevko and Mr. Parker. All four were more than a bit startled to see Melanie. They gaped.
'Hello, Daddy.' Melanie said, sticking her gun in Jarod's side. Irina eyed the two.
'What is the meaning of this? Why are YOU here? This was not the agreement, Jarod.'
'And hello to you too, Aunt Irina.' Jarod said coolly.
Irina raised a brow, then looked behind Jarod and Melanie. She didn't see anyone out there in the forest. But that didn't mean that there wasn't someone there...someone like the CIA.
Irina turned to the two Sweepers.
'I'll take care of this. Go and check around and make sure these two didn't bring back up.'
'Irina, please. Melanie is just trying to...' Mr. Parker began.
Irina turned back to Mr. Parker and slapped him hard across the face! Jarod's eyes widened and he shot Melanie a look. She clutched the gun, but her hands were sweating.
'Shut up! Okay?' Irina asked sarcastically. She then walked up to Melanie and pulled on a lock of her hair! Melanie jerked back!
'What is the meaning of this?! I tried to help my father here by bringing him the one thing he really wants...'
'How did you know that Jarod was that 'one thing'? Huh, dear? How did you know?'
But Melanie had been prepped by Sidney. She had been prepared for that question.
'My mother. After I finally got to meet my real father, I demanded the truth. She told me everything....everything about her faking her death. About her denying me a right to know my father, brother and sister. I decided I wanted to know everything about the Centre...it's just as much my heritage as it is my sister's.'
Irina wasn't buying any of that horseshit! But, she decided to say nothing for now.
'You can drop the gun, dear. We're in charge here. And Jarod, you are not a prisoner here...you never will be, as long as you do what we ask. Now, I know you're anxious to see Mallory. Follow me.'
But before Jarod went anywhere, he looked into Mr. Parker's eyes. The handprint from his aunt's slap was still visible.
'How could you let this happen? You never gave a damn about Mallory, did you? Where is Bobby?'
'Shut up!' Mr. Parker snarled. 'You're the one who did this! I sent my daughter after you, all of those years ago, to break that goddamned stranglehold that you've always had on her! But, you're a slick one! You always were.'
'And maybe I wouldn't have had any hold on her, if you had been a halfway decent father! You never gave her your time, attention or love!'
'Oh, and you did?'
Jarod's eyes narrowed.
'Brian is proof of that.'
Mr. Parker swung his arm around to hit Jarod, but Irina jumped in between them. She glared back at her husband.
'Unless you want to feel the weight of fist again, you won't damage the merchandise.' Irina hissed. She then linked arms with Jarod and began to escort him inside.
'We're family, Jarod. And I have big plans for us. Plans that don't include any of the Parkers.' Irina whispered, as she lead him inside.
Meanwhile, Melanie inched over to Mr. Parker. She gently touched his face.
'Are you alright?'
Mr. Parker gave his newfound daughter a reassuring smile, but inside, he was dying! Getting involved with that crazy psycho bitch, Derevko had been a mistake! His back was still killing him from when she threw him into that wall! And now that slap...and in front of Jarod, of all people!
But, he covered.
'I'm fine, Ang...Melanie. What did you do to your hair? I liked it blonde.'
But Melanie didn't respond to that. She eyed him.
'You don't want to go along with this, do you? Was it your idea to poison my sister?'
'I didn't...I didn't know the drug could be fatal to her after all of this time! If Jarod acts right everything will be alright! I don't want anything to happen to any of my children. In fact, it was always my hope that I could get to know my grandkids too...have you met your nephew and niece?'
But Melanie wasn't going for that!
'Nope. Haven't seen them. Why don't we get inside? Your cheek looks like it got cut.'
Mr. Parker reached up and touched his cheek. He drew back blood.
'It must've been Irina's ring that cut me.' he murmured. The Sweepers came back.
'There's no one out there.' one of them said.
Mr. Parker nodded, but then gasped shortly, as the other Sweeper turned his gun on Melanie!
'What the hell do you think you're doing?!' Mr. Parker snarled.
'Sorry, Mr. Parker. But we're following your wife's orders.'
'You work for me!' he snapped.
But the other Sweeper pulled his gun and turned it on Mr. Parker.
'Not anymore. Sorry.' he said, grabbing Melanie's arm and dragging her inside. The other Sweeper kept his gun trained on Mr. Parker, until they were safely inside. Mr. Parker shook his head in disbelief! All he had wanted to do was build a new Centre...and enjoy a new, exciting wife...and build a new Centre! But now...
He barely felt the blow dart that hit the back of his neck! He dropped to the ground, just as Agent Michael Vaughn, dressed in combat gear, dismantled the camera at the gate. Sidney and another agent rushed in an dragged the unconscious man off of the property. A van was waiting as they hurled him in the back. Michael jumped in to drive, but Sidney lingered.
'Don't worry! I'm telling you, we have agents inside that your mother knows nothing about. Jarod, Melanie and the others will be fine, Sid, but we have to get going if we're going to interrogate old man Parker here!'
Sidney seemed unsure, but had little choice but to jump in the van and leave Jarod, Mallory, Melanie and little Bobby behind...for now.
Jarod walked into a stark white room. Mallory was lying on a bed. Her eyes were closed.
Irina closed the door.
'She's in a coma now. You can have your wife back again, if you do a few things for us.'
Jarod nodded. Irina turned away slightly to pull out a cellphone. That was when Jarod reached down and pulled a small gun out from the inside of his boot! He then wrapped his forearm around Irina Derevko's neck!
'Did you really think that I would do anything for the woman that murdered my mother?!' he hissed. 'Give my wife that drug now, or you won't live another moment!'
'Jarod!' Irina gasped, 'you're not a killer!'
'Oh yeah? Watch me!'
'Jarod! Jarod..alright...alright...I'll get the drug!'
Jarod loosened his grip around his aunt's neck. Irina pulled away and rubbed her throat. What would it hurt to cure Mallory now? It wasn't as if they were leaving anytime soon. Besides that, they had all of the leverage in the world against Jarod now.
Irina slowly reached into the jacket pocket she was wearing and pulled out a vial of something, and a syringe. Jarod cocked his gun at her.
'How do I know that won't kill her?'
'Because I won't get out of here alive if it does.' Irina said simply. She walked over to the comatose Mallory, injected the the contents of the vial into the syringe, then plunged the syringe into Mallory's neck!
Jarod moved closer to his wife and aunt, but kept his eyes on Mallory the whole time. After a few moments, Mallory's eyes began to flutter, and she sat up with a start, coughing!
Jarod shoved Irina aside and saw to her. Mallory focused in on him.
'Jarod? What are you doing here? Where am I?'
'What is the last thing you remember?' he asked gently.
Mallory appeared to be thinking. She then nodded.
'I was visiting Brigitte when...oh my God! My father and Raines! Jarod, where are we?!'
'You're in the heart of the New Centre.' Irina almost purred. Mallory noticed her for the first time.
'God in hell, what are you doing here?!' she snapped. Jarod stroked her hair.
'Your father and I got married.'
Mallory looked her up and down.
'My father is still married to Brigitte.'
Irina whipped out her phone again. She told someone to 'bring it in'. Jarod eyed her.
'You don't need to bring in anything for us. Your time is running out.'
'Hmmmm. So you'd think.' Irina answered. A Sweeper opened the door and brought in a small TV and a remote. He then turned and left the room. Irina turned it on. The first 'channel' was a room filled with about ten or more dead, unrecognizable bodies.
'My,' Mallory said with disgust, 'you've been making up for lost time. Did Raines help you with that?'
But Jarod was revolted! He would never understand his wife's ability to stay cool after witnessing such an atrocity!
'Yes actually he did. You see, Jarod, those are the bodies of all of the 'Undercover' CIA agents that were sent here to bring us down. So, you see, there will be no 'help' for you. Oh and also, I believe two of them we were wrong about. I do think that were just regular nobodies.'
'Bitch!' Jarod spat. Mallory grabbed his hand. Jarod usually didn't swear like that, but he was facing the woman who had murdered his beloved mother.
'What do you want, 'step-mommy'?' Mallory sneered.
'I need Jarod's help with a virus. Oh, and we need to test Abigail to see if she is already as gifted as Brian. Our people have been unable to find them. Where are they?'
Mallory glanced over at Jarod, who gave his aunt a hard look.
'You'll never find them, so don't even try.'
Irina nodded, then turned the TV on the next channel. Melanie was in her cell. Jarod gasped, never thinking that she would be locked up! Mr. Parker really didn't run things around here! Mallory frowned.
'Who is that?'
Jarod glanced at her.
'Honey, she's your twin, Melanie...she's helping us.'
A Sweeper came to the cell door and unlocked it. They all watched as Melanie backed back, then screamed as the Sweeper pointed his gun at her and fired! The screen suddenly went black! Mallory put her face in her hands, Jarod stood up and faced off with his aunt.
Irina Derevko smiled coldly at them.
'Now, let's try this again: where are Brian and Abigail?'