Pretense

Chapter Seven

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Lyle was fairly shocked when he saw a miniature set up of a computer room that the air ducts had led to. Angelo seemed right at home in the area and Lyle suddenly realized that the set up was his. Maybe Angelo's brains weren't all mush. The man had a hideout without security cameras and as far as Lyle knew, no one else in The Centre was aware of it. Except for Jarod, obviously. Jarod was kneeling next to Angelo's laptop, his hands poised over the keyboard. Angelo was seated next to him, bouncing excitedly.

"Jarod! Jarod! Jarod come!"

Jarod looked up at Angelo just as Lyle began to speak.

"I hope you weren't going to steal off into the night, Jarod, after leaving Angelo a clandestine note?"

"Actually, I wanted to leave Angelo a little note. Then, I was going to find you, Lyle. I wouldn't dream of leaving the Centre without dropping by."

Lyle knew they could do this threatening banter thing for hours, but he also knew they didn't have the time. Samarah was hurt somewhere with no one but Cade with her. Cade hardly counted as a person, anyway. After all, he was the one torturing her. Lyle's chest tightened at the memory of Cade's actions and Samarah's eyes as she looked into the camera. He rarely saw Samarah as helpless. She was incredibly talented and about one hundred times smarter than he was, smarter in everything except for the way psychopaths worked. He had personal experience with that. Samarah might be able to escape from Cade, but he would find her. He would terrorize her until she was dead, or he was. Lyle was going to put a stop to this. Cade needed to be reminded of who was in charge and then he was going to be exterminated. Project WYS would be officially terminated and Lyle wouldn't have to worry about Samarah being in danger anymore. Other than the Centre wanting to capture her, of course. Lyle was confident he could put a stop to any capture unit for Samarah. Lyle snapped himself out of his thoughts of protecting Samarah and turned his attention back to Jarod.

"You and I don't get along. I like it that way. As soon as we help Samarah, I have every intention of capturing you and bringing you back to the Centre where you belong. You're getting a get out of jail free card this time, because as much as I hate to admit it, Samarah needs you."

"Get out of jail free card?" Jarod repeated it questioningly.

Lyle groaned at Jarod's question. Of course he had to avoid any pop culture references for Jarod or else he'd have to explain them. Lyle realized that Miss Parker and her sidekicks had made their way into the small room and seemed just as surprised by it. Angelo kept his place hidden well. He must care for Samarah a lot to allow everyone to see his haven. Mr. Lyle's nonexistent respect for the empath suddenly went up a notch. Angelo may not be a puppet of the Centre like everyone had thought. Lyle chose to ignore their entrance and return his attention on Jarod again.

"Do you know where she is?"

"Yes." Jarod said it calmly, but offered no elaboration. Lyle's face flickered with annoyance. It flashed away quickly because he knew Jarod would play on that. Jarod may care for the feelings of others, but to him, Lyle wasn't a person.

"Would you like to tell me where she is?"

"Yes, Mr. Lyle, I plan to. She's actually not far from Blue Cove. She's in Ashington. Cade loves to taunt you. I can't say that I blame him. I love to taunt you, as well, but Samarah is the one getting hurt because of that and she doesn't deserve it."

"So we actually agree on something. Do you know where in Ashington she is?"

"It's a hotel or motel. There aren't a lot in Ashington. It's a small town. There will be direct access to the room because people would notice him carrying an unconscious body across the lobby."

"So a cheap motel?"

"It's not like Cade has a lot of money. He hasn't been taking Centre funds, so he pretty much has no money. He may be stealing money, but Cade's only a pickpocket. He won't get a ton of money from that."

"The motel would also be one of those with a don't ask, don't tell policy. Someone would see or hear Samarah and no one has been inclined to report it."

"You're getting the idea. Hello, Miss Parker."

"Jarod." Miss Parker and Sydney both moved closer to Jarod. Miss Parker and Jarod stared at each other for the longest time, it seemed. Something was different between the two that was obvious to everyone, even if they weren't privy to the reason for the change.

"This is a twist in the story, isn't it, Miss Parker?"

She watched him with piercing blue eyes. She didn't even know if she could answer that question. Memories of Carthis flooded her. That almost kiss in Ocee's home near the raging fireplace. She could practically feel Jarod's lips on hers and she knew it was ridiculous. She was a Parker. She didn't get dreamy or dramatic. She actually cursed herself for feeling the way she was. Jarod was the bane of her existence. The minute Jarod was back in custody; she could leave The Centre and move on with her life. In theory. She could take Jarod into custody right that minute and be done with it all. If the ghoul would ever let her go. That just might be the show of good faith Mr. Raines had been talking about. Bringing Jarod back would even beat Mr. Lyle's thumb. But if she did return Jarod, she would be sentencing Jarod to a miserable life, Lyle to death (likely) and she would probably be forced to stay at the Centre for another reason. Lyle would never give a second thought to leaving her in Mr. Raines' clutches, but she did. And Jarod had always managed to protect her, even when he drove her crazy with his games. Even when Jarod was the cause of her working at the Centre again. Miss Parker broke her gaze from Jarod, trying to focus back at the situation at hand. The girl pretender needed their help from some psychopathic telekinetic.
"It's not the same story, Jarod. Listen, we need to split up in groups to go in and get Samarah. I think Jarod and I could be on a team, Sydney and Lyle on another and Broots could be our communication link. What do you think?"

Jarod nodded and glanced past Miss Parker. His eyes widened visibly and he seemed irritated.

"Where is Mr. Lyle?"

Miss Parker whirled around as Sydney and Broots glanced about the room. Lyle was nowhere to be seen.

"He's gone after her. Alone."

"Which is exactly what Cade wanted." Jarod said it in a haunted, threatening tone that left no room for wonder. They all knew why Cade wanted Lyle to come after her alone. And the real debate was, did they let Cade do what he wanted?

Lyle sighed as he entered the last sleazy motel he could find in Ashington. He had been to two others and neither concierge, and he used that term lightly, was very cooperative. He'd shown a picture of both Cade and Samarah and no one had seen them. He strode through the lobby, the mission clear on his face. He pulled out two Centre file shots, then slid them to the man with a twenty on top.

"Have you seen either of these people?"

"Your wife run away from you or somethin'?"

"Not exactly. Have either of them checked into this motel?"

"I can't quite remember, you know? I don't know. A lotta people look like this guy."

Lyle slid another twenty to him. He'd give this guy as much money as he wanted to find Samarah. It was the Centre's cash. Cade was the Centre's problems, anyway. They deserved to fund this little excursion. The guy watched him skeptically. Lyle slid three more twenties to him. The guy smiled at him, satisfied. Lyle resisted the urge to remove his gun and shoot him in the head. This guy might be able to help him, even if his attitude did deserve a long torture session.

"Guy that looked kinda like that checked in a few days. Haven't seen much of him. He's a loner. I've never seen him with anyone else, though. I don't know if your girlie has been with him."

"What room number was he in?"

The man raised his eyebrow as an indication of his intention.

"Now, Sir, we're a respectable facility. We do have privacy laws."

Lyle didn't have the patience or the desire to keep his temper. He whipped his gun out and pulled the guy to him, the gun cocked and ready to fire into the man's head. The man's eyes widened understandably and he started to fidget in Lyle's grip. Lyle held onto it and stared into the man's scared eyes.

"I tried to do this the nice way. Now is that number coming to your head? Because you're kind of on my nerves, anyway. I don't mind killing you. In fact, I'd love a reason to kill you."

The man was sweating now and it disgusted Lyle. This guy obviously didn't know how to withstand any kind of stress. Lyle didn't even look that frightening and this guy was scared. Maybe it was the look in his eyes. This guy was keeping him from Samarah.

"Uhhh…57. Room 57. Let me go, man. I could call the cops."

Lyle's eyes flashed dangerously. "You go ahead and do that. We'll see if you finish dialing."

Lyle threw the guy back and then punched him. He was unconscious and Lyle felt relieved. Then he grabbed the spare key from the desk and went in search of Samarah and Cade. He couldn't just burst in. Cade may be expecting him to do that. He had to have a plan. Lyle headed quietly for the room, knowing he'd come up with a plan on the way. He was intelligent enough to come up with one quickly. And he'd have Samarah out of there before anyone knew she was gone.

Jarod and the others had left the Centre together, ironically. Angelo had been left in his secret room, happily typing away on his computer. The others were headed to Ashington, planning on splitting up once they got there. Three motels that fit Jarod's description were in Ashington and there were four of them. Broots agreed to stay with Miss Parker when the decision was being made on where they would be going. The prospect of interrogating a bunch of slimy hotel managers excited none of them, Miss Parker the least. She knew she'd likely be hit on and she intended to let them know whom the stronger person was. She assumed that would end the unwanted attention. Miss Parker strutted into the lobby confidently, but found the desk annoyingly empty. Broots stayed several steps behind her as soon as he recognized the look in her eyes. It was the look that warned anyone who had any sense to stay out of her way. Parker found the small bell and rang it several times, impatiently. She began to tap her foot, hoping some noise would alert the manager of their presence. Still, no one came. She leaned over the desk, not entirely surprised by what she found. A man, probably the manager, lay sprawled across the floor. She noticed a large bruise forming on his jaw.

"This is the motel. Lyle's already visited the front desk."

"How do you know?" Broots asked timidly.

"Sleeping Beauty here."

"Where did Mr. Lyle go?"

"I don't know, Broots." Miss Parker snapped as her patience wore thin,

"The guy isn't exactly wearing a sign that says what room number Cade and company are in, Broots. Maybe you could try hacking into the computer system and find out for me. It doesn't look too complicated. You do occasionally have a use."

A look of offense and hurt flashed on Broots' face, but he hid it quickly as he plowed on to the computer. Miss Parker stood behind him, not alleviating his nervousness. But Broots was much more resilient than anyone gave him credit for, including Miss Parker. He stepped over the unconscious body like it was an everyday sight, which of course for him it was, and began tapping lightly at the computer, making hacking seem like child's play. Despite Miss Parker's bite, she knew she would be nowhere without him. He helped her out more than either admitted.