Disclaimer: see part one

Thanks to:

R. Parker: Hey there. Glad that you like the story so much that you are putting me on your authors list #feels honoured#. A bit more romance… I'll see what I can do but I won't promise anything. Thanks for reviewing and now enjoy the next chapter.

e-dog: No problem, I'm a patient girl #hmm, am I? taking a few minutes to ponder that… aw well, maybe I'm not but I'll forgive you; lol# Back to "Shadows"… I'm glad that you are enjoying the ride so far. Thanks for telling me so and now enjoy the new chapter.

Parker's Pretender: First: no, you won't, that's my job. Second: let's see if I can do anything against them being civil #evil grin#. Third: thanks a lot and glad that you liked "Turn Evil Into Good" that much. Enjoy chapter seven now

rev2004: Will continue… glad that you liked the chapter. Thanks for your review and now enjoy the new chapter.

Mfkngst: Would have been surprising if any of you hadn't liked her accepting his help #grins#. Thanks for your review and here's the update… enjoy!

Sinelli: Wow, that's a compliment… thank you! I'm glad that you like the way I'm doing this. The next chapter is already here. Thanks for reviewing and now enjoy!

gemini006007: Yeah, well close… I don't really think that's the right work. There's still more than an arm length between them (never mind the hug #grins#). Thanks for your feedback and now have fun with chapter seven.

x x x x x x x

Shadows Part 7

New problems and trying to solve them

Miss Parker flicked her ringing cell phone open.

The last two days had been fairly quiet; she had gotten a few more phone calls but nothing else had happened, no new packages and sadly no one walking into one of the camera-traps Jarod had put up around her house.

She didn't know for sure, but she suspected Jarod snuck around her house at regular intervals to see if there was anyone. Strangely she didn't mind.

"What?" she growled her usual greeting into the receiver. She couldn't just change her greeting even if it might be Jarod calling. It could also be Lyle or Raines or anyone else from the Centre and she didn't want them to get suspicious.

She shook out of her silent musing, realizing that she hadn't gotten an answer from the other end of the line.

"Who the hell is there?" she asked forcefully, even though something told her that she wouldn't get an answer. She felt trepidation starting to build up in her every fibre.

"Who's there?" she snarled again.

There was a distinct click in the line.

"Damn it!" she screamed and just barely controlled her anger before she could throw the cell phone against the wall.

This clearly wasn't good.

Now he had managed to get his hands on the last number that had been off limits to him. A number that was as unknown to the public as her office number, if not more.

x x x x x x x

It felt good to hear her voice.

He forced the sadness of not being with her down; he would be able to step out of the shadows soon. Very soon. He would acknowledge his presence openly and she would run to him with open arms of welcome.

He closed his eyes and breathed contently at that thought.

She would be his finally. His... and no one else's.

x x x x x x x

"What?" she grunted out, not quite as forcefully as normal. The words turned out less cruel and all the more tired.

"Miss Parker," he greeted.

"Jarod," she sighed and closed her eyes.

Her voice was shaking slightly. Not everyone would notice the light nuances in her tone of voice but knowing her as well as he, and knowing the pressure she was under at the moment, he immediately heard it and his eyes narrowed further. Something must have happened.

She had seemed to be fairly ok when he had spoken to her in the morning. "What happened?" Jarod asked, concern welling up within him.

"He called again," she paused and took a deep breath, trying in vain to calm herself. "He called on my cell," she said meaningfully.

Jarod grimaced. He knew without having to inquire further, what this meant. Miss Parker's cell number had always been guarded; even he had had some difficulties getting his hands on it.

Knowing that her stalker had been able to find out the number wasn't a good sign.

"When did he call?" Jarod asked.

"About half an hour ago," she replied.

"Why didn't you call me?" Jarod asked, without hurt or reproach in his voice but merely concern.

"I wanted to but…," she trailed off. "I had a busy day and I have better things to do than that."

Jarod nodded. 'Here we go again,' he thought. She was blocking him yet again and he knew better than to try and reassure her or to get through to her. He didn't answer, too lost in his thoughts.

"I think I'm going to go home," Miss Parker finally announced.

"No," Jarod said quickly. "No, Miss Parker. I want you to stay right where you are – at the Centre."

"Why?" she questioned.

"Because you're safe there. He can get his hands on you there," he explained. He knew that as long as she was in the Centre, she would be safe and he needed to know her in safety to be able to fully concentrate on the task at hand.

"I can't stay here forever. Jarod, it's the same thing we talked about a few days ago," she grumbled, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"I know Miss Parker, but I have a few more ideas where we can look for him now. That he got his hands on your cell phone number means he must go round some pretty large obstacles. Not everyone can do that… he gave away a part of his profile by doing it. Let me get on that. I'll give you a call in about two hours."

"Ok," she surrendered, too tired to argue.

x x x x x x x

He worked quickly. He had to. He needed some answers quickly. Miss Parker needed his help and he had promised to find something.

And he would. He wouldn't break his promise.

His fingers flew over the keyboard of his computer, searching the data.

Jarod shook his head, frowning. He was deeply concerned now. He had hoped to find something here.

He had first accessed the telephone company's data and looked Miss Parker's number up for incoming calls.

There had been one call around the time she had told him but he hadn't been able to find out the number until now. It was blocked, but he still had a search and decryption program running trying to get behind that problem.

But right now, his other approach had been failed.

The fact that the stalker had gotten his hands on Parker's cell phone number said much about him.

It had taken Jarod some time to get his hands on that number himself and he knew that there weren't that many ways to get to it.

He had tried following the electronic footprints the stalker had left behind. But there hadn't been any.

Jarod shook his head again, his forehead wrinkled in confusion.

It just couldn't be.

Not even Jarod had been able to get to her number without leaving some breadcrumbs that one could follow.

As far as he knew, that wasn't possible.

Jarod picked up his cell phone and quickly searched for the number. Dialling, he leaned back in his chair and waited until the call was answered.

"Andrews," a voice on the other end finally greeted.

"Cody. It's Jarod."

"Jarod. How are you? We haven't seen each other for a long time," the other man spoke up, clearly surprised by the call.

"Yeah, I know. I should have called earlier… and to be honest. This is not entirely a social call," Jarod grinned. He could easily imagine Cody sitting back in his office chair, a light smile on his face. He had met Cody on a pretend about half a year back. Cody had helped him back then, too.

If Jarod had ever met a computer expert, it was Cody. He was an asset and not only in Jarod's opinion. He was highly respected in the branch and always busy trying to locate this or that problem.

"Oh?" Cody grunted out, interest colouring his voice and rising Jarod back out of his thoughts effectively.

"Yeah," Jarod chuckled. "I have a problem here and I hope that you can give me a few answers."

"Ok. Shoot," Cody requested.

"I want to know if it would be possible to get one's hands on a cell phone number that is tightly secured without leaving an electronic trail," Jarod posed his question.

"What kind of security measures are we talking about?" Cody asked, his mind already working on the problem Jarod had confronted him with.

Jarod gave him several detailed descriptions and information.

Cody whistled silently. "And you want to know if it is possible to get to that information without leaving a trail of breadcrumbs?"

"Yes," Jarod confirmed.

"No," Cody said simply.

"No? Are you sure?" Jarod wanted to know.

"Yes, I am. There is no way you can access to that information without leaving electronic footprints," Cody clarified.

"Ok, I thought so but I wanted to know for certain," Jarod nodded. "Then I will have to think of something else."

"Why is that so important for you?" Cody asked.

"A friend of mine has some problems. Someone found out not only that number but her other ones as well and is now stalking her. I wanted to know if I had a way of finding out who that person was by following his breadcrumbs there. But I couldn't. There weren't any," Jarod shook his head frustrated.

"That's not possible, Jarod," Cody replied firmly. "Your mystery-man must have gotten his hands on that number another way. Maybe he got them from one of the people who knew your friend's number."

"No, I don't think so. There are not that many people who knew her number and," Jarod's head shot up and he broke off.

No, that couldn't be.

"Jarod?"

"Hmm," he blinked, trying to focus on the conversation again. "I don't know but maybe that's another possibility. I'm running out of other options," he shrugged, his mind already leaving the conversation again. "I've got to go now, Cody."

"Ok, keep me posted on your problem and don't hesitate to call again if you think I could help you," Cody said earnestly.

"Yes thanks, Cody. See you," Jarod replied and barely waited for the other man to say his goodbye before he hung up.

He still wasn't certain if Cody had led him onto a vital trace but he didn't really have anything more palpable.

Jarod shook his head.

It was so unrealistic. The stalker would have had to break into the mainframe for that and the Centre's mainframe was guarded far better than the telephone company's records.

And yet… there was a feeling that he would find something there if he looked.

So the Centre it was.

He needed to get into the mainframe and searched for a hint that this new theory was correct or false.

Sitting down in front of his laptop again, he let his fingers fly over the keyboard. Due to the fact that this wasn't his first 'visit' in the mainframe, he quickly navigating around the security measures the Centre had set up. Even after all those years he still wondered why they had never changed their program, considering that he had built part of it. Maybe they had just lost track of all the simulations they had made him do for them.

Jarod shrugged unconsciously, trying to get rid of that thought and concentrated back on his work. A short look on his watch told him that the two hours he had promise Miss Parker were over. In fact he was nearly half an hour over the time.

Swearing angrily, he picked up his cell again and dialled Miss Parker's number.

To be continued…