Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Pretender characters. They belong to MTM, NBC and TNT. No money was involved and no infringements intended. The only characters that I have soul right are: Catherine (which has nothing to do with Parker's mother) and a black sweeper named Robert.

The New Pretender

Chapter Three

Back at the Centre...

The next day Miss Parker was released from the hospital because she didn't want to be in there anymore. Sydney brought her back to the Centre. She was greeted by her brother Mr. Lyle, Broots and Mr. Raines. She looked tired and not as beautiful as she was before. She was pale and thin. And she looked tired like she'd just woken up from sleep. She was happy to be back at the Centre cause she didn't like hospitals very much. As, the greeting party started to break up, Mr. Raines made a statement to Miss Parker that made Sydney and Broots turn around.

"Miss Parker, you should watch yourself. You don't want anything to happen to you like it did to your mother." He said glaring at Miss Parker. Miss Parker was taller than Mr. Raines so she straightened herself a little more to make herself even taller.

She looked at Mr. Raines and said in a chilling voice, "Don't threaten me about my mother. I don't know who killed her but I will find out and when I do that person will have to answer to me." And then she turned and walked away with Sydney and Broots while Mr. Raines looked on.

Miss Parker came down the stairs to Broots office and saw Sydney and Broots looking at the computer screen. When she came walking up to them both Sydney and Broots looked up and noticed that Miss Parker was looking as beautiful as she has always. Her face was back to the tan color and she didn't look tired. She stopped next to Sydney and just stood there.

Sydney was the first to speak, "Parker, are you ok?"

"Of course, why wouldn't I be? I was poisoned by someone." Miss Parker said aggrivated.

"I understand." said Sydney. She looked at Sydney and then at Broots.

"Is there a way to see if there was a camera in my room the night I was poisoned?" asked Miss Parker.

"Let me check." Broots said. A minute later Broots found a DSA showing Miss Parker's room and it was dark. Broots was able to lighten the picture so that they could see a figure. Miss Parker wanted him to lighten it more. So, he was able to lighten it about 4 times to reveal a young girl. It was Catherine. Catherine was searching in the room and found the liquor bottle. She opened it, looked around and pulled a small flask from her pocket. She then unscrewed the cap and poured the liquid into the liquor bottle. Miss Parker noticed that after Catherine emptied the flask, she had Broots freeze the DSA. The freezed frame was showing Catherine turning around and walking out. All three noticed there was no expression on Catherine's face which frightened them.

Miss Parker straightened and spoke, "That monster tried to kill me."

"She is NOT a monster." Sydney said.

"Well, whatever you want to call her, she tried to kill me." said Miss Parker.

"Well, there actually wasn't that much to kill you, just made you sick." Sydney said and wished that he hadn't.

"It doesn't matter how much she put in there. What does matter is that she tried to kill me." Then Miss Parker turned around and left the room. Sydney and Broots didn't know there was someone else in the room with them.

Mr. Raines room...

There was a knock on the door and someone opened it. It was one of the sweepers. There at the back of the room was Mr. Raines sitting in a chair with the oxygen tank next to him. As he looked up he saw Catherine walking into the room straight towards him. She stopped a foot away from him. He looked at her and she looked at him. She noticed anger in his eyes.

When he spoke, his voice sent chills up her spine. "Catherine, you disobeyed my command."

"Sir, what did I do wrong?" Catherine asked.

"I told you to put all of the poison in the liquor bottle. The amount that I gave you should have killed Miss Parker. But she is here and getting on my nerves." said an upset Mr Raines

"I'm sorry, sir. I won't mess up next time." she said.

"No, you won't mess up. Cause the next time that you mess up this is what is going to happen...Robert." As Mr. Raines said that a young black man walked up to Catherine and slapped her across the face. She fell down from the impact and touched her face. As she pulled it away she noticed blood on her fingers. She got up and turned around to face Mr. Raines. "Remember, Catherine, next time."

"Yes sir." said a very hurtful Catherine.

"You may leave." said an angry Mr Raines. She turned around and the same sweeper who invited her in, opened the door as she walked out. Catherine, walked briskly to her room and when she reached it, she opened the door and shut it. Then she went to sit on her bed and touched her face again and felt that it was getting hot. Tears started welling up in her eyes and she tried to keep them from flowing from her eyes. She has never been hit before like this. She couldn't stop herself and she cried. She laid down on her bed and cried herself to sleep.

Back in Broots' room...

In Broots office, both Sydney and Broots heard a noise in the corner by the doorway. They stood up and walked to the corner and they watched as a site showed itself. It was Jarod. He stood before Sydney and Broots.

"It is good to see you, Jarod." said a surprised Sydney.

"Yea, it's been a while since I've been here last." Jarod said as he looked around.

"Jarod, what are you doing here? You'll get caught." Broots said as he looked at Jarod.

"Well, that's the reason why I'm here. Sydney." said Jarod.

"Catherine." said Sydney.

"Correct. Tell me a little about Catherine." said Jarod as he looked at Sydney, but Broots spoke.

"Well, Catherine is 13 now. Her parents were killed in a plane crash. And her grandmother was killed. She was kidnapped and brought here. Mr. Raines has been training her to become another Pretender." said Broots quickly.

"Thank you, Broots." said Sydney.

"Sydney, what is going on with Miss Parker?" Jarod asked.

"Miss Parker was poisoned a few days ago." As he said that Jarod's eyes lit up with a shocked expression.

"She is alright?" asked Jarod.

"Yea, she is fine and back to her usual self again. And we found out who the person was responsible." said Sydney.

"Who?" asked Jarod.

"Catherine." Sydney said.

"Now, why would Catherine do something like that? That would be risky." Jarod asked.

"Well, Mr. Raines probably told her to go do it. And she did." said Broots.

"That is true, Broots." Sydney said as he looked at Broots. Then he turned around and looked at Jarod.

"How is your clone?" asked Sydney.

"He is doing fine. My family took him in like they have known him for years." Jarod said.

"That is good." said Sydney.

"Yea." said Jarod. As they were talking they walked over to the computer and put more DSA's in. Each one showed different things that Mr. Raines had Catherine do. There were a few pretends where Jarod remembers them from his youth. But this time it wasn't made to help people...but to kill people.

"I can't believe this. He is making an innocent young girl become a killer." said Jarod.

"Well, not just a killer but a tracker." Sydney said as he looked back at Jarod.

"A tracker? Oh, you mean tracking me." He said, with a voice as cold as steel.

"Yes. They are still after you but this time I don't think you will be able to get away." As he said that, they heard a noise in the air vent above them and saw something drop on the ground. Jarod went to pick it up and looked up to see Angelo looking down at him through the vent. Jarod brought the DSA over to Broots and put it in the computer. It showed a room with Mr. Raines at the far end. They saw Catherine walk into the room and stand before Mr. Raines. They could not believe what they were hearing.

computer flashback

"Catherine, you disobeyed my command." said an angry Mr Raines.

"Sir, what did I do wrong?" Catherine said.

"I told you to put all of the liquid in the liquor bottle. The amount that I gave you should have killed Miss Parker. But she is here and getting on my nerves." said an angry Mr Raines.

"I'm sorry, sir. I won't mess up next time." Catherine said.

"No, you won't mess up. Cause the next time you mess up this is what is going to happen. Robert." And then Jarod, Sydney and Broots saw the young black man slap Catherine across the face. The slap made Jarod jump. They could not believe what they just witnessed.

"I can't believe this. I'm getting her out of here." He said as he started walking away. Sydney turned around.

"Jarod, you can't just take her. Remember she is Raines now. So, he will be keeping a watchful eye on her." said Sydney.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to block his vision." Jarod said as he turned around and walked out of the room.

Catherine's room...

Miss Parker was walking through one of the many hallways and as she passed a door she heard small light sobs coming from behind the door. So, she decided to see who was sobbing. As she opened the door she noticed that no light was on. She flicked a switch and looked around. To her amazement the room looked exactly like Jarod's old room. She moved closer in the room and looked to her left and on the bed was Catherine. She sat up and held her knees to her chest. She was making the small sobs. So, Miss Parker was about to leave when she noticed that Catherine was not playing. So, she closed the door and walked over to the bed. She sat down on the edge of the bed and touched Catherine's left shoulder. Catherine moved slowly away from Miss Parker and still not looking at her. Miss Parker looked at her and then took her right index finger and lifted Catherine's face. She was in shock at the site. There on the left cheek was a big bruise. It was a light shade of black and blue. The slap wasn't too hard. Miss Parker noticed the tears streaming down Catherine's face. At that moment, Miss Parker felt sorry for the young girl. She started calming Catherine down by lightly stroking her back. The sobs died down and now all that Catherine was left with were dried tear stains and red eyes.

Miss Parker spoke, "What happened, Catherine?"

"I ran into a door." she lied. Mr. Raines taught Catherine well, to tell lies about whatever happened to her.

"I don't believe that a door could do something like that to your face." She said. She tried to touch it but Catherine slapped her hand away.

"Don't touch it. Please, go away. Leave me alone." As Catherine said that, she laid down on the bed. Miss Parker figured that meant for her to leave. So, she got up and looked at Catherine. Then, opened the door and left the room. Catherine, watched as Miss Parker left and started to smile. Then she fell asleep.

In the Centre...

The next morning, there was word that Jarod was in Delaware. So, Miss Parker took her team of sweepers and went searching for Jarod. Mr. Lyle was supposed to follow Miss Parker but decided to hang back and precedded to walk to Mr. Raines room. He knocked and a sweeper opened the door. Mr. Lyle walked in and went to Mr. Raines.

"Where is the girl?" Mr. Raines asked.

"She is still in her room." Mr. Lyle said as he looked at Mr. Raines.

"Good. Let's get her out of her room and try her out. Maybe she can tell us where Jarod is hiding."

Mr. Raines said as he got up from his chair and started pulling the oxygen tank with him. They both headed down to Catherine's room where whe was still sleeping. Mr. Raines opened the door and turned the lights on. Catherine jumped to her feet and waited patiently for instructions.

Mr. Raines looked at her and then said, "Go, to the laboratory. We are going to look for Jarod."

"Yes, sir." said Catherine. They walked into the laboratory and she noticed some chairs were in a circle. Mr. Raines pointed to the chairs and told her to go sit in one of them. She did as she was instructed. Then, Mr. Raines handed Catherine a piece of clothing which once belonged to Jarod. There was a little secret that no one knew about Catherine. If she touched something of someone's she could tell you how that person is feeling and where that person is at this moment. So, she sat there and carefully examined the cloth. Mr. Raines and Mr. Lyle sat on the chairs in front of her. She then closed her eyes.

She sat there for a minute when she started speaking. "Jarod, is...he is in a roomful of people."

"A school, maybe?" asked Mr. Lyle.

"It has a lot of death hanging around." said Catherine.

Everyone was quiet until Mr. Lyle spoke, "A hospital. Can you see what hospital?"

"It is...it is...it's Dearborn Hospital." After that, Mr. Lyle got up and Mr Raines got up to talk when Mr Raines noticed Catherine slouching. She looked like she was ready to fall off the chair.

"What's wrong with Catherine?" said Mr Raines as he looked at Mr. Lyle. They both looked at Catherine and Mr. Lyle ran to her aid as she collapsed on the floor. Catherine, had her eyes closed and was getting hot. Mr. Raines looked at Mr. Lyle and spoke, "Get a doctor. I don't want anything to happen to her." Mr. Lyle walked out of the room and dialed his cellphone for a doctor.

Searching for Jarod...

Miss Parker was busy searching for Jarod that she didn't notice that Mr. Lyle was not with her. When after 3 hours searching, did she finally notice he was not with her. She started to get upset and remembered what the doctor once told her when she was chasing Jarod. He told her to take it easy cause the ulcer could come back and she could bleed to death. So, she decided to calm down. She turned her car around and started to drive back to the Centre. Right behind a brick building as Miss Parker passed was Jarod in black clothing covering all of this body except his face. He watched as she drove past and ran into the back alley. He, went and changed into a doctor uniform. His name is DR. JAROD KNIGHT. He brushed himself off and hailed a cab. He told the cab driver to take him to Dearborn Hospital. The cabby agreed and drove him to the hospital.

To be continued...