Chapter Seven

Jack stepped outside into the afternoon sun with a grin on his face at the thought of Davis and Tru desperately trying to figure a way out of the predicament he had landed them in.

"I suppose you think you're clever?"

Jack turned with a fake smile on his face to see Harrison Davies, the last of his trio of opponents, approaching him with a dangerous look in his eyes.

"You here to rescue Tru too?" Jack asked. That both Davis and Harrison had rushed to the police station was more than he could have hoped for. With both of her helpers tied up there, half his job was done for him. He wondered briefly whether he should make a comment to Harrison, something subtle that would show he had made a mistake, but decided against it. Harrison sometimes surprised him with being too smart for Jack's own good and it was better to simply let him go on his way this once. With Richard on his case he needed every advantage he could get.

"Tru 'll be out of there in no time, and then she'll be all over you," Harrison fumed as he jabbed a finger into Jack's chest to hammer in his point.

"I can't wait," Jack smirked as he stepped around Harrison and continued down the street to where he had parked his car.

Harrison glared at him before turning back towards the police station. Jack laughed aloud as he carried on his way. The day was certainly improving.

The house was in the least affluent part of town, the lawn was unkempt, and there was a youth on the driveway to the house with his head hidden beneath the bonnet of a beat up car.

"You Gary?" Jack asked as he drew closer. His suspicion was confirmed when the youth stood up and looked him over with contempt.

"Whatever you're selling I don't want any," he muttered whilst wiping his hands on a nearby oily rag and turning towards the house.

"I'm not selling anything," Jack hurriedly explained before introducing himself as the older brother of one of Emma's friends. "I'm here with a message from Emma."

Gary stopped in his tracks and looked Jack over with suspicion. Jack shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny. A part of him wished that Gary had been the one who had died the day before; there was something about him he didn't like, something that made him think twice about approaching him. He was dangerous and Emma's brother was right to want to keep his sister away from him. But fate didn't care who was good or bad, and it wasn't for him to decide who should live or die, if he started making choices like that then he would be no better than Tru.

"What's the message?" Gary asked. "She changed her mind, right?"

"No," Jack said, whilst privately wondering just what Emma had agreed to do. Considering the character in front of him he had no idea just what the girl had got herself into. "She's just wanting to make sure you pick her up further down the road from the school tonight; Dylan's going to be hanging round the parking lot so she's using the other exit."

"Okay," Gary replied with little interest and a shrug before he walked off.

"Gee, thanks," Jack said to himself as Gary went into the house. Jack walked over to the car and wondered if it was worth his while tampering with it, but the danger in that was that the wrong person might die, just as the wrong person had died yesterday when Gary had taken similar measures.

Walking back down the drive, Jack got into his car and headed back to the school.

He waited in his car until shortly before the school day ended. He was ever watchful for the Davies siblings showing up, but there was no sign of them appearing.

Eventually the students started to leave the school and Jack got out of his car and walked towards the entrance. He didn't have long to wait until he saw Dylan and Emma heading in his direction, still arguing in heated tones, much as they had been that morning.

"Emma," Jack said as he stepped into their path. "Have you forgotten your guidance session with me?"

"You're a guidance counsellor?" Dylan asked with suspicion.

"Yes, didn't I mention that this morning?" Jack feigned astonishment at his own forgetfulness.

Dylan shrugged a negative response whilst Emma looked out at the parking lot, clearly scanning the area for Gary.

"I'll see that Emma gets safely home," Jack said as he waved Dylan past him and steered Emma back into the school.

"You're not a guidance counsellor," Emma said by way of accusation as soon as the hallway cleared.

"No," Jack said with the smile of a conspirator. "I'm here to let you know where Gary is waiting for you."

"Jack there you are."

Jack groaned inwardly at the sound of Tru's voice coming from the steps below him.

"I'm glad you found her before she left," Tru said as she hurried up the steps with a smile he knew was meant for Emma and not himself. "Have you told her?"

"Told me what?" Emma asked with a puzzled expression on her face as she looked from Tru to Jack and back to Tru again.

"It's Gary," Tru said with sympathy. "He's just been arrested so he won't be meeting you this afternoon."

"Arrested?" Emma asked. "What for? I thought you said he was waiting for me?"

Jack shifted on his feet slightly as she turned her questioning gaze on him. "He was," he offered with a shrug. "So what's he been arrested for?"

Tru turned to him with a sweet smile before replying. "For tampering with cars on the parking lot here. They have the car park monitored with cameras, imagine that."

"And your model citizen of a brother shopped him," Jack said with a shake of his head.

"They were quite eager to talk to him from what I heard," Tru said with a smirk.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Emma suddenly snapped at Tru as she pushed her way past her and back out of the school entrance.

"Emma," Tru called out after her.

"Leave her a minute," Jack suggested as he put a restraining hand on Tru's arm, a hand that she immediately shook off.

"You think I'd leave her for you to manipulate?" Tru hissed.

"There doesn't seem to be a great deal else that either of us can do today," Jack pointed out with a sigh. "All the other players in this little drama are otherwise engaged."

"That doesn't usually stop you," Tru pointed out.

Jack opened his mouth to reply but hesitated, what could he say that she would actually listen to?

"She's upset," Tru said as she started walking down the steps, scanning the parking lot for Emma. "She needs a friend."

"You're not a friend Tru," Jack pointed out as he followed after her. "You're a complete stranger who's just told her that her boyfriend's been arrested thanks to you and Harrison interfering."

"That's not the point," Tru said as she stood in the centre of the lot, straining to see where Emma had vanished to.

"That's exactly the point," Jack said as he caught up with her. "You think she's going to listen to you?"

"She might not listen to me, but at least I have her best interests in mind."

"Fate has her best interests in mind."

"Fate wants her dead!"

"And who are you to decide to alter fate?" Jack asked. "What gives you the right?"

Tru turned to look him in the eye before she replied. "I'm trying to make the world a better place," she said with conviction. "What's your excuse?"

Jack opened his mouth to respond when the screech of tyres drew his attention away from Tru and down the street. The sound of a scream had both Tru and Jack pounding down the sidewalk towards the sight of a blonde haired teenager, lying on the road, her eyes unseeing as she stared up towards the sky.

"Fate finds a way," Jack said before turning away from where Tru sank to her knees on the road. He didn't want to look at the body of the girl he had spoken to so recently and he didn't want to gloat in triumph over Tru.

He just wanted her to understand that her point of view was not the only one, for her to consider that maybe, just maybe, she was not the one in the right.

He had walked a short distance down the street before he turned back again. Tru was looked at him with hatred in her eyes, even from this distance he could see it as clearly as if she was standing directly in front of him.

Today was not the day that she would understand his mission.

Today was not the day that she would listen to him.

Today he had won, not intentionally, but that would make no difference to Tru. She would fight against him that much harder for the life of the next person who asked her for help.

Today he had won, so why didn't he feel any better than he did when Tru saved the victim's life?

He wondered whether talking to Richard would help make things clearer, but knew instinctively that it wouldn't.

This was his battle and his alone, and from the look in Tru's eyes the war was going to be a long one.

The End

A/N - I hope that you enjoyed this story, and for those who have seen series two and know that it is not consistent with the actual way Jack gets his information,I hope you understand that this story was started and plotted before the second season aired.

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