AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am moving certain discoveries out of sequence here, as you will soon see.
Jarod ignored the loud, piercing alarms, and reached into the light socket anyway. His fingers curled around something and he pulled it out. It was a rolled up piece of paper...or picture.
The lights flashed for a moment, as Jarod uncurled the photograph. Ms. Parker sighed and sat down on Jarod's bed. It was clear that Daddy had taken some sort of precaution against Jarod finding, whatever this was. But, at the same time, if her father really did not want Jarod to discover anything, then why hide it in his room?
Jarod saw that the picture was of his mother...and Catherine Parker. They were standing in front of some sort of old building with symbols on it. He glanced over at Ms. Parker, before pulling out his cellphone. Ms. Parker noted that Jarod was trying to hide whatever it was he had found, and stood up.
"What is that?" Ms. Parker asked him, her tone sharp.
"Not what you promised...but it's a start." Jarod replied coolly. Ms. Parker walked over to him and tried to snatch the picture out of his hand! But Jarod pulled it back.
"Say, 'Please, Jarod'."
Ms. Parker fumed for half a second.
"Please."
"Please, what?"
"Please! What else do you want!"
"It's 'Please Jarod'. Now would that be so hard to..."
Ms. Parker snatched the picture from his hands! She then gaped at it. Jarod studied her face, as he pulled out his cellphone.
"You knew that our mothers knew one another." he noted.
"Yes, but...what is this we're looking at?"
"So you didn't know this was here?"
Ms. Parker glared at him!
"I have never hidden the fact, that I wanted to know everything there was about my mother, and anything and everything she was involved in, before she was killed! I did not know this was here!"
"Which means you lied to me, didn't you?"
Ms. Parker turned away from him, concentrating on the picture. Jarod dialed his contacts at the FBI. He explained the situation, and was told that a team would be sent down to set about rescuing them.
Ms. Parker would have to be turned over then. Jarod's eyes swept over the metal door that was blocking them in. This is what would've happened, if he had found that picture in the light switch? Why?
He looked at Ms. Parker, then walked over to her. He gently took the picture from her, and set it down on a night table.
"I take it you have no idea where they are?"
Ms. Parker shook her head. She walked over to the bed again and sat down. Her eyes took in the room. Jarod noted this.
"Not the most homiest of places."
Ms. Parker didn't answer. She didn't want to talk about it. Yes, the Centre had been wrong. What else was there to say?
Jarod slowly walked over to the bed and sat down next to her.
"Someone is coming to get us out of here. When they do, I will be by your side. You don't have to be afraid." he said, as he began to touch her hair.
But Ms. Parker slapped his hand away! She slowly stood up and glared down at him.
"You know, Jarod, in a way, whether you want to accept this or not, we were family! Not a great one, or a loving one, but we were family nonetheless! You don't rat out people that you've known for years!"
Jarod stood up.
"Your father kept me from knowing my real family for years! And I will do all I can to help Sidney, Broots...even you, Ms. Parker. Because I know you. The real you. And prison isn't what frightens you."
Ms. Parker put up a hand.
"Spare me, please. I don't want to hear any of your 'Confucius Crap', okay? Look, let's make some kind of a deal or something."
"No deals. Though...I am curious about something?"
Ms. Parker shrugged.
"What?"
"You knew that there was no proof in here...or at least, you couldn't be sure...what would you have done if your father had not rigged this room?"
"I don't understand."
"I mean, how would you have gotten away from me?"
Ms. Parker grinned!
"That's easy!"
Jarod looked confused.
"What is?"
"Jarod, you're not that complicated."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning, I was going to give you a peek, in exchange for your letting me go."
Jarod was...well...speechless.
"A peek? I don't understand."
Ms. Parker gave him a dirty look.
"Oh, you understand good and well, Boy Genius! I was going to give you peek, and then you were going to let me skidaddle."
Jarod folded his arms. He was actually quite amused!
"So you think that all it would take, was a peek at your...just what were you offering to show me?"
"Don't be smug. Daddy's little trap here, ruined the element of surprise."
"Ms. Parker...there is nothing you could show me, that would make me change my mind. Justice has to be served."
"Where did you hear that load? Huh? Have we been watching Perry Mason repeats again?"
"Ms. Parker..."
Ms. Parker unzipped the jacket of her beige, leather suit! She had no bra on underneath! Jarod stared, then blinked, as Ms. Parker zipped herself back up again.
His phone rang just then. Ms. Parker waved a hand in front of his eyes!
"Yoo hoo? Jarod? I could've used your trance time here, to get a head start!"
Jarod scowled at her, then answered his phone. It was the on site commander.
"Jarod, we were right outside of the door. But we have a problem."
"You're outside of the door?" Jarod asked, a little surprised at how soundproof the metal was.
"We WERE. Jarod, the minute we began cutting through the doors...some kind of wires were revealed. We accidentally cut through them...and..."
"Just say it." Jarod said calmly.
"Some kind of poisonous gas came out. Two of my men are having convulsions...I don't know what the hell this is, but I think before we do anything, we'll have to ask Mr. Parker some questions. He'll answer if he knows his daughter is in there."
"Don't be too sure. Keep me updated." Jarod said grimly. He hung up the phone. Ms. Parker looked at him questioningly.
"What is it?"
Jarod took a deep breath.
"The metal doors have some kind of trap within them as well. Wires that when cut, emit poison gas."
Ms. Parker threw her hands in the air, before sitting back down again. She shook her head.
"My father really did think of everything."
Jarod sat down next to her.
"There is an upside to this."
Ms. Parker gave him a skeptical look.
"What would that be?"
"That picture means something. If your father went to all of these lengths, then maybe we're on the right track."
Ms. Parker looked away.
"'We'? It's just going to be you, remember? You're throwing me to the wolves."
"That's not true."
Ms. Parker looked at him again.
"Really? If our situations were reversed..."
"Somehow I can't imagine that."
"If they were reversed, I wouldn't do this to you."
"And I wouldn't have chased you for almost five years."
Ms. Parker stood up.
"Why can't you see that none of this was ever personal, Jarod? I needed you back here in order for my father to let me go."
Jarod stood up as well.
"And now you know he was lying, don't you? We were both prisoners of the Centre...there was no getting away. What I did, has freed you."
Ms. Parker turned her back on him. Jarod reached out and tentatively rested a hand on one of her shoulders. But Ms. Parker turned back around.
"Everyone wants something, Jarod. There has to be something you would take, to help me get away. Once those men get us out of here, I'll be in their custody. You could help me get a head start."
"Ms. Parker...I need to live my life. My life I want with Zoe. That means putting my past in this hellhole behind me. That means making sure that everyone is brought to justice."
"Your life with Zoe? Jarod...just how many women have you really been with? Two?"
Jarod frowned.
"That's a strange number."
"And a low one. I have to admire your restraint. Being locked away here could do things to a man." Ms. Parker said slyly.
"I love Zoe."
"You barely know her, Jarod! There was her and that other woman...the one you lived with when you were a mountain ranger or something, right?"
Jarod stared at Ms. Parker.
"I know that Nia did not tell you about us."
"No...women just know these things. So there was 'Nia' and Pippi Longstocking."
"Who?"
"Never mind. My point is...you're not a bad looking guy...and you're decent...there are many women that would be glad to have someone like you. Your Zoe just seems beneath you, that's all."
"You don't know her. And let's get back to something else that we were discussing before the phone call. Your little 'peepshow' would not have worked on me."
"I think it would have." Ms. Parker said, unzipping her top again and pulling the leather jacket open. Jarod went into his 'trance' again.
"I'm devoted to Chloe." he said in a monotone.
"Zoe." Ms. Parker corrected him, then reached for his face and pulled him into a kiss. She would get out of this! She would get Boy Genius to help her escape, if she had to screw his brains out!
Daddy could never know, of course.
Jarod tried, albeit, weakly, to pull away from Ms. Parker's kiss.
"We can't!" he whispered savagely into her mouth. Ms. Parker began to unbutton his shirt.
"You've always loved me just a little bit, haven't you, Jarod?" Ms. Parker whispered throatily, as she began to suck on his neck. Jarod could barely breathe! What was happening? He closed his eyes but all he saw was a white sphere of light.
And all she was doing was kissing his neck...or sucking it. Ms. Parker's lips moved from his neck, to his lips, giving him a kiss that broke down the last of his resistance. His shirt fell away to the ground, and soon, Jarod began to participate in what was about to happen, as he reached for the zipper of Ms. Parker's leather top.
Ms. Parker was a bit startled by this, thinking herself the aggressor, but did nothing to stop Jarod, as he manage to get her top...and her pants off. Soon, they had managed to remove one another's clothes, while still kissing.
It was Jarod that pulled Ms. Parker down on top of him. Ms. Parker gave him a look of startled confusion, as he took her about the waist and impaled her upon him. Ms. Parker gasped as Jarod stretched and filled her.
It was then that Ms. Parker felt the enormity of what she was doing...emotionally. Something about this didn't feel right. It didn't feel...impersonal, as she had planned it to be.
Jarod leaned forward, and his mouth closed over one of her nipples. Ms. Parker closed her eyes. His mouth felt so hot...this had been a mistake! She would get him to stop! She could get him to stop!
But when she opened her eyes, he was staring into hers.
"You're right, Ms. Parker," he whispered, "I do love you... more than a little. Now Ms. Parker...now..."
Ms. Parker quickly found her rhythm and began to move upon him. Jarod's hands had moved from her waist, to her buttocks, almost digging into them, as she moved faster, and faster, until they both shuddered, and fell into each other's arms, shocked, yet dizzy from pleasure and passion.
Ms. Parker began to cry. She tried to pull out of Jarod's arms, but they only tightened around her, until finally she fell asleep in his embrace. One of his hands, were entangled in her hair.
Ms. Parker's plan had worked. Jarod did not know if he would be able to turn her in now.