A/N: That's it, I moved out into my very own place which means I can write again. Wohooo! Though, as I'm writing this, I don't have internet so there goes me updating… anyway. Hopefully I can concentrate on writing this before school starts… after that it's gonna be a bit trickier. At least I won't have mom breathing on my neck, right? Forgive me on slow and short updates, will you? It's a matter of time, really.

Disclaimer: Not mine, but I don't know why. Oh, no, wait, maybe because I didn't create the show and its characters? Might be that, yeah.

When the Triumvirate says 'jump', you say 'on who'

by Syrai

Chapter 6 – one way or another

Accomplishing the mission, well, it had turned out to be a little bit more difficult than Miss Parker had anticipated it to be. No, actually, that was a big fat lie. From the beginning she had known how unbelievably problematic it would be, Jarod being a goddamn genius and all, but few days ago she had had something she didn't have anymore.

Trust.

Whereas two days ago she had trusted herself to be able to do what she had been ordered to do, now she wasn't so sure about it anymore. Why? What had happened? She told herself, over and over again that it had nothing to do with Jarod personally. It was about her mother. It was her need to know what had really happened to her mother that kept her from wanting to accomplish the mission anytime soon. But if she didn't get on with it, Jarod might actually figure out the real reason for her acting the way she did. In that case, the game would be over even before it really started and she would no doubt be sent back to the Centre in a goddamn box. No, Jarod would've been meaner. He would of course send her to some unknown part of Africa instead and call the Centre leaving a clue. A goddamn clue.

She snorted. This will most certainly not end up like that if I have anything to say on the case here.

Did she really have a chance? And if yes, then what was it that she was supposed to do? The question to be answered was something like; how to go forward from the situation she had driven herself into?

Actually, to correct that fact, she hadn't driven herself into any kind of situation, now had she? No. Her father had; the Centre had. It was always the Centre. As usual, it was just her job to solve their issues and do the dirty work for them. Why the hell did she keep doing it?

I can't wait anymore. I need to get this done, Miss Parker thought to herself. It had to be done before she would lose her mind and go all Angelo. After stretching her arms, she rolled to her side. The sun had already come up, she knew it but didn't bother standing up and going to the window to open the curtains. She liked the cozy darkness. Besides, she knew what she would see anyway, a parking-lot of a 1 star motel. Or more like half of a star. Well, at least it wasn't the dirty one-hour motel anymore – they had spent the whole night driving and when they had finally reached their destination, Miss Parker had realized that for hours Jarod been driving through circuitous routes. She had been so mad at him, but hadn't said a word. She still couldn't figure out why Jarod had gone through all that trouble. Had he needed time to think? To decide whether or not he really was going to take Miss Parker into the same city where her sister was? She didn't know where exactly Emily was, but she knew now the name of the city and if she had wanted, she could have summoned the Centre within less than 15 minutes. So yes, maybe it was natural for Jarod to hesitate.

He had told her what Lyle had done to his sister. Even if Miss Parker had wanted to call the Centre… she couldn't have done it. Why? She had done many sins during her years, but pushing young girls through windows was a sin she had yet to execute. Not a day went by without Miss Parker wishing that someone would notice there had been a mistake and it was Angelo that was her brother, not Lyle, but after what Jarod told her… she was ready to go fake those reports herself. She possibly couldn't have been more disgusted by her own brother; the Asian-girl-eating-cannibal had really crossed the line.

Exhaling, Miss Parker glanced at the empty side of the bed. The bed had been made and it seemed like no one had even slept on it, but Miss Parker could still smell his scent. He had offered to sleep on the small, uncomfortable looking couch but she had rejected his words with a wave of hand. Her plan would never go forward if she kept pushing him away, right?

Again, she had had the most perfect chance and what had she done? Blew it. Slept like a baby. The minute Jarod had sat down on the bed, she had fallen asleep. She had seen a dream too, but she couldn't remember it anymore. A peaceful dream, beautiful one. She had woken up only to see Jarod pulling on his shirt. He had only told her to go back to sleep.

He had left even before the sun had come up but hadn't said where. She hadn't asked, either.

Suddenly Miss Parker's peaceful moment was interrupted. She heard a noise.

Sitting up startled, she frowned not understanding what it was that had cut her train of thoughts. Wait a minute, was that a cell-phone she heard?

Yes!

That was when her body suddenly came to life and she jumped out of the bed diving into the direction from where she thought the sound was coming. Going through Jarod's things that were lying on the floor and throwing his clothes over her shoulder, she cursed quietly. Why the hell had he today of all days left his clean clothes as a pile on the floor when he normally kept such a good care of them? It was Jarod's suitcase from where she finally found the ringing cell-phone and without thinking twice, she picked up the phone answering it.

"What?" Considering it wasn't her own phone, maybe she should had used a different tone. Nah, who cared? She didn't and Jarod wasn't there to hear it, so at the moment, neither did he.

"Miss Parker?"

A cynical smile greeted Miss Parker's lips as she sat back on the floor leaning against the bed. I'll be damned. "Sidney", she spoke shaking her head while her fingers raked through the messy hair wiping them off her face. My, my, why wasn't she surprised to hear his voice, huh?

"Should've known it's you." Her voice was as cold as always, "Who else would call the wonder-boy?"

"Miss Parker, are you alright? Is Jarod there?" Sidney sounded worried, which only pleased Miss Parker. Served him right, really. Although, she wasn't entirely sure if he was worried about her… or Jarod? Evil son of a bitch. Why was he calling anyway? To warn Jarod? That would've been so typical of him. Betraying bastard! If Sidney thought Miss Parker didn't know it was he who so often tipped Jarod off, he was wrong. She knew. She had just never really wanted to believe it.

And here it was, reality hitting her in the face with a cold smack. "I'm fine", she sighed closing her eyes. There was no point in fighting on the phone, was there? No matter how much she wanted to scream at him. "Jarod's out. I don't know where, but hey, you can leave a message if you want. I'll be sure to pass it to him. What will I write down? Beware, Jarod, Miss Parker is about the get knocked?"

She had tried to act civilized, yes, but she had also failed.

"There's no need for sarcasm, Miss Parker", Sidney chided with serious voice. Oh come on, there was always need for sarcasm!

"Fine. What do you want then? Exchange greetings with Jarod, perhaps?" She bit her bottom lip not to say anything more. It seemed, sarcasm was the only type of emotion she was able to feel at the moment.

"Trust me, Miss Parker, I wouldn't have given away your mission if it indeed had been Jarod picking up. I merely called him to ask if he possibly knows your location. Knowing Jarod, he would've probably told me you're with him."

Miss Parker frowned. Alright, sure she had wanted to speak with both Broots and Sidney too, but wasn't that a little bit too risky to call like that?

"What is it?" She questioned. There was something wrong, wasn't there? That was the only reason she could come up with.

"We have information about your mother. The kind of information Jarod would be interested in, too."

Her heart started racing wildly and she felt her hands sweating. It happened every time someone mentioned her mother like that. "Well tell me!"

Sidney, however, didn't. "I think we should meet."

Miss Parker growled, disappointed. Meet? After all these years the old shrink was finally in need of some mental-vacation, wasn't he? Had to be.

"Don't be stupid, Sidney. If you know something, tell me. There's no way in hell Jarod will let me meet you."

Of course, Sidney had said the information would interested Jarod too. But could she really suggest something like that to Jarod, without blowing up her cover? Well, why not? Sidney and Broots had never accepted all the things Mr Parker, Raines and now Lyle did. If Sidney was the one to tell Jarod it was safe for them to meet… then maybe the pretender would believe it.

"Tell him to call me. Tell him the truth, Miss Parker", Sidney continued.

"The truth?" The frown grew deeper. He was obviously out of his damned mind.

"About this phone call I mean", he corrected, slightly amused, "not about the reason you're there."

Miss Parker wasn't quite satisfied. "Sidney, I will make you short on one particular body part if you don't tell me right now what is that you've discovered."

She could picture him smiling. He had heard those threats so many times already that they really didn't concern him anymore. "Goodbye Miss Parker."

The line went dead.

Oh no, he hadn't just hang up the phone on her, had he? Yes, he had! "Bastard!" Miss Parker snarled, throwing the phone towards the door in rather violent manner.

0000

He didn't have time for this, not now. Yet, he couldn't force his body to get up from the bench and go back to the motel where he knew Miss Parker would still be. How did he even know that? He wasn't sure, something just told him. So instead of getting up, he sat there on the bench, watching the familiar duck pond in front of him with a half eaten ice cream in his hand and tried to sort out his thoughts. It wasn't going that well.

Why did he feel so guilty? He had done nothing wrong, nothing that could've explained what was going on with him… If so, then why did he keep seeing Zoey's pained, blaming face every time he closed his eyes? And why did he feel as if he was doing something bad every time he laid his eyes on Miss Parker?

…Could it be that he was?

Zoey loved him, she had said so. She had told him that it didn't matter what he had been in his past… only the future mattered. Their future. She didn't care if he was being chased, not as long as she could run with him. Take care of him and support him. He had never wanted to put her in danger, he cared about her too much and so he had left her in the care of her family and kept on going alone. But he had gone back to her, because he had missed her too much. Now, wasn't that love?

He couldn't tell anymore. Jarod had never really known what love was, not before Zoey had come into the picture. He had thought it was love what he felt towards the wild-hearted redhead, but if it was love… then what were these feelings he suddenly had for Miss Parker?

No, that wasn't quite so. He had always had them, after all. But only few days ago, he had believed what he felt for Miss Parker was the kind of affection you feel towards your childhood friend; towards your close friend. She had been his friend once, hadn't she? Even if she wasn't that anymore, the memory remained unstained in his mind, in his heart.

… what was it that he felt?

"Stop this nonsense. You have more important things to worry about", he spat out suddenly and got up on his feet, deciding that whatever it was the he was feeling, was temporary. He threw the melting ice cream into the trash bin next to the bench and started walking.

0000

Mr. Lyle was annoyed, but also strangely pleased at the same time. Resting his exhausted body against the leather chair's back, he closed his eyes for a moment.

He had got used to the fact his plans were more or less ruined by his persistent and quite inquisitive twin sister that couldn't let things go, but for once, he felt she wasn't going to be the one to mess up his plans this time. Not if he had anything to say on it… Now it was time playing against him by every tick of the clock, not her.

Alongside with the fact he hadn't managed to kill Emily even though he sure had tried, it made him stress. Who could've guessed that after being thrown out of a window, the girl still stayed alive? Call it a willpower or luck, she wouldn't get away it twice. He still wanted another results and would get them, one way or another. He had to.

His father had been very clear on the issue. Emily had to be eliminated before she could tell Jarod about Mirage, about Ethan. But the question was, had she already told him? In that case, eliminating the girl would've been waste of time. He would have to go after Jarod, too. And unlike usually, this time his men would get the permission to shoot to kill.

Things had really managed to screw themselves up. He had thought Emily was dead – it was the only reason he had suggested to his father that they could send Miss Parker to Jarod now. They had talked about it earlier, about getting Miss Parker carry his child. For one, she wouldn't have been on their way during this critical time and they would get the baby with all its good genes and qualities. Also… it would create a bridge between Miss Parker and Jarod that even she could not burn behind her. And that would, no doubt, give them a chance to get Jarod. The baby. And Miss Parker's loyalty. She'd have no chance on the matter, of course. They'd take the baby and she would have no choice but to deal with it.

Only now, Emily hadn't died and Miss Parker had been sent on a mission that could cost the Centre a lot more than they afforded to lose. If Emily told Jarod… and Jarod told Miss Parker… she'd come after the Centre with such divine rage that... he would have to have his own sister eliminated. She wouldn't rest before reaching her goal and this time, there would be no power in the verse that could stop her. If she was alive, that was.

Mr. Lyle sighed. He wasn't completely cold in the heart, after all. He did care about his sister. She was a one hell of an opponent to have, and also fun to fight with. If only they had known about Emily before sending his sister to Jarod.

But it was too late now. What had to be done now, was simply to deal with the consequences.

One way, or another.

0000

Jarod opened the motel's door, only to be greeted by a flying cell-phone that he almost didn't caught. It hit his stomach first, making him wince, before he could get a firm grip of it. The phone had obviously been thrown by Miss Parker, who for some unknown reason, was sitting on the floor beside the bed with his clothes and stuff lying around her… just what had she been doing there by herself?

"Wow, if I'd known you were planning on assassinating me, I wouldn't have come", he started closing the door, pulling her back from the reality she had been in. Taking his coat off and placing it on the chair by the door, he stopped to look at her. Was she ok?

Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin to meet his face. As usual, there was that poisonous, defiant glare in her eyes he had seen so many times before. Looked like she was her old self again. "Well yes, if I'd known you were coming", she snapped, "I would've aimed."

He chuckled out loud and couldn't stop the smile reaching his lips. The woman surely hadn't lost her temper. If possible, it had only grown more and more fiery during her time in the Centre. That probably should've been a bad thing, but it wasn't. "So, what bad did my phone do to you?"

"Not your phone", she said with frustrated tone of voice, "Sidney."

… What?