She'd only been in her office about twenty minutes when dear ol' dad showed up, entering with, "How's my angel?"
Her throat felt swollen and her eyebrows became very tense the moment she'd heard his voice. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to him right now. It was hard enough to face him, knowing that she was seeing Jarod behind his back. But now that she was pregnant with the pretender's child, she really didn't know if she could face him. Before turning to him, she plastered on a smile. It was clearly fake; Mr. Parker didn't notice, or just didn't care.
"Hello Daddy. What brings you here?"
His demeanor feigned innocence. "Just here to check on my angel."
They both knew that was not true. He looked at her intently, if she didn't know any better he appeared to be sizing her up. She suddenly felt self-conscious, he couldn't notice, could he?
"What's the latest in the Jarod search?" he probed.
Hell, who was she kidding? He didn't notice that she had gained three, maybe four pounds. He probably wouldn't notice if she gained 500 lbs.
She tried to sound sincere, "Well, we haven't hit anything promising recently. However, I'm sure that we'll find something in no time, now that I have my new secretary."
"Ah, the new secretary, how is she?"
"She's been more than helpful."
"Good. Glad to hear it. I knew that you hadn't asked for an assistant, but her father is an associate of mine and he called in a favor…"
He continued on, but when he mentioned Betty's father, it set off alarm bells. Hadn't she mentioned that her father had died?
The door opened to Miss Parker's office, and who else would walk in, but Betty herself.
"Speak of the Devil." Miss Parker voiced, smoothly.
"Talking about me?" Betty teased.
Mr. Parker looked at the girl, slightly confused. "This is Betty." Miss Parker offered, when the confusion didn't disappear.
"Ah, Betty!" he exclaimed, although a blind man could see that the light bulb hadn't actually clicked.
"My assistant." She practically spat.
"Your assistant?" Mr. Parker repeated incredulously. He thought for a moment and then, "You aren't the girl that met with me in my office."
Betty looked like a deer caught in the headlights. All she could think was 'Shit. Shit, shit, shit!'
Miss Parker's jaw dropped, literally. It may not have been gaping, but it was no longer closed.
Before anyone could do anything Betty was grabbing her large black tote/purse and started sprinting down the hallway in one swift motion.
She didn't even look back as she broke into an all out sprint. About to turn into another hallway she felt the wind as a bullet, from one of the sweeper's guns, soared past her ear. As she took every twist and turn in the corridor, the running girl was surprised she hadn't been hit yet.
Spoke too soon.
Her entire body lurched forward and she knew she'd been hit, but she couldn't stop. She knew if she did, she would surely die. She continued running, through the glass double doors in the front of the grey, steely building, which swung open wildly, she ran across the hot asphalt outside and did not stop until she reached the cover of the forest, miles from the Centre.
"All right! I admit it! I killed him! He was going to expose me for stealing the money! Please, Jarod, get me out of here!" pleaded the middle-aged man from the inside of a green sedan, as he tried frantically to open the door, to no avail.
"Yeah. You see, I don't think I'm going to be able to do that." Jarod informed the man, while standing just a few feet from the passenger window.
"And why not?!"
"Because I'm not really a locksmith." He shrugged as he turned, abandoning the car in the middle of a field. By the time he reached the cover of the nearest buildings, the wailing of the sirens could already be heard as they approached the car.
As soon as he was sure that the cops had found the evidence he'd left, Jarod darted into a dusty alley between two old buildings.
Clap, clap, clap.
Rang out through the silence. Startled, Jarod jumped and instinctively turned to his right, only to find a petite blonde sitting atop a discarded table. "That was quite a show, Jarod."
The woman sitting atop the table wore a sharp business suit and some very pointed heels, some what reminiscent of Miss Parker's personal style. Jarod scoffed as he thought, 'This has the Centre written all over it.'
The thought of running crossed his mind. She didn't look like she carried a gun. Upon closer scrutiny, he realized that she was sweating profusely. Granted, it was hot out, but not that hot. Her face also looked very pale and her knuckles were beginning to turn white due to her death grip on the rotting table.
He couldn't just leave her there.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
The girl smiled, though it looked pained. "My name is Betty."
Betty. Why did that sound so familiar? Wait! Wasn't that the name of Miss Parker's new assistant?
"What do you want?" He crossed his arms and held her gaze.
"I have some information I thought you should have." She said evenly, a silver DSA shinning from her raised hand.
His first instinct was to take the DSA. What if there was information about his parents? As he begun to take a step forward, he stopped himself. That night, by leaving Parker's house, he'd made a decision to cut the Centre out of his life for good. The disk meant, defiantly, that the Centre would be involved. He wouldn't be falling into that again.
"Thanks, but I'm not interested. Sorry."
"Not even if said information concerned Miss Parker?"
His head snapped up, eyes wide. The thought hadn't crossed his mind. He'd just assumed it would be information pertaining to him. Could she be in danger? He needed to know. "What've you got?"
Betty got up off the table, with every intention of walking towards him, but her knees buckled and gave out beneath her. A slight whimper escaped her lips, as she collapsed.