"I want every available Centre operative looking for this…Betty. If that's even her real name." Mr. Parker's voice boomed throughout his office.
"I can help you, Daddy." Miss Parker offered.
"No, Angel. I understand you want to help, however, you have to remember, finding Jarod is more important."
"But, Daddy-"
He waved his hand through the air, cutting off her sentence. "Not another word, the search for Jarod is vital."
Miss Parker breathed out. There was no arguing with him.
Mr. Parker turned to face the other men standing in his office. "This girl knows too much information pertaining to the Centre. I want her brought in."
The men and Miss Parker all nodded in agreement before they were escorted out of the office.
'Damn right that girl knows too much.' Miss Parker thought as she headed toward the elevators. Why did she so stupidly trust Betty? She's been able to keep all of her past emotional turmoil out of other people's hair until now. There's no telling what could happen if Betty leaked information about her and Jarod, or their baby, to anyone from the Centre.
No. That wasn't going to happen.
She was determined to find that girl before anyone else could.
Miss Parker heard the ding of the elevator, bringing her out of her reverie. She stepped out of the elevator and into the corridor, where she strode with determination toward the offices. Before she was able to reach her destination, however, Sydney stepped forward, blocking her path in the hallway.
"Miss Parker, is it true that Betty was not really supposed to be here?"
"Has the gossip train been going around this morning?"
Sydney brushed off Miss Parker's harsh remark, as he typically did. "Do you think she could be dangerous?"
"To who? You?"
"Miss Parker, she knows where you live."
"Yeah, no thanks to you, Freud."
"What are you talking about?"
"You gave the little snitch my address."
Sydney's expression quickly changed from confused to stunned. "Miss Parker, I did not give Betty your address." The old man could practically see the steam emanating from Miss Parker's ears as she stormed off, leaving him alone in the walkway, confused still.
Miss Parker headed briskly to Broots' desk, which, upon approaching, she covered with both hands, leaning forward to look the technician square in the eye. "I want you to drop whatever you're doing and find her." Miss Parker growled.
"Betty?"
"No. Amelia Airheart."
Broots looked a little hurt, but shifted some papers around his desk and began typing away on his computer. Miss Parker hadn't really meant to snap at him, it just happened so easily. Straightening, she sighed heavily. "Broots, I just need to find her before anyone else from the Centre does."
Broots looked up to see light blue eyes staring pleadingly at him. They held eye contact for only a moment. Then Miss Parker dropped her head and just about whispered, "She just knows too much."
Rather disarmed by her unusual behavior and sympathetic to his boss' request, as he always was, no matter the danger to his personal health and sanity, Broots placed his hand on Miss Parker's arm, in a reassuring gesture. "Don't worry, Miss Parker, we'll find her."
"So, How'd you get shot?" Jarod inquired, conversationally.
Betty blinked a couple of times and glanced at her surroundings. She was laying on a crème colored sofa in a dimly lit room that was minimally furnished. She would have scrutinized the room further but a sudden pang in her head got her attention. "Mmmmm." She moaned as she tightly shut her eyes. Using her thumb and her forefinger she applied pressure to the bridge of her nose.
Seeing that she was in pain, Jarod got up and walked across the room to where a bottle of aspirin lay on a table. He spoke casually to Betty. "I brought you here after you passed out, then I took the bullet out and stitched you up while you were out. You'll probably be sore for the next week or so."
He handed her a couple of pills, along with a glass of water, which she took readily.
"How'd you get shot?" he repeated, bluntly.
"Running from the Centre." She informed him impassively. Jarod furrowed his brow, dissatisfied with such simplistic answer. "I tried to impersonate a Centre employee. It was a good plan, 'till I got caught."
"Why?"
"They found out I wasn't supposed to be there."
Jarod rolled his eyes. He had no desire to play games. "I meant, why'd you try to impersonate a Centre employee?"
She looked around the dingy room once more. She supposed it was time to show him the disk. 'Oh no! The disk!' she panicked. "My bag!" she exclaimed, wide-eyed.
Seeing that she was freaking out, he calmly retrieved the large black bag that she'd left sitting on the table.
"You looked in it, didn't you?" she accused.
"I had to make sure you weren't armed, but I didn't watch any of them." Betty narrowed her eyes. "Look, what I have on my DSA's are my business and I wouldn't feel comfortable if someone else went through them without giving me a chance to explain them."
"That's very noble of you, Jarod. However, there is one that I would like to show you."
"The one that you were holding in the alley?" he inquired as he picked up a single DSA off of the end table and held it up for Betty to see.
"That's the one." she conceded.
And with that he quickly got up and retrieved his DSA player, setting it up on the coffee table, in front of the couch, so that they could both see it. Just before he placed the disk into the player, he paused, looking over his shoulder at Betty.
She nodded, letting him know that it was okay, though she sure didn't look sure of that.
Although he hadn't been entirely sure what to expect, the pretender hadn't even considered seeing Miss Parker's face appear on the screen, looking directly at him. For a moment, he wondered if it was Catherine Parker before him, but quickly discarded that thought when he realized that the disk was in color.
He took in a deep breath, not having been ready for that, but mesmerized by the image before him, nonetheless. He simply could not look away.
The Miss Parker on the screen began to speak, "Jarod? It's me, Parker. I know that you're probably not too happy to hear from me right now, but there are some things I need to say, so...please, just hear me out. Okay?
"Remember when I told you that leaving together wasn't possible? Well, I was wrong. I was just so afraid... so afraid of loosing you." It was clearly visible that Miss Parker was trying to fight back tears, "but I still lost you."
She hung her head down so that all the camera could see clearly was the top of her dark hair and covered her face with trembling hands. Parker took in a few slow breaths before she dropped her hands and picked her head back up.
Jarod felt his heart constrict.
She looked solemnly at the camera. "Jarod, there are some things, things that have happened, things that only Tempus can help us with now. Please Jarod, just trust Betty… she's gunna help us.
"I miss you. And I know I don't say it enough, but I love you." She then kissed her hand and pressed it to the glass. All too soon, the screen faded into nothingness, leaving Jarod with too many questions and almost no answers.
A/N: I would like to take this opportunity to thanks my beta, Mary, whom has helped me ever so much.
Also, I would like to thank those of you who have reviewed. I do appretiate them, reviews, along with Mary, are what motivate me to pursure this story further. If you have any questions or concerns, dont hesitate to contact me:) TTFN.