A/N: I have no excuses, this just came to me and it had to be written. I promise I am also working on the other two fics, hopefully I can update 'When she loved me' tomorrow
Lyle absolutely hated it when Raines sent him after Jarod with Parker. She always seemed to meddle in his business and thwart his plans whenever she could, no matter where they went. The fact was that he'd already been planning to go do DC himself on other business when Parker had gotten a lead on their pretender. He had kept his tongue when he was ordered to take the same jet and help her with the pursuit. Of course, he had other things that needed to be dealt with. It was simple enough really, a few lucrative ventures with rivaling mobsters, but his sister and Jarod had to ruin it for him. They had the audacity to foil his master plan and gotten them all captured, so now the three of them were locked up in a hotel room owned by one of the mobsters. Lyle felt he could still talk his way out of this when the mobster would arrive, if only Jarod and his sister could shut up long enough for him to work his magic.
Lyle was tied to a chair with his arms behind him, Parker and Jarod were tied together, and thrown onto the bed. As he expected, the moment the guard left the room Parker exploded on him, he was extremely glad for the distance between them.
"You absolute piece of shit! If you hadn't…!"
Lyle tuned her out and simply rolled his eyes, letting the insults roll off his back.
"Well sis, if you hadn't interrupted my meeting and let Jarod get away with the five million, we wouldn't be here." He huffed, "At least they were nice enough to catch Jarod for us, Raines will be a happy wheezer when we return home."
"If we get home, you moron!" She yelled.
"Hey, all I'm saying is that you should have caught him, he was dumb enough to let himself get captured by some buffoons! I don't really see why he's supposed to be so special."
Parker made a strangled noise, "Stop insulting Jarod, if your sorry ass manages to get out of here it will be because of him, now shut up!" Parker hissed at him, her voice dripping with venom.
She let out a huff, "Jarod, tell me! What are you thinking?"
Jarod swallowed, "I need you to move your hands to the right side of my belt, there's a knife hidden just behind the second loop. I need you to get it out, your hands are nimbler than mine."
Parker immediately began moving her hands towards his belt. "Dammit, I can't reach it, can we sit up?" She asked.
Jarod turned his head a little to her side, "We can. Stretch out your legs and bend them over the side of the bed, on the count of three, 1…, 2…3!"
Lyle watched fascinated as his sister didn't argue with Jarod about a single thing. They sat up in one move.
"A little to your right," Jarod instructed calmly scrunching his face in pain at the awkward angle his hands were in.
Parker's fingers seemed to have found the knife, "Got it!" she gently removed it from its hiding place and handed it over to Jarod without a word.
"Why are you giving it to him?!" Lyle cried out, "He could cut himself loose and bail on us!"
"Lyle, so help me God, you might be my brother, but I will always trust Jarod over you!"
Lyle sighed in annoyance at the smug smile that rose on the Pretender's face.
Jarod cut himself loose and turned around to, quickly but carefully, remove the ropes from his sister's wrists. Lyle observed how Jarod seemed to handle her like she was a delicate piece of porcelain and the look Parker seemed to give him made Lyle frown, something was off between these two.
She made no objections to his touch, while he'd seen her insulting and hurting men for a whole lot less. He'd been on the receiving end of that sharp tongue of hers many times before.
The two of them shared a look that somehow seemed to communicate way more than he was capable of understanding. Jarod went for the door looking through the peephole as Parker inspected the windows.
"Three guards outside the door, all of them armed." Was his conclusion.
"We're on the fourth, no fire escape ladders, windows are locked." Came her clipped answer.
"Hey, can someone cut me loose?" Lyle asked.
"No!" They answered in unison.
Jarod turned towards Parker, "Did you watch the surveillance tapes from my pretend in Boston?" He asked.
She raised her eyebrows, "The second or the third time you were there?"
He smirked at her, "The third."
"I really liked what you did to that son of a bitch, he really had it coming. You think it'll work the same here?" She questioned.
Jarod shrugged and sighed, "It'll have to." He growled.
Parker instantly disappeared in the bathroom while Jarod made quick work of a bedside table, breaking off one of its legs. As he studied the splintered end of the leg Parker returned holding a metal object. Apparently, she'd turned loose the entire faucet. Jarod took another peep through the hole.
"You take the one on the left, he has a heart condition, and he favors his right leg. He won't take you long." Parker only nodded in reply.
Lyle got the strange feeling these two were in some sort of synchronized bubble of their own, like he didn't even exist! "Hello! I'm still tied up, I can help!" he hissed out, breaking them out of their flow. The two of them shared a meaningful glance and he decided to try another avenue. "You know guys, the two of you seem to be awfully good at working together and maybe, just maybe with his brains, your bitchiness, and my looks we could take over the Centre." He watched as Parker rolled her eyes at him. "Think about sis, no more Raines, you and Jarod could get to go on missions together, you'll make a great team!"
She threw him a look of utter disgust. A small nod of her head to Jarod made the pretender decide to begin cutting the ropes tying him to the chair. She stood before him, arms folded, still holding on to the dripping piece of metal. "The only reason I will save your pathetic weaselly ass today is that you're not allowed to die on the day I lost our mother, but if you hinder us in any way, I will make sure those mobsters will receive your head on a silver platter. Understood?"
Lyle laughed at that, "God, you're so beautiful when you're angry."
This comment seemed to anger Jarod somehow and Lyle found himself toppled over, still tied to the chair.
"Is no one going to explain what happened in Boston?" He asked sounding exasperated; he didn't know what to think of these two and it was starting to scare him a little.
Jarod cocked his head and glared down at him, "You can have the one on the right if you wish, but I suggest you just run like hell, little weasel."
Lyle simply watched in silence as the other two seemed to have a countdown in their heads, but no words were spoken. Jarod ripped open the door, smacking the middle guard right in the face with his wooden spike. Parker knocked the left one with a pipe in his throat and as the man doubled over in pain, she took the opportunity to strangle him with it. Jarod meanwhile was already holding the third guard and Parker gave him a few good kicks in the groin until Jarod had blocked the arteries going to the man's head long enough for him to lose consciousness. Jarod dropped him like a sack of potatoes.
"Five minutes?" He asked Parker pantingly.
She nodded, a little out of breath herself, "Five minutes."
He grinned at her, "You know I only need two."
She chuckled, "Oh, I know you do."
Lyle who was still on the floor watching this exchange with bewilderment, was too stunned to talk for a second.
"What?! Why are you letting him leave?! You had him!"
She straightened her back, smiled, and gave Jarod a little wave off. "Jarod gets a five-minute head start every time he saves my life."
She turned and approached him, he was too late to notice her smile had turned cold, the last thing he remembered was something shiny heading his way.
Lyle was limping into the simulation lab holding an ice pack to his head.
"Mr. Lyle." Sydney greeted him curtly, "I hear things in Washington did not go as planned."
"My sister hit me with a faucet and let Jarod get away!" Lyle cringed at the loudness of his own voice piercing his head.
"The report said she saved you from a group of gangsters and dragged you out of a very dangerous situation."
Lyle was aware of what the report said and as Raines had not been aware of his extracurricular activities, he had no choice but to agree with Parker's report. He was already in hot water with Raines, he could not afford to tell the truth.
"I'm quite sure she kicked me down some stairs," he grimaced as he carefully touched his side where he knew large bruises had begun to form.
"Sydney, is she sleeping with him?" He asked Jarod's old mentor directly.
Sydney frowned and stared at him for several seconds, "With whom?"
"Well with Jarod, of course!"
The laugh Sydney let out startled him. The older man slapped him on the shoulder, making him winch in pain.
"I suggest you never let her hear this accusation of yours, or I will assume you will lose much more than just a thumb." With that and another chuckle, the psychiatrist left him behind in an empty simlab.
Three weeks later
It was 10 AM on a Tuesday, the busiest working day in the Centre. Which was exactly why it was at this moment Jarod and Miss Parker walked in through the front door with an army of Homeland Security officers and NSA agents. Because all communications had been instantly blocked and most of the gunfights had been in the lobby, Lyle had not been informed of the ongoing raid. So, at 10:05 several agents stormed into his office and took him into custody.
The two of them were standing close to each other in the hallway as he was escorted out, Jarod's arm was wrapped possessively around her waist.
"I knew it!" He spat out, "You two were sleeping together!"
Parker brought up a hand and the officers dragging him halted. She grabbed Jarod's hand and slowly walked up to Lyle. "Actually, this whole operation was your idea. You see, if you hadn't pointed out so kindly that Jarod and I not only work very well together but also that we could just seize the Centre, none of this would have happened. So, thank you, little brother, at least you did something right in your life."
He was dragged into an elevator and as the doors started to close, he watched the happy couple share a kiss.
A/N: I know you can't leave kudos here, but let me know in the comments if you liked it!