Spoilers: Up to IOTH

Summary: Part six of the Labyrinth Series.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters and am just playing around with them.

Note: Includes lyrics of the song “Never My Love” by the Association.

" When you come to a fork in the road....Take it " -Yogi Berra

"The future ain't what it used to be " -Yogi Berra

Jarod slowly walked to his car. He was half hoping that Miss Parker would have a change of heart and call him back and half hoping that she hadn’t already called the sweepers.

He knew she didn’t buy his excuse for his absences. He didn’t know that he really expected her to. That was part of the game. They could tell when they weren’t being completely honest with one another and accepted it. He got into his car and began to drive.

He’d spent the better part of the year designing his systematic plan of ruin for the Centre. He’d been watching Centre business to get an idea of how things worked to keep the organization running.

In the beginning, he’d only known about the pretender project. That he was very familiar with. It was a matter of finding out about the rest of the Centre projects.

He had dealt a financial blow to the Centre’s project pocketbook. He’d managed to successfully close down one facet of business in Toronto. Donald Peterson had been in charge of the boiler room trading, money laundering and pyramid schemes. Just a fraction of the criminal activities the Centre involved itself in.

Jarod had exposed Peterson and his colleagues to the International authorities as well as refunded as much of the money he could to the honest people it was taken from.

And Miss Parker had shown up. That could have been very bad for his plans. It was only a mere complication that the Centre suspected her involvement, but wasn’t able to prove it.

Jarod wondered what the hell she’d been doing coming into the office and playing ‘Morgan Paxton’ the morning he was going to set his plan in place. She couldn’t have picked a worse time.

He’d had to change his escape plans so that he could remove her from the scene. He had managed to get the security tapes with her on it in time, but hadn’t gotten to the doorman, Richie or Donald Peterson. Short of hypnosis, he didn’t know how he could have gotten them to be quiet about her.

What would he have said? That woman you saw yesterday, just pretend you never saw her. That wouldn’t have happened. After she’d left she had been all the men talked about the rest of the morning. Not that Jarod could blame them.

His infatuation with her was dangerous enough. He had to distance himself from her to think clearly. She was his obsession. It always came back to that. That was why he hung around her place. Why he pushed the odds and broke into her house at night to watch her. Why he hung around at the end of his pretends to watch her go into his lairs.

Miss Parker would lead to his ruin. He knew that. He’d been caught before because he couldn’t walk away. She wouldn’t understand this though.

Jarod had begun organizing the second part of his plan for the Centre when Alex had resurfaced. Alex, the one person who probably hated Jarod more than any other he’d encountered, had kidnapped his sister. Alex, the man Jarod thought he’d killed twice.

Not only had Alex kidnapped his sister but he’d also murdered Lyle’s adoptive parents. And then he’d gone after Miss Parker.

Alex confused Jarod. At first, Jarod had merely taken Alex to be a wild card. He thought Alex was a madman who was out to destroy the two people he’d blamed for destroying his own life, Jarod and Lyle. Now he wasn’t so sure.

Alex had known about the Centre’s plan to recapture Jarod by staging a wedding. Although Jarod had been infuriated by the whole ordeal, he still hadn’t planned to do anything about it. That was, until he received the messages and photographs.

What would he have done? It wasn’t like one of those movies where the good guy walks in and shouts ‘stop the wedding, he’s not right for her!’ If he’d done that, a hundred sweepers would have pummeled him. Although Raines and Lyle may believe the whole wedding was a scheme to capture Jarod, Jarod knew it was meant to hurt him.

He despised Johansen Amaru. He’d had the displeasure of meeting him when Lyle had dragged him back to the Centre. That had been a blow to Jarod’s spirit. He’d fallen into Lyle’s trap so easily he might as well had been a four-year-old accepting candy from a madman.

Lyle had set up a trail for Jarod to follow, thinking he was going after Alex. Once again, Jarod had paid for underestimating Lyle. After all, Lyle had been one of the red files as well. He might not have been brought up in the Centre, but he was as good as any other pretender who had been. Luckily, Jarod had the opportunity to hide what was important before Lyle had captured him.

And then he’d met Johansen Amaru. Mutumbo and Adama were nice guys in comparison. Amaru was half Dutch half Zulu. He stood as Jarod’s height and had light skin and blue eyes. He was strong and formidable.

He’d come to Jarod’s cell many times. He had a different strategy to try and break Jarod than Raines or Lyle. He used Miss Parker.

“She’s a lovely woman, wouldn’t you say?” Amaru had asked the first time he’d come to see him. Jarod had glared at him from the darkness.

“I understand the two of you know one another quite well.” Amaru had smiled. “And judging from the way you kissed her up there today, you must be very close as well.”

The worst of it was that Amaru really was attracted to Miss Parker. He would come into Jarod’s cell and tell him about how Miss Parker looked that day. He would tell him how concerned Miss Parker was about Jarod and would laugh about it.

“Silly woman. She really doesn’t know her place. Like mother like daughter I suppose.” He’d said followed by his sinister chuckle.

Amaru liked Miss Parker the way Mr. Parker had loved Catherine. He regarded her as a trophy, but one he would use for his own purposes. Jarod knew Miss Parker’s fate would have been similar to Catherine’s. Miss Parker would have been trapped with a monster.

Jarod had been relieved that Amaru had been called back to Africa just after his recapture at the wedding. But he knew he wasn’t the only one.

“Thank God.” He’d heard Lyle mutter under his breath when Amaru had announced his departure. His gaze had met Jarod’s and then he’d left the room himself.

Lyle confused him now as well. He seemed to know what was going on with Miss Parker’s abduction before the rest of them had. Jarod could sense it in his knowing gaze. And then Lyle had allowed him to walk away.

@@@@@

Lyle gazed lazily at his desk as he traced the pattern on the paper with his closed pen. Winding and meandering back and forth. His pen reached the center and then he slowly began to trace the pen back to the beginning.

It was the same pattern, which graced the garden at the Triumvirate. He’d drawn it from memory. The labyrinth. Within the Labyrinth one wanders through twists and turns toward the goal. Once the goal is met, one must return to where it all began. The Labyrinth is a path to be followed however long and complex, to reach the goal, the object of the quest, at the Centre. He’d walked it many times and still had yet to achieve his balance.

He found himself wondering why he’d place himself in this situation to begin with. Why he’d volunteered to come to the Centre and watch the people there. The Triumvirate hadn’t been happy that Jarod had escaped and that Miss Parker continually failed to retrieve him. They also weren’t happy with how Mr. Parker and Raines were handling the situation. Someone had to go; regretfully he’d insisted it be he.

The powers that be in the Centre hadn’t been happy with his presence and had done all they could to get rid of him. They were foolish in thinking it would be easy to get rid of him. The more complex their schemes became, the easier it was for him to find who’d come up with the ideas. They’d caught him off guard once with the Yakuza, and he’d punished them for it.

The truth was that short of killing him, they would never be rid of him. He wasn’t an easy man to displace and he had more tricks than they would ever know. He’d thought that Jarod was his only problem, now he had another contender to deal with.

The doors of his office were thrown open and he knew who his visitor was without looking up. He’d known she was coming, he’d felt it.

“It’s a shame that you’ve never mastered the simple act of the knock.” Lyle said, beating her to the punch. Miss Parker walked up to his desk and slammed her hands down on it across from him.

“A little bird told me that you let Jarod go.” She smiled. He didn’t bother to look up, but merely began to trace the labyrinth again.

“Excuse me!” She said grabbing his pen. He looked up at her annoyed.

“What would you do if I stormed into your office like that every day?” He smirked. He would have to try that someday. She took a step back and glared at him.

“It is good to have you back though.” Lyle said picking up the paper before having it snatched away from him by his sister.

“What is this?” She asked.

“A labyrinth.” Lyle replied. She regarded him curiously.

“It’s a meditation tool. I’m surprised at you, Marion.” Lyle smirked at her shocked expression.

“What did you call me?” She snapped.

“A little bird told me.” Lyle smiled mischievously. He remembered Jarod mumbling her name in his sleep.

“I’m going to crush your little bird.” She hissed and then turned on her heel and exited his office. Lyle sat back and watched his doors close.

He was disappointed. It was the third time she’d walked in with that accusation and the third time she‘d lost focus and walked out. She wasn’t the same, she‘d lost her edge. He looked back down at the labyrinth that she’d tossed back on his desk and shook his head.

He couldn’t fathom what had happened to her in her absence. Jarod had kept her away as long as he had for a reason. Lyle knew he could have found them, easily. But, that wouldn’t have been very sportsman like. Lyle chuckled to himself.

The pursuit of Jarod had acquired a strange etiquette. Probably as strange as Miss Parker’s inability to grasp that it would be polite to knock on his door at least once in a while. He was her brother after all.

‘Crush my little bird.’ Lyle chuckled at the thought. She’d been doing that for years.

Lucy walked into the room.

“Mr. Lyle, this just came for you.” She said smiling.

“Thank you.” Lyle said, taking the envelope and glancing over the secretary as she exited.

He opened the envelope and found a map of a maze with a red line drawn from the entrance to a spot somewhere in the middle. He turned the map over and found a message scrawled in a familiar hand.

Lyle picked up the envelope the read the address. It was time to see his old acquaintance.

@@@@@

Miss Parker sank into her desk chair and stared at the telephone. Should she call Broots and send him off on some trivial pursuit? Should she call Broots and Sydney in and yell at them about not finding anything on Jarod? Should she storm into the hallway and rail at some unsuspecting passerby?

These were all qualities of her persona that she’d shrank back from once she’d seen them from the outside. That was the hell of it all. She’d been someone else for awhile and found that she’d liked being that person.

Marion Parker was nice and funny. She had actually sung and danced on a karaoke stage. Miss Parker wouldn’t. She liked who she had been then; she hated who she was now.

Part of her almost wished she hadn’t regained her memory. Or that she had gone along with having amnesia once she had. She was happier then. She was free.

She’d had a taste of what life was like without the Centre and she wanted more. What life and she might have been like if her mother had succeeded in taking her away from the Centre when she was a little girl.

Her mother’s plan. She hadn’t searched for that DSA in some time. Raines had probably already found it by now. But if he hadn’t...

She picked up the phone and quickly punched in the familiar numbers.

“Broots! I want you to look for something for me.” She called over the line.

@@@@@

Jordan looked up from his bowl of cereal to see Emily heading to the front door. He ate cereal all the time. Corn Pops were his favorite. One of the many things he loved about being out of the Centre and with his ‘family.’

Jordan wasn’t really sure how to feel about them. They were nice people and they treated him well, but there was so much division.

Like with Emily. He had heard so much about her before they met, after Mr. Lyle pushed her out of a window. She’d been standoffish at first and then had lightened up with time.

Emily had changed altogether after Alex had abducted her from the gas station. She’d become very quiet and had kept mostly to herself. She also took long strolls into the woods where she would be for hours before she returned.

Jordan had thought about going with her, or even following her. But after spending most of his life under a camera he’d decided against it. He decided that when she was ready, then she would open up to them.

He hadn’t met ‘mom’ yet. Major Charles had left three weeks before to look for her. The Russell family matriarch was the biggest mystery to him.

Ethan had been using his Inner Sense to find possible locations for Margaret Russell for over a year. They had come close many times only to be disappointed and leave empty handed.

Ethan had come up with three solid leads this time, all very close in area. Charles had opted to go alone to spare his children the let down and long ride home that would follow.

Instead, the three of them had to stay here alone, together until Jarod or Major Charles returned. Jordan was frustrated with the waiting. He wanted to get out and see more of this world he’d been kept from. But he also understood the risks of travel.

The Centre was still looking for them. The thought of returning to the Centre kept him awake some nights. And on some of those nights he could hear Emily crying.

@@@@@

Lyle entered the hedge maze and wandered through the corridors of foliage, following the map, which had been sent to him the previous day. On the back of the map had been the urgent request for this meeting.

Games, they always played games. Lyle had been anticipating this meeting for some time. He’d gone over in his mind what he’d do, what he’d say. So much had gone wrong, which was par for the course for the Centre.

It was the fault of the other. The other who had made things so complicated. The other who had crossed too many lines and had gone too far. Someone had once said that two could keep a secret of one of them was dead, Lyle agreed.

He checked the safety on his gun once more and then looked at the map. Close, he should be close to the other by now.

“You didn’t tell me she was cute.” The familiar voice called behind him in its sing song manner. Lyle whirled around when he knew the other was close and slugged him in the face as hard as he could.

Alex held the side of his face as he stumbled backward into the hedges. He looked up at Lyle angrily.

“Do that again and I’ll tear off your other thumb!” Alex seethed. Lyle took a step back and pulled out his gun. He aimed it at Alex’s angry come surprised expression.

“Why Lyle, surely you won’t shoot me with so many people around?” Alex tried his singsong voice again. Lyle cocked the gun and stared at the other man icily.

“It never stopped me before.” Lyle said and then smiled at him. Alex straightened and leaned against the hedges.

“Why kill me now and not back in Baltimore?” Alex tried to smile confidently and failed. Lyle took a step closer and glared into the other man’s eyes. He put the gun away and watched Alex’s face become instantly relieved.

“You scared me for a moment there.” Alex said.

“Good.” Lyle said. “I’m not the type of guy who cares to be taken lightly.” And then he grabbed Alex’s arm and wrestled it back as the other man tried to hit him. He grabbed Alex’s hand and broke his little finger.

Alex stifled a cry and shrank back, holding his broken digit gingerly with his good hand. He winced and looked back at Lyle’s face.

“You’re only alive because I need you, remember that.” Lyle said. Alex nodded and stood tall again, still holding his injured hand with his good one.

“Why?” Alex said.

“Because you hurt them.” Lyle replied. He remembered Emily and Miss Parker’s bruised faces. “Because you screwed up the plan.” He seethed.

“I embellished the plan.” Alex grinned and his face fell, as Lyle’s expression grew darker.

“You took unnecessary risks. You...” Lyle stopped, unable to find the words. “You didn’t have to take them and hurt them.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet that it almost makes me nauseous.” Alex grinned at him. “You care so much for them that you pushed Emily out of a window and sent Miss Parker into a building that was going to explode.”

Lyle shook his head and stepped away from the center of the path to allow a young family to pass them. He took a long look at the little boy who so much resembled the kid. He returned his cool gaze to Alex.

“I need some ice for this.” Alex said. The two men began for the exit.

@@@@@

Emily aimed the gun at the tree. She steadied her hand and stared at it. Her had wavered and she steadied it once more. She hated this. She would never be good at this. She had to do this.

Because next time there might not be someone else there to pull the trigger for her. She shook her head to rid herself of the thought. She wouldn’t be alone in this venture, whenever it should be.

She kept the pager on her all the time now. She’d just had it as a fluke the first time Lyle had called on her. When he told her how to rescue Jarod from the Centre. She thought of how his voice had sounded then. He was angry and upset. There was something else going on that she was not privy to.

But that pager could go off at any minute and that was what she had to concern herself with. That and being able to shoot the broadside of a tree. If she couldn’t hit a stationary object of that size, what would she do when they were moving and shooting back? People not the trees she thought.

Shoot with your hand, not your head. Or was it shoot with your head and not your hand? She was never going to get this right. A noise behind her startled her and she quickly tucked the gun beneath her University of Nebraska sweater.

She saw Jarod approach. He was smiling and she waved back nervously. Had he seen it?

“Emily, here you are.” Jarod chimed. She supposed he’d just come back from wherever he’d gone.

“Jarod!” She smiled. “Where were you?”

“Around.” He said. She approached him and they walked back to the house. “Ethan said you’d be out here. Actually, he said that you’d spent a lot of time out here.”

“I like it.” She said, looking at her feet. “It’s pretty. And quiet.” She looked up to see Jarod nodding. “Where have you been for the past month?”

“I was helping some friends.” Jarod replied solemnly.

“On a pretend?” She asked.

“Kind of. They were in trouble.” He said and picked up his pace.

“And Jarod saved the day as usual.” Emily grinned. He smiled down at her.

“Not always, unfortunately.” Jarod replied. “So what do you do out here?”

“I think.” She said.

“Your thinking sounds a lot like gunshots.” Jarod replied. She stopped in mid stride and stiffened. How long had he been watching her?

“How long were you watching me?” She asked.

“A while.” Jarod replied. “When did you get it?”

“After Alex kidnapped me.” She replied. “With all that has happened I feel safer with it.” She said thinking of the most legitimate answer he would buy.

Why not come out and say it? Lyle gave it to me. He told me to practice until I was good enough to hold my own when we storm the Triumvirate and rescue the child you don’t know you have.

“You should be careful with that.” Jarod said pointing at the bulge in her sweater and recalling her from her thoughts. “Do they know you have it?”

“No, it’s a surprise.” She said sarcastically, but meaning every word. “I wouldn’t feel comfortable with them knowing. You know how they think of me as a defenseless little thing.”

“I won’t tell them if that’s what you’re worried about. It’s probably a good idea for you to have one and be able to use it.” Jarod replied. He waved at Jordan up on the porch and they soon joined him and the others inside.

@@@@@

“Who’s cute?” Lyle said not looking up from his plate. The two men sat in a little diner where Alex had wrapped his broken finger in a napkin with ice. Only in one of those places would nobody bother to ask why.

“What are you talking about?” Alex replied.

“When I came up on you in the maze, you said...”

“Oh, oh, yeah that!” Alex grinned. “Emily. You never told me how cute she is.” Lyle hunched down in his seat immediately regretting bringing up the subject of Emily.

“And I also never told you to get her either.” Lyle said. Alex looked bemused.

“I was trying to get a dig in at Jarod.” Alex replied. “And if you’re still pissed off that I hit her then you should have seen the shiner the little bitch gave me.” Lyle looked up at him angrily and then back at his plate. He heard Alex chuckle.

“Oh, I see.” Alex said, Lyle could feel him leering at him. “Did you fuck her?” Lyle slammed his fork on the table and looked at him annoyed.

“No.” Lyle replied.

“But you wanted to, I bet. I know I wanted to.” Alex grinned and chuckled a little. “Holy shit, you do have a thing for her. My God!” Alex began laughing hard until Lyle mashed his broken finger. Alex then curled inward and made a loud groan.

“How’s the finger?” Lyle smiled at him.

“You bastard.” Alex said. He picked up his own fork and Lyle frowned at him.

“Don’t even try it.” Lyle warned. “I can always even the score.”

“I would ask you where I could find a new finger but it’s obvious that you don’t know yourself.” Alex smirked.

“Enough with the small talk explain.” Lyle replied.

“Oh, I have to explain.” Alex said in a strained manner. “Well, I thought it might help your cause if Emily thought that I was a more evil bastard than you are. And to my surprise, it worked.” Alex beamed; Lyle shook his head at him.

“Come on, you got to come in and save the day just like Jarod, except he wouldn’t have killed everyone else.” Alex prodded.

“You didn’t need to do all of that.” Lyle said.

“Plus, I gave you an out, I mean I ‘killed your parents’ giving you reason to hate me and thus making us look like enemies.”

“We are enemies.” Lyle said.

“Yeah, and you have a thing for your enemies sisters.” Alex leered and Lyle glared at him.

“I didn’t know that Brigitte...” Lyle began, but Alex cut him off.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve heard all that before. But you know that Emily is Jarod’s sister so that’s inexcusable. Although I’d love to see the look on his face when he finds out that you’re fucking her.” Alex grinned and chuckled at Lyle. Lyle only shook his head.

“So when are we going to pick up my little nephew?” Alex asked.

“First you have to explain...” Lyle began and Alex cut him off once again.

“I wanted to break the Ice Queen. I also wanted to get even with Jarod and Amaru, that’s why I took Miss Parker.”

“Mission accomplished.” Lyle replied. “But still completely unnecessary.”

“I wasn’t going to let her die Lyle.” Alex said. “It would totally defeated the purpose, plus I would have had you on my ass along with Jarod, which judging by that look on your face is still the case.”

“You were going to kill her.” Lyle stated.

“Yeah.” Alex said. “I get carried away sometimes.”

“You’re a sick bastard.” Lyle said digging into his food.

“I’m a sick bastard? How many Chinese prostitutes did you bury this week?” Alex grinned only to be disappointed by Lyle’s even expression.

“That’s my business.” Lyle replied.

@@@@@

“Why does the Centre want you back so badly?” Emily said after a long silence at lunch. Jarod looked over at her and smile weakly.

“I don’t know.” He replied. He looked among his siblings.

“It seems like they have so much going on that I can’t believe the Pretender project is so paramount that it overshadows everything else.” Emily said. Jarod nodded.

“After all the digging I’ve done it surprises me as well that they’d spend so much time and effort trying to drag me back since they’ve eliminated most of the rest of the Pretenders.” Jarod sighed.

“Eliminated? You mean they killed them all?” Jordan gasped.

“Most of them.” Jarod replied. “And it seems that Raines wants to start up the project again.”

“It just seems strange to me that they would spend all that time and effort to find pretenders and take them from their families and raise them only to kill them.” Emily said.

“Most of the ones that were killed were either rescued by Catherine Parker or defied the Centre on their own.” Jarod replied.

“So we’re all targets now.” Jordan said. They all looked at him and Jarod nodded.

“It would seem that is the case.” Jarod replied. “Although they want me back in the worst way and I don’t know why.”

“Does it have something to do with the Triumvirate?” Ethan asked.

“I can’t answer that. I know they are going to take me to the Triumvirate if they recapture me. They were going to take Jordan there.” Jarod replied.

“Is the Triumvirate going to sell you?” Emily asked.

“Who is the Triumvirate anyway?” Ethan asked.

“I know Mutumbo and Adama and Johansen Amaru were all part of the Triumvirate, but Mutumbo and Adama are both dead now.” Jarod replied.

“That leaves this Amaru guy.” Emily said, remembering the name. Lyle had seemed to really hate Amaru for some reason. “But the Triumvirate is three, right? Who else is running the show now that Mutumbo and Adama are dead?”

“I honestly don’t know.“ Jarod replied shaking his head.

@@@@@

Raines jumped a little as Johansen Amaru entered his office. The tall man walked up to his desk and grinned his jesters leer at the older man.

“Where is Lyle?” Amaru asked. Raines shook his head slowly.

“I don’t know. He’s probably off attending to some Centre business.” Raines replied.

“Ah, I’m sure he is. Lyle is such a loyal, devoted employee.” Amaru said, picking a letter opener up from Raines desk and he began to pace while twirling it in his fingers.

“Lyle does what he’s told. He is quick and efficient, except for when it comes to Jarod it would seem.” Amaru said. He shot a raised eyebrow at Raines. “I wonder why that would be.”

“Jarod had eluded our best people for years. He is very clever and devious.” Raines wheezed.

“So none of your people can match Jarod’s ability?” Amaru asked.

“If I might interject, the Triumvirate sent Lyle.” Raines replied angrily.

“Yes he was, but he has been at the Centre for a long time. Perhaps there is something about this environment that dulls your peoples senses. I, however, believe there is much more to this than the foul air that is recycled through this place.”

“What would that be?” Raines replied his tone becoming curter and his breath heavier.

“Lyle is up to something; he has his own agenda. I want you to find out what that is and put an end to it.” Amaru said, stopping in front of Raines desk and looking down at him.

“Have Miss Parker look into it. She was able to uncover his dealings with the chip a few years ago and catch up with Lyle. I want to know what he’s up to and who everyone else that is involved is.”

“And after that?” Raines said.

“I know he’s your son, but I know you’ve always done what was in the best interests of the Centre.” Amaru said. Raines nodded.

“Good.” Amaru said placing the letter opener back on Raines desk. “I wish you a quick resolution, for all our sakes.” Amaru smiled and then exited the office.

Raines pushed a button on his phone.

“Have Miss Parker sent to my office immediately.” Raines wheezed.

@@@@@

“You know who would have been better for this?” Alex asked. Lyle shook his head.

“Enlighten me.” Lyle replied.

“Kyle. Oh yeah, you kind of screwed that one for the old team, didn’t you?” Alex grinned.

“No, Kyle screwed that one.” Lyle replied, remembering how Kyle had dived in front of Jarod and taken the bullet that was meant for his older brother.

“Kyle knew how to take care of business. This girl, I dunno. She was such a damn sissy.” Alex said, clearly enjoying Lyle’s reaction.

“She knows what she needs to do.” Lyle replied. “She’s more like Kyle than she is like Jarod.”

“So what’s the plan?” Alex said, picking up his drink and taking a sip.

“The plan is that we’ll get Parker when he’s returned to the Centre.” Lyle replied. “You’ll ambush the party on the airstrip and take the boy to the prearranged meeting place.” Lyle said, watching the liquid swirl in his glass as he shook it.

“And what to do about the witnesses.” Alex smiled. Lyle glanced up at him momentarily.

“Witnesses?” He said absently.

“They’ll all have to die.” Alex said. He seemed to grow agitated and pulled Lyle’s glass away from him. Lyle glared at the other man.

“Not all of them have to die.” Lyle replied. “We’ll need someone to tell the story.”

“You can do that.” Alex said. Lyle raised an eyebrow at him.

“After my last encounter with you, my credibility has come into question.” Lyle replied and looked at his watch. “What do you know, I must be heading back.”

“How do we set up the airstrip ambush?” Alex asked.

“You’re good at improvising.” Lyle said as he threw some bills on the table and stood. “Until next time.” He said smiling grimly at Alex before he turned away and left.

“Adios, Chum.” Alex called after him.

Alex pulled an ice cube out of his glass and rubbed it on his throbbing finger. ‘Until next time.’ Lyle might as well have said ‘Happy trials partner.’ Lyle’s judgment had become clouded. Alex would have to make the difficult decisions now. Although killing Lyle and his toy wouldn’t be all that difficult.

@@@@@

Miss Parker walked into Raines office and stared at him coolly.

“What do you want?” She hissed.

“I want you to check up on your brother. I want to know everything he does and says and who he does and says it to.” Raines replied his breathing labored.

“Hmm, I thought I was supposed to be tracking Jarod.” She replied, glaring down at the old man. “Now you want me tracking Lyle?”

“I have a directive from the Triumvirate.” Raines wheezed. Miss Parker raised her eyebrows.

“What did Lyle do this time?” She grinned. “Botch another deal with the Yakuza? Clean out another Centre office and steal some more information?”

“That is for you to find out, Miss Parker.” Raines replied.

“I’ll get right on it.” She smiled slyly and then exited the office. She headed down to the sim lab and startled the nervous tech as he searched his screen.

“M-Miss Parker.” He said and smiled sheepishly.

“Forget about that.” She said nodding at the screen. “Where is my baby brother?”

“M-Mr. Lyle? Uh, he left earlier today.” He replied.

“Where did he go?” She said. Broots turned to his screen and began typing.

“He’s right here.” Lyle said walking into the room. Broots jumped and Miss Parker whirled around and smiled at him.

“Well, little brother. What have you been up to?” She asked slyly.

“More importantly, have you found anything on Jarod?” Lyle replied.

Broots and Miss Parker looked at each other and Lyle sighed impatiently.

“One would think that your priorities would lie with what Jarod is up to and not where I take lunch.” Lyle said walking over to try and peer at Broots’ screen.

Sydney entered the room and looked between the three of them.

“We’re being called to Raines’ office.” Sydney said.

“Jesus, you’d think Raines would move his office down here as much as he’s summoning people these days.” Miss Parker huffed, heading for the door. Broots and Lyle both followed.

@@@@@

“You ask me if there'll come a time. When I'll grow tired of you. Never my love. Never my love.” The radio played as Emily sat on the porch. She looked up as Jarod walked out and sat beside her.

“Nice night.” Jarod said.

“Sure is.” Emily replied.

“So where were you really, Jarod.” Emily said, looking at him from her dreamlike gaze.

“I was helping Miss Parker.” Jarod replied. Emily frowned and looked back out at the sky.

“I don’t know why.” Emily said quietly.

“Alex was going to kill her.” Jarod replied. “The Centre captured me and in exchange for recovering Miss Parker, Lyle let me go.” Jarod said, nearly choking on Lyle’s name. Emily looked up at him.

“Lyle helped you?” She asked, puzzled.

“Yeah. But I have a feeling he was more involved in the whole mess than he’d let the rest of us believe.” Jarod replied.

“How so?” Emily asked.

“I think he and Alex may be working together.” Jarod said. Emily’s jaw dropped.

“Them? Working together? To kill Lyle’s sister?” Emily said.

“It wouldn’t surprise me. Lyle was Alex’s handler at the Triumvirate. For all I know, Lyle has been working with Alex the whole time, playing both ends against the middle.” Jarod said.

“What makes you think that?” Emily asked quietly.

“Lyle didn’t kill him.” Jarod replied. “He was standing right in front of him and managed to not hit Alex with any of the shots he fired. Lyle is the best shot I’ve ever seen. If he let me walk, then he let Alex walk as well.”

“So they’re working together.” Emily said looking at her hands.

“I think so. And in that case they’re an even bigger threat.” Jarod replied.

Emily remembered how Alex had grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into his car before speeding away. She’s tried to fight him and get out, but he kept belting her across the face with punishing blows until she’d finally subsided. He’d laughed the whole time he was beating her.

Then there had been Lyle. That first night they spent in the kitchen deciding what to do about his parents. She’d been writing notes on the cabin stationery and finally looked up to see him staring at her face.

“Are you all right?” He’d asked.

She had noted the concern in his expression and wasn’t sure whether or not it had been genuine. Until he’d gotten up and brought back ice and painkillers, and a first aid kit. He’d sat closer to her and had gently cleaned up and ministered to her wounds.

“I’m sorry he did this to you.” He’d said. At the time she thought it had been an empathetic expression, now she wondered.

The scars were barely noticeable now. She rubbed her arms in the cool night air and stood.

“I’m going to go see what Ethan and Jordan are up to.” Emily said. Jarod rose and followed her.

@@@@@

“As many of you may know, Baby Parker was taken to the Triumvirate following his recovery from his lung condition.” Raines wheezed. “We are making arrangements for his return to the Centre.”

“Now?” Miss Parker asked.

“In the near future.” Raines replied.

“But Mr. Parker and Brigitte are both deceased.” Sydney replied. “Who will care for him here?”

“Baby Parker will remain at the Centre under Cox’s care upon his return.” Raines said.

“Why?” Miss Parker snapped.

“I have my reasons.” Raines replied. “I am the legal custodian I have the final say in Baby Parker’s best interests.”

“We’re talking about a two and a half-year-old kid.” Lyle said. “What best interests could he have other than eating, sleeping and playing with his teddy bear?” Lyle said, sneering at Raines. Broots stifled a chuckle.

“Do you think this is funny, Mr. Broots?” Raines said glaring at him.

“Uh, hum no sir.” Broots said sheepishly.

“I guess with Cox running the show that the kid’s bear might have even been real once.” Lyle said to no one in particular. Miss Parker eyed him warily.

“So what is the problem?” Miss Parker asked.

“With Alex’s reappearance, the Triumvirate as well as myself are concerned that there will be difficulties with the transfer.” Raines replied. “I want my top people working to make sure it goes smoothly.”

“Are you sure you want to divert resources from the search for Jarod to such a routine task?” Lyle said haughtily.

“It is exactly that attitude that has caused us so many problems in the past.” Raines hissed. Miss Parker looked between Lyle and Raines in their tense exchange and sat back with a pleased expression.

“Lyle will be in charge, but Miss Parker will be on hand to make sure there are no problems.” Raines continued. “Is that clear?”

“Crystal.” Lyle said with disdain.

@@@@@

Ethan talked excitedly on the phone. He waved for the others to come closer and beamed at them.

“Dad found Mom!” He said with a huge grin. He passed the phone off to Jarod and then hugged Emily.

“When are you coming back?” Jarod said into the phone. He turned to the others. “He says in a week.”

“Can’t they get here any sooner?” Emily exclaimed.

“Afraid not.” Jarod replied. “They’re playing it safe.”

They each talked to their parents before reluctantly hanging up. Then they all sat in the living room and looked at each other in bewilderment.

Now they would all be together again.

To Be Continued …

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