Category: A/JMP
Rating: PG-13

Spoilers: Up to IOTH

Summary: Part one of the Labyrinth Series.

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

Complication

By Madame Estrella

Part One

Parker sat on the window seat and gazed absently out the window.  It had been a while since her father, if she could call him that, had died.  He wasn’t her father, she knew that now.  Just as she knew that she was just one more chapter in the legacy of the Parker Curse.  Or was she?

Had her father died to take the curse with him?  She took a long haul from the bottle of vodka she held in her unsteady grip.  She stared hard at the bottle.  Was it half empty, or half full?  Half empty tonight.  Her life had been half empty.  Or was it more than half empty?

Was she a Raines?  She hated the idea.  How could that old wheezing bastard be her father?  How could she have come from someone so evil?  Had her mother known?  She could believe Lyle could be a Raines, but her?  Was she innately evil herself?

She thought of her chase.  Her pursuit.  Her Jarod.  No, he was not her Jarod.  Was she evil for trying to catch him?  For taking part in his unlawful imprisonment?  People aren’t supposed to be allowed to do what they did to others.  Yet she did these things.  She was just as responsible for those unspeakable atrocities.

“Whoever gets there first, lives.”  She shuddered at the memory of his words.  This was no game.  This was a struggle.  Two people trying so desperately to save themselves by selling the other out.  But they’d seen something in the other’s eyes that night.  The night they were so close.  The night they were so weak.

What did it all mean?  What was the hidden message?  What was their purpose in life?  To destroy each other?  To be alone?  To be in pain?

She’d kissed him once before.  When they were young and naive.  When they could still dream.

Part Two

“I have you now.”  She sneered at him, her weapon raised.  He stared cooly at her.  She knew he hid his fear beneath those hard eyes.  The fear of harm, of The Centre.  She had power over him as he sat, frightened on his bed.

She chuckled, then she bent over and placed her weapon on the floor.  She walked over to his shocked expression.

“I’ve given a lot of thought to what you said.”  She smiled as she straddled then sat on his left thigh, gently encircling her arms around his neck.  His surprise cracked his fear and his hands caught her around the waist.

They stared into one another’s eyes for a long moment.  Then they leaned into one another and kissed.  It was a gentle meeting which became harder and more passionate.  Their breathing quickened and their tongues met and embraced as they were.  He shifted and laid her on the bed beneath him.  They tore at each other’s clothes and whispered endearments between kisses and hot breaths.

“Miss Parker?”  Sydney tapped her shoulder gently.  She woke with a start and tried to regain her breath and composure.  She closed her eyes and opened them in slits to address the old man and the tech man.

“What?”  She said in a near growl.

“Um, w, we ha, have some news about Jarod.”  Broots stammered.

“What is it?”  She said, sitting back in her desk chair.  She realized she’d had another blackout.

“He sent a package to me.”  Broots said, confused.

“What?”  Parker cried standing up and slamming her palms on the desk.  Jarod was sending packages to Broots.  That bastard.  No word from him in six months and then he sends a package to Broots.

She nodded absently to his words and dismissed them with her usual orders.  She didn’t even have to think about what she said to these people.  She could almost leave a tape recorder and a cardboard standup in her office.

Was he going to start calling Broots in the middle of the night now?  She shook her head.  What?  Am I jealous of Broots?  He can just take those midnight calls and mocking packages and clues.  He can process all that and find Jarod himself.

He could hear Jarod’s voice at night.  She closed her eyes and imagined his voice.  “Miss Parker, has the green eyed monster caught you?”  She sighed heavily and pulled the box Broots had laid on her desk toward her and tipped it to look inside.

A roll of quarters and a travel brochure for the Bahamas.  Jarod just wasn’t trying anymore.

A roll of quarters and a vacation.  A peaceful, relaxing getaway.  Broots would need something like that, as nervous as he was.  She needed it too.  She was stressed out.  Who cared?  Did Jarod?

Here’s a quarter, call someone who cares.  She picked up the quarter and tapped it on the desk.  Why Broots?  Broots doesn’t even know Jarod.  Broots is just one of those guys she kicked around.  Broots wasn’t obvious.

She quickly jumped up and headed out the door.  She drove to a convienence store and bought a pack of cigarettes.  Then she approached the payphone and dialed the information number on the brochure.

“Atlantis casino and resort, where can I direct your call?”  The voice answered.

“Jarod.”  Miss Parker stated flatly.

“Why yes, Miss Parker.  I see Broots received his package.”  She felt that fire inside once more.  Why Broots?

“So, you’re a hotel operator?  Who are you saving this time?”

“Actually, I was just leaving.  I didn’t know if I’d get this call in time.”  He replied and then the line went dead.  Parker looked at the receiver and slammed it back in it’s cradle.  She stalked off to her car and slammed the door behind her as she slipped inside.

She sat there for a moment, hands gripping the wheel.  She relaxed and succumbed to that feeling in her stomach.  Excitement?  Nervousness?  What was she, sixteen?

He’d always been an arrogant, annoying man-child sibling to her.  Her prey.  Her key to freedom.  Why now did she get butterflies in her stomach when she heard his voice and jealous when he sent packages to a nobody.

Was he manipulating her?  That’s it.  Jarod’s game.  He’d found a new way to twist the knife.  A new way to torment her.  A very personal way, and she hated it.  What kind of a bastard would use a woman’s feelings against her.

Wait, what feelings?  She heaved a heavy sigh and started her car.  She drove back to The Centre and her office.

Sydney entered the office and regarded her for a moment.  “Did you get in touch with him?”  He asked quietly.  Miss Parker glared with her icy stare.

“I don’t know what to make of this game anymore.”

“Game?”  Sydney replied.

“This last clue doesn’t make any sense.  Why is he sending clues to someone else?  It’s like he’s tired of playing the game with me, he wants someone new to torment.”  Her expression turned to one of surprise.  “He’s, moving on.”  She sighed.

She absently picked up the Bahamas brochure and glanced at Sydney.

“I need a vacation, Syd.”

“You need a vacation.”  He agreed.

Her request went in fifteen minutes later and that evening she was packing for her trip.

Three

He’s pretending.  Those were the first words that came into her mind when she had seen him.  She had been following him for twenty minutes now.  What a coincidence finding him this way.

Miss Parker checked the safety on her gun before she continued her trek through the side street and into the alley.  He hadn’t so much as glanced back as he walked towards his destination.  He was dressed in black slacks and a white button up shirt beneath a Blue Jays jacket.  He wore dark sunglasses and his hair was the same as it had been the last time she saw him on Carthis.  He didn’t seem to be worried about being followed, nor aware that he was.

He turned left into an alcove and pressed a button on the wall beside a door.  She heard him speak in his barritone voice.  “It’s Jarod Foley.”  The door opened and he walked inside.  Her heart began to beat faster as the door clicked shut.  She was too close to lose him now.

She ran to the door, smoothed her hair on either side of her face and smiled up at the eye that she knew was there but couldn’t see.  She pressed the button.

“Hi!”

A long pause, then a man’s voice replied.

“Who are you and what is your business here?”

“My name is Morgan Paxton.  I’m a friend of Jarod Foley’s from out of town.  I just saw him and tried to catch him but he came in here.  I don’t know if he can have visitors but I thought I’d give it a shot.”  She flashed her friendliest smile to the eye and froze that way.  Inside her heart pounded against her chest.

There was a long pause and then the door opened and a cautious looking man in a blue button up shirt and dark blue slacks opened the door.

“I’m not really supposed to let anyone but employees in, Miss.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”  She said, making her most remorseful face.  “I probably look really silly busting in to a place of business just to talk to some guy, huh?”  She gave him a pleading look.  He regarded her with wary green eyes and nodded his head.

“Okay, but I can’t do this again.  I was always a sucker for the cuties.  Jarod’s probably lucky with such a pretty lady as yourself for a friend.”  He smiled and she returned it.

“Oh, you don’t know how lucky.”  She smiled.

Richie the doorman led her into the building which looked like any normal office on the inside.  There were cubicles filling the large main room and a hallway leading to a row of offices on either end.  She was led down the hall to the fourth office on the left.

“I think I can take it from here.”  Miss Parker smiled.  Richie gave her a once over, twice and smiled and headed back to his desk by the door.  A secretary who thinks he has the power of the Great Oz.

She knocked on the door and felt a tickling in her stomach as she heard him call her in.

Four

Jarod tapped in his password on his office PC and sighed as he heard the knock at his door.  He’d just gotten there and hadn’t had the chance to open the disk he’d aquired the night before and someone was already interrupting him.

“Come in.”  He said as he tossed the red diskette into the long drawer just before him in the desk and closed it.  He closed his eyes for a moment after first sight of the apparition standing in his doorway.  Yes, an apparition.  It couldn’t possibly be Her.  He heard the door softly click shut and drew in a deep breath before he opened his eyes again.

It was her.

They stared at one another uncertainly for a few minutes.  It was as if they were seeing each other for the first time and were enchanted by the other’s presence.

He blinked and spoke first.

“Where are your buddies?”  She opened her mouth and closed it and repeated the process three times before she was able to say a word.

“I’m alone.”

“Sure.”

“It’s true.”

“You find me here and you came alone?”

She shook her head and blinked.

“I’m on vacation.”

Jarod sighed heavily and shook his head.

“I was eating breakfast at the Cafe on Maple and I saw you get off the bus.”

Jarod closed his eyes and squeezed the lids.  He thought he’d seen someone who looked like her at that Cafe, but what the hell would Miss Parker be doing eating croissants in Toronto at seven-thirty in the morning.  He expected to see her drawn gun when he opened his eyes again.

She was sitting in the chair across from his desk with her hands folded in her lap.

“I saw you too.”  He said.

“But you didn’t believe it was me.”  She replied.  “I followed you here.”

“So you’re going to drag me out of here in cuffs at gunpoint?”

Before she could answer there was a brief knock on the door and it then swung open.  A fat man in a well fitting suit with a bald head and smiling face entered the office.

“Jarod, I have some wonderful news.  Oh, I didn’t realize you were with someone.  A new client?”  He beamed at Miss Parker with rosy cheeks.  She didn’t trust any of it but smiled back.

“No, Mr. Peterson, an old friend of mine.”  Jarod replied.

“From out of town.”  She finished.  “I saw Jarod by chance and caught up with him here.”  What the hell is she doing?  “I’m Morgan Paxton.”  She said extending a hand.  “Donald Peterson.”  He returned, taking her hand and kissing the back of it.

“Oh.”  Mr. Peterson smiled and winked at Jarod as if conspiring with him.  “Well, I was just going to ask, Jarod, if you could have a word with me in my office regarding, some buisness matters a little later?”

“Certainly, Mr. Peterson.  I don’t imagine that, Morgan will keep me much longer.”

“Good, well I’ll leave you to your business here.”  He winked that awful wink at Jarod once more and beamed at Miss Parker.  The door couldn’t close after him fast enough.

The two in the room both drew in a deep breath and looked at one another.

“What the hell are we doing?”  Miss Parker asked.

“Pretending.”  She raised her eyebrows at him.

“So that’s all there is to it?  Well, I can’t possibly believe I’ve been chasing you for six years because you’re an accomplished liar.”

“Well, that and other things.”  He looked at his desk and couldn’t think of what to say next.  He thought of the moment he was almost sure he would kiss her.  It felt like that now and he could tell by the look on her face that she felt the same.

“I have to get out of here.”  She said standing up.  Jarod rose from his own seat and walked over to her.

“I didn’t think this was what would happen once I got in here.”  She said.

“What did you think would?”  He asked.  He felt that dizzying feeling inside him, warm and desiring.  She looked up at him with those pale blue eyes and sighed.

“Jarod.”  She stopped.

“You’re on vacation.”  He replied.  His eyes scanned his desk and returned to her face.  “Where are you staying?”  He asked.  She looked puzzled.

“I’m, staying in a cabin a day away from here.  I, don’t even know why I came to Toronto in the first place.  Let alone why I stopped at that cafe for breakfast.”

It occurred to him then.  Her Inner Sense.  It had drawn her to him.

“Miss Parker.”  He began, she nodded.  “I’m going to meet you back at that cafe.  If I see anyone else, you won’t see me.”

“Why?”

“I’ll explain it all later.”  He looked over her shoulder.  “I’ll meet you at six.”

She nodded, frowned at him, and then moved to the door.  She looked at the knob and left his office without glancing at him again.

Five

Miss Parker anxiously waited for him at the cafe.  Just wait here.  She couldn’t.  She was going crazy inside.  She could have taken him then and there and dragged him back to the Centre.  But she hadn’t.  Why?

Because there was something else going on.  This Peterson fellow couldn’t be trusted.  No, that wasn’t it.  Although playing along with Jarod had been exhilirating.  The whole set up had been.  Her following him and getting around the door guy and playing the game with his boss.

It was something else though.  He looked just like he had on the Island.  Not his clothes, his face.  His expression.  And she had felt like she had by the fire.  Oh damn that Island!

Then he was there, sitting down across from her.  He ordered a cup of coffee and studied his hands.

“So?”  She asked.  He looked up at her and smiled nervously.

“I can’t believe I’m here with you right now.”  He replied

“Join the club.  So what is going on?  Why have I been waiting here all day for you.”

“You’ve been waiting here all day?”  He asked, that innocent curiosity in his features.  She smiled.

“No.  I should be closing in on my vacation cabin, it’s six and I don’t have a room and it’s all because of you for some reason.”

She looked at some nearby couple and scowled at them, hushing their observations.  Jarod smiled and reached out to touch her hand.  She felt something.  Energy, electricity, call it what you will.  They both did, when he touched her.  He pulled back.

“I know where you can stay.”  He said.  She felt a rush of warmth inside.

Jarod got his coffee and they walked to her car.  Jarod drove to an old warehouse on the outskirts of the city.  He lead her to the door and she walked into one of Jarod’d lairs for the first time while he still occupied it.

She looked around in a child’s wonderment at the place.  He led her up two flights of metal stairs to the loft he occupied.  It was spartan.  There was a table and two chairs and a full-size mattress on box springs on the floor.  The table held Jarod’s laptop and was scattered with DSA’s and papers and news clippings.  Beside the table were mail bins stuffed with letters.  The mattress had clean linens.

“Nice place.”  She said.  He pulled out a chair for her and sat in the other once she was seated.

“Mr. Peterson is involved with boiler room trading, money laundering and pyramid schemes.”  Jarod explained.

“So where does the working class hero fit in with all of this?”  Miss Parker asked, glancing at him.

“He fits in when you follow the money.”

“From the little guy.  The sheriff of Nottingham steals from the poor and gives to the...”  She held her hand out for him to give the final word.

“Centre.”  He said flatly.

The color ran from her face as her jaw dropped looking at him.

“What?”

“Donald Peterson is a ‘fund raiser’ of sorts for the Centre.”

“Oh, God!”  Jarod was going to hit the Centre in the pocketbook.  “Does he know who you are?”  She asked.

“No, he doesn’t know about me, or you.”

She felt Jarod’s hand on hers and looked at his face.  His word’s from Scotland echoed in her mind.  ‘I hate to see someone miss a turning point when one is staring right in their face.’

“So, what am I supposed to do.”  She asked, feeling a deeper meaning than the present situation.  ‘Turning points only come when there’s something to turn to‘, she had replied to him in Scotland.

“Nothing.  I’m going to make my move tonight.  Everything’s set up.  But when the Centre and Mr. Peterson’s associates find out what I did...”

“You need to leave town in a hurry then.”  She eyed him sarcastically.  “And who better to drive the getaway car when you pull a fast one on the Centre than good old Miss Parker?”  She took a deep breath and stood facing away from him.

“You’re going to use me.”  She said, finally.

“What?”

“You’re just going to use me.”

“No.  You didn’t let me finish.”

She turned back at him, eyes blazing.

“You didn’t have to finish.”  She snapped.  Jarod stood.

“Get out!”  He shouted.

“What?!”  She was taken aback.

“I said get out!  I don’t even know why the hell I brought you here in the first place.”  He walked over to one of the large glass windows and looked outside.  She stared at his back and walked over a few minutes later.  She gingerly put her hand on his shoulder and he glanced at her.

“Come with me.”  She said, softly.  He drew a deep breath and faced her.

“I don’t want you to get involved.”  He said.

“I am involved.”

Jarod walked over to his bag and began pulling his things together.  Miss Parker sat down on the mattress and then found herself laying down within a few moments.  A few minutes later, she was asleep.

Six

Jarod gently nudged her out of her slumber.  When she’d blinked away her sleep she saw it was much later than when she had first lain down.

“Mmmm, what time is it?”  She asked, still blinking.

“Five.”  Jarod answered.  Her eyes flew open.

“Five in the morning?!”  He nodded.  She sat up and looked around.  The place was bare.  She looked at him.  “Did you do whatever the hell it was?”

“Yeah.”  He replied.

“So we need to get out of here?”  He nodded and she got to her feet.  It was the cold floor on her bare feet which completely woke her.  She looked down and found her shoes beside the mattress and pulled them on.  ‘He must have taken them off‘, she thought.

Jarod led her outside and they got in the car.  Jarod started the car.

“Where are we going?”  He asked.

“Northwest of here.”  She began.

“You really did go out of your way.”  He said and she nodded.

An hour out of Toronto, Jarod let Miss Parker have the wheel and she took them the rest of the way while he slept.

About thirty minutes out from the cabin, she stopped at a grocery store.  They both went inside and she stocked up for the next two weeks.

Half and hour later, she checked in and they drove another fifteen minutes to the cabin.  It was a little place.  There was a porch that wrapped around the cabin.  The great room had a fireplace and was furnished with a cozy sofa and a couple of chairs with a coffee table and a television.  The kitchen off to the side had a small table and two chairs.  The bathroom had a large jacuzzi tub beside a large bay window.  There were stairs in the great room that led to the loft where a queen size bed sat with matching tables and lamps on either side.

Jarod put her groceries away while she took her bags upstairs.  In minutes, she was filling the bathtub and warning Jarod not to be hanging around the porch on that side of the house.

She slipped into the hot water and let the jets work on her tense muscles.  After about half an hour she began smelling something cooking and smiled.  It was the least he could do.

She dined with him in her bathrobe and he didn’t seem the least bit phased.  It was getting late and she was very tired.  She got up and poured herself a glass of scotch and knocked it back before looking at him.

“I’m going to turn in for the night.”  She said and studied his face.  He nodded and cleared the table and ran some water in the sink.  He looked at her as if just realizing she was expecting a response.

“Good night, Miss Parker.”  He said.  She smiled at him and headed up the stairs.  She laid in bed and listened to him moving around for half an hour.  What was she expecting?  For a man who’d all but expressed his love for her six months before, he didn’t seem to notice she was even there.  She fell into a deep sleep before long.

Seven

Jarod sat beside her for a hours while she slept.  He’d had tremendous restraint over the last two days.  All he wanted to do was climb into the bed with her and...  He closed his eyes and held his breath.  It had been hell to be away from her so long but yet it seemed worse to be sitting right beside her.  He wanted her.  More than that, he wanted to take her away from the Centre and keep her with him.  But he was afraid of her rejection even more.

He’d slept very badly on the sofa.  Until she’d fallen asleep he could have sworn she’d been up here waiting for him.  But he was wrong.  He popped the occasional Pez into his mouth and watched her.  Wondering what she dreamed of.

She began to stir and he realized then how late, early it was.  She rolled onto her back and began to blink and slowly open her eyes.  He suddenly filled with apprehension.  He couldn’t just let her find him sitting there.  What would she think?  Without thinking he did it.

Eight

Miss Parker awoke from her dreams of ... she sighed heavily.  Him.  Suddenly an object flew into her view.  She jumped a little, startled and focused on the object that hovered inches above her face.  A Goofy Pez dispenser.  She could have blown it to pieces with one shot.

“What is this?”  She said to no one in particular.

“I’m Goofy.  I’m here to speak with you on behalf of my friend, Jarod.”

“Huh, well you sound a lot like Jarod.”  She said to the Pez dispenser.  She was talking to a Pez dispenser!  It looked in the direction of the arm holding it and then back at her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  Goofy replied.  Her face broke into a smile.

“So what have you come to plead on Jarod’s behalf?”

“Well, Jarod told me that his back hurts and he’d like to lay down on the bed.  I said that I’d offer you one of my Pez in return for the favor.”  This time she laughed out loud and smiled back at the dispenser.

“I accept your offer, Goofy.”  She replied.  The thumb of the hand came up and pulled Goofy’s head back revealing a Pez.  She lifted her head and pulled it out with her teeth and chewed it thoughtfully.  “Actually, the Pez was good, but Jarod still can’t lay in the bed.”  She grinned.  She turned her head to face him and he sat there cracking up himself.

“Then I want my Pez back!”  He grinned.

“Tough!”  She replied.  He sat up on his knees and leaned toward her.  He held her face in his hands and kissed her.  He pulled back and she stared at him surprised and shocked.  His face fell and he stood.

“I’m sorry, Miss Parker.”  He said and turned and headed downstairs.  She got out of bed, pulled on her robe, and followed him.

He looked at her as she put her hand on his shoulder.  She smiled at him.

“Somehow, I think that’s exactly the way I expected you’d eventually kiss me.”  She said.  He smiled back at her.

“I thought we were supposed to forget about that.”  He said, his smile faltering.  She drew a deep breath and took her hand off his shoulder.

“Jarod, I can’t forget and I don’t think you want to.”  She replied.

“You’re right.”  He said.  He looked at his bags piled by the door and then at her.  She felt a prickling sensation all over.

“You’ve packed.”  She said, leveling her eyes with his.

“I’ve found information from the Centre.  They found out that you were in the office before I...”  He trailed off.  She understood.

“So?”  She said, feeling herself becoming more rigid.

“So they’re sending a team here to talk to you.”  She gasped as the fear overtook her.

“What do we do?”  She asked, wide eyed.

“We do nothing.  I’m leaving.  You just stay here and tell them you don’t know what they’re talking about, you’re on vacation.  After all, you gave them a fake name and there are millions of cute brunettes in the world.”  He grinned at the last.

“Where will you go?”  She asked.

“You’ll know when I send you the next package at your office.”  He replied.

“So that’s it!”  She threw her hands in the air and let them fall to her sides.  “Just like that ‘poof’ you’re gone and we’re back to the chase.”

“You said so yourself back in Scotland.”  He said cooly.

“And you said something about turning points!”  She shouted.  He blinked and cocked his head at her.

“I don’t want you to get deeper in this than you have to.”

“Why?”  She snarled.

“I don’t want you to get hurt.”  She laughed angrily.

“I’m already hurt.  What’s a little more, I am a tough bitch after all!”

“And I’m in love with you.”  He said softly.  Her mouth dropped open.

“What?”

“I love you.  I don’t want anything to happen to you.  So just stay here and lie to those bastards and nothing will.”

“Jarod, I...”  She began.  He turned and grabbed his bags and slung them over his shoulder.  He walked back to her and touched her face tenderly.

“I wanted to say those words then, but I knew you would doubt my sincerity.  You would have thought I was trying to screw with your head to get away.  I wanted to show you how I felt, but you pushed me away.  Think about the things I have done for you and given to you over the years.  You always said I was playing a game and tormenting you.  I think about you every day and want to be with you every moment, but I can’t.  That’s the real torment.  I can’t be with the woman I love.”  His lips trembled momentarily.  His gaze was in hers.

“I can protect her though.”  His hand fell away from her cheek.  “Remember, you don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.”  He turned and walked out the door.

She stood there for ten minutes, maybe more, touching her face where he had and thinking about what he’d said.  Then her phone rang.

Nine

“What?”  She growled into the receiver.  She could feel the person on the other end draw away from the phone.

“Miss Parker, I wanted to let you know that I’m on my way with some others.”  Sydney replied.

“What for?”  She cried.  “I’m on vacation!  Why the hell are you and whoever else coming here?”

“There has been an, incident, involving Jarod.”  Sydney replied.

“So?”

“It occurred in Toronto.”

“Toronto is a long way from here, Syd!”

“We’ll be there in an hour.  Mr. Broots and Mr. Lyle are with me.”

Miss Parker hung the phone up without another word.  That’s what they would expect from her anyway.  She sat down on the sofa and covered her face with her hands and began to sob loudly.  Who was there to hear her?

He wasn’t.  He was right.  He always was.

By the time the black sedans rolled up to the cabin, she’d already cleaned herself up.  She stood on the porch rigid and stone faced.  Mr. Lyle feigned a smile as he slammed his door and walked up the stairs.

“Nice day, huh sis?”  He asked.

“It was until you and your buddies piled out of the clown car.”  She growled.  He heaved a heavy sigh and followed her into the house.

“Has Jarod contacted you?”  He continued.

“No, why would he?”

“He was involved in an incident in Toronto.”

“So Syd said.”

“Are you sure you haven’t been in contact with him?”

She whirled around and glared at him.

“No, Lyle, he’s actually in the bathroom.  We were just fucking each other’s brains out until Syd called.”  Lyle raised his eyebrows in bemusement.  One of the sweepers stifled a chuckle.

“Okay.  Well, he was with a woman who was described as being similar to yourself.  A...”  Lyle turned to the sweeper who finished for him.  “Morgan Paxton.”

“Boy, I’m shocked at how much that sounds like Miss Parker.”  She said flatly.

“Yeah, I thought so too, but I guess the doorman did describe her as being pleasant and friendly.”

Miss Parker rolled her eyes.  “And?”

“Well, there is always the possibility that Jarod could come here for you.”

“And do what?”  She narrowed her eyes at him.  The sweeper stifled another chuckle at her previous comments.  Lyle shot him a glare before returning his gaze to hers.

“Jarod attacked a Centre facility.  There is a possibility that he could come up here and do something with you here all alone.”

“I’m touched at your concern, Lyle.  What do you mean attacked?”

“He infiltrated and brought down a Center financial resource.  It is now being investigated by International authorities.”

“When did this happen?”

“Yesterday.  Jarod has disappeared again, of course.  But we haven’t received any of his usual calling cards which suggested that this episode might not be over.”

But it was.  She sighed.  “So, I can’t enjoy my vacation now.”

“Well, you can but you will be doing it here with Sydney and Mr. Broots while you figure out where Jarod is.”

There wasn’t any point in arguing with them.  If she had it would have been suspicious.  So Sydney and Broots remained after the others had left.  Lyle had left after they had thoroughly searched the cabin, of course.

Ten

Lyle slammed his door shut and motioned for the driver to take them back to the airport.

Jarod had been there and sis was lying about it.  He knew it.  They found no evidence to support this, but he knew it was true.

Eleven

Miss Parker sat on the porch and was mildly started when she heard his voice.

“May I talk with you, Miss Parker?”

“Sure, Syd.”  She replied and he sat beside her.

“I’ve been wanting to ask you for some time what occurred on Carthis.”

“I got roughed up by monks, Mr. Parker died, and Jarod got away.”

“So you’ve said, but I don’t believe it.”

“Why would you believe otherwise?”

“Because of this.”  Sydney replied holding out his hand.  In it was a Goofy Pez dispenser.

“Because of Pez?”

“Because I was able to pick it up out of your bed upstairs before the sweeper spotted it.”

“I gave up smoking and turned to Pez.  Big deal.”

“And they would have found Jarod’s fingerprints on it.”

“And if they had?”

“Jarod was here, of that I’m sure.  But I don’t believe that you were doing what you said.”  She smiled at the thought.

“You’re paranoid, Syd.”

“Miss Parker, you helped Jarod today and that could put you on bad terms with the Centre.”

“I didn’t help him!”  She caught herself too late and covered her face with her hands.  Sydney clapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Were you and Jarod, together, on Carthis?”

“No.”

“But you were close, I imagine.”

“Syd!”

“You and Jarod have always had a very complicated relationship.”

“He was just trying to get the two of us killed.”

“You don’t believe that, Miss Parker.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Something has been eating away at you since you returned.  I believe it has something to do with Jarod.”

“Syd, we had a moment of weakness, that was all.  He tried to use it to get away, and I suppose he succeeded.”

“And what about today?”

“I must have found him following my Inner Sense.  He took me to his lair and then left and came back and had to leave town like a bat out of Hell.  I asked no questions and he gave me no details.  We came here, I took a bath, we ate and he left.”

“He left without his Pez dispenser?”

“He always leaves those lying around.”

“In your bed, Miss Parker?”

“It was a peace offering, a Pez in exchange for...”  Miss Parker looked at Sydney warily.

“Rest assured, Miss Parker, I have kept secrets from you in the past.”

“I let him go for a fucking Pez, alright?!”

“At least he left you the dispenser.”

“You tell no one, Syd.”

“I’ve done far worse and have never received any Pez for my trouble.”

They returned to the Centre the next day.  Miss Parker decided it was a better environment to continue the search for Jarod and sort out the evidence from his last action.

Mostly, it was because she had to distance herself from that place.  From the time they had spent together.  If she dwelled on it, then it may come to the surface and make her search more difficult.  Jarod had been right, they needed to bury those feelings and eliminate one more complication from the list.

To Be Continued …

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