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Long Beach, CA

The tall and young lady was running as fast as she could after a man dressed in black, her stilettos clicking on the wharf, her dark brown hairs flying across her face, hiding her determinate look. She jumped on the pontoon just as he arrived at the other end. He stopped and look at the height, but saw that it was too high to jump. He turned around to face her, his mind racing frantically for an escape. She took a few steps toward him, slowly, a wild, mischievous grin curling her lips. Her gun was pointed right in the middle of his forehead and he knew too well that she never missed her target.

-"Freeze, Jarod. There’s no escape for you this time."

-"Wrong. There’s always one." He replied and turned around, ready to jump over the edge.

-"No!" Parker screamed.

She couldn’t let him take the risk to kill himself, but was too far to catch him, so she aimed her gun and fired fast enough to shoot him before he could jump. The bullet hit him on the left thigh, not seriously, but enough to stop him. He fell on his knees and groaned in pain, a hand pressed on the wound, blood flowing between his fingers. She stood in front of him and tried to hide her worry behind a cruel smile.

-"You shouldn’t have done that, it was stupid."

-"You shot me!?" He shouted, looking at her in disbelief. "I can’t believe you did it."

-"Ooh, poor baby." She purred. "I hope it’s not too serious ‘cause I would have to carry you to the car."

She aimed her gun at him again and gestured toward the black limo waiting on the shore.

-"Get up, Lab-Rat, it’s time for you to go home."

Jarod rose slowly and carefully, but stood there, apparently not going anywhere.

-"What are you waiting for?" She asked impatiently. "Move!"

He took a step toward her, his teeth clenched as the pain shot through his leg and stopped a few inches in front of her. She wanted to go back, but the intensity of his gaze almost froze her in place.

-"The only way for you to bring me back to the Center is to kill me, but I know you wont do it."

-"Don’t be so sure." She replied, fighting to regain her composure as she wondered how he could know.

-"I know you so damn well." He answered, like reading her thoughts. "And I know why." He whispered, leaning his face closer to hers.

-"What do you mean?" She asked on a low unsteadied voice.

-"You do care about me."

-"What?!"

She almost laugh as the thought and came back to her usual bitchiness, pushing him away.

-"You are insane." She hissed at him. "How can you even think I would care about you after all the chase, the calls and the shit I went through with Daddy, Raines, Lyle and the Center to finally catch you."

-"I still remember you as a child. That part of you is hidden somewhere deep inside your heart. The part of you your mother was so proud of before."

-"Bastard!" She slapped him hard on the temple with her gun. "You freak of nature, let my mother out of it!"

He fell on the ground again, blood running down his jaw. He lifted his head and stood up, grabbing the handrail to steady himself.

-"You can hit me again and again, it won’t change the truth."

-"Maybe not, but it makes me feel better."

-"Really? Are you feeling any better right now? So why do you drink when you are home? Isn’t it to forget how much you hates your life and the job you are obliged to do?"

She gritted her teeth, trying hard to find something to answer, but failed and just remained silence. He knew he had touched her and would go on until the ice she kept around her heart break, but she already had filled up the breach. He gave up trying to reason her when he the look on her face; cold, determinate, furious. She replaced the gun against his temple.

-"I don’t want to repeat...Go to the car!"

-"Sorry, but...No!" He grinned boyishly and grabbed her wrist, knocked the back of her hand against the handrail, making her let the gun drop on the floor.

She tried to hit him on the face, but he dodged the blow and pushed her on the back, making her crash on her knees a meter away. The time she rose, he was gone. She ran her hands through her hair, arched her back and shouted all the swear words she knew, what meant a lot.

To be continued.....