"Yes and daddy knows everything. What will happen to us, Syd?"
"We will come up with something." he puts his arm around
Parker as they walk to meet Broots.
"Broots, pack a bag. We are going to Florida."
"I thought you said we weren't going."
"Well, we have to. I will meet both of you at the airport. I
have to finish something first." Parker leaves.
When she gets home she finds Jarod and Catherine gone. 'Good I
can get out of here without Jarod stoping me.' she
thinks to herself. When she is finishing packing a bag she
left Jarod a note. She takes off her wedding ring and lays it
beside the note. She walks out and heads for the airport.
Jarod and Catherine come back in. He sees her ring laying on
the table by the bed. He walks over to it and sees the note.
He picks it up and reads it.
Jarod,
I had to protect you so, I left for Florida. If something
happens to me give this to Catherine. I love you.
Parker
He picks up his cell phone and dials a familar number.
"What!" she answers.
"What are you doing?"
"I am going to Florida."
"Don't. I am telling you it is a trap."
"I have to. I have to protect you."
"Melissa, listen to me...."
"What did you say?"
"You heard me."
"You never call me that. Why now?"
"To get your attention. Go somewhere. I will meet you there.
Just don't go to Florida."
"I can't."
"Listen to me..." Jarod says. Then she interupts him before
he can say anything else. "Just remember I love you and
Catherine." she hangs up the phone.
Jarod getting mad calls her back. She doesn't answer her
phone. They board the plane and she sits in her seat with
tears falling.
Sydney says, "I know its hard."
She doesn't say a word. She looks out the window all the way
there.
Jarod quickly makes another call.
"Hello, Delta airlines. Emily speaking."
"Yes, I need a some tickets for your next flight to Florida."
"Okay, sir. Your name please."
"Jarod McNeely. I have a three old that will traveling also."
"Okay, Mr. McNeely I have you on our noon flight."
"Thanks, Emily. I will pick up the tickets in 30 minutes."
"Okay, Mr. McNeely. I will have them ready for you. Thanks
for flying Delta."
Jarod hangs up the phone and finishes packing a bag for him
and Catherine. Catherine walks in and says, "Daddy, where are
you going and where is mommy?"
Jarod sits her down on the bed and says, "Honey, mommy has
left on a trip. We are going after her."
"I get to go too."
"Yes, if there is something special you want to take you
better go get it."
Catherine hops off the bed and runs into her room. She picks
up the teddy bear that her daddy brought her a while back. She
comes back into the bedroom and says, "I'm ready.
Let's go."
Jarod picks up the bag and Catherine and heads for the airport.
Jarod and Catherine arrive in Florida two hours after Parker.
He goes to a familar house off to itself. Knocks on the door.
A woman comes to the door, "Jarod, what are you doing here?"
"Hello, Carol. I need a favorite."
"Sure, come in. Who is this?"
"This is my daughter, Catherine."
"I'm three. Who are you?" Catherine says as she looks up at
this strange woman.
"Catherine, this is Carol. She is an old friend." he says as
he bend down to her. Then he turns back to Carol. "I need you
to watch Catherine for me. We need a place to stay for a few
days. Can you help me?"
"Sure, Jarod. What is going on?"
"My wife is in trouble and I came out here to find her. I
need you to watch Catherine while I go to look for her. We
will need a place to stay until I find her. I repay you in any
way that I can."
"Jarod, you don't have to. I would be happy to help you. After
all you helped me and husband. It is the least I
can do."
"Thanks, Carol. You a life saver." Jarod bends back down to
Catherine and says, "Honey, I am going to leave you with
Carol. I will be back soon. I promise."
"I want to go with you daddy."
"Honey, you can't. I will be back." he kisses her cheek.
Carol and Catherine walk Jarod to the door. He walks out in
search of his wife.
Jarod walks down the street and goes to everywhere he would go
if they were really looking for him. Here walks in a
store and asked the man behind the counter, "Have you seen
this woman?"
"Yeah, she was just here a minute ago looking for you."
"Do you know where she went?"
"No, but I heard one of the men say they should try looking
by the marina. Something about a boat."
"Do you know the name of it?"
"No, they didn't mention a name. Why?"
"Oh, no reason. Thanks."
Jarod walks out and goes to the marina. He sees two men in
dark black suits getting on a boat. 'They look like sweepers.'
he says to himself. Jarod takes off toward the boat
being careful not to be seen. When he gets on the
boat, he can hear Parker and Sydney talking.
"There's nothing here, Syd. This was a waste of time."
"I know, Parker but we have to look like we are doing our job."
"Lets get out of here, Broots." Parker says as she rolls her
eyes.
Broots looks out the window sees two men walking on the boat.
"Miss Parker, we need to get out of here now!"
"I know Broots, we are leaving."
"No, you don't understand." Parker walks over to the window
and sees one man coming up to the door with his gun ready.
Jarod sees him coming and hides. The man walks in and says,
"Hello Miss Parker."
"Who are you?" Broots says in a shaky voice.
"That's not important." the man replied.
"Yes, it is." Parker replies back hateful. "If you don't mind
we were just leaving. Get out of our way."
"I can't do that." he replied.
"Why not?" Sydney says as he moves over by Parker.
"My boss wants to see you." the man replied while pointing at
her.
"Who in the hell would that be?" Parker asked angrly.
"You'll see. He will be here soon." Then the other guy walks
in. "Everything is clear. No sign of anyone."
"Good. No witness."
"No witness." Broots says shaking in his shoes.
Sydney grabs Parker hand and whispers, "He was right."
"I know, Syd but was I suppose to do." she whispers softly.
Jarod comes out and walks closer the cabin of the boat. Then
another man walks in.
"Hello, sis." he says with his gun pulled.
Parker turned to see him and said, "Lyle, what are you doing?"
"I'm finishing up some business."
"Oh really, whose?" she asked as she stepped in front of Broots.
"I can't tell you that." he replies as he walks around her.
As they have words back and forth, Jarod creeps in slowly. He
bumps into a picture on the wall and it falls. Everyone turns
to see what is going on. Jarod takes off outside. One of the
men goes to see what the noise was. He walks out to where
Jarod is and Jarod hits the man over the head. He falls.
Jarod slips back in.
Lyle turns to the other man and says, "Go see what is taking
him so long."
The other man leaves and Jarod hits him. He pushes him over
board. Lyle is getting nervous. Parker walks up to him walks
around him and says, "Now what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to kill you and the others. Then get out of here
that is what I am going to do."
Jarod picks up a book and throws it toward Lyle. Lyle turns
to see who threw it when Parker hits him. Lyle turns back
around and fires a shot toward Parker. She falls to the
floor. Jarod yells, "NO!!!" and comes running in there.
"I knew you would show up." Lyle says as he looks down at Jarod.
"And how did you know that?" Jarod asked as his eyes glared
through him.
"Dad told me."
Jarod bends down to Parker and feels a fate pulse. He knew
she would be okay but needed to get her out of there. He
stands up and says, "You killed her."
Sydney and Broots look at each other in shock. They can't
believe what they heard. Jarod runs over to Lyle and hits
him. Knocks him out cold. He goes back to his wife and picks
her up. "Sydney, can you drives us out of here."
"Yeah." They get in the car and drive off.
Jarod hold Parker in the back seat, taps her face gently, and
says, "Parker, wake up."
Broots says, "I don't understand."
"I think Jarod just faked her death." Sydney replies to
Broots. He look in the rear view mirror and says, "Where are
we going?"
"We are going to 698 Hillcrest Drive."
"Where is that?" Sydney asked.
"Take a left here and go to you see Seventh St. Take a right
on Seventh. It should take you out of town. Then keep driving
to you see Highway 79. You will come up on Hillcrest Drive.
Make another right until you see a brown brick house. That is
698."
Sydney drove until they came to the house. Jarod gets out
carrying Parker. Sydney and Broots follow him. Carol opens
the door and says, "Jarod, what happened?"
"He shot my wife."
Carol says, "Take her in there."
Jarod lays Parker on the bed. He looks at her wound. Sydney
walks in. "How is she?'
"Well, the bullet went right through. It looks like it will
heal in a few weeks. She should be okay." Jarod puts her arm
in a sling.
"That is good to hear." Sydney said in relief.
Parker opens her eyes and sees Jarod sitting beside her.
"Jarod, what are you doing here?" she says fately.
"I came to save you."
She tries to get up and Jarod says, "Lay still."
"Where is Catherine?" she asked.
"She is here with me."
"You brought her with you. Are you crazy?" Jarod could hear
her voice getting stronger.
"I couldn't leave her there."
"What happen? My shoulder hurts."
"You were shot." he answers softly.
Catherine runs in "Mommy, you're here." She goes to the bed
and hops in it. Carol comes in behind her. "Jarod, do you want
to take her."
"No, she's okay. I will be there in a minute."
Parker looks at Carol and then back at Jarod. "Who's that?"
she replies with jealousy in her voice.
Jarod responds, "Honey, this is Carol. Carol this is my wife
Melissa."
Carol walks over to the bed. "It is nice to meet you. I'm
sorry it had to be this way."
Parker looks at her and says in a nice voice for her, "Same
here."
Carol turns back to Jarod, "I'll be out here. If there is
anything you need just let me know." She walks out.
Parker says again, "Who was that?"
"I met Carol and her husband a while back. She is letting us
stay here for a short while just until we can get out of here."
Sydney says, "We need to talk about what has happened today."
"Yes, we do. I have a plan." Jarod says as he gets up from
the bed.
"I don't need a plan. I am going back and kicking some..."
Then she remembered her daughter in the room.
"You can't go back." Jarod said softly.
"And why not!"
"Because you are dead." he said as he looked at her laying
on the bed.
"Why am I dead?"
"Because when you got shot I told Lyle you were dead. Don't
you see we can go to anywhere we want and be a family."
"That's nice but I don't want to leave Sydney."
"Who says you are leaving me?" Sydney said as he sat down on
the bed beside her.
"What? You are going to leave the Centre."
"I don't have a reason to stay." he says.
Jarod looks at his wife and says, "You need some rest. We can
finish this later." He pulls her ring out of his pocket and
takes her hand. He slips her wedding ring back on her finger.
Then he gets up.
Sydney and Jarod walk out leaving Parker with her daughter.
In the middle of the night Parker wakes up to Jarod sitting
in the corner typing on a lay top. She gets up and says,
"What are you doing?"
"I am typing your obituary." he says as he continued typing.
"Why?"
"Daddy will need proof that you are dead. I'm finished." he
said as he sat the lay top down.
Parker climbed in his lap and said, "Jarod, where are we going?"
Jarod ran is hand up her soft smooth leg and said,"Where
would you like to go?"
"I don't care as long as we are together." She ran her hand
over his chest. Then laid her head on his shoulder.
"I don't care as long as we are far away from the Centre." he
said as she looked into his eyes. She gave him a kiss. Jarod
said, "You not a bad kisser for a dead person."
"Oh really. I bet I could do a lot more things that aren't
bad for a dead person."
"You will have to show me sometime." he replied as he held
her tight in his arms.
"Lets go back to bed." she said as she took his hand and lead
him to the bed.
Parker wakes up around 7:00 am. She goes into the kitchen and
sees Carol.
"Good morning." Carol replies.
"Good morning." Parker says back.
"Would you like something to eat or drink?"
"What do you have?"
"I have some milk, orange juice, coffee. If you want something
to eat I have cereal, eggs, toast, and I'm sure
there is something else in here." Carol replies while going
through the cabinets.
"I will have orange juice thanks. Can I ask you something?"
"Sure." Carol replied.
"How do you know Jarod?"
"He helped my husband out a while back."
"Where is your husband?" Parker asked before Carol could finish.
"He is out of town on business. He should be arriving today.
Are you feeling okay?" she asked Parker.
"Yes, I'm fine for what I have been through."
"Jarod tells me you are expecting another child."
"Yes we are. What else has Jarod told you about me?" Parker
asked not knowing if she wants to know the answer to that
question.
"Not to much. I wanted to tell you that your daughter is very
smart for her age."
"Thank you. She gets in from her father."
"I wouldn't say that. I mean you are a very intellgent woman
yourself. She gets it from both of you."
As Parker sits at the table and talks to Carol she finds out
that Carol is not as bad as she thought. Catherine opens the
door and peaks out. "Mommy."
"I'm over here."
Catherine runs over to her mother and Parker picks her up.
She holds onto her mother tight.
"I thought you left." she says with a sleepy voice.
"I wouldn't go anywhere without you." Parker says softly. She
looks down at Catherine and kisses her head.
Carol and Parker continue talking when Jarod comes in there.
"What are you two doing?" he asked looking at his wife. He
thought, 'I don't know if this is good or not.'
"Talking." Parker answers.
"I have something to do in town and then we will be out of
your way, Carol."
"Take all the time you need. I have enjoyed having you here."
Jarod gives his wife and daughter a kiss. He goes back into
the bedroom and gets ready to go into town. He comes back
later and hands Sydney a newspaper.
"What's this?" he asked.
Jarod replies, "Look at it."
Sydney looks at the paper. He sees Miss Parker's obituary.
"Oh, I get it." he replies.
Parker, Jarod, Sydney, and Broots decide on a plan. "Sydney
and Broots are going to return to Blue Cove. Broots and
Debbie will meet up with Sydney. They will meet us. Where do
you want to stay?" Jarod asked Parker.
"I don't care."
Jarod says, "Why not Jamica? It is beautiful this time of year."
"Sure." Parker answered.
They all decide on Jamaica. "We will meet you in Jamica in a
few days. We need to make sure we aren't followed." Sydney says.
"I can help with that." Broots added.
"Okay, it is all set. We will leave today. Oh, I almost
forgot you might need this to prove to Mr. Parker that she
is dead." Jarod said as he handed Sydney a ring just like the
one Parker wears on her pointer finger.
"Good idea." Broots said.
They gather up their things and head out. Sydney and Broots
head back home and Jarod, Parker, and Catherine leave for a
new life.
The End!