PART SIX
June 30th
Rachel woke up with her head on Jarod's chest and her arm draped over his body. She shifted slightly and Jarod said, "Good morning beautiful."
Rachel lifted her head to look at him. "How long have you been awake?"
"About two hours." He replied.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Jarod smiled,
"I liked watching you sleep!"
Rachel rolled over on top of him, placing her hands on his face. "But that two hours could have been better spent!" She leaned down and kissed him. Jarod pulled away from her. Rachel frowned. "What's wrong?"
"This is hard." he said.
"NOT YET" Rachel said reaching down under the covers.
"I'm serious Rachel" he said stopping her hand from it's destination.
"What's hard?"
"US" he said.
"What do you mean?"she asked. He didn't answer right away.
"God, I've NEVER said this to anyone before..."
Rachel put her finger over jarod's lips. "Jarod..."
"I love you, Rachel. But I can't stay with you, you know that."
A tear ran down her face. "I know" she said shaking her head. "I love you too".
Jarod pulled her down for a kiss. And once again Rachel's hand slipped down under the covers.
__________________________________________
Rachel and Jarod walked into the bank. The marble floors were polished to a perfect shine. Rachel showed her I.D. and asked for the branch manager of the new president.
After a few minutes, a man in a crisp suit came up to them. "Agent Burke, I'm Gerald McKinney, branch manager. Why don't you come to my office."
They took a seat as he shut the door.
"You're working on Stephanie's case?"
"Yes. We need access to denied loan applicants."
"I can't do that!" he replied.
"I CAN get a warrant, but it would take precious time away from our investigation. Why don't you help me out here?"
"You think it was someone who was turned down for a loan?"
"Possibly" Jarod said.
"I didn't get your name." McKinney said.
"I don't believe I gave it to you" Jarod snapped back.
"This is Agent Wilkes" Rachel replied.
McKinney stared at them a moment, then asked "How long do you want me to go back with the records?"
"A month" Jarod and Rachel replied together.
He turned to his computer, tapped on the keys and leaned back in his chair waiting for the computer to respond. It made a loud beep. He sat up and stated "We had 714 loan denials in the last month. I'll print them off for you, but it will take a while".
"Thank you" Rachel said.
"I'd appreciate anonymity reguarding how you got these."
"Of course!" Jarod said.
Once outside the bank, Jarod stopped walking and playfully said, "You were lying your ass off!"
"About what??" Rachel asked smiling.
"AGENT WILKES???"
"Well that's who you were when I first met you!" she said wrapping her arms around his waist. He leaned down and kissed her.
"Let's go get some lunch, I'm hungry!" he said.
______________________________________________
Miss Parker and her sidekicks were sitting at the Court of Three Sisters restaurant eating lunch. Her and Broots' backs to the window. Sydney looked up just as Jarod and a pretty redhead walked by.
"MISS PARKER!" Sydney said said astonished.
"WHAT?" she asked sarcastically.
"Never mind, it can wait." he said.
Sydney had helped Jarod many times, but Miss Parker would kill him if she found out about this. Sydney continued to stare out the window, he saw them coming back.
"I need some fresh air, I'll be out front" he said getting up from the table. As he stepped out of the door he practically ran Jarod over. Jarod looked stunned.
"Don't go in there, you wouldn't like the clientele."
As Jarod led Rachel around him, Sydney said, "Be careful Jarod!"
He looked back at him, "Thank you Sydney." Jarod said and continued walking away.
"SYNDEY," Miss Parker yelled. "What the hell is going on?" She looked up and down the street but saw nothing. "You saw Jarod!" she accused.
"Miss Parker I want Jarod back as bad as you do!"
"Oh bull Syd. you like your little frankenstein out there helping the little people."
"He's helped you too Miss Parker."
She scoffed at his reply and shoved past him.
"Boy Syd, you really pissed her off!" Broots said.
"She'll get over it."
"Yeah, maybe when she shoots you!" Sydney laughed.
"WAS it Jarod??"
Sydney just smiled, patted Broots on the back, turned and headed down the street after Miss Parker.