The usual disclaimers apply. I own nothing, just borrowing the
characters for a bit...
Allegiance - Chapter One
Three months earlier...
Miss Parker pulled the rented black
sedan to the side of the curb and cut the engine. The street was
in an older, well-established neighborhood and lined with stately old Oak
trees. All of the homes were two-story brick. The lawns were
meticulously tended. The perfect example of suburbia at its finest.
The thought made her shiver.
The house Jarod was renting was
located just ahead, two houses up, on the right side of the street.
She didn’t want him to hear her approach, could leave him no chance at
escape. She was alone this time. She, Sydney, and Broots had
barely missed capturing Jarod in a small town near Portland, Oregon last
week. She couldn’t take any chances this time.
Her life depended upon it.
She took a moment to listen to
the voices that were now her constant companion. She’d worked hard
over the past months, learning how to push them aside when she wanted to.
She was still trying to figure out how to “tune in” to them individually.
Every now and then she would hear her mother’s voice. It was the
only one she trusted completely. It let her know now what she had
to do to survive.
Knowing it was now or never, she
quietly got out of the car and made her way cautiously to the house next
door. It took her ten minutes of careful maneuvering, but she was
able to bypass the extra alarms Jarod had set and break into the house
undetected.
***
Blissfully unaware, Jarod sat on
the sofa reviewing the headlines from his latest pretend. Thirteen-year-old
runaway, Janet Stauffer, had been successfully reunited with her parents.
Her Uncle Robert was facing criminal child molestation charges. His
work here was done.
It was time to move on to his
next case.
It had been just over three weeks
since the events on the island. He’d been so close! Close enough
to actually see his mother for the first time in five years. Thoughts
of his mother soon gave way to thoughts of Miss Parker. “She’s a
lost cause,” he said quietly aloud to himself. “Better get her out
of your head.” Not such an easy task when he thought how firmly she’d
taken hold of his heart. It had been hers, of course, for quite a
while now. He could not believe he’d been so mistaken about her.
The sting of her rejection still had the power to make his heart ache.
The sound of movement from the
adjoining dining room came too late to do him any good. He quickly
looked up and was shocked to see the object of his thoughts standing confidently
in the archway connecting the two rooms, her gun cocked and aimed squarely
at his head.
She gave him one of her wry half-smiles
and said charmingly, “You run, I chase, you evade, I catch.”
She would always remember the
look of utter shock on his face that she’d actually caught him unaware.
It lasted only a moment though. His fearful demeanor changed slowly
into a wide grin. Later he told her it was her cocked eyebrow that
had given her away. “I run, you chase, I evade, you catch,” he held
up his arms in mock surrender, “I win.”
“No, I win.” she corrected him
as she stepped forward and set her gun carefully on the coffee table.
It was with a feeling of great
relief that he stood up and walked slowly toward her. He then grabbed
the lapels of her leather duster and forcefully drew her closer.
“Okay, we win.”
Then he kissed her.
The kiss was raw and carnal, filled
with hunger. He wanted to drag her down the floor and have his way
with her right then. But his unabashed eagerness quickly gave way
to common sense. He didn’t want their first time to be rushed.
She...they both deserved something far more. So, he gentled the kiss
before reluctantly pulling back.
He stared deep into her eyes.
“You scared the hell out of me.” he admitted begrudgingly.
“Really?” she asked, pleased with
herself.
“Yes, really. I thought...”
he swallowed and closed his eyes for a moment, remembering all the anguish
he’d felt the past three weeks. “For a while, well up until just
a moment ago actually, I really thought you meant what you said, about
there not being an us.”
She lifted her right hand to stroke
his face and he kissed her palm. “I’m sorry about that.” She
eased out of his embrace, took a small step backwards, removed her coat
and threw it haphazardly over the back of the sofa. Sitting down
wearily she rubbed her temples as she often did when she was tired and
felt the onset of a headache.
The last three weeks had been
an emotional roller coaster she hoped never to feel the likes of again.
The sofa cushion tilted as he sat down next to her. The breath she
was holding came out as a sigh when he wrapped his arm comfortingly around
her shoulders. “I needed to make you believe that.” she struggled
to explain. “I knew Mr. Raines and Lyle had my cell phone bugged
and I didn’t want to take any chances.” She looked at him then.
“And I’m sorry about what happened in the car at the airport and on the
plane afterwards. I knew my father and the others were up to something.
I wanted you to be safe. I knew, the voices...my inner sense...warned
me that they wouldn’t be easily fooled. I had to convince you in
order to convince them.”
“Well, you did,” he admitted,
his eyes filled with misery. “I believed you.”
Her eyes filled with unshed tears
as she picked his free hand up with hers and gently kissed the space between
his thumb and index finger. “I just didn’t want to make any of them
suspicious until I figured out a plan to get us both out of there.
Then you got away and Daddy...Daddy was gone. The remainder of the
Triumvirate showed up and I was whisked back to the Centre. I had
just given Sydney and Broots a highly edited version of events, and was
scrambling to figure out what to do next, when Mr. Raines barges in to
my office with Lyle in tow.” She shuddered at the memory, still unable
to believe. “And, as casually as you say pass the salt, informs us that
which ever one of us catches you first gets to live.” His eyes, still
filled with pain, mellowed in understanding. “I’m so sorry that I
hurt you.” She blinked hard and the tears slowly rolled down her
face. She swiped furiously at her face. God, how she hated
to cry.
Jarod watched her for a
moment, knowing she felt the tears were a weakness. He silently cursed
her father for the emotional torment he’d put her through her whole life.
How could he possibly begin to take away her anguish?
“It doesn’t matter now.
You’re here,” there was wonder in his voice. “You’re really here.
God, there’s so much I want to talk with you about.” He smiled
ruefully, “I don’t know where to begin.”
She gave him a watery smile and
took hold of his hand again. “Can we really do this?” she asked timorously.
The waver in her voice was uncharacteristic.
His gaze swept quickly around
the room before coming back to hers. He contemplated her question
seriously for a minute before answering. “Yeah,” he nodded.
“I think we can.”
Miss Parker then did something
she hadn’t done in a very, very long time. She giggled. “Okay.”
They stayed that way for a long
time. Silently sitting on the sofa, simply holding hands and gazing
into one another’s eyes. Time seemed to stand still.
Jarod wracked his brain for something
to say. They had so much to discuss. Yet, somehow none of it
seemed important at that moment. She was here. That was all
that mattered. Slowly he rose from the sofa and held out his hand
to her.
Miss Parker knew he was leaving
the choice up to her. The gesture made her smile. She solemnly
placed her hand in his and they both closed their eyes at the contact,
acknowledging the moment of triumph and surrender.
There would be no turning back
now. For either of them.
***
Jarod had to force himself to breathe.
He’d dreamed of this moment for so long. Now that it was actually
here, he didn’t know quite what to do. He led her slowly up the stairs
to the master bedroom. Once inside, he turned on the lamp sitting
on the nightstand. He began unbuttoning his shirt as he walked around
the bed to turn the other lamp on as well. Miss Parker stood silently
watching as he rounded the bed again and stopped before her. She
shooed his hands away and finished the task of unbuttoning his shirt.
She then pulled it off to uncover his upper body. When her hand reached
for his belt he stopped her. “My turn,” he said.
They undressed one another quickly,
not touching other than for the purpose of getting their clothes off.
Once that task was accomplished, they crawled into bed and began to explore
each other’s bodies, with eyes, and hands, and mouths. Too soon,
as they’d denied one another for far too long, the teasing exploration
was over. As he knelt poised to enter her for the first time Jarod
froze. “I love you.” He didn’t want to go any further before
saying so out loud.
She smiled up at him. It
was harder for her to verbalize, but she understood he needed to hear it.
“I love you, too.”
They made love quickly, each tormenting
the other with tender touches, discovering one another’s bodies intimately,
letting their hearts and minds bond in the most elemental way possible.
Then, they finally drifted to sleep, their arms locked possessively around
each other.
***
Jarod woke first. Momentarily
disoriented by the weight on his arm he cautiously opened his eyes.
Memories of the night before were recalled instantaneously and he smiled.
It hadn’t been a dream.
Thank God.
She stirred slightly in her sleep.
He wanted to make love her to again. His body came to alert, already
craving the sensation of being inside her. But he wanted more to
take a moment and just watch her as she slept. She was so beautiful.
Not just on the outside, but on the inside where it counted more.
He knew he was the only one who
fully understood what it had cost her to acknowledge their love.
He had the fleeting thought that hers had been the tougher road to travel.
They’d both been abused by the Centre, but at least he’d known whose side
he was on. He couldn’t bear the thought of all the mental anguish
her family, especially her father, Mr. Parker, had subjected her to.
And now, for her to have found out that he may not be her father after
all. That Mr. Raines, her uncle, was most probably her biological
father as well...
He wanted to take all of her pain
away. Yet, he knew, logically, that that wasn’t possible. Slowly
he began to kiss his way up her arm.
Miss Parker awoke gradually.
The moment she opened her eyes, he smiled. They made love gently,
with the sun streaming through the window, bathing their bodies in its
warm glow.
“I could get used to this every
morning,” she finally said as he rolled himself off of her. She stretched
languidly, in an ineffective attempt to alleviate some of the soreness
from her body. She couldn’t complain though. It had been well
worth the price of a few sore muscles.
He laughed. “So could I,”
he replied. A glance at the clock announced it was 6:52am.
“What do you want for breakfast?” he asked casually.
She cocked her head slightly,
giving the matter serious consideration. “French Toast,” she decided.
He kissed her quickly before climbing
out of the bed. They made love again in the shower before heading
downstairs. He was dressed in only jeans and she wore one of his
t-shirts. He efficiently whipped up a huge batch of French Toast
and they talked of inconsequential things as they ate. When breakfast
was done, he rinsed the dishes why she wandered out into the living room.
He found her there five minutes
later, curled up on the sofa reading the material in his latest red notebook.
She looked up and smiled when he came in. She patted the cushion
beside her, but he opted for one of the overstuffed chairs. “We have
to talk,” he said. He smiled ruefully as he gestured to the empty
spot next to her. “I have to keep my hands off you or we won’t.”
She laughed merrily. It
was such a relief to be free to express her emotions for the first time
in her life, “Okay.”
She knew for sure, in that moment,
that they would make this new turn in their relationship work. She
also knew it would be tough, they each had too much emotional baggage for
it to be otherwise. But for the first time in a long while she truly
believed she’d made the right decision.
***
They spent the rest of the morning
and most of the afternoon comparing notes about the past five years.
Particular attention was spent on clues regarding his search for his family.
“I can’t wait for you meet my
dad and Emily.”
“I’m not so sure that’s a good
idea.” she responded grimly.
“Why not?” he knew he sounded
angry, and tried to stay calm.
She looked at him then.
“Jarod, you know I have to go back.”
“No,” he yelled. He started
to get up, but she motioned for him to sit back down.
“Think about this logically for
a minute, Jarod,” she began. “The Centre isn’t going to just let
us go. What kind of life can we have together right now, running
from town to town, constantly looking over our shoulders just waiting for
them to catch us?”
He wanted to deny the truth of
her words, but couldn’t.
“That isn’t the kind of life I
want for us, for our children,” she continued. At the mention of
children, he knew she’d given the matter a lot of serious thought.
“I have to find the DSA that my mother left. It’s somewhere in Blue
Cove, somewhere in the Centre. It has the answers on it.” She
went to kneel in front of him. “We have to find a way to keep them
from wanting to come after us. It’s the only way we’ll be free.”
“I know, damn it, I know.”
He stroked her face with his hands. “I just want you with me.
I know you can take care of yourself, but I just want you with me.”
“I know,” she said, kissing his
palm. “I’m here for now.”
But all too quickly she had to
go back.
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