Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. Well, some of them are. But the important ones are all property of MTM and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this . . . . Blah, blah, blah. You know the drill.
Final Countdown
By Nicky
Chapter 9
Willie takes a deep breath
and wraps his hand around his gun before knocking on the conference room door.
"Raines," he
calls out. "It's me. Willie."
He doesn't wait for a
reply before slowly opening the door.
He's greeted with the gruesome sight of blood all over the place. Blood from a dead Chairman. Blood from a very dead Director. And blood from a wounded Jarod.
"What's going on in
here?" Willie asks, being sure to use calm, quiet tones and trying to
prevent making any sudden movements.
The words 'Establish trust' echoes clearly through his mind, almost as
if someone has whispered them to him.
And although he didn't know where the thought came from, it made sense
to him.
"Do you need some
help, Sir?" Willie offers Raines, never once giving him the impression
that he was now on the opposite side.
"Get out of here,
Willie," Raines orders gently.
"Unless you plan on being scraped from the ceiling fan with a
toothbrush tomorrow." He lays down
his oxygen canister and pulls the tubes from his nose. Amazingly, he had no trouble breathing at
all. The oxygen tank was a fake. Something else was in it.
"Is that the
bomb?" Willie asks quietly. He
notices Jarod out of the corner of his eye and sees the other man's eyes widen
in shock at the realization that Raines planned to blow the place up.
"How did you know
about the . . . " Raines begins to ask, but stops abruptly with a small
grin spreading across his face. "I
forgot about you Willie. You're a smart
man. I'm sure it wasn't hard for you to
figure out."
Willie was slightly taken
aback by the almost proud tone Raines' voice took. But before he can think about it too much, he's distracted by
Jarod stirring a little around his little spot on the ground. He notices a shiny glint coming from his
hands. It only takes a second to
recognize it as the handcuff keys.
Willie realized he needed to somehow keep Raines distracted so that
Jarod could free himself. A lot of good
that'll do him, though. The wound to
his leg looked pretty bad. And Jarod
was looking pretty pale. He didn't have
much longer. Willie had to get that
bomb from Raines.
"I saw the wires and
stuff in your lab. It's brilliant,
using the oxygen tank. I never would
have guessed," Willie says, trying to sound admiring. Trying to keep the trembling from his
voice. He takes a couple of steps
closer to the old man, but not too close to alarm him. "Can I see it?"
Raines gives him a
slightly suspicious look, but shakes it off immediately. He bends down and opens the tank to reveal
the bomb neatly tucked inside. Willie
moved a little to his left so that Jarod could get a look at the bomb,
too. They needed to know what they were
dealing with. And Willie was sure that
sometime during one of his pretends, Jarod had been a demolitions expert.
"Sir, what's all this
about?" Willie tries to keep Raines talking. Trying to keep him focused on something else so that Jarod could
work on setting himself free. And
coming up with a plan to stop whatever Raines was up to.
"Power," Raines
gasps. It sounded like he was starting
to need that oxygen. "I have to
take away the power."
"From who? Everyone is dead. Mr. Parker. The
Triumvirate. The Director. There isn't anyone left to stop you,"
Willie says to him. Maybe it wasn't too
late to try to stop Raines from taking such a drastic measure.
"There will always .
. . gasp . . be someone . . gasp . . to stop me. Always some Parker . . gasp . . Always Jarod," Raines
wheezes. "If there's no Centre . .
. no Jarod . . . then no one gets the power."
"And that's worth
killing yourself over?" Willie
glances again at Jarod and sees that he's managed to get out of one side of the
handcuffs.
"Willie, you're
asking a lot of questions," Raines realizes.
"I just want to know
why you're doing this," Willie explains quickly. "Why you're going to kill all of us."
"I never said I was
going to kill you," Raines says softly.
"You. You're the only
successful part of this whole thing."
"What whole
thing?" Willie asks, starting to
get a little curious. Raines had a
dazed look in his eye that Willie's never seen before.
"Life," Jarod
says, speaking for the first time since the whole thing started. "Yours. Mine. You became what he
wanted. I didn't. And that's why he's going to kill me."
Raines and Jarod engage in
a visual war, staring each other down and dare each other to make the first
move.
"You've always been
too smart for your own good, Jarod," Raines growls.
"Not smart enough
this time, I'm afraid," Jarod realizes.
"This is my fate. But don't
make it his." He nods towards
Willie before looking up at him.
"Get out of here, Willie. Before it's too late."
"How touching,"
Raines says sarcastically. "Trying
to make sure little brother makes it out alive this time. Although you couldn't do much about Kyle. I guess you feel this is your second chance
to prove your worth as a brother since you failed so miserably the last
time."
At that provocation, Jarod
leaps to his feet by force of shear adrenaline. In a matter of seconds, he has his hands around Raines' neck,
squeezing out what little life was left in the old man.
"Maybe you were more
of a success than I realized . . . Son," Raines manages to say through the
tight grip Jarod had around his throat.
His words cause something to click inside Jarod's head and he instantly
lets the man go, falling to his knees without anything to support him.
"Don't call me
that," Jarod sobs. "I'm
nothing like you."
"Brother? Son?" Willie gasps. "One of you better start talking
now." He holds the gun up with a
shaky hand and points it in their direction.
"Those answers I
promised you," Jarod says through clenched teeth. "Are right here in this
room." He squeezes his eyes shut
tight to brace himself for the wave of pain shooting through his body. Attacking Raines seemed to have done more
damage to himself.
"What are you
saying?" Willie's voice was
starting to wave a little. He looks
back and forth between Jarod and Raines, praying that they weren't about to
tell him what he was starting to suspect.
"Your mother was
raped by Raines. She got pregnant and
had you. He had her killed and until
about the time you were four, you were here at the Centre," Jarod says quickly. He knew there was more to tell. He had to finish the story before he lost
his nerve. "But that wasn't the
first time something like that happened. He did the same thing to someone else
. . . my mother."
"That means we're . .
. "
"Brothers,"
Jarod whispers to finish Willie's statement.
"No," Willie whispers,
too much in shock to speak.
Brothers. Jarod was his
brother. And Raines was his
father. "It can't be."
"It's true,"
Raines swears. "Didn't you feel it
all those years? Working by my
side. Becoming just like me. I molded and shaped you into just what I
wanted you to be. I'm so proud of
you."
"Don't say
that," Willie yells. "You
shouldn't be proud because I hate myself.
I hate all those things I've done.
And I hate you for making me this way.
You may want to call yourself my father, but I never will."
"Willie," Raines
gasps.
"No! Don't even say my name," Willie
snarls. "Didn't you hear me? I hate you, old man. And I wish you'd just go ahead and
die."
Raines lowers his body to
the floor as if unable to support his own body weight any longer. The heaviness of his broken heart adding to
his mass.
"If that's the way
you want it, Son," Raines says, looking up into Willie's eyes one last
time. "Then that's the way it's
going to be." He reaches over for
the bomb and before either of the younger men could stop him, flips the
detonator switch.
"What did you just
do?" Willie asks, not sure of what happened.
"He just armed the
bomb," Jarod tells him. He tries to slide over to the bomb, but Raines
pulls a gun and stops him.
"Not any
further," he warns, aiming the gun right at Jarod. "I can't let you stop this."
"Put the gun away,
Raines," Willie says, aiming his own gun at the older man. "And disarm the bomb. It doesn't have to end this way."
"Yes it does,"
Raines says sadly. "This is the
only way it can end." He takes the
safety off the gun and Jarod squeezes his eyes shut, preparing for the
inevitable.
He hears the gun go off,
but doesn't feel the hot metal enter his body.
Slowly, he exhales and then dares to open his eyes
"He's dead,"
Willie says in a cold and clinical way.
Not feeling anything for the man he just recently learned was his
father. "He shot himself in the
head."
"You get out of
here," Jarod orders, sliding his body across the floor to the bomb. He looks inside and winces slightly at it's
configuration. "Try to empty the
building before this thing goes off."
"Already taken care
of. Lyle and Miss Parker left earlier
to make sure everyone left. Then they
went to have Broots back up the computers.
But I can't leave without you.
Miss Parker would kill me if I left you. And then she'd come back in here for you herself."
"I can't get out of
here without any help," Jarod explains.
"And if you have to drag me with you, you won't have time to alert
Lyle, Tori and Broots. The best thing
would be for me to stay here and try to disarm the bomb while you get them to
safety." He can see that Willie still isn't convinced. "Please. You have to get her out of here.
I don't want Imani to lose another mother. And I don't want to cause another brother to die," he says
quietly, pleading with his eyes for Willie to comply.
"Fine," Willie
relents. He starts towards the door,
but turns back and flashes one of those 'Jarod-patented' grins. Apparently it was a hereditary smile. "But don't think that just because
you're older you'll be able to boss me around like this."
"Just a
warning," Jarod says with a slightly pain filled version of 'the
grin'. "Smile like that at my
wife, and she's liable to shoot you."
The minute Willie's out
the door, Jarod's forced smile falls.
Looking at the seconds on the bomb quickly tick away, he realizes that
there isn't much time left. And that
there wasn't anything he could do. He
just prays Willie can get everyone out before it's too late.
