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.
Jarod sits out on the back porch, swaying silently
along with the gentle rocking of the swing.
The night was still and quiet.
Only the seldom hoot of an owl reminded him that he wasn't the only
person on the earth. He left the others
in the house, thinking about his proposal.
A cool breeze blows and disturbs his solitude, bringing with it the
sweet scent of Miss Parker's perfume.
"Is this seat taken?" she asks softly.
"It is now," he smiles, moving over a
little and inviting her to sit next to him.
He puts his arms around her and pulls her so close to him he can feel
her heart beat.
"Are you okay?
You seem kind of out of it," she remarks.
"I'm just tired. Tired of the secrets and lies that we've based our lives
on," he sighs. "I'm sick of
things being the way they are.
Everything is so bittersweet. I
have a wonderful family, but I'm sick with fear every night that they'll be
taken away. I searched for years to
discover the truth about my past, only to find out it's nothing like I
expected. I have a father who's caused
me more physical and emotional abuse than I care to remember and a brother
who's done the same."
"Brother?
You found out some more information?" she's curious.
Jarod looks back inside the house and sees that
everyone is where he left them before.
Lyle's pacing around the living room and Willie's at the kitchen table
catching up with Miss Dee. He returns
his attention back to Miss Parker and lowers his voice so that no one will hear
him.
"Today.
When you were still at the hospital," he whispers. "It's Willie."
Her eyes open wide in shock, although she shouldn't
be surprised at anything anymore. Since
this whole thing has started, it's been nothing but strange. From that first day she ran into Jarod and
Imani to that day she decided to marry him.
Nothing in her life could be even close to what she'd call normal.
"I . . . I . . . I don't know what to
say," she stutters.
"I had pretty much the same reaction," he
laughs uneasily. "I still don't
know what to think about it. Or what to
do. Right now, we have to figure out a
way to get you out of this current mess that you're in. Because like it or not, your father will be
expecting your dead body soon."
"You'll come up with a way. I trust you," she smiles. "Do you remember the time when we were
kids? Me, you and Angelo broke into one
of the labs on SL-8 and messed with the short wave radio Sydney would keep down
there."
"You were convinced we could contact
aliens," Jarod laughs, remembering the day she's talking about. "When you'd get those ideas in your
head, there was no stopping you. You
ended up knocking the radio off the table and breaking it into thousands of
tiny little pieces. We barely had
enough time to hide before Sydney came rushing in."
"I just knew we were going to get caught and
get in big trouble. But, you were my
knight in shining armour as usual. You
figured out a way to rescue me. Sydney
never even knew." She looks up at
him and kisses him gently. "We'll
figure out a way out of this now. We
can do anything as long as we're together." She snuggles deeper into his arms and they continue to sit in
silence, gently swinging back on forth in the darkness.
The door opens a little while later and Willie
appears on the back porch.
"Sorry," he mumbles. "I didn't realize you were out
here."
"That's okay," Miss Parker says, standing
up from the swing. "You guys
should probably talk anyway. I think
I'll head off to bed." She leans
over and gives Jarod one last kiss before whispering into his ear. "Trust your heart to do what's
right. Everything will be
fine." She flashes Willie a
tentative smile before going into the house.
"You and Miss Parker. Who knew? I never would
have guessed you two would end up like this," Willie says, sitting down in
a chair across the porch from the Jarod.
He was trying to make small talk to avoid the inevitable conversation
the two of them would have to have.
"Why Sharisse?" Jarod asks after ignoring
Willie for a few minutes. "How
could you let them do that to her?"
"I never imagined it would go that far,"
he admits. "He told me she'd have
the baby and then forget that any of it ever happened. But you found out about her. And helped her escape. Ruined my whole plan."
"Are you trying to blame me for something,
Willie?" Jarod asks defensively.
"You're the one who lured her in that place, knowing good and well
what those people stood for. You're the
one who handed her over to Raines. Do
you even know what they did to her in that place?"
"She was just going to have the baby. Then, her memory would have been wiped and
she wouldn't have remembered ever being there," Willie explains. "But you took her before we could . . .
"
"Before you could what? Take her child? My child?" Jarod asks angrily.
"Before we could get rid of the memories,"
Willie yells. "If she didn't
remember, she wouldn't have known how I betrayed her."
"Well, she's not remembering anything right
now. Your mentor, Raines, made sure of
that." Jarod cringes at the very
idea of that man's blood running through his veins.
"What do you mean? Mama said Sharisse got sick shortly after Imani was born and
died. Raines didn't even know where she
was. How could he have been
responsible?"
"Ever hear of a little something called PQ9486?" Jarod watches as Willie's face contorts in
anguish as he realizes what Raines had done.
The very mentioning of that drug makes even the hardest of hearts break
for whoever suffered the tragic fate.
"He didn't . . . he couldn't have . . "
Willie stutters.
"Why are you so loyal to that man?" Jarod
wonders. "After what he made
you? All the things he made you
do? What he did to Sharisse? She loved you, Willie. And any loyalty you give that man is a
betrayal to her memory. What did he
promise you that was worth giving up the love of your life?"
"I didn't feel like I had a life, Jarod. I didn't know who I was. Miss Dee was the best mother I could have
dreamed for, but I knew my real mother was out there. I had to find her. My
research lead me to the Centre. And
Raines promised me information. But
pretty soon, it was like I had sold my soul to the devil or something. I kept getting deeper and deeper involved
until I had turned into someone I was
ashamed of."
"What are you going to do now?" Jarod asks. "I can help you get the answers you're
looking for. Are you going to help
us? Or try to stop us? I have a family now. A wife and child. And one on the way. I
already lost Sharisse. I'm not losing
someone else I love to the Centre.
Enough is enough."
Jarod ends his little sermon and lets Willie
think. He could tell him about Raines
being a crazed serial rapist. He could
tell Willie that Raines was their father.
And he could tell Willie that Raines quite possibly arranged for his
mother's mysterious death. But he
didn't. Willie's decision would have to
be based on the need to want to do what's right, not revenge.
"Enough is enough," Willie whispers,
bringing a little smile to Jarod's face.
"It's time I set things right.
It's time I found myself again."
A few hours later, Jarod, Miss Parker, Lyle and
Willie gather around the living room and begin making their final plans to
infiltrate the Centre. A friend of
Jarod's came an hour earlier to pick up Miss Dee and Imani to take them to a
safe place until after everything was settled.
"How long until they get there?" Miss
Parker asks nervously, glancing at her watch every ten minutes wondering how
Imani was.
"Probably not until closer to daybreak," Jarod
tells her. He looks and sees that she's
worried about Imani. "Imani's
going to be fine. She may be a little
scared and wonder where she is, but Miss Dee will be with her."
"Mama's good at that," Willie adds. "She had a way of making us feel at home
no matter where we were. I remember one
year this hurricane blew through town.
We had to evacuate our house and go to a shelter. We were terrified of the storm. And it didn't make us feel any better being
at a strange place. But after awhile,
we forgot about being scared. With Mama
there, it almost felt like home."
"I'm sure you two are right," she sighs,
rubbing her belly in small circles. She
stands up and walks over to the back door and stares out the window.
"Is she going to be alright?" Willie asks
with some concern.
"I really don't know," Jarod
confesses. "That was nice of you
to say what you said, though. I'm sure
it brought her some comfort. She's
become so attached to Imani. Plus, we
had a little scare this morning with the baby. I think that right now, her emotions are on overdrive where her
children are concerned."
"I think this is it," Lyle says. He was monitoring a police scanner for news
of phase one of their plan. "An
accident off of highway 79 has just been reported. It's only a matter of time now before my father hears about
this."
"That means it's only a matter of time before
he sends the cleaners here," Miss Parker realizes.
"She's right," Willie says. "It's time we got out of here before
they show up."
They all quickly move to their assigned tasks. Jarod makes sure the cars have been loaded
up with the things they'll need when they get to the Centre. Willie makes sure all the weapons are fully
loaded. Lyle and Miss Parker busy
themselves with making the house look as if a struggle had taken place.
Phase one of the plan called for giving Mr. Parker
what he was looking for - proof of Miss Parker's death. They would mess the house up a little and
then make it seem like Lyle and Miss Parker went on a high speed game of chase
ending in a tragic accident. Enough of
Miss Parker's DNA would be found at the scene of the crash to initially
convince her father she was dead. It
should buy them enough time to move on with phase two.
"I think that's everything," Lyle says,
giving one last glance around the house.
"One last thing." Jarod pulls a couple of bulletproof vests
from the closet. He gives one to Miss
Parker and tosses the other one to Willie.
"Put these on, you two."
"What about you and Lyle?" Willie asks.
"I only had two," Jarod says quickly,
trying to avoid eye contact with Miss Parker.
He knew she'd be worried about him.
But she catches his glance anyway and sends him a knowing look. She understood what he was doing. He was doing all he could to make sure his
little brother came out of this thing alive.
"Then you should . . . " Willie starts.
"Just put the thing on, Willie," Jarod
snaps. "I won't need one. They won't be expecting to see me. Besides, I promised Miss Dee I'd bring her
baby boy back to her. And I don't
intend on breaking that promise."
'They took away Kyle before I even had a chance to
get to know him. I'm not losing another
brother to them,' Jarod swears silently.
"Let's do this," Miss Parker says,
touching Jarod lightly on his shoulder.
"Are you sure you're ready for this,
Baby?" he asks her.
"I'm ready for this to be over," she
growls menacingly. "I'm ready to
make my father wish he'd never been born.
The End.
To be continued in Final Countdown