Crossing Destinies (A Pretender Story) #Wattys2019 #Wattys2021

Chapter IV: Crescendo Part 2

Chapter IV: Crescendo Part 2

Thursday, June 13th, 08.10 p.m.

Miss Parker entered into Broots' office without knocking, as it was her habit.

"Any leads on Jarod?" she barked. The skinny, bald man sitting in front of his PC raised his dark eyes and looked at her, then quickly lowered them again, frightened.

"None so far", he answered, shaking his head, "He seems as if vanished in the middle of nothing."

Miss Parker smoothed her shiny, shoulder-long brown hair and frowned.

"It's extremely unusual", she commented, annoyed, "This time he didn't leave any hint about where he was going, and he didn't even call me for one of those stupid little mind-games of his."

She was referring to the riddles that, over the years, Jarod had often submitted to her, riddles that had taken her, against her own will, to think about herself and what she had become; but she was also referring to the hints he often had given to her shed some light on the mystery about what for a long time everyone had believed to be Catherine Parker's – her mother – suicide, who instead faked her death to give birth to Ethan, her and Jarod's father's son; the Centre had her pregnant without either her or Major Russel's permission, and faking her death she had hoped she could keep the child safe.

"Do you know if he called Sydney?" Miss Parker asked. Broots shrugged:

"I have no clues, you better ask him directly."

Miss Parker's eyes, blue and cold like a glacier, pierced him through:

"That's exactly what I'm going to do", she said coldly.

Two minutes later, she was stepping into Sydney's office, again without knocking. The elderly psychiatrist was sitting at his desk, writing a memo to the Tower, the Centre's authority.

"Any news about Jarod?" Miss Parker questioned him, with a slightly more respectful tone than she normally used with Broots. Sydney looked at her; for a moment, in the young, attractive woman in front of him, wearing a close-fitting cream-coloured business suit with a very short skirt, he saw the sweet child she had once been, a child he had loved like his own, exactly the way he had loved Jarod. Damn, he thought, he still loved them both.

"Nothing yet", he answered. Miss Parker crossed her arms, pressing her beautiful lips in a vexed grimace.

"That makes 24 days", she pointed out, in a nervous tone, "It's never happened before", she glared at the man in front of her, "How was he, the last time you heard him? Was he in some way different than usual?"

Sydney frowned, trying to remember.

"He sounded tired", he answered slowly, "I mean, from a psychological point-of-view."

"Ha, does this that the pressure has finally begun to wear him out?" she asked hopefully, "Is a breakdown coming, which will have him making some imprudent move, so we can catch him at last?"

Sydney shook his grey-haired head:

"Jarod? No. He'll never push himself over the top. Probably he realised he was tired and decided to disappear for a short time. He'll show up when he's well again, and he'll drive us mad like usual, or maybe more."

"Very good, Dr Freud", Miss Parker mocked him, ironically, "It's exactly what you hope, isn't it?"

Without awaiting his answer, she stormed out of the room, her high heels ticking loud on the marble floor. Sydney wondered sadly how much more time she would insist to be angry at the universe.