| Title: Requiem II: Ghosts and Strangers Author: Eva Parker Email: eva_parker@yahoo.com Disclaimer: Concepts, characters, scenery, and psychotic corporations from the television show The Pretender are protected trademarks of MTM Television, Pretender Productions, and NBC. I lay no claim to them; I’m just taking them out for a little spin. All escaped characters will be returned immediately to the Centre. All other characters, scenery, etc. belong to me. Please note that fanfiction is covered under the “Free Use” clause of the copyright law. Rating: PG-13 Author’s Note: My God, I’ve spawned a series! Who woulda thought… Unfortunately, this is going to delay “A Critical Break” a little bit. “Requiem” is just so much fun! You can keep an eye out for a Requiem III, too. --- Wait by Sarah McLachlan Under a blackened sky Far beyond the glaring streetlights Sleeping on empty dreams The vultures lie in wait You lay down beside me then You were with me every waking hour So close I could feel your breath Chorus: When all we wanted was the dream To have and to hold that precious little thing Like every generation yields A newborn hope unjaded by the years Pressed up against the glass I found myself wanting sympathy But to be consumed again Oh, I know would be the death of me And there is a love that’s inherently given A kind of blindness offered to deceive And in that light of forbidden joy Oh, I know I won’t receive it Chorus You know if I leave you now It doesn’t mean I love you any less It’s just the state I’m in I can’t be good to anyone else like this Chorus --- Her gun clattered to the ground, a noise as sure to alert the team as a shot would have been. The adrenaline pumping through her body made her feel like she was dancing on electrical wire—and reminded her that she’d probably die for this. This was a stupid risk. Worst of all, it would make the last half-decade of her life meaningless. Jarod was so close she could feel him, a line of warmth down the front of her body. He stared at her with tired, brown eyes, drowning in sadness, calling up all sorts of strange emotions—guilt—which she didn’t understand and didn’t want to listen to. Mostly, she decided, she was pissed, because anger was an easy emotion to call up. Parker had plenty of reserves. The furrow between her quarry’s brow showed his confusion at her action. Good. Satisfying to know that she could still surprise wonder boy now and then. She stared at him for a long moment, drinking in his taut form, committing the road map of his soul to memory, because this was the last time she was ever going to see him. “Get out of here, Jarod.” He looked like he might say something. Thank you, maybe. And then he was gone, down the hall. Something like satisfaction tugged at her shoulders. Her mother had taken a lot of stupid risks. Maybe this was good enough to make up for some of the Centre’s sins. She bent down, picked up her weapon, and tucked it back into its holster. Hernandez, the new sweeper, clattered into the small anteroom. He glanced left and right, searching for the man she’d freed. He was out of breath. “I got here as fast as I could…where’d he go?” “Flew the coop.” She said it with no anger and no regret. Comprehension dawned on Hernandez’s face. He was no Einstein—no Jarod—but he was smart enough, for the hired muscle that made up the bulk of a sweeper team. He formed his face into a suspicious Que? “We’re getting out of here,” she ordered. She tossed him her phone. “Call the rest of the Jarod team.” She’d only dispatched a few to this particular area. “What should I tell them?” “That they’re going to have to find something else to do.” The sweeper’s eyes widened. He was cute, she’d first noticed when they hired him. Like a puppy. Or a kid. Except most kids didn’t have two confirmed kills. “But Mr. Parker said—” “It’s not my father’s decision.” She turned around and walked out of the building, toward the black Lincoln, Blue Cove, and home. As she walked, her satisfaction evaporated. She was alone now, as much as ever, and there was a hollow feeling in her soul. Well, at least one of us won’t have to live with this. This would have ended, she told herself, at one point or another. She just hoped she’d made the right decision. |
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