Disclaimer: Rights to The Pretender world and all its characters belong to creators Craig Van Sickle and Steven Mitchell. NBC owns a share, as do Twentieth Century Fox and MGM.
Due South was created by Paul Haggis and produced by Alliance Atlantis, BBC, CTV television and Pro Sieben Media. It's a wonderful show, mixing action and humor together into a delightfully quirky detective drama. If you've never seen it, I highly recommend the DVDs.
The point is I'm borrowing someone else's creations. No profit is being made and no copyright infringement is intended.
Defining Connection 11
By Phenyx
10/05/06
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When the shipping container doors swung open, Miss Parker followed Jarod's example, allowing their captors to herd them calmly away from the truck. She said nothing, focusing all of her attention on the surrounding area, looking for the opportunity Jarod had mentioned. With a quick glance at her companions, Miss Parker could see Constable Fraser scanning the vicinity with a similar alertness. The attorney, Stella, also did as she was told, but her movements were stilted and jerking with fear.
Ray however, was not cooperating. The blond detective struggled and flailed against the two men that dragged him forward. Lean and quick, Ray was able to twist against one of the men and strike a glancing blow with his elbow. The second man used his pistol against the back of Ray's head to subdue him. Ray's resistance abruptly ended as he crumpled into a dazed heap.
"Ray!" Fraser cried. "Are you injured?"
"Nah," the detective gasped. "I'm okay," he replied, though the way he had clasped his hands against his skull as he rolled on the ground seemed to indicate otherwise. When Fraser stepped forward to help Ray, a man holding a pistol jammed the weapon against the Mountie's ribs preventing him from going to his fallen friend.
"Victoria!" Fraser hissed in frustration. The longhaired woman smiled sweetly. She was armed with a handgun but it was tucked into the front waistband of her jeans.
"Yes Ben?" she asked.
Fraser sighed. "What do you want? I'll do whatever you want in exchange for their safety."
Victoria's face brightened as her smile grew. Miss Parker found herself worried by the other woman's ability to seem so intimidating while still smiling. It was a skill Miss Parker had seen many times at the Centre.
"What I want is simple, Ben." Victoria purred. "I want you."
"Fine." Fraser answered without hesitation.
"No!" Ray spoke up. He stumbled to his feet and glared at the Mountie. "No, Frase. Don't listen to her."
"You won't hurt them?" Fraser asked.
"I won't hurt them," Victoria promised.
Something about Victoria's tone sent a flash of wariness through Miss Parker's mind. Maybe it was her inner sense warning her. Or perhaps Miss Parker was simply too accustomed to listening to others lie. But she knew without a doubt that this was a lie.
"Careful," Miss Parker said. "There's a loophole in that promise."
Fraser turned toward Miss Parker with a frown. It was Jarod who explained. "She isn't the only one with a gun. Victoria won't be the one to hurt any of us."
"She'll have one of her goons do it," Miss Parker added.
"Victoria?" Fraser turned to look at her. "You must promise me that no one will hurt them."
Victoria smiled again. "Come with me, Ben," she said. Her voice was filled with longing. "Come with me now."
"You must promise me they will be safe," Fraser insisted.
Victoria slowly pulled the pistol from her waistband and pointed it at Ray's head. Her next words were hard and brittle. "Come with me now or watch them die one by one." As she spoke, she cocked the hammer of the gun.
"Don't do it, Fraser," Ray said. His voice was steady and he showed no fear though the muzzle of the gun was pressing against his forehead. "She'll kill us anyway. She'll wait until you are out of sight and then kill us anyway."
"You'd rather watch?" Victoria said coldly.
Jarod shook his head sadly. "This won't work Victoria," he said.
"Seems pretty effective so far," she replied.
"It won't last," Jarod argued. "You can't force this. If you make him leave, bully him into walking away from everything he has ever known, he'll end up hating you for it."
Victoria shrugged. She dropped both hands to her sides, removing the gun from between Ray's eyes, leaving a red circle where the point had been pressed to his flesh. "He already hates me," she said.
"He loves you," Jarod responded. "He fears you. If you force him away from his life and into your world, he will learn to hate you. He is an honorable man, an officer of the law. To go with you would force him to break those laws. Trust me when I say, a life on the run is not as romantic as popular media would have us believe.
He will resent living that life. He will have no home, no sense of safety. He'll be forever looking over his shoulder. He will resent the one who forced him into that. He will resent you."
"But we'll be together," Victoria pleaded. "That must be worth something. He won't be alone anymore. We won't be alone anymore." Her large eyes filled and her lips trembled.
"It won't be enough," Jarod told her. "It will be empty, meaningless. If you had allowed him to choose, if he chose to go with you of his own accord, you could have built something special between you."
Victoria shrugged and gave Jarod a sad smile. "He was never going to make that choice," she said.
"Did you ask?" Jarod stepped forward.
The group surrounding Jarod and Victoria watched the exchange in silence. The two spoke to one another as though they were completely alone. Miss Parker dared not interrupt, for the conversation was fraught with mirrored significance that only she and Jarod could see.
"Did you ask?" Jarod posed again.
"He would have said 'No'," Victoria whispered.
Jarod reached out and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her gently. "Are you sure?"
A single tear ran down Victoria's cheek. She looked so tragically beautiful and Jarod seemed so intent. For a moment Miss Parker was sure he would lean down and kiss the longhaired brunette.
"He would have said 'No'," Victoria repeated.
"Then ask again," Jarod urged. "Ask again, and again, and again. But you cannot force him. Coercion and manipulation can never be the foundation of a relationship. They serve only to destroy whatever real affection exists. I've seen it happen. I've watched unconditional love wither and die under similar circumstances."
Miss Parker suddenly found herself staring into Jarod's dark gaze. Their eyes held for a long moment. Then Jarod added softly, "It is a tragic thing to witness, the slow painful death of pure love."
Swallowing against the lump in her throat, Miss Parker fought the urge to burst into tears. She shivered with the abrupt knowledge that not only did this man know her better than anyone else ever would, but Jarod also felt more for her than she had imagined. Its depth was frightening.
But before Miss Parker could react, the look in Jarod's eyes changed. With little more than the blink of an eye, Jarod communicated a signal to her. "Ready?" his gaze asked her. Miss Parker was instantly alert, shifting her weight onto the balls of her feet. There was a minute nod of Jarod's head and a slight jerk of his chin. Miss Parker understood his instructions as though he had shouted them to her.
When a blur of motion occurred at the edge of her peripheral vision, Miss Parker whirled, grabbed Stella by the arm and dashed for cover. There were shouts and a couple of shots fired. Stella squeaked in surprise as Miss Parker tossed her to the ground. They rolled, changed direction and were back up and running within a few heartbeats of time.
Miss Parker ran, tearing Stella's dress at the seam as she dragged the blond woman by the shoulder. With every moment, Miss Parker expected to feel the searing heat of a bullet in her back. There was the sound of another shot followed by a cry of pain. But as Miss Parker and Stella dashed into a nearby stand of trees, neither of them paused to look back.
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Jarod hated seeing Miss Parker like this. The sorrow and regret on her face struck Jarod with a physical ache. He wasn't sure when the focus of his words had changed from Victoria to Miss Parker. Then again, maybe it hadn't. Maybe he was just reiterating to himself a decision he had made six years ago. It was a choice he continued to make even today. He could only hope that someday his persistence would pay off.
Jarod saw Miss Parker swallow hard and knew that he was hurting her now. It couldn't be helped. And yet Jarod found a shred of hope in Miss Parker's distress. There had been a time when she would not have reacted to him this way. The fact that she seemed confused and sad actually meant that she recognized the choice he had placed before her.
But now was not the time for soul searching. Jarod caught a glimpse of Ray standing a few feet behind Miss Parker. Over Miss Parker's shoulder, Jarod could see the detective shifting, tensing, preparing to strike. With a look, Jarod tried to alert Miss Parker. As expected she responded to his unspoken warning immediately.
When Ray dove forward, Jarod leapt into the fray. Everything seemed to be in motion at once. Jarod spared barely a glance toward Miss Parker who had grabbed Ray's ex-wife and dragged her to safety. Jarod's only thought was to draw the attention of the men with the guns. He yelled as he fought, hoping the drag more pairs of eyes away from the fleeing women.
For a minute or two, they were doing well. Ray and Fraser had each taken down one of their captors. Jarod had knocked a third unconscious and a fourth was preoccupied trying to staunch the blood from his broken nose.
"Stop!" Victoria screamed. Then without hesitation, she pulled the trigger on her handgun. The shot rang out and Ray crumbled to the ground with a cry of pain.
"Ray!" Fraser was at his partner's side almost before he'd completed his fall.
Ray gasped, clutching at his stomach. "Frase," he groaned.
Jarod went to kneel beside the wounded man. Fraser was pulling a large handkerchief from his pocket and used it to press against the growing red patch on Ray's shirt. "I have some medical training," Jarod said. "Let me look at it."
Victoria turned away from the scene carelessly. "You," she commanded pointing toward two of her men. "Bring those women back here."
"Stella," Ray moaned.
"Hush Ray," Fraser urged. "Don't try to talk."
Examining the hole in Ray's side, Jarod sighed with relief. "It's a small caliber," he explained. "You should be okay if we can stop the bleeding and get you proper medical attention." Shucking off his jacket as he spoke, Jarod peeled out of several layers of clothing until he got to a cotton undershirt. With a quick yank, he pulled off the t-shirt and tore one seam with his teeth. Ignoring the armed circle of men around them, Jarod worked quickly with the handkerchief and shirt to bandage Ray's wound.
Grimacing in pain, Ray gasped. "How many men did she send after them?"
"Two," Fraser answered.
"They're okay," Jarod assured them. He did not look up from his task. "They made it to the tree line." When he was finished, Jarod rocked back on his heels to admire his handiwork.
"You've been in the military," Fraser said to Jarod with a frown. "That is an excellent field dressing."
"Just something I picked up somewhere," Jarod commented.
Ray glanced from Fraser to Jarod, his face a mask of pain and concern. "We have to do something," he moaned. "There's no telling what those goons will do when they find Stella and Parker."
"We don't need to worry about them now," Jarod told them. "We need to concentrate on getting out of here."
"How can you say that?" Ray's hand shot out with startling speed and grabbed Jarod by the arm.
"Stella will be fine," Jarod said. "She's with Miss Parker and they made it into the forest. Believe me, Miss Parker is very good at taking care of herself."
From a distance of about a quarter of a mile, came the sound a gunshot. Ray and Fraser both flinched.
"That means they've been found," Ray almost whimpered in pain and anxiety. "That means they've found Stella."
Jarod shook his head knowingly. "That means Miss Parker is now armed."
Fraser's frowned deepened. "You're not detectives from Springfield," he accused.
Shrugging his jacket back on over his bare torso, Jarod sighed. "Not exactly. No."
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End part 11