Page 98 of Pride
Parker stepped down off the dais, found Julius in the crowd, and tapped his chest in the same spot as Julius had moments earlier. Then he allowed himself to be handcuffed and taken away.
35
Sittingin the back of a police wagon, driving through Cardinal City on the way to the station, Parker mentally recited what he knew for sure.
One, his family would be arguing over whose fault this was and whether they should have blindly followed his ridiculous plan in the first place.
Two, the biometrics would all be collected and, if his family were worth their salt, they’d be actioning the part of the plan he’d included them on—infiltrating the Syndicate and shutting down systems from within.
Three, Julius would break him out because he wanted what was in Parker’s brain.
Four, Daisy was alive.
Five, after what happened at Lazarus Tech, Parker knew there were too many people vying for control of his company. Even though Sloan had scrubbed the CCTV footage, there could always be other damning evidence out there. He always knew one day his identity would be compromised. They’d known for years the FBI was building a case against them. Liza’s mate Joe had been able to distract the Feds for a while, but being charged for vigilantism was always a possibility.
With the easy way the Syndicate leaders had accepted Parker’s invitation, he’d guessed the night of his reckoning would be the retirement party. The moment Parker had accepted it, he came up with a plan to beat it. If he could make the law charge him for this particular incident, he knew the variables. He could work toward acquittal from all charges, and then no matter what happened later, under the Double Jeopardy clause, he wouldn’t be tried for the same crime again. He could essentially be a vigilante, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The same didn’t apply to his family unless they were also acquitted, but he hoped it wouldn’t get to that point. Soon the trouble with the Syndicate and Julius would be over.
That left him with the sixth thing he knew for sure. Alice would be extremely angry with him. But if he’d told Alice the plan, she would have begged to be included and where he was going, where Daisy was, he wouldn’t wish that on anyone, especially his mate. Or future wife, rather. Alice was now in charge of his company. She was safe, and she had control of his finances to support herself and his family. The moment they were alone, they could be married. And then, as his spouse, Alice wouldn’t have to testify against him. She would forgive him for this. He hoped.
Worst-case scenario, if she left him and he lost his freedom, then at least he did everything he could to save Daisy. What was a little jail time when Daisy had been a prisoner for thirty years?
Alice would understand.
She would.
He sighed and leaned his head back on the seat before glancing at the officer on each side of him. They’d cuffed him, but he could break out of them. He might not need to, depending on how and when Julius showed up to extract him. At least this way, with Parker’s showy arrest in front of the press, and subsequent kidnapping by therealcriminal, Parker could plead his innocence later in court.
As long as everything kept going according to plan, things would work out fine.
* * *
Hours later,Parker lay on the solitary bench in the local police station’s holding cell. Dawn wasn’t far away. He thought Julius would have tried to break him out by now. But nothing.
Crickets.
The stinky, toothless hobo on the other side of the cell had pustules over his bare feet. No one had spoken to Parker or even offered him a phone call since he’d arrived, and he knew he’d be transferred as soon as the district attorney’s office was opened. That left barely an hour to get out of there.
Julius should have wanted Gloria’s research so badly that he’d break Parker out. Julius’s decline in mental health hadn’t been something Parker had factored into his plan. He’d wanted Gloria’s research. Hadn’t he?
Or had Alice been right and Parker’s pride was clouding his judgement?
In the darkness, with only the stench of the hobo to keep him company, Parker’s memories haunted him. Smoke and chemicals singed his nostrils. He was seven. Evan had just been born and they were running out of a burning building, escaping the only home they’d ever known—the Syndicate lab. Parker and Daisy went into the elevator, squishing in with the others, but she faced the open doors with anguish in her eyes. Someone was out there, in the fire, and Daisy wanted to go to her before it was too late. She sensed despair and her first instinct was to comfort. Parker could have stopped her. He’d seen that look in her eyes. It was the same look she had when staring up at the sky. Longing. Pain. Sadness.
Daisy dashed past them as the doors closed. All that was left of his sister was her little bonsai plant on the floor.
Mary and Flint argued whether to go back into the burning building for Daisy, but then Mary made the decision that changed everything. If she went back for Daisy, they’d all get caught. So she left her behind.
One life wasn’t important when the fate of the world was at stake.
Was that what was happening now? He sat up and glared at the wall.
Itshouldbe what was happening. His familyshouldbe forgetting about him. They should be out there on planes, flying back to the sites across the world, infiltrating the systems and shutting down everything they could. They should be gathering evidence to send to prosecutors, evacuating innocent personnel, and then setting off the charges—destroying the bases, the replicates, the weapons… everything.
That’s what he’d told them to do. That was the plan.
Parker had thought he’d blinked the memory away, but the acrid smell of smoke remained. He lifted his nose and sniffed again. There was definitely the taint of fire in the air. But where was it coming from? He went to the bars and looked out, but couldn’t see much down the dark hallway.
The fire alarm went off and Parker’s lips curved.This is it. Julius’s team is here.
