511 If Parker is Desperate

All eyes were glued at the screen as the reporter detailed what happened to Senator Jones.

Apparently, the senator's daughter went into her mother's room a few hours ago and found her mother sleeping. The daughter was able to talk to her mother for a while and was told that she called in sick, so she was staying home. Thinking that her mother must have been exhausted, she decided to let her sleep in. However, by the time that lunch came and Senator Jones was still not up, the daughter came to check up on her only to find that she wouldn't wake up no matter what she did.

The daughter immediately called for help, and the ambulance came a few minutes later. The reporter said that the reason was still unknown, but according to the helpers working for the senator's family, they found a bottle of pills on the nightstand.

When the news ended, the group of five was baffled.

After last night, another group from the Delta Team came to keep an eye on the senator, thus the surveillance. They were supposed to follow her wherever she went to learn how she was related to Parker. But just like Damien said earlier, his men reported that the senator didn't leave the house today.

"Do you think Parker sent another agent to finish the job?" Katherine wondered. She crossed her arms in front of her chest as she darted her gaze here and there. If Parker sent someone else to kill the senator, she must really be someone important. And if she was, they needed to get to her.

"He left his office past midnight last night, and no other agents went in," Styles answered. "No reports about suspicious activities in Jones's home either… It could be possible that Parker sent another agent, and they had snuck in without getting seen, but would they really risk that in broad daylight? Not to mention, everyone is still out looking for Chris."

Damien nodded. The possibility of that was unlikely. "Also, based on the report, the daughter was able to talk to the senator in the morning. Something must have happened between that time until the daughter went to check on her mother again."

"It's possible that the senator did that to herself. The bottle of pills could be sleeping pills…" said Chris. He shifted his stare back to the screen, the report replaying in his mind as he tried to make sense of what's happening. "But it could also be staged. We'll never know unless we get the doctor's diagnosis."

Katherine thought about the many possibilities. The senator was in another state, so it wasn't easy for them to move from where they were. Apart from that, they needed to lay low and stay away from Parker's radar. Turning to Damien, she asked him, "Could you send your men to check the hospital? We need to know what's going on, and we need to continue keeping an eye on the senator. She's valuable."

"Of course." Damien nodded, then turned to Styles through the laptop. "Styles, call Felix and—"

While Styles was busy getting in touch with Felix and endorsing orders, the rest continued to discuss. Their attention was brought to the map on the table, and Gus told them about what happened the other night when Parker sent out all of his best agents to look for Chris in Harbor City. Then, Parker left together with the second batch of agents that he sent for the search. 

The team that was watching outside of Castle could only see cars coming out from the basement parking, but couldn't see the people inside the vehicle. Chris found it odd that Parker would leave Castle during that time instead of overseeing the operation. Parker was already tense, so it didn't make sense for him to go somewhere else—unless he wanted to look for Chris himself.

Before Damien and Katherine arrived, they tried to track down the car where Parker could be with Styles's help. But it wasn't easy. Shadow owned many vehicles of the same kind, and because Parker was meticulous, he never used the same car twice in a row. So there was no way for them to know which car he used that night. They had to track down all the vehicles to find where Parker could have gone after leaving the base.

"Have you gotten in contact with Director Hughes since Saturday?" Katherine asked Chris who was absorbed in his own thoughts. She thought that maybe the NIA director would know something.

"Not yet." He shook his head and sighed. "If I don't hear from her soon, I may have to go and see her myself."

"Isn't that dangerous? You don't know how Parker knew what you were doing. And you weren't meeting anyone else. So someone must be watching her…"

Chris turned around and slumped on the sofa. His wounds were still healing but the pain was manageable, yet he clenched his jaw to bear with it. Running his hand down his face, he bit out, "I can't just sit here and do nothing. My sister is still out there. How would I know how to protect her from Parker? What if they already got to her?!"

Katherine and Damien looked at each other. They were standing side by side, facing the couch where Chris was. The two had talked about Chris's sister a couple of days ago. And as much as they still feel cold towards the man, addressing the matter would help them move forward, or they would keep walking on eggshells in fear of Parker harming an innocent just to get his hands on Chris.

"Chris," she called. "We already talked about this before... Objectively speaking, we can't tell whether Parker was telling the truth. He could be using that just to manipulate you. You've been on the run for days now…" 

When Chris looked up and met her stare, she added, "Parker is already desperate. It's highly likely that he would bend his own rules and use his card… If he really knows where your sister is, don't you think that he would have already gotten to her and used her to lure you out?"

Despite not wanting to believe what Katherine was saying, Chris thought that she had a point. However, he was still determined to look for his sister. Even if it meant he would have to risk his life.

Contrary to what he was thinking, Katherine was more inclined to believe that Parker doesn't have Chris's sister.