The Pretender 2001

The Pretender 2001

The Pretender 2001

Then I guess that leaves us down the same dead end. All secrets. No answers.

Jarod

The Pretender 2001

Then I guess that leaves us down the same dead end. All secrets. No answers.

Jarod

Original air date: January 22, 2001

Written by: Steven Long Mitchell & Craig W. Van Sickle

Directed by: Frederick King Keller



Jarod pretends to be an NSA agent to become part of a task force hunting down ‘The Chameleon’ a killer who displays all the abilities of a Pretender.  Abilities that make Jarod aware of his true identity, another Pretender who Jarod had known at the Centre before Jarod’s ultimate escape.  A Pretender who holds a grudge against Jarod and is luring him for the kill.

 

Behind the scenes insights and the Creator’s Take

Official Synopsis

Picking up where the television series left off, The Pretender 2001 features even deeper explorations in the show’s mythology, including a revealing look back at how Jarod originally escaped from the Centre. But now he must infiltrate the NSA to capture a ruthless assassin who might be a fellow Pretender from his past!

 

After the surprise of being cancelled by NBC the fans create quite an uproar in the hallways of the Burbank based network.  The uproar was in the massive amount of Pez candy dispensers that were sent to NBC from around the world with a request to keep their favorite how on the air.

NBC called us and asked if we’d be interested in doing a movie to wrap everything up.  They said if they liked our script they may make and air it.

Meanwhile, TNT who was getting ready to air the syndicated episodes offered to green light two movies is we instead went with them.

In the end it was an easy decision.

The first of two movies to be made after NBC cancelled the series The Pretender 2001 picked up where the series left off.

On the Centre side of the story having survived the bombing on the train at the end of season four, Miss Parker find herself in a world of family revelations as she must try and save her father who has been abducted.

The movie ends with both Jarod and Miss Parker receiving identical photographs of their mother’s together and this image launches them into a very personal journey in the final movie.

The production of TP 2001 brought the Pretender full circle.  The Pilot had been produced in Toronto and this as well as the final Pretender MFT was produced in Toronto as well.

 

Fun fact.  This movie was the first time Michael T Weiss was ever filmed at the building known to all as the Centre.   

The Pretender 2001

The Pretender 2001 Transcript

 

Tower / Triumvirate Members Converse   His name is Jarod.
    Just exactly what the hell is he?
    Jarod is a Pretender, a genius who can literally become anyone he wants to be. And the Centre wants him back.
    The should have stuck with the computers to do the simulations. Computers don’t run away.
    A computer can not also read a book on heart surgery in the morning then perform a flawless bypass in the afternoon. Jarod can. He can do anything.
    The Centre team chasing him, are they up to par?
    The team has three members. First is Miss Parker, who grew up in the Centre where her father is in charge. She has been tied to Jarod since they were children. Besides Jarod, her only pursuit is the truth about her mother’s death.
    Does she knew she was murdered? I mean, if she was to find out the real truth about Catherine Parker then-
    It would be tragic. Next is Sydney, part psychiatrist, part father figure, part teacher. He raised Jarod from a child, molded his gifts. Emotionally, Jarod is tied to him in a primal way. If Sydney disappeared, so would Jarod. Next is Broots. He’s a technical genius who has kept us only one step behind Jarod. No small task.
    What about our people?
    Mr. Parker is still in control of the Centre.
    What about Mr. Raines?
    Our latest report on Mr. Raines is he is dead.
    And Lyle?
    The thumbless Mr. Lyle remains loyal.
    So where does all this leave us?
    Our observation team tracked Miss Parker and Jarod to the underground in DC where their half brother Ethan planted a bomb on a subway train. What happened post blast is anyone’s guess but make no mistake, if Jarod is still alive, we will get him back. Are there anymore questions?
    Just one. Is it true that Jarod was stolen as a child?
     
Young Jarod   Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, geese walk barefoot, cree craw toad’s foot. I finished my building. I’m finished!
Sydney   This one’s been with us for only thirty six hours and he’s already demonstrating more talent than any of our others.
Young Jarod   Hey, I’m finished.
Sydney   Hi Jarod. I’m Sydney and I’ll be taking care of you for a while.
Young Jarod   Why? Where’s my mum and dad?
     
   

There are Pretenders among us. Geniuses with the ability to become anything they want to be. In the 1960s, a corporation known as the Centre isolated a young Pretender named Jarod and exploited his genius for their research.

Then one day, their Pretender ran away…

     
Previously    
Jarod   There’s a bomb on board Miss Parker, we’ve got fifteen seconds to get off this train!
Miss Parker   Come on Ethan!
Jarod   We jump now!
Explosion    
     
Miss Parker (covered in rubble. A burning support beam looms overhead)   Oh. Oh. Perfect. Here! I’m over here! Mom.
Catherine Parker   Give me your hand.
Miss Parker   I don’t understand.
Catherine Parker   Ask your father. He knows all the secrets.
Crash. Flash to present day.    
Broots   Miss Parker, are you okay?
Miss Parker   Broots, I’m fine. Are we done here?
Sydney   No neurological damage, the psychological trauma of the explosion certainly can account for the erratic behavior.
Miss Parker   Who says I’ve been acting erratic?
Broots   Come on, let’s face it, you were found outside a manhole cover on street level. You’re lucky to be alive.
Miss Parker   It wasn’t luck. I was saved.
Sydney   Saved?
Broots   Um, you didn’t tell him about the dream?
Miss Parker   It’s not a dream. It’s like I’m reliving a moment in time separate from anything I’ve ever done or said but I can see it, taste it, feel it. It’s after the explosion. I’m trapped and this support beam is about to a guillotine number on me when she comes out of the smoke and saves me.
Sydney   Who saves you?
Miss Parker   My mother. Hit me with your best shot Freud.
Sydney   Dreams, like any psychological phenomena, are really a reflection of your soul.
Miss Parker   It’s not a dream. The person who saved me was my mother and she told me my father knew all the secrets.
Broots   What secrets?
Miss Parker   Don’t know. But I plan to find out.
Broots   It doesn’t make sense. Her mother’s been dead since she was a little girl. How could she save her?
Sydney   She couldn’t but whoever did, I hope, saved Jarod as well.
     
DSA    
Jarod   No!
Raines   Clear!
     
Jarod   One hundred and twenty eight channels, there’s nothing on tv.
Ethan   Welcome back to the land of the living brother. How do I feel?
Jarod   Like I jumped from a train. What are you doing?
Ethan   Oh, I was just uh, looking at the dsa.
Jarod   Quite I life I had.
Ethan   Yeah, the Centre pretty much recorded it all of it. Why did they do those experiments on you?
Jarod   Not experiments. Simulations.
Ethan   Because you’re a Pretender, you can become anyone you want to be. A doctor, lawyer, even an astronaut if you want.
Jarod   Yes. But I don’t know who I am.
Ethan   There’s your mother.
Jarod   Since I escaped the Centre, I’ve been searching for her and for any information about the life I never had.
Ethan   It seems like Miss Parker’s always watching you and following you.
Jarod   Your half sister. She’s quite a consistent piece of work, I’ll give her that.
Ethan   She wants you back, you know?
Jarod   Some things never change.
     
Televison News Report   It’s been four days since the explosion in the DC underground and amazingly, there have been no reports of fatalities. The damage has been in the millions-
Jarod   I hope she made it.
Ethan   She did.
Jarod   Was there something on the news?
Ethan   No, the voices.
Jarod   Your inner sense. The voices that speak to you.
Ethan   They told me that she was safe.
Jarod   Then we won’t be. The Centre will come for us. They always do.
     
Television Report   This is breaking news now from NSA Headquarters. A masked terrorist posing as a Russian pilot has killed a Diplomat on the tarmac of National Airport then shot a second victim, who we’ve been told is an NSA Agent identified as Edward Ballinger. Ballinger who remains comatose at County Hospital was attempting to stop the assasination of the Diplomat when he himself was wounded.
Jarod   Eddie.
Ethan   You know him?
Jarod   Yes. Uh, I did.
Inner Sense Voices    
Ethan   He was a Pretender too.
Jarod   Towards the end of my captivity, I found out that there were others in the Pretender program. They kept us separated for the most part but then I, I found Eddie. We did something. Something special.
     
Flashback    
Jarod   We escape tonight.
     
Mr. Parker’s residence    
Miss Parker   Daddy! Daddy are you here?
Broots   Hello? I don’t think anyone’s here. Hello.
Miss Parker   Unless he’s eating beef and merlot for breakfast, he was here last night.
Broots   Something tells he wasn’t watching an old western movie.
DSA    
Raines   What do you want?
Broots   Your father was watching a dsa of you and Mr. Raines?
Miss Parker   It’s the last time I saw Mr. Raines alive.
DSA    
Miss Parker   Before my mother died, she said something about her unfinished work, about her plan. What did she mean by that?
Raines   It’s about what everything’s about Miss Parker, it’s about the Centre, all the lies. Just remember, what ever answers your mother may have left behind, there’s still one person alive who does know the whole truth.
Miss Parker   Who?
Gunshot    
Miss Parker   Daddy!
Mr. Parker   Not right for my little girl to have blood like that on her hands.
     
     
Broots   Miss Parker, I’m getting a uh, pretty weird feeling about this.
Miss Parker   Everything about my family is weird, including the last time I saw my father. Just after he murdered Raines.
Broots   Last time I saw my father, he had just sculptured the shrubs in Snow White and the Seven Drawfs.
Miss Parker  

I guess everyone’s family is weird in their own way.

Daddy’s bed hasn’t been slept in and I think I know why. Something must have spooked him and while he was on the phone, he was attacked.

Broots   Yeah, but who was he calling?
Miss Parker   Let’s find out.
Phone dials    
Lyle   This is Lyle. Hello. Hello. Hello.
     
The Centre    
Lyle   Dim sum and then some. You two look good enough to eat.
Asian Girls   Giggle
Miss Parker   Hate to mess with your lunch plans but we need to talk.
Lyle   Is this one of those talks I get to participate in or just listen to.
Miss Parker   Where’s our father?
Lyle   I haven’t seen or heard from him in a couple of days.
Miss Parker   Not even a phone call.
Lyle   Nor message from carrier pigeon, is there a problem?
Miss Parker   Yeah, he’s not at home and it appears he may left under duress.
Lyle   I’m not calling up the calvary on possibilities, like the possibility that in your present state you misinterpreted what you saw.
Miss Parker   And what state would that be?
Lyle   We’ve all heard about your imagination running wild since the big bang.
Broots   I didn’t say anything.
Lyle   Speaking of which, word from the sweeper team is that Jarod and Ethan both survived the explosion so I want the pursuit of Jarod back in full motion. Have you heard anything?
Miss Parker   No.
Lyle   Not even any voices from within?
Miss Parker   Why don’t you shove your nine fingers where the sun don’t shine?
Lyle   Uh, love to, but that would still leave me one to get tanned.
Broots   Oh you, you got a new thumb?
Lyle   Actually, it’s a preowned model but I got a great deal on it considering Mr. Raines wasn’t using it anymore.
Broots   You harvested Mr. Raines’ thumb?
Lyle   Waste not, want not. Don’t worry about dad, he’ll show up. He always does. Ladies.
Miss Parker   Just can’t trust a man with a stolen thumb. Check Frankenstein’s phone records, find out if he’s had anymore contact with my father.
     
National Security Agency    
     
Agent Andrea Zane   What the hell does it mean?
Agent Tracer   It’s Agent Ballinger’s notes. It looks like it’s written backwards but I can’t make heads or tails out of it.
Jarod   It says he feared the Russian terrorist would kill the Diplomat. Looks like he was right. It’s written in Apache.
Agent Tracer   You can reach Apache?
Jarod   Can’t you? (In Apache) Come on, Apache. It was a code that the Americans used in World War II. This is the NSA isn’t it?
Agent Zane   Do you have business with Agent Ballinger?
Jarod   You know him?
Agent Zane   He’s my partner.
Jarod   Uh, Agent Zane. Thank you. Agent Jarod Morse. Your new partner. I was sent by the agency to uncover and stop the terrorist who attempted to kill Agent Ballinger.
Agent Zane   Top of your class at the Academy, Doctorate in anti-terrorist tactics from Harvard no less. And I’ve never heard of you.
Jarod   Oh, I’ve heard of you. Agent Andrea Zane, middle of her class at the Academy and a five and half year criminology graduate at Crawford College. I do my homework.
Agent Zane   That was my problem. I rarely did.
Jarod   So, what do we know about the assassin?
Agent Zane   Not enough, that’s for sure. Info sect has code named him the chameleon.
Jarod   Why chameleon?
Agent Zane   Because our bad boy’s a genius who can become anybody he wants to be.
     
The Centre    
Miss Parker   So what do you hear when you see all of the things Jarod worked on before he escaped? The red notebooks detailing the victims our twisted Robinhood has helped, the items of self discovery that he’s left behind since we’ve chasing him. What do you hear?
Sydney   I hear a child desperately searching for his mother, the man in a child’s body making these incredible discoveries and sometimes I just hear a simple soul wondering who he really is and I hear my own voice, echoing with guilt because I contributed to theft of Jarod’s life.
Miss Parker   I guess we can all hear that.
Sydney   But not everyone can hear like you. Mine are mostly memories, things everyone experiences but yours, like your mother’s before you are the planes of sensory perception, the gift of the inner sense. When your mother rescues you in your vision, that is what she’s trying to tell you, to focus on your inner sense.
Miss Parker   You sound unnaturally sure of yourself.
Sydney   And that’s what scares me so. Tell Miss Parker, in your vision when your mother reaches out, the glint of light from her tear shaped diamond ring flashes in front of your eyes, does it not?
Miss Parker   I didn’t tell you about the ring.
Sydney   Your mother did. When she was your age, she had that exact same vision and she came to see me to ask for my help in developing her inner sense, to find out what it meant.
Miss Parker   Will you do the same for me?
Sydney   That’s what I was afraid you would ask.
Miss Parker   Why?
Sydney   Shortly after I helped Catherine Parker, she was gone.
     
National Security Agency    
     
Agent Zane   We don’t know how or why he’s doing what he’s doing but the chameleon’s an assassin who’s been unmasking then killing the NSA’s deepest undercover spies.
Jarod   Is there any clue who he is?
Agent Zane   Not a one. The guy slides into a different skin everywhere he goes. His last known personas were an Arab Sheik, a Bosnian General, an IRA Militia fighter and the latest of course, the Russian pilot but he never so much as leaves a fingerprint behind. This guy likes to play and right now we’re in a major game of tag.
Jarod   Tag?
Agent Zane   You’re it. Catch me if you can, you know, the kid school yard game?
Jarod   Uh, they didn’t play that where I went to school.
Agent Zane   Those are the four victims so far. Agent Ballinger was convinced the chameleon was planning two major assassinations on our soil that would, in chameleon’s words, affect someone important to your world. The first was the Russian Diplomat, the second is anybody’s guess.
Jarod   Is this Eddie’s family?
Agent Zane   Yeah, Eddie has everything a person can want.
Flashback    
     
Eddie   One day, I’m gonna find my parents, one day I’m gonna have a family of my own, so will you.
     
Agent Zane   You got a family Jarod?
Jarod   Hmm?
Agent Zane   A family. You got one?
Jarod   Trying to put one back together.
Agent Tracer   We’ve got a location on the chameleon.
     
Footfalls    
     
Agent Tracer   Third floor, center apartment.
Agent Zane   Assume he’s armed and dangerous.
Jarod   Full frontal assault.
Door kicked in    
Circus music plays    
Gun fire erupts    
Jarod  

Hold your fire!

He’s deflated.

Agent Tracer   We’ve been had.
Agent Zane   Eddie certainly was right about this guy being a wing nut.
Jarod   Clever and dangerous.
Agent Tracer   This guys crazier than we thought. It’s really creepy.
Agent Zane  

Have CSI scour this laugh factory.

Find something?

Jarod   Uh, nothing.
Agent Zane   Well keep looking, there’s gotta be something here that’ll give us a clue as to the chameleon’s real identity.
     
The Centre    
Sydney   You have to relax Parker. Just close your eyes and breathe slowly. In. Out. Let the breath of life nurture your soul. No else matters. Let yourself open up completely. Just listen. Can you hear the voices?
Voices    
Miss Parker   It’s more like static. All I hear is t, t t, t t-
Jarod’s lair    
Ethan   What does this mean?
Jarod   My face has been digitally attached to the bodies in these various photographs.
Ethan   Why?
Jarod   Someone’s playing with my head and when someone plays with my head it usually comes from one place.
The Centre    
Computer’s voice   You have a video phone call.
Sydney   Jarod! You’re alive.
Jarod   And because of that wonderful fact, I get to enjoy another day being chased by the Centre. I’ve gotta hand it to you though, pin up posters as bait this time was truly inspired.
Sydney   Inspired? We weren’t even sure you had survived until this very moment.
Jarod   Well someone in Centre wonderland has manipulated an ID photo I made for an arson investigator pretend that I did several years ago.
Sydney   Well let me check the archive. I assure you none of us have misused your image.
Jarod   Somebody did and I need to find out who.
Sydney   I’ll see what I can do Jarod.
Ethan   Double T.
Jarod   What did you say?
Ethan   Double T. The voices, her voice keeps saying double t.
Miss Parker   T. t. I heard it too.
Ethan   Miss Parker.
Miss Parker   Ethan.
Ethan   I’m glad you’re alive.
Miss Parker   I’m glad you’re alive too.
Jarod   Don’t you know that nobody dies at the Centre.
Ethan   My mother, our mother Catherine did. And somehow the answers are tied to double t.
Jarod   Is double t a project, a case file, or does it have something to do with me?
Sydney   Not to my knowledge.
Jarod   Well find out and I want the truth.
Video call ends    
Miss Parker   So do I.
Broots   I’m on it.
     
Jarod’s lair    
Ethan   Why didn’t you tell them about the chameleon?
Jarod   It was need to know. They don’t.
     
National Security Agency    
     
Flashback    
Jarod   Here’s my final recommendation on the airline simulation.
Eddie   You seem angry.
Jarod   I stole dsas of all my simulations. The Centre takes my findings and twists them, sells them to the highest bidder. Instead of using to prevent tragedies, they teach people to cause them.
Eddie   Oh, they couldn’t.
Jarod   They do. They’re never going to make me do another one. I’m going to escape Eddie and when I do, I’ll come back to get you.
     
Agent Zane   CSI went through everything, from the oxygen in the inflatable clown to the water in the super soaker and couldn’t find so much as a suspicious fiber that will give us a clue as to who the chameleon is.
Telephone rings    
Jarod   Agent Morse.
The Chameleon   Did you get the photos I left for you?
Jarod   Who are you?
The Chameleon   I am you and you are me and we are one and the same. Lighten up man, it’s a joke, you know, the nonsensical words of a disturbed man. Any real NSA agent would expect to hear from me. It’s not what you’d expect, is it Jarod?
Jarod   How do you know my name?
Bird Squawks    
The Chameleon   I guess that would be strange hmm. You must be so accustomed to being the only one in the room who knows you really are. It’s quite a rush isn’t it? Sitting in their midst and they have no idea how superior we are to them. It’s so easy to look down upon, so easy to manipulate. They so want to believe in who we pretend to be. Well this time, you’ve been unmasked and I’m the unknown man.
Jarod   I’ll find out who you are. As a matter of fact, I’m looking at your file right now.
The Chameleon   What a coincidence, I just happen to be reading one of yours and it tells me Jarod that you have a flaw in your character that makes you want to help people. I do hope this won’t make you an unworthy adversary.
Jarod   Eddie was right. This is a game for you.
The Chameleon   A game that poor Eddie lost.
Jarod   Well, I hate to break it to you but Agent Ballinger is still alive.
The Chameleon   Game’s not over. And I never make the same mistake twice. He’s awake now, you know?
Call ends.    
Agent   Agent Ballinger just woke up.
Tires squeal    
Hospital    
Elevators open    
Jarod   Ballinger.
Eddie   Whoa! I give up, don’t shoot.
Agent Zane   We thought you were in trouble.
Eddie   Jarod?
Jarod   Uh, Agent Morse.
Eddie   Oh my God.
Agent Zane   I must have missed the briefing.
Eddie   Uh, Agent Morse and I are old friends.
Agent Zane   From the Academy Training Center?
Jarod   Uh, yes, from the Centre.
Agent Zane   You never mentioned that to me.
Jarod   No, I, I didn’t.
Agent Zane   Well, I’ll give you boys a chance to catch up.
     
Jarod   It’s so good to see you. What are you doing out of bed? Go back to bed!
Eddie   I just got a mild cranial abrasion, I’ll be fine.
Jarod   Man, you’re as stubborn now as you were at the Centre. Sit down.

Eddie

(pulls gun)

 

Yeah you have no idea.

Oh, it’s yours. I’m a much better pick pocket now than I ever was a doctor.

Jarod   What are you doing?
Eddie   A lot of strange things have been happening to me lately. I’m not quite sure who to trust.
Jarod   Eddie, it’s me. It’s Jarod.
Flash black    
Sirens Wail    
Jarod   Splitting up is our only chance. Let’s go find those families. Good luck.
Present Time    
Eddie   I’m sorry. I just, never knew if I’d ever see you again. I guess in my heart, I always knew I would.
Jarod   Hey, sit down. I’ve been one step ahead of the Centre since we escaped.
Eddie   I guess I’m lucky. Either they haven’t found me or they haven’t bothered looking. You find your family?
Jarod   Some. I’m still searching for my mother.
Eddie   Find her Jarod. Find them all cause family is the only thing that matters.
Jarod   I can see that. I thought maybe you’d like to have them close.
Eddie   Thanks. Well, if you’ve seem my desk, you’re wearing that badge, I assume you’re chasing after the chameleon now too.
Jarod   Yes. Do you know who he is?
Eddie   I don’t know. Jarod, before we escaped from the Centre that night, I’d been running a simulation that you didn’t know anything about called Starpoints. It was designed to create covert identities for the NSA’s top five undercover agents. A few months ago, those very agents started being killed. Now, the chameleon beat me to number four but he won’t beat me to number five. The chameleon obviously knows about my sim and for some reason at the very moment that he shot me, I got a strange feeling that he knew me as well.
Jarod   I feel like he knows me too. Eddie, do the initials T. T. mean anything to you?
Eddie   Double t. Oh, it couldn’t be him could it?
Jarod   Him?
    Chopper approaches hospital window.
Window shatters as gun fire erupts.
     
Jarod   Eddie!
Eddie   Jarod.
Jarod   Did you see him? Did you see the chameleon?
Eddie   He was a dead man.
Jarod   Dead man? Eddie. Eddie?
    Law enforcement radio as Ballinger’s body is wheeled away.
     

Jarod

(on the telephone)

  You said the voices you heard kept saying double t? I believe T. T. is a man with ties the Centre. I need to know who that man is.
Ethan   I’ll do my best.
Inner sense voices    
Ethan   T.T. Tommy.
Vision    
Miss Parker   Mom.
Catherine Parker   Give me your hand.
Miss Parker   I don’t understand.
Catherine Parker   Ask your father, he knows all the secrets.
Crash as support beam falls    
Vision ends    
Tires squeal    
Broots   Miss Parker!
Car stops    
Miss Parker   You okay Broots?
Broots   I have a little more empathy for road kill than I did a second ago but yeah, I’m fine.
Miss Parker   Double t?
Broots   I started wit Centre personnel files and found a dozen names with the initials T. T. Out of those, I found one with a familiar Centre history.
Miss Parker   Dr. Tommy Thompson. He was a Centre research psychiatrist just like Sydney.
Broots   He was transferred to Cairo less than a week after Jarod escaped. You don’t think that’s a coincidence do you?
Miss Parker   Coincidence ain’t in the Centre dictionary. Get in.
     
Flashback    
Eddie   They’re going to kill me Jarod. The Centre is going to kill me.
Jarod   What are you talking about?
Eddie   The Centre is terminating my program. They’re going to kill me.
Jarod   You have a family out there Eddie. So do I. You’re coming with me.
Eddie   Jarod, you designed your escape plan for one person only.
Jarod   Well, I’ll make it work for two. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.
     
Present Day    
Agent Zane   Eddie was a lucky guy.
Jarod   He seemed to have had it all. Did you know him well?
Agent Zane   He was caring and he had a good heart.
Jarod   But?
Agent Zane   I always had the feeling he was hiding something, like he was looking over his shoulder. He seemed to feel so alone somehow.
Jarod   Well, even people who seem to have it all have their demons.
Agent Zane   That feeling I got from Eddie, I get the same from you.
Agent Tracer   I may not know Apache but I know electronics. It’s a wireless tap, a cord is linked to my wireless laptop. If the chameleon calls again, we’ve got him.
Jarod   Good thinking.
Agent Zane   By the way, any idea why the chameleon got in touch with you?
Telephone rings    
Agent Tracer   Any luck, this is the next time.
Agent Zane   Are you going to answer that?
Jarod   Agent Morse.
The Chameleon   Congratulations on your inheritance.
Jarod   Inheritance?
The Chameleon   The case, the case. Eddie’s little investigation of yours truly, by the way, the chopper pilot, you’ll find in a field near Meadow Springs uh, send a coroner.
Jarod   What do you want?
The Chameleon   I want to see what happens when I kill someone important to your world.
Jarod   If this is a game, at least fill me in on your rules.
The Chameleon   Ah, if I told my all my secrets to the other agents listening in, it wouldn’t be much of a game now would it Jarod? Have a nice day.
Agent Tracer   We’ve got the trace. It’s a marine line from a boat in Delaware. Some place called Blue Cove.
     
The Centre    
Sydney   Sorry Parker, what I remember of Dr. Tommy Thompson is that he was recruited to the Centre by Mr. Raines
Miss Parker   Come on Syd, there must be something else.
Sydney   It’s been a long time but I seem to remember your father actively disliked him.
Miss Parker   Disliked him why?
Sydney   I never knew.
Miss Parker   Maybe my inner sense it telling me that Dr. Thompson wants to hurt daddy, the question is where is he?
Broots   I can’t tell you where Thompson is but I can tell you where he is not. Cairo. The factility has no record of him ever working there.
Miss Parker   You sure Broots?
Broots   One hundred percent. But there is someone trying to find him here. Before I could get them, the Thompson files were already accessed by-
Miss Parker   Mr. Lyle.
     
    The waters outside the Centre
Agent Tracer   True to form, the chameleon left it clean. No prints, hairs, nothing.
Agent Zane   Great. Jarod? Jarod, you okay? You don’t look so well.
Jarod (staring at the Centre)   Never been very comfortable in this part of the world.
Agent Tracer   You’re gonna want to take a look at this. It’s just through here.
On boat outside the Centre    
Agent Zane   Toys, twinkies, cookies, pez. You ask me, the chameleon is searching for a lost childhood. Jarod?
Jarod   Lost childhood or no, the chameleon is not without culture.
Agent Zane eyes opera glasses and sign language book   Wait a minute. The guy watches opera but doesn’t listen to it.
Voices outside of boat    
Lyle   Excuse me, what’s going on here?
Agent Tracer   NSA, this is an investigation. You are?
Lyle   Mr. Lyle.
Agent Tracer   What’s your business here?
Lyle   I’m with the company, happy to help any way I can.
Agent Tracer   Did you or anyone else happen to see where this boat came from?
Lyle   Not to my knowledge. Fellows? No what ever got this boat here is damn smart. These waters are restricted, our security people enforce that.
Agent Tracer   What is it you guys do up here?
Lyle   Research. We’re like a think tank. Guinea pigs. So, you’ll be wrapping up soon?
Agent Tracer   Won’t be much longer now. Mr. Lyle, your thumb is bleeding.
Lyle   Oh um, guess uh, robbing body parts isn’t what it used to be.
Agent Tracer   Right.
Lyle   Laughs.
     
The Centre    
Sydney   You were correct Jarod. Your photo was cut from an old id.
Jarod   There’s something else I need to know. A simulation the Centre ran called Starpoints. It’s about the identities of undercover NSA agents.
Sydney   Wasn’t that Dr. Thompson’s project?
Jarod   Dr. Tommy Thompson.
Sydney   You’re the second person to bring up that name to me today.
Jarod   Let me guess. Miss Parker.
Sydney   Yes.
Jarod   I need names Sydney, answers about that simulation. Lives depend on it.
     
Centre parking garage    
Miss Parker   Mind if I thumb a ride?
Lyle   Not now sis.
Miss Parker   Did you know that when you call me sis, someone either dies or disappears.
Lyle   It’s late and so am I.
Miss Parker   Big rendezvous with T.T. You probably know him as Tommy Thompson.

Lyle

(opens door)

  Stay out of it.

Miss Parker

(closes car door with hip)

  Loved to. Can’t. So, what in the hell are you hiding?
Lyle   What in the hell are you smoking? Why is it that every time your planets don’t quite line up, you go right to the conspiracy card and come after me?
Miss Parker   You want donkey spit, you find an ass.
Lyle   Oh, sell me a vowel here Parker.
Miss Parker   No, I’ll give the whole puzzle. Your buddy, Dr. Thompson, is somehow tied to our mother.
Lyle   Your inner sense voice tell you that? Be careful sis, don’t go believing everything you hear.
Miss Parker   It’s daddy isn’t it? If I found out anything has happened to our father and you knew about it, there won’t be enough spare body parts in Blue Cove to piece your sorry ass back together.
Lyle opens cell phone and dials   This is Lyle. Cut off his anesthesia. I’m coming down to see him now and I need him alert.
Miss Parker {to Broots}   Let’s see where the rat scurries.
     
    Centre
SL 20 Infirmary Hallway
Broots   You think your father’s in there?
Miss Parker   Based on what we’ve seen down here before, I sure hope not.
    Lyle snatches curtain open
Miss Parker   Raines!
Broots   I thought he was dead.
Miss Parker   Not anymore.
     
    Infirmary room;

Raines

(grabs Lyle’s wrist)

  I want it back.
Lyle   And I want answers. If you won’t give them to me, I’ll spread the rest of you around like a download from Napster.
Jarod’s lair    
     
Ethan   It’s like a big riddle Jarod. All these things seemed to be tied together. Maybe the photos are just about your face, maybe the messages on all this other stuff.
Jarod   No, that would be too obvious. The chameleon knows it. He said this was a game. He wanted me to dig for answers. Look at that, his hand is forming the sign language equivalent for the letter g. {picks up another photo} H. {another photo} O. {another photo} S. {last photo} T. The chameleon is trying to tell me he’s a ghost.
The Centre    
Broots   It was like something right out of Scoobie Doo, monster Raines is chained down in some weird cellar and Master Lyle comes down to pay him a visit.
Sydney   I can’t believe Raines is alive.
Miss Parker   But for how long? Lyle wasn’t exactly tucking him in with a good night mint.
Sydney   It is quite possible that Raines is our final link to your mother and to Dr. Thompson.
Broots   Which is why we need him alive.
Miss Parker   Let me know the second Lyle so much as peaks out from under his rock.
     
     
    National Security Agency
Agent Zane   Hey, you never did tell me why the chameleon said our secrets.
Jarod   You said it yourself, he’s toying with us. Saying things like our secrets divides us, makes us question our loyalties. Obviously, it’s working.
Agent Tracer   Jarod, this was left at reception for you.
Agent Zane   Gonna open it?
Jarod   My notebook. I left it in a taxi.
Agent Zane   Thoughtful guys, those cabbies.
Jarod walks away    
Agent Zane   Are you good at keeping secrets Agent Tracer?
Agent Tracer   The federal government seems to think so.
Agent Zane   I want everything you can dig up on Jarod Morse. My eyes only.
     
Jarod flips through red notebook which includes photo of his mother with tears added in ink.  

Why are you crying mom?

{Another clipping reads: NSA AGENT Jarod Morse ~ Private Service Tonight At Elk Grove Park}

Elk Grove Park    
Jarod finds casket with origami piece.    
Flashback    
Eddie   I like your crow Jarod.
Jarod   Oh, it’s not a crow, it’s Onisius. The Greek god of retribution.
Eddie   Well that’s not what he told me.
Jarod   Who?
Eddie   Him. {Eddie points to man}
Present day    
Jarod   Alex.
     
    The Centre Parking garage
Lyle (answers cell)   Lyle. I just emailed the address Raines gave me. Did you get it? Good. You want me to what? The emphysema freak’s a harmless puddle in a wheelchair now..you..ok. Yes sir. Okay, consider Raines a dead man.
Sydney {spying on Lyle}   Miss Parker, Miss Parker, it’s me.
Lyle draws gun and makes his way to the infirmary    
Infirmary    
Raines reaches for and drops bed pan    
Miss Parker   All filled up and no where to go?
Raines   Leave me alone. I’m in enough pain without you.
Miss Parker   Listen up doc, a little bird has whispered into my ear that hunting season has just opened and your the prize kill so that gives you exactly two choices. Either you answer my questions and I consider saving your pathetic carcass or I leave you here to have your parts picked clean like a beat up Buick in a chop shop. What’s it going to be sport?
Raines   I’m listening.
Miss Parker   I want to know about Dr. Tommy Thompson.
Raines   I knew him. He worked here. If I tell you any more than that, I might have to talk about your mother.
Miss Parker   Talk.
Raines   After I’m safely out of here.
Elevator dings    
Broots   Miss Parker, someone’s coming.
     
    Lyle enters infirmary, opens fires, opens curtains to discover Raines gone.
     
    Mr. Parker’s residence
Miss Parker   You were saying about my mother?
Raines   It was Catherine who insisted I hire Dr. Thompson.
Miss Parker   Was he her lover?
Raines   I don’t know. They clearly had a history together.
Miss Parker   Being lovers would certainly explain why my father never liked Dr. Thompson.
Raines   Your father didn’t like Thompson because he blamed him for Jarod’s escape.
Sydney   Tommy Thompson never had anything to do with Jarod. Why would Mr. Parker blame him for Jarod’s escape?
Raines   I can’t believe you didn’t know.
Broots   Didn’t know?
Raines   Jarod didn’t escape alone.
Jarod’s lair    
Jarod   Three of us escaped that night. Me, Eddie and a third pretender named Alex.
Ethan   And you think is Alex is the chameleon?
Jarod   A ghost is the chameleon.
Flashback    
Radio traffic   Sweeper 211, prepare for nightly lock down.
Sweeper (enters code)   Lock down complete. {Sweeper stumbles, groans)
Jarod (watching sweeper)   Come on, come on.
     
    Sweeper collapses
Jarod produces long instrument which he slides under door to retrieve keys from collapsed sweeper
Radio traffic   Sweeper 211, report in. (continues as Jarod gets keys) Alarm sounds. Jarod reaches through bars and unlocks door, runs to Eddie’s room.
Eddie   What did you give him?
Jarod   A natural sedative that I derived from mold and dust in my room.
Eddie (freed and looking at camera)   Jarod, they’ll see us.
Jarod   They already have. Come on.
Present time    
Sydney   Why weren’t we told about the other escapees?
Raines   The cover up directive came from high up.
Sydney   The tower?
Miss Parker   My father?
Sydney   Triumvirate?
Raines   I don’t know. I do know this. The cover up was all about the pretender named Alex.
Flashback    
Alex (calls from locked room)   Good luck Jarod.
Jarod   Alex. They said they transferred you out of here.
Alex   They’re liars. I’ve never begged before.
Jarod   I don’t know if three of us can make it but we’re going to try.
    Footfalls, heavy doors slam close
Jarod   One more to go!
Eddie (falls)   Jarod! Jarod.
Jarod   Alex help.
Alex (stares)   Come on!
    Jarod and Eddie safely make it past closing doors and to a waiting Alex
Jarod   Are you okay?
Alex   Thank God you made it.
Jarod   Yes. Come on.
Running continues    

Escapees

enter

Rehydration Core

   
Door closes    
Jarod   It’s sealed.
They climb to reach another exit    
Eddie   Jarod.
Jarod   Release valves, they know we’re here. Cover your faces.
Release valve sprays Alex who slips.    
Alex   Ohh!
Jarod   Alex no! Hang on. I’ve got you.
Alex   Don’t let me fall Jarod.
Jarod   Hang on.
Alex   Don’t let me fall! Don’t let me fall!
Alex slips    
Jarod   No!
Jarod’s lair    
Jarod   I couldn’t save him.
Ethan   Alex died?
Jarod   Or so I thought.
     
    Mr. Parker’s residence
Raines   Eddie, the other pretender, got away.
Miss Parker   Eddie?
Raines   A subpar pretender. Once we realized Jarod was the only pretender of value, the search for Eddie stopped.
Broots   What about Alex?
Raines   He was found in the rehydration core, nursed back to health and shipped out.
Miss Parker   Where?
Raines   I never heard anymore about it.
     
    Jarod’s lair
     
Jarod   It’s not fair.
Ethan   About Alex?
Jarod   I can’t imagine what the last five years have done to him.
     
    Mr. Parker’s residence
Miss Parker   If this other pretender, Alex, is somehow tied to Dr. Thompson then maybe their paths lead to my father.
Alex’s lair    
Mr. Parker is un-hooded by Alex    
Mr. Parker   What do you want?
Alex   I want everything.
Alex slices Mr. Parker’s tie with knife    
Alex   Why Mr. Parker, you look mad enough to kill me but you can’t. I’m already dead.
The Centre    
Miss Parker   Tell me you found Tommy Thompson.
Broots   No but I finally cracked Mr. Lyle’s phone archive. It’s the call he received from your father.
Broots’s gadget plays conversation    
Mr. Parker  

Lyle listen, your mad man is inside my house. Now dammit, do something! Hey! Hey you, get away from me!

Y…stop! (crash is heard)

Lyle   Dad? Dad are you okay? Dad!
Dial tone    
Broots   That’s where it ends.
Miss Parker   No, Scooby Doo, that’s where it begins.
The Centre parking garage    
Lyle and two men walk    
Lyle   I’m good.
Man   Alright Mr. Lyle
Miss Parker   Boo.
Lyle exclaims in surprise and drops keys    
Lyle   God! You scared the-
Miss Parker   It’s called crap Lyle and as full of it as you are, I’m sure you have some to spare.
Lyles reaches for dropped keys as Miss Parker steps on them    
Miss Parker   Looking for something? Or should I say someone?
Lyle   What are you talking about?
Raines   I’m talking about the alive and kicking emphysema ridden ghoul you’re harvesting for body parts.
Lyle   Then you know Raines is alive.
Miss Parker   I know a little about a lot. Raines, Tommy Thompson and your mad man Alex. What I don’t know is why.
Lyle   It’s simple. Survival. Alex kidnapped our father and he’s made it clear that he’ll kill him if I don’t carry out his every wish.
Miss Parker   Why wasn’t I told?
Lyle   When it comes to psychos, Alex is the real deal. The more I contain this, the better I thought dad’s chances would be.
Miss Parker   Like hell.
Miss Parker presses play button on recorder   Lyle, listen to me, your mad man-
Miss Parker   Daddy called him your mad man. Now-
Miss Parker (reaches for and grasps Lyle’s hand.)   You tell me why or I’m returning this to Mr. Raines.
Lyle   Uh. God, you’re a crazy bitch.
Crunch is heard as Miss Parker grips Lyle’s thumb    
Lyle   Oh!
Miss Parker   You don’t know the half of it.
Lyle exclaims in agony as she shifts the direction of Lyle’s newly stolen thumb    
Lyle   Alright, alright! After the escape, I took Alex to Africa, the Triumvirate assigned him to me. It was an impossible task. I tried to mold him but this guy is way too evil, way too whacked to be pliable.
Miss Parker   Sounds like you two are birds of a feather.
Lyle   Jeffrey Dahmer would be afraid to flock with this guy. No matter what I did to control him, he fought it. He started reporting directly to the Triumvirate, gleefully carrying out their dirty work.
Thumb bleeds, Lyle exclaims as Miss Parker shifts thumb’s direction    
Lyle   Now whatever it is he’s doing for them now, he seems to have added another wrinkle.
Miss Parker   Wrinkle?
Another crunch, shout as Parker tortures Lyle’s thumb    
Lyle   Payback of some kind, hell bent on revenge on anyone from his Centre past.
Miss Parker   Like killing our father.
Miss Parker painfully releases Lyle’s thumb.    
Lyle   Which he may have already done.
Inner sense voices    
Miss Parker   No. Daddy’s still alive. But Alex will kill him.
     
The Centre    
Miss Parker   You’ve found my father.
Broots   No. Tommy Thompson. I cracked the encryption on double T’s file and found that the Dr’s transfer to Cairo was just a cover up for where he was really sent.
Miss Parker   Which was?
Broots   Exactly where the Centre sends people when they want their gray matter martinized.
Sydney   The renewal wing.
Broots   Exactly.
Sydney   They sent Thompson there for a re-education.
Miss Parker   Let’s go.
Broots   Uh no, he’s not there anymore.
Miss Parker   Where is he?
Broots   Good news, bad news. The good news is after he was released, they set him up in Westbrook, Maryland.
Miss Parker   Bad news?
Broots   Bad news is there are two addresses in Westbrook where he might be.
Miss Parker   Good news, bad news Broots. You take one, I’ll take the other.
     
Jarod’s lair    
Inner sense voices/ Ethan reacts as he views computer screen with two addresses    
Ethan   Miss Parker’s in trouble. I gotta help her. I gotta help her.
National Security Agency    
Telephone rings    
Jarod   Jarod.
Ethan   I found Tommy Thompson.
Jarod   Where?
Ethan   Two addresses in Westbrook, Maryland. I’m faxing them to you right now. Jarod, I’m going.
Jarod   You’re going where? To Thompson’s?
Ethan   No, to see Miss Parker, my sister. She’s in trouble, I have to warn her.
Jarod   To warn her about what?
Ethan   I can’t explain it right now okay? I love you brother, I have to go.
Jarod   Ethan.
Telephone rings (presumed caller is Alex)    
Jarod turns on cell phone to interfere with conversation    
Agent Zane (outside door)   Pick up!
Agent Tracer reacts to static when Jarod picks up phone   Ah! I’ve lost audio.
Agent Zane   Can you still trace?
Agent Tracer   Uh, yeah.
Jarod picks up phone   Morse.
Alex   Four rings. I was starting to think you were avoiding me buddy.
Jarod   I’m not your buddy. Alex.
Alex   Took you long enough to figure out it was me genius.
Jarod   I thought you were dead.
Alex   A lifetime has passed since I died just like a lifetime has happened for you. The big difference though, I’ve dedicated myself to eradicating the insignificant and you’ve chosen to help them. The crippled, the abused, the, uh, mentally challenged, they all seem to have you as their advocate now don’t they Jarod? Like I said it’s a flaw in your character, it’s almost as if you’re trying to heal thyself through your works of kindness.
Jarod   You know nothing about what I do.
Alex   Oh, you’ve left your mark. (Alex places bloody fingerprint on wall) Mysterious doctor saves crippled boy, fireman saves estranged family, abused elders saved by reclusive industrialist. (Alex clicks open knife) But to what end? (Alex cradles phone between shoulder and head as he begins to peel off fingerprint with knife blade) I mean does it make you feel more like a real person Jarod? Is that it? Listen, you do yourself a favor, stop trying to be like them, like a real person with a real past. You and I aren’t and never will be.
Jarod   What was robbed of us at the Centre does not have to be the arbiter of who we are now.
Alex   It doesn’t? Oh, ok the you tell me one thing of any permanence in your life, one thing that means anything and don’t say family please, those you have found, those you haven’t have to hide from you in order to stay safe from the danger that permeates your entire existence. See, the Centre still has that power over you Jarod. Me, I took that power away.
Jarod   What are you talking about?
Alex   Well didn’t you read the paper today? It’s in the top drawer of your desk. Sorry I missed you on my route this morning. See by taking the lives of my own family, I stole the Centre’s power, I forever released myself from emotional bondage to the boys in Blue Cove.
Jarod   You’re insane.
Alex   No Jarod, I’m free. And now they can’t hurt me anymore and that makes it my turn.
Jarod   Eddie was one of us.
Alex   Eddie knew too much.
Jarod   What about me?
Eddie   I’m sowing the seeds of your destruction as we speak.
Call ends    
Agent Tracer   Got it! We’ve got the trace.
Jarod reaches for and reads the fax that Ethan sent as Agent Tracer speaks    
Agent Tracer   It’s an address registered to a Tommy Thompson in Westbrook, Maryland.
Jarod   Oh no.
Westbrook, Maryland    
     
Miss Parker (tries light switch which doesn’t work)   Perfect. Dr. Thompson? Tommy Thompson?
A bomb is shown in the room as well as mice in cages. Parker walks towards an open safe, finds tear shaped diamond ring, flashback to vision of her mother saving her/ the ring.    
Miss Parker   Mom.
Present time    
Miss Parker (studies ring.)   What the hell is going on?
Miss Parker places ring on her finger and it catches red light from the bomb. She turns to see five seconds left on the timer and runs but is caught in the explosion.    
Miss Parker (once again covered in rubble, a burning support beam looming overhead)   Oh my God. Perfect. {She struggles to remove the rubble trapping her} Oh.
She hears movement    
Miss Parker   Here! I’m over here!
Catherine Parker appears in the smoke and dust    
Ethan   Miss Parker! Miss Parker! I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.
Miss Parker   I don’t understand. How could you be-
Ethan struggles to lift beam from Miss Parker’s leg.    
Ethan   Give me your hand.
Miss Parker   It was a premonition, not a dream.
Burning support beam falls just as Ethan pulls Miss Parker free    
Ethan   Tommy Thompson’s not here.
Miss Parker   Then he must be at the other address.
Ethan   Let’s go!
     
The ‘other’ address (NSA agents enter with guns drawn)    
Agent Zane   What have you got?
Jarod   A very dead Tommy Thompson.
Clatter is heard from closet behind agents. Jarod opens door to find a cowering Broots!    
Broots   Please don’t shoot! (He sees Jarod) Oh my gosh.
Jarod   You have the right to remain silent. (Jarod grabs Broots, pulls him close) And I suggest you do. Cuff him.
Mr. Parker’s residence    
Sydney is downloading simulations (Starpoints for Jarod) when Miss Parker and Ethan enter.    
Miss Parker   Where’s Broots?
Sydney   Bad news all around I’m afraid. Broots never got back or called. As for Raines, he was gone when I got back here several hours ago.
Miss Parker   Probably got one of his werewolves in training to drag his butt out of here. No doubt he’s holed up in the woods somewhere licking his wounds until the next full moon rises.
Sydney   Any luck finding Dr. Thompson?
Ethan   No. We went to the second Thompson address. There were police cars there and an ambulance pulling away.
Sydney   You don’t think that Broots-
Miss Parker   Let’s hope not Syd.
Sydney stands to leave    
Miss Parker   You’ll keep me posted if you hear from him?
Sydney stops, nods, exits.    
Miss Parker   Sighs.
National Security Agency    
Agent Zane (referring to Broots)   Besides claiming he had nothing to do with the murder, this whimp has lockjaw and won’t even give us his name.
Jarod   Well, give me five minutes alone with him, I’ll give you enough information to write his biography.
Agent Zane   I’ll stay, thanks.
Jarod   So, you won’t talk, is that it?
Broots   I don’t know what to say.

Jarod

(pours a cup of water)

  Well, why don’t we start with your name?
Broots   It’s Broots but I don’t think I should say anything else.
Jarod   Why not? I mean, did we offend you by bringing you here today? We are sorry but the fact that we found you hiding at the scene of a capital murder did give us probable cause. Still won’t talk. Well, I guess something really must have you spooked. Or should I say someone?
Broots   Uh, okay, if you’re so smart, then why don’t you tell us?
Jarod grabs Broots’ hands    
Jarod   Hands like butter with little calluses on each finger tip screams computer geek. (Jarod grabs Broots’ forehead) The dull, sunken withdrawn look in his eyes says internet porn junkie and these cloths, they say unemployed and that corpse like complexion says recluse. The little indentation on your second finger, left hand says you just removed your wedding band. Naughty boy. If you can believe somebody actually goes to bed with this. No, this loser here, he had nothing to do with the murder.
Broots   He’s right uh, not about the loser part.
Agent Zane  

{to Broots} Shut up.

{to Jarod} How do you figure?

Jarod   Cough if I get off track Mr. Broots. Our married, unemployed, web whacker here was at the scene of the crime because he made a date with a woman he met on the internet. Were you planning a little afternoon rendezvous Mr. Broots? (Broots nods) Let me guess, your internet fantasy girl, she’s tall, slender, leggy, has a penchant for leather, has sharp claws and an even sharper tongue?
Broots   Um, usually.
Jarod   Fantasy girl must have realized what a tremendous geek you were and she gave you the wrong address? Not wanting to park the family gremlin in front of chat room Charlene’s, hitched a ride and he gets there, nobody’s home but the door’s open so you let yourself in, you found the body, you heard the police pulling up and you hid in the closet and that, as they say, is that, isn’t it Mr. Dot Com?
Broots   Dead on.
Jarod   I’ll check out his story. In the meantime, why don’t you put him down in the hole?
Broots   The hole?
     
Mr. Parker’s residence    
Miss Parker   Why did you come for me?
Ethan   Mother’s voice told me to.
Miss Parker   She told you to save me?
Ethan   Just to go. Even though I’d been there before, sort of.
Miss Parker   What do you mean?
Ethan   Well, ever since I can remember, I’ve had this repeating vision. I’m in a burning room and this woman emerges from the smoke to save me. She’s wearing this ring (Ethan reaches down, takes Miss Parker’s hand) and the reflection off the ring is so bright that I’ve always thought of it as like a beacon for her.
Miss Parker   She’s our mother.
Ethan   Yes, I know that now because you look just like her. Tell me everything that you can remember about her. Please.
     
National Security Agency    
    Jarod types up and prints a report on Broots then offers it to Agent Zane
Jarod   The information on that Broots character.
Agent Zane   Guy checks out just like you said. Spring him.
Jarod’s cell phone rings    
Jarod   Yes.
Sydney   I found it Jarod, I found the Starpoints sim.
Jarod   I know there were five undercover agents. A Bosnian labor leader, a Russian Diplomat, an Irish priest and an Arab oil minister. I need to know the name of the fifth undercover agent.
Sydney   It’s a she. An ambassador from Sweden. A Hilga Ulfsoon.
Jarod   Uflsoon. Thank you Sydney.
Jarod hangs up, dials number    
Jarod   Yes, I need the number for the Swedish embassy please. Thank you.
He hangs up, dials again.    
Jarod  

Swedish Embassy? This is Olav Bjorn, Stockholm Daily News. I need Ambassador Ulfsoon’s Washington, D.C. itinerary for my photographers.

The Opera house reception. Four O’clock.

Flashback   The Chameleon is not without culture.
Present day    
Jarod   Thank you. (hangs up phone)
Agent Tracer   Zane! I got the results from that bloody fingerprint from the murder scene. You’re never gonna believe who’s print it is.
Agent Zane   Jarod is our chameleon? (Zane and Tracer run to Jarod’s office.)Where is he?
Elevator dings    
Broots   That’s it? I just walk out of here?
Agent Zane   Jarod!
Jarod   No .You just run out here.
Pursuit ensues    
Tires squeal as Jarod and Broots flee scene    
Agent Zane (runs inside, picks up phone)   It’s Zane. I want to blanket APB Agent Morse. I don’t why and I don’t how but Jarod is our chameleon.
     
Mr. Parker’s residence    
Ethan   Sounds like she was an amazing woman.
Miss Parker   She always was to me. That’s why it’s so important that I find out what she meant about my father knowing all the secrets. It may sound strange but I I’ve always felt that she was looking out for me, like a guardian angel.
Ethan   She has been.
Phone rings    
Miss Parker   What?
Mr. Parker   It’s me angel.
Miss Parker   Daddy, I’ve been so worried.
Mr. Parker   Listen to me, I need you to come to the south shore shipyard, twenty, five o’clock and I need you to come alone.
Miss Parker   I will but-
Mr. Parker   You’re my last hope angel.
Miss Parker   Daddy. Daddy!
     
Jarod’s car    
Broots   I’m having a breakdown here.
Jarod   Shut up and let me think.
Broots   Uh think. You know what I think, I need to check into a clinic. Wouldn’t that be a laugh? What clinic would I check into? The minute I tell them the truth about my world they’d be convinced I was crazy. Where are we going?
Jarod   The opera.
Broots   The opera? I hate the opera, there’s no hot dogs, there’s no popcorn.
Jarod   Shut. Up.
Broots   I’m sorry, I’m sorry but when I’m nervous, I talk and right now I’ve got a lot to be nervous about. First there’s the explosion in DC underground and there’s Miss Parker’s start seeing visions and Raines getting murdered and then unmurdered and then Lyle who used to not have a thumb, getting a thumb and Mr. Raines who had a thumb losing his thumb to Mr. Lyle and then finding out that not only one pretender escaped from the Centre no, three of them of did and then trying to locate a a a a live psychiatrist only to find a dead doc and being arrested by a guy who’s not really a federal agent, oh and while we’re at it, why don’t we just throw Mr. Parker into the mix.
Jarod   What about Mr. Parker?
Broots   Well, he was kidnapped.
Jarod   Kidnapped?
Broots   By the guy, Alex, the other pretender.
Jarod   I’m letting you off here.
Broots   What?
Jarod   Get out!
Broots   Why? Okay.
Jarod   Get out!
Broots gets out, slams car   I’m having a breakdown here.
     
Opera house    
Cop on stake out sees Jarod    
Cop   Dispatch, put me through to Agent Zane.
Clock chimes at Four    
    Jarod sees Alex at window with gun and saves Ambassador and takes a shot to the shoulder
Cops   Shots fired at the opera house, officer needs assistance. Stay down!
Jarod   The Ambassador is still alive Alex! Your little game of tag is over. Looks like you’re not going to win this time.
Alex   You have to know what game you’re playing before anyone can win anything.
    Alex surprises Jarod, knocks him down
Alex   How the Centre could ever think I was second to you amazes me…didn’t perfect any simulation. Once Mr. Altruism was finished, who do you think they brought in to corrupt your findings hmm?
Jarod   What?
Alex   Who do you think made the planes crash that you made so safe? Who you do think found and murdered the witnesses you gave new identities to, turned your vaccine into a epidemic?
Jarod   You bastard!
    Alex kicks Jarod and runs, pursuit ensures, Alex closes gate, locking Jarod inside.
Alex   Tell me Mr. Altruism, where was your flaw in character the night we escaped?
Jarod   Eddie and I tried to save you. You know that.
Alex   What I know is that while you walked around free, I was shipped off to the Triumvirate and turned into their puppet. They needed a back up pretender while they were out searching for you. Well, I’m not a back up anymore.
Jarod   So Starpoints was just a way for you to show off to the Triumvirate how talented you were? And Eddie found out. Didn’t he?
Alex   Oh, Eddie was a speed bump. Jarod, you turned a routine Triumvirate assignment into something wonderfully personal to me. Luring you was simple. It’s that flaw in your character that made it so easy. Always risking your life for somebody who’s not important to you world.
Jarod charges gate   The Ambassador is important to the world.
Alex   Not the world. Your world. The Swedish Ambassador? She’s nothing to your world. But Miss Parker is. In fact, you have no idea how important to your life she really is and after today, you’ll never know.
Alex leaves, again, Jarod charges gate    
Jarod   Alex! Alex! Alex!
Footsteps approach    
Agent Zane   Jarod freeze!
Cop   Ma’am, this man didn’t shoot the Ambassador. He saved her life.
Jarod   Andrea I know you have questions about me and rightfully so but I can catch the chameleon if you just let me go. Alone.
Agent Zane   No way.
Jarod   You once told me that Eddie had a big heart and there was something about me that reminded you of him. I know you have questions but I don’t think that you question that my heart is in the right place. Please. Trust me!
     
Mr. Parker’s residence    
Telephone rings    
Ethan   Hello?
Jarod   Where’s Miss Parker?
Ethan   South side shipyard.
Shipyard Alex’s lair    
Miss Parker   Daddy, daddy where are you?
Muffled sounds come from locked freezer    
    Miss Parker lays down gun, opens freezer, finds her Mr. Parker
Mr. Parker   Damn, what you took you long?
Miss Parker   Daddy, I’ve been trying.
Mr. Parker   Untie me. We’ve got to get out of here before that sick bastard gets back.
Alex   Too late. That sick bastard is already here.
Miss Parker runs for gun, Alex reaches it first    
Alex   So nice to finally meet you Miss Parker.
Mr. Parker   Damn. It. There’s got to be a way to get out of this, something that will make you happy, you psychopath!
Alex   Oh I am happy Mr. Parker, but there is something that I’d like to clarify.
Alex pistol whips Mr. Parker    
Alex   I’m not psychopath, I’m a sociopath. There’s a difference. You see a psychopath is insane. He can’t distinguish between wrong and right. A sociopath knows the difference, he just doesn’t have a conscience, you know? So he doesn’t care. It was that conscience that your people took away from me.
Miss Parker glances behind Alex to Jarod enter    
Alex   So now blowing your brains out or eating a popsicle is all the same to me.
Miss Parker   Why shoot him?
Alex   Cause he’s the one who thought I was inferior to Jarod, the one who sent me to the Triumvirate but I am not second to Jarod and if either of you were to be alive to be read tomorrow’s paper, well, you’d see that point was proven.
Miss Parker   Can I ask you one thing?
Alex   What’s that?
Miss Parker   For years, I’ve been searching for the secrets that only my father knows. I came to ask him.
Alex   Well that is ironic and funny, isn’t it pops?
Miss Parker   Ironic?
Alex   You’re right about your father knowing all the secrets.
Miss Parker   Then why funny?
Alex   He’s not your father.
     
Jarod   Alex!
Shot is fired, hits Mr. Parker    
Miss Parker   Daddy!
Alex and Jarod fight    
Miss Parker   Daddy.
Mr. Parker   It isn’t supposed to happen this way. There’s so much you need to know.
     
    Jarod chases Alex outside to the end of shipping crane over looking water
Jarod   There’s no where left to go Alex!
Alex (looks down)   Well, there’s on place.
Jarod (extends his hand)   Come back in. What was done to you, what was done to me was inexcusable but it’s not worth dying for. Let me help you.
Alex   Now why would you want to help me?
Jarod   I have a flaw in my character remember?
Alex   No thanks.
Jarod   It doesn’t have to end this way.
Alex   You don’t know what you’re saying Jarod.
Jarod   I know that there is always hope, always.
Alex   There’s no hope for me or for you. Do you have any idea what they would do to me if they got me back? Do you even know why they want you back so much, why they’ve been chasing you for five years? You really think it’s about being a pretender do you?
Jarod   What are you talking about?
Alex   You have no idea who you really are. Did you find your mom yet?
Jarod   No.
Alex   No, they’re never going to let that happen.
Jarod   Why not?
Alex (laughs)   And they thought you were the smart one.
Alex steps back    
Jarod   No Alex!
Jarod grips Alex’s wrist    
Jarod   I’ve got you!
Alex   No Jarod. You save me, you win but if I fall, only you lose.
Alex pulls back, falls    
Jarod   No!
Splash    
The Centre    
Inner sense voices/flashback    
Miss Parker   I don’t understand.
Catherine Parker   Ask your father. He knows all the secrets.
Telephone rings    
Miss Parker   What?
Jarod   It’s Jarod.
Miss Parker   Consider yourself lucky to be sure of even that.
Jarod   Did they find Alex’s body?
Miss Parker   Not as far as I know, but I don’t often get told the truth.
Jarod   You sound as worn down as I feel.
Miss Parker   The word is lost Jarod and it’s getting dark fast. For starters, I don’t know where Broots is and Ethan is gone. I don’t if he left or if he was taken-
Jarod   Taken?
Miss Parker   He started a note he never finished but there’s no sign of struggle.
Jarod   What about your father?
Miss Parker   Unconscious and in intensive care at the Centre, if he his my father, all of which leaves me wondering just exactly who I am.
Jarod   Welcome to the club.
Miss Parker   Tell me the truth Jarod, do you know if he’s really my father?
Jarod   Do you know why the Centre wants me back so badly? Is it just because I’m a pretender. Or is it something else?
Miss Parker   Even if I knew, you know I couldn’t tell you.
Jarod   Then I guess that leaves us down the same dead end. All secrets. No answers.
     
    Both Miss Parker and Jarod are alerted by incoming message
Jarod   Hang on.
    Email they both receive is a photo of their mothers taken together
Miss Parker   You are not going to believe what I just got.
Jarod   Our mothers. Together.
Miss Parker   This is the key to the biggest secret of all.
Jarod   And the first one who finds the answers wins.
     
Raines’ computer   Your mail has been sent
Raines   We’re even now, my children. God speed

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