Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc.and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.



Regeneration
part 1
by Gizmo






He blinked, trying to open his eyes which seemed glued shut. Reaching up with one arm, he wiped and opened them. His hand came into focus and he stared at the blood on his fingers. Hearing voices, he gingerly lifted his now throbbing head from the ground and peered into the dusty tunnel.

Miss Parker was pulling Ethan to his feet when she heard the maintenance door bang open. She reached for her gun but couldn’t find it. Three sweepers rushed them and she protested loudly as they were hustled out the tunnel and into the maintenance duct. She glanced back down the tunnel briefly, wondering if Jarod was still alive.

Jarod waited until the footsteps had receded before getting a look at his surroundings. He found himself laying on his side against the wall of the tunnel, hidden from view by a piece of sheet metal. A searing pain in his right leg got his attention and he looked down at the piece of rebar sticking through it. He screamed and bit his lip as he pulled his leg away from the bar that had impaled him against the wall. After a moment, he pushed the metal away and limped to the maintenance door the sweepers had used.

***

The Centre

Miss Parker’s fingers itched to shoot someone. Since arriving back at the Centre, she had been ‘escorted’ to the infirmary. They had left her locked in a room waiting for the doctor. Now, an hour later, she was boiling. When the door clicked open, she sat back and waited for her first visitor.

“Hello Daddy.”

“Angel, I came as soon as I heard. What is going on?”

“Yes, Daddy, I’m hurt and I need a doctor to stitch up my arm. So glad you asked.”

“Oh, yes, well, the Centre doctor is busy with Ethan right now. What were you doing there?”

“How is my half-brother?”

Mr. Parker stared at his daughter. So she knows, he realized. He considered her carefully.

“Ethan is going to recover. He has a broken collarbone and some ribs needed taping. They’re checking to make sure there’s no internal damage. Now, Angel, you need to tell me what you were doing there. There’s a board meeting in two hours. They’re very concerned about where your loyalties are.”

“Trying to decide what to do with me, hmmm, Daddy? What do you do with bad daughters that don’t play your Centre games? Kill them off like you do with inconvenient wives? Just for the record, Daddy, is your little son really yours or is he another Centre creation?”

Mr. Parker grabbed his daughter and shook her.

“Now, you listen here. I didn’t raise you to be a weakling like your mother. You knew when you came to work here what we do. You’re just as involved in the Centre’s schemes as I am. You’re a Parker – act like one!”

She shoved her father away and glared.

“You’re right, Daddy. It is time to start acting like a Parker. Where’s my gun?”

“It’s safe. I’m going to tell the tower that you followed Ethan in hopes that Jarod would show up. Now that Jarod knows about Ethan, we can use Ethan to capture him. Jarod will probably contact you. Our deal still stands, Angel. Can I count on you to bring Jarod in?”

Miss Parker couldn’t believe her father’s audacity. Did he think she was stupid? They were never going to allow her to go free. Somehow, it all came back to Jarod. She needed time – time to get the answers and find that disk her mother had made.

“I don’t know Daddy. How can I trust you to live up to your end of the bargain?”

Mr. Parker glared at his daughter. He had protected her many times from the Centre’s wrath and this is what he gets? Perhaps it was time to end their relationship. But she has the best chance of capturing Jarod, he thought.

“I’ll give you Ethan. You get me Jarod and I’ll give you both yours and Ethan’s freedom.”

“Deal. I’ll want it in writing.”

“It’ll be on your desk in an hour.”

****

Miss Parker considered the computer monitor. She had been shocked when, after the doctor sewed her arm back together, she had been allowed to visit with Ethan. Her half-brother had been under the drugs they had given him and a little banged up but otherwise seemed fine. Now, she sat at home, trying to decipher the Centre’s ultimate motives.

“It’s simple,” a voice said from behind. “They’re setting you up.”

Miss Parker spun around and stared at Jarod. A large gash oozed above his right ear. He took a limping step towards her and she glanced down at his legs.

He watched as she stood up and came towards him. Her face was bruised along one side and she held her arm gingerly.

“Are you okay?” he asked with concern.

“I will be,” she replied. “When my father is dead and the Centre is a hole in the ground.”

She walked around him, inspecting the damage. He glowered at her and she grinned. It was making him uncomfortable – her careful perusal of his body. She smiled.

“We need to find that disc your mother left.”

“No shit, sherlock. Sit down before you fall down. You’re bleeding on my floors.”
He limped to the sofa and sat. She sat across from him and they stared at each other.

“Ethan?”

“A couple of broken bones and some stitches. Daddy renegotiated with me. I get Ethan too when I turn you over.”

She knows, he thought. Daddy won’t give her freedom – even for me. They had to come up with a plan and she was asking for his help.

“Do you believe it, Jarod?” she asked quietly. “Will the truth finally set us free? Or will we end up more twisted and ensnared in that place?”

“I believe it. The only way to be free of the Centre is to be free of its lies. We have to find your mother’s DSA.”

“I know. I can only stall my father for so long. What are we going to do?”

“I’m going to sim your mother.”

“The HELL you are! First you have me dig up her grave. Now, you want to dig up her mind? No way.”

“It’s the only way we’ll be able to determine possible locations of the DSA. If I can get into her mind, become her, I’ll be able to see what places she would have considered safe for putting the DSA.”

“NO!”

“You’re not being reasonable. Listen to your inner voices. We don’t have a lot of time. They’ll find me here.”

Miss Parker stood up and began pacing, her shoulders heavy. She was still reeling from the discovery of her father’s complicity in her mother’s death.

“You don’t have to stay,” he said quietly.

“I know. I’m not going to wimp out now. But you’re not in any shape to sim anyone right now. First, we do your leg. Then my mother.”

“I’m fine. We don’t have time…”

“Then I’ll make the time. Give me my phone.”

Jarod handed her the phone and listened as she called Broots and asked him to arrange a diversionary tactic. After Broots had obviously agreed to help, she hung up and went into her bathroom.

“Take your jeans off,” she told him.

He looked down at his pants then back at her with a shake of his head.

“Give me some scissors. I’ll do it,” he told her.

“We’re not arguing about this. Take the @#!$@ jeans off.”

“I don’t have anything else to wear.” It was an excuse, he knew, but hopefully good enough to deflect her determination.

“I’ll give you a pair of Tommy’s jeans.”

He stood and unbuttoned the pants. Looking up at her, he scowled at her smirk as he pushed the jeans down. When he pushed the jeans past his wound, he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes.

The pants landed in a heap at his ankles. Blood had soaked up and through the material and his entire right thigh as well as a portion of his briefs was smeared with red.

“Now sit back on the couch and let me look at it,” she told him. He kicked off his shoes and complied. Besides, he was too tired to argue and his leg hurt like blazes. He had to save energy to do this sim. She gasped when she got a close look at the wound.

“How the hell were you able to talk on this?”

“I just tuned it out.” He glanced down at the wound, bending his leg at the knee to get a better look. “I hit the wall and it tore downwards when I fell to the ground. It needs some internal stitches. Have you got a kit?”

“Actually, I do. I kept it from my days as a sweeper. My stitches might not be up to your standards anymore but they’ll have to do.”

He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes. “Just do it fast. We’ve got work to do.”

***

Mr. Parker’s office

“Jarod will go back to Sydney temporarily,” Mr. Parker explained to his son. “Once things have settled down some, you can resume Project Regeneration. Of course, without Raines, you will be reporting directly to the new project leader. I expect you to get results. This project is the basis of the Centre.”

“Of course. I appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate my unwavering loyalty. You can count on me.”

“I’m relying on it. No screw ups this time, Lyle. This is your last chance. After 7677’s failure, you are going to need to pull this off.”

“I will not disappoint you,” Lyle said with feeling. “What about my darling sister?”

“She and Ethan will be assigned to Mr. White. He has some ideas for using their special abilities. Now, when do you think Jarod will be contacting her?”

The phone rang and Mr. Parker answered. After he spoke with whomever was on the phone, he turned back to his son.

“That was Broots. He has a lead on Jarod somewhere in North Carolina. I want you to get a team together and get down there right now!”

“And my sister? Should I call and invite her?”

“No. She’s not going anywhere as long as we have Ethan. Just go.”

***

Miss Parker looked up at Jarod’s face as she snipped the last stitch. He was pale and breathing harshly with both eyes squeezed tightly shut. She had offered him pain medication but he refused it – stating simply that he couldn’t perform a sim with his mind drugged up.

“Okay, I’m done. What do you need me to do?”

He opened his eyes, swung his legs gingerly back over the edge of the couch and sat up. The world spun and he waited until the feeling had passed before looking up at her.

“I could use those pants.”

She went to get the pants. He was more injured than he was letting on, she thought. Time to put a stop to the heroics. She took Tommy’s pants back to the injured pretender and watched as he pulled them up to his knees. She smiled and waited.

He frowned as he felt her watching him. Taking a deep breath, he launched himself to a standing position. Too quickly, he thought as the world went dark.

She grabbed his arms and shoved him back down on the couch. Standing back, she waited while he fought for consciousness. When he had won the battle, he scowled up at her.

“Done playing tough guy?” she quipped. “If you’re done, we can get back to business.”

He sighed and lifted his hips from the couch, pulling the pants up. Even moving his leg sent waves of pain shooting up his body.

Miss Parker returned from her kitchen with a tray. She set the tray on the table in front of him.

“Eat this. It’ll help with the dizziness.”

He picked up the sandwich and ate slowly. While he ate, she cleaned up the first aid kit supplies and blood soaked clothing. He finished and leaned back against the couch, closing his eyes.

“How long has it been since you’ve slept?” she asked.

“Awhile. I just need to rest my eyes for a minute…” he mumbled.

She watched for a moment until his breathing had deepened and evened out. Grabbing an afghan from the chair, she tossed it over him. When he began slipping to the side, she took hold of his shoulders and lowered him so he lay flat. She took off his shoes, draped his legs across the couch and then sat in the chair across from him, watching him sleep.

***

Sydney watched as Lyle became increasingly angry.

“Where is he, Sydney?” Lyle demanded. Failure was not something he wanted to report to his father. An anxiousness crept into his mind when he thought of failure.

“I don’t know. Perhaps someone leaked to him that you were setting up at trap. Or perhaps he was injured in the explosion and he can’t make it. I don’t think he’s coming.”

“If I find out this was some sort of setup on your part, Sydney, there’ll be hell to pay.”

***

Ethan shuddered. Since being dumped in this cell, he had seen no one other than the man who brought his food. He stood and began pacing. After a moment, he tilted his head to one side.

“I know they’re coming for me and I’m trying to be patient,” he said. “But I don’t like it here.”

After a moment, Ethan nodded his head and went back to pacing. Yes, it was definitely better to spend his time contemplating what it would be like to spend time with his siblings rather than worrying.

***

Jarod spun around and ran towards the elevator. The sound grew louder, harsher instead of fading. He looked back over his shoulder expecting to find Raines there, wheezing behind him. Instead, he saw Lyle with the scalpel and thumbs littering the floor. He reached the elevator and it opened. Inside, stood Sydney – blocking his only exit.

“It’s time for your next sim, Jarod.”

Miss Parker stared as Jarod thrashed in the throes of his nightmare. She caught snatches of the people populating his nightmare world through his disjointed mumbling. She had never seen this – the real results of the Centre’s lifetime of terror on its inhabitants. It had always seemed like whining and complaints. Grow up, she had told him.

He sat up suddenly, his eyes panicked and terror stricken. She stood and went to the kitchen – giving him time to collect himself. She smiled sardonically to herself. Was she giving him time to collect himself or giving herself time? His dreams had affected her more than she was ready to acknowledge.

He put his feet on the floor, elbows on knees and lowered his head to his hands. The last thing he had wanted to do was fall asleep and give Miss Parker a demonstration of his inability to handle what had happened to him at the Centre. He looked down and realized someone had taken off his shoes and covered him with an afghan. It seemed the ice queen has melted, he thought with a slight grin.

“How long was I out?” he asked without raising his head when she returned.

“About two hours.” She held out a cup of coffee and waited until he raised his head and took the cup. He leaned back against the couch and sipped at the steaming cup – still not looking at her.

She knew he didn’t want to discuss the dreams. She had given him his dignity by leaving the room when he awakened – knowing he wouldn’t want her to see his fear. But she needed to know everything. It was time to stop hiding from the painful truth.

“I used to envy you. Everyone always took care of you. You were their prize – treasured and watched over. I felt invisible at times. I thought you had a great life. You had Sydney to take care of you and you never had to worry if someone would remember to give you something to eat or not. I would have gladly traded all my toys and pretty bedroom for that kind of security.”

He glanced at her – saw her determination that this conversation would take place – and sighed. He had tried, so many times, to have this conversation with her. It was what he had wanted – to get her to admit her feelings and to finally see that the Centre’s security blanket it wrapped its inmates in was actually not the sweet comfort she imagined. He shook his head at himself. This is what he had fought for and now he didn’t want it. For some reason, this conversation had lost its appeal.

“Let’s not do this now,” he said quietly, his eyes pleading. “We’ve got to make plans…”

“Stalling, labrat?” She knew he was too vulnerable, too close to it, right now. But she needed him weakened.

“Why is this suddenly so important to you?”

“It’s the only way to stop their lies. And…stop my lies – to myself. I need to feel that guilt. It’s the only way I can save that little part of me that still has a conscience.”

“I can’t do this right now,” he whispered.

“Yes, you can. I’ll help you.” She put her hand on his knee. “You were taken as a child from your family…”

He stood up and limped away from her. Standing by the window, he spoke quietly.

“I was jealous of you too. Your mother was so…perfect. After I had been there awhile, I couldn’t remember my mother’s face anymore. I’d imagine that your mother was mine too. Then I’d feel guilty for not remembering my mother – for not wishing for my mother anymore. Sometimes it got so confusing that I’d look forward to the sims. I wanted to be someone else.”

“What were your days really like?”

“The days were okay. It was the nights. Then when Raines started to…I didn’t know when he’d be coming for me.”

“Started to what, Jarod? How old were you when he first got his hands on you?”

“I don’t know. The memories are really fuzzy. It wasn’t the same as what he did to Kyle and Angelo. I remembered the heart drug/cryogenic experiments about two years ago. But there’s more – or maybe those experiments just go further back. I’m not sure. I just remember fear and pain.”

“Did you ever learn what those experiments were really about? And why did they use you?”

“I don’t know. I’m hoping your mother’s DSA will tell us. This secret – it’s essential. It’s the string we’re missing to unraveling the Centre.”

***

Mr. Parker’s Office

“You do realize what is going to happen if we don’t get Jarod back?” Mr. Parker asked.

“Project Regeneration will not be shutdown,” Lyle said evenly. “We will get him back. I’m sending a team over to my sister’s house even as we speak. If this was some type of diversionary setup by Jarod, he’ll be there.”

“Good. What about Sydney? How much is he involved?”

“Sydney’s loyalties have always been in question. He’s been playing both sides of the field for too long. I think it’s time we played our trump card with the good doctor.”

Mr. Parker considered Lyle’s suggestion. They had one ace up their sleeve when it came to manipulating the doctor. He had been reluctant to use it up to now. But they were getting desperate.

“I agree. Sydney needs to be brought back under our control. Do it.”

“I’ll contact you as soon as I get back.”

***

Miss Parker’s House

Jarod had slipped into the pretend fairly easily. Knowing the person who he was simming made it easier. But feeling these emotions – her fears and pain – when he knew and cared about the person , made the pretend more draining emotionally and physically. By the time he was done with the list of her three possible locations, he was exhausted.

Miss Parker took the list and wiped the tears from her face. Her mother had suffered for them. It was there in Jarod’s drawn face, weary eyes.

“We don’t have much time,” he told her. “They’ll be coming for me soon. You’re going to need time to search those places for the DSA. There’s something I want you to do.”

“What? Kill my father?” she asked it half seriously.

“No. Take me back to the Centre. Go through with the deal you made with your father.”

“Are you crazy? That’s exactly what they want! Giving you back to them would just keep the place going!”

“I didn’t say I was going to stay. But as long as they have me – they’ll leave you and Ethan alone. Take Ethan to my father, then find the DSA. How much time do you need?”

“No. I am not doing this. You’re going to help me take down the Centre. I need you alive. There’s got to be another way.”

“Don’t you think I’ve considered all the possibilities? This is it. I can help from the inside. They won’t kill me. I’m too important to them. But they will kill you or Ethan to get to me.”

She stared at him. She knew they were running out of time. The Centre sweepers would arrive any minute. If they found them here, like this, she would find out just how little ‘Daddy’ really cared.

“If you’re not out in three weeks, I’m coming in after you,” she warned him.

“Three weeks. I’ll meet you here. You’ll take Ethan to my father?”

“Yes. How will Major Charles know to trust me? He’ll believe I took you in unwillingly.”

“You’ll just have to make him believe you.”

“Oh, I can see this is going to be a lot of fun. Okay, let’s do this.”

***

The Centre

“She wasn’t there,” Lyle told his father over the cellphone. “It looks like he probably showed up. We found a pair of jeans. Oh, and here’s the kicker. The jeans were soaked with blood.”

“So he’s injured,” Mr. Parker replied. The door to his office swung open and slammed into the wall. He jumped up at the intrusion.

“Lyle, it looks like your sister has come home,” Mr. Parker said into the phone. “And she’s brought us an early Christmas present.”

He disconnected the call and approached his daughter. She stood with her gun pointing down – placed directly at the back of Jarod’s skull as he stood in front of her, handcuffs restraining his hands behind his back.

“Get Ethan up here now,” she snarled. “Or I blow this key to the Centre away.”

“Angel, you caught him. I’m so proud of you. Now, put the gun away. Don’t you trust me?”

Jarod snorted. “There’s a good one. She’s not a complete idiot.”

“I wouldn’t trust you to spit on me if I was on fire. I’ll give you exactly one minute to get Ethan up here before I blow Jarod’s brains out. And don’t think I won’t do it. After all the trouble he’s given me for the past four years, I would only be too happy to splatter these super brains all over your office.”

Mr. Parker fumed for a minute, then relented. After all, he really didn’t mind letting her go. Killing his own daughter would seem extreme – even to the Centre. He buzzed for Willie to bring Ethan up to his office. Once Ethan was delivered, Miss Parker demanded Willie’s gun. Turning the gun over to Ethan, she looked one last time at her father.

“I hope you rot in hell,” she told him before spinning on her heel and marching out with Ethan.

***

Major Charles watched as his daughter laughed with the boy. JJ, as he preferred to be called now, kept his daughter entertained during her convalescence. It was so good to be with Emily again. Now, if only he could find out what had happened to Jarod. After Jarod left to find Ethan, they heard about the explosion on the news. When the news reported no bodies had been found, he had felt joyous relief. But Jarod hadn’t returned and he quickly realized that they weren’t safe at the convent anymore. If the Centre found Jarod, they would find ways of digging their whereabouts out of his son. He couldn’t risk Emily – she was too weak still. He opened up his e-mail account and scowled at it.

“Emily, JJ, come over here. What do you make of this?”

“It’s from Miss Parker!” the boy said happily. “Open it!”

“I’m not sure I should. I don’t know if I’m willing to risk losing this place. We’ve been safe here for a year.”

The boy pushed his father’s hands aside and fiddled with the computer controls. Emily watched amazed as windows popped open, commands were entered, changed and read lightening quick.

“It’s okay, Dad,” JJ said. “It’s just a regular e-mail. They won’t be able to trace anything.”

Major Charles opened the mail and they scanned the contents. She wants to meet, he realized. Ethan is with her. When he read that she had turned Jarod over to the Centre as part of Jarod’s plan, he frowned.

“Jarod would never give up his freedom. This has got to be some kind of setup.”

“He would for us,” Emily disagreed. “He’d do it to save his family.”

“I’m still not sure about this. I’ll need some time to consider it. JJ, send her a reply telling her to give me a week. That should be enough time.”

“Time for what?”

“I’m going to Blue Cove. I’ll contact Sydney and find out if they’ve really got him. If they do, then we can probably trust her. If they don’t, then this is some kind of trap to get him.”

“How do you know you can trust Sydney?” Emily asked.

“I don’t. But he’s our best chance. I’ve got to risk it.”

****

Sydney watched through the two way glass. Jarod hadn’t moved from the corner where he huddled since they had dumped him in the cell four hours ago. The past three days of being in the Centre had obviously taken their toll on the pretender. He pressed a button and the two-way glass changed so that Jarod could see him.

“Hello Jarod. How are you feeling?”

Jarod looked up and Sydney felt the twinge blossom into a full- bodied guilt attack.

“I’ve been better,” Jarod responded. “Sydney, have you heard anything from Miss Parker or my father?”

“Actually, I do have news for you.” Sydney checked to ensure Broots had switched the cameras off. “Your father contacted me today.”

Jarod waited – trying to suppress his anxiousness.

“Your father wanted to know if the Centre had recaptured you. So, it seems, Miss Parker has not contacted him after all. That was your plan – wasn’t it? Send Miss Parker to your father with Ethan.”

“Yes.” He worried over that for a moment. “What did you tell my father?”

“I told him that you were back here. He…”

“Asked for your help getting me out.” Jarod smiled slightly. “Sydney, there’s something I have to tell you. Remember those experiments I told you about …”

“The ones where Raines was stopping your heart?”

“Yes. Syd, there’s some other reason why they’re doing this.”

“Wait a minute. You’re saying that they’ve been doing it again? But Raines is dead…”

Sydney’s phone rang and he answered it.

“Jarod, that was Broots. I have to go. I’ll try to help but they’re…well, there’s something you don’t know about me that we need to talk about later. I’ll come back when it’s safe.”

With a last smile for his protege, he pressed a button and left Jarod to darkness.

***

Major Charles didn’t trust the psychiatrist. Sydney had told him that yes, Jarod was back at the Centre and reluctantly agreed to meet. He watched as the psychiatrist approached.

“Good location,” Sydney said as he looked around the deserted parking lot. “Did the boy sim this location for you?”

“Yes,” he replied cautiously. “I’ll need your help to get Jarod out of there. Details on where he’s being held. I need your help to get him out.”

“Major, I’d love to help you get your son out of there. But I can’t. And it’s too dangerous for you to try it. If they capture you…”

“They would use me against Jarod. I know.” Major Charles ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know who else to turn to. Please Sydney, you’ve got to help us.”

“I can’t.” Sydney sighed and turned away. “I have someone to protect too.”

Two cars screeched around a corner and approached the parking lot. Major Charles shot the shrink an angry look just as the Centre cars ramped over the curb. He ran towards his escape vehicle. Using the boy’s escape plan, he pressed a button and the board studded with spikes popped up. Tires blew and one of the black cars swerved and hit Sydney’s car.

***

Lyle frowned as he yanked a strap tighter. Jarod struggled on the table before giving up. His chest heaved up and down as he tried to control his fear. The coldness would seep into his bones quickly as the chamber filled with ice cold air, he knew. One of the sweepers stepped forward and Jarod flinched as the syringe was injected.

The door to the cylinder was opened and he looked down at his feet as they shoved him into it. At the last moment, he twisted his head back to get a glimpse of it. Those eyes held the deepest sickness he had ever witnessed.

Cox watched, feeling the excitement building. When Jarod’s lips turned blue and the thermometers inside the chamber read below zero temperatures, he bent to the window. Pressing a button, he leaned in.

“Tell me what you see Jarod. Tell me how you feel.”

Lyle turned to his father in disgust. In the past, he had participated eagerly. But now, he felt sickened by the whole thing. And there was something bothering him – a feeling he couldn’t identify – something inside his mind that pressed down heavily. It felt familiar somehow .

“This is disgusting,” Lyle commented. “Can we get the sicko out of here so I can get some work done?”

“Now Lyle, Cox’s fascination with death has been very useful to us. Let him play his game. It won’t interfere with the results. Now, who are we attempting to regenerate today?”

“How about Raines?” Lyle asked. He immediately wanted to withdraw the suggestion but decided to play it out.

“Hmm. Interesting. But I’m not sure I want Raines back. But nothing else has worked so I’m willing to try it. If this doesn’t work, we may have to get Sydney’s cooperation.”

“I don’t know how we’ll get Sydney to force Jarod into pretending to be whoever we’re regenerating.”

“The way we always get Sydney to do anything.”

***

Miss Parker smiled at Ethan. The young man smiled back at her. In the past week, they had gotten to know each other. Her brother was a lot like Jarod, she thought. He cared about other people. But he was also like her too. He knew how to play dirty.

“Are you ready for this meeting? Your father is very eager to meet you but if you need more time…”

“No. I can handle it. Maybe he’ll know where the DSA is.”

“I doubt it.” She sighed. “All these mysteries… hopefully, I’ll be able to find that DSA and everything will become clearer.”

“I know how disappointed you were that it wasn’t at the first place on Jarod’s list. Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you to look for it?”

“No. You need time to get to know your father. I’ll be back as soon as I find it.”

They stopped at the designated meeting spot. Major Charles stood waiting for them. Ethan got out of the car and walked towards him. They stared at each other for a minute before Major Charles grabbed the young man and pulled him into a tight hug. After a moment, Ethan hugged him back.

***

Jarod shivered in his corner. He wasn’t sure what day it was but it didn’t really matter. He was too weak to explore and find what he had come to get. He suspected that about two weeks had gone by. But at least they hadn’t been successful in their latest attempts at their sick experiments.

It was the combination – drugs and physical torture – that had him worried about his ability to withstand it much longer. But he couldn’t give in – even if he thought the experiment would fail. There was no way to sim it to know for sure. If the experiments were successful, he would disappear. When they brought his body back to life, someone else would inhabit it.

He tried to reason it out but his exhaustion was too heavy. He knew that if he tried to sleep, they would come for him. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling.

“Crew craw, toad stools, geese walking barefoot…”

Cox watched the pretender as he sang quietly. That damn song – he hated that song. He knew he used it to protect himself – as comfort. But he didn’t want Jarod feeling comfort – only fear and anxiety.

Lyle came up behind him and looked in the cell at the pretender.

“I think you should reconsider your methods,” Lyle advised. “The jumper cables were extremely effective. No blood and mess to clean up afterwards.”

“Most of us don’t abhor blood or messiness as much as you do, Mr. Lyle,” Cox replied.

“Perhaps. But the point is that you haven’t been successful in gaining his cooperation. He still absolutely refuses to perform the simulation. My methods were cleaner.”

“Clean torture? How dull.”

“I once said that diagnosis of mental illness is highly subjective. But seeing what you’ve done with the pretender…well, I think that no one would disagree with my diagnosis. I may be sick but I can be cured. You’re just plain evil..”

What is happening to me? Lyle wondered as he walked away. He shook his head wondering if Raines’ death had something to do with these strange feelings. Did Raines somehow have more control over me than I realized? Lyle looked back at the door to the observation room. Jarod would know, he realized. Jarod could sim it

***

Miss Parker shook her head. It was impossible, she thought. There had to be some other reason why Sydney had set up Major Charles. Sydney adores Jarod. There’s no way he would do anything to hurt his protégé. But the Major had been convinced. After Ethan and the Major left to rejoin Emily at their hiding spot, she had returned home and thought it through. There was nothing left to do but call and get the truth from the source.

“Sydney here,” he answered.

“A friend tells me that you aren’t playing by the old rules. What’s really going on Syd?”

“Hello Miss Parker. I assume you’ve talked with Major Charles?”

“You can assume anything you want. Been spending too much time in the renewal wing, have we Syd?”

“No. Was there something you wanted?”

“Why did you set up Major Charles?”

“Why do you think I set him up?”

“Cut the shrink crap and answer the question!”

“Miss Parker, the choices I make… you don’t know everything.”

“Then tell me!” she demanded.

“I can’t.” He flicked off the phone.

She hung up the phone and sat down. The disc, she thought. There was only one more place on Jarod’s list to search. She needed it now more than ever.

****

Five Days Later

Miss Parker peeled the back of the picture off. She smiled. Her mother was ingenious. The last place on Jarod’s list had been right. The disc was in her father’s office. Sneaking into the office had been the most difficult part. But, like Jarod, she knew the Centre inside and out. She pocketed the disc and turned to leave.

“Hi sis. Going somewhere?”

Miss Parker jumped. Lyle stood in the doorway grinning at her.

“Just thought I’d take one last look around,” she lied.

“Was it here?”

“What?”

“Don’t play games with me,” Lyle whispered angrily. “She was my mother too. I have a right to see it.”

“A right? Why so you can go tell her murderer everything.”

“Dad didn’t kill her.”

“He ordered it. Get a clue.”

Lyle stepped up to her.

“You’re telling me to get a clue? Do you have any idea what is going on here? Do you know what they’ve been doing to your favorite labrat?”

“They? Aren’t you forgetting that you’re a part of it?”

“Yes. That’s the problem. I seem to have all these big gaps in my memories. I don’t know if they made me forget or if it’s just stuff that I’ve blocked. That disc – it’s the only way I’ll know. My answers are on it too.”

Shock hit her. This one went off the Richter scale, she realized. Finding out Sydney had setup Major Charles was a big one but this hit her harder. Lyle was doing the same thing she was – looking for answers – looking for the truth.

“I don’t know if I can trust you. How do I know you won’t have me killed?”

He considered her sadly. He knew she was his only chance at learning the truth to his life. But what would his life be worth if he helped her? The Centre would hunt him down as ruthlessly as they hunted Jarod. It all came back to Jarod, he realized. Jarod is the key to everything – including my life, he thought.

“Give me an hour and I’ll show you that you can trust me. We need to work together on this Parker. Meet me at your house in an hour. Will you do that?”

She saw something different about Lyle. Always, she had felt that he had a hidden agenda behind every move. There was calculation in his eyes. Tonight, there were questions there.

“If you try anything, I’ll kill you,” she told him. “There is too much at stake here.”

“Yes, Parker, there is too much at stake.” He leaned in to whisper it. “It’s not about money and power anymore. They want to be gods. We’ve got to stop them.”

***

Miss Parker paced anxiously. Going to the DSA player, she picked up the disk and held it to the light.

“I hope it was worth it, Mom,” she said.

“We’ll know in a minute,” Lyle replied. He stepped into the light and smiled at her. “I’ve got something for you but I need your help getting it out of the car.”

She frowned at him wondering what he could be up to as she followed him to his car. He had parked it around the back of her house. He opened the passenger door and the light went on. Whatever had been in the passenger seat had fallen out when he opened the door and she couldn’t see what he was manhandling out the door.

“I could use some help here,” he called to her.

She went around to the passenger side and gasped. Lyle had his arms under Jarod’s armpits and was dragging the unconscious man out of the car. She rushed forward and grabbed Jarod’s legs, hefting them up. They carried him into the house and she jerked her head towards her bedroom. Dumping him onto the bed, she stood back – the shock evident on her face.

“Damn, he’s heavier than he looks,” Lyle told her.

“You got him out? I can’t believe you did this. What happened?”

Lyle smiled at her as he bent over the unconscious man.

“Have you got a first aid kit? I’ll tell you what happened while we get him cleaned up some.”

When she returned with the kit, she found her brother peeling the shirt off Jarod. She gazed down at the pretender’s body.

“Is he going to live?” she asked.

“What do I look like, a doctor? Cox doesn’t believe in clean torture. Get some towels and warm water.”

The basin of warm water sloshed as she almost tripped over the dirty, bloody shirt tossed on the floor. Lyle was putting pressure on a bleeding wound. She soaked a towel and picked up one of Jarod’s arms. Some of the wounds were older, encrusted with blood and dirty while the inside of the elbow contained track marks. She watched her brother as she washed these.

“They won’t trace me here, if that’s what you’re worried about. They don’t suspect a thing. Who would believe that I sprung the pretender? You were even in shock when you saw him. But I needed something to help persuade you that my loyalties are not where they used to be and he’s the only thing I could think of.”

She considered him for a moment. “Your loyalties have never been in question. You’re loyal to Lyle and only Lyle.”

“That’s why I’m still alive. The Centre doesn’t exactly have a good retirement program.”

“No, they don’t. But I can’t believe you sprung him just to use him as a demonstration to me. You could have forced me to show you this DSA. You didn’t need my trust. You got him out because whatever they were doing to him didn’t agree with you.”

Lyle looked up at her uncertainly – wondering if she could read his mind. It had been an impulse – to get Jarod. But once it came into his mind, he couldn’t stop it. And it had felt so right. Like he was completing something that he was meant to do.

***

Two hours later

“It’s late. Perhaps we ought to wait until morning,” Miss Parker said quietly.

“No. Let’s do it now. One of us is going to have to stay up and keep an eye on him. His body temperature is still too low. We need to get some warm fluids in him when he wakes up. Do you have any soup?”

“Yes. The sedative you gave him – how long will he be out for?”

“I’m not sure. If I could have done it without drugging him…”

“You’d still be hassling with him at the Centre. He’ll get over it.”

“Assuming he lives. Where’s the DSA?”

She plugged the DSA into the recorder and they sat down to watch their mother.

Catherine Parker sat quietly looking into the camera. Her life was almost over. She knew it and it showed in her eyes.

“Hello darling. There are so many things I have to tell you. I can only hope that you’re not watching this alone. I hope that one of your brothers is there with you. You see, you actually have a twin brother and soon, a half brother. They told me your twin died when he was born. But lately, the voices have been telling me that Lyle actually lived. Lyle, if you are there, your mother loved you very much. You were taken away from me to fulfill a purpose in life. I know it will take you a long time to find that purpose – but understand that it’s not the one the Centre plans for you.”

Lyle felt something change inside. He smiled. Although Cox would never get the answer to one of life’s most important questions, he had just found the answer to the other question. Yes, he thought, people can change.

“By now, you probably know that the Centre was a good place originally. We wanted to study behavior and genetics – hoping to find cures and understanding. Doctor Raines was our specialist on extreme violent behavior and near-death experiences. At first, I thought it was a purely scientific fascination. After Jarod came to us, I realized that the doctor was obsessed. But it took me nine years to discover just how obsessed and sick he really is.

He is using Jarod to study death. No one can simulate death. From near death experiences, we know that it is different for every person. Jarod is capable of becoming many people. Do you see what he intends to do? Also, there is also a theory that a pretender can be used to ‘regenerate’ a dead person by becoming that person at the moment before death. When the pretender is revived, the regenerated person inhabits his body….

“Jesus,” Miss Parker whispered. “Those experiments where you stopped his heart…”

“Cryogenic research,” Lyle interrupted. “We were killing him, freezing him and then attempting to revive him as someone else.”

“And that’s what they’ve been doing to him these past two weeks?”

“Yes. Jarod wasn’t cooperative the last time we did these experiments. Sydney was out of town that time and Jarod wouldn’t do the sim. We knew he wasn’t going to cooperate this time either. I wanted to use the jumper cables but as you saw Cox had other plans to gain his cooperation.”

“How did they manage to hide this from me all these years? Why didn’t I know?”

“You didn’t want to know. Neither did Jarod. We blocked Jarod’s memories but even without the drugs, he probably wouldn’t have remembered it,” Lyle responded.

When I discovered how Raines was using Jarod, I knew my days were numbered. I ‘pretended’ to trust Raines to keep this baby safe. I tried to tell Sydney – but he doesn’t want to hear. I don’t think he could live with the guilt if he accepted what I told him. But he has someone he has to protect…

I never wanted this to come to this point - where I would leave my children in their hands – without a loving parent. But I had to try to stop them. We cannot let them do this. They have even tried to clone Jarod so that they’ll have a perpetual supply of pretenders to use for this experiment. But I failed.

Here’s my plan: Raines has devised a new method of mind control. I discovered that he has hidden your twin brother with a family. When Lyle reaches maturity, Raines will implant a device in his brain. He’ll have control over your brother – use him to carry out his dirty work and divide the Parkers. Raines knows that together – you and Lyle would make a team that could bring the Centre to its knees. You must find your brother and work together to get that device out of his head. Use Jarod to get it out. Then, once Lyle is free from the Centre’s control, the two of you…

Miss Parker was crying. As her mother finished describing her plan to wipe the Centre from the face of the earth, she smiled a little. The plan was deviously simple. She waited until the screen went blank before turning to Lyle. There was amazement and joyous wonder in her twin’s eyes.

“There’s something in my head,” he whispered. “They made me do those things. I can’t explain it but I couldn’t stop. I never wanted…”

Tears had come to Lyle’s eyes. Real tears, she thought. She reached for his hand. A jolt went through her and they sprung apart.

“Did you feel that?” she asked.

“Yes. What was it?”

“I don’t know. But it was like I could feel you in my head.”

He grinned. “So maybe Sydney was right but it just took us longer to feel it. Twins do have a special bond.”

Jarod slowly became aware of the softness of the surface he was laying on. He fought through the fog in his brain to open his eyes. Yes, he was actually on a bed. Pillows were tucked in around him, keeping him on his side. His wrists were bandaged rather than shackled. He raised his head from the pillow. How the hell did I get in Miss Parker’s bedroom, he worried. The last thing he could remember was Lyle with a syringe. He heard footsteps and closed his eyes – feigning sleep. Something was inserted in his ear and when the ting sounded, he realized that whoever was in the room was taking his temperature.

“Any better?” Jarod heard Miss Parker ask from the doorway.

“It’s gone up to 97.” Jarod almost jumped out of his skin when he heard Lyle’s voice. He felt Lyle pick up his wrist.

“He’ll be waking up soon. His pulse has increased some. We should try and get some food into him. It’s been awhile since he’s eaten.”

He heard them leave the room, discussing him as they went down the hallway. Using his elbow, he levered himself up. He looked down at himself. Bandages swathed most of his upper torso where the majority of the damage had been inflicted. Grabbing the end of the blanket, he went to pull it back but discovered his lack of clothing. Looking around, he saw his clothing piled in a heap on the floor. He steeled himself for the pain and sat up slowly.

***

After pouring the soup into a bowl, she opened her mouth to call for Lyle when she heard a thump. Then she felt something – in her head, she heard Lyle.

She rushed down the hallway. Inside the bedroom, she found Lyle in a heap. The bedroom window was open, the smashed ear thermometer littered the floor and the bed was empty.

“Lyle!” She bent down to her twin. His pulse was strong and he moaned as she felt along his skull. He blinked and opened his eyes.

“He jumped me when I came in,” Lyle told her. “I didn’t think he’d have the strength to even stand. We better find him before he collapses somewhere and the Centre finds him.”

***

Four Hours Later

Jarod panted, holding his broken ribs, as he leaned against the wall to catch his breath. Adrenaline kept him vertical but he was quickly running out of that commodity. He heard Miss Parker and Lyle approaching and pushed himself off. Wincing, he stumbled down the littered alleyway bare footed.

Lyle turned the corner and saw the figure limping around the next corner. His feet crunched over broken glass as he followed Jarod. He skidded to a stop twenty feet from the pretender. Jarod was trapped. The alleyway was a dead end.

Miss Parker followed her brother. Jarod, looking like a caged animal, was warily watching them as he leaned against the far wall.

Let me handle this, she told her brother mentally. He nodded.

“Jarod, I don’t know what you’re thinking but we need to get you back to my house. You need to be in bed. Your body temperature isn’t back to normal yet and you’re wounded.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you. Get away from me!” he croaked out.

“We can’t do that. You’ll get caught! The Centre is already combing this town for you. We don’t have a lot of time.”

“Time for what? What is going on?”

“Lyle got you out. It’s a long story. You’ve got to trust us.”

She took another step towards him and he moved to the right. She stopped and considered her options. Rush him, Lyle told her. She nodded and sprung.
Jarod waited until she reached him before bringing his hand around. He grabbed her and twisting her around, forced her into a head lock. The gun he put under her throat was her own.

“Stay back,” he warned Lyle. The de ja vu sunk in and he smiled at the irony.

Miss Parker groaned but thought quickly. He won’t kill me, she told Lyle. He’s hurt and sick, Lyle returned. I’m not risking you, he told her. You’ve got to, she pleaded. They can’t win.

“Put the gun down, Jarod,” Lyle warned. “I know you won’t hurt her. You can’t do this. It’s not in your makeup. I’ll make a deal with you.”

“What are you offering this time, Lyle? By now you should realize that I’m not interested in running the Centre with you,” Jarod asked.

“Raines put a device in my head twenty years ago. It made me do things. Your freedom for mine – it’s that simple. You get this thing out of my head and I’ll let you go.”

“You can’t believe I’ll trust you – not even you are that stupid. One step closer and you’ll be explaining to daddy dearest why you let his angel get her brains blown out.”

“The device - it’s on the DSA my mother made.”

“You found it?” Jarod asked his captive quietly.

“Yes,” she got out. “Come with us and we’ll show it to you.”

“How can you trust him? He’ll set us up.”

“I just know I can. Something inside me tells me to trust him.”

The voices, Jarod realized. Jarod turned the gun from his captive to her twin.

“If you try anything, I’ll hunt you down and I will kill you.”

“Understood.”

Jarod lowered the gun. Yanking the gun from Jarod’s grip, Miss Parker shoved the pretender hard and he fell back against the wall. She spun him around and roughly shoved him face first into the wall. Taking out her handcuffs, she secured his wrists before spinning him back.

He glared at her. “I should have known better than to believe in you.”

“I didn’t agree to anything.” She stepped up closer to him. “You belong to me now and you’ve got a job to do.”

“And what would that be?” he snarled.

“Take down the Centre. You’re going to help us carry out my mother’s plan.”

****

The Centre

“He’s gone – disappeared. There’s no sign of him anywhere in Blue Cove,” Cox told Mr. Parker over the cellphone.

“How the hell did he get out? He could hardly stand much less walk. Could he have been pretending?”

“The beatings were designed to keep him debilitated and too weak to escape. There is no way he did this on his own. Someone got him out.”

“Who? That idiot savant – Angelo?”

“No. Angelo was locked up. Someone else. What about your daughter?”

“She brought him in. Why would she get him out?”

“Perhaps Sydney persuaded her.”

“You should know better than anyone that Sydney isn’t going to take any risks.”

“Yes. But we’ve got to find him. I was so close during the last session. So close.”

“Let me talk to Lyle.”

“He’s not here. I haven’t seen him.”

****

Miss Parker’s house

“Did anyone ever tell you that for a genius you’re a real idiot?” Lyle asked. Jarod just stared.

Lyle sat at the foot of the bed, grabbed a piece of glass and yanked. Hearing Jarod’s sharp intake of breath, he grinned.

“Bet that hurts. Well, if you had stayed put we wouldn’t be doing this, would we?”

Miss Parker handed Lyle some gauze and he dabbed the wound. She wet some cotton balls with alcohol and watched impassively as Lyle pressed them to Jarod’s foot. Jarod clenched his teeth together and fisted his cuffed hands.

“Tell me about the DSA,” Jarod gritted out. He pulled a little on the cuffs attaching him to the headboard as Lyle picked out glass.

“According to my mother, Project Regeneration is the heart of the Centre,” Miss Parker told him. “Every five years, a project report is sent to the corporate sponsors. You are the main attraction of that report. After they review the report, they do an onsite evaluation. You can bet that they’ll fake the report and during the next couple weeks, you’ll become the hottest commodity on this planet.”

“So you plan on taking me back to the Centre,” Jarod surmised. He jerked his foot as Lyle pulled another piece of glass out. Lyle gave him a warning look and Jarod glared at him before concentrating on Miss Parker again. “You’ll get them when they’re all together – the sponsors and the Centre – when they come for their onsite evaluation. Take out the source of the money being funneled into the Centre.”

“Exactly. No money coming into the Centre means no Centre. We nail the corporate sponsors and we’ve got not only the Centre – but a guarantee that they won’t continue these experiments somewhere else. In two weeks, Lyle will return to the Centre with you and coordinate the final report.”

Jarod turned to look out the window. “And you need me to sim the whole thing. How you’re going to take the sponsors out, where, when, etc. ”

“Yes. My mother knew you were the only one who could sim this. What exactly is your problem here, Jarod? I thought you’d want to take the Centre down.”

“You expect me to let you use me this way? I don’t belong to anyone – especially you, Miss Parker. And your plan has an essential problem in it for me – if you return me to the Centre, I won’t be alive to see its demise.”

“They won’t kill you. You’re too valuable.”

Jarod laughed with an edge of hysteria before turning to stare out the window. He knew that his chances of surviving his next encounter with the Centre were very low. They had already killed him more times than he wanted to remember. He couldn’t go back. They had come too close. All they had to do was find one of his family members and he would do it – perform the simulation during the experiment. When he woke up, he wouldn’t exist anymore. Someone else would inhabit his body. And to top it off, if the experiment succeeded – someone would find out and somewhere, it would go on.

Lyle’s phone rang and he released Jarod’s foot to answer it. Jarod and Miss Parker watched impassively as he answered the questions. Once he hung up, he returned to bandaging Jarod’s feet.

“Daddy wants me to check your house to see if you had anything to do with the disappearance of the pretender,” Lyle told his sister. “I’ve got a meeting with him in three hours to discuss the escape and reacquisition. Can you handle him until I get back?”

“He’s not going anywhere,” Miss Parker replied smugly.

“I wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Jarod smirked.

“I’ve got some more sedative,” Lyle announced. Jarod paled and shook his head. “Then you better be here when I get back. Now, we’ll need someplace to hide for awhile while I supposedly track down Jarod and he performs the simulations. Any ideas?”

“Yes. We’ll take him to Ben’s place. Our mother used to go there.”

After seeing her brother out, Miss Parker went to the kitchen and heated a bowl of soup. She found Jarod asleep in the bed when she returned. He jerked and blinked up at her when she tested the temperature of his forehead.

“You’re sick, Jarod. You’ve gone from too low a temperature to too high. You’re going to end up with pneumonia.”

“Worried about me or my ability to do the sim for you?” he whispered.

She sat beside him on the bed and stared down at him. With his hands cuffed over his head, he was pretty helpless but that didn’t stop him from antagonizing her. She smiled as she realized that it was partially his helplessness that he was fighting against. That, and the fact that Lyle was now involved in the Centre’s demise, she thought.

Jarod scowled at her as she studied him. He shifted positions and the urge to cough overtook him.

The coughing fit hit him hard – waves of agony through his chest as he hacked gunk from his lungs. She ripped a pillow from the bed and shoved it against Jarod’s broken ribs. The pretender had turned onto his side and she pressed the pillow firmly against him while he coughed into his bent arms. Too late, she realized, he already has pneumonia.

Once he had quieted, she fetched cough medication. Pouring into the dispenser cap, she slipped a hand beneath his head and held it up. She waited until he complied by opening his mouth before pouring the liquid into him. Setting the medication aside, she sat beside him and reached for the bowl on the bedside table.

“Are you going to cooperate and eat this or do I do this the hard way?” she asked as she brought the spoon to his lips.

“I’m not hungry.” His voice was raw and scratchy sounding.

“Tough.”

“I can feed myself,” Jarod told her. He shook the handcuffs and they rattled. She smiled nastily and shook her head. He huffed before returning his gaze to the ceiling. Her smile turned genuine when she put the spoon to his lips and he opened his mouth. After feeding him half the bowl, he turned his face away, into his arms. She yanked his chin so his face came back around.

“You’re done when I say you’re done,” she told him with a nasty smile.

He glowered at her intensely - hating this helplessness and her enjoyment of it. He knew this was her repayment for all the nasty tricks he had played on her. She would ensure he was totally dependent on her and force him to acknowledge it too. If he wanted any chance, he would need to save his strength up. He opened his mouth and swallowed more of the damn soup – swearing he would never touch the stuff again in his life.

***

An Hour Later

“No,” he groaned. “Please. No more.”

“Jarod, wake up,” she urged. His nightmares had awakened her all the way from the other side of the house. “You’re not at the Centre. Open your eyes.”

“Cold. I’m so cold. I can’t do it anymore.”

“Jarod, this isn’t the Centre,” Parker said loudly. “NOW OPEN YOUR EYES.”

Jarod’s eyes snapped open. There was no awareness in his eyes – only panic as he began to pull desperately at the cuffs while scooting to a sitting position.

“No, lay back,” she told him. “It’s okay. Don’t you remember? Lyle got you out!”

When he continued to yank and pull at his restraints, she reached for his face. He was burning up. He coughed as he pulled - sounding like he would respirate his lungs up. When he paused to suck in his breath, he gagged and she realized he was about to throw up. She held his head as he vomited the soup into the trash can. Pushing him back on the bed, she wiped the sweat from his face and made a decision.

She ran to get the syringe with the sedative and carefully tapped the bubbles out. After she yanked his sleeve up, Jarod pulled on his restraints and coughed. He turned his attention from the cuffs to her just as she plunged the needle into his upper arm.

“No!” he screamed. “I won’t go there again! Please let me go! Please!”

“No,” she told him. “We need to get the fever down. Lay down now, Jarod.”

“No,” he whimpered. He laid his head on the headboard, curled his legs under him and rocked back and forth, coughing sporadically and trying to comfort himself.

She waited until the sedative began to relax him before pulling him down so he lay flat. Reaching up, she unlocked his wrists. Blood had seeped through the bandaging from where he had pulled on the cuffs too hard. She sighed – it didn’t look like she was going to get any sleep.

****

Sydney paced his office. The pleasure he felt at hearing Jarod had escaped was rapidly being overcome with anxiety. Please, let him call, Sydney worried. Conversely, he also hoped Jarod wouldn’t call. How would he explain it to him? The door opened and he turned to see Cox.

“Trying to find the way out from between the rock and the hard place?” Cox asked.

“There’s never been a way out for me,” Sydney replied quietly. “Why did you do it Cox? Taking over the experiments… you had to know how that would affect me.”

“Why do you think I came here? It certainly wasn’t for quality family time. Raines’ work was brilliant. The idea that we could find out what happens at death…man would never need to fear anything.”

“I should never have shown you that DSA.”

“Then why did you?”

“When Broots showed me the DSA of Raines and Lyle experimenting on Jarod, I knew you were considering coming to work here. I thought it would keep you away…”

“Away? That hurts my feelings Sydney. Why I would think you would be happy to have Jarod and I near to you. After everything you’ve done to…”

“Cox,” Sydney interrupted impatiently. “You know what happened to Raines. Can’t you see how dangerous this is?”

“We’ve already had this discussion. I will continue the experiments as soon as your runaway is returned. Oh don’t look so despondent Sydney. If you would just help me out, we could find out whether it works or not.”

“You ask too much. I won’t help you.”

“But you won’t stop me either. Don’t even try, Sydney. You won’t win.”

“I know.”

******

Noon

Lyle closed the door quietly and smiled at his sleeping sister. She had obviously had a hard time keeping track of the labrat, he thought as he studied her. He headed for the back bedroom and found Jarod weakly sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Going somewhere?” Lyle asked as he stepped into the room.

Jarod jerked his head up and frowned.

Lyle picked up the handcuffs and studied the room. A basin of water sat on the table beside the bed with a washcloth. An empty bottle of cough medication sat beside it. He scanned the other items scattered around as his sister stepped into the room.

“What is it - pneumonia?” Lyle asked his sister. “Isn’t that a common side effect of hyperthermia?”

“Yes,” she replied. “He’s had a raging fever.”

“Well, my morning hasn’t been that wonderful either,” Lyle interjected. “But I managed to convince our father that I don’t need any help capturing the lab rat.”

“I have a name,” Jarod interrupted. “Use it.”

“We’ve got two weeks,” Lyle continued. “We better make the best of it. Now let’s get moving.”

“I’m already packed and ready,” Miss Parker told her brother, ignoring Jarod. “Toss my luggage into the car. Did you bring some things for frankenboy?”

Lyle handed his sister a bag and took her luggage to the garage. He returned to the bedroom to find his sister smiling nastily at the pretender.

“Is he giving you trouble?” Lyle asked.

“No trouble at all, right Jarod?”

He considered if she would carry through on her threat to chain him up and strip him naked herself. Grimacing, he took the tee-shirt she held out. It was Lyle’s clothing.

“Can I take a shower?” he asked hopefully. Both of his captors shook their heads – Lyle at least mentioning that they didn’t have time and he didn’t have the strength. She just grinned evilly.

He pulled the tee-shirt on, the movement causing his ribs to grind. Gritting his teeth, he pulled it down over the bandaging around his torso. He looked down at his black-Centre-issue pants. The pants were torn at the knees and dirty.

“Take them off,” she told him. She held out a pair of light-blue pajama bottoms.

“Don’t you have any jeans I could borrow?” Jarod asked Lyle. Lyle shrugged and went back to gathering any items that could lead a search team to believe Jarod had been there. All the bloody bandages and sheets were tossed into garbage bags. They would burn them at Ben’s.

“Jarod,” she warned.

He took the pants and scowled. She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, enjoying herself immensely. Lyle had already stripped the bed of its coverings so Jarod was stuck.

Lyle looked over and saw the standoff. They needed to get moving. He picked up a garbage bag of bedding and tossed it at his sister.

“Load this in the jeep, will you?” he asked.

She glared at it, then at her brother.

“Fine,” she huffed and marched out.

Jarod sighed and quickly changed. He looked up to thank Lyle but found his wrist encased in a handcuff. He changed his mind about expressing his gratitude as Lyle quickly cuffed the other wrist.

His feet hurt as he unsteadily walked towards the garage, using the wall for support. By the time he got to the car, the coughing had started and he fell into the backseat. He didn’t even notice as they pulled out of the garage and headed down the road.

***

The Centre

Mr. Parker scowled at the DSA recorder. From Raine’s private stash of discs, they had found two labeled “Bobby”. The bastard had not only stolen his son but he had also implanted a device in his head to control him. Not surprisingly, one of the discs showed Jarod designing the disc and the subsequent memory wiping session they used on the teenager afterwards.

The device was ingenious but, of course, it would be since it came from Jarod’s head. When activated, the device interfered with certain neurons ability to send signals. In effect, it lobotomized Lyle at selective times – turning him into an emotionless automaton that wouldn’t remember most of what had happened. When it wasn’t activated, Lyle would be confused and mystified by any memories that seeped through. Eventually, Lyle would shut off his ability to feel autonomously. He wouldn’t be able to reconcile his actions with his feelings. The ultimate question would be, without the device turned on, how long before Lyle started letting his feelings surface? Mr. Parker wasn’t interested in taking chances. The activator for the device had to be found.

****

Two Hours Later

Miss Parker turned in her seat to look back at Jarod. After his coughing spell, he had fallen asleep sprawled across the backseat. The restlessness that she had come to expect had started and he mumbled incoherently in his sleep.

Lyle watched the pretender in his rearview mirror. Jarod sleeps like I do, he realized. The nightmares had gotten worse since Raines’ death. Distinguishing between dreams and things had actually happened was torturing him. He rubbed the bridge of his nose as a headache began forming.

“Wake him up,” he told his sister. “I’ll go through a drive through at this next town. He needs to eat.”

She reached into the backseat and shook Jarod’s arm. He pulled himself up, his gaze darting right and left.

“Where are we?” he croaked – his voice rough from sleeping.

“About three more hours and we’ll be there,” Miss Parker told him. “We’re coming into a town. We’re going to go through a drive-through. You try anything and you’ll spend the rest of the trip sedated. Got that?”

“What about these?” he asked, holding up his cuffed wrists. She shook her head and he evaluated his options before agreeing to keep quiet.

They pulled into a restaurant’s drive through and allowed him to choose what he wanted. Miss Parker passed his food to him and he took a bite of the sandwich, watching out the window and praying the food stayed put.

Miss Parker ate her sandwich and watched the passing scenery. She and Lyle had been lost in their own thoughts and the drive had been quiet and uneventful so far. But with Jarod awake, all that was about to change. She sighed and decided to begin round one.

“Jarod, these are antibiotics. You need to take them.” She opened her hand to reveal two large red pills.

He took another bite and talked around the mouthful of food just to annoy her.

“Now how do I know what those are? And where did you get them from? Antibiotics, last I checked, don’t grow on trees.”

“I brought them,” Lyle told him. “I called my doctor while at the Centre and he called in the prescription for me. They don’t come from the Centre’s pharmacy. Show him the bottle.”

She handed him the bottle, which Jarod studied intently before shaking his head and giving it back to her.

“Lyle, pull over. He’s going to be difficult.”

Jarod assessed the situation and realized that she wasn’t going to relent. He took the two pills and swallowed them. Leaning back, he set aside his sandwich and stared out the window.

“Do you know where my mother is?” Jarod asked Lyle quietly.

“No idea. Mr. White couldn’t even get a trace on her. How’s Emily?”

“You mean, did she survive you tossing her out the window?”

“I didn’t toss her out the window. She fell.” Lyle stated. The memory was clear to him but somehow it didn’t feel like something he had actually done. It felt like someone else had done it while he was observing. The device, he realized with an angry frown.

Jarod turned to stare at the back of Lyle’s head. Emily couldn’t clearly remember what had happened due to the concussion she suffered.

“Tell me how it happened.”

“Eat the rest of your sandwich,” Miss Parker told him.

Jarod ignored her and waited. Lyle sighed and gave in. “I took a picture of your mother and made up a fake file about her location. I tried to bribe Emily with it. Basically, if she allowed me to use her as bait to get you, I would give her the information. She refused. I held the information out the window and told her that she would never find her mother. She made a dive for it.” Lyle looked into his rearview mirror. “Jarod, I tried to grab her but she slipped right through my fingers. I’m sorry. Is she okay?”

Jarod considered him. It made sense. Lyle had no reason to kill Emily – she was too useful as bait. In the past, Lyle’s modus operandi was kidnapping people. Lyle’s intention had probably been to kidnap his sister. The apology had been a surprise. Even more surprising, he found himself answering Lyle’s question.

“The last time I saw my sister, she was recovering. She’s going to be fine.”

“Good. She’s a pretty girl. Stubborn too.”

Now, Jarod was angry.

“Stay away from her! She’s not Asian. You should have no interest in her.”

“Asian? What in the world are you talking about?”

“Your wife? The one you killed?”

“I didn’t kill her!” Lyle struggled to a sitting position. “My father did!”

“Yeah. Right. What about May Li?”

“What about May Li? I’m not allowed to have a love affair?”

“Not if the girl ends up dead!”

“Shutup! Both of you!” Miss Parker shouted at them. “Look, we all have questions – things to sort out. But we have better things to concentrate on right now! Like staying alive and shutting down the Centre. So stop it! Not a word, Jarod, or you’ll find yourself wearing duct tape.”

***

Ben’s Inn

Miss Parker slammed her door shut. She was exhausted and sick of being trapped in the same vehicle with two petulant men. It would be a miracle if they didn’t kill each other before the end of the day. She hugged Ben tightly when he rushed forward. Ben then turned to smile at Jarod as he stepped down from the vehicle. She heard Ben’s gasp as he got a good look at Jarod’s bruised face and pallor.

“You hold on there,” Ben told his former maintenance man. “You’re not going anywhere without help.”

Jarod grinned at his former employer and looked around.

“The place looks good,” he commented. “How’s business?”

“We’ll talk once we get you horizontal,” Ben lectured. He stared at the handcuffs a moment before turning to look back at Miss Parker. “I know you told me not to ask about those but are they really necessary? He doesn’t look like he’s in any condition to walk more or less run.”

“I’ll take them off until he’s in bed,” Miss Parker conceded. “But yes, they are necessary. Which room are you putting him into?”

“The one next to Catherine’s. Your brother is across the hall.”

Lyle came around with the bags and looked over the man who may, or may not, be his father. According to his sister, this man had kept a room with their mother’s things in it untouched for twenty years. He was intensely curious about his mother’s relationship with this man. What if Mr. Parker wasn’t his father after all? That thought made him smile but he wasn’t ready to examine the reason why.

Jarod limped into the house with Ben’s assistance, his leg wound from the subway incident still bothering him since it had never had a chance to heal properly. He climbed into bed and sat against the headboard. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the wall while Miss Parker handcuffed his right wrist to the bed post. Lyle began unpacking the medical supplies.

“Take your shirt off,” Lyle instructed him. “We need to change the bandages.”

Miss Parker smiled as Jarod did as told without any fight. She realized that he was too exhausted and sick to expend the energy. Ben came into the room with the water she had requested.

“Oh god,” Ben breathed as he saw the wounds Lyle revealed as the bandages came off. “What are those?”

“Persuasive interrogation,” Lyle told him. “I think this collarbone is fractured. Cox became enraged one time when Jarod wouldn’t… well, he threw the chair he was sitting in at him..”

“Nice of you to remind me,” Jarod whispered tiredly. “Do we have any more cough syrup?”

Miss Parker poured a dose, knowing the lab rat was trying to suppress the urge to cough. After he had drained the container, she helped by unwrapping the bandaging on Jarod’s feet.

Jarod was shaking from pain and exhaustion by the time they finished. Ben pulled back the blankets and told him to get under them and he complied wordlessly. He had just closed his eyes when Miss Parker grabbed his chin and forced the thermometer into his mouth. He reached up to take it out to tell her what he thought of her high handedness.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” she told him. “There’s another way we can do this that doesn’t require your cooperation at all.”

He put his hand down and stared at the ceiling. She asked him if he wanted any pain medication and he shook his head. The fever was dulling his senses and cognition enough as is.

Once she had read the thermometer, she set it aside and gave Jarod the water. He drank it before turning onto his side away from her.

Miss Parker finished checking everything within reach of Jarod. She removed the bedside alarm clock and lamp – knowing Jarod would find some use from disassembling these. When she and Lyle were satisfied that they had imprisoned him, they turned off the lights.

“Go to sleep,” she told Jarod but she saw he wasn’t listening. He was already asleep.

****

Lyle stared at the faded photographs of his mother. She was very different from the woman who had raised him. While Mrs. Bowman had been a kind substitute mother, she had always been timid and withdrawing – allowing her husband to dominate both herself and their adopted son. He knew from his previous venture into discovering his mother that Catherine Parker had never been timid and withdrawing. She had been a strong woman – firm in her beliefs and brave enough to die for them.

He set the photographs aside and headed outside.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” Miss Parker called as her brother walked past.

“I’ll get a sandwich later,” he responded. “I’m going for a walk.”

She frowned at his back as he almost ran outside. Two days ago she would have believed he was up to something and she might have followed him to find out what deviousness he was entrapping her in now. But she realized she couldn’t even generate a spark of mistrust for her twin. She could feel his turmoil.

“Lyle,” she called out. He spun around from the trail ahead of her. “There’s a beautiful overlook this way.”

He reluctantly followed – morosely concluding she had followed because she didn’t trust him. He would have to prove his trustworthiness to her over and over again. When they got to the overlook, she sat down on a fallen log and patted the seat next to her. Once he was seated, she watched the setting sun for a moment.

“This was our mother’s favorite spot in the world. Ben said she liked to sit and watch the sun setting over the water. I think she would be pleased that you’re here.”

“I don’t think so. Look at what I’ve become. She probably would have preferred if I had died at birth.”

She spun around, horrified. This was no play on her sympathy, she realized. Lyle actually felt his mother wouldn’t want him for her son. And sympathy wouldn’t help him, she knew.

“So what have you become Lyle?” she asked quietly. “A remote-controlled machine?”

Lyle jumped up. “A machine – is that what you think I am? Some toy Raines played with? Believe it or not, sis, I do have feelings!”

“So what, are you reformed now? Overnight you decide that everything you did was Raines’ and his remote controlled brain switch’s fault?”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Lyle shouted at her. “God, I am so confused. When I got Jarod out, it felt so right. But now…”

“And now?” she prompted sarcastically.

Lyle sighed and sat back down.

“When I was a kid, my foster mother taught me things – be good to animals and people – stuff like that. I always had this sense inside me when I did things about whether they were right or wrong. Then Raines came…I can’t remember any operation. But I remember this experiment. He killed my best friend and I didn’t feel anything. There were these probes hooked up to my head and Raines seemed really happy with the results. Then one morning, I woke up and thought it was all a dream.”

“What did you do when you found out it wasn’t?”

“I tried not to. God, do you think we’re all white knights like Jarod?” Lyle stared at her. “He makes it look so easy – doesn’t he? Just go out there and make everything better that you screwed up. Be the hero! Well, I guess I’m just too selfish. Raines would have killed me for any disobedience and maybe, not all of us are willing to die for some ‘greater good’ like Mom and Jarod.”

“Perhaps it takes more courage to stay alive to win the war than to die early in the battle,” Miss Parker told him. She changed tactics. “You know, in some ways, Jarod is luckier than you. They took away your ability to feel. It must all be crashing down on you now. I want to help. Let me be your sister and help you.”

“I’m afraid,” Lyle told her. “Afraid of myself – what I’ll do if this thing is turned on again. And I don’t know if I can go through it again. I’ve been telling myself for so long now that I’m a monster that that’s all I know how to be.”

“You don’t know who you are,” she replied. “If there is anything the three of us – you, me and Jarod – have in common – it’s that.”

Lyle looked shocked. “But you’ve always been so sure of yourself…”

“I’ve always been Daddy’s angel – well, except with Tommy.”

Lyle smiled sadly. “So what do we do now? Eat PEZ and save the little guy?”

“That’s who Jarod is – not me and I highly suspect it’s not in your makeup either. First, we take down the Centre and…”

“Redeem our souls,” Lyle concluded.

***

They walked back in companionable silence. At the front door, Lyle turned to her.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “I don’t feel so…”

“Alone? You’re not. Let’s go see if we still have a pretender, shall we?”

“Or what’s left of the pretender,” he joked.

“Cox certainly makes you look like an angel.”

“Somehow I don’t think Jarod sees it that way.”

“He’s no angel either.”

“I know,” Lyle grinned at her. “But his sister – well, there’s someone who probably has the qualifications.”

She laughed. “You like living dangerously – don’t you?”

He winked at her. He went to fetch the pretender’s dinner while she woke him up. When he walked into the bedroom, Jarod sat against the headboard with pillows behind him and a thermometer in his mouth. Lyle set the tray aside and sat in a chair.

She removed the thermometer and read it carefully.

“Dammit! It’s going sky high again.” She looked over at her brother and he felt her anxiety.

“Jarod, don’t fall back asleep,” Lyle lectured. “You didn’t eat your lunch and you haven’t eaten in days. What do you want to drink with your dinner?”

Jarod opened his eyes and watched the twins. Something had happened between them. He turned fever-glazed eyes towards Miss Parker, questions swimming in them.

“Answer my brother,” she snapped. Jarod suddenly understood. They had found common ground and a united cause. He smiled slightly to himself.

“Water is fine,” he told them.

Ben called up the stairs and Lyle nodded at his sister as she left. Taking the tray from her a moment later, he plopped it on Jarod’s lap along with a large glass of milk.

“We’re out of water. You need calories. Trust me – I’ve had pneumonia before.”

“Trust you? Aren’t you forgetting the jumper cables?”

“Not at all.” Lyle gazed thoughtfully at the pretender. “Would you have preferred if I had let Cox have you? He bothered me constantly with his requests to spend time with you.”

“So you were protecting me?” Jarod asked. He shoved the tray of food away. “You couldn’t have just let me go? You could have told them I escaped.”

“Actually, at the time, the thought never even occurred to me,” Lyle answered truthfully. “I just knew that I had to find a way of getting your cooperation before transferring you to Africa. Shall I tell you what they would have done to you in Africa if you had arrived in a less-than-cooperative state?”
Jarod shuddered.

“Now, no more talk. You need to eat that,” Lyle informed him.

“I seem to have lost my appetite,” Jarod replied honestly.

Lyle sighed melodramatically. “I could try to change your mind but I know how much my sister enjoys your little power struggles. I’ll just wait until she gets back. She would make my life miserable if I denied her this pleasure.”

Jarod scowled and picked up the fork. Eating with one hand chained to the bed was difficult but he managed.

***

Two o’clock in the morning

Ben shook her awake gently. When she stuck the gun in his face, he shrieked and stepped away from her. She sat up and ran her fingers through her hair.

“You scared me half out of my wits,” she told him. “I’m sorry. Old habit.”

“I know – don’t ask,” he replied. “Look, I hate to wake you – especially since you’ve had so little sleep lately. But your prisoner is really sick. I think we need to take him to a hospital. I went in to give him the 2 a.m. dose and he thought I was someone called Cox.”

She jumped up – this had to be bad if Jarod was hallucinating of Cox.

“Wake my brother up, will you Ben?” she asked as she headed out. Inside Jarod’s room, she found the pretender curled into a tight shivering ball beneath the blankets. Placing her hand on his forehead, she felt the hotness. Jarod moaned and tried to pull away. Lyle came into the room with a basin, washcloth and cold water. Ringing the washcloth out, her brother handed it to her before grabbing an edge of the blankets.

“Jarod, somewhere in that superbrain of yours I know you can hear me. Let go of the blankets. We need to cool you down.”

Jarod continued shivering and mumbling nonsense. Lyle yanked and the blankets landed on the floor. Grabbing Jarod’s ankles, Lyle pulled Jarod’s feet down so the pretender lay flat on the bed. Jarod turned his face up from his cuffed arm.

“Miss Parker?” he croaked. “Why are you here?”

“Jarod, do you know where you’re at?” she asked cautiously.

“I’m in the Centre,” he replied. “I tried to save you. They shot you. Are you a ghost?”

“Why do you think I’m a ghost?”

“You disappeared. I always knew you’d haunt me. I can never get you out of my mind. I’ve tried.”

She suddenly grinned as she lay the washcloth across Jarod’s forehead. A delirious pretender – this could be fun, she thought.

“Why can’t you get me out of your mind?”

“I don’t know. You make me so mad most of the time. You believe everything your father tells you. But I remember when we were friends. Then you went away.”

“Yes. I went to school. Did you miss me?”

“Sydney wouldn’t tell me where you went to. Then I had to do a simulation that was horrible. I still remember it but they tried to make me forget.”

“What did you sim?” Lyle asked.

“Mind control. So many ways – drugs, hypnosis, electroshock. But none of them work as well as the device I figured out how to build.” Jarod shivered as she wiped his chest. He stared at the ceiling, lost in the memories. “Please Sydney, don’t let them use it! Please tell me it was just a simulation!”

“It was just a simulation,” Miss Parker comforted.

“No.” Jarod tried to sit up, desperately trying to make her understand through the fog that shrouded his brain. “They used it. I know they did. The sim of your mother – it made me remember. They put it in Lyle’s head. I can’t let them tear you from your brother. It’s all my fault – everything he’s done.”

“What did you do, Jarod?” Miss Parker asked.

“I went back to the Centre so I could protect Lyle,” Jarod confessed. “I was going to find it – the control device. But Cox was there and they…”

Miss Parker looked up at her brother, shocked. They stared at each other for a moment before looking down at the pretender.

“Dammit,” Miss Parker swore. “He’s going to go into shock.”

Lyle jumped into action. “We’ve got to get the fever down! Fill the bathtub with tepid water.” He unlocked the cuff and hauled Jarod upright.

Miss Parker looked up from the tub as her brother hauled the weakly resisting pretender into the room. Lyle maneuvered him into the tub and locked his wrists together around the piping on the wall beside the tub. Jarod struggled for a moment before passing out.

“Get a cup and pour water over him,” Lyle told his sister as he arranged Jarod so he lay back along the tub. She took the cup Ben offered and scooped up water. Ben left to fetch clean sheets.

“His bandages are getting wet,” she said after pouring water for ten minutes.

“It can’t be helped,” Lyle responded. “I’ll get some new bandages. Keep that up and yell if you need me.”

She poured water over Jarod’s chest and he shivered. Scooping more water, she poured it over his head, half the water sluicing onto the floor. His eyelids fluttered and he blinked the water from his eyes.
“Welcome back,” she greeted him. She examined his eyes – seeing awareness and pain there. He lifted his head from the back of the tub and took in his situation.

“You don’t have enough blood left in you to blush so don’t bother,” she informed him.

He pulled briefly at the handcuffs locking him in position then leaned his head back against the tub and closed his eyes.

“I’m not awake,” he whispered to himself. “It’s just a nightmare.”

She pinched his arm. “Nope. You’re awake.”

He didn’t reply – just gritted his teeth as the shivering started. His shivering made his ribs burn and the water stung where it reached some of the fresher wounds.

“You did this to yourself, you know,” she told him as she worked – letting her anger at him for not telling her about his plans override her concern for him. “I don’t know how you thought you were going to find the control device while inside the Centre.”

His eyes popped open. “How..”

She smiled nastily at him. “Fever makes you talkative. Too bad Cox didn’t try that.”

He cringed and turned away. “I know where it’s at,” he whispered.

“Where?” she demanded.

“Let me go…”

“No. The Centre is going down for what they did to my mother, my brothers and me. I know you don’t want to go back there…”

“I can’t. Cox…” He turned his face to the wall.

“Cox what?” She asked. “Jarod?” He shook his head.

“Cox made his life hell,” Lyle told her as he walked into the room.

“What did he do to him?”

Jarod shook his head and opened his mouth to tell Lyle off but Miss Parker slapped her hand over his mouth.

“The drugs were designers made by Cox especially for Jarod,” Lyle informed her. “The good doctor would explain exactly what the drugs were as he injected him. Then they’d beat the hell out of him.”

“Why?”

“To get him to cooperate in the simulations. The drugs increased his central nervous system’s response to stimulus. Basically, doubled the pain, caused extreme nausea, headaches…”

“Shutup, Lyle,” Jarod yelled when Miss Parker removed her hand as she stood.

Lyle turned to the tub angrily.

“You’re in no condition to be telling me what to do,” Lyle spat out. “I cleaned up your blood and vomit for two weeks. I kept you alive in there!”

“You hosed me down like an animal,” Jarod retorted through his chattering teeth.

“You certainly smelled worse than a pig sty. Would you have preferred if I left you to rot in your own vomit and blood?”

“Lyle, stop it!” Miss Parker barked. “Leave him alone. He’s miserable enough. If you want to be useful, go get him some water.”

“He’ll just puke it back up.”

“He’s kept both lunch and dinner down.”

“Lunch? He ate two bites of that sandwich and Ben told me he threw dinner up an hour after I left him!”

“What did you expect?” Jarod growled. “The location may have changed but I’m still a prisoner.”
Lyle stormed out of the room.

“You shouldn’t be trying to piss him off,” Miss Parker lectured. “God, you’re hot. Why isn’t this working?”

“Too cold,” he mumbled.

“That’s the idea.” She reached over him and turned the faucet on – allowing freezing cold water to pour into the tub. Jarod tried to scoot further away from the faucet but the cuffs halted his movements. He shivered more violently – he felt like liquid nitrogen ran in his veins.

She stood and went to the sink. Lyle returned with a large container of water and marched over to the tub. She gasped when she saw him grasp Jarod by the hair, holding him in place as he roughly poured the liquid, half it running down Jarod’s face. Jarod gagged, choking as the liquid was poured into him. She grabbed her brother’s arm.

“Lyle, stop it! What the hell are you doing?”

“Parker,” he explained patiently as he continued. “I’ve done this before. If you let him do it, he’ll drink two sips and then throw that up. You’ve got to fill his stomach up with water quickly.”

When Lyle was done, Jarod choked and tried to regulate his breathing. He had never felt so humiliated in his life and he turned away so they wouldn’t see the tears form in his hot eyes. He tuned out their voices as they discussed his condition and closed his eyes – letting his mind drift to more pleasant places.

Miss Parker looked over at the pretender. Jarod was oblivious to them.

“Be more gentle with him,” she advised her brother. “He hasn’t had any drugs in him for 24 hours.”

Lyle sighed and nodded reluctantly. He couldn’t keep treating Jarod like they were still in the Centre.

“I’ll try. You haven’t exactly been the model of gentle, caring nurse with him either.”

“I know. We Parkers aren’t bred to be gentle. Let’s give him a few minutes alone.”

She peeked in at him every five minutes or so while she paced in his bedroom.

“You’re driving me nuts,” Lyle told her from where he sat beside the window. “Sit down.”

“I’m going take his temperature.”

“No. We’ll know when it breaks. Just leave him be. He doesn’t want you seeing him like this.”

“Since when do you give a damn what he wants?”

“I give up!” Lyle threw his hands up. “First, I’m not gentle enough with him and now, when I try to help him out, I get this!”

She blocked his exit from the room.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I can’t handle this.”

“I know.”

***

Jarod had managed to sit forward and was now leaning his head into his elbows. Another wave of pain and shivers assaulted him and he bit down on the skin of his arm. They were right outside the bathroom door and he didn’t want them hearing him moan. He bit harder and waited. Exhaustion suddenly weighed him down and he leaned back. He didn’t feel so cold anymore but he was too tired to know for sure.

When Lyle peered into the bathroom, he smiled.

“He’s sweating,” he told his sister. They rushed into the bathroom and felt Jarod’s forehead.

“It’s about @#!$ time,” she said. “Let’s get him into bed.”

***

The next morning
Ben smiled at the lack of handcuffs on the bedridden man. Parker sat beside him on the bed with a bowl balanced on her knees. She scooped another spoonful of the oatmeal and honey mixture and held it to Jarod’s lips.

“You certainly gave us a scare last night,” Ben told him. “How are you feeling this morning?”
Jarod swallowed the mixture and licked his lips clean.

“Better,” he croaked. “I apologize for being so much trouble last night.”

“No trouble at all. Just get better quickly, okay? And don’t let that oatmeal make any return appearances.”

Jarod nodded with a weak smile and Ben left. He turned his gaze to Miss Parker when she shoved the spoon against his lips again. After he had swallowed that mouthful, he turned his face away. She set the spoon down and reached to yank his face around in order to force him. Remembering her conversation with Lyle the night before, she changed tactics and gently pulled his face around.

“I’ll untuck the blankets some if you’ll eat the rest of this,” she offered. They had tucked him in tightly – the blankets and his weakness effectively imprisoning him. He nodded and accepted more of the food. She pulled the blankets from between the mattresses. Even loosened, Jarod couldn’t garner enough strength to free his arms from the restrictions.

She laughed at his frowning face and did something to shock him. Bending down, she kissed him gently on the forehead. He blinked up at her – for once, speechless.

“Sweet dreams,” she told him. “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

He looked confused by her statement. “Bed bugs? There are insects in this bed?”

She heard Lyle’s laughter and smiled. Her brother stood in the doorway with his arms crossed.

“You had better explain it to him or he won’t go to sleep,” Lyle informed her.

“Jarod, there aren’t any insects in your bed. It’s just a saying. It dates back to when…well, when there probably were insects in the beds.”

Jarod nodded and closed his eyes. They shut the door and left him to sleep as he had hoped. Unfortunately though, instead of an escape plan forming in his mind, sleep overtook him.

***

Noon

Miss Parker peered into the bedroom and, finding its occupant still sound asleep, closed the door quietly and went back down the stairs. Ben and Lyle had gone fishing, leaving her alone with Jarod. She had protested at first – telling Lyle they had too much work to be done but Lyle had laughed and said their work wasn’t going anywhere with a nod towards Jarod’s room. She had decided to do something different and as un-Miss Parker like as possible.

She decided she had enough time to feed the lab rat before the pies would be done baking. The smell from the pies baking changed her mind about lunch and she made up sandwiches instead of more oatmeal – remembering her mother doing this.

“Hey, sleepyhead.” Jarod stirred at her words and turned to blink up at her. “Lunch time.”

He sniffed while pushing at the blankets. He felt somewhat stronger and was able to free his arms.

“What smells so good?”

“Blackberry pies are baking.” She bent and helped him to a sitting position, plopping large pillows behind his back. He picked up the sandwich on the plate in front of him and bit into it. He chewed for a moment then frowned at her.

“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?” she asked.

“It’s sticking to the roof of my mouth,” he mumbled.

She grinned. “It’s supposed to. I made it just like my mother used to make them for me – sticky and messy.”

A plop of jelly landed on the plate as he bit off another piece. He chewed again, a serious look on his face, then grinned back.

“It’s very good,” he told her. “Your mother must have been a really good cook. It’s brilliant – putting a gooey, sweet jelly with salty, peanut butter.”

She laughed at him. His perplexed expression as she doubled with laughter just made it worse. When she had control, she sat beside him on the bed and watched him finish the sandwich.

“Can I have another one?” he asked.

“So now you’re hungry?”

“Yes. My stomach seems to have settled down.”

“Or perhaps the drugs have worn off?”

“Can I have a piece of that pie too?”

She decided to let it pass – his changing the subject.

“The pies are for dinner. They’re not done yet and then they have to cool down. Hopefully, we’ll also have fresh fish.”

“Ben took Lyle fishing on the lake?”

“Yes. Okay, I’m going to get the sandwich. Look at me, Jarod.” He lifted his eyes from his lunch to hers. “Are we doing the handcuffs today?”

“You overestimate me.”

“Oh, I know you’re not strong enough to go anywhere. But that doesn’t mean you won’t try something – only God knows what that brain of yours could cook up.”

He considered his reply. Sighing, he gave up his half-formed plans to turn the tables and imprison Lyle and his sister today. He’d miss out on the pie.

“I’ll behave – for today.”

“Good idea. I’ll go get that sandwich.”

When he had finished his second sandwich, she pulled the pillows away from him and ordered him to sleep. Checking on him an hour later, she was surprised to find him curled on his side, sleeping peacefully. Lyle returned with Ben and a string of fish and an even longer string of tales about the one that got away. She listened with amazement – this is her psycho brother?

Lyle grinned as he took in the kitchen. His sister had spent the day cooking? There were three blackberry pies cooling on the kitchen table as proof. He decided to rub it in just a little.

“Did Jarod help make those pies? They smell awfully good.”

“No,” she snapped. “I made them.”

“Okay, did wonderboy give you the recipe? Walk you through the steps?”

“Jarod has been asleep except for lunch. I did it.”

“Well, I hope they’re edible.” She punched him in the chest and he grinned at her. “How is your favorite lab rat?”

“Much better.” She snorted remembering his comments about the sandwiches. “He thinks Mom invented peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. It was…amusing.”

“Amusing? Since when do you find his naivete enjoyable?”

“I never got to experience it firsthand. I’m just glad his curiosity and innocence are still intact. Somehow, I would have thought this latest experience at the Centre would have killed that.”

“It’s not like Cox didn’t try. And he learned from the best – Raines. Raines had been doing these experiments since right before our mother died.”

“He’s been experimenting on Jarod since he was eleven?” she asked quietly.

“Yes. Not continuously – just every four years or so. But Catherine…Our mother went to Sydney two days after Jarod’s first death experience. That was supposedly her last ‘session’ with Sydney. She tried to talk to Sydney – tell him what was going on. But he wouldn’t believe her. He thought she was going over the edge and making it up.”

“And when she couldn’t get through to him, she became desperate.”

“Exactly. It’s all in the reports. I brought copies with me from the Centre.”

“I want to see them.”

“They’re pretty disturbing.” Lyle hesitated. “I’ll get them out for you but make sure Jarod doesn’t see them.”

“What are you, his mother now?”

“Fine. Show them to him. There’s some great reading by Raines in there. I’m sure it’ll help him on the road to recovery beautifully,” Lyle sneered.

“I don’t know,” she considered. “He hasn’t really dealt with it. Maybe we need to show him so he can deal with it. We need him to work this through before we implement our plan.”

Lyle sighed and turned to look out the window. His sister had a good point.

***

Later that evening

Jarod stared unseeing at the ceiling while he went through some simulations. He almost groaned in frustration. His plan had partially worked. His family was free and Lyle and Miss Parker were working together. But he hadn’t planned on Lyle getting him out of the Centre before he got the control device. The plan failed when Lyle unexpectedly developed a conscience before he found the device. He also had failed to include the most important factor of all – Project Regeneration. Of course, he hadn’t really remembered it but that was no excuse.

He had formed his plan during his sim of Catherine Parker. During the sim, he realized a number of things. First, the cryogenic experiments were tied to the Centre’s existence and he needed to learn more about them. Second, the device he remembered simming as a child was in Lyle’s head. Third, the only way to take down the Centre was to unite the twins against their father; and last, he felt guilty as hell for wanting to kill Lyle when Lyle’s actions were a result of his own simulation.

The final hand was getting ready to be dealt. He had to make sure he had all the cards – the control device, his family’s safety, his freedom and the twins united.

***

She didn’t bother knocking. Finding him lost in a simulation didn’t improve her dismal mood from looking through those reports. It was time they finished their discussion. The handcuffs were snapped in place before he could move a muscle.

“What are you doing?” he protested. “I thought we had reached an understanding!”

“I know what you’re up to! And it isn’t going to work! We’re going to follow my mother’s plan!”

“NO! Listen, her plan is flawed! It won’t work! I’ve simmed it!”

“We’ve been through this before. They won’t kill you…”

“There’s something your mother didn’t know…”

“And what is that?”

“It’s Jacob. When your mother came up with this, Jacob was alive. Now he’s dead.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Cox wants to regenerate Jacob.”

“Why?”

“Because Jacob is Cox’s father.”

“Oh God,” she interrupted. She began pacing – needing to feel the solidity of the earth beneath her. “Cox is Sydney’s nephew. Sydney has been protecting him all along.”

“Yes. Sydney is caught in the middle – between his nephew and me. He won’t help Cox but if helps me – his nephew will be killed.”

“And Cox will do anything to make the experiment work. Jarod, it couldn’t possibly work, could it?”

“I don’t know,” he replied quietly. “There is no way to sim it. You cannot sim death or regeneration. It’s impossible. That’s why I can’t go back…”

“Because if it works – you’ll become Jacob and it will all start over again – the children being kidnapped, the experiments.”

“Yes. There’s got to be some other way of doing this. If we could just get our hands on one of the past reports, the corporate sponsors are probably listed in it.”

“They’re not.”

Jarod stared at her, shock and understanding on his face.

“I want to see them.”

“No.”

He yanked at the handcuffs anchoring him to the bed. “Yes. I have a right to see them! Unlock me!”

“I decide what your rights are – you belong to me. Forget about the reports and tell me why you kept all this a secret in the first place!”


“I’m not a piece of property,” he spat out. “Why are you keeping me here? You cannot seriously still be considering taking me back there now that you know what Cox intends to do!”

“You’re not going anywhere yet. I haven’t decided what I’m going to do with you.” They glared at each other. “Right now – I want answers. You’re going to tell me what your original plan was, why you didn’t tell me about it and where that damn control device is located at!”

He continued glaring at her and she went to the telephone on the dresser.

“I’m sure your father will be eager to come here and see you. I wonder what he’ll do when he reads those reports.”

Jarod swallowed. He couldn’t risk her calling his dad. The boy would trace the call and his father would come here. He didn’t need to simulate what would happen if his father and Lyle came face to face. He caved.

“When I did the sim of your mother, I remembered the mind control simulation,” he told her. He turned his face towards the wall. “I could feel your mother's anguish at her realization that Lyle was alive and I felt guilty. Lyle is a victim of one of my simulations just like all those people who were killed. I asked you to take me back so I could look for the control device and the DSA.”

“Dammit! You knew all along that the DSA was at the Centre too! You sent me to those two other locations just to keep me out of your way!”

“Yes. I planned to get the DSA and control device and use them to persuade Lyle to help me escape. Once I was out – I would give you the control device and Lyle the DSA…”

“Forcing us to work together. Did you suspect that my mother knew about regeneration from your sim?”

“No. I only knew that those experiments were important somehow to the continuation of the Centre. When you told me about the DSA yesterday, I realized her plans required you to be willing to do something I don’t think you’re prepared for.”

“Do what?”

“Once you’ve taken out the sponsors, they’ll be one more person you’ll need to kill.”

“If you’re talking about my father – rest assured, that I have no problems with wiping that slime bag off the planet.”

“I know. But I was talking about me.”

“WHAT?”

“I know you’ve often wanted to put a bullet in my head. But you never have. Can you do it?”

“I’m not going to kill you! What the hell are you talking about?”

“The ending. You’ll have to wipe all the evidence of this experiment off the face of the earth. If you take me back and the experiment succeeds, I will become Jacob – living proof that regeneration works. Proof that you’ll have to destroy. YOU are the flaw in your mother’s plan.”

She stepped back – horrified at his words. She shook her head and backed out of the room.

Lyle watched as his sister ran out the back door. He could feel her emotions boiling, getting ready to explode. Following her to the same spot they had talked at yesterday, he sat beside her on the log and waited.

“He said I’d have to kill him,” she finally said stonily. “When it is all over with, I’d have to make sure the evidence, himself, was gone.”

Lyle sucked in his breath. If what she said was true, then Jarod was afraid the experiment would work. Wouldn’t Cox just love to get his hands on this piece of information, Lyle thought. If Cox knew that Jarod suspected the experiment could succeed, nothing would stop Cox from pursuing it. Jarod had just given his sister and himself a very dangerous piece of information.

“Why did he tell you this?” Lyle asked.

“Because I threatened to call his father,” she replied.

“Then he’ll be escaping soon.”

“As if he could,” she snorted.

Lyle laughed. “He can and he will. You put his family at risk. He’ll find a way to protect them. He’s probably simming it now.”

“Then we’ll just have to be more cautious around him.”

“One of us will need to be with him continuously.”

“Fine.” She snapped. “Why would our mother come up with a plan that requires us to kill Jarod? None of this makes any sense!”

“Mom wasn’t a pretender. She couldn’t predict the ending like Jarod can. That’s why she told us to get him to sim it.”

“You hope. What if her plan really was to get us to kill Jarod? After all, there have been so many people hurt, including herself, because of him.”

He considered her for a moment. If what she was saying was true, then this was really just an elaborate revenge planned by his dead mother.

“She would have to have known that the experiment works,” he thought out loud. “And not even Jarod knows that. Was there anything in those reports that would lead you to believe she knew?”

“I haven’t read through everything! There are piles of paperwork there. It would take me a week to go through it all.”

“But Jarod could do it in a day.”

“Yes. But you were right – it is too disturbing.”

“We’re running out of time. We don’t have a choice. We show it to him and have him sim it.”

“This isn’t going to be easy on him. I think we should wait another day or two until he’s better.”

“Agreed. We can’t risk him getting away if we wait longer. Either way – his escape or reading those files – it’s going to screw up his recovery.”

“Then we better go get some rest. It’s going to be a long 24 hours.”

****

Jarod sighed deeply. He had known what her response would be. But if she couldn’t do it, put a bullet through in his brain, his family would be at risk. He would have to escape before she decided to take the chance that the experiment wouldn’t work. She was already threatening his family. It was time to leave. He began simming his escape.



feedback please : Unreal8@aol.com

Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc.and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.



Regeneration
part 2
by Gizmo




“I’ve got a deal to offer you,” she started. “Finish your dinner and hear me out.”

He nodded and stabbed his fork into the potatoes. Since she had run from the room an hour earlier, he had simmed several potential escape plans. The plan most likely required him to gain her trust. Cooperation was the key right now.

“You don’t want to go back to the Centre because you’re afraid of what happens if the experiment works.” She took a deep breath. “But you’ll agree to go back if I’ll agree to…”

“To kill me once you take out the sponsors,” Jarod supplied helpfully around a mouthful.

“Yes. But there’s another problem we need to talk about.”

Jarod waited – his mind already anticipating her thought process and it’s probable solutions.

“My mother – I didn’t really know her that well. As we’ve seen with Sydney, sometimes it’s the people closest to you that you really don’t know at all. Jarod, what if this whole thing is just an elaborate…”

“Revenge plan of your mothers? Her final way of getting even with both the Centre and me and my family?”

“Yes. From your sim…”

He shook his head. “As you said – it’s the people closest that we can’t see clearly. The people whose lives affect mine directly – I can’t sim them effectively. Otherwise, I would have been able to determine this when I simmed your mother. I don’t know whether her plan was faulty or she wanted me dead.”

“It just doesn’t make sense. After everything she did to get you out of the Centre and help your family…”

“But she didn’t get me out – she faked her death instead. And why would she have Raines bring me to the safe house and tell me about the DSA? Why not Sydney? He was her shrink. I don’t have the answers.”

“And you’re willing to go along with it? Finish her plan even though you’ll end up dead and you’re not sure what her motivation was?”

He pushed the tray of food away. “I’d do it if I knew that you would pull the trigger and finish it.”

She set the tray aside absentmindedly and looked him in the eyes – seeing his determination.

“Why, Jarod? You’ll never know if your family is safe or not. And your father would be devastated. You could just disappear. They can’t continue the experiments without you.”

He refused to answer, turning to look out the window. She grew angry and climbed onto the bed, straddling him and yanked his chin around.

“I spent almost four years chasing you. I could have killed you any number of times and solved all of this! I deserve an explanation!”

“What exactly would you have solved?” he snarled, letting his anger out. “They’d just put you on the chase for the boy if they didn’t kill you. You would never have found the truth and the Centre would have owned you.”

She gasped as she found her answer in his eyes. He was willing to do it for her.

“Get off me!” He tried to shove her away but he was weak from the injuries and near-starvation he had endured for the past weeks. She leaned over him and pinned him to the bed easily. He struggled beneath her, bucking and panting.

“Stop it Jarod!” He ceased his struggles and stared at the ceiling, his chest heaving up and down from his exertions. She examined his face. Did he think of her as another victim needing to be rescued?

“I’ll find a different way,” she told him firmly.

“There isn’t any other way. It’s an either/or situation.”

“I don’t find your alternatives acceptable. I will NOT kill you and I will NOT go back to chasing you all over kingdom come. It doesn’t have to be my freedom or yours.”

“Why not?” he asked. “Isn’t that what it’s been all along? What’s different now?”

“I’ll ask you the same thing. Why, after four years, have you decided to rescue me? When did I become another one of your little causes?”

“Do you think I WANT to do this? I’ve been looking for a way to take down the Centre for four years. Now, I’m just a pawn in your plan and Lyle is running the show. If you would just let me go, I…”

“You would keep looking for a plan where you get to be in control,” she interrupted. “Well, guess what, hero? I don’t find your alternatives acceptable and you don’t get to choose. You belong to me now and you’re not going anywhere. Got that?”

“NO!”

She smiled evilly at him. If there was one thing Jarod loathed it was having his plans and control taken away from him. A demonstration was in order.

She leaned down towards his face and kissed the end of his nose. He turned his face away. She grabbed his earlobe between her teeth, bit down and then blew in his ear. He shivered and she smiled as she watched the pulse in his neck jump. Deciding that area needed attention, she tossed her hair to one side and licked and sucked at his neck.

“Have you ever had a hicky, Jarod?” she murmured against him.
He desperately searched his mind for a sim to preoccupy it. He knew what she was doing – forcing him to acknowledge that she was running the show now. She began sucking hard on his neck and he searched his mind for a way to make her stop before his body reacted.

“Is rape the latest Centre technique they taught you?” he gritted out between his teeth.

She nipped him, letting him know that getting her angry wouldn’t work. She sucked a moment longer, then leaned back and considered the mark on his neck. Applying her lips to his neck again, she began working her way down to his collarbone. She kissed and licked the bruising there, enjoying his sharp intake of breath.

“Stop,” he breathed. He turned his face away from the wall. “I’ll stay.”

She sat up, released his arms and smiled down at him. “Good choice. Now, what do I have to do to persuade you to run a couple of sims?” She ran her fingertip down his chest to his navel and circled the indentation. He reached out and caught her hand.

“No more handcuffs or cold baths.” She nodded. “I want access to a laptop and phone line.” She smiled nastily and shook her head. He huffed. “At least let me contact my father and let him know I’m alright. We can’t have him deciding to do something on his own.” She considered this and nodded. “I want unrestricted access to the grounds and house.” She shook her head again. “I’ve agreed to stay. Why not?”

“You’re staying in bed. When you’ve recovered sufficiently, you can move around more.”

“Playing nurse doesn’t suit you.”

“And all these beautifully colored bruises and stitches don’t suit you.” She turned serious. “I want to know where that device is. I’ll give you the reports if you’ll tell me where the device is located.”

He shook his head. The device was something he needed to keep control over. If something went wrong, he had to be able to use it to guarantee his family’s safety. It was all he had left since she demanded he turn himself over to her plans. Also, he knew she had to give him the reports to do the simulations anyway.

“If my father finds that control device because you wouldn’t tell me where it was at…”

“He won’t.”

She glared at him in frustration. Reasoning with him was getting her nowhere. He was still trying to keep some control and she couldn’t allow that. This was her mother’s plan and she was the one running the show.

“I thought we had already settled this but if you insist…” She smiled down at him but instead of the worry she expected to see in his face, he grinned back up at her. He took control of the situation this time by reaching up and pulling her down to him. She was in too much shock to resist as he leaned up and kissed her. A shudder went through her and she realized that what he lacked in experience, he more than made up for with raw talent. She jerked back as that thought hit her – anger replacing the desire. Her hand came around of its own accord and the resounding slap shocked her. He turned his face back to look up at her and his hand came up to wipe the blood from his lip where her slap had reopened a cut.

She jumped off him and his laughter followed her out as she ran down the stairs. She pushed past her brother and slammed the front door. Lyle looked at the door, totally mystified, before deciding whom to approach – Jarod or his sister. He turned towards the stairs and knocked at the open bedroom door. Jarod was sitting up against the headboard, holding a hand to his bleeding lower lip.

“What did she do, slap you?” Jarod nodded. Lyle bent down to look at the cut and red print on his face. “She got you good. That could use some ice. What did you say to piss her off?”

Jarod just shook his head, pressing his hand back over the cut and Lyle noticed another red mark.

“What happened to your neck?” Lyle asked. He tried to get a closer look and Jarod shoved him back but not before he got a glimpse of two small teeth indentations in the skin.

Lyle started laughing and Jarod glowered at him which just made Lyle laugh harder. He fell into the chair as he laughed.

“That must have been some conversation you had with my sister. I take it from your bleeding lip that you reached a draw?”

“Can I have some ice?” Jarod asked.

Lyle fetched ice and handed it to the pretender. Jarod pressed the piece, wrapped in a towel, to his rapidly swelling lip.

“So are you going to tell me what happened or do I chase down my enraged twin and risk my life asking her?”

“She persuaded me to stay for the next two weeks and run some simulations.”

“And?”

“And she also wanted the control device in exchange for giving me the reports.”

“But you knew that she would have to give you the reports to do the simulations so you refused. Which made her try other techniques to persuade you.” Lyle laughed. No wonder his sister was furious. Sex had always been her primary weapon to get what she wanted from men. Jarod had probably taken that and shoved it right back in her face. “These control games you two play – I’m beginning to wonder if you don’t enjoy it a little too much.”

“She wants me to give her complete control over this and I won’t do that. It’s my family that’s at risk here.”
“Ethan is our brother too. She’s not going to put your family in any danger because it puts him at risk too.”

Jarod removed the ice from his lip and leaned forward to emphasize his point.

“This plan to take me back - you and I know she won’t be able to do it…”

Lyle suddenly saw the ending Jarod was predicting. It was like a vision of the future. The three of them in a room – his sister with a gun she lowers from Jarod’s forehead – and Jarod with the control device.

“You’re going to use the control device to get me to kill you. Turn it on,” Lyle whispered. He chuckled briefly.

Jarod nodded. The double irony was inescapable. And it would end the experiments permanently. Even with his clone out there, Cox would be finished. With his death, his family would have no ties to the Centre anymore. They could disappear.

“Does she know this?”

“No. There’s another choice – we all go back to playing cat and mouse. She didn’t like that one either. And it’s risky - they’ve been threatening her for some time because of her failure to bring me back. Thomas Gates was ample proof that their patience is limited.”

“There’s got to be another way.”

“That’s what I’m hoping. I’ll need those reports to do simulations. Maybe there will be something in there that will help.”

“I’ll give them to you the day after tomorrow.”

“Why the wait?”

Lyle rolled his eyes at Jarod. “Obviously you need help understanding this. You are in no condition to be running simulations. You have pneumonia, three broken ribs, a concussion and twenty-six stitches in your body. Today was the first day you’ve been able to hold anything in your hollow stomach in more than two weeks. I may not be a doctor or a genius but I know you need rest, food and sleep.”

“I’m going to need as much time as possible to do these simulations. We’ve only got two weeks. I can handle it.”

“My sister and I can’t. You’re a pain to take care of. Sorry, but giving you baths is not my idea of how I want to spend the next two weeks.”

Jarod scowled at the reminder. Lyle grinned down at him as he stood – it wasn’t often that he shut the pretender up.

“Do you want any pie?” Lyle asked. Jarod got over his shock at Lyle’s question and nodded. He decided to take advantage of Lyle’s good disposition.

“Lyle?” Jarod asked before he could leave. “What’s a hicky?”

Lyle almost dropped the tray. He grinned, set it back down and went to his mother’s former bedroom. Returning with a hand-held mirror, he gave it to Jarod. Jarod took it and looked up at him, perplexed. Lyle pointed at Jarod’s neck.

“That is,” Lyle told him. Jarod’s expression was priceless.

Lyle was still chuckling when his sister returned. He couldn’t resist.

“I see you’ve taken to marking your property,” he teased. “But really, sis, a hicky? You couldn’t have just tattooed him? Especially since he had to ask me what a hicky is.”

“He what?” she asked in shock.

“Don’t worry, with that beauty you gave him I think he got the concept. It goes really well with the split lip. I think I’ll get you a dog collar for him for your Christmas present this year.”

She actually looked somewhat embarrassed. He expected her to go on attack and wasn’t disappointed.

“And what should I get you? A complete stalker package perhaps?” she asked, referring to Emily.

He laughed at her and that made her laugh too.

“He had to ask you what a hicky is?” she choked out. “I guess you’re his replacement for Sydney now.”

“Does that mean I’m going to get phone calls in the middle of the night about the meaning of play dough?” Lyle joked. They laughed even harder.

Ben came into the room with Jarod’s dirty dishes, smiling at the hilarity the twins were enjoying. They laughed even harder when he asked what had happened to Jarod’s face. Miss Parker finally got a hold of herself.

“What did Jarod say happened to it?” she asked Ben.

“He said he bumped it. There’s also this mark on his neck…”

Lyle fell off his chair. Miss Parker had to wipe the tears off her face. Ben shook his head at the two of them and left.

***

Late that Night

Miss Parker sat up in bed. The noises coming from next door let her know that Jarod was in the midst of another nightmare. But hadn’t awakened her. Something else was wrong.

The hallway was dark but she followed her instincts. She almost tripped over him sitting on the top step.

“Lyle?”

He didn’t answer so she sat down next to him. Patience was never one of her virtues. Come to think of it, she didn’t have any virtues, she decided. But she was learning.

“I dreamt of her.”

“Our mother?” she asked.

“Yes. I’ve never…” He stopped and reconsidered his words. “I used to have this room in my apartment. I’d lock myself in there when the memories or dreams came. The room – it was the only place I let myself feel anything. But now...”

She took her brother’s hand. “Tell me about the dream.”

“In my dream – she and Jarod were at the Centre and I was chasing them. I kept yelling that I wanted to help but they kept running away from me. She was protecting him from me. She was afraid of me.”

“It was just a dream,” she comforted.

“No. It was the future.”

“What do you mean?”

Lyle turned to face his sister. “Jarod won’t give you the device because he intends to use it. He’s going to turn it on.”

He watched the horrified expression spread like butter.

“No,” she whispered. “I won’t let him use you that way. I’ll keep him chained to that bed until we find the device.”

Lyle shook his head. “Won’t work. I’ve got an idea. But it’s dangerous.”

“What is it?”

“We get the thing out of my head first.”

Brain surgery was a little beyond her skills.

“Who can we trust to do this surgery?”

“The boy. You call Major Charles and talk with the boy. Get him to come here – without his father.”

She sat back, shocked. If this was a test of how well she trusted her brother, he couldn’t have come up with a better one. Having both the boy and Jarod in one place – that kind of temptation would be the ultimate test of Lyle. Even if she risked it, Jarod would not.

“I’ll do it but only on one condition. No drugs. You’ve got to promise not to use any drugs on Jarod.”

“I can’t do that. You know as well as I do that we can’t keep him chained up. He’ll escape. And without him, we can’t complete the plan.”

She considered this. A scream interrupted her thoughts and she followed her brother to the pretender’s bedroom. Jarod sat with his head down, breathing heavily on the edge of the mattress. He looked up at the twins.

“Get out,” he told them.

“My, aren’t we in a nasty mood tonight,” Miss Parker responded. She approached the bed and its wary occupant while Lyle fetched a washcloth. She sat on the edge of the mattress watching as Jarod tensed and slid towards the headboard, putting more distance between them. Lyle returned and handed her the washcloth.

“I’ll leave him to you,” Lyle told her. He nodded towards Jarod. “He won’t get any better like this.”

Jarod looked up at Lyle and scowled.

“You try injecting me with anything and you’ll regret it,” Jarod warned.

Miss Parker studied Jarod’s pale face and shaky hands. “You’re right,” she told Lyle. “God, I never thought I’d say those words to you.”

Lyle nodded at her and left them to the argument he could feel brewing. At the door, he turned.

“Sis, you might want to call it quits after 30 minutes or so. We’ve only got one day before we need him to run those sims.”

“Don’t worry, I brought reinforcements.” Holding up the handcuffs, she smiled back at her brother. Lyle grinned back and left.

They sat for a few moments. The handcuffs jangled as she set them on the bed between them. She stared at them for a moment and smiled again. Lyle may have been right about something else today, she thought. I do enjoy these control games we play too much.

Jarod heard the cuffs and glowered at the floor. They were up to something. He quickly began running through the possibilities in his mind and settled on the solution they had probably found.

“You agreed NOT to involve my family!” Jarod accused.

Her eyes sprang to his and read the anger reflected there.

“It’s the only way. Jarod, if there’s a way that they can transfer a consciousness into you, then there’s got to be a way to get it out. Perhaps it’s in those files.”

“And how will you know if it worked? Memories are stored in many locations in our brains. It’s possible that even if Regeneration works, Jacob or whoever they stick in me will have access to my memories.”

“It hasn’t worked so far. Why do you think it will work?”

“It hasn’t worked because I haven’t cooperated! If they get a member of my family, I will and, by the time you figure out whether I’m Jarod or Jacob, it may be too late!”

“And if we let you go what happens? How long do we keep playing chase the lab rat before they get lucky and one of your family members gets caught? If you’re not there for this upcoming project review…”

“They’re going to put everyone and everything on the hunt. I know.” Jarod sighed. They were getting nowhere with this conversation and exhaustion overwhelmed him.

She watched him for a moment. He needed sleep.

“What did you dream of?” she asked gently.

“I don’t need a shrink. I’m still recovering from the last one I had.”

“No, you don’t need a shrink. But you could use a friend – an old childhood friend.”

He looked up at her. “My only friends from childhood are either dead or brainwashed by the Centre.”

“I’ll go with recovering brainwashee.” She smiled gently. “You used to ask me to trust you – to believe in you. Now, I’m asking you for the same thing. Trust me. I feel it. My mother’s plan will work and you don’t have to die to make it work.”

He stared at the floor while he considered her words.

“It’s not you. It’s Lyle. You’re going to call the boy and talk him into doing the operation?”

“Yes.”

He shook his head. “You’re asking too much of me. If Lyle has both the boy and I…I won’t risk the boy…” He sucked in his breath. He remembered the boy’s words about her gentleness.

“It wasn’t so much a dream as remembering. I was about the boy’s age the first time. I knew the moment they drug me out of bed that something terrible was going to happen. Then it was so cold and afterwards I just wanted…”

She knew what he was doing – using her feelings for the boy to persuade her to go along with him. But she could manipulate him too.

“You wanted warmth and your only protector’s heart seemed as frozen as that chamber they shoved you in. So you learned to rely on Jarod and only Jarod. I know you. You’re still that little boy that stayed alive in there by making the Centre dependent on YOU. They wouldn’t kill you with their sick experiments because they needed you too badly. You’re terrified of going through with my mother’s plan for one reason – you don’t want to risk someone else controlling you. You can’t handle being part of a plan where you’re not in control and you could wind up like Lyle – with someone else at the joystick.”

He stared at her as her words sunk in. He had lived in denial all those years – repressing the memories of Regeneration – because it was something beyond his control. And control meant survival. Eventually, he had become a control junkie – he needed to be needed.

“I’ll do it,” he whispered. “Let me call my father and talk with the boy.”

He began to shake at that – fear slithering through him. She nodded and watched him closely. Picking up the handcuffs, she dropped them in the garbage can.

“Then we won’t need these anymore.” He heard the sound of the cuffs clanging inside the can but didn’t look up. She knew he was trapped inside that steel coffin again, the cold seeping in all around. She sat next to him and he flinched away. But she reached for him anyway.

“No. You’re not doing this alone. Now you trust me with your family’s safety so you better believe you can trust me with you.”

“I’m afraid,” he whispered.

“I know.” She released him and climbed onto the bed. She wrapped both arms around him and pulled him down beside her. After a moment, he put his feet up onto the bed and curled up.

“Turn over here,” she told him. He turned so they were face to face. There were tears sparkling in her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“For chasing me?”

“No. That was too much fun for both of us to ever be sorry. Stressful and challenging – but fun. I’m sorry that you have to go through this.”

“I don’t want your pity.”

“Good because I’m not offering any. You don’t know how to do this, do you?”

“Do what?”

“Receive.” She scooted closer to him and touched his face gently. His lower lip trembled and tears came to his eyes. “They hurt you. Now cry dammit!”

***

Late the Next Morning

Lyle peered into the room and grinned. They were still asleep. He closed the door and went back downstairs for the tray. He wished he had a video camera for this.

“Breakfast is served!” Lyle announced loudly to the bed’s occupants. His sister jumped out of the bed so quickly you would have thought it was on fire.

“Lyle!” She glared at him. “What are you doing in here?”

“I could ask you the same question. Exactly what type of nursing are you practicing here?”

Jarod started laughing and Lyle looked towards him surprised. When Jarod’s laughter turned to coughs, Lyle sighed dramatically.

“Nurse, your patient needs cough medication,” Lyle informed his sister. “Or would you rather give him mouth to mouth?” He smirked at her.

She stomped over to the medications and poured a dose. Handing it to Jarod, she turned back to her brother.

“I’d rather hit you!” she announced.

“Jeez,” Lyle addressed Jarod. “You bring her breakfast in bed and this is what you get. Let her have the other side of the bed tomorrow.”

“The other side of the bed?” Jarod questioned. He examined the area where Miss Parker slept. Turning back, he tilted his head to the side. “Why?”

Lyle threw back his head and laughed. He set the tray on Jarod’s lap.

“While you eat, my sister will explain it to you. Then afterwards, Nurse Parker can assist in your bath. I’m going into town with Ben. Behave yourselves!”

Lyle shut the door as he was leaving and they stared at the door for a moment.

“Was that really your brother?”

“I thought television shows were making it up,” she responded. “But it’s true. Brothers are annoying. I want to strangle him.”

“Well, if you said shoot him, I’d be worried. But strangle…”

“Don’t start. God, is that coffee?”

Jarod handed her one of the mugs and she sat cross legged on the bed beside him. He set the tray between them and picked up a muffin. Turning it back and forth, he examined it closely. She grabbed it from him and bit into it.

“You eat it,” she told him around a mouthful. “Not examine it.”

He reached for it and took it from her. Taking a bite, he chewed and talked.

“It’s not as good as a doughnut. What is it?”

“Apple-cinnamon muffin. My apple-cinnamon muffin.” She tried to take the muffin and failed. Grabbing his wrist, she pulled it towards her face and took a bite from the muffin he held.

“Now, now,” he lectured. “I’m the patient. I need my calories.”

He took a huge bite from the muffin.

“Yeah, well muffins are low-fat,” she told him. She looked at his thin frame. “You need the high-calorie stuff. Eat the oatmeal and give me back my muffin!”

“Oatmeal is extremely good for the digestive tract,” he replied around another mouthful. “It would be great for your ulcer.”

She picked up the bowl and examined the mush. “It’s also good for the skin.”

With that, she turned the bowl upside down on his chest and watched the warm mush slide. He sputtered and released the remains of the muffin to her as the goo slid to the top of the bandages around his ribs and stopped. Scooping up a handful, he dumped it on her head.

“Then it must be good for hair too.”

“I cannot believe you just did that.” She glared at him. A hunk slid down her face to her nose and she wiped it away. Jarod laughed and coughed until tears rolled down his face.

“It’s not that funny,” she informed him, her lips twitching. “You should see yourself. You’re black, blue and oatmeal.”

She stuck her finger in the oatmeal coating his upper chest. After licking her finger clean, she grinned.

“Not bad. Could use some more honey.” She picked up the honey jar.

“No – don’t you even!” But she did.

She bundled up the sheets into a tight wad so the honey, oatmeal and muffin crumbs wouldn’t leak onto the floors on her trek to the laundry room. Their food fight had ended after Jarod pinned her to the bed and bent to eat the oatmeal from her nose. She had been laughing too hard to fight him off and suddenly, she didn’t feel like laughing anymore. They stared at each other until he coughed and she freed herself easily.

It was the reminder of his illness and weakness that put her back in nurse-mode. He had complied with her orders, even accepting her help to the bathtub wordlessly, until she reached to pull down his pants. Then he had told her in no uncertain terms that he was a man and quite capable of undressing himself.

She had left him to take his bath and cleaned up the mess. She scowled as she got ready to take a shower. Lyle would have a field day with this. Perhaps she could get Emily to come help during Jarod’s convalescence. No, that would just make Jarod more nervous. Anyway, Lyle would probably soon be a patient also. Brain surgery wasn’t something one recovered from overnight.

After her quick shower, she knocked on the door to the bathroom where Jarod bathed.

“I brought you clean clothes,” she announced as she barged in.

He watched her and smiled a little. With her hair wet and face clean of makeup, she looked more relaxed than he had seen since she was a child. Then he grimaced at the items she set down.

“You said clothes – not pajamas,” he accused.

“Pajamas are clothes. Clothes for sleeping in – which is what you’re going to be doing today.”

She turned to face him and noticed that the water in the tub was opaque with soap. She started to grin at him then noticed steam rose from the water.

“You’re not supposed to have made it that hot,” she lectured. “You’re still running a low-grade fever and those wounds will open back up.”

“Would you stop? Yesterday, I couldn’t even feed myself. I’ll be well enough tomorrow to start running those sims.”

“You better be.” She sat down on the toilet lid and watched him for a minute. He seemed relaxed as he leaned against the back of the tub. She briefly remembered the last time he had been in this tub. The water hadn’t been opaque then. “You’ve been in there long enough. I’ve got things to do.”

“Don’t let me hold you up. I’ll manage.”

“You’ll manage to make yourself sick enough that you won’t be able to do the sims tomorrow.”

“I wouldn’t do that, Miss Parker.”

“Look, Jarod, I know you’re feeling a lot better this morning. And the warm water makes it easier to breathe and you probably feel warm for the first time in days…”

“Weeks,” he interrupted.

“Whatever. You’re getting out. Now.”

Why did everything have to be a battle with her, he wondered.. He knew it was just as much his fault as hers. He couldn’t help but resist and fight her even when there was no clear logical reason – like with the antibiotics in the car. And last night, when she had backed him into a corner until he dealt with his fear and pain, he had known she would win. But he had wanted her to force him. He shook his head at his own contrariness. Perhaps when he felt better he would analyze their relationship.

“Hand me that towel,” he asked. He pushed up with his arms, stood and took the towel from her. A second after he tucked the towel around his waist, his shaky right leg collapsed under him.

She grabbed him before he landed back in the water. Muttering about his stubbornness, she shifted his weight and supported him until both feet were firmly planted on the bathroom floor. He took the three steps to the toilet and sat down heavily. She glanced at him as she collected some toiletry items.

“Not everything has to be a war between us, Jarod.”

He shot her an amused look – her thinking was obviously in line with his own.

“What are you suggesting? That we lay down arms for awhile – declare a cease-fire?”

“Yes. At least for the next two weeks.”

He considered this. She handed him a toothbrush and he automatically started brushing. When he was done, he rinsed at the sink.

“If I agree to this – will you do something for me?” he asked.

“What?”

“I know you too, Miss Parker. If I agree to this – you’ll become my nurse and ignore me. I told you before. I don’t want a nurse. I could use a friend though.”

“We can’t go back to the way things were when we were children.”

“Then we’ll just have to start out new.” He smiled at her. “Hi, I’m Jarod. What’s your name?”

She stopped. She had demanded his trust and forced him to reveal his wounds. He had done the same things to her. Now, he was asking to start out new – no wounds or scars.

“Madeline - you can call me Parker. Put your head back, Jarod. I’m going to shave you.”

He smiled wider and leaned his head back. She smiled back and applied the razor to his face. This cease- fire, she thought, couldn’t last. But she would enjoy it while it did.




feedback please : Unreal8@aol.com

Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc.and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.



Regeneration
part 3
by Gizmo





Mr. Parker slammed his fist down on the desk.

“This is unacceptable. I want that device found!”

The sweepers hurried to mutter platitudes and excuses. Mr. Parker waved his hand for silence.

“Willie, what have you got on Jarod?”

“Lyle contacted me early this morning. He seemed optimistic that the pretender would be back in time for the upcoming review.”

“What about my daughter? Any trace of her yet?”

“No sir. But there was a sighting of Ethan. We’re tracking that now.”

“Good. He should lead us right to Jarod and then we’ll get them both.”

****

Ethan smiled vaguely at the young woman. There was something niggling at him, bothering him but he forced himself to concentrate on the woman’s voice.

“….down the street. They have great lobster specials…”

“Actually, we wanted to avoid a crowd,” Ethan interrupted. “We’re just traveling through.”

Maggie glanced at the brunette standing beside him. She too had a worried, anxious countenance like the sweet-looking guy. Setting down the tire iron down, Maggie wiped her hands on her worn overalls. From the license plate, she had assumed they were tourists when she pulled up alongside them. She had assisted in changing the flat tire before they asked her about local restaurants.

“Well, the next fast-food restaurant isn’t for another 50 miles or so. But, I’ve got some stew simmering. It’s got crab and oyster in it.”

The young man consulted with the brunette and Maggie finished dumping her jack in the back of her pickup truck. Her mood was bright - the lobster and crab haul had been good and she had stocked the restaurant in town with enough for the upcoming weekend. She wondered what had possessed her to invite two strangers to share her stew. The car door slammed and she turned to the approaching couple.

The young woman introduced herself as Emily and thanked her for the invitation. She learned the guy’s name was Ethan and they were traveling upstate to visit a sick older brother. The SUV followed her the short distance to her house. Inside, the couple stood awkwardly in the living room while she went to wash up.

A piece of fish net was tangled in her windblown hair. Muttering, Maggie fished it out and tried to tame the red curls into something other than the ‘stuck-her-finger-in-the-outlet’ look she usually cultivated. She changed clothes and dumped baby powder on, hoping to at least camouflage some of the fish smell.

Back in the living room, the two strangers were in an intense discussion. She caught a snippet and frowned. It seemed they were worried about someone named Willie tailing them and had ended up here in an effort to lose him. Connor and Patrick would have her hide if they knew she had two strangers in the house that were being followed. But her two brothers were off in New York so there was no reason to worry.

Ethan looked around the living room with curiosity. It seemed Maggie lived here alone but he saw family pictures adorning almost every table and wall around. Peering into one more closely, he saw three kids with three shades of flaming-red hair holding a huge fish.

“Is this your family?” Ethan asked her.

“Yes.” She finished setting out the extra dishes and walked towards him. “Those are my two brothers. My dad took that ten years ago. Patrick, he’s the oldest, caught that fish.”

“You’re the youngest?” Emily asked.

“I’m the baby. And my two brothers never let me forget it.”

Emily smiled a bit sadly and Maggie wondered why.

“Well, it’s nothing fancy but it’s all ready,” Maggie announced.

At dinner, Emily mentally went over the events since this morning. Jarod had contacted their father and they had decided to split up. Ethan and Emily were traveling by highway to reach the Inn while the Major and boy had rented a plane. Jarod would be horrified to learn they were all coming after him. But they weren’t going to leave him in the Parker twins’ care. When they had spotted the black sedan following them, she had turned off the main highway and they had ended up lost in the middle of nowhere. Emily sighed and turned her attention back to the conversation.

“…ten miles. Then turn onto highway 32. Take it until you come to highway 68.”

“You’ve been really kind,” Emily commented. “You must let us pay you for the meal.”

“Well, I don’t know,” Maggie replied. “I don’t get to meet many new people – this being a small town and all. It’s been a real pleasure. I just hope your brother gets well.”

“He will.” Ethan smiled at her. He had been careful when asking directions not to give their final destination. If Willie found his way here – Ethan shuddered when he realized the danger they may be putting the young woman in. “If anyone stops here, looking for us…”

“It might be better if you tell them you’ve never seen us,” Emily supplied.

Maggie switched her gaze back and forth between the pair. Asking further questions seemed futile so she just nodded her agreement. Just as she opened her mouth to reassure them, she heard a car pull into the drive.

“Were you expecting anyone?” Ethan asked.

“Joe was supposed to stop by and see about my pickup. It’s been making noise. Thought he’d be here later though…”

She excused herself and went to the door. Stepping outside, she frowned. Joe didn’t drive a black towncar.

***

The sun was setting when he reached the Inn. Ben opened the front door and Major Charles tried to quell his anxiousness long enough to at least give the polite responses to the Innkeeper.

“Major Charles.” He looked up and saw Catherine Parker’s look-alike daughter descending the stairs. “Jarod told us you were coming but I didn’t expect you this quickly.”

“Where is he?”

She jerked her head up the stairs and he rushed up them. When he reached her, she grabbed his arm, stalling him. “Where’s the boy?”

“His name is Jeff. And he’s nearby and safe. After I see Jarod, I’ll get him.”

She nodded her acceptance and released the older man. He charged up the stairs but she stopped him again.

“He’s not leaving here,” she told him. “If you try taking him out of here, it could kill him. He’s sick.”

“Your brother has already killed one of my sons. I’m not going to leave Jarod here so he can kill another.”

Before she could respond, Major Charles had turned and started opening bedroom doors. Inside the second door, Lyle looked up surprised. The older man charged and Lyle grabbed at the large hand wrapped around his windpipe.

“If anything happens to Jarod, I will kill you. I want us to be clear on this. Understood?”

Lyle weakly nodded and gasped when released. Major Charles slammed his door shut as he left and he heard another door opening down the hall.

Jarod was asleep when he entered and he was able to study his son in the fading light. Miss Parker was right, he grudgingly admitted, Jarod couldn’t be moved. The wheezing at each breath caught at his heart. Sitting beside Jarod on the bed, he gently swiped hair back from his forehead. Jarod jerked awake at the touch and blinked up at him.

“Dad?”

He pulled Jarod up and hugged him tightly. At the sharp intake of breath, he loosened his hold and lowered his son back to the mattress. Jarod immediately leaned up on his right elbow.

“Where’s the boy? Is he safe?”

“Yes. Everything went according to plan. I’ll call him in a moment. Let me take a look at you.”

“Have you seen Lyle?”

“Yes.” Major Charles pushed on his shoulders and told him to lay back. Jarod shook his head and resisted his father’s efforts.

“I’m okay, Dad. Just a little roughed up. What about Emily and Ethan?”

“They’re coming too.”

“No,” Jarod shook his head. “They weren’t supposed to come. It’s too dangerous.”

“I know. But they wouldn’t listen. Emily said to tell you she will lock you in the trunk of her car if you try to go back to the Centre with Lyle.”

Jarod scowled and looked away. Keeping his family safe was his main priority and in his condition, he wouldn’t be much help if something went wrong. And he had nothing left to bargain with since they were about to remove the implant from Lyle’s head. The device was worthless with nothing to activate.

“I’m going to call your brother. Why don’t you get some sleep?”

“No. I’ve slept most of the day. I want to go over what I remember about the device with Jeff. I think this surgery can be done…”

“It’ll wait. I should warn you that Jeff will want to take a look at you.”

Jarod shook his head and lay back against the pillows. “We don’t have time. We’re going to have to get that thing out of Lyle’s head tonight. Until we get that thing out, none of us are safe.”

Major Charles sighed. Unfortunately, Jarod was right.

****

Jeff smiled in pleasure at Miss Parker. Unlike the rest of his family, he trusted her completely as soon as he heard the news. He knew Jarod had been coerced into trusting the Parker twins. His presence here was indication that Jarod had afforded the twins complete control. If he removed the device Jarod had briefly described, Jarod would have nothing but himself to bargain with.

“You look well,” Miss Parker commented. She reached out to touch his hair. “Is this a thing for teenagers these days?”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I wanted an earring but Dad said no. Is my Dad with him?”

She nodded and escorted the boy to Jarod’s room. Inside the room, Jarod looked up at her from where he sat against the headboard drawing.

“You have another visitor,” she informed him.

Major Charles hugged the boy and she left them to their reunion. Finding Lyle, she informed him of the boy’s presence. Lyle’s cellphone interrupted their conversation.

“Good work,” he told whomever he spoke with. “Keep them there until I call with further instructions. I’ll be in touch.”

She watched as her brother set the phone aside and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Problem?” she prodded.

“Yes. But it’s contained for now. Let’s go see what Jarod and Gemini have in store for me.”

“The boy is called Jeff.”

****

Miss Parker watched her brother pacing anxiously as Jarod and the boy discussed the device removal. Her brother’s nervousness she attributed to the upcoming surgery. She wondered again what problem he had referred to. Switching her gaze to the two pretenders, she smiled a bit. It was odd, seeing them working together, their heads bent over Jarod’s drawings.

“How long will I be out?” Lyle asked as he stopped pacing.

“About four hours,” Jeff replied. “Then it’s going to take at least three or four days before you are on your feet again.”

“That’s too long,” Lyle replied. “I have things to do.”

“I know the feeling,” Jarod said with a sly smile. “Miss Parker, did you happen to bring another pair of handcuffs?”

Lyle blanched and moved back. “That won’t be necessary.”

“We’ll see.” Jarod smirked. “You know how it is – uncooperative patients sometimes need a little extra help.”

“Cute.” Miss Parker picked up the pacing. “When are we doing this?”

“Tonight,” the boy replied. “Since we won’t be going in through the skull, we can do it here. I’ve got everything we need in the car.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”

Lyle had stepped forward. “I can’t do it tonight. It has to wait until tomorrow.”

“Why not?” Major Charles demanded.

“I have some business to take care of. I’ll be back by morning.”

“What kind of business?” Jarod growled from the bed.

Lyle sighed. He needed to keep Jarod’s trust. The man was about to assist in shoving a magnet up his nose, past his sinus cavity and into his brain. He debated his options.





feedback please : Unreal8@aol.com

Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc.and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.



Regeneration
part 4
by Gizmo



The moonlight illuminated the wooden cross as he approached. Bending down, he rested his hand briefly on the grave.

“I failed to protect any of them,” he confessed. “Your son is a monster. He almost destroyed Jarod. And Miss Parker is caught up in all of it. How could I have failed so utterly?”

He lowered his head and let the tears fall. Cox was right – he had been caught, twisting, ensnared and unable to move for too long. He needed to make a decision – a choice. He couldn’t save all of them. Someone would have to be sacrificed.

His cellphone rang and he answered it.

“Yes,” Sydney told his caller. “I’ll take care of them. Tell Willie I’m on my way.”

****

Ethan felt the slight pain starting behind his eyes. He wished he could reach up and rub the area between his eyes but his hands were cuffed behind him. Closing his eyes, he felt the voices getting stronger. Tilting his head to the side, he listened as she whispered in his mind.

Emily shifted uncomfortably in the wooden chair she had been cuffed to for the last four hours. A large sweeper named Dan glared at her and she returned the look. Glancing at her brother, she saw his eyes closed and realized what was happening. Worriedly, she looked in Maggie’s direction.

The redheaded girl was staring at Ethan in perplexity. The young man nodded and whispered something unintelligible.

“Ethan?” she asked worriedly.

“He’s okay,” Emily distracted her.

“Shutup!” Willie roared. “What’s wrong with the freak?”

“He’s not a freak!”

Willie placed one hand around Emily’s throat. “Get him to stop it!”

“If you’d release us, maybe we could help him!” Maggie protested.

Willie looked over at the girl. She was too smart, too tough for him not to admire. She was obviously very frightened but still had defended the freak. He released Emily, unlocked the red head and shoved her towards the couch.

Maggie sat next to Ethan and put her hand on his shoulder. The entire situation seemed surreal to her – as if she had stepped into a movie plot and couldn’t get out. The men in suits didn’t seem particularly interested in her but had refused Ethan and Emily’s pleas to let her go. Whatever these two were involved in, now she was too. Something told her that Ethan and Emily had done nothing wrong and she trusted that instinct. It had warned her the moment she saw the black towncar that bad news had come home. Biting her lip, she shook Ethan gently.

Ethan blinked and turned to look at Maggie. His mother’s voice faded and he sucked in a lungful of air. He knew what he had to do now.

The screams startled her and she sat back in shock. Ethan fell off the couch, screaming and jerking like a fish caught in her net. She knelt beside him and tried to hold him still as he seized on the floor. She didn’t want him getting hurt. Ignoring the bored gaze of the suits with guns, she continued trying to comfort the young man until he stopped moving and lay quietly with his eyes closed.

“Now that the show’s over, go make a sweep of the area,” Willie told Dan. When the sweeper was a sufficient distance from the house, Willie approached Emily and smiled down at her.

“You don’t look a thing like your brothers,” he commented. He reached to touch her face.

“Nice.”

Emily jerked her face away. Willie stepped closer and she almost smiled.

“I wonder what Jarod would do if something were to happen to you,” Willie inferred.

“Kill you,” she replied. Then she brought her leg up and kicked out at him with enough strength to knock her chair over backwards. The sweeper doubled over, moaning and turning green, just as Ethan shot to his feet and grabbed the harpoon from the wall. Maggie stared in shock, wondering how he had freed himself, but reacted quickly when Ethan told her to get Willie’s gun.

Before she knew it, Maggie was in the SUV racing down the dark roads. Emily had quickly and efficiently disabled the sweeper’s car but that wouldn’t stall them long. They had to get as far away as quickly as possible.

***

Lyle’s cellphone rang. Jeff looked up with an annoyed glance. This part of the procedure was delicate and distraction was dangerous. Miss Parker grabbed the phone and left Lyle’s room. Jarod nodded and Jeff continued directing the instrument.

“Vitals?” Jeff asked his brother.

“Stable. His pulse has increased some.”

“I’m going through the sinus cavity now.”

Jarod nodded and reached for the gauze. The bleeding from this portion would be messy. He smiled as he realized how perfectly they worked together. Although his hands weren’t steady enough to do more than assist, he knew the boy needed him there. It was a bit much to ask a fourteen-year-old to perform this precise surgery alone. His father and Miss Parker had protested that he should be in bed but Lyle had demanded Jarod’s assistance.

The door opened and Jarod looked up at Miss Parker. She was angry – fuming-steaming-at-the-ears pissed.

“Just get the damn thing out of him,” she snapped at Jeff. The boy looked up at her perplexed. “I’ll explain later.”

The instrument was pressed further into Lyle’s head and a small clink was heard.

“You’ve got it,” Jarod noted. “Now, slowly draw back. Make sure you take the same path out. That will minimize any damage to neurological tissue.”

When the boy produced the long metal rod from Lyle’s nose, a small metal square was attached to the magnet on the end. Little wires had been ripped free from the device.

“Will the wires be okay in his head?” he asked.

“They’ve been there for years. They won’t hurt anything.”

Lyle’s nose was packed with cotton and antiseptic pads. After bandaging him, Jeff stood and stretched the kinks out of his back. Turning to his brother, he frowned.

“Now it’s your turn,” Jeff told him.

“No,” Jarod replied. “Someone will need to stay with him tonight. I’ve been asleep all day. You go…”

“Forget it, Jarod,” Miss Parker interrupted. “Jeff, take your brother to his room. If he doesn’t cooperate, come get me. I’ll stay with Lyle.”

Once the two pretenders had left, she leaned over her unconscious brother.

“You snake,” she told him. “You are so lucky they got away. If Willie had hurt them, you would be taking your last breath right now – device or no device.”

She would need to tell Major Charles about Willie’s call. She remembered Lyle’s protests that he had business to take care of before the surgery. Her twin hadn’t come up with an acceptable explanation of what his business was so they had all chalked it up to Lyle’s fear of the surgery. While they had prepared the bedroom for the procedure, Lyle had disappeared.

Fortunately, she had convinced Willie that Lyle was otherwise occupied at the moment. She wondered what her father would think when he was told that she and Lyle were together.

****

Jarod sat down on the edge of the bed and ran his hands through his hair. The cough medicine was wearing off and he suppressed the urge to cough. With both his father and brother hovering, he wanted to keep them from worrying. He was determined to get to the bottom of whatever had angered Parker.

He felt hands fumbling with his pajama top buttons and looked up.

“I’m fine. There’s no need…”

The boy shook his head and continued with the buttons. Jarod grabbed his wrists and continued to protest that he was fine. Looking up at his father, Jeff gave a frustrated sigh.

“Son, we just need to reassure ourselves that you’re okay. You’ve been in the hands of Centre operatives for three days. Please let the boy take a look.”

“Why haven’t Emily and Ethan called?” Jarod questioned. He pushed the boys hands away.

Major Charles sighed. “You let us worry about Emily and Ethan. Now, take your shirt off and lay back.”

“We need to…” Jarod started as the boy reached for the shirt again.

“Dad!” the boy complained. “He’s not cooperating.”

Major Charles stepped closer and grabbed Jarod’s shoulders. “Jarod, listen to me.” He shook him gently and Jarod looked up into his father’s worried eyes. “No more. Just lay back and relax, okay?”
Giving up, Jarod unbuttoned his pajama top and the boy helped pull it off. His father’s hands pushed him down and he lay back against the mattress and closed his eyes. He began thinking through Parker’s behavior as they tugged at bandages and unwound the wrappings around his ribs. Keeping his mind preoccupied with the simulation, he didn’t even notice as Parker entered.

“How’s your brother?” Jeff asked as he dabbed ointment on a wound.

“Asleep.” She watched for a moment then stole a glance at the major. The older man stood at the foot of the bed, watching helplessly as his youngest son pulled back bandages, revealing his eldest son’s abused body. The pain etched in his face and eyes was intense. Looking back at Jarod, she smiled. The pretender had both eyes closed and was totally oblivious. But she knew him well enough to know he wasn’t asleep. Running simulations, probably, she thought. The boy pushed Jarod onto his side.

“This looks bad,” the boy commented as he revealed a deep slash across Jarod’s shoulder.
She bent down to look. “It wasn’t infected this morning.”

“Did it get wet?”

“Yes,” she replied. “This morning, during his bath and the night before last – his fever was sky high so…”

“We’ll need to keep it dry.”

She nodded and looked up at the Major. Tears were shining in his eyes. “I need to talk to you.”

Major Charles drug his gaze from his son’s sliced up back to study her face. “Did you see any of it?”

She shook her head. “I was with Ethan. Trying to get to you. Let’s talk downstairs.”

They were half way down the stairs when Sydney called.

***

“I DON’T CARE what kind of danger your story will put me in! I want to know what the hell I’m mixed up in right now!”

Ethan sighed in exasperation. For the past hour, Maggie had interrogated them and their evasive answers had done nothing more than rile the red-head’s formidable temper. Emily looked over at Ethan in the passenger seat and they shared a concerned look.

“Why can’t I go to my brothers in New York?” Maggie interrupted their silent exchange.

Ethan turned back to look at her. “We already explained that the first place they’ll look for you – and therefore also us – is with your family. Is there someone or someplace that only your brothers know about?”

“No,” she replied angrily. She glanced at her watch. They had been traveling for hours. In another two hours, she would normally be loading her boat to head out. She couldn’t afford to miss the great catches she had been getting lately. Sean, her partner and friend, would be worried if she didn’t show up. Although the old man was a tough old codger, she didn’t like causing him any stress.

Crossing her arms, she sat back against the seat, resigned that she wasn’t going to get any answers out the mysterious duo that had appeared in her life. She realized that she was acting like a petulant teenager. But having been tied up, held hostage and then dragged miles from home, she felt a little petulance wasn’t out of place.

To top it off, she knew her brothers would use this entire fiasco as another reason why she should give up on the fishing business and move to New York with them. After their escape, she had requested to be left off in nearest town. But they had told her they couldn’t stop – it wasn’t safe yet. After an hour, she had demanded they stop. That’s when they started asking her where she would go. And now, it looked like she was going to be an uninvited guest at their brother’s sickroom.

“We’ve only got another hour and we’ll be there. Jarod will have a phone you can use that is safe.”

“A safe phone?” she asked in confusion.

“By now, they’ll have a trace on your brothers’ phones. If you called from a pay phone, they’d be able to track you down.”

“I thought you had to have a judge sign a decree or something to get a trace.”

“That’s government agencies,” Emily explained. “These people who are after us – they do what they want. You’ve got to trust us.”

“When can I go home?”

“When it’s safe.”

“And that will be when?”

“We don’t know.”

“Great,” Maggie muttered. Rotating her neck, she realized how tired she sounded. Another hour, she realized, and perhaps she would get some answers from the rest of their family.

***

Sydney flipped his phone closed and pressed harder on the gas pedal. He glanced at his scribbled directions given by his nephew. At least another two hours before he would reach the remote fishing cabin. Rubbing a hand over his face, he sighed in exhaustion. A slow-moving truck in his lane caused him to brake sharply. Despite the double yellow-line, Sydney decided to pass. He was so close to making it when the lights from the oncoming car blinded him. He felt the metal scrunch all the way to his bones.

She grabbed the Major’s arm and held on.

“There’s more,” she told him firmly. “It may not be what it seems.”

“I’m going to make sure your brother doesn’t get away.”

“He’s unconscious. Listen to what Willie told me.”

He tried to tamp down his temper and impatience. Finding out Lyle had captured his son and daughter had his blood boiling. When he had cooled down, he nodded.

“The good news is that Ethan and Emily have escaped. The bad news is that Cox knows Lyle had captured them. Apparently, Cox had a sweeper on Lyle’s team. After Ethan and Emily escaped, Willie intercepted this other sweeper before he could tell Cox about their escape. From what Willie could ascertain, Cox had sent someone to take Ethan and Emily back to the Centre.”

“So Cox doesn’t know that Ethan and Emily escaped?”

Parker nodded and the older man frowned.

“How can you be certain that Cox doesn’t have them?”

“Because Cox made a fatal error in who he sent to collect Ethan and Emily.”

The older man looked thoughtful for a moment. “Sydney.”

“Yes. That was Sydney on the phone before. I didn’t tell Sydney that Ethan and Emily escaped and his trip to the cabin would be fruitless.”

“That way…”

“It keeps Sydney and Cox out of the way temporarily.”

“Why did Sydney call? Was he going to help them or just reporting in to you?”

She shrugged helplessly. “With Sydney, who knows? What’s important is that we find Emily and Ethan before Cox does. And, somehow, we have to figure out what Lyle was up to.”

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Major Charles ruminated. “Why didn’t Lyle have them taken directly to the Centre?”

“There’s several explanations but with Lyle – it’s difficult to tell. There’s another way we can figure this out before Lyle wakes up.”

“What?”

“Jarod.” She nodded her head towards the ceiling.

“No,” Major Charles replied. “He’s exhausted and needs sleep. I won’t risk his health.”

She turned to pace. There was no way she would subject the boy to this kind of simulation. Getting inside Lyle’s head was going to be ugly. Besides, Jarod had more experience with Lyle and simulations.

“What did you tell Willie when he called?” Major Charles asked, interrupting her thoughts.

She smiled a bit evilly. The sweeper’s first words on the phone had been ‘they escaped.’ After that, Willie had been obliged to fill her in on the details. Her revenge on her brother had been sweet.

“I told him not to worry as Lyle just let the pretender slip through his fingers. It seems Lyle will have to explain to our father how Jarod managed, in his condition, to tie him up and leave him for me to find.”

Major Charles laughed then turned serious. He glanced at the phone anxiously. From what Miss Parker had said, it had been hours since Ethan and Emily escaped Willie’s clutches. They should have called. Where the hell were they?

***

The lights seemed strange. She remembered it had been dark. A car… Emily opened her eyes. The flashing lights emanated from several police cruisers and ambulances. Gasping, she tried to sit up on the gurney but several hands pushed her down.

“My brother,” she got out. Frantically, she turned her head, searching for him. “He was in the car with me.”

“They’re getting him out now,” a uniformed ERT told her. “Just take it easy.”

“No, wait. Where are you taking us?”

“To the hospital, miss. You were out cold when we found you.”

She looked down at herself but didn’t see any blood.

“I’m fine,” she informed the ERT guy. “Just a little shook up. It’s been a really long day. I was injured a couple of weeks ago and I’m still recovering. Please let me see my brother.”

“Miss, he’s been injured. We need to get both of you and the older gentleman to the hospital. If you could just lay still…”

“The older gentleman?”

“The car that hit yours? The truck driver said the older guy tried to go around him and hit you head on.”

“Is he okay?”

“He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. It doesn’t look good.”

“How bad is Ethan?”

“It’s hard to tell. He was wearing his seatbelt, thank God. But you never know – there could be some internal damage or something.”

Emily felt like she was forgetting something. There was something else but she couldn’t quite remember what. Laying her head back down, she closed her eyes and concentrated on worrying about Ethan.

Maggie sat quietly in the back of the police cruiser. She was still debating how much she would tell the cops. Watching them carefully extract Ethan from the demolished car, she tapped her broken fingernails against her forehead. One way or another though, she had to call her brothers. They would come and get her out of this nightmare.

***

Two hours later

Jeff looked up as his father quietly opened the door and walked into the room. Dawn was approaching and it was light enough to make out the man sleeping restlessly on the bed. His father bent over the figure and lay a hand across Jarod’s forehead. After a few moments, Jarod quieted and his breathing slowed.

“Jeff, you should go back to bed,” his father admonished in a whisper.

“You were talking with Miss Parker and I wanted to keep an eye on him,” Jeff replied. But the truth was more than that, he acknowledged. He wanted to help Jarod. Seeing the damage inflicted by the Centre had renewed his own determination to have a family. The Centre wouldn’t destroy his family. He would do everything he could to prevent it. “Have you heard from Emily or Ethan?”

“No.” Major Charles pulled on the boy’s arm and escorted him into the hallway. He felt a twinge of guilt as he realized that, while plotting with Miss Parker, he had left both the boy and Jarod alone with Lyle across the hallway. “Things have gotten complicated. I’ll explain in the morning.”

“It is morning, Dad.”

“Well, then, after you’ve gotten some sleep.”

“Okay. Just let me check on Lyle…”

“No.” His answer was abrupt and he rubbed the boy’s head to soften it. “Just get some sleep.”

***

The phone jangled from downstairs and they listened as Miss Parker answered it. A moment later, the woman appeared in the hallway.

“It’s Emily,” she breathed. “There’s been an accident.”

“Where are they?”

“A hospital about an hour from here. Ethan was injured. Emily is fine. They want to keep her for a few hours for observation. But Ethan needs surgery. Internal bleeding.”

Major Charles looked back at the bedroom door. He couldn’t leave Jarod alone again. Running his hand through his hair, he turned to look at Jeff.

“I’ll stay with him, Dad,” Jeff reassured him. “Nothing is going to happen to us. Miss Parker will watch Lyle.”

He hugged the boy hard. “You take care of yourself first. Go get that sleep. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The boy smiled at his father. “I’ll take care of both of us. Just tell Ethan to get well fast.”

Miss Parker put her arm over the boy’s shoulders. “I’ll keep an eye on them.”

“You better,” Major Charles answered. “You’ve got both of them here. This is exactly what Lyle wanted. If you betray us, I will not rest until you and your brother are dead.”




feedback please : Unreal8@aol.com

Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc.and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.



Regeneration
part 5
by Gizmo



A hand shook his shoulder and he groggily propped an eye open. Miss Parker shook harder and he turned over onto his back and blinked up at her.

“What is it?” he asked when he saw her expression.

“Emily and Ethan have been in an accident. Your father went to the hospital.”

He pushed himself up onto his elbows. “Where? What hospital? How bad is it?”

“Emily is fine,” she started. Jarod pushed himself to a sitting position and she frowned.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going after my dad. I need to borrow your car.”

“You’re not going anywhere. Remember our agreement?”

“I’ll play lab rat for you some other time. Right now, my family…”

“Needs to know you’re safe and getting well. They don’t need to worry about you. I can get the handcuffs if you’re going to be difficult.”

He looked up at her but she didn’t relent. Frustration built and he grabbed a pillow and threw it at the wall.

“Feel any better?” she queried sarcastically.

“I can’t just stay here and do nothing.”

“You’re right. You’re not going to do nothing. It’s time to start those simulations you agreed to perform.”

He frowned up at her and she pulled up a chair. After she finished updating him, he narrowed his eyes and stood.

“Let’s get to work,” he told her.

**

Jeff filled another syringe and gazed down at the sleeping man. Keeping Lyle sedated this long may be dangerous, he thought. They needed to awaken him to determine if there was any brain damage or hemorrhaging. Sighing, he injected the man and checked his vitals.

Yawning sleepily, he left the room and knocked quietly on his brother’s door. Miss Parker peered out at him from around the door.

“What?” she hissed. She softened her eyes when she saw her visitor.

“I’ve sedated your brother again,” Jeff whispered. “I wanted to check on Jarod.”

“He’s busy.”

Jeff frowned as he considered this. “But he shouldn’t be doing simulations yet. He’s still too sick and weak. I could have done them.”

“No. You go get some more sleep.”

The woman shut the door and Jeff was left standing in the hallway. Frustrated, he headed downstairs to the kitchen just as the phone rang.

“Jeff,” Ben called out. “Your father wants to talk to you.”

“Dad!”

Ben watched as the boy nodded and answered a few questions. When he had hung up, he turned with a smile to the older man.

“Ethan came through the surgery wonderfully. The doctors said he should be released within a couple of days. Dad is bringing Emily back here and then going back.”

“And how is Emily?”

“A little banged up. Dad said there’s something bothering her but she can’t remember what it is. The doctors think she’s just exhausted and needs sleep.”

“Well, I’ll go get a bedroom ready for her. I’m sure a nice hot breakfast and soft bed will fix her right up.”

“I hope so.”

“I’m going to have to change my advertising. With Lyle and Jarod recuperating and Emily on her way, maybe I ought to become a convalescence home.”

The boy laughed. “Let’s just hope my family doesn’t put you out of business.”

****

“Maggie!”
The girl looked up at her oldest brother and jumped up from her seat. Patrick hugged her tightly and she felt tears gather. Everything was all right now, she told herself. She could go back to her house and fishing and pretend none of this had happened.

Patrick released her and she wiped her eyes. He began rapid firing questions at her and she sighed tiredly.

“Patrick, I’ve been up for over 24 hours. Is there anyway you could get me out of here and I’ll tell you about it on the drive home?”

He nodded and turned to the police officer standing nearby.

“Is there anything else you need from her?”

“I’ll need her location and a phone number where she can be reached. If the driver of the other car makes it, I’m sure they’ll be a hearing or trial.”

Patrick nodded and gave the officer his New York address and phone number. Taking Maggie out of the shack they had grown up in was something he had yearned to do for years. Now, from her ramblings on the phone, he knew she needed more than just sleep.

“I just want to go home,” Maggie whispered as they left the police district.

“I’m taking you home, Maggie,” Patrick replied. “Here, put your seat back and go to sleep.”

His sister closed her eyes and he sighed. He was determined to give his sister the best help he could find. The wild story she had told had even the officers shaking their heads in pity at the girl. Maggie had always been different but this was something else. Something he should have been prepared for. Afterall, their mother had exhibited the same problems.

***

Jarod lowered his head to his hands and shook off the after effects of the simulation. The sick feelings and manipulations inside Lyle’s head had been hard to withstand. But worse, were the mistrust, aloneness and feelings of being used that Lyle had felt.

“He wasn’t going to take them back,” he told Lyle’s sister. “He wanted to keep them safe from Cox. But they were his guarantee. He was supposed to have called Willie after the surgery.”

“Then why didn’t he tell us about them? Why hold them with the intention of using them to force you to perform the surgery correctly and not tell you?”

“They weren’t his guarantee that we’d do the surgery right.” Jarod raised his head and met her eyes. “He knew we wouldn’t do something like that. They were his guarantee that after the surgery, we wouldn’t turn the tables on him and make him our prisoner. He wanted to make sure we went ahead with the plan to take me back and shutdown regeneration.”

“So he didn’t trust us? He demanded our trust and then made all these side plans just in case?”

“Basically,” Jarod ran his hands through his hair. She stood and went to the window and peered out. A car pulled to a stop.

“Your father is back,” she commented. “Emily is with him. She looks exhausted.”

He stood unsteadily and walked towards the door.

“Where are you going?” she demanded.

“I want to get cleaned up a little.”

“No showers or baths today, Jarod. Your shoulder is infected. Stay here. We’re not done yet.”

“Yes, we are.”

“What do we do about Lyle?”

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean? He tried to keep Emily and Ethan hostage!”

“And if we keep him prisoner, we will be doing exactly what he was afraid of. We go through with it – all of it. Regeneration has to be shutdown for good.”

****

Cox paced impatiently. Sydney should have called hours ago and he was unable to reach Dan. Something had gone terribly wrong and Cox found it excruciatingly annoying when his plans failed.

The door to Mr. Parker’s office opened and Willie exited. The sweeper scowled at him as he went past then stopped in front of him.

“Fishing should be excellent in the waters near the girl’s cottage,” Willie implied. “I’ve seeded the waters with plenty of fish bait.”

Cox smiled coldly at the news that his sweeper was dead and pushed past the sweeper into the office. Mr. Parker scowled at him from his desk.

“Willie spoke with my daughter. Apparently, Jarod caught up with Lyle and put my son out of commission for awhile. He informed me that Emily and Ethan had been captured. What I can’t understand is why they weren’t brought to the Centre. What was Lyle up to?”

“As soon as I heard, I sent Sydney to bring Ethan and Emily here. But Sydney hasn’t returned my calls…”

The older man waved his hand in dismissal.

“Ethan and Emily and the girl escaped Willie. Sydney probably never made it to the girl’s cabin before they escaped. He’s probably on his way back here now.”

“They escaped? Was Willie been able to determine which direction?”

“They could have gone anywhere. But Willie has people watching the girl’s brothers. Her older brother left his apartment in New York early this morning. I need you to go to pick her up. They’re heading back to New York now.”

Cox nodded and smiled with satisfaction. Once he retrieved Emily and Ethan’s location out of the girl, he would have everything he needed to recapture the pretender. With Jarod back at the Centre, regeneration would proceed as planned.

***

Emily gave up trying to keep her eyes open long enough to eat the food in front of her. Blinking blearily at her father, she rose from the table.

“I can’t eat anymore,” she whispered. “I just need to get some sleep, Dad. There’s something important that I can’t remember and it’s driving me nuts.”

“Nuts?” Jeff asked.

“Crazy,” his father supplied. “It’s making her frustrated.”

“Oh.” The boy looked thoughtful for a moment. “Perhaps Jarod can help jog your memory. Your room is near his upstairs. I’ll show you.”

She mumbled something about how pretty the inn was as they climbed the stairs. Jeff stopped outside Jarod’s room and tentatively knocked. When there was no answer, he opened the door to find the room deserted. Hearing voices, he went to Lyle’s room and found his older brother and Parker checking over Lyle.

“Jarod? Do you have a minute?”

“What is it?” Jarod asked in concern.

“Emily…” The boy stood aside as his sister pushed her way into the room. She gasped when she saw the unconscious man.

“Lyle,” she spat. “That bastard. Did he tell you where our mother is?”

“Emily,” Parker began gently. “He never knew.”

She studied Parker’s face then nodded and turned to her older brother. Jarod grew uncomfortable at her visual examination and turned his face away to grimace at the floor.

“You should be in bed,” Emily said quietly.

“You’re one to talk,” Jarod replied. “How do you feel?”

“Tired. But mostly frustrated. There’s something important I can’t remember. The doctors think it’s an after effect of the concussion. They said to give it a couple more weeks and I’ll be back to new.”

“I might be able to help.”

“No, you need to go back to bed. I’ll think of it.”

“Just let me try. It won’t take long.”

She sighed and studied him again. The bruises and shakiness were obvious but it was the pallor and glassiness in his eyes that really concerned her. But he seemed determined and she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep until this thing stopped nagging at her.

“Okay,” she sighed. “Let’s do this somewhere else though. I’m not sure I like the company in here.”

***

She sat in the chair beside the window while Jarod sat on the bed’s edge. Closing her eyes, she relived the events leading up to the crash – the road, the darkness. She and Ethan had been arguing with someone.

“Maggie,” she breathed. Her eyes popped open. “I completely forgot about Maggie! Oh, dammit, she’s probably called her brothers by now!”

“Calm down and tell us who Maggie is,” Jarod told her. “And why she would have been with you.”

“Our car broke down and she stopped to help us. We were in the middle of nowhere and hadn’t eaten in awhile. She offered us some seafood stew and we went to her house. That’s where Willie caught up with us.”

Jarod looked over at Parker who looked concerned. She hunched down in front of Emily.

“Did you tell Maggie where you were taking her?” she asked. Emily shook her head.

“Good.”

“We’ve got to call the hospital and warn my dad,” Jarod said and stood unsteadily. Parker rose to her feet and pressed him back down.

“We’ve got time. Once they get Maggie, they’ll need to search all the nearby hospitals. We can pick up your father and brother on our way out of here.”

Jarod frowned. “Why can’t we bring them here?”

“It’s not safe. Someone involved in this knows about this place.”

“Sydney wouldn’t do that,” Jarod said firmly.

“We can’t trust him. Cox is involved. We need to clear out of here.”

**

Major Charles stood up and stretched the kinks out of his back tiredly. A nurse came into the room and smiled at him. She bent over his son and checked the bandaging.

“He’s doing wonderfully,” she reassured the older man. “The doctors said his spleen didn’t burst as they were afraid. He’ll be on his feet in no time.”

He smiled back at her. “Any word on how the other driver is doing?”

“He came out of surgery a couple of hours ago. He’s in intensive care. They haven’t been able to find any records on him. It’s like he doesn’t exist. It’s quite sad because they haven’t been able to identify any next of kin. All they know is that he’s a doctor of some kind.”

“How do they know that?”

“There were some papers signed ‘Dr. Green’.”

He spun around to stare at her. “Green?”

“Yes. Do you know him?”

He didn’t answer but charged out the door and headed for ICU. Standing outside room 3, he stared in shock at his eldest son’s mentor for thirty years.

***

Cox smiled as he hung up the phone. Sweepers had captured the girl, Maggie, and her brother. Apparently, the brother had been all too willing to tell the sweepers everything he knew. A quick check of hospitals in the area had yielded Ethan’s location. . He would be able to reach them in two hours.

Once he had Ethan and Emily, he was certain Jarod would appear. Soon, he thought, soon I’ll have Jarod back to work. He had thought of his new technique and was eager to try it out. Picking up the phone, he confirmed the construction of his new tank. Smiling, he hung up and tried to control the little shivers of excitement.





feedback please : Unreal8@aol.com

Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc.and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.



Regeneration
part 6
by Gizmo




With Ben on one side and Miss Parker on the other, Jarod was able to make it down the wide staircase and into the car. He leaned forward to check Lyle, belted into the front passenger seat half-awake. Emily and the boy climbed into the SUV and they watched Parker briefly hug Ben goodbye.

Once they were on the road, Jarod visually examined the car’s occupants. Emily leaned against the car door and closed her eyes in exhaustion. The boy had dark circles beneath both eyes and he turned to check behind them occasionally. Lyle was mumbling something incomprehensible while Parker drove like a bat out of hell. Jarod waited fifteen minutes until his sister slept and Lyle had quieted.

“Any idea where we’ll go?” Jarod asked quietly.

“I thought we’d drive to the nearest big city and get some hotel rooms. From what I can tell, everyone here needs at least 24 hours of rest before we make any decisions.”

He nodded in agreement and turned to study the passing scenery.

“When we get to the hospital…” Parker started.

“I’ll need to check Ethan’s chart to determine what we’ll need.”

“I can do that,” the boy interjected. “You stay here.”

“Jeff, they’re not going to give medical charts to a fourteen-year-old. I’ve been a doctor.”

“They’re not going to give the charts to you either!” the boy retored. “You look like a patient – not a doctor.”

“If Parker had gotten me clothes instead of pajamas…”

“Don’t start!” she snapped. “We’ve got forty-five minutes to figure this out.”

“I’ll do it.” They all turned to stare at her twin. Lyle smiled a little at them. “I’m dressed like a doctor and I can manage it. All you need is a copy of the records, right?”

“No.” Jarod shook his head. Lyle turned in his seat to stare at the pretender.

“Whatever Willie did to Ethan was not under my orders…”

“Willie didn’t do anything to Ethan,” Miss Parker interrupted. “Ethan and Emily and another girl escaped from Willie but were in a car wreck.”

“Then you have no reason to believe I had anything to do with it?”

“We know you didn’t hurt Ethan this time,” Jarod replied. “But we’re not taking any chances. Just like you didn’t take any chances with us.”

Lyle turned back to stare out the front window. So Jarod had simmed him, he realized. That meant they knew he had kept Ethan and Emily hostage as insurance. Gazing down, he noted the lack of restraints.

“So why have you brought me along?” Lyle questioned.

“Because we have to finish it. There’s no other choice anymore.” With the device gone from Lyle’s head, they could only move forward with the plan now. Jarod smiled a little. If Lyle had been a pretender and had simmed the situation, he would have realized that capturing Ethan and Emily was useless. Once they removed the device, Jarod had nothing but himself left to bargain with. He would go back to the Centre.

****

At the hospital, Parker fetched a lab coat and scrubs for Jarod. The pretender’s movements were shaky but Emily had doused the facial bruises with makeup so he appeared to be an exhausted doctor coming off a long shift. She went to Ethan’s room but Major Charles was nowhere to be found. A moment later, Jarod walked in with a nurse.

“Miss?” Jarod asked her.

“Yes?”

“Are you part of Ethan’s family?”

She went along with his act - signing papers with a fake signature that would supposedly transfer Ethan to another hospital closer to his hometown. Once they had completed the paperwork, the nurse left and Jarod turned to follow. At the door, the pretender staggered and she was at his side instantly.

“I’ve got it,” Jarod whispered.

“Just get out to the car,” she returned.

“No. I’ve got to get the medications and things we’ll need for him. Where’s my father?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he went to get some coffee.”

He pushed away from the wall and straightened. She shook her head at his stubbornness. Jarod left and a moment later Major Charles entered.

“What’s going on?” he asked frantically. “I just saw Jarod in the hallway, dressed like a doctor, and he ignored me.”

“We’ve got to get Ethan out of here. It’s not safe. Cox probably knows he’s here and is on his way.”

“How?”

“It’s a long story. Jarod went to get the medical things we’ll need. Where’s your car?”

Major Charles gave her the keys and she went to bring the vehicle to the front door. Five minutes after she had parked, Major Charles appeared with Ethan in a wheelchair. Her half-brother was groggy and half-asleep but they managed to get him into the car. Major Charles climbed in and she drove to where Emily sat behind the driver’s wheel of the other car. The boy got out and came to the passenger window.

“Where’s Jarod?” Jeff asked.

“He’s getting a few things Ethan will need,” Parker replied. “Is Emily going to be alright to drive?”

“She’s pretty tired but Lyle is still seeing double. I think she’ll be okay.”

“I could drive…” Major Charles started to offer.

“You’ve had less sleep than she has,” Parker interrupted. “She’s younger – she can handle it better.”

He nodded his agreement. “Go get back in the car, son. As soon as Jarod gets here, we’ve got to move.”

Major Charles looked at the SUV and waved back at his daughter. Parker’s twin turned to look and his eyes got wide. He yelled something and pointed behind them. Turning, Major Charles saw the black sedans pulling up to the hospital.

“Go!” Major Charles screamed at his youngest. The boy ran and jumped into the SUV. He gestured from them to leave and they pulled out. When their car started to move, he turned to look at Miss Parker.

“What are you doing?” Major Charles yelled. “We’ve got to wait for Jarod!”

“We can’t! He won’t make it! He could barely walk. We’ve got to get Ethan out of here. Once he’s safe, I’ll come back for Jarod.”

***

Jarod thanked the pharmacy technician and hefted the small box up. Just a little further to go, he told himself as he eyed the elevators up ahead. A ding sounded as the elevator reached his floor and he pushed himself to rush to catch it. The doors opened and two sweepers stepped out. Dropping the box, Jarod stared in shock as Cox stepped out from behind the sweepers and smiled.



feedback please : Unreal8@aol.com

Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc.and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.



Regeneration
part 7
by Gizmo




Lyle paced angrily. Now that he had recovered both his senses and his ability to act according to his own will, he was frustrated and angry that he could do nothing. His sister had deposited all of them at this hotel and left them. Gazing towards the bed, he noticed he wasn’t the only frustrated one. His half-brother, Ethan, was no longer dazed and out-of-it. Sitting in the chair beside the bed, Lyle glanced at him.

“We don’t look at thing alike,” Lyle commented.

“No,” Ethan replied. “We’re not alike.”

“Parker will get him. She’s good.”

“She’s too late.”

“What do you mean?”

“Cox already has him.”

“How do you know this?”

“The voices. My…our mother’s voice tells me things sometimes.”

Lyle smiled in disbelief. “Well ask her how to get Jarod back.”

“It doesn’t work like that.”

Sighing, Lyle stood and paced again. He smiled as something occurred to him.

“There is something we can do.”

“What?” Ethan looked up thoughtfully.

“Maggie and her brother. Cox will order them killed now that he has Jarod.”

Major Charles had filled him in on the entire story upon their arrival. The boy and his father currently resided in the room through the connecting door. Both had dropped off to an exhausted and worried sleep after Parker had left. Standing, Lyle shut the connecting door and reached for the phone. A moment later, he had contacted Willie and ordered him to bring Maggie and her brother to a meeting spot. Sneaking into the Major’s room, he swiped the car keys and left to meet the sweeper.

***

Parker slammed her car door shut. They had Jarod and there had been too many of them for her to try any interference. They would have to get him from the Centre.

She entered the room she had rented for herself and Emily. The younger woman was asleep, accustomed to the upheavals in her life and able to sleep despite them. Deciding against awakening her, she tapped softly on Ethan’s door. No one answered and she realized they had probably all fallen asleep. Perhaps she should try sleeping some too. It might help her think more clearly of a way out of this situation.

***

Two Hours Later

“Let go of me!” she demanded tearfully. She hadn’t slept in what felt like months and this strange man with cotton in his nose was hurting her arm. After the black guy had shoved them into a big black car, they had met up with this guy. The black man had gotten out of the car and spoken to him. From their glances back at them, she and her brother had obviously been the topic of the conversation. The cotton-nosed guy must have heard something he didn’t like because the next thing she knew, she was being dragged out of the black car and into the big SUV – leaving behind her brother.

Now, he was unceremoniously dragging her by the arm into a hotel. She was long past frightened and now was just really angry.

He stopped at a door and banged loudly. Several moments later, a sleepy-eyed Ethan opened the door.

“Ethan!” she exclaimed. She was shoved from behind and stepped into the room with a glare for the man behind her.

“Where’s her brother?” Ethan asked the man.

“Willie dropped him off a couple miles out of town,” he replied. “You’re not going to believe what he had in mind for his little sister here.”

“Patrick would never hurt me!” she defended.

“Strangely enough, I have to agree with you,” the strange man said with an eyebrow cocked. “I once tried to protect my sister by registering her at a psychiatric hospital too.”

“He was going to institutionalize her?” Ethan asked incredulously.

“Yes. According to Willie, he seemed to think it was the best thing for her. Told the police about her mother having these paranoid delusions about people in black cars and such.”

Things clicked into place for her. “Mom wasn’t crazy. You’re the people she was afraid of. She was always watching over her shoulder. Said they were coming for her children someday and she wouldn’t let them have us.”

“Your mother knew about the Centre,” Lyle stated.

Ethan sighed. “I really didn’t want her to know too many details. It could be dangerous for her.”

“It already is.” Lyle reached over and grabbed Maggie’s face. “Don’t you see it?”

***

Sydney could hear something. It beeped incessantly and he wanted to yell for someone to turn it off. Struggling against eyelids that seemed to weigh a ton, he managed to pry one open. The beeping, he realized, emanated from the EKG steadily reading his heart. More equipment surrounded his bedside. For a moment, he panicked – thinking of the Renewal Wing – until he saw the television set mounted on the wall. Another glance around and he surmised he was hospitalized. Shutting his eyes again, he tried to remember the events that had lead up to this moment. The phone call – he remembered – Emily and Ethan. And then a car in the dark rushing towards him. But he had to get to them. Reaching over, Sydney pressed the nurse call button frantically. Somehow, he had to find a way to contact Parker.

***

Major Charles sat up and rubbed his weary eyes. Checking the clock, he was amazed to see he had slept four hours. Looking over at the sleeping boy he went to the connecting door and knocked softly. A moment later, Ethan appeared at the door with a finger to his lips. Looking behind his son, he saw a red headed girl sleeping sprawled across one of the two beds.

“Maggie?”

“Yes.”

“Where’s Lyle?”

“He’s not here. He gave me a message.”

“What?” The Major let the younger man see all his mistrust for his half-brother.

Ethan shook his head. “We have to wait for Parker.”

“She isn’t back yet?”

“I haven’t seen her.”

“Okay, I’ll check Emily. Get back to bed, Son. You had surgery last night.”

Ethan nodded but first went to awaken Maggie. She protested sleepily but he was able to lead her into the other room and push her down onto the bed recently vacated by his father. She was asleep before he left the room.

His father returned with Emily and Parker behind him. Ethan informed him that he had moved Maggie so they could talk in here. Settling on the bed, he waited until everyone was seated to begin.
“Lyle went back to the Centre.”

Major Charles stood, a thunderous expression on his face and his half-sister cursed. Emily looked pale but didn’t comment.

“He can protect Jarod better in there than sitting around here,” Ethan argued. “He told me to tell you he’s having the review moved up. He’s going to get this over with now.”

“This has nothing to do with protecting Jarod!” Emily snapped. “He just got lucky and this whole thing worked out exactly as he wanted it to!”

“No,” Ethan replied firmly. “You’ve got to trust him. The voices – he wants to end this.”

“Why?” Parker demanded. “Why is it suddenly so important for Lyle to stop regeneration?”

Ethan shook his head. “You don’t understand. Lyle wants to stop the Centre. He knows what the Centre is trying to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“Maggie. She’s a part of this. They’re setting up the next phase of the pretender program. She was created – just like me.”

“Are you telling me that Maggie is my daughter?” Major Charles asked.

“No,” Ethan replied. “She’s your wife’s daughter. I’m not related to her at all. And her father is…”

“Mine,” Parker finished. “They were mixing us up – seeing what mix worked best – breeding us. She was implanted into a surrogate mother’s womb.”

“And raised to believe her two older brothers were biologically related when they weren’t,” Ethan continued. “Just like Lyle was raised by a surrogate family. Lyle said he won’t let them start another generation. Jeff would be the last, he said.”

“What did he mean by that?” Parker asked.

Ethan turned to stare at Emily. “Lyle was supposed to kidnap you. But he said he couldn’t do it.”

“Oh my god,” Emily breathed. “They wanted him to impregnate me. They wanted to start mixing it up again – see what they could get from our offspring.”

“Yes,” Ethan replied heavily. “The voices – she told me that Lyle wants it all to end. He’s tired of being controlled, manipulated.”

Parker stared at him. “She’s warning you that Lyle is going to take too many risks. But I won’t let him do that.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Go back to that hellhole and get Jarod and Lyle out.”

****

The Hellhole

Lyle smiled. He had planted the seed of doubt in his father’s mind and Mr. Parker was working through it mentally. Tapping his foot impatiently, Lyle wondered if he had gotten a little too used to Jarod’s lightening fast mind.

“We need to move the review up,” Lyle emphasized again. “You’ve seen how demented Cox really is. If I’m right…”

“Yes, I know.” Mr. Parker rubbed his forehead and sighed. The sponsors wanted progress, not these personnel distractions. “Do it. Move the review to Thursday. That will give everyone three days to make arrangements and arrive. But I’m leaving Jarod under Cox’s control until then.”

He didn’t want to appear too concerned about Jarod so he sighed, pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows.

“Dad, I don’t think that’s a wise decision. If Cox finds out we’ve moved the review up, he may try to sneak Jarod out of the Centre again.”

“He’ll be suspicious if we remove Jarod from his care,” Mr. Parker argued. “This way, no one but us knows the review date.”

“We want him to be a little worried. How are we going to catch him in the act if we don’t push him a little?”

“Good point. I’ll tell Cox that you’re being given unrestricted access to the pretender for half the time. That way, it looks like I’m allowing both of you equal time to use whatever methods it takes to get the pretender’s cooperation.”

Lyle nodded with satisfaction. Half was better than nothing, his mind reasoned. But, a little voice whispered, would Jarod be able to withstand three days of Cox in his condition? He’ll have to, Lyle thought.

He smiled slyly at how he had set Cox up. Leading his father to believe Cox had engineered Jarod’s escape last week had been brilliant. Cox’s demented possessiveness of Jarod and the regeneration project had worked in his favor. His father had bought it. Jarod would only have to endure three more days.

***

His right eye was swollen shut but he managed to blink open his left eye when the door to his latest cell creaked. Two days of Cox’s intense mistreatment had left him unable to do more than lift his head from the floor. Time had gotten scrambled up in his head and he wasn’t sure if it was Lyle or Cox entering. The intense light flooding into the room blocked his view of his visitor. Whoever had entered walked towards him and squatted down.

“Go away,” Jarod croaked.

“I see Cox is getting out of control,” Lyle commented. He could see the swollen right side of Jarod’s face even in the dim light. “He is supposed to keep you presentable for the upcoming review.”

“Cox believes he still has time for me to heal up before the review,” Jarod whispered.

“Well, then, he’ll be shocked when the sponsors show up tomorrow for the regeneration session, won’t he?”

Jarod nodded weakly and lowered his head to the floor. For the past two nights, Lyle had appeared after Cox left and together they worked out the Centre’s ending. But tonight, he didn’t know if he had the energy to run simulations. He heard Lyle sigh and leave the room. A moment later, the overhead lights flicked and Jarod groaned at the visual assault.

Lyle shook his head as he visually examined the pretender. He had reassured his sister that the pretender was hanging in there and the damage Cox was inflicting was nothing too serious. But tonight’s phone conversation would not be so comforting. He knew better than to lie to his sister though. One way or another, he would have a difficult time persuading her to stay away from the Centre.

Taking the supplies he had carried in, he set the box down and squatted beside the injured man.

“Come on, the cameras are off,” Lyle told him. “I need you to sit up.”

With a lot of groaning and heaving, he managed to get Jarod propped up in a corner of the bare cell. As he worked on cleaning wounds, he considered the best method to tell Jarod of what he had learned.

“Did Rachel say if they’re ready? Will she be coming with the VCTF?” Jarod asked tiredly.

“She’s coming,” Lyle responded. He wiped the blood from Jarod’s chin and sat back. “Everything is set up. I’m not here to do simulations tonight. You did a good job last night. We’re ready to go.”

“What is it then?”

“There’s something you need to know about regeneration…” Lyle looked aside, uncomfortable. “When they do this tomorrow – it won’t be what you’re expecting. I just found this out today.”

Jarod felt fear shiver up, cold and fast from his insides. “Tell me.”

“Jarod, Cox isn’t going to use the heart drugs. Cox believes this new method has a better chance of making regeneration work.”

He grabbed a fist full of Lyle’s shirtfront. “How?”

Lyle met his eyes. “He’s going to drown you – in freezing water – and then revive you.”

“Oh God,” Jarod whispered and released Lyle. He squeezed his eyes shut – knowing it was too late to stop what was already in motion. The FBI and VCTF were to catch them all in the act. As Catherine Parker had originally planned, they would stop these experiments permanently by getting them all. Although the Centre would probably find a way to escape this raid, without sponsors, it was only a matter of time before the money ran out.

Jarod looked up at Lyle. “Do you think this is what she wanted? Did she want me dead?”
“You’re not going to die – well, not for long anyway.” Lyle sighed and sat beside the pretender. Leaning his head back against the cold wall, he stared at the ceiling. “Ethan told me to tell you to have hope. Apparently, my half-brother believes my dead mother talks to him.”

“She does.”

“Anyway, Ethan wanted you to know that she said not to be afraid.”

“Easy for the dead to say,” Jarod said with a dark smile.

“I’ll be there tomorrow but…I won’t be able to stop…”

“I know. You have to stay in the act. Just stick with the plan.”

Lyle sighed and turned to him. “There’s something you should know – just in case it all goes to hell.”

“What?”

“I don’t remember killing your brother but I want you to know that I’m sorry. We’ve been excellent enemies but I’d like to believe that we’re even better as a team. I want you to know that I’m going to do everything I can to get you out of this alive – not because of my mother or your family – but because of who you are.”

Jarod raised his hand and Lyle clasped it. “When you call tonight…tell her – tell your sister that these past five years have never been about the Centre for me.”

Lyle smiled sadly and stood. He felt strength growing inside. Jarod had forgiven him and like a forest fire, it had burned him clean.

****

DAWN

The sunrise was painstakingly beautiful – pastel pinks and peaches. He was able to set aside the horror of what would happen today as he watched it. Unable to sleep last night, he had paced and wrung his hands until the first lights began streaking the sky. Slipping from the room where two of his sons slept, he had come here to watch. They would need his strength today.

He sighed and leaned forward, resting his hands on the hotel roof’s parapet. He needed her – his wife – here beside him today as they finally ended what had begun 33 years ago. The FBI agents had tried to find her. But, in the end, Major Charles had accepted that he would do this alone. Margaret had disappeared with Emily all those years ago knowing that she couldn’t keep Emily safe and free their sons. She had left him – knowing he couldn’t and wouldn’t give up searching for Jarod and Kyle. He wondered how she would feel when he presented her with two different sons. Ethan and Jeff were not whom he had set out to free. Would she blame him for not being able to save Jarod and Kyle after he had devoted his life and sacrificed their marriage to it?

He shook his head. No, Margaret would accept everything that had happened. It was part of the reason he loved her and always would. She didn’t blame or try to change him. She would love Ethan and Jeff with her entire heart – not as replacements but as sons.

Perhaps it was Maggie that had him missing his wife so sorely. The girl reminded him of her too much. Even the name was close and he smiled. He should have seen the resemblance immediately. But time had faded Margaret’s youthful image from his mind.

He accepted Maggie as his daughter although the girl had been raised by foster parents and wasn’t his biologically. Margaret would accept Ethan as her own – fully and without question. The irony was that Maggie’s foster parents were related to Ethan’s foster parents. If Maggie and Ethan had truly been the children of the people who raised them, they would be cousins. Instead they were part of the complex family that included the Parker twins.

He wondered if he could ever accept Lyle. Somehow, he had forgiven Miss Parker without even seemingly aware of it. It just seemed natural for her to be here. But part of it was probably her uncanny resemblance to her mother. He supposed if Lyle managed to free Jarod he would somehow find a way to tolerate his presence in their lives.

The worst part would be the waiting. The redheaded agent – Rachel Burke – had refused to allow him to take part in the raid. She had promised to get him inside as soon as possible but he was to wait outside. She obviously knew his son – perhaps intimately from the small smile on her lips whenever she said his name. But her life had obviously progressed since her involvement with Jarod. Another agent and her traded secret smiles.

The door leading to the roof opened and he turned to see Miss Parker approaching. She shivered at the cold wind and stood silently beside him.

“If Jarod dies, all these wasted years…” He stared ahead.

“They weren’t wasted. The new generation – Ethan, Emily, Maggie and Jeff – they’re free because of him. It kind of makes me feel old.”

Major Charles laughed. “You feel old? I’ve seen it since the beginning.”

“I meant that I feel like an outdated car. The technology to produce Jarod and I was so simple compared to what they did to make Jeff.”

“Sometimes that old ‘technology’ still produces the best results,” he replied with a smile.

“Yes,” she agreed. “Jarod is the best of us – isn’t he?”

“I think parents aren’t supposed to favor one child over another.”

She laughed. “But sometimes, exceptional children come along and exceptions have to be made.”

“You would know. Your mother loved you more than life. She gave up her life for you and Jarod.”

“And I’m going to make sure both of us live through this to appreciate it. He …he hasn’t had the chance yet – to live his own life.”

He nodded his agreement. Jarod had spent too much time making amends for wrongs he hadn’t committed. He remembered her words to the federal agents last night.

“You’re going to go in despite what Rachel said?”

“I have to. My mother – I know she wants me to. I’ve never heard her so clearly before.”

“Just be careful.”

She nodded and they smiled at each other.

The room was cold and he shivered slightly. Usually, the sounds of water invoked nature and peace. But the sloshing sounds emanating from the tank somehow managed to make the room eerier and more sinister. Perhaps it was the knowledge of what would occur here in just a few hours that made the even the dancing light from the water appear horrific.

Lyle shook his head at his fancifulness. He was getting to be too much like his half-brother – hearing sounds and voices where there were none. He had come here to prepare himself.

He turned to study the room. A mezzanine that circled the room halfway up the high walls had been extended so it reached the edge of the tank. The tank stood in the center of the room – a tall glass cylinder with various pipes, wires and other instruments attached to it. It rather reminded him of a huge drinking glass.

Seating had been arranged in front of the cylinder – two neat rows of leather chairs. Stairs led down from the mezzanine to the floor level. Luckily, Lyle observed, there was only one control panel. He would need to remain on the platform connecting the tank to the mezzanine. They would be bringing Jarod in at the door leading to the mezzanine level this time so it would make sense for him to be there.
The timing was critical. Everything had to happen at precisely the right time in order for them to get out of this alive. Three minutes were all Jarod’s brain could survive without oxygen. He prayed it would be enough time.

A highschool gymnasium shouldn’t be the place for so many guns, she thought. But they surrounded her as the men dressed in black SWAT uniforms and jackets emblazoned with FBI checked their weapons and talked nervously, the pre-raid anxiety and excitement obvious. She turned to watch Bailey reviewing the layout of the Centre with several team leaders. They had spread diagrams across a cafeteria table and used gym equipment to hold the rolled papers in place.

Bailey hadn’t been as shocked as she when they discovered who Jarod really was. Something had always seemed too suspicious to Bailey about Jarod. She had known he had a difficult past and had imagined foster homes, juvenile detention, abusive parents. But never an abusive organization exploiting the talents she had seen. It just made Jarod that much more unreachable to her.

The woman who identified herself solely as Miss Parker had taken her measure. They had reached a silent understanding in their challenging looks. There was no defeat in acknowledging the woman’s claim. Instead, she had let the woman know that she had shared that extraordinary person – if only briefly. Her life had gone in other directions.

The family worried her. Major Charles had moved the family to a nearby hotel and she knew his patience was limited. He had waited 33 years, she reminded herself. A brief flash in mind showed her a younger man staring at a boy’s empty bed with devastation. She shook off the image and picked up her own gun. Turning it over in her hand, she watched the gleam of the metal reflecting up at her.

He now knew what dawn looked like. It looks like hope, Jarod thought. Closing his eyes, he pictured it. It calmed him. He already knew what it felt like to be a doomed man. Having performed several simulations on men condemned to die, he had felt these feelings before. But now, he was experiencing it as Jarod.

He hadn’t slept last night. He had too much unfinished business. Lowering his head, he tried to regain the calmness. Miss Parker’s face floated into his vision and he breathed easier. At least he had been able to communicate some of what he felt through the message Lyle delivered.

He had only one hope for today – that he would be able to hold onto his dignity. His greatest fear is that he would be reduced to a sobbing, begging, pathetic weakling. He fumbled in the dim light for the picture Lyle had brought him.

“I’ll make you proud of me, Mom,” he promised.

***

Several hours later

Cox was shooting angry glares his way but Lyle ignored them. His father had obviously informed the demented man of the revised schedule. Even now, Jarod was being brought down from his cell.

Two doors opened simultaneously. Lyle raised his gaze and saw Jarod being drug out the door at the mezzanine level. Behind him, he heard the visitors’ cultured voices exchanging pleasantries as they filed in. Turning, Lyle watched Cox morph from angry to condescending as the sponsors seated themselves.

His father was not among the sponsors and Lyle looked at Cox questioningly.

“Someone unexpected decided to join today’s meeting,” Cox explained to everyone. “Mr. Parker will be with us momentarily with a visitor. Meanwhile, I’d like to review the project and our progress since your last visit…”

As Cox droned on, Lyle watched above as sweepers restrained Jarod to a metal table. Once the pretender was prone, he was out of viewing range. But Lyle knew what they were doing. Doctors would be fastening wires to Jarod’s forehead for the simulation. A sweeper would be checking the computerized control panel – ensuring water temperature was sufficiently cold and other parameters were met.

Lyle checked his watch and went to ascend the stairway to the platform. Halfway up, the door below opened and his father walked in. He paused when his sister accompanied his father into the room. Their eyes met and held. Be strong, he told her silently. She nodded at him and he turned to continue his climb.

At the top, a camera was being positioned by Willie. Jarod lay breathing harshly, staring at the ceiling. The doctors were busy with their equipment. Lyle went to the table and leaned over the pretender.

There was panic and fear in Jarod’s eyes and quick breaths.

“My sister is here,” he whispered to the pretender. It had the effect he hoped. Jarod’s eyes darkened. He could almost see the pretender steadying himself, drawing strength from unknown reservoirs. He nodded imperceptibly. Lyle straightened and stared a moment longer into his eyes. There was acceptance there, he realized.

“We’re ready,” Willie stated.

Lyle stepped back and the equipment hummed to life. Jarod’s brain waves etched scratches onto paper rolls and the doctors murmured. With the wires attached to his head, Jarod couldn’t fake the simulation. Shifting his weight, Lyle knew it was time. He ordered Jarod to perform the simulation.

Jarod almost smiled in relief. He knew the waiting was what had led to his almost losing it. If it hadn’t been for Lyle’s intervention, he would have started screaming. He should have been upset, angry upon learning of Parker’s presence. But somehow, knowing she was nearby had comforted him. It was meant to be this way, he knew. She was part of the beginning. He needed her to be part of the ending.

He let his personality slide and began feeling emotions that weren’t his in origin. Cox had force fed him enough information about the business entrepreneur he was to sim. He accepted the thoughts that leaked into his brain and felt strangely, at peace. It was time.

When the brain wave activity had changed sufficiently, Lyle checked his watch. They were too early. A delay tactic would need to be convincing.

“Is there any way to determine if he’s faking?” Lyle asked the doctors.

“Yes,” called a weak voice from behind them. Lyle turned to the doorway. Sydney was there, sitting in a wheelchair pushed by Broots. “I can determine if he’s fully into the simulation or not.”

“Dr. Green,” Lyle said surprised. “What a surprise! We’ve been concerned about you.”

Broots pushed Sydney onto the platform.

“That’s odd,” Sydney replied. “Since no one seemed interested in returning my calls, I assumed my whereabouts were not important.”

Sydney waved Broots aside and stood unsteadily. With an arm casted and his head wrapped in bandages, the older man appeared slight and frail. Limping to the table, he gazed down at his protégé. Tears stung his eyes.

“Jarod.”

The pretender turned his face to his mentor. Sydney looked as bad as he felt.

“Hello Sydney,” Jarod murmured. “Come to watch it this time, huh?”

“Yes,” Sydney whispered. Jarod’s eyes were gentle. A tear dripped down as he realized that Jarod knew and forgave him anyway. I didn’t want to know, he berated himself. I should have pursued it – found out what they were doing to you every time they sent me on some trumped up trip. “I’m sorry.”

Jarod nodded in acceptance. Sydney had walked the middle ground – unable or perhaps, unwilling to take sides. He had wanted to protect them all. This, watching the experiment, was his penance along with the knowledge that in the end, he had failed. His failure was complete – as a psychiatrist, as a protector and as a man. But Jarod couldn’t hate him for being too human.

“Mr. Lyle!” Cox shouted from below. “While this little reunion has been touching, our clients are more interested in seeing the experiment than a soap opera.”

Lyle stepped forward and Sydney turned to him with a hot glare.

“You’ll rot in hell for this!” Sydney threatened.

Lyle grabbed the older man’s shirtfront and leaned forward as if to whisper threats in his ear.

“Once he’s in the tank, I’ll take care of the sweepers,” Lyle whispered. “I’m not counting on the doctors to make any moves but if they do…”

Lyle shoved Sydey away as if in disgust. Sydney stared a moment as the implication sunk in.

“Broots and I are staying right here,” Sydney said loudly. “We’ll make sure these doctors do their job.”

Lyle flashed him a brief smile. Sydney sat back in the wheelchair and the doctors began removing the wires from Jarod’s forehead.

“Jarod,” Sydney began. “Tell me what you see. Tell me what you’re feeling.”

As Jarod and Sydney performed their magic, Lyle checked his watch. The timing wasn’t perfect but they had gone forward too far.

“He’s in the simulation completely,” Sydney announced. Lyle glanced at the shrink. Tears had escaped.

***

Moments after Jarod had been dumped into the tank and the lid secured, she turned her face away. But now, she forced herself to watch. Jarod sucked the last few breaths of air from the space between the lid and rapidly rising water. Her eyes filled along with the tank. Her mascara blotted and momentarily blinded her. Wiping at the inky black material, she left smears below her eyes. Like a mime, by the time Jarod sunk unresisting to the tank’s bottom, her makeup traced her agony down her face and she silently screamed.

Her vision returned and she realized her feet had carried her to the stairway leading to the tank platform. Her father was yelling something but she couldn’t hear. She felt nothing but the too hard beating heart beneath her ribcage as she climbed. A pain seared her arm but she ignored it. At the top of the stairs, her brother was engaged in a life or death struggle with a sweeper. She ignored them too. The lid to the tank was still firmly closed and she went to the control panel. The balding technician was there, fumbling with controls. A moment later, he hit something and turned to her with a triumphant smile.

She spun and kicked off her shoes as the lid moved aside. The water was icy cold.

She had expected evilness to emanate from the room. It did but she didn’t expect the faces on it. These weren’t the people who ate infants or sacrificed virgins. They were the people sitting across from you at the dinner table. Salespeople, she thought, not scientists with their poor social skills and lack of interest in proper attire. No, these people knew all the right things to say. They made a living manipulating people to buy or sell.

It had only taken moments to secure the room. They weren’t fighters – they hired lawyers to do that for them. The real battle had been getting to this room. Now, she took a moment to look for the cylindrical chamber she expected.

Instead, a glass walled tank loomed in front of her. Blood streaked the clear water. She stared open mouthed at the scene she was witnessing.

Miss Parker kicked up from the bottom of the tank, both arms secured around Jarod. The lid to the tank was closing. On the platform, a large man stood at a control panel while two men struggled with a gun behind him. A thin, balding man dangled from the platform edge by his fingertips while an older man desperately tried to pull him to safety.

She rushed up the stairway and killed the man at the controls without hesitating. Staring at the multitude of controls, she punched one and the sound of rushing water sounded behind her.

“YOU IDIOT!” Lyle screamed at her as he struggled with the sweeper. “You’re filling the tank again. You’re going to drown my sister!”

“Over here!” the older man called. “Broots can stop it!”

She knelt beside him and pulled the technician to the platform. Before the man could catch his breath, she had heaved him upright and dragged him to the control panel. The sound of pounding filled her ears and she spun around to stare at the closed lid.

“Hurry!” she screamed at Broots. A gun went off beside her and she watched Lyle and the sweeper sink to the floor.

***

Miss Parker pounded on the closed lid again and sucked her last breath before water filled her nostrils. She slowed her kicking to conserve oxygen and felt herself and Jarod sinking. Turning as she sunk, she watched through her watery prison as agents arrested Cox. She made out her father as he pushed indignantly away from the agents and stood at the tank’s bottom perimeter. As she watched, he pulled a gun and aimed it at her inside the tank. She released Jarod and faced her father through the glass wall.



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Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc.and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM, TNT and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.



Regeneration
part 8
by Gizmo



He fired once. He watched the chairman fall forward onto the glass and then turn. Mr. Parker met his eyes, a shocked expression on his face and he tensed when the chairman raised his gun. Blood streaked down the glass wall as the chairman slid to a sitting position and dropped the gun.

Lowering his gun, Major Charles stared at the people inside the tank until a hissing noise got his attention. The lid swung aside. He ran for the stairway.

Lyle was already in the water when he reached the platform. Sydney had lost his calm demeanor and ranted at the doctors to help, to get ready, to do something for God’s sake they took an oath. The technician and red headed agent fumbled at the control panel as the Major jumped in beside Lyle. They nodded to each other and dove under. He reached Miss Parker and Lyle grabbed the pretender. Kicking, they dragged their prizes to the surface. Hands hauled their treasures onto the platform.

Major Charles hung onto the edge, panting to catch his breath. He watched through watery eyes for a moment as the doctors worked. Turning, he frowned at the empty spot where he had expected Lyle to be. Looking down through the water, he saw the younger man sinking. He dove again and dragged Lyle to the surface. Parker’s twin sputtered and coughed at the surface. He shoved him up onto the platform and realized why Lyle had sunk. The man had been shot and was bleeding profusely. He had obviously used up all his energy in saving Jarod.

A hand reached out and Major Charles took it. Using all his strength, Sydney helped pull Jarod’s exhausted father to safety. They collapsed side by side on the platform to watch.

Miss Parker coughed and they turned her onto her side. Water came up and she breathed deeply. An oxygen mask was strapped onto her head and the gunshot wound she’d received while climbing the stairs was bandaged. When the doctors finally stepped aside, she saw Lyle for the first time since being revived.

“My brother,” she breathed. “He’s bleeding.”

The doctors rushed to the man crawling towards his sister. Within moments, Lyle’s shirt had been peeled back and the pumping blood revealed. Another moment and they had stopped the flow. Lyle rotated his face towards his sister and she reached for his hand. Holding tightly to each other, they turned together to watch.

Rachel poked the technician’s face gently and frowned. She didn’t have enough medical training to determine if the bones were broken by the sweeper who had punched, then shoved the technician over the edge. He thanked her anyway and she smiled. They turned to watch and somehow, found each other’s hands.

Jarod hadn’t moved, his eyes wide open and staring unseeing at the men above him. If he could have listened, he would have heard the hum as the shock paddles he hated warmed up and the hissing as the bag forced air into his lungs. If he could have felt, he would have felt the pounding and pushing on his chest. If he could have seen their distressed expressions, Jarod would have whispered words of reassurance.

But he wasn’t there. He heard and saw a woman who had been dead for twenty years.

“Is this what you wanted?” he asked her. “Was this your plan?”

“I needed to talk to you.”

“There’s Ethan…”

“No. I wanted this to be between us.”

He waited patiently for her to continue.

“I did blame you. Perhaps a small part of me even wanted you dead. When you came to the house in the woods – I used you.”

“I know.”

He felt her gentle smile. “That’s why you questioned my motives – it’s why you didn’t want to follow my plan. You knew.”

“Yes. You were desperate. I was the source of the trouble in your life so you felt justified in giving me the location of the disk. You wanted me to feel some of the responsibility for your death.”

“You’re half right. But you were never the source of the troubles. I was wrong! I blamed you and for this I need your forgiveness. This is why I had to meet with you. Mine is the first death you learned to take responsibility for and I cannot let this continue.”

“I should be asking for your forgiveness…”

“NO.” He felt a spark of something negative and withdrew a bit but she was still there. “Listen to me. You were never to blame. Not for my death or the deaths from your simulations.”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“As my daughter would say – for a genius, you’re pretty stupid.”

Then, lights and sharp pain. His lungs felt full and he moved his lips as water rushed up and out. More pain ripped through him as he coughed involuntarily. Air, his mind screamed, he needed more air. Wrenching his body into an arc, he tried to suck all the air from the room but hands were pushing, shoving him down. He gasped, trying to shove more air into the sacs and passages of his lungs. A plastic mask was pushed in front of his nose and he felt tears gather. No, he wanted to scream but couldn’t waste the precious air, I need more air! People leaned over him and he pushed with his hands, trying to get to the air they blocked.

Miss Parker felt the tears overrun at his first gasp. When he moved against the doctor’s hands, she released her brother and thrust herself forward. She pushed one doctor aside and looked down into the panicked eyes of the pretender.

“Jarod!” she screamed hoarsely. “Look at me!”

He turned his gaze and she lowered her face until their foreheads touched. Tears dripped onto his face. She latched onto his hands with her own.

“Game over,” she whispered.

****

Three days later

Broots grabbed for his daughter but she skipped ahead of him.

“Debbie!” he warned. “This is a hospital. Slow down, young lady!”

“Come on, Dad!” she called. “I can’t wait to give them my cards!”

They approached what Rachel had dubbed the ‘Tough Guys Ward’ and Miss Parker stepped out. She smiled at Debbie, showing her teeth, and listened as the little girl rattled on about the cards she had made.

“Well, they’re awake but Jarod was just moved here today so you can’t stay long,” she announced. Debbie grinned and disappeared into the room.

“Jarod is out of ICU?” Broots asked with a smile.

“Yeah,” she replied. “They released Ethan and Sydney. Now, Jarod and Lyle are in a little contest to see who will get released from this joint first.”

“How are you doing?” he asked politely.

“Doctors gave me a clean bill of health yesterday.” Broots smiled widely, thinking of how grateful the nurses had probably been to be rid of their demanding patient. She certainly looked fit in her short skirt and tight blouse. “How’s that project you’ve been working on coming along?”

“I’m done with my part.” He told her with a self-satisfied grin. After the FBI had cleared out of the Centre, everything had been left in complete disarray. With the chairman dead and the tower preoccupied with defending the Centre from legal allegations, Broots had complete, unrestricted access to the Centre’s computers. The results would be here soon. “Is the whole family here?”

“No. They’ll be coming a little later. Major Charles went to see Maggie’s brothers.”

He nodded and smiled secretly. If they arrived within a few hours, the timing should be perfect.

“Sydney was here earlier,” she mentioned.

“I saw him yesterday. He’s doing a lot better.”

“He and Jarod talked for a long time. I took Lyle for a wheelchair spin while they talked.”

Broots laughed. “This place will never be the same.”

“Well, perhaps we ought to see if your daughter has driven them up the wall yet.”

Inside the room, Debbie Broots was perched on a cabinet. Both Jarod and Lyle were admiring homemade cards and the girl smiled widely. Broots took a minute to study the two men.

Jarod’s face was bruised and pale but there was something new in his eyes. Peace, Broots realized. Jarod had settled some inner demon. Hopefully, whatever it was that had driven Jarod to perform pretend after pretend – treading precariously between justice and revenge – had died inside that water tank.

A sense of tranquility was evident in Lyle’s eyes too. A sparkling mischief also danced there and Broots grinned a little. Lyle had somehow obtained or perhaps, regained an ability to tease and laugh. His good-natured humor would be a good counterpoint for Emily’s seriousness, he thought with a smile.

Jarod’s dark-haired sister had visited several times. The awkwardness she displayed around Lyle only confirmed what the rest of the family was reluctantly accepting. She was attracted to their former nemesis.

Ducking between the maze of IV stands, Broots stepped between the two beds and pointed out some features on the cards. Both men made sounds of approval and then turned to admire the bruises adorning his face.

“Well, I am surprised at you, Mr. Broots,” Lyle teased. “I would have expected you to be in much worse condition after surviving a punch by Willie.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I feel lucky to be alive. For a minute there, I thought I was going to fall off that platform for certain.”

“Saved by a beautiful woman,” Jarod interjected. “I know the feeling.”

“Actually, I have a date tonight with that beautiful woman,” Broots stated proudly. “Miss Parker is watching Debbie for me.”

Jarod grinned at Broots. Rachel had visited while he resided in ICU and they had found an easy friendship. He thought Broots and Rachel would make an interesting couple.

“Are you sure you’re up to babysitting?” Lyle asked his sister. Nodding towards the girl, he continued. “She looks like a handful.”

“Debbie and I are going to be just fine.”

“What are you planning?” Jarod asked.

“Girls night. That means none of your business.”

“I’m ready for a boy’s night out,” Jarod sighed. “How about we sneak out of here tonight and go spy on them?”

“With or without the catheters?” Lyle quipped.

***

That evening

She tried to push through the door but someone was leaning against it from the inside. Pushing harder, the red haired girl stepped aside and the nurse glared menacingly at Maggie before looking around the room.

“There are too many people in this room! These men need rest. This isn’t a party!”

The people gathered quieted and stared at her like she had grown horns. She had heard snatches of the wild story about how these two handsome young men had come to be in her care. But it wasn’t her business to find out how they got here. It was her business to get them out of here.

“Okay, everyone out! I have to get some things done!”

They grumbled but shuffled reluctantly out. Going to the man who had been dangerously ill just yesterday, she began checking vitals and writing on his chart. He watched her checking the IVs and spoke for the first time.

“The dosage can be reduced by…”

“Are you a doctor?” she asked with her back to him still.

“I can be.”

“Well, unless you intend to be your own, I suggest you let your doctor do his job and let me do mine.”

The other man laughed uproariously and she glared at him.

“Listen, young man, unless you want your next pain killer injected somewhere uncomfortable, you’ll keep your sarcasm to yourself.” She added a finger waggling to her lecture then turned back to her original patient who was trying to stifle his own humor.

She untied the hospital gown and began checking his wounds. Clucking her tongue, she made sounds of disapproval.

“You’ve been moving around too much. See how you’ve reopened these cuts! This one bled right through this bandage. I will haul you back to ICU if you don’t learn some self control, young man!”

“Yes, Jarod, learn some self control,” Lyle teased loudly.

“Just wait for your turn!” he returned with an eyebrow raised and a slight smirk. “We’ll see who has more control.”

When she had finished, she glared at the visitors as they shuffled back inside then headed for the nurses’ station. Sitting, she concentrated on recording her observations until someone cleared their throat to get her attention.

“I’m, umm, looking for my son. I received a message that he’s a patient here.”

Glancing up, the nurse gave the woman her most annoyed glare. She took in the woman’s appearance and immediately made the connection.

“Your son is in room 312B.”

The woman gave her a perplexed look. “I haven’t given you his name.”

“Well, your daughter is there and she looks exactly like you.”

This seemed to perplex the woman even further but she turned and followed the room numbers to 312B. Knocking tentatively, she waited until the door was opened from inside before disappearing into the room. The door shut quietly behind her.

The End?



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