**Disclaimer: I don’t own “The Pretender” or any of its characters, plots, settings, etc. I’m not being paid for this, it’s just for fun. Don’t sue me because I don’t have anything you want, unless you’re interested in college textbooks. Blah, blah, blah. On to the story. **


Endenantes
The Alpha Project
pretender_gurl


Author’s Note: There are a few things to know before you begin this story.

First of all, I have changed some dates around. I don’t like the idea of Jarod and Miss Parker being so old, possibly too old to have children, so I moved everything up ten years. (Ah, the freedom of poetic license!)

Here’s a rough sketch of the timeline I’m following:

1970 – Jarod is born
1972 – Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle are born
1973 – Jarod is stolen
1979 – Sydney and Jacob are in the car accident
1986 – Project Gemini is born
1992 – the fire in SL-27
1994 – Miss Parker graduates from college and comes to work at the Centre
1996 – Jarod escapes
1999 – Project Gemini is rescued and you know the rest…

I hope this doesn’t bother anyone too much – if it does, I’m sorry. This way, Jarod is only 25 or 26 when he escapes instead of 33. Again, I’m sorry if you’re upset.

Secondly, this story begins before Jarod’s escape. This is supposed to be reflected in the title, but I don’t know how many people know Spanish. Endenantes is the Spanish (Latin American Spanish, not European Spanish) word for “before.” There is a little bit of Spanish in the first chapter because it is the official language of Equatorial Guinea, but the words are mostly Spanish terms of endearment – the same as saying “sweetheart” or “little one.”

The story encompasses all of the main characters of “the Pretender” and a couple new ones. The viewpoint will be switching a lot, so just pay attention to the bold headings indicating a switch.

As with all fics, reviews are highly encouraged and greatly appreciated!



1. THE ALPHA PROJECT
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
February, 1986

The eight red files were spread out on Mr. Raines’s desk. They contained all of the biological and psychological information on the original Prodigy subjects: Jarod, Kyle, Angelo, Eddie, Alex, Dannie, Bobby Bowman, and Miss Parker. What he was about to do thrilled him to the core. Though it had cost him his M.D., the Triumvirate had finally given Raines a project worthy of his expertise. The Centre was going to create a Pretender.

Donoterase
October 12, 1985

After months of research, experimentation, trial, and error, Raines finally held in his hands the future of the Centre. The Petri dish held a frozen embryo, the embryo of his Pretender. He smiled as he watched one of his doctors implant several identical embryos in surrogate wombs.

The Centre had recently employed a team of the world’s top geneticists and given them a superior laboratory in Elsmere, Alaska where they were assigned to the Alpha Project. Secluded from the world, these researchers had successfully mapped the human genome, identifying the amino acid sequences that resulted in specific traits, both physical and emotional.

With their discovery complete, the Elsmere geneticists were promptly disposed of and Raines’s Sweepers brought the information to Donoterase. Here, another team of geneticists continued diagnostic testing on the Pretender genome and initiated investigation into the Empath and Inner Sense genomes.

After examining all eight Red Files, Mr. Raines had decided to extract DNA from four of the subjects (though only two would have a significant presence in the embryo) and to mutate the remaining chromosomes in a manner identical to the other Red Files. The genes on the desired chromosomes were manipulated by splicing their exons and introns. Combined with the results from Elsmere, this information was transformed into the embryo he now held. Then they were implanted into eggs that had been taken from Catherine Parker without her knowledge and those frozen at NuGenesis from Jarod’s mother. From this genetic stew had come the greatest genetic achievement in Centre history – Project Gemini.

SL-27: Inception Room
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
July 5, 1986

Two baby girls were waiting for him. They were born early this morning in SL-27. When Raines received the call, he couldn’t wipe the smirk off of his face. These were the last to arrive – the boys had come yesterday. Mr. Raines opened the door to the Inception Room and stood triumphantly over the two basinets holding identical baby girls.

“Where are their medical reports?” he hissed.

“Right here, sir.”

Mr. Raines scanned the files quickly. The babies were identical in every way, except one. The report indicated that the baby born second had gone through a few seconds of distress during delivery. In a normal situation, this would not be a problem. However, since Raines had a choice, he didn’t want a subject that may be prone to lung sensitivity, no matter how slight the risk.

“Immunize the firstborn and prep her for transport to the Station. Dispose of the second – she is of no use to us.” Mr. Raines order with a calculated degree of chill. “There can be no loose ends.”

“Yes, sir.”

Mr. Raines watched as the firstborn was poked and prodded by doctors searching for viable veins.

“You on the other hand,” he muttered under his breath, referring to the newborn. “You are the future. I look forward to our work together.”

Raines couldn’t stop the evil grin from spreading across his face.

Endenantes
Project Gemini
pretender_gurl



Lower Level 7: Nursery
Triumvirate Station
Mongomo, Equatorial Guinea
January 9, 1991

"Do I have to leave?" Jira whispered to Zalika in Spanish.

Jira's mentor smiled as she leaned down and kissed Jira's forehead. "Yes, mi carina. Mr. Raines will take care of you now."

Jira looked at the bald man in the doorway. He was watching her and Zalika with disgust. The voices were warning her not to trust this man.

"Por favor, Zalika, I want to stay with you!" Jira pleaded, her eyes filling with tears.

Zalika brushed them away and gave the little girl a hug. "No, Jira. You must go, and I must stay here to take care of the other estrellitas. Besides, it is your time. Now, hold your chin high and make me proud."

Jira nodded and stood a little taller. Zalika leaned towards the girl and whispered in her ear. Jira's tears began to flow, but she didn't make a sound.

"Come, Jira," said the man in the doorway.

The young girl picked up her small duffle that held a couple of dresses and followed approached the bald man. Suddenly, she turned around and called to her mentor.

"¡Te amaré por siémpre también!" (I will also love you forever!)

"Let's go!" Raines shouted to the girl. She jumped and scurried towards him. They left the room and three Sweepers followed.

"Be brave, mi carina," Zalika whispered as she watched Jira leave. "Be brave."

Sub-Level 23: Room 2309
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
April 10, 1994 ~ 06:42

Jira tried to concentrate on the problems she had been given. She didn't like this new room that she had woken up in. Jira didn't need to ask the voices to know that she wasn't on SL-14 with the other children anymore. Inside her head, the voices were shouting warnings. Jira could feel the cold darkness of evil permeating from the concrete walls. She felt sick as she thought of how close she had been to freedom. Jira had almost reached the highway when that fast Sweeper, Willie, wrestled her to the ground.

As she stared at the vector diagram for the velocity of a remote guided missile, she heard a faint beeping outside her door. A hissing noise followed as the hydraulic lock was released and her door swung open. She did not have to look up to know who was visiting her.

Mr. Raines entered Jira's room with a scowl on his face. She should have finished the problem set four minutes ago! He hunched his shoulders and crossed the room in two strides. Jira saw him coming, not with her eyes, but with her mind. She shifted slightly in her seat, causing the blow Raines dealt her to whiff slightly. Raines noticed her movement and grabbed the back of her collar, lifting her into the air and tossing her onto the ground. Then, as though nothing had happened, Raines picked up the sheet of paper filled with mathematical calculations as Jira scrambled to her feet without making a sound. So much for caution, Jira thought.

"Your conclusions concerning the projectile missiles are promising. Next time finish them on time, and we won't have any unpleasantries. You have a simulation scheduled in twenty minutes, Jira. The Sweepers will escort you." Mr. Raines flashed a horrible smile, revealing his tobacco stained teeth.

"Excuse me, Mr. Raines," Jira whispered meekly as he turned to leave. "May I have permission to ask a question?"

Raines nodded with a smile. She had obviously learned after her outburst earlier in the week. Whoever said positive reinforcement was the only way to teach a child was sorely mistaken.

"Where am I and when can I go back to my other room?" Jira asked.

"You're still in the Centre. You are here to aid in a project, though I don't anticipate your return to the SL-14. After three escape attempts, I think a maximum security floor like SL-23 is perfect for you," Mr. Raines smiled maliciously.

Without another word, he left the room, but the Sweepers remained at the door. Jira shuddered. The Sweepers had given her a wonderful "welcome home" party last night.

Twenty minutes. What can I do with twenty minutes? Climbing back onto the desk chair, Jira was relieved to find that there were no new exercises waiting for her. With a look over her shoulder at the Sweepers, she turned over an old sheet of paper and began to draw. She didn't know what she was drawing, but it was an image that had not left her in a long while. Jira knew that it was someone in close proximity to her. Closing her eyes, but still drawing, she let the images swell over her. There were two men in a room, and they were arguing. She could only see one of the men, he was upset… hurting.

The eight year-old opened her eyes, pushing the image away. Jira looked down at the piece of paper and was slightly taken aback. She had distanced herself from the sketch, which had turned out to be the eyes of the troubled man. They were dark and full of pain, yet they held the innocence of a child. Jira could relate to the emotions that were so visible in his eyes. She felt a wave of desire wash over her as she wished she could meet this man.

Jira jumped as a heavy hand was placed on her shoulder. She must have lost track of time. Crumpling her drawing and tossing it into the wastebasket, she stood and followed the Sweeper out of the room. Jira didn't see the second Sweeper reach into the garbage and pocket her sketch.

SL-23: Room 2303
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 06:50

Jarod paced his room menacingly. He was not going to complete this simulation for them. The application of this information was unforeseen, possibly fatal to millions of people. How could Sydney ask this of him?

Jarod's brooding was interrupted by footsteps coming down the hall. He sat down at his desk, pretending to be busy, but the footsteps simply passed by his room. He hurried to the door, looking out of the rectangular window in time to see two Sweepers escorting a child to the elevators. What is a child doing on this sublevel? SL-23 only contained the living quarters for Centre subjects, and as far as Jarod knew, there were no permanent child subjects. I'll have to remember to ask Sydney about this.

Mr. Raines's Office
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 07:08

"She sketched this after you left," the Sweeper was saying.

Mr. Raines took the sketch and stared at it for a moment.

"Did she say anything about it?"

"No, sir. To tell the truth, I don't think she knows who he is."

"Well, it's a good thing that you're not paid to think, isn't it?" Mr. Raines said coolly.

"Uh, yes sir."

Raines began to wheeze. He reached down and adjusted the knob on his oxygen tank. Less than a year ago, he was caught in a fire in SL-27 that left his lungs seared. Since then, he had been chained to this infernal tank.

"Call the chairman and arrange a meeting. We'll have to accelerate the project, before she perceives any more information concerning Jarod."

"Right away, Mr. Raines."

Endenantes
The Other Twin
pretender_gurl



Containment Ward: Cell 4
Biological Research Facility
Donoterase, Maryland
April 10, 1994 ~ 07:30

Jonas curled himself into the fetal position. He closed his eyes, but he could still see the pulsing of the strobe light through his eyelids. Jonas heard the door's lock turn and the metal door swung open as the lights were turned on full power. Jonas sat up and blinked in the brightness, trying to make out the figure in the doorway.

"Rise and shine, Jonas," the figure said with a chuckle.

"M-Mr. Lyle?" Jonas gasped as his pupils adjusted to the brightness. "Where's Mr. Raines?"

"He'll be out of town for a few days. I'll be taking over while he's gone," Lyle smirked. "Now, get to the showers and clean the filth off yourself."

Lyle motioned to the Sweepers outside the door and then walked jauntily down the corridor. Jonas followed the Sweepers to the showers where he was allotted ninety seconds of cold water and a bar of soap that he swore had lye in it.

SL-21: SIM LAB 2
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 07:58

"I want the nation to recognize my suffering! The bombing must be public, something that will shake the government, and there is only one building like that in all of Oklahoma."

Mr. Raines's pleasure was evident as he watched his Pretender. She was dressed in the standard Centre clothing, a coarse gray shirt and matching pants that were a few sizes too big for her. Jira's long black hair was pulled back in a braid and her startling blue eyes seemed to be unable to focus.

Jira had successfully located the perfect detonation site for a bombing scenario a client in Oklahoma had requested. The innocent eight year-old was gone, replaced by a ruthless terrorist. Raines couldn't help but praise himself for the excellent job he had done in maintaining Project Gemini.

Genetically, the Gemini twins were almost identical. Twenty-two of their chromosomes were duplicates of each other, the twenty-third being their sex chromosomes. The small differences stemmed from their host ova. The male, Jonas, had come from Jarod's mother's egg and Jira from Catherine Parker's. After birth, Jonas was whisked away to Donoterase and Jira was given to the Triumvirate in Africa.

If it hadn't been necessary, Jira would never have left the Centre. But the Triumvirate wanted control over Gemini. Jira spent her first three years in Mongomo where she was raised alongside half a dozen other subjects, waiting to mature from infancy. Raines did not approve of the methods used at the Station, believing them to be too soft on the subjects. Leading the Triumvirate to believe there was only one Gemini subject, Raines kept Jonas hidden at Donoterase where he had unilateral power over the boy.

Eventually, the Triumvirate grew weary of their nursery's coddling and granted Raines permission to bring Jira to the Centre. She was four years old when she arrived.

Jira was unprepared for simulations when she arrived. She also needed to be reprogrammed after her life at the Station. Unfortunately, she was stubborn and did not respond well to the procedure. Jira had attempted to escape three times now, getting farther from the Centre on each break. And every time she was recaptured, Raines punished her more severely. After watching the DSA of last night's re-education, Raines was surprised the girl was even walking.

Jonas began performing simulations when he was less than two years-old. Before this time, he was only punished for behavior Raines found poor, and never for work that was less than satisfactory. Mr. Raines wanted work to be an enjoyable experience for his subjects, thus it would not be something they would have to be forced into. But the simulations were different. The success of the Centre was on the line every time Gemini walked into the lab. For this reason, Mr. Raines brought in a subject from Project Prodigy, Bobby Bowman, to help break him.

Bobby should have been part of the Blue Cove facility's Pretender Program, but Raines stole him from his family immediately after birth and placed him with a couple in Townsend, Nebraska - a hole in the wall town where Bobby would not be able to get into trouble. For a price, Lyle Bowman agreed to keep the boy and follow Raines's instructions regarding Bobby's upbringing.

Six years ago, shortly after the conception of Project Gemini, Bobby had staged his own death, framing his foster father. Utilizing his genius-level intelligence and honed methods of deception, Bobby Bowman became Jim Hooper, a third year student majoring in Psychology with a focus in the abnormal psyche. Jim Hooper flew under the Centre's radar for six months when the gruesome murder of two foreign exchange students turned the eyes of authority figures on him. As usual, the media was all over the case and the Centre soon located him. In exchange for Centre help with his predicament, he agreed to leave Jim Hooper behind and come to work at the Centre.

There he began a new life as Raines's protégé, complete with a new name - Mr. Lyle. Bobby's vengeance was his driving force during his time at the Centre. Introducing himself as his abusive foster father was Bobby's culminating act of revenge - the complete destruction of Lyle Bowman.

After aiding Mr. Raines with Project Gemini, Lyle was trained in the Centre's Special Operations. CSO carried out all of the Centre's covert activities. The operators were highly skilled in areas such as espionage, interrogation techniques, and assassination.

Raines heard the door open behind him, and turned as a young man entered the small viewing room. The man was slightly taller than him with a physique that suggested a disciplined fitness routine. His sandy hair was cropped short and his dark suit completed the suave appearance.

"How did she do?" Lyle asked, more out of curiosity than concern.

"Standard. The results should be of use to Corporate. They'll probably be able to squeeze another few thousand out of our client."

"Excellent," Mr. Lyle said with a smile. He was hoping for a promotion, and this would add another feather in his cap. After all, he was listed as the second in command on Project Gemini.

"And how is everything at Donoterase?" Raines asked, having spent the past seventy-two hours in Blue Cove after the Centre was alerted of Jira's release.

"Running smoothly. Jonas should finish the crash simulation in an hour or so."

Raines gave a satisfied grunt and turned on his heel.

"We have a meeting with Sydney to discuss the project. I'm still unsatisfied with her performance. I'm afraid we've been left with no other option but to accept the Triumvirate's proposal. Escort Jira to her space and meet me in the Tower," Raines instructed. "And, Lyle? Don't be late."

"Yes, sir."

Endenantes
Unwelcome Return
pretender_gurl


Office of the Chairman
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 08:18

"Ah, there's my Angel! Come and give your father a kiss. How are things at the London house?"

Miss Parker closed the glass door gently behind her. She paused a moment before crossing the room to where her father stood with his arms outstretched. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"But where are your things? You didn't come home from Europe, did you?" her father asked, holding her hands out to get a good look at his daughter. She pulled away and walked to the windows behind Mr. Parker's desk.

"I stopped at the house," she said harshly

"What's wrong, Angel?"

Miss Parker turned around and folded her arms across her chest. Her icy blue eyes flashed as she glared at her father.

"Daddy, where were you two days ago?" she asked accusingly. Without waiting for an answer, she continued. "I can tell you where you weren't. You were not in London, where I was graduating from college."

Miss Parker walked to her father, her expression changing to one of sadness.

"Daddy, I sent you three invitations and never heard from you. What happened?"

"Angel, you know that I have responsibilities…"

"More important than your only daughter?" Miss Parker shot. "Daddy, you knew how much this meant to me, how much it meant to Mom," she whispered, the second part almost inaudibly.

Mr. Parker sighed. He looked at his little girl - no, that wasn't right. She wasn't his little girl anymore, she was a woman. Mr. Parker placed his hand under her chin and raised her head so she would look at him. Her eyes held the wisdom of adulthood, the kind that comes from experience. Her figure was no longer the awkward frame of an adolescent, but the curvaceous form of a woman.

"There is nothing more important than my Angel. I was called to Africa a week before your graduation. I didn't want you to be upset, so I didn't call. I'm sorry, Angel. And because I do know how important this event was for you," Mr. Parker crooned. He walked behind his desk and brought out a large package. "I got you a little something."

Miss Parker's curiosity got the best of her and she walked over to the package. Peeling back the brown paper, she let out a small gasp. It was a painting, one that she had admired for a long time in the Dover Museum of Art.

"Daddy, it's beautiful…" she began. "But where did you…?"

"Only the best for my best girl," Mr. Parker said, kissing the top of his daughter's head. "Now, I'm due at a meeting. I'll see you at home, Angel."

Before she could say a word, Mr. Parker had left the room.

SL-21: Outside SIM LAB 2
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 08:49

"I'll take it from here, gentlemen."

Jira looked up at the familiar voice. Mr. Lyle was nodding to the Sweepers, who took a few steps back from her. He did not look at Jira, but simply waited for her to take her place to the left and slightly behind him. Jira hesitated for a moment. She feared this man almost as much as she feared the Sweepers. Ever since she could remember, he had been a looming threat, a constant blip on her radar. His presence was a bad sign.

Sensing his impatience, she gingerly approached Mr. Lyle. He turned his head when she was beside him and smiled at her in a leering manner that sent chills down her spine and caused her to tremble.

"Hello, Jira," he greeted, his smile broadening as he noticed her shivering with fear. God, I love my job.

"H-h-hello, Mr. Lyle," Jira stammered, looking at the floor. Their last meeting had been under less than agreeable circumstances and Jira was hoping against hope that he wasn't here for an encore.

"It's been a while, yet you've hardly grown," Lyle mused as he began to walk toward the elevator. Jira was very small for her age, about two inches shorter than the national average and noticeably underweight.

"I-I'm trying, sir," Jira said, unsure where this conversation was going.

"Maybe if you stopped all of that running," Lyle chuckled.

Jira's heart sank even lower. He was here because of her escape attempt. Her shoulders sank as she pondered the torture he probably had in store for her.

But Jira was quickly proven wrong. "Jira, Mr. Raines and I have a special project we'd like you to help us with."

Figures. I'll bet it's another psychopathic simulation. Whenever Mr. Lyle mentored her during a simulation, the experiment contained frightening scenarios that replayed in her nightmares for weeks.

"I'm here to serve," Jira replied monotonously as her sub-conscious had been instructed during Raines's re-programming.

The foursome stepped off the elevator into the corridor of SL-23.

"Excellent. There will be a slight difference in the execution of the project, but it should not be a problem." Lyle gave Jira a meaningful glare. He was really saying that there had better not be a problem. "You will be teaming up with another subject."

Jira's eyes widened. They expected her to work on one of Mr. Lyle's scary projects with a stranger? How was she supposed to concentrate if a new person with strange new emotions was standing right next to her, their thoughts bombarding her mind? Jira took deep breaths, trying to steady her racing heartbeat. She hardly noticed as one of the Sweepers prodded her into her room after Mr. Lyle opened the door.

"The subject's file is on the desk. I suggest you read it and familiarize yourself with the project. You will begin soon," Lyle instructed from the doorway. He looked pointedly at the mounted cameras. "And Jira, I'll be watching."

With a final smirk, Lyle closed the door. When the hydraulic lock had hissed into place, Jira allowed herself to release her breath. One thing was for sure, things had gone from bad to worse.

Endenantes
Unions
pretender_gurl



Tower Conference Hall
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 10:03

Mr. Parker, Mr. Raines, and Sydney were all seated and waiting when Mr. Lyle walked in the room. He caught a glare from Mr. Raines before taking his seat.

"Well, now that we're all here," Mr. Parker began pointedly. "Let's discuss the project at hand."

"Our client has asked for a complete report on the delivery, toxicity, and treatment of anthrax poisoning," Mr. Raines informed.

"Jarod could perform that simulation alone," Sydney offered. "Why are we bringing in another Pretender?"

"There are three reasons Project Gemini is being consulted. First, Jira is also an Empath with skills that rival Angelo's, and the fact that she can link more than two words together makes her far more valuable."

"Jira is also a Perceiver. It has the gift of the inner sense that has been evolved and enhanced so that the perceptions now manifest themselves as both sounds and images," Mr. Raines explained.

Sydney's head shot up when Raines mentioned the inner sense. Catherine Parker had said something about an inner sense just days before her suicide.

Sydney looked at Raines and said, "The inner sense, the gift that touches the planes of extrasensory perception. You've isolated this phenomenon? In a human subject?"

Raines glared at Sydney.

"Sydney, if you have a problem with Project Gemini, I suggest you say so now, before we begin this project. These clients are some of the Triumvirate's best. If this project is foiled, heads will roll," Mr. Parker lectured.

"My only concern lies with the girl's conception. If Jarod were to find out…" Sydney began.

"Jarod is to have absolutely no knowledge of Gemini's past," Parker said sternly.

"This brings us to the second reason we'll be using Jira. Jarod has been less than cooperative on the past few simulations. Having Gemini in our control could be a great motivator for him, considering his soft spot for children," Mr. Lyle said with an evil smirk.

Sydney closed his eyes as a wave of nausea passed over him. What had that poor little girl endured at the hands of this monster?

Lyle continued, oblivious to Sydney's reaction. "Finally, as much as I hate to admit it, Syd's boy is the best we've got. Jira needs focus and training to maximize her potential and the Triumvirate believes Jarod is the lab rat for the job."

"Here is the information for you to give Jarod concerning the simulation and Project Gemini." Mr. Parker handed Sydney two folders, one yellow and one orange. Sydney assumed Gemini was the yellow file, which combined with the red Prodigy files would create orange. "Of course, the information he'll receive has been censored."

Sydney took the folders reluctantly. "I don't believe this will work. Jarod's pain surrounding his parents' death and anger concerning his childhood at the Centre has resurfaced of late. Jarod will relate to this child, dredging up buried emotions that may influence his work."

Mr. Parker considered Sydney's words for a moment. "I don't want the whole mess with his parents brought up again. It took us years to get him to forget about that. We can't afford to waste time on idle business like family."

"I also anticipated Jarod's reaction to Jira's presence and I don't believe there will be a problem," wheezed Mr. Raines.

Lyle folded his hands and set them on the table. "A side effect of Gemini's inner sense seems to be a heightened anxiety around strangers. The thoughts she empaths from a person create an aura that triggers her inner sense. The onslaught of emotions and perceptions are physically painful for her. Therefore, she avoids any close contact with strangers. She will be able to work with Jarod as long as she has a job to focus on, but beyond that, she herself will not allow any sort of personal relationship."

"We have no problems then?" polled Mr. Parker. He took everyone's silence as confirmation. "Then we will begin in two days. Sydney, Mr. Raines, update the Pretenders. Let's launch."

Mr. Parker left the room first, followed closely by Mr. Raines and Mr. Lyle. Sydney took a deep breath and gathered his papers together. Tucking them under his arm, Sydney meandered out of the conference hall. Not watching where he was going, Sydney bumped into someone on his way out.

"Pardon, me…" he began. Then Sydney recognized the slim figure and piercing eyes that stared back at him. "Miss Parker! It's good to see you again!"

"It's good to see you too, Sydney."

"Would you like to join me for lunch?" Sydney asked, hoping to have a chance to talk with the young woman.

"I'm actually on my way out. Maybe some other time," Miss Parker lied. She turned toward the stairwell out of the Tower, then paused and faced the kindly psychiatrist. "Sydney?"

"Yes, Miss Parker?"

"Thank you… for attending the graduation ceremony," Miss Parker said quietly.

Sydney smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you for inviting me. I know how much it meant to you, and to your mother. Catherine would be proud."

Miss Parker's grey eyes sparkled at Sydney's words. She tried to express her gratitude, but her throat swelled up with unshed tears. Instead, Miss Parker turned and walked quickly to the stairs. Sydney sighed as he watched her leave. After all was said and done, Miss Parker had been left a broken woman.

SL-5: Tech Room
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 11:12

Miss Parker's heels clicked on the hard floor in time with the clicking of computer keys in the Tech Room. She crossed the room and entered the surveillance studio where a dozen techs were monitoring hundreds of screens that covered every wall and table in the room. Miss Parker didn't hesitate as she approached a familiar screen on the east wall. Ever since she left for boarding school in 1985, she had visited this screen whenever her father allowed her to come home over breaks. The screen and the one beside it displayed surveillance from the cameras in room 2303.

On the screen, Jarod was reclining on his cot. Miss Parker caught her breath as she studied the young man. The man's lanky form was sprawled on the narrow bed, revealing traces of the gawky teenager she once knew. His dark hair was cropped short and when he lifted his eyes from the sketchpad on his lap, she found herself staring into the warm chocolate eyes she had so often found comfort in. For eight years she had watched her father's lab rat, unable to bring herself to visit him after their last meeting.

Miss Parker turned and looked for a tech that wasn't busy. Her gaze came to rest on a small balding man in a tee shirt that said "Centre Recycling" with an Oxford shirt in an awful shade of green who was munching on Funyons. With a sigh of resignation, Miss Parker approached the man.

"Excuse me…" Miss Parker interrupted.

"Oh! Ah, Broots. My name is Broots," the man said, jumping at Miss Parker's voice and spilling Funyons all over the floor.

"Whatever," she said, dismissing it with a wave of her hand. "I would like all DSA surveillance from the Pretender Program on August 3, 1985."

"Um, okay. It will just be a second, Miss Parker."

Miss Parker crossed her arms across her chest, secretly pleased that this bum knew who she was. Her reputation was spreading already and she'd only been back for a few hours.

Miss Parker began to tap her foot impatiently. Broots cleared is throat nervously, peeking over his shoulder. Having found the file on the computer, Broots proceeded to save it to a disk. When the completed disk popped out of the Halliburton, Broots went to take it out, but Miss Parker grabbed it first and walked out of the room, crushing Funyons as she left.

"You're welcome," Broots muttered under his breath.

SL-23: Room 2303
The Centre
April 10, 1994 ~ 11:14

Sydney punched in the code on the keypad outside Jarod's door. He waited impatiently as the door slid back.

"Hello, Jarod. I have something for you," Sydney said to the young man on the bed, motioning for Jarod to join him at the desk.

Jarod put the sketchbook face down on the cot and took a stood next to his mentor.

"There's a new simulation that the Tower would like your help with."

"What is it?" Jarod asked.

"We'd like you to run a complete investigation of the anthrax virus," Sydney said quickly. "You'll be working with another subject on this project."

Jarod looked up from the orange folder. He hadn't worked with another subject since he and Kyle had simulated together.

"Who?" Jarod asked, his forehead creasing with uncertainty.

"Her name is Jira; she's a subject of Mr. Raines's. You'll work with her three days a week, beginning in a few days."

"Her? I'll be working with a female?" Jarod was confused. Since Miss Parker had left the Centre, he had rarely interacted with anyone of the opposite sex.

"Yes. Here is her file," Sydney said, handing Jarod the yellow folder.

Jarod opened the folder and stared at the contents. On the top of the papers was a picture of a little girl. She wore a vacant expression and her blue eyes seemed gray, dull, and haunted. Her long, dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail with a plain black ribbon. Her clothing was Centre issue like his, but she wore gray to his black. The small square cut in the collar of the shirt revealed a fragile neckline, and Jarod could just make out a silver chain that was hidden beneath her clothes.

Jarod swallowed deeply. "Oh my god, Sydney. She's a child."

"Jarod…" Sydney began with a sigh.

"No, Sydney!" Jarod cried, throwing the folder on the desk. He began to pace the small room. "She's just a child!"

Sydney stepped in Jarod's path of pacing. When the young man tried to go around him, Sydney put a hand on his arm. Jarod stopped moving and stared at the ground.

"Jarod, you must do what the Triumvirate has demanded - for both your sakes."

Sydney felt the muscles in Jarod's arm tense. Sydney never threatened Jarod and his words struck fear in Jarod.

"Sydney, what are you not telling me about this girl?" Jarod asked, staring at his mentor.

Sydney looked away. "Nothing. Everything I know is in her file." Sydney motioned to the yellow file on the desk. "Now, I suggest you prepare for the profiling simulation scheduled in an hour."

Jarod withered under Sydney's gaze and sank down into his desk chair. Sydney sighed and left the room, locking the door behind him. He told Parker this was not a good idea. Jarod was not going to let him off the hook until the Pretender had found what he was looking for.

Endenantes
Broken
pretender_gurl



Parker House
Blue Cove, DE
April 10, 1994 ~ 13:34

Miss Parker juggled the painting, a DSA player, and a Halliburton briefcase while trying to unlock the front door of her father's house. The door swung open and Miss Parker staggered in. She went up the wooden staircase and down the long hallway to her bedroom.

Miss Parker hadn't been home in over a year. During the previous summer break, her father had sent her to Japan, even though she had begged him to let her come home.

She dropped her things on the floor and wiped the thin layer of dust off her desk before setting the briefcase on the desktop.

Miss Parker's queen-sized bed had a white sheet over it, and pulling back the cloth revealed a cream colored comforter. She smiled as she remembered picking out the fabric with her mother. Later, Miss Parker sat at her mother's side, reading aloud as Mrs. Parker sewed the coverlet and added lace around the edges. Now, thirteen years later, Miss Parker fingered the embroidery lovingly, remembering the amazing woman her mother was.

Looking around the room with tears in her eyes, Miss Parker's eyes came to rest on the rocking chair with the intricate carving along the armrests. Her mother used to sit in that chair and tell her stories as she fell asleep at night. And Miss Parker herself had curled up in that chair eight years ago after a lengthy stay in the Centre's infirmary.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Miss Parker took the DSA Mr. Broots had given her and inserted it in the DSA player. The screen flickered to life and Miss Parker sat back as Jarod's face filled the screen.

*****

Jarod was pacing his room impatiently. He had a SIM scheduled that day, but Sydney had been called away for a conference early this morning. That meant Jarod would be placed under the supervision of another mentor in the Pretender Program. He was hoping against hope that it would not be Dr. Raines.

Jarod straightened when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. His heart began to beat in his throat and his palms were sweaty. The visitor stopped outside Jarod's door and the beeping of a code being entered into the keypad was heard. The door slid open and Jarod let out a heavy sigh as a 14 year-old girl entered the room.

"Miss Parker. I'm so glad it's you," Jarod said, his relief quite evident. Jarod took a step towards her hesitantly.

Miss Parker closed the distance between them. She threw her arms around Jarod's neck and smiled up at him. He was growing quickly these days and he was now almost a foot taller than her.

Jarod's eyes danced as he leaned down and let his lips brush against hers. Miss Parker kissed him back, more fervently.

*****

Miss Parker looked away from the DSA screen, tears falling into her lap. She hadn't known how hard this would be. Wiping her eyes carefully so as not to smear her mascara, Miss Parker forced herself to look at the screen.

*****

"Come on, Jarod," Miss Parker whispered, pulling the Pretender to the door.

"Where are we going?" Jarod asked, hesitating.

"Trust me," she giggled.

"You know what your mother used to say about trust, Miss Parker. It can kill you," Jarod said playfully, recalling one of Catherine Parker's visits.

"Or set you free, Jarod." Miss Parker leaned closer and whispered seductively into his ear. "And that's exactly what I plan to do."

Jarod grinned boyishly. Miss Parker was unlike anyone he knew. She was daring and spunky, and also broken and tender. She awoke something in him that had no one else could touch. Jarod remembered a kidnapping simulation he had performed a while ago and the feelings the mother and father had for each other. The father wanted to protect the mother from the pain she was experiencing. He wanted to hold her close and make everything right. Those were the same feelings Jarod had for Miss Parker. When he asked Sydney what that feeling was, Sydney had said it was love.

Giving in to her smile, Jarod allowed Miss Parker to lead him to the door. Miss Parker stepped out first to scan the corridor for Sweepers or wandering lab techs. Finding the coast clear, she reached back inside and jerked the Pretender into the hallway.

*****

The surveillance changed cameras to one hidden in the shadows of the corridor ceiling. They had been so naïve at the time, never suspecting that anyone was watching. Miss Parker smiled as the new angle of the film showed Jarod rubbing his wrist where she had grabbed to wrench him out of the room.

*****

"So, are you going to tell me where we are going?" Jarod asked on the DSA screen.

Miss Parker shook her head. "It's a surprise."

Jarod sighed and followed his companion to the stairs, bending to keep his long arms from pulling Miss Parker's backwards in an uncomfortable position. Miss Parker open the heavy door to the stairwell and the two listened for sounds in the shaft that might indicate they were not alone. Satisfied that they were safe, Miss Parker led Jarod up twelve flights of stairs and stopped on the landing before SL-10. Close to the ground was an opening for the ventilation system. Miss Parker had left the screws of the grate halfway undone when she had found this opening earlier in the week. Now she fell to her knees and unscrewed the bolts the rest of the way with her fingers. Seeing what she was doing, Jarod knelt down to help. In no time, they had the grate off of the wall and Miss Parker climbed inside the tunnel without hesitation. She called to Jarod and in a moment, he too had disappeared into the shaft.

*****

There would be no more surveillance coverage of the Pretender for just over an hour, but Miss Parker remembered the rest of that day perfectly.

*****

The duo crawled through the air vents for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, after following the path Angelo had taken her on before, the tunnel began to widen enough that she and Jarod could stand up. Ahead, a ladder led upwards to another ventilation covering. Miss Parker climbed the ladder first and yanked on a handle that unlocked the vent covering. Then she slid it to the side until there was a hole large enough for her to slip out of.

Jarod blinked as lighted poured into the tunnel when Miss Parker opened the hatch. When his eyes had adjusted to the light, he looked again just in time to see her disappear through the small exit. Jarod quickly followed and gasped when he saw where he was.

He was outside! Outside of the Centre!

Jarod closed his eyes and felt the sun warming his face.

"So this is sunlight," Jarod mused aloud. He had only been outside once in the past twelve years and that was at night and it had been snowing. Still those few seconds of freedom he had felt before the Sweepers found him had intoxicated Jarod's soul. He had always dreamed about going outside again and not a week went by that he did not beg Sydney to take him.

Miss Parker watched as the sunlight danced on Jarod's face. His round childish complexion had given way to chiseled features. His chin was square and pronounced, a symbol of his strong soul. The eyes that reminded her so much of warm chocolate were laughing as they looked around. This was why she had brought him here. Miss Parker wanted more than anything to make Jarod happy. She remembered her mother and father arguing about the children at the Centre. Mrs. Parker was concerned about the children's happiness, while her father only wanted results from his subjects. While Miss Parker had never seen Jarod cry, she had rarely seen him smile. There was always something about his eyes; the windows to his soul were clouded by a curtain of sadness that he would never talk about.

"Miss Parker, it's beautiful!" Jarod exclaimed. He looked around at the trees and flowers surrounding them, his smile growing larger.

Miss Parker giggled and ran down the cobblestone path that wound its way through the greenery. "Catch me if you can, Jarod!"

Jarod looked around for a moment as if wondering whether to follow. With a sigh, he swung his feet over the edge and jumped to the ground in one swift motion.

Jarod was surprised at how fast Miss Parker could run. When he finally caught up to her, he tackled her to the ground, the soft grass catching their fall. The two laughed as they rolled on the ground. To get back at Jarod for the sack, Miss Parker began to tickle him - a weakness of his that she had recently found. Jarod was howling with laughter and begging her to stop. She did, quite suddenly.

Jarod opened his eyes and the countenance hovering above him was enough to take his breath away. Miss Parker's soft, dark hair framed her heart-shaped face. There was a smudge of dirt on her nose that Jarod thought was adorable. Miss Parker's cheeks were rosy from their romp. But it was her gaze that had Jarod captivated. She was staring at him so intensely that Jarod felt like she was reading his soul through his eyes. The neutral grey was softening to an aqueous green and Jarod felt himself melting under her.

"Miss Parker…"

She put two delicate fingers to his lips to quiet him. Miss Parker began to slowly lean toward him. Jarod lifted his head from the ground to meet her. When their lips touched each other Jarod fell back, pulling her with him. He put one hand softly on her cheek and the other on the small of her back, holding her close.

*****

Miss Parker remembered dancing on air. She had dreamed of a moment like this ever since she had seen the little boy who walked beside Sydney. Miss Parker had been with many boys since her mother died, searching for the love that vanished with her mother. Each time she kissed a boy, she imagined it was Jarod. But the passion soon slipped away and they would take from her what they had wanted from the beginning and leave her trembling in the darkness.

Jarod was different. It had taken Miss Parker months to convince Jarod to accompany her on different adventures in the Centre. It had been years before their second kiss - the first was a statement Miss Parker was making about girls being more mature than boys. Every time he kissed her, Jarod asked for permission with his eyes, always waiting for her approval. Kissing Jarod was sensitive and passionate. He wore his heart on his sleeve when they were together.

*****

The two were lying beside each other in a meadow of hybridized flowers. Jarod's tunic was open to the breeze. It felt wonderful on his bare skin. Miss Parker's head was resting on his shoulder and she had her eyes closed.

"Jarod?"

"Mmm," he replied.

"Have you ever dreamt about going somewhere else - somewhere far away from the Centre?"

Jarod turned to look at her. "Of course, Miss Parker. Everyday I try to remember what it was like before I came here, what my parents were like, what my life was like," Jarod paused, his eyes clouding with anger and sadness. "But each day it gets harder and harder to imagine a life without SIMS, or Sweepers, or Mr. Raines. Did you know I can't remember my mother's face anymore?"

Miss Parker reached over and stroked his cheek, feeling his pain. Jarod looked down at her and smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry, Jarod," Miss Parker said softly. "I wish there was something I could do."

Jarod propped himself up and put a hand on her cheek. "But, Miss Parker, you're already doing so much! Your visits are bright moments in the bleakness of the Centre. And this day has been more than I could've ever hoped for!"

Miss Parker felt her eyes burning, warning her of gathering tears. It took so little to make him happy.

Jarod saw her tears and wiped them away with his long fingers whispering, "Don't cry, Miss Parker. Please don't be sad. I'm never sad when I'm with you." Jarod suddenly brightened. "After all, you've given me the sun."

Jarod gave Miss Parker the brightest smile she had ever seen. She couldn't help but grin back at him. Jarod leaned down and kissed her, tasting the salt from her tears.

*****

Miss Parker's heart began to beat faster as she remembered what had happened next. Shaking her head, she tried to force it from her mind, but it was in vain. The nightmares came with the fairytales.

*****

While Jarod and Miss Parker had been enjoying each other's company, the Centre was in a state of panic. Alarms were buzzing everywhere and Sweepers were scouring every nook and cranny of the building. The Pretender was missing. The last security tapes showed him leaving his room with the Chairman's daughter.

Mr. Raines was furious. He told Mr. Parker this would happen! The girl was too much like her mother. Now she was going to spoil the whole Pretender Program just to satisfy her own weak need for companionship! Mr. Raines closed his eyes and thought about where the two delinquents would go. What would Miss Parker want to show Jarod? Mr. Raines's cracked lips curled into a sickening smile as the answer dawned on him.

"Pete! Gar! Have your teams meet me in the lobby! Oh, and you'd better bring the toys," Raines chuckled maliciously. The wheezing man hurried to the medical bay where he grabbed a box of syringes filled with sedative. Then he met the Sweeper and Cleaner teams in the lobby.

The entourage walked swiftly through the Biotracts until they spotted two figures ahead of them. With a nod from Mr. Raines, the men silently approached the adolescents.

Miss Parker and Jarod were locked in a passionate kiss when they were suddenly pulled apart by strong hands. The two had completely lost track of time and the sun was beginning to set. Miss Parker screamed for Jarod and looked around frantically. She saw him standing stoically a few yards away. He was staring at something behind her with a look of sheer terror on his face. Miss Parker whipped her head around and could make out a stream of smoke coming from the shadows.

When he was sure he had their attention, Mr. Raines stepped into the lights along the Biotract. Miss Parker gasped and Jarod began to struggle against the three Sweepers holding him.

"Hello children. Are we having a good time?" Mr. Raines walked slowly to the Pretender. "Well, well. A Pretender out of the Centre. Now what's wrong with this picture? Garr?"

With a swift motion, Garr struck a blow to the side of Jarod's head and another to his gut that would have knocked him down if the Sweepers had not been holding him.

"No! Leave him alone you bastard!" Miss Parker cried. She ran toward Jarod, but a Cleaner grabbed her. "Let me go! You're hurting me!"

Blood was trickling from Jarod's ear and he seemed unsteady on his feet. The Sweepers loosened their grip, assuming Jarod to be less of a threat now that he was injured, but this was what Jarod was planning on.

As soon as Jarod felt his captors soften, he jerked free of them and ran to the Cleaner holding Miss Parker. He managed to throw a decent punch to the Cleaner's solar plexus before Mr. Raines took out a gun. Miss Parker screamed as he aimed it at the Pretender. But instead of a bullet, the taser shot out an electric current that ran through Jarod, instantaneously paralyzing his muscles. He fell to the ground as the current continued to pour from the gun.

Miss Parker could hear someone screaming and was startled to realize it was herself. She struggled to reach Jarod, who was lying just a few feet away. Miss Parker reached up to her neck as she felt a small prick. Almost immediately, warmth flowed through her and she felt her eyelids drooping.

"No… Jarod… stop…" Her voiced trailed off as the sedative rendered her unconscious.

*****

Miss Parker didn't know what happened after she passed out. She remembered waking up three days later in the Centre infirmary with a broken arm and multiple lacerations and bruises. She was alone, but as soon as the nurse saw that she was awake, Mr. Parker was called down.

*****

"Angel! I've been so worried about you!" her father exclaimed.

"What… happened?" she croaked. Her dry throat made it hard to talk. She swallowed a few times.

"Oh, it was terrible. I just can't bear to tell you," the chairman acted.

"Daddy, why am I in the infirmary?" Miss Parker demanded.

"Well, if you must know… You were attacked, Angel."

"Attacked?"

"Yes. It was that damned project of Sydney's," her father began.

"Jarod?" Miss Parker laughed dryly. "Jarod would never hurt me, Daddy."

"Angel, Jarod is a Pretender. He was Pretending with you. Why do you think we keep him locked up in SL-23? He's very dangerous," Mr. Parker lied.

"Jarod assaulted me? Why?" Miss Parker was growing more confused by the moment.

"You told him that you decided to go to that boarding school in New York, where your mother went for high school," Mr. Parker said. "Don't you remember, Angel? Jarod became angry because he wanted you to stay here, where he could continue to manipulate you."

Miss Parker felt her blood begin to boil. "No one manipulates me."

"That's the Parker spirit! Now, you get some rest Angel. When you're all better we'll get you settled in New York."

*****

Two weeks later, her father had a Sweeper drive her to upstate New York where she was left standing alone in front of St. Catherine of the Hills convent with her bags piled beside her. Those had been three very lonely years for Miss Parker. The sisters that ran the school wouldn't stop commenting on how much she looked like her mother, and these constant reminders of her grief were eating her up inside. For the first few weeks, she had written letters to her father. But when two months had gone by without any reply, Miss Parker snuck into the Reverend Mother's office and called the Chairman. That conversation had changed her forever.

*****

"Parker."

"Daddy, it's me," Miss Parker whispered, trying to hold back her tears.

"Angel? What is it? Has something happened?" her father asked in panic.

"No, no. I… I… Oh Daddy, please let me come home!" Miss Parker cried as the floodgates poured open. She sobbed quietly into the receiver.

"Angel, Angel listen to me," her father commanded sternly. "You cannot come back to Blue Cove right now. The best place for you is St. Catherine's."

"But, Daddy…"

"No. That's final. You should be ashamed of yourself - wanting to give up after a few days. You're a Parker! Parkers never give up!"

"Daddy, I miss you and Sydney and…" Miss Parker stopped herself before she said his name. Her father went into a rage when she mentioned Jarod. And after all of her father's stories, even she wasn't sure what to think of him anymore.

"What's the Parker family motto?" her father interrupted.

"Never count on anyone but yourself," Miss Parker recited with a sigh.

"That's right. This is a chance for you to practice that, Angel. Now, make your father proud."

*****

It was after that phone call, Miss Parker realized, that she began to form another self. She wore a mask of hostility that kept everyone at a distance. Everything she did was an attempt to win her father's approval. She discovered that she had a talent for acting, slipping easily in and out of characters. Miss Parker was the lead role in every school play, but her father never came to a production. But Miss Parker could have sworn she saw Sydney at a performance of Romeo & Juliet.

When she graduated from high school (at the top of her class by quite a margin), she was planning on attending Sarah Lawrence College the following fall. But when August rolled around and she still hadn't received registration information, she called the school. Sarah Lawrence had no record of her, not even her application, which she had mailed personally. Suspicious, she approached her father. Mr. Parker explained that he had already picked a college for her. Despite her pleas and reasoning, two weeks later she was on the Concorde headed for England. Before she left, her father had made it quite clear that she was to get degrees in international business and communications. Not wanting to cross her father, but also unwilling to give up her own dreams, Miss Parker called upon all of her intellect and triple-majored.

Now she was twenty-one years old with a degree in international business, communications, and art history. Miss Parker dreamed of becoming an artist, like her mother, and had her life to make that dream come true. This was supposed to be the most exciting time in her life, so why was she so unhappy?

Miss Parker looked at the DSA player and answered her own question. How could she be excited at the future if she was still tortured by her past?

Endenantes
Brown-Eyed Girl
pretender_gurl



5th Street Apartment Complex
River Valley, North Carolina
April 10, 1994 ~ 15:27

"Hey, Mom! I'm home!" Emily called as she tossed her keys on the table just inside the door.

There was no response. Still carrying her backpack, Emily wandered into the kitchen and saw a note lying on the counter.

Em ~
I'm working late tonight.
Be home around eight with dinner.
No TV until your homework is done!
~ Mom
P.S. Make sure the doors are locked and don't open the door to strangers.

Emily rolled her eyes. She couldn't count the number of times her mother had reminded her to secure the house and exercise caution around strangers. It had been a struggle to get her to let Emily go to school. When she was finally convinced, Margaret had insisted that Emily attend The North Carolina Institute for Gifted Studies that was eighteen miles from home instead of the neighborhood public school. Emily would watch as all of the other sophomores in the building happily boarded the school bus for River Valley Senior High as she began the lonely twenty-seven minute drive to school.

At least I don't have to wait for Mom to pick me up after school anymore, Emily thought. She had passed her driver's examination over a month ago and purchased a used Jeep from the bachelor on the second floor who was always flirting with her (she had purposely worn her tight-fitting jeans when they discussed the terms of the sale and gotten a great deal).

Crumpling the note in her fist, Emily tossed it into the garbage can from across the room.

"She shoots, she scores!" Emily narrated. Grabbing an apple from the refrigerator, Emily went down the hall to her room and plopped down in her desk chair. She turned the radio to her favorite station, grabbed her Calculus III book from her backpack and crunched contentedly into her apple.

The radio was playing "I Saw the Sign" by Ace of Base. Emily found herself tapping her foot to the music as she scribbled out page-long differential equations. The song ended and the DJ announced the next number. Emily dropped her pencil and listened as "Brown-Eyed Girl" filled her room. From somewhere in the distance, it seemed another voice was singing, a familiar voice.

Her father used to sing this song to her when she was little. Emily would stand on his feet and the two of them would dance around the room. Her eyes filled with tears as the familiar lyrics blared into the room.

So hard to find my way
Now that I'm all on my own.
I saw you just the other day,
My, how you have grown!

Emily opened her desk drawer and pulled out a photograph of her and the Major. He was sitting in a rocking chair, his face creased with laughter. In his lap sat a three year-old Emily, with curly black hair and big brown eyes, reaching for her father's hands. The picture had been taken just two months before the last time she saw her father.

Dover, Deleware
April 2, 1980

Margaret had just finished drying the last of the dishes from dinner when a loud baritone voice began to sound from the next room.

"Slipping and a-sliding, all along the waterfall with you, my brown-eyed girl"

Margaret smiled as her husband's singing mingled with her daughter's giggles. These moments of happiness were a rare blessing for her family.

Margaret's thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock at the front door. She dried her hands and went to answer it.

"Catherine?" Margaret gawked when the door opened to reveal her childhood companion.

"Hello, Maggie. It's been a long time," Catherine Parker began hesitantly.

"Catherine! It's wonderful to see you again!" Margaret soon allayed her friend's fears as she drew her into an embrace. "But who is this?" she broke off, noticing a young girl holding Catherine's hand.

"Margaret, I'd like you to meet my daughter."

The little girl looked like a younger version of the Catherine that Margaret had known at boarding school. She had soft blue eyes that danced over her surroundings and her mousy brown hair was beginning to darken to match her mother's raven tone.

"Well, hello, little Miss Parker," Margaret greeted. "I'm a friend of your mother's."

"That's what Momma said," Miss Parker answered softly. Catherine gave a laugh and turned back to Margaret. Her expression became solemn.

"I have some news that I must share with you. May I come in?" Catherine asked.

Margaret hesitated. "Charles is here, and you know that he isn't fond of anyone connected with the Centre."

"I know Maggie, but this news concerns him as well."

Margaret saw the pleading in her friend's eyes and reluctantly stepped to the side, inviting the Parker women in. She led them to the living room where Major Charles and Emily were still dancing.

"Charles?" Margaret interrupted. "We have company."

Major Charles turned to look at his wife. When he saw who was with her, he stiffened. Margaret walked over to her husband and lifted Emily into her arms. As she did so she whispered in Charles's ear.

"Be nice, she has news for us." Then Margaret turned to Emily and said in a patronizing voice, "Emily, honey, maybe you could go to your room and show little Miss Parker some of your toys, okay?"

Taking the hint, Miss Parker chimed in. "Yeah, I'd really like to see your room, Emily."

Emily smiled and wiggled to get out of her mother's arms. Margaret set her down and she walked down the hall with confident steps uncommon to other toddlers. Miss Parker followed eagerly.

When the girls were out of sight, Margaret motioned for the three of them to take a seat. "So, you have something to tell us, Catherine?"

Mrs. Parker sighed. "Yes. Both good and bad news I'm afraid."

"Better give us the good news first," Major Charles interjected. Margaret gave him a withering glance.

"The good news is that I have found Jarod and Kyle."

Margaret gasped and turned to her husband. Major Charles's eyes began to glisten with tears. The couple embraced each other for a moment before remembering that there was bad news.

"The boys are at the Blue Cove facility as you suspected, Major. Less than a year ago, my husband used our daughter as a subject in a scientific study while I was in Harlem," Catherine spat with disgust. "My daughter recently told me about the experiment. Apparently her father had threatened her into silence…" Catherine's voice broke as angry tears filled her eyes. She quickly brushed them away.

"Catherine, I'm sorry," Margaret soothed. She handed her friend a tissue and gave her a quick squeeze.

"Thank you, but I don't deserve your sympathy. You see, there was another subject - a boy."

Margaret's face fell.

"It was Jarod. I hadn't recognized him, but further investigation proved him to be your son. Kyle was harder to locate. Officially he has been released from the Centre, but he is being kept in an unknown location within the complex. A source informed me of his whereabouts and I visited him just last night."

"Catherine, how are they? How are my sons?" Margaret asked, tears of joy and longing streaming down her face.

Catherine sighed. She looked away for a moment wondering how to answer. Major Charles saw her hesitation and his expression darkened.

"What has your husband done to my boys?" the Major growled.

"Jarod's mentor is a good man. Though he would never admit it, Sydney has feelings for the boy and protects him. Kyle has not been so lucky, but I plan to watch over him now that I know where he is," Catherine assured.

"You didn't answer my question," said Major Charles.

"Please, Catherine. We want to know what has happened to our children," Margaret pleaded.

Catherine turned back and looked the couple straight in the eye. "Very well. As you both know, Jarod and Kyle are Pretenders. They can become anyone they want to be. The Centre isolated the boys for this reason and has spent the past seven years developing their gifts. Currently, the Centre is exploiting Jarod and Kyle's geniuses for unofficial research. The results of these experiments, or "simulations" as the Centre calls them, are then sold to the highest bidder. Unfortunately, the majority of the simulations are quite traumatic - especially for a nine and a seven year-old. I'm so sorry," she added quietly.

Margaret burst into tears and buried her head in the Major's embrace.

"I have a sneaking suspicion that you already have a plan for rescuing the children," the Major said after a long silence.

The corners of Catherine's mouth turned up slightly. "As a matter of fact, I do."

While the adults went over Catherine's plan, Miss Parker and Emily played with the blocks in Emily's room. Emily was building a rough model of the Empire State Building, her favorite structure since she had lived in upstate New York until recently.

"You look just like your brother," Miss Parker said after observing Emily for a while.

"Kyle?" Emily asked, the 'l' making more of a 'w' sound.

"No, Jarod."

"You know Jarod?"

Miss Parker smiled at the little girl, acknowledging the familiar brown eyes. "Yes, I know Jarod very well."

Emily looked up at the girl sitting beside her. "You're friends."

"Yes, we are. Your brother's a very special boy. Would you like to hear more about Jarod?"

Emily nodded and Miss Parker lifted the little girl onto her lap.

"Well, Jarod is much taller than me and thinks he's quite clever, but we girls know how boys like to think that, don't we?" Emily giggled as Miss Parker continued to tell her about the older brother she had never met.

The DJ's voice on the radio brought Emily back from her trip down memory lane. Less than two weeks after Catherine Parker had showed up on their doorstep, her father accompanied Catherine on a mission to rescue the children of the Centre. Something had gone wrong and Emily and Margaret were forced to flee in the middle of the night. They had been moving around the country ever since - always searching for Emily's father and news of her brothers.

Emily replaced the photograph of her and the Major as another snapshot caught her eye. It was a picture of her parents and Jarod. The boy was leaning against his mother's swollen belly, listening to the baby growing inside - Kyle. Both of her parents were smiling at their son, oblivious to the tragedy that would soon come crashing down upon them.

With a sigh, Emily put the picture inside her desk drawer. Dwelling on the past wouldn't help anyone.

"Em? Em, I'm home!" Margaret called from the front door.

Emily ran to help her mother with her things.

"Hi honey! How was your day?" her mother greeted, giving her daughter a quick kiss on the forehead.

"Fine, Mom. What is all of this stuff?" she asked, referring to the multiple brown bags her mother was carrying.

"Oh! I asked Wong for some extra carry-out boxes for a project I'd like to do with the kids. He went a little overboard," Margaret laughed.

Emily rolled her eyes. Her mother was a pre-school teacher at the local elementary school and was always coming up with new ideas for art projects. Ever since Emily could remember, her mother had worked with children. Emily had her suspicions about her mother's motivation to work with the little monsters. She believed her mother was hoping that one day Jarod or Kyle might walk into her classroom as though nothing had ever happened. Let her dream, Emily thought. After all, it's the only thing that makes her smile. With a sigh, Emily picked up the bags her mother left outside the door and brought them into the apartment.

Endenantes
Discovering Connections
pretender_gurl



Laboratory 2
Biological Research Facility
Donoterase, Maryland
April 12, 1994 ~ 01:23

Jonas was tapping a pencil lightly on the metal table in the middle of the lab. He had just completed his third simulation in a row and was exhausted. The irregular beat of the pencil helped Jonas to stay awake as he waited for his performance evaluation of the simulation. Usually the research assistants that scurried about the building would read off his numbers - completion time, accuracy, hesitancy, and other numbers that Jonas rarely paid attention to.

Now approaching the twenty-fourth hour of sleep deprivation, Jonas's eight year-old body was screaming for rest. If he didn't know better, Jonas would have said that his eyelids were made of lead. When their weight became too much, Jonas felt himself nod off for a moment before jerking himself awake.

Unfortunately, in his awakening, Jonas let his pencil fall to the ground. It rolled across the cement floor until it hit the wall on the opposite side of the room, right beside the open door. Jonas looked around nervously, but the room was like a morgue. Carefully pushing his chair back, Jonas lowered himself to the floor and began to crawl slowly towards the door. When he reached the pencil, Jonas smiled in relief. He was about to return to his table when the sound of voices in the corridor made him move closer to small crack in the doorway. Jonas couldn't make out faces, only two pairs of black shoes.

"Is it done?" the first voice asked. Jonas recognized it as Mr. Lyle's.

"Yes. All of them are complete," replied a voice Jonas could not place.

"Wonderful! Have the results sent to Blue Cove immediately," ordered Lyle.

"To the Centre? Why there?" asked the first voice.

"Mr. Raines would like to compare the results with the other twin. The female is not performing as expected and we've been forced to bring in another Pretender."

"Do you think that's wise?"

"Of course not! But we have very little choice in the matter. If the Triumvirate hadn't found out about Gemini, we could have kept both twins here. Fortunately, Jonas has been producing enough results to keep the Triumvirate at bay. Now we just need to get his other half to do the same."

Jonas gasped. They were talking about me! The other twin…the female…my other half… It could only mean that… No, that wasn't possible. I would have known! Still…

Jonas's breathing had quickened. He felt something tickling his nose. At the realization of what was coming next, Jonas cupped his hands over his nose and mouth. But the sneeze came anyway. Jonas grabbed the pencil and ran back to the table. He threw himself into the chair and was scooting forward as the lab door opened and Mr. Lyle and a stranger entered the room.

"Jonas?" Mr. Lyle asked, clearly surprised at the boy's presence. "What are you doing in here?"

"I'm waiting to be taken back to my room, sir," Jonas replied meekly. His ears were burning as he tried to look innocent.

"Where's Eric?" Mr. Lyle asked.

"Eric, sir?"

"The Sweeper who brought you here, where is he?" Lyle asked again, less patiently.

"I - I don't know, Mr. Lyle," Jonas replied. He was trying to focus on Mr. Lyle, but the stranger was staring intently at Jonas with a crooked half-smile on his face.

"I see. Well, let's go then," Mr. Lyle said. Jonas got up to follow the young man out of the room. Mr. Lyle turned abruptly and asked, "Jonas, did you hear anything while you were waiting?"

"N-no sir. Nothing at all," Jonas said, looking at his soft, gray shoes.

Mr. Lyle gave the boy a hard stare and then nodded, satisfied with his response. After all, Project Gemini had been programmed to never lie. It was highly unlikely that Jonas could lie so easily. He motioned for Jonas to precede him out of the room.

Jonas walked quickly out of the room with his ears burning and his stomach tied in a thousand knots. He had never lied before and he didn't like the way it made him feel, but something inside of him said to keep this a secret.

When he was alone in his room, Jonas lied on his back on the cot and let his thoughts swirl about in his head. Twin? His other half? It all added up to one thing - he had a sister. But who was she? And where could Jonas find her?

SL-23: Room 2309
The Centre
April 12, 1994 ~ 05:17

"Nooooo!"

Jira bolted upright in her bed. Her pajamas were damp with cold sweat and she was panting for breath. Jira looked around the dark room, but couldn't remember where she was. As her eyes began to adjust to the dark, she could make out her surroundings. When she placed them, she let out a small groan. The Centre. I'm still at the Centre. Jira lied back down and turned so she was facing the wall. She wrapped her arms around her knees in a fetal position, holding herself. She was afraid to fall asleep, refusing to submit to the nightmares that claimed her subconscious.

This dream had been so real! She had been in a large room sitting in a plastic bubble that was suspended from the ceiling. Her whole body was aching from the tension in her muscles. Her head was pounding from intense concentration.

Jira lifted her head trying to see outside of the plastic bubble, but the lights that were trained on her made the glare too bright to see. From a bud in her ear came a familiar voice.

"You are the pilot, what do you see?" asked Mr. Lyle.

Jira responded in a voice that was not her own, clearly a male voice. "I - I can't see, the sun is too bright. I'm going to take it below that cloud."

"What are you feeling? Focus on the simulation!" Mr. Lyle prompted.

"I'm nervous. I shouldn't veer too far off the flight plan, especially in this smaller plane."

"What do you do?"

"I'm going to risk it anyway and fly in the clouds for a time."

"Good. Now, what do you see next?"

"At first all I see is the fog from the cloud. I'm second-guessing my decision. This wasn't a good idea! Wait, there's something up ahead - it's a wing! There's a commercial jet! I can't pull up, I can't pull up! We're going to crash!"

The boy Jira was empathing shook his head and began to relax his muscles, coming out of the simulation.

"He couldn't pull up, Mr. Lyle."

"Did he know it was wrong to leave the flight plan?" Mr. Lyle asked, ignoring the boy's input.

The boy paused, recalling the feelings of the pilot. "Yes, yes he did, but he couldn't find another way."

"That's very good, Jonas," Mr. Lyle said.

Jira felt herself leaving the scenario. As she was about to disappear, she turned back to look at the boy she had become.

That was when she screamed. The boy looked just like her!

Jira shuddered in her bed as she recalled his face. What was his name? That's right, Jonas. Who are you, Jonas? And how did you get into my mind?

SL-15: SIM Lab 1
The Centre
April 12, 1994 ~ 07:54

"Jarod! Stay with the simulation!" Sydney instructed.

"I'm sorry, Sydney," Jarod said, his shoulders hunching in defeat. "I'm having trouble focusing today."

Sydney sighed and motioned to the tech to bring the lights back on. Sydney approached his charge who appeared perplexed and frustrated with himself.

"What is it, Jarod?"

"I… I'm not entirely sure. It's like there's a wall between me and the man in the simulation. I can't get to him," Jarod said.

"I don't understand! You've done these types of simulations many times before!" Sydney reasoned.

"I know! It's not the simulation. It's me. I… I…" Jarod stammered.

"What?" Sydney asked. When Jarod didn't reply, Sydney let out an exasperated sigh. "I can't help if you won't let me in, Jarod."

The young man looked past Sydney with a dark expression on his face. "It's the eyes…"

Sydney cocked his head to the right and prompted Jarod, "Whose eyes, Jarod?"

"I don't know, but I have seen them somewhere before," Jarod whispered. "I can only see the eyes… haunting me. They're so pale and lifeless, like everything beautiful in the world has been destroyed. They're always watching me Sydney, begging me."

"Who?" Sydney asked again.

Jarod began to pace about the room. "I've been having this dream for the past few nights. It always starts differently, but I soon find myself in a white room and when I look down, I'm bleeding like… like I've been torn in half."

"Go on," Sydney said when Jarod paused in his account.

"I watch the blood pool at my feet and then the image shifts. I see a boy and a girl, but they are separated from each other. Both of them are crying out, so I try to comfort them. I stretch one arm to the boy and one to the girl, but I cannot reach them and they are swallowed up by the darkness."

"Then what?"

Jarod looked up at Sydney. "Then I wake up."

Sydney returned Jarod's curious gaze, trying to decipher the elements of Jarod's nightmare. He was fairly certain it had something to do with Gemini since Jarod reported the dreams beginning around the time the female was transferred to SL-23. The only problem was that Jarod was not supposed to know anything about Gemini's true origins. In fact, Sydney himself was uncertain that his hunch was anymore than an old man's intuition. Thinking on the fly, Sydney offered a bogus analysis.

"The dream is probably associated with the kidnapping simulation you performed last week. You were fairly shaken when it was completed, remember?" Sydney prodded.

Jarod looked thoughtfully at Sydney. "You're probably right, Sydney. I'm just over - analyzing the situation."

Sydney smiled with relief. He was afraid that Jarod would reject his interpretation of the dream and press Sydney for answers.

"All right. Now that we have that settled, let's return to work."

Endenantes
Miss Parker's Ensnarement
pretender_gurl



Parker House
Blue Cove, Delaware
April 12, 1994 ~ 08:39

Miss Parker was still in a deep sleep when the phone beside her bed began to ring. She ignored the first four rings, hoping that whoever it was would just go away. On the fifth obnoxiously shrill ring, Miss Parker reached over and brought the handset to her ear, with her face still buried in her pillow.

"What?" she asked in a groggy voice.

"Angel? Did I wake you?" said Mr. Parker.

Miss Parker quickly sat up in her bed. "Daddy? No, no. I was just getting up. Is everything all right?"

"You betcha," her father dismissed. "Listen, Angel. I need you to come to the Centre. I have a surprise for you."

Miss Parker rolled her eyes. She hated surprises. "Daddy, I can't. I have that interview at the Dover Art Museum and…"

"It's important, Angel. I need you here by ten o'clock. Oh, and I forgot some papers in my study. Would you mind bringing those with you? Thanks, Angel. I'll see you soon," and before Miss Parker could argue, her father hung up the phone.

She threw back her covers with a groan and swung her legs over the side of the bed. What could her father want? I hope he's not trying to buy me over with more gifts, though I could use a new wardrobe. If I mean to study art in Paris I'll need to be updated on the latest fashions. Miss Parker looked through her closet until she found attire that suited her. Then she called the Museum to cancel her job interview, explaining that she had a family emergency. She almost felt guilty when the Museum staff expressed genuine concern that everything turned out all right.

Two hours and three pairs of shoes later, Miss Parker was speeding towards the Centre.

Office of the Chairman
The Centre
April 12, 1994 ~ 08:45

"She'll be here," Mr. Parker said, placing the handset on its cradle.

"Are you sure about this? Inviting her into the Tower could be dangerous. After all, when Catherine…" Mr. Raines wheezed.

Mr. Parker turned and glared at the emphysema-stricken man. "My daughter is no threat. I raised her, not Catherine."

"I hope you're right, for all our sakes," Mr. Raines wheezed.

Mr. Parker looked up sharply. "Of course I am. I know my daughter, dammit. She'll be an asset to the Centre. Her bloodline shows the gift, and I have worked to manipulate that gift. Her intelligence mixed with the indifference I taught her will prove her to be unstoppable. Oh, yes. She will be quite an asset."

Mr. Raines's eyes narrowed and he glared at the Chairman. "What makes you think she'll accept?"

"She won't have a choice," Mr. Parker said with a smirk.

County Road #4
Blue Cove, Delaware
April 12, 1994 ~ 09:37

Miss Parker sped around a curve at almost twice the speed limit. Her black Mercedes convertible took the turn without hesitation. The car had been a gift from her father when she turned sixteen, but she rarely had the chance to drive it as she was never home. It felt wonderful to sit in the warm leather seats and wrap her hands around the smooth steering wheel as her foot pressed firmly on the accelerator. The wind whipped her dark hair about her face and brought color to her cheeks. She groaned with disgust as the Indigo Girls came on the radio singing "Least Complicated." They sound like dying cows, she thought. Miss Parker impatiently pushed at the buttons on the console until Pink Floyd blared over the speakers.

{Where were you the day I was burned and broken?}

Miss Parker continued at her breakneck speed until the towers of the Centre were in sight. Slowing down to 40 miles per hour, she twisted around the Centre's drive until she reached the front doors. She turned off the car before the song was over, ending with the lyrics:

{I knew the moment had arrived for killing the past and coming back to life…}

She tossed her keys to the valet attendant on duty and grabbed her Halliburton briefcase and the DSA player she borrowed from the nerdy tech. Taking the font steps two at a time, Miss Parker flung open the doors to the familiar building. She signed in at the security station and gave the secretary a cruel glare when the poor woman tried to hand her a Visitor Clearance Badge.

"The Chairman is expecting me," Miss Parker spat.

The woman behind the desk blushed. "I apologize, Miss Parker," she said as she read the signature. "Please proceed to the Tower elevator."

Miss Parker gave one last look of contempt before walking away. She checked her watch. It was nine fifty-six. She didn't have enough time to run the DSA player to SL-5 and still be on time for the meeting with her father. Dammit! Oh well, Daddy would probably find out I requested the DSA anyway. Still cursing herself for not getting here sooner, Miss Parker boarded the Tower elevator. Two Africans in traditional garb and a Japanese ambassador also joined her on the elevator, acknowledging her with only a slight nod.

When the elevator reached the fourth floor of the Tower, Miss Parker exited the lift alone. She turned left and walked to the end of the hallway. This was one of the few floors in the Centre that could boast natural sunlight. The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the Tower were privy to multiple picture windows and the hallways were almost floor-to-ceiling glass. The third and fourth floors were primarily office spaces and the fifth floor was solely conferences rooms. Each conference hall was decorated with different cultural theme. For example, when the Triumvirate came to call, they were escorted to Conference Hall A, which had colorful tapestries, large animal sculptures, and abstract art depicting ancient dark-skinned men riding in a hunt. There were eighteen rooms in all: Africa, China, Japan, Germany, Brazil, Scandinavia, the Middle East, the Philippines, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Russia, and six rooms that could be assembled for other countries in less than one hour. The sixth floor was a residential floor for Tower executives and their clients needing to stay overnight. Though the Centre showed little kindness towards employees and their subjects, clients were shown unrivaled hospitality.

Miss Parker stopped before the frosted glass doors of the Chairman's office. Taking a deep breath, she set the DSA player on the floor and knocked.

"Come in!" her father's deep voice boomed.

Miss Parker pushed open the door and strolled in with a confidence she didn't feel. When she saw Mr. Raines sitting before her father, Miss Parker's blood ran cold. She detested and feared this man with all of her being. She remembered the day she met him…

The Centre Lobby
January 3, 1977

Miss Parker held tightly to her mother's hand. She didn't want to be here, but Momma had said they couldn't have her birthday party until Momma took care of something at work. Miss Parker didn't like the place where Daddy and Mommy worked. It was a scary building with lots of cameras taking pictures of them. Momma said the cameras were just to make sure nobody got hurt, but Miss Parker still didn't like being watched. As they passed another camera, Miss Parker stuck out her tongue and made a face at it. She looked up to see if Momma saw what she did, but her mother was looking at someone else. A short man with funny looking hair was coming towards them. He had a cigarette in his mouth and was breathing in very deeply. When he opened his mouth, smoke came out the side. Miss Parker stared in awe of this man and her grip tightened around her mother's hand. Momma noticed and gave her a quick squeeze back, saying that it was all right. The man was right in front of Momma now and he talked to her after breathing in through the cigarette again.

"What are you doing here, Catherine?" he asked Miss Parker's mommy.

"I work here Dr. Raines. Why are you here?" her mommy said back.

"I live here. What do you want?" the man asked. Miss Parker was getting the feeling that this was a bad man. She didn't want the bad man to talk to her mommy anymore.

"We're gonna take care of somethin' and then it's my party!" Miss Parker said. Her mother's hand tightened around hers as Dr. Raines turned his attention to the little girl. He bent down and stared her right in the eyes. Miss Parker's heart was beating faster and faster. Then the man opened his mouth and let the smoke in his mouth blow into Miss Parker's face. She began to cough and wiped her itchy eyes. Then she felt her mother's arms around her as her mommy picked her up and walked away from the smoky man.

"Leave us alone, Dr. Raines," said her momma over her shoulder. Then Momma turned to Miss Parker and whispered, "It's all right, baby girl. I won't let Dr. Raines come near you again."

Now, fifteen years later, he was still a thorn in her side. Miss Parker took the empty chair that was obviously intended for her and turned her attention to her father.

"You wanted me to come in, Daddy?" Miss Parker prompted. She wanted to get this over with so she could stop by the Dover museum before they closed.

Mr. Parker stole a glance at Mr. Raines and then cleared his throat. "Angel, I'm very proud of you, you know that don't you?"

Miss Parker felt her heart leap for joy. She had waited so long to hear those words from her father. Suddenly the museum didn't seem so important after all.

"Of course, Daddy," she replied.

"Good. Well, I've been talking with Mr. Raines and the rest of the Tower executives about a new position I have available. It's a challenging assignment, one that requires skill, intelligence, and precision."

"Daddy, what does this have to do with me?" Miss Parker asked carefully.

"I'm glad you asked, Angel. There's a reason I sent you to England to study business. I had a plan in mind from the day you were born," Mr. Parker said, unable to keep the gleam out of his eye.

"A plan?"

"Yes, Angel. It's a plan to make you a success! An opportunity like none other…"

"Wait a minute. Are you… are you saying that you want me to take this new position? At the Centre? Working for you?" Miss Parker asked incredulously.

"Not just a position, Miss Parker. This is the position that most candidates would have to work towards for at least a decade. However, your father is convinced you are ready now," explained Mr. Raines. "I, on the other hand, disagree."

Now there's a shocker, thought Miss Parker. She turned back to her father.

"What exactly are you proposing, Daddy? That I walk away from my own dreams to join you and Uncle Fester in this house of horrors?" Miss Parker was thoroughly peeved by her father's audacity. "I'm an adult, Daddy."

"And a very capable one at that," Mr. Parker returned, sighing as his daughter turned her head. "I know about the art thing that you're considering, but I want more for my Angel. You can do such wonderful things with your talents! You're gifted, Angel. Don't throw that away to chase some fleeting whim!"

"It's not a whim, Daddy! This is what I've wanted ever since I was a little girl - ever since…" Miss Parker's voice faltered.

Mr. Parker's gaze softened. "Ever since your mother died."

Miss Parker looked up at her father with tears in her eyes.

"Angel, I know that you miss your mother. I miss her too. But you can't fashion your life around her death. Instead, finish what she began in her life. You know that's what she would have wanted."

Miss Parker drew in a sharp breath as she thought about her father's words.

"I know that you are strong enough for this. It's time to show the rest of the world what the Parkers are made of. What do you say, Angel?"

He's right. Momma always worked hard on the Centre's behalf. She would want me to finish her work here, like a Parker. Miss Parker slowly nodded her head.

"I'll do it, Daddy. I'd be honored to work here like Momma did," Miss Parker said with a dry voice.

"Excellent! You'll start tomorrow!" Mr. Parker said jubilantly.

"No, not tomorrow. I'll begin on the fourteenth," Miss Parker said as she stood up.

"Ah, of course Angel," Mr. Parker replied, remembering the date. "I'll see you at home!"

Miss Parker left the office without a word. Her heels clicked as she hurried to the elevator and pressed the button for SL-5. As the lift began to lower, she changed her mind and hit SL-21. There was someone she needed to speak with.

Endenantes
Confronting The Past
pretender_gurl



SL-21: Sydney's Office
The Centre
April 12, 1994 ~ 10:42

Sydney was watching the DSA of the morning's simulation. Jarod had finally finished the SIM, but the Tower would not be pleased with the time it took to reach a conclusion. He sighed as he continued recording the findings for the Tower Review Board which oversaw every simulation performed in the Pretender Program.

Other Notes:
Subject #PP6063 had difficulty completing experiment due to psychological trauma. Subject #PP6063 was informed of new project with Subject #PG8787B prior to experiment. Scientist believes this caused inner conflict for subject. Scientist walked through crisis with subject, enabling continuation of research. Time lost was minimal in relation to significance of findings. Scientist advises TRB to consider this fact before passing judgment on Subject #PP6063.

Sydney paused a moment before adding one last note.

This scientist would also like to go on record to advise the Tower against pairing Subjects #PP6063 and #PG8787 due to conflicts of interest between subjects.

Sydney hoped his plea for benevolence would save Jarod from another T-Board. Both he and Jarod had sat before the Triumvirate a few months ago when Jarod refused to complete a simulation that he considered unethical. Of course, Jarod had no idea why he was refusing, other than that it didn't feel right. This had puzzled the Triumvirate since Pretenders were to have no morals or ethics. Unfortunately, the results of the T-Board indicated that Jarod had both.

Sydney had been afraid of that happening, due to the close contact he had with his protégé. As a Pretender, Jarod could not help slipping into Sydney's skin at times. Sydney often pulled him back from pretending to be Sydney. But those moments, however brief, showed Jarod what Sydney considered right and wrong. As the only paternal figure in Jarod's life, Sydney was the young man's role model and he had obviously adopted many of Sydney's own mannerisms and sayings. It seemed that now Jarod also had Sydney's conscience. Luckily, the Triumvirate didn't suspect Sydney to be the cause of Jarod's growing sense of humanity. If they had, Sydney would no longer be assigned to the Pretender Program. He would be six feet under.

Sydney was shaken from his morbid thoughts by a knock on his office door. Through the open blinds, he saw that it was Miss Parker. Clearly surprised by her presence, Sydney hurried to open the door.

"Miss Parker! This is a surprise. Please, come in!" he gestured to a chair.

Miss Parker entered the office, surprised by how little it had changed in the past fifteen years. Her eyes swept over the bookshelf filled with psychological texts and mystery novels that Sydney read late at night. He still had the same black office chair behind his desk and the picture of he and Jacob sat prominently on the file cabinet. She allowed herself one glance at the ventilation shaft and noticed that it was still missing a screw. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she remembered sneaking into the psychiatrist's office with Jarod and dropping the vent cover. The screws went every which way and they could only recover three. They had searched for the fourth as best they could with a flashlight, but the screw still eluded them. Strange that it had not been replaced after all these years.

Finally, she turned to the desk where the DSA player was still flashing scenes of the morning's simulation. Sydney noticed Miss Parker flinch as she watched Jarod pace the screen. He crossed the room and ejected the disk.

"Can I help you with something, Miss Parker?" he asked.

She blinked and looked up at the psychiatrist. "Um, yes. Well, I mean…"

Sydney recognized her hesitation and interrupted her. "Why don't you take a seat, Miss Parker? I was just about to get a cup of coffee. Would you care for some?"

Miss Parker knew that Sydney was trying to get her comfortable so as to worm his way into her psyche, but for the first time, she didn't mind.

"No thank you, Sydney."

Sydney poured himself a mug of steaming coffee and rolled his chair out from behind the desk so that it was opposite the proffered chair.

Miss Parker allowed herself to relax into the overstuffed armchair. She looked at her polished nails as she felt the psychiatrist's eyes watching her.

"Are you glad to be back in Blue Cove, Miss Parker?" Sydney asked, trying to make small talk.

Miss Parker shot him a scathing look. "What do you think?"

Sydney chuckled. "So what are your plans?"

Miss Parker sighed and looked away.

"My father has offered me a position at the Centre. I'm to begin the day after tomorrow."

Sydney said nothing, but continued to sip his coffee and waited for a reaction from Miss Parker. She gave no outward signs as to her feelings concerning the assignment.

"And you have accepted his offer," Sydney stated.

Miss Parker looked back at him and nodded slowly.

"How do you feel about working for the Centre?" Sydney asked.

"I don't know, Syd. He said my mother always wanted this for me, but…"

Sydney struggled to keep his own emotions under control. Damn him! The lies are bad enough, but using Catherine to bend his daughter to his will? How does he sleep at night? Sydney silently cursed Mr. Parker.

"You doubt him?"

Miss Parker sighed. "Yes. I doubt him. I was very young when my mother… killed herself… but I don't think she would have done it if it hadn't been for this place. I'm not sure that the Centre is where I want to spend the rest of my life."

"Then don't, Miss Parker," Sydney said with a sudden intensity. Setting his coffee on the table, he reached for Miss Parker's hand. "Go to Paris like you dreamed of. Get out of Blue Cove!"

The young woman before him was surprised at his outburst and pulled her hand away.

"I can't, Sydney. It's too late…"

"No it's not! Go to your father and tell him that you're leaving! I can help you! I have funds at the ready," Sydney urged. He looked fondly at the beautiful woman he had helped to raise. He was enraged that the man who called himself her father was causing her such anguish! And at the same time, he was delighted that she had turned to him in this time of need - as she had ever since Catherine died.

"Miss Parker, don't sell yourself to the Centre. This is no place for a gentle soul like yours."

She looked into his creased face with sorrow. "I'm sorry, Sydney," she whispered. Then, collecting her things she left his office.

Sydney watched her go and with each click of her heels, his heart fell with the weight of her decision.

Words from the past floated back to Sydney as he walked over to his desk and unlocked the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet.

"You've been missing for three days, Jacob. I can't keep covering for you with Mr. Raines."

Pushing all of the files back, he lifted out a metal lockbox. His stomach twisted into knots as he turned the key and lifted the lid.

"I've had personal business."

Reaching into the box of mementos, Sydney pulled out a black and white photograph.

"You've never kept secrets from me."

Tears welled up in his eyes as he stared lovingly at the three figures in the picture. Catherine was sitting on a swinging bench, her head tilted back in laughter. She was leaning against a man's shoulder.

"Open your eyes, Sydney!"

Sydney's vision was suddenly blurred by a cascade of tears. The man next to Catherine Parker was Jacob, and he was holding a baby girl.

SL-15: BioDome 8
The Centre

Jarod held the dropper carefully over a Petri dish that he had just swabbed with pollen from a new hybrid. He gingerly applied pressure and allowed the smallest drop to land in the center of the dish. Jarod place breathable parafilm over the dish and set it under an artificial sun lamp. Smiling with satisfaction, he removed his gloves and safety goggles and placed them on a shelf beside the door. He made a few calculations in a red notebook and swiped his keycard, unlocking the door to the room.

Working in the BioDomes was the one privilege that Sydney allowed Jarod. He was able to work in the BioDomes unsupervised, save for the ever-present video surveillance. Jarod enjoyed this work, and Sydney was able to use that as incentive for Jarod to complete simulations and cooperate in experiments. When Sydney had time, he and Jarod liked to work together - not as mentor and protégé, but as equals.

Jarod walked happily down the corridor towards the stairwell that would take him down the six floors to Sydney's office. He was skimming the red notebook as he walked. He was completely engrossed in derived functions when a familiar voice caught his attention. He looked up and both his jaw and notebook dropped to the floor.

Walking towards him and chattering away on a mobile phone was the little girl he had been trying to forget for eight long years. Now she was a grown woman, staring back at him with the same awestruck expression. Jarod's mind was working in overdrive, trying to analyze the situation and force himself to say something. But all he could do was stare, remembering the last time he saw his one and only friend…

His left hand was spread across the small of her back and his right hand held her head as he kissed her. Her fingers were playing with his hair as she returned the passionate kiss. Neither was aware of anything else in the world except each other.

Jarod had never felt so complete in all of his life. When they held each other, he was at home in her arms. It was a feeling that he had almost forgotten before now. Jarod never wanted to leave her, never let go of her. He was going to spend the rest of his life by her side.

As if reading his thoughts, a large hand was suddenly around his arm and he felt Miss Parker being pulled away from him. He screamed out to her, seeing a Sweeper dragging her away. Then something behind Miss Parker caught his eye and he froze.

When the faint glow from the tip of a cigarette grew enough to light the face of Mr. Raines, Jarod's heart skipped a beat and his survival instincts kicked into high gear.

"Hello children. Are we having a good time?" Mr. Raines growled. He stepped into the light and Jarod recognized the Cleaner Garr standing behind Raines.

Neurons all over the Pretender's body were answering the brain's query of fight or flight. Jarod lunged at Mr. Raines, ready to tear him apart for letting a Sweeper lay hands on Miss Parker, but three pairs of hands held him back. Mr. Raines gave a cruel smile and began to advance upon Jarod. The boy's terror grew with each step the man took. Closer, and closer, until Mr. Raines was blowing smoke in Jarod's face.

"Well, well. A Pretender out of the Centre. Now what's wrong with this picture? Garr?"

Before Jarod could process what was happening, his head was thrown to the left by a blow and he felt the air sucked out of him with a whoosh.

From somewhere in the distance Jarod could hear Miss Parker's cries becoming hysterical screams for help. "Let me go! You're hurting me!"

Jarod noticed that he could only hear out of his left ear and that his right ear felt like something warm was dripping from it. He could feel the Sweepers on either side holding him up, so Jarod decided to fake them out with a little case of weak knees. As he hoped they would, the Sweepers loosened their grip on the boy, assuming him to be little threat to them.

The Pretender twisted his left arm and brought the other down in a knife hand that cracked the forearm of one of the Sweepers. He kicked the second in the shins and landed a heel in the third's groin. Ignoring the nauseous feeling in his stomach, Jarod ran toward the blurry image that he assumed to be Miss Parker and her captor. Jarod tightened his hand into a fist and managed to land a punch, but he couldn't tell who he hit.

Miss Parker screamed his name and he assumed that he had accidentally hit her instead of the Cleaner holding her. But before he could apologize, his whole body began to hurt with such intensity that he couldn't move. Jarod fell to the ground and lay there as the pain grew so much that Jarod didn't know if he could bear it much longer. Through such terrible pain, he never felt the needle enter his arm.

The next thing Jarod remembered, he awakened on his cot four weeks later with Sydney standing over him. Swallowing a few times to wet his parched throat, Jarod was able to croak, "Parker… Where's Miss Parker?"

"She's gone, Jarod. You won't see her again," Sydney answered. There was no emotion in his voice. Nothing to tell Jarod how much Sydney knew about his relationship with the chairman's daughter.

"Is she… all right?" Jarod asked, still unclear as to what happened.

"She's safe," Sydney answered cryptically. "Jarod, I specifically told you not to see Miss Parker. Why did you disobey me?" Sydney asked, allowing his disappointment to show.

"I… I can't… I'm sorry, Sydney. I'm so sorry!" Jarod turned towards the wall, unwilling to show Sydney his tears. In a small voice, he choked out one last question. "Will I... ever see her again, Sydney?"

"No, Jarod," Sydney replied vehemently.

Jarod gave a small nod as he continued to silently grieve for his friend, his one love, and his only light in the bleakness of the Centre.

Two weeks later, Jarod was sitting at his desk, unable to concentrate on his exercises. He was twirling his pencil absentmindedly and dropped it to the floor. Sydney was monitoring his progress and bent to retrieve the pencil. When he stood up, he found Jarod silently crying.

"What's wrong, Jarod?"

"I don't know, Sydney! I can't do anything - can't concentrate, or eat, or sleep… I don't know what's wrong with me. I just can't stop thinking about Miss Parker. She got hurt because of me, and I never got to say I was sorry!" the boy exclaimed.

Sydney bent down to Jarod's eye-level. "Tell you what: if you can finish your exercises, I'll let you write her a letter. You can say whatever you'd like, and I will send Miss Parker the letter. How does that sound?"

Jarod smiled at Sydney.

"All right, then. Finish the exercise and we'll go to my office and write the letter."

That was eight years ago. Jarod had written that he was sorry that they got in trouble and he would miss her terribly. When Sydney wasn't looking, he had added three words to the end of the letter. Sydney told him that he mailed the letter and Miss Parker received it two days later. Now she was sitting before him, and all he could do was stare at her radiant beauty.

She had changed so much. Of course, Jarod, he thought to himself. Eight years can usually change a person. Her hair was darker, a raven shade of black that contrasted her fair skin. She was taller of course, and her figure now had its feminine curves. But as he looked closer, Jarod realized that much about her was still the same. She still had gorgeous legs and Jarod was sure they could still carry her like the wind. Her lips were as inviting as he remembered and her slender frame gave her an unassuming look of vulnerability, though Jarod had no doubt she was still quite dangerous.

What shocked Jarod the most were her eyes. They were almost like the eyes in his nightmares, but different. For instead of emptiness, Miss Parker's eyes were filled with emotions. On the surface was surprise, but looking deeper, Jarod found anger, hurt, sadness, joy, and relief. He didn't understand all of her feelings, but he was sure that she was as confused by the situation as he was.

It was Miss Parker who finally broke the silence.

"Hello, Jarod," she began.

"M…Miss Parker," Jarod returned. "It's been a long time."

"Not long enough for me, Lab Rat."

Jarod gave her a bewildered look, confused by the hostility in her voice. "I… I don't understand."

"Oh, come on, Jarod. You're supposed to be a genius! Don't tell me you can't remember our last meeting!"

"I… I remember. I'm so sorry that you were hurt, Miss Parker," Jarod said, sagging his shoulders and looking at his feet. He assumed that Miss Parker blamed him for their capture by Raines. After all, he had spent the last eight years blaming himself. Why shouldn't she blame him too? "I never meant for you to get hurt."

"Sorry? How can you be sorry, Jarod? I was betrayed by my best friend! Your apology means nothing to me," Miss Parker spat coldly. He attacked me and now thinks that an apology will make it all go away? Miss Parker thought incredulously.

She walked towards the Pretender until she was standing immediately before him. The moment seemed to last forever until Miss Parker suddenly lifted her hand and slapped Jarod across the face so hard that his head whipped to the side. Red finger marks stretched across his cheek, but Jarod didn't make a sound. He just stood before her, resigned to her anger.

"I don't ever want to see you again," Miss Parker hissed.

Jarod looked up at her with his warm chocolate eyes full of sorrow. He wanted to beg her forgiveness and perhaps renew their friendship. But she was already walking briskly away and he couldn't seem to make his feet follow her. Instead he fell back against the wall of the corridor and pulled his knees into his chest, silently mourning his lost love. Jarod never noticed the pair of pale blue eyes that watched him from the ventilation shaft.

Ventilation System
The Centre
April 12, 1994 ~ 11:53

Angelo stormed through the labyrinth of tunnels that made up the Centre's ventilation system. He didn't worry about anyone hearing him, for no one cared about Angelo. He was not a person to them, only a tool to be used when needed. He could not be discouraged from wandering the Centre on his own, and after years of attempting to restrain, they had finally let him be.

Angelo reached the exit he was looking for and hopped down from the shaft. He was on SL-26 at the manhole leading to the next sublevel. He ran around the boilers, trying to remember the one his things were hidden near. Crouching down in a corner of the room, he dug through some boxes until he found the one he was looking for. Angelo let out a screech of glee and thrust his hand into the box. Each disk his hand touched brought an image to his mind. He wiggled his hand through the container until he saw the image he was looking for. Extracting the disk, Angelo shouted to the emptiness around him.

"Lies! Daddy lies! Daughter hates Jarod, but Daddy lies!"

Angelo opened his mouth and stuck the DSA between his lips. Lowering himself onto all fours, he returned to the air vent and went looking for Jarod.

Endenantes
Gemini Is The Answer
pretender_gurl



Laboratory 2
Biological Research Facility
Donoterase, Maryland
April 12, 1994 ~ 11:54

"Jonas! Jonas, what are you doing? Jonas!" Mr. Lyle called to the boy before him.

Jonas was frozen in the middle of a simulation. All around him projectors were displaying images of bodies, burning villages, and soldiers gunning down civilians. But this was not what the young Pretender was seeing. His eyes were glazed over and he was trembling violently, on the brink of a seizure. Mr. Lyle motioned to the techs to cut the projections and the lights came back on. He ran to Jonas and grabbed the boy's shoulders, shaking him.

"Jonas! Jonas, can you hear me?" Mr. Lyle demanded. But it was no use. Jonas was lost in some kind of trance, unaware of his surroundings. Lyle stepped back and slapped the boy, hard.

Jonas fell backwards at the force of the blow and as he fell, he snapped out of his trance screaming. When he hit the ground, he started. Jonas looked around in bewilderment, trying to remember where he was. Recognition clicked when he saw Mr. Lyle standing above him.

Lyle reached down and pulled the boy to his feet by his front collar. Jonas's light blue eyes were filled with fear, both at the vision he had and the man towering above him.

"What the hell was that, Jonas?" Mr. Lyle growled.

"I…I…I…" Jonas stammered, unable to put his thoughts into coherent sentences.

Lyle shook him again, still holding the boy's collar. Jonas fell silent and began to tremble once more, thought not nearly as violently. He tried to make sense of what happened.

"Jonas, settle down!" Lyle urged. God, I hate kids, he thought. Why did I agree to this job?

"P-Please, M-Mr. Lyle, m-may I s-sit down?" Jonas stuttered. He was feeling very faint and was afraid he was going to pass out.

Lyle looked at the boy's poor coloring and nodded with a sigh. Jonas collapsed into a chair and Lyle stood on the other side with his arms crossed. He waited until Jonas had calmed down before addressing him.

"Jonas, can you tell me what happened?" Mr. Lyle asked again, forcing patience into his voice.

Jonas nodded, encouraged by the softer tone that Mr. Lyle used. "I… I was l-letting go, g-getting into the simulation." Jonas took a deep breath and continued, forcing the stammer out of his voice.

"I let my mind relax and it started to travel, but I lost control. I was trying to go into the SIM, but something else was pulling harder. I fought as hard as I could, but I went somewhere else."

"Where did you go, Jonas?" Lyle asked.

"I don't know. I became a man, a young man. He was upset, so angry… He wants vengeance. He was in the dark, but people were watching. I could feel the eyes…pale eyes…" Jonas's voice drifted.

"What then?"

"I began to have a dream. Th-That man was standing in a white room, but he was torn in half, mutilated. Blood was pouring out and running in two different directions. I could see the two paths and I tried to go one way, but I was forced to follow the other stream. It led to darkness. I tried to reach back to the man, but his hand was too far away and the darkness swallowed me."

Jonas looked up. "Then I was back here, on the floor."

Lyle raised an eyebrow, staring at Jonas as though waiting for the boy to throw his hands in the air and say it was all a lie.

"Stay here. If you so much as twitch, I'll have Sweepers on you faster than you can say 'pretender'!" Lyle ordered, motioning to one of the Sweepers at the door.

Jonas had wilted in the chair and he didn't seem to hear Mr. Lyle's threat. Lyle frowned with disappointment - he rather enjoyed intimidating others, especially children.

Lyle walked down the hall and flipped open his cell. He dialed a number and waited for other line to answer.

"Hello?" a voice wheezed.

"It's me. I think we have a problem with the kid."

"Get to Blue Cove now. I'll meet you in two hours."

Office of the Chairman
The Centre
11:52

"You're sure that this will work? I don't need to remind you of the consequences of failing the Triumvirate," the chairman hissed.

"Positive. We have corrected the majority of the mistakes made with the original Prodigy subjects," wheezed Raines.

"What kinds of mistakes?"

"Our research in the late seventies indicated that the age at which cognitive thought and memory development occurs is much early than we originally anticipated. By the age of four, most children have recorded their first permanent memories. Of course the Prodigy subjects would have a greater cognitive awareness, therefore their memories could date back to the second year of life," Raines explained.

"What does this have to do with the subjects?" Mr. Parker asked, obviously confused. Raines knew that the chairman could be ruthless, but he was not the brightest.

"Alex, Eddie, Kyle, and Jarod can all remember their lives prior to their time here at the Centre. The results we can see from this are varied in the subjects. The most documented response in adults who were kidnapped as children is a degree of sociopathy. Alex and Kyle appear to have exhibited this to the extreme. Jarod manifested his kidnapping in the opposite manner. Instead of relinquishing his abilities to show compassion and judgment, he has hyper-developed them. We are just now beginning to see the problems his conscience is causing the Centre."

"And you have prevented this with Gemini?"

"Of course. The Gemini twins were born at the Centre and have remained in Triumvirate and Centre control since then. Neither of them have memories of a previous life outside of the Centre. They have no reason to desire something more. And this gives us complete control."

"Yes, I can see that from the surveillance. The boy is quite cooperative, but I have to wonder about the female. After all she has attempted to escape on several occasions," Mr. Parker asked with raised eyebrows.

Raines scowled. "That is an unfortunate side effect of the coddling she received while at the Triumvirate Station in Mongomo. We have spent the last few years countering this weakness. We're using the latest methods of operant conditioning - instructing Gemini to do everything demanded of them. Should they fail, punishment is immediate and severe. Thus they have learned to equate failure with… unpleasant results."

"And has this method proved successful?"

"We're improving," Mr. Raines said cryptically.

There was a sudden sound of shaking glass as Sydney burst through the door without knocking.

"What the hell are you doing, Parker?" Sydney shouted at the chairman. He was out of control. His mind was telling him to exercise caution around this man, but his spirit was raging.

"What are you talking about, Sydney?" Mr. Parker asked.

"Miss Parker! You know that Catherine wanted her to have nothing to do with the Centre!" Sydney was stand threateningly close to the chairman as Raines watched from the sidelines. "You're using the pain she's had since Catherine's death against her!"

"This is none of your concern, Sydney," Mr. Parker said with a warning in his voice.

"It is my concern, Parker!" Sydney's face was flushed and he was struggling to control himself. "I promised Catherine that her daughter would be safe from the Centre, and by God, I will keep that promise."

"You will be amply rewarded for your efforts," the chairman threatened.

"Hmph!" Sydney grunted as he nodded. Then he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room.

Endenantes
Daddy Lies
pretender_gurl



SL-21: SIM Lab 1
The Centre
13:00

Jarod was scribbling furiously in a red notebook. He was exercising a technique he had learned as a boy. As a child, the Centre taught him to never show his emotions. But there were times when he couldn't hide any more pain. It was then that he took one of the red notebooks and let his emotions seep out into the pages of the notebook. Jarod had also learned to write in code after a Sweeper found one of the notebooks and shared the contents with the head of the Pretender Program.

Jarod's hand couldn't seem to move fast enough as thoughts rattled in his mind. Miss Parker was back at the Centre, and she did not want to see Jarod. This statement created so many questions for the Pretender, the foremost being what had gone wrong?

The young man was huddled over the notebook and didn't notice movement in the ventilation shaft behind him. When the grate fell to the floor with a loud clanging sound, Jarod jumped, knocking his chair over. He looked in the direction of the noise and was relieved to see Angelo peering out of the shaft.

"Angelo! What are you doing here?" he asked in surprise.

The Empath dropped to the ground and scurried up to the Pretender. Angelo held out his hand to reveal a small silver disc dated August, 1986.

"Daddy lies," Angelo stated simply. He was looking at Jarod expectantly, waiting for the Pretender's reaction.

"I don't understand. What is this, Angelo?" Jarod asked confusedly.

Angelo took the disc and shuffled over to the SIM lab's doorway. Jarod hesitated a moment and then followed Angelo to Sydney's office.

"Angelo!" Jarod hissed. "We shouldn't be in here!"

"Truth! Must know Daddy lies!" Angelo insisted. He leaned over Sydney's desk and opened the cover of the psychiatrist's DSA player.

"What are you doing, Angelo?" Jarod asked. He had seen Sydney staring at this device before, but he didn't know what it was. While he trusted Angelo's insights on human emotions, he was not entirely confident in the Empath's technological skills.

"Daddy lies," Angelo repeated one last time, pointing to the black and white image that appeared on the screen.

Jarod poked his head out of the office to be sure that no one was coming and then closed the door softly. He rounded his mentor's desk and gingerly sat before the screen. He gasped when he recognized the scene before him. It was surveillance from the last day he had seen Miss Parker! Sydney said the cameras weren't on anymore! He promised that Jarod was safe from the prying eyes!

Jarod 08/03/86
For Centre Use Only

"Come on, Jarod," Miss Parker whispered.

"Where are we going?"

"Trust me," she giggled.

"You know what your mother used to say about trust, Miss Parker. It can kill you," Jarod said playfully.

"Or set you free, Jarod." Miss Parker whispered into his ear. "And that's exactly what I plan to do."

Jarod smiled at the little girl on the screen. He remembered how her words had made his heart flutter. The two children were running through the corridors completely unaware of the eyes on every wall, the malicious eyes that never blinked. He and Miss Parker disappeared into the air vents and the capture changed to show Mr. Raines and a very frantic Sweeper team.

"I want you to sweep every inch of the Centre. He could not have gotten far. Find the Pretender!" Raines croaked.

Mr. Raines stomped into Jarod's space and looked around with fire in eyes. His gaze flickered to something on the floor. He bent down and picked up a piece of ribbon. Studying the silky material, a slow grin spread across Raines's face. Pocketing the hair ribbon, he walked briskly to the elevators and pressed the button for the Tower.

"Raines!" Mr. Parker called as the emphysema-stricken man entered the chairman's office. "Have you found him?"

"No, but…" Raines held out the ribbon. "I know who he is with."

Mr. Parker took the ribbon and anger began to cloud his face.

"Find them," the chairman said passionately.

"And when I do?" Raines asked.

"Bring my daughter to me."

"And Jarod?" Raines asked hopefully.

Mr. Parker gave him a sharp look. "Make sure he never even thinks of leaving again."

Jarod clenched his fists in anger. The events of that night had haunted him for almost a decade. The Pretender looked away, his face contorted in rage. He wanted to leave the office, leave the memories behind. But Angelo reached out to him, flinching at the rage emanating from Jarod.

"Must know truth. Must help Daughter," Angelo whispered with urgency.

Jarod sighed and turned his attention back to the screen.

"Well, well. A Pretender out of the Centre. Now what's wrong with this picture?" Raines hissed.

"Let me go! You're hurting me!" Miss Parker screamed from somewhere out of view.

Jarod watched as a lump grew in his throat. Why did Angelo want him to watch this? He looked on in horror as Garr and a Sweeper dragged his younger self toward the Centre. Raines followed the trio and a second Cleaner easily lifted an unconscious Miss Parker into and carried her in the same direction. The surveillance followed Mr. Raines and Miss Parker as she was taken to her father's office in the Tower.

"What happened?" Mr. Parker asked as the girl was set on the couch.

"We had to use a mild sedative, nothing more. She resisted us and attempted to free Jarod." Raines chuckled with malice. "He tried to help her as well. It was rather touching."

Mr. Parker flashed Raines a deadly glare. "How is this amusing? She has quite possibly ruined years of research! This is unacceptable! Damn Catherine for allowing those two to ever meet!"

Jarod was taken aback by Mr. Parker's outburst. He remembered Mrs. Parker from when he was a little boy. She used to come into his room after he was fed dinner and talk with him. Jarod remembered how kind she was, sincerely concerned with how he was feeling. But Jarod never remembered Mrs. Parker introducing him to her daughter. He first met Miss Parker when…

Of course. The observational simulation when he first established contact with a female his own age. Mrs. Parker must have suggested that her daughter be the female subject. After all, Mrs. Parker often talked about Miss Parker when she visited with Jarod and how she wanted the two children to meet each other. She said it was silly for two wonderful children to be lonely. Mrs. Parker must have known that not even the bowels of the Centre could keep Jarod and Miss Parker apart. Jarod smiled, I knew I liked that Catherine Parker!

But Jarod's attention returned to the DSA player as a young Miss Parker struggled to consciousness, her fragile frame trembling.

Mr. Parker stood over the couch where his daughter was stirring. His expression was fierce and hateful. He couldn't believe that she had deliberately disobeyed him! Mr. Parker had raised her better than that! Obviously, his passive approach to parenting had warranted him nothing but insolence. But no more. She would honor his wishes!

Miss Parker rolled her throbbing head to her right side. It felt like her limbs were made of lead and her eyesight was blurry. She blinked several times as the world came back into focus. Miss Parker jumped slightly when she saw the dark silhouette of her father standing above her. She inched backwards as his expression darkened.

"Daddy, I-I…" Miss Parker began.

"You deliberately disobeyed my order to leave Jarod alone," Mr. Parker said, his voice dangerously quiet.

"But…"

"The Pretender Program has been compromised due to your selfishness!" Mr. Parker cried passionately, raising his hand to his daughter.

"No, Daddy! I'm sorry!" Miss Parker sobbed with apprehension.

Jarod looked away from the screen as the chairman struck his daughter repeatedly. He wiped away his tears to see Miss Parker's unconscious form lying supine in her father's office. He slammed his fist on his mentor's desk and buried his head in his hands as he sobbed. It was all my fault, Jarod thought. I should have protected her! I should have kept her safe! He felt as if someone was pulling at his heart, stretching it to a breaking point. His attention reverted to the DSA when he heard a wheezing voice address Mr. Parker.

"What did you do?" Raines growled. "We need her to remain loyal to the Centre! Our survival depends on it, or have you forgotten the Parker legend?"

"Of course not! But the boy is more important, and if she had inadvertently told him the truth…" Mr. Parker left the thought incomplete. "God only knows what Catherine told her."

"What are we going to do?"

Mr. Parker's forehead wrinkled in concentration. A sadistic smile began to creep across his face and he turned to Mr. Raines.

"Raines, how is that memory altering serum coming along?"

Raines's countenance became a frightening imitation of the Chairman's. "We're ready for human trials."

"Excellent," Mr. Parker murmured. He nodded to the Sweeper in the doorway and the burly man crossed the room and lifted Miss Parker's limp form. "Take her to Renewal Wing. Tell the doctor to prep for a neurological procedure. Oh, and make sure that she is not in the same ward as the Pretender. God knows we don't need anymore puppy love loyalties."

"Yes, Mr. Parker," the Sweeper replied and walked out of the office.

Jarod clenched his fists until his knuckles were white and the tendons in his hand were cramping. His chest tightened as he watched Miss Parker's arm dangling from the Sweeper's firm grasp. He watched as Mr. Parker told his daughter that Jarod had assaulted her, manipulated her. He watched as Miss Parker's eyes darkened with rage at the boy she believed had done this to her. And he watched as she hugged the man that really had.

"I don't ever want to see Jarod again, Daddy," Miss Parker said coldly.

That was the breaking point. Jarod picked up a paperweight resting on Sydney's desk and lifted it high above his head. With a loud growl, he slammed the paperweight into the screen of the DSA player. He saw a stack of red notebooks on Sydney's shelf and ripped out page after page until the entire floor was strewn with paper. Jarod screamed again and sank to his knees, trying to get a handle on the emotions that were exploding within him. He had never felt such strong emotions before, save for when he was SIMing, but those weren't real. This was real, this was very real. The little girl who he first glimpsed through a Plexi-glass window, who dragged him on adventures all over the Centre, who held him as he tried not to cry after a particularly difficult SIM, the little girl whom he… he…

"What's that warmth that the family felt for each other, Sydney?" Jarod remembered asking as a boy after finishing a SIM

"It's called love, Jarod." Sydney had responded with his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Did my parents love me?"

"Jarod, love is something you will never experience. It is not important."

"To them, it was the most important thing in the world."

"Jarod, you must finish the simulation."

"I will find someone to love, Sydney. And someone to love me."

As sounds of the little boy's promise lingered in his mind, Jarod knew that he had fulfilled that vow. He had found someone to love. Now all that he had to do was tell her.

With decisive movement, Jarod ejected the DSA and climbed into the ventilation shaft that Angelo had disappeared into. Though it had been eight years since his last time inside the Centre's tunnels, he was confident of the location of his destination. He was going to find Miss Parker.

Endenantes
Everything That Rises
pretender_gurl



SL-21: Sydney's Office
The Centre
14:02

Sydney looked around in disbelief. His office had been trashed. A glass paperweight from his desk had smashed through the window in his door, his DSA player was ruined, and Jarod's red notebooks were now lying all over the floor, pages ripped out and torn. He let his eyes wander over the destruction and come to rest on the ventilation shaft. Sydney walked over to the vent and looked closely at the grate. It was out of place, turned the wrong way on the opening.

As he stared at the shaft, something clicked and he dashed out of the office and to the stairwell. Running down the two flights of stairs, he emerged on SL-23 and jogged past the Sweepers stationed throughout the corridors. When he reached room 2303, his fingers flew over the keypad. The lock hissed and the door slid back. Sydney entered the room, gave it one look, and cursed. Jarod was gone.

SL-23: Room 2309
The Centre
14:06

Jira heard footsteps running down the corridor. She shrank back into the corner of the room, her frail body trembling as she held her knees to her chest. Reaching out with her mind, she could tell that this person was extremely anxious. His apprehension pervaded the sub-level and Jira was having difficulty separating this man's feelings from her own.

The footsteps stopped before they reached her end of the corridor. She heard a door unlocking, followed quickly by a loud curse. The footsteps retreated back into the corridor and she heard voices.

"Initiate Code Red Emergency - a Pretender is missing," said a voice with a Flemish accent.

"Yes, Doctor," replied one of the Sweepers.

Within seconds of this exchange, alarms began to wail throughout the Centre. Jira heard her lock triple bolt and the lights in her room came up to their maximum potential. She blinked in the sudden brightness, and when her pupils adjusted, she saw Sweeper after Sweeper glance in through the rectangular window, making sure she was in her room. Jira curled tighter into a ball and watched with wide eyes as the bowels of the Centre sprang to life.

SL-5: Tech Room
The Centre
14:07

Alarms were blaring and red lights flashed all over the Tech Room. Broots sat at his terminal furiously typing in code after code, checking camera after camera, looking for the errant Pretender. He took a moment to glance over at Lenny. The poor man was sweating profusely as he reviewed capture after capture of the Pretender, trying to discover where he had gone missing and how long ago. Lenny was in charge of the surveillance of Subject #PP6063, Broots thought his name was Jarod or something like that. Lenny was planning a wedding with his fiancé and had been getting very little sleep. He must have dozed off while watching his subject. Broots shuddered as he thought about what the Tower would do when they found out. And from the wet stains under Lenny's arms, Broots guessed that Lenny was having similar thoughts.

The Streets of Blue Cove
Blue Cove, DE
14:09

Jarod closed his eyes for a moment and let the breeze wash over him as he ran. He had left the Centre via the air ducts that Miss Parker had shown him as a child. Now he was searching for that little girl. Jarod had stopped by the Tech Room and retrieved the location of the Parker mansion. Using coordinate directions, he quickly calculated the fastest route.

Thirty minutes later, he was standing in front of a dark brick manor. Jarod quickly made his way to the back of the house and scanned all the access points. He decided that the old cellar entrance left over from the Civil War days would be the best course of action. The lock was a simple one and it took Jarod seconds to unlock the door. Then he carefully opened the door enough to slip into the abandoned cellar. Jarod had no idea that he had just tripped a silent alarm.

Office of the Chairman
The Centre
14:08

"How the hell did this happen?" Mr. Parker exclaimed.

"We don't know, sir. He must have escaped sometime in the last hour," Sydney said, trying to stay calm. In truth he was a wreck. Not only had he lost his lifelong research subject, but he had no confidence in Jarod's ability to survive in the outside world.

"He couldn't have gotten far! Find him, dammit!" Mr. Parker growled.

Sydney was about to leave when Mr. Parker's personal Sweeper entered the office.

"Excuse me, Mr. Parker, but there's a situation that needs your immediate attention," the man said without expression.

"Oh for god sakes, what now?" Mr. Parker exclaimed.

"The security system at the mansion indicates there may be an intruder."

Mr. Parker's face began to flush in anger. "Jarod!" he cried. "Get a Sweeper team out there now!"

"I've already dispatched two, sir."

"Why would Jarod be there? Why wouldn't he leave Blue Cove?" Sydney asked the Chairman through narrowed eyes.

"Are you questioning my judgment, Sydney?" Mr. Parker asked incredulously.

Sydney gave the chairman a knowing smirk and dismissed himself from the room. If Jarod was at the Parker mansion, Sydney needed to get there before the Sweeper teams found the Pretender, or Jarod would be in grave danger.

Mr. Raines's Office
The Centre
14:11

"You're saying the boy Perceived? That's impossible!" Mr. Raines growled at his young apprentice.

Mr. Lyle looked confused. "Why is that? His sister can do it!"

"Of course she can!" Raines snapped impatiently. He took a deep, wheezing breath and stopped pacing to look at Lyle. "Jonas never received the Perceiving gene."

"You mean these kids aren't twins?" Lyle asked.

"Besides the sex chromosome, only a few dozen of Gemini's 80,000 genes differ. They are more genetically similar than fraternal twins," Raines explained, his impatience growing every moment.

"And I take it that the girl is the only one with the Perceiving gene," Lyle stated.

"Yes, which makes the boy's vision a mystery," Mr. Raines muttered.

"Perhaps Sydney could explain it with all of his research on twins," Lyle answered nonchalantly.

Raines scowled at him. "Sydney is not to have any knowledge of the boy. His attachment to the original Pretender would hinder his objectivity. But you may be on to something, Lyle," Raines said, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "I'm going to set up a fifteen minute session between Jira and Sydney. While he is chatting with her, I want you to access his research in SIM Lab 1. Am I clear?"

"Of course sir. I'll make the call immediately."

"No. I think it's time we show the Triumvirate just how useful Project Gemini can be. Get the girl," Raines wheezed.

"Jira? What for?"

Raines curled his lips upwards evilly, "She's going to find our missing Pretender."

Endenantes
...Must Converge
pretender_gurl



Parker Mansion
Blue Cove, DE
14:16

As Miss Parker relaxed on the sofa, she felt a hollow apprehension in the pit of her stomach. When she had seen Jarod this morning, her heart seemed to explode with emotion. Eight years and a myriad of boyfriends after her last encounter with Jarod, Miss Parker was sure that the feelings she had for Jarod were extinct.

She was wrong.

The timid little boy she played with as a child had been replaced by a strong man, hardened years of captivity and oppression. Yet, there was something so refreshingly familiar about him that she immediately recognized her young love. Those pecs were certainly familiar, Miss Parker thought as she remembered the many times they had embraced, her head resting on his broad chest.

But then he betrayed her trust, taking advantage of her innocence. And the sting of that treachery had not dulled over the years. Miss Parker grabbed the first thing she could find and flung it across the room. The book hit the opposite wall with a thud that echoed through the house.

SL-23: Room 2309
The Centre
14:17

Jira scrambled to her feet as Mr. Lyle entered the room. He approached her menacingly and she shuffled backwards until she was flat against the wall.

Lyle frowned at how readable her emotions were. He waited until she looked up at him and motioned for her to follow him. Jira quickly fell into step behind him, hurrying to keep up with his longer strides.

After they entered the elevator, Jira was alarmed to see Mr. Lyle press a button for one of the upper levels, the ones not preceded with an "SL." Jira had never been above ground that she could remember. She gave Mr. Lyle a questioning look, but his gaze remained fixed on the elevator doors and his body language was telling her not to ask.

When the doors opened, Jira had to blink. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows that faced the harbor in front of the Centre. Jira walked slowly behind Mr. Lyle, awed by the view out the bay windows.

Lyle noticed that she was not keeping up with him and turned to see Jira goggling out the window. He reached her in two steps and backhanded her. Jira fell to the floor, dazed by the blow. Lyle grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to her feet, half-dragging her to the third door on the left.

Jira winced as Mr. Lyle's vice-like grip tightened around her arm as a Sweeper opened the door for them. That's going to leave a bruise, she thought. Jira glanced up and read the name on the door. Oh, no! Mr. Raines! Jira's heart sank as she was ushered into the large office.

"Good afternoon, Jira," Mr. Raines greeted.

"H-Hello, Mr. Raines," Jira replied. "How m-may I help you?"

Mr. Raines smiled at his young Pretender's eagerness to please. "I want you to solve a problem for the Centre."

Raines picked up a picture on his desk and held it out in front of the girl. "Find this man," Raines instructed.

Jira stared at the picture and slowly reached out to take the photo from Mr. Raines. She held it tentatively in her hands and closed her eyes. Images began to flood her mind.

A room on SL-23, he must be a Pretender. Pruning exotic botanicals in a BioDome. SIM Lab 1, and Sydney's office, watching a black and white screen. Then into a tunnel, perhaps an air vent, miles of tunnels until the sun was above. And then… freedom. Running in the shadows, the breeze blowing through his hair. Up ahead is a house, a large brick dwelling. And then a face. A young girl with mousy brown hair and electric blue eyes. Her heart-shaped face is shining at him and she reaches out to take his hand. As he moves to take her hand, she morphs to an older adolescent. Her Caribbean Sea eyes are now icy and cold, accusing. His heart shatters and he runs after her, desperate to reach her.

"Well?" Mr. Raines's scratchy voice brought Jira back to the present.

"He's looking for someone… a woman. I think he knew her when she was young," Jira reported.

Mr. Raines looked up at Mr. Lyle. "Miss Parker. Call the Chairman. He hasn't left Blue Cove. We can still catch him."

Confused, Jira tapped into Mr. Raines's emotions. She was surprised by the anger and hatred she found. He felt that this escapee had humiliated him and he wanted to punish the young man. Something snapped in Jira as she thought about what would happen when they had retrieved the Pretender. They would hurt him, just like they had hurt her.

Without thinking, Jira began to plead, "Mr. Raines, he wasn't trying to run! He just wants to talk with the girl!"

A Sweeper grabbed Jira by the arms, sending a shooting pain all the way through her shoulder from where Mr. Lyle had squeezed her earlier. But by now Jira had displaced her own feelings with her desire to spare Jarod. Her mind was back in SL-27 where she had been taken after Willie caught her. The same panic that Jira had felt when she saw the Sweepers approaching her with their torturous instruments was again welling up inside of her.

"Please, Mr. Raines, don't hurt him! Please! He didn't mean it! Don't hurt him, Mr. Raines!"

Jira's pleas died as the Sweeper guided the girl to the elevators. Once the doors closed and she was alone with the Sweeper, Jira realized what she had just done and dread filled every inch of her soul. When the Sweeper saw that her hysterics had subsided, he loosened his grip and turned her around to face him. Jira cooperated, but would not raise her eyes to meet the man's.

"Look at me," the Sweeper commanded. Jira obeyed, and the Sweeper noticed how wide and luminous her blue eyes were. I frighten her - that's good. It may save her life, he thought. "My name is Sam. I don't want to hurt you, so don't give me any reason to. Okay, kid?" Sam said in his gruff voice.

"Yes, sir," Jira mumbled, returning her gaze to the floor of the lift.

"All right. Now, listen to me. Picking a fight with Mr. Raines or Mr. Lyle is not a good idea."

"I-I didn't… I don't know what happened… I just…" Jira hung her head in shame. She struggled to hold back her tears as she had been instructed.

Sam thought of his own daughter at home. Lucy was a gregarious four year-old who loved to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to her baby brother. Sam couldn't help but think that this emaciated and oppressed girl could have been Lucy had the circumstances been different. I have to do something, he thought. I can't stand by and watch them destroy her. Sam reached out with one hand to pull Jira into an embrace, but when the girl saw him move, she flinched and flattened herself against the opposite wall of the elevator, trembling with fear. Sam dropped his arm heavily to his side with a sigh.

The elevator doors opened and Jira glanced at Sam before exiting onto SL-23. She walked slowly down the corridor, listening for the Sweeper's footsteps at her heels. As she passed the third door on the left, Jira paused. Doors were never left ajar in the Centre, but the door to Room 2303 was open wide. This must be where the Pretender lived, the Pretender who escaped! Jira thought. She stood outside the open doorway and allowed her Inner Sense to explore what kind of man this Pretender was. She turned to Sam.

"Excuse me, sir," Jira began. "May I ask a question?"

"Call me Sam, and of course you may."

"Do you know the Pretender who lives here?"

Sam looked into the room at the drawings that had been taped to the walls, the three-dimensional model of an acetate molecule on the desk, and the red notebooks strewn about the room.

"Yes. I know Jarod," Sam replied. "Why do you ask?"

"I-I was just wondering what he's like," Jira said, not meeting Sam's intense gaze.

Sam cocked his head to the side in contemplation. He shrugged and decided that telling the girl about the other Pretender wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Jarod is one of the best Pretenders the Centre has. He has completed over five thousand simulations over the years. Until recently he was a pretty okay guy. Then he stopped doing what he was told, making trouble," Sam eyed Jira, and she nodded. Jira knew what happened when you didn't follow orders. "Now, why are you asking about Jarod?" Sam prodded again.

Jira lifted her eyes to the Sweeper, her gaze hard.

"When I empathed him, he was feeling so… free and happy to be alive. I've never felt such pleasant emotion in my life," Jira said boldly. Her confident posture slumped and she let her eyes drift to the empty cot in Jarod's room. "As we speak, dozens of teams are being sent to find him. Within the hour, he will be manacled in SL-27 being…" Jira's voice broke as memories of re-education burned in her mind. "It's all my fault," she whispered, again fighting back the stream of tears that was threatening to fall.

Sam knelt in front of the girl. "It's not your fault. Don't ever blame yourself for your gift."

Jira's blue eyes were frigid as she looked into the Sweeper's face. "It's not a gift. It's a curse!"

"Sam!" a man called from the end of the hallway. "Mr. Lyle would like Gemini brought to SIM Lab 1."

"Thanks, Kurt," Sam called to the balding Sweeper. "Come on, kid," he said, turning to Jira, and noticing her pale expression, "Don't worry, I'll stick close by."

Parker Mansion
Blue Cove, DE
14:51

Jarod walked gingerly to the doorway of the living room of the Parker's home. Peering into the room, he saw Miss Parker's slender frame slumped into a plum colored sofa. Her head was in her hands, and Jarod noticed her shoulders were trembling. Seeing his friend in distress, Jarod forgot about being cautious and knelt before Miss Parker. He reached out and touched her knee, causing her to jump.

"Jarod! What are you doing here?" Miss Parker whispered when her heart stopped racing.

"I know why you're angry and afraid of me and I had to come and tell you the truth," Jarod said sincerely, his chocolate eyes begging for her acceptance. "I don't have a lot of time, the Centre knows I'm gone. Please watch this disc. It explains everything, trust me."

"My mother told me that trust can kill you," Miss Parker retorted, her icy core impenetrable.

Jarod smiled at the familiar words. He decided to take advantage of Miss Parker's momentary mental paralysis. Jarod leaned in and gave Miss Parker a quick peck on the cheek, pausing to whisper in her ear.

"Or set you free, Miss Parker."

Jarod stood up, preparing to once again take flight. But Miss Parker caught his hand and stood beside him.

"Jarod, where are you going?"

"I have to leave Blue Cove. I can't go back to the Centre," Jarod replied, again turning to leave the house.

"Oh, okay. So you just come here, throw a DSA at me, kiss me, and then go on the run? If this is how you show someone that you care, I'd hate to be your enemy," Miss Parker spat.

Jarod just smiled his goofy grin and leaned in for another kiss, but history decided to repeat itself.

Pandemonium erupted in the Parker's mansion as thirty some Sweepers and Cleaners burst in through doors and windows. Hammers were cocked and barrels trained on the Pretender. Jarod's fear rooted him in place, unable to do anything but stare at Miss Parker, pleading her for assistance. But Parker averted her eyes, refusing to watch Jarod's capture.

"Hold it right there, Jarod!" called Garr through the mass of dark suits. He had a 9mm aimed at the Pretender's chest. "Back away from Miss Parker."

Jarod looked at his feet, willing them to move, but his intense fear had rendered him immobile.

"It's okay, Jarod. It'll be okay," Miss Parker whispered as she left the room.

Garr snarled at Miss Parker's back as she retreated. Then he turned back to Jarod with a villainous twinkle in his eye.

"All right, Genius, I want your hands on your head, fingers laced."

With trembling hands, Jarod complied. He let out a grunt of pain as his wrists were grabbed and twisted roughly behind his back and snapped into handcuffs.

"Tighter," Garr instructed the Sweeper shackling the Pretender.

"I wasn't running," Jarod growled as the metal dug into his wrists.

Garr leaned menacingly towards him to whisper in Jarod's ear. "Well Jarod, I don't really care. And neither does the Triumvirate. Get Jarod to the car!" Garr shouted, addressing the surrounding Sweepers.

Jarod yelped as the handcuffs bit into his flesh as the dark suited men manhandled him out of the mansion to one of the half dozen Lincoln Town Cars outside. He hit his head on the roof of the car as a Sweeper shoved him in. Jarod couldn't reach up to feel the blood, but he knew it was there. With his arms still cuffed behind him, Jarod sank into the leather seats of the luxurious Lincoln and tried to ignore the throbbing of his arms in their uncomfortable position. The car sped towards the Centre and Jarod grunted at every bump in the road.

As the towers of the Centre came into view, Jarod's heart began to race. He had never defied the Centre so boldly, and though Sydney had shielded him from many things, Jarod knew that not even Sydney had the power to protect him from Triumvirate.

Endenantes
An Overwhelming Sense Of Impending Doom
pretender_gurl



SL-21: Sydney's Office
The Centre
14:55

"Working hard I see," a familiar voice wheezed from the shadows of the doorway.

Sydney's hands were clasped and his elbows rested on his desk as he stared at the telephone. He had asked on of the techs to inform him when the Sweepers arrived with Jarod so that he could meet them before Jarod was taken anywhere.

"Can I help you with something, Raines?" Sydney asked, clearly unwilling to offer his colleague any aid at the moment.

"Unfortunately," said Raines as he stepped into the room. "The Triumvirate has ordered a full psychiatric evaluation be done on my Pretender before she works with Jarod."

"You want me to have a psychiatric session with Project Gemini?" Sydney asked.

"No, I don't want you to, but it cannot be avoided," Raines growled. He had realized that the best way to ensure Sydney's cooperation was to act as if he did not want Sydney's help. Raines's analysis proved successful.

"Very well. I can see her this evening," Sydney agreed.

Raines shook his head. "She has a simulation exercise scheduled in an hour due to last all night. You want to psychoanalyze her, you do it now."

Sydney sighed and looked again at the phone.

"This is your only chance, Sydney."

"All right, Raines. Bring her up," Sydney said, staring coldly at the bald man.

Mr. Raines turned towards the door and motioned to someone standing outside. Sydney heard a small whimper and Gemini was pushed into the office. Sydney stood up and nodded to the young girl.

"Hi, Jira. My name is Sydney. I'd like to talk to you for a while."

Jira looked at Mr. Raines for permission to speak. Raines gave a slight nod and Jira turned back to Sydney, who had not missed the exchange.

"Hello, Doctor," Jira said.

Sydney reached out to direct Jira to a chair, but Jira jumped away from his outstretched hand. Sydney looked up at Mr. Raines whose face was beaming with pride. Sydney shook his head in disgust at his colleague and motioned for Jira to take a seat.

"You have on hour, Sydney. Not a minute more," Raines instructed, giving Jira one last warning glance before he left the room.

SL-5: Tech Room
The Centre
14:57

"Y-You want me to h-ha-hack into the doctor's files?" the nervous technician stammered.

"No, I want you to walk in and take his hard drive!" Mr. Lyle replied sarcastically. The techie just looked at him with bug-eyes. "Yes! Hack! Now!"

"Y-yes, sir!" Broots said, jumping at the volume of Lyle's voice. "Wh-what exactly am I looking for?"

"I'll tell you when you find it," Lyle said, leaning over Broots's shoulder to view the screen. Broots shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Mr. Lyle was in his personal space, and a thing sheen of perspiration began to show on Broots's bald head.

"There!" Lyle cried, causing Broots to jump again. "That's it! Copy the file labeled 'ESP: Identical Twins' to this disk."

Broots did as he was instructed and Mr. Lyle left the Tech Room with a smile on his face.

"I need a new job," Broots muttered under his breath.

SL-25: Isolation Ward
The Centre
15:00

Mr. Raines closed the door behind him, leaving four men in the isolation cell behind him - three very large Sweepers and one handcuffed Pretender. He waited until he heard Jarod's first escaped grunt of pain and then turned to Garr.

"Do you think he told her anything?" Raines asked in a low voice.

"No. She was not exactly thrilled to see him."

"Goood," Raines said, drawing out the word into a long hiss.

"Sir, what about Sydney?" Garr asked.

"He is currently occupied," Raines motioned to the door that he had come from. "When they're done with the Pretender, take him to his space and have him cleaned up. The Triumvirate is waiting."

SL-21: Sydney's Office
The Centre
15:00

"So, are there any questions that you would like to ask me first?" said Sydney.

Jira was dazed by all of the new emotions that emanated from this stranger. She perceived sadness and guilt the most strongly and tuned in to these emotions.

>She's so small and fragile! Oh my god, look at the bruises on her face and arms! What has Raines been doing to this poor little girl? If he touches her again, so help me…<

Sydney watched as Jira pulled her sleeves down over her hands and lowered her head, trying to hide her face.

"It's all right. You have permission to say anything you'd like while you're here," Sydney encouraged.

Jira absently twirled a strand of her dark hair around her finger and bit her lower lip as she debated asking her question. Her curiosity finally won out.

"Why don't you like Mr. Raines, Doctor?"

Sydney was taken aback at Jira's question. He hadn't been expecting such an insightful question so early in their conversation.

"What makes you think I dislike Mr. Raines?" Sydney asked, dancing around the question.

Jira looked at him a moment. "You don't like the way he has taught me."

Sydney frowned. This girl was indeed a gifted Empath. He would need to guard his emotions more carefully.

"It's true that I don't agree with some of Mr. Raines's methods of reinforcement, but I have no opinion concerning Mr. Raines as a person. Do you understand the difference?" Sydney asked.

Jira knew that Sydney was lying, but she could also see that he was uncomfortable talking about it.

"Besides," Sydney continued, "I believe you would be the better judge of Mr. Raines's character. I understand that you have worked with him for quite some time."

Jira nodded, but offered nothing more.

"So how do you feel about Mr. Raines?"

"Like you said, sir, Mr. Raines has always been in charge of my care, ever since I can remember. He has helped me with my abilities, and I'm very grateful," Jira said, repeating the lines that had been fed to her since she was small.

"So you're happy at the Centre," Sydney concluded.

Jira lowered her head and said nothing.

Sydney softened his voice to a gentle whisper. "I know that you've attempted to escape from the Centre on several occasions. Can you tell me why?" Sydney noticed the girl's hesitation. "I promise you that anything you say in this room, stays here. You have nothing to fear."

Reassured by Sydney's gentle tone and kind demeanor, Jira looked up at the psychiatrist. "M-Mr. Lyle," was all she whispered, but it was enough. Sydney understood.

At that moment the door to Sydney's office flew open and Mr. Lyle entered the room uninvited.

"I hate to interrupt, but Gemini is needed elsewhere."

Sydney noticed as the girl's entire posture changed in Mr. Lyle's presence. Her shoulders slumped and her eyes wouldn't leave the floor. She appeared to be trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Very well, Lyle. Give us a moment," Sydney commanded the younger man. Lyle was about to argue, but Sydney's expression told him not to push the old man. Lyle slammed the office door on the way out.

Turning back to the trembling little girl, Sydney's heart was breaking. He kneeled down to Jira's level and raised her chin so that he could look into her pale eyes.

"If you ever need someone to talk to, you are always welcome to find me, all right?"

Jira nodded and stood up to leave.

"One last thing, tomorrow you will be meeting another Pretender. His name is Jarod and he will be working with you for a while."

"Excuse me, sir. What is Jarod like?"

Sydney smiled at the girl's curious nature. It appeared to be a heritable trait. "You will find out soon enough, but do not worry. You have nothing to fear from Jarod.

Jira's countenance visibly relaxed.

"Well then, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow," Sydney said as he opened the door to reveal and impatient Lyle waiting outside.

"Come on, Jira," Lyle growled.

"Thank you very much, doctor," Jira whispered as she left with Mr. Lyle.

"See you tomorrow, Syd," Lyle said with a smirk. Sydney smiled back, but was interrupted by the shrill ring of his telephone.

"This is Sydney," he answered.

"Sydney? This is Broots in the Tech Room. I've been trying to get a hold of you for half an hour!"

"I was with a subject. Is Jarod here now?"

"Well, yes and no."

Sydney frowned at the receiver. "What does that mean, Mr. Broots?"

"They brought him in twenty minutes ago and Mr. Raines took him to one of the lower sublevels."

Sydney's heart sank. Twenty minutes! Lower sublevels? Mr. Raines? Jarod's in trouble.

"Where is he, Mr. Broots?" Sydney asked, trying to keep his voice calm.

"I-I'm not sure. I'm still working on it."

"Will you call me as soon as you find out anything?" Sydney could not keep the concern out of his voice.

"Of course, Sydney," Broots quickly replied.

"Thank you." Sydney's hand was shaking as he hung up the phone.

After a moment of thought, he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a wooden box. His hands trembled as he lifted the lid and took the Colt .45 Defender in his hand. He had gotten the pistol in 1952, four years after the model was introduced. Jacob and Sydney had only been fifteen when they were liberated at Dachau. When they returned to their home in Lyon, there was no one to care for them and the twins were placed in one of the many crowded orphanages in France. When they were emancipated, Sydney had convinced Jacob that the two should come to America. Before leaving France, Sydney had purchased the gun as a security precaution. He had never fired it outside of the shooting range, but he was prepared to do so now.

Endenantes
Repercussions
pretender_gurl



SL-25: Isolation Ward
The Centre
April 12, 1994
15:40

Garr waited outside the cell until he heard the sounds of flesh hitting flesh ceased. A moment later Jarod and the three Sweepers emerged; one holding his hand to his mouth and Jarod hanging limply between the other two.

"The little shit bit me!" the wounded Sweeper cried.

Garr reached forward and pulled Jarod's head up by his hair. Jarod winced in pain, but made no attempts to free himself from the Cleaner's grasp.

"Nice work, boys," Garr said as he examined Jarod's bruised and bloody face. Then he addressed the Pretender. "What are you? Some kind of animal?" Garr said, bringing his knee into Jarod's groin.

Jarod grunted and doubled over in pain.

Garr just scoffed at the Pretender. "Get him to his space. Then call an orderly to clean him up. Our Boy Genius has a meeting with the Triumvirate Review Board."

Jarod looked up at Garr through swollen eyes and a shiver went through his bruised body. This was not a good day to perform in front of the Triumvirate. His mind was completely focused on blocking out his physical pain, and with adrenaline coursing through his veins, Jarod would never be able to calm himself into a relaxed state necessary for intense Pretends.

"Let…go…of me," Jarod whispered through the searing waves of pain as he lurched forward, trying to break free of the Sweepers.

Garr cuffed him upside the head. "For a genius, you're not a very fast learner. Here you are - defeated, surrounded by my men - and yet you still haven't learned your place."

"My…place?"

Garr leaned forward to whisper in the Pretender's ear, "The Centre owns you. You belong to us - always have, always will." v "Good luck, Lab Rat," the wounded Sweeper jeered as Jarod was dragged down the corridor to the elevators.

Mr. Raines's Office
The Centre
15:47

Sydney burst into the room without knocking for the second time that day. Raines looked up from his desk where he was on the phone.

"I'll have to call you back," Raines said into the receiver. He hung up the phone and stood to meet the fiery psychiatrist. "What do you want?"

"What have you done with Jarod?" Sydney asked, getting right to the point.

"I have no idea wh -"

Raines was interrupted when Sydney reached out and took him by the collar.

"I don't have time for your games! Where is he?" Sydney growled, his grip tightening around the pistol in his pocket.

The two men were engaged in a malicious stare-down when the door opened and a small, balding man stuck his head in.

"Ah, excuse me, but I have the information you requested, Sydney," Broots said.

Sydney gave Raines one last glare before pushing him away and following Broots out of the office.

"I've been looking all over this place for you! You didn't answer your phone so I went to your office and when you weren't there I checked the labs, then the bathrooms where one of the Sweepers said he saw you on the Tower elevator -" Broots rambled until Sydney interrupted him.

"Broots, what did you find out?"

"Oh! Right! Well, I was monitoring the emergency systems for my friend Shorty on account that he loaned me his accordion last week for the annual Tech Room Talent Show -"

"Broots…" Sydney said impatiently in an attempt to get Broots back on track.

"Oh! Sorry. Okay, so a call came through about ten minutes ago calling for an orderly to Room 2303," Broots hurried.

"Jarod's room," Sydney whispered. "Thank you Mr. Broots."

"You're welcome," Broots called to Sydney as the elevator doors closed behind the psychiatrist.

SL-23: Room 2309
The Centre
15:55

"Focus, dammit!" Raines yelled at the trembling child on the cot.

Jira was sitting on the bed with her eyes clenched tightly shut. Mr. Raines had asked her to Perceive a woman named Miss Parker and shown her a picture of a beautiful young brunette with pale blue eyes. Miss Parker was wearing a black gown with a yellow cord draped across her shoulders and a funny cap with a tassel. Jira was having a difficult time locating the woman. She was obviously trained in disguising her feelings.

Finally, Jira found her in the same place that she had found Jarod. This must be the girl he was thinking of when he escaped the Centre! she thought.

"I-I've found her, Mr. Raines," Jira said softly.

"Good. Now what is she doing? Become Miss Parker!" Raines said emphatically.

Jira took a deep breath and focused all of her energy on this woman.

>She was sitting on a huge bed with something that looked like a computer, twirling a small, silver disc in her hand. Fear - she was afraid to see what was on the disc. Pushing the disc into a slot. Heart aching as she remembered her feelings for the boy on the screen. Then the shock as the video played on past the point that her disc had ended at. Raines drugged her, father beating her, becoming a guinea pig for a mind-altering serum. She watched in horror as a Sweeper carried an unconscious teenage girl to the Centre's infirmary. And that's when the lies began. She turned off the machine and threw herself onto the bed, weeping with shame and anger.<

"She's watching something, a video I think," Jira reported.

Mr. Raines sighed with relief. He interpreted Jira's answer to mean that Miss Parker was watching a movie. The idea that the "video" could actually be a DSA never entered Raines's mind. He assumed that Miss Parker was watching a movie and not thinking about the Pretender at all. It appeared that the memory serum he had used eight years ago was still doing its job and Miss Parker had no idea what really happened that day in August.

"Good. Now get to work on that simulation for tomorrow. And I want to see complete cooperation, or the consequences will be severe. Am I clear?" Mr. Raines growled.

Jira nodded and immediately walked over to the desk where the simulation materials were waiting.

Parker Mansion
Blue Cove, DE
16:00

Miss Parker cried until she had no more tears left. She was struggling to come to terms with the DSA she had just seen. She had turned her back on her one true friend and the first boy she ever loved. Jarod had tried to save her and in doing so brought the wrath of Mr. Raines down upon himself. And her father…

Miss Parker didn't know what to do, what to think. After her mother died, her father had tried to buy her compassion rather than spending time with her as her mother had. Miss Parker was brought directly to the Centre after school by her father's Sweepers where she stayed until all hours of the night, sometimes even sleeping on the sofa in the Chairman's office. It was loneliness that drove her to explore the Centre's deeps. She had found Jarod by accident the day after they met in front of the Triumvirate.

Miss Parker reached under her mattress and pulled out a leather-bound diary. Her name was embroidered on the front in gold thread. She flipped through the pages until she found the date she was looking for.

April 23, 1979

Today I went to the Centre with Daddy because Momma is visiting some orphanages in New York. I wanted to go with her, but Daddy said I've missed too much school and Momma didn't argue with him. After my last class, Daddy's Sweeper came to my classroom and took me to the Centre in one of the big cars like Daddy drives.

I did my homework in Daddy's office and colored a picture for Momma, but then was very bored so I went exploring. I snuck into the lobby and found a stairwell that I had never been down before. I slid down the railing because Momma wasn't there to tell me it's not ladylike. There was a door that led to a dark hallway at the bottom of the stairwell. It had a 21 painted on the door. I went through the door and saw a light at the end of the hallway. I crept very carefully to the light and found myself on a little balcony.

Looking down over the railing, I saw a boy sitting at a table in the middle of a big room. It was the same boy from the glass box that I saw yesterday! I think Daddy said his name was Jarod and that he's a subject in an experiment, whatever that means.

Jarod was looking at some pictures in a book. I walked down some stairs so that I was in the same room as him. He heard me, but he didn't look up. He must have thought I was someone else, because when I spoke, he jumped in his chair. I know it sounds silly, but there was something about him that made my stomach do a somersault, like when Momma says she has butterflies in her stomach. I didn't like that feeling very much, so I pushed it away like Daddy taught me to.

"You're afraid of me aren't you?" I asked Jarod as I came up from behind him.

"No," he lied.

"You were yesterday. I could tell," I told him, leaning over the table. I was trying to scare him so that I wouldn't be the only one so jumpy.

"I was nervous. You have soft skin," he said with a smile that made my stomach flip-flop again. I wish he would stop making it do that!

"You didn't even touch me!" I said, and it's true - there was a glass wall between us!

"Yes I did, in here," he said, pointing to his head. "Hold out your hand like this."

I don't know why, but I did what he said to.

We held our hands out like we did yesterday when the glass was between us, with our palms facing towards each other and closed our eyes. I didn't even realize it, but our hands were moving together.

"Can you feel it?" he asked me.

I could. His hand was rough and cool in my mind. I felt drawn to him in a way that I had never felt before.

Then we touched. Just for a moment our hands touched and there was an energy that shot through me and left my hairs standing on end. We both jumped and pulled our hands back. I had to close my eyes for a second to catch my breath. I'm beginning to dislike the way this boy pulls down my defenses!

Then he asked me my name, my first name. I walked around to his side of the table and whispered it into his ear.

"That's beautiful," he said with a huge grin. I smiled back at him.

"My Momma named me because my Daddy wasn't there when I was born," I explained.

"I've met your mother. She talked with me when I first came here, when I was missing my mother," Jarod said.

"Where is your mother now?" I asked. His eyes clouded over and he looked down at his lap.

"I don't know," he whispered. I felt bad because he was so sad.

Jarod told me that his parents had left him with the Centre so that his abilities could be molded or something like that. He said that he lives in the Centre all the time and that Sydney takes care of him. My Momma is friends with Sydney and he's known me for a long time. I told Jarod that Sydney is very nice and that he will take care of Jarod, but I don't think that helped very much. Jarod obviously still misses his parents.

I glanced at my watch and jumped up. I had been gone from the Tower for over an hour! I was afraid that Daddy would notice that I was gone, so I told Jarod I had to leave. He reached out and grabbed my hand.

"Wait! Will I ever see you again?" he asked me with concern in his eyes. I just smiled and told him that I hoped so.

Miss Parker looked up from the diary with tears glistening in her eyes. Yes, she and Jarod had met many times after that, culminating with the event she had just watched on the DSA player. There were so many times that Jarod had been there for her. It was time that she was there for him.

SL-23: Room 2303
The Centre
16:00

Sydney punched in his security code on the keypad outside Jarod's room. As soon as the door slid back, he rushed in to find Jarod lying on his cot and a Centre orderly dressing a laceration on the Pretender's forehead.

"Jarod! What happened?" Sydney cried, standing over his protégé.

"I believe the official term is 're-education'" Jarod said dryly, wincing as the orderly dabbed the cut with hydrogen peroxide.

"I'll take it from here," Sydney said to the orderly who readily handed over his charge. He had just finished aiding the doctor who stitched up a Sweeper who had been bitten by the Pretender.

"Jarod, why did you try to escape?"

"I just wanted to find Miss Parker. I wasn't planning on escaping."

"Well, they were very strategic, weren't they? The only broken bone is a chipped carpal and there's nothing to be done for that," Sydney said, holding up an x-ray. He turned back to Jarod. "Your wrist will be sore for a few days, but it should heal without incident."

"Of course it will. Heaven forbid that they damage their most prized possession," Jarod said bitterly.

"Jarod…" Sydney began in a warning tone. He disliked it when Jarod belittled himself and at the same time implicated Sydney for his mistreatment.

"No. It's been made quite clear that I'm Centre property. I'm here to serve, to do what I'm told."

"Jarod, you're here because you have a gift that can help others. Your work can benefit mankind."

"And give the Centre a healthy profit margin," Jarod added, sitting up and shrugging into his Centre-issue shirt. He fumbled with the buttons, trying not to aggravate his wounded wrist. "I hear the Review Board is waiting."

"I can re-schedule the simulation if you're not feeling up to it," Sydney offered.

"I'd rather just get it over with," Jarod answered without emotion.

"It is fairly straightforward, Jarod. I have every confidence that you will be able to perform up to par."

"You always do, Sydney," Jarod replied as he picked up a blank red notebook from his desk and headed for the door.

Sydney felt a hand squeeze his heart as he watched his protégé limp out of the room. Shaking his head, he followed the Pretender to the elevators.

Endenantes
Darkness Is Coming
pretender_gurl



McCarthy Household
Dover, DE
16:42

Evelyn smiled as she pulled into her driveway. Sam was home from Blue Cove and his mother's beat up Buick was gone which meant he was probably playing with Lucy. Their little girl always missed her father when he was working. She reached over to the passenger's seat and grabbed her briefcase before exiting the car. The front door flew open and Lucy flew out of the house and attached herself firmly to her mother's legs.

"Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!" she cried. Evelyn planted a kiss on the curly head and followed the bouncing four year-old into the house.

Evelyn set her briefcase down in the foyer and walked into the kitchen where Sam had baby Joey on his hip and a hot mitt on his hand. An overdone roast was cooling on the stovetop and rosemary potatoes were waiting in a bowl. Evelyn snuck up from behind and covered Sam's eyes with her slender hands.

"Guess who," she whispered seductively in his ear. Sam spun around and caught her lips in his own.

"How was your trip?" he asked. Evelyn had been in North Carolina for the past week on business. She was a women's athletics talent scout for Wesley College in Dover.

"Profitable. I found a prospective basketball player at this school for gifted kids. Her name's Emily and I think she'd be a real asset to the Wolverines. Unfortunately, her mother doesn't want her to leave home for college. I tried talking with her during half-time, but she was adamant that Emily stay in North Carolina. I can't say I blame her, though. The family has endured more than their share of tragedy."

"Oh, yeah? How so?" Sam asked, handing Evelyn the baby and turning to carve the roast.

"Well, their two oldest were kidnapped twenty years ago and the father has been away searching for the boys ever since," Evelyn said with a frown.

"I hate it when that stuff happens to kids," Sam said, thinking of the little girl he'd met earlier.

"Yeah, it's a shame," Evelyn agreed. "Honey, I'm going to change Joey. Can you keep an eye on Lucy?"

"Two eyes," Sam said, giving his wife a peck on the cheek and setting dinner on the table. He turned to his daughter. "Come here, Princess!" Sam called, holding out his arms to the little girl. Lucy ran to her father who caught her in a crushing embrace and began to tickle her until she collapsed on the floor in a fit of laughter.

Evelyn watched the two romp about the kitchen as they set the table and couldn't help smiling to herself. She was truly blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Containment Ward: Cell 4
Centre Biological Research Facility
Donoterase, Maryland
17:27

Jonas had finished his supper of optimized nutritional supplement and a large glass of distilled water. Well, he had finished most of it. After noticing a white crystalline solid suspended in his water, Jonas became wary and decided he wasn't going to drink the water. However, he knew that if he just left the glass on his tray, the Sweepers, or worse - Mr. Lyle, would force him to drink it. So he placed the cup precariously on the edge of his desk and "accidentally" knocked it onto the floor. The plastic cup did not break, but all of the water spilled onto the concrete floor.

Jonas went into SIM mode for the cameras and pretended to be frightened at having spilled. He used his napkin to mop up the upset liquid and then picked up the glass. Glancing at the bottom, his suspicions were confirmed by the presence of a white residue. Why are they drugging me? Jonas asked himself, racking his brain for every possible answer, but none seemed adequate.

Pushing the question to the back of his mind, Jonas's thoughts returned to the escapade he had planned for tonight. He was going to hack into Mr. Raines's computer files in search of any information on "the other twin."

Any moment now the Sweepers should be returning for his tray and then Jonas would be left to work on Mr. Lyle's simulation. They would not check on him for at least thirty minutes, probably closer to an hour. Jonas had figured out how to loop the camera feed years ago. All he had to worry about was getting into Raines's office undetected.

As an idea entered Jonas's mind, the door to his space was opened and two Sweepers entered. The younger of the two men looked at the damp spot on the concrete floor and raised his brow.

"What happened here?" he asked.

"I-I spilled. I'm sorry. It won't happen again," Jonas stammered, now in full pretend mode.

The younger man looked to his counterpart, revealing the other man to be the dominant personality. The older Sweeper just shook his head. He didn't have time to deal with the kid right now. The Orioles game started in an hour and he still had to finish his rounds. The younger Sweeper picked up Jonas's tray and the pair left the space, locking the metal door behind them. As soon as the bolt snapped into place, Jonas went to work.

Parker Mansion
Blue Cove, Delaware
17:00

"You're… you're a girl."

In a futile attempt to keep her mind off the disturbing DSA, Miss Parker was perusing the training manual she had received from her father. She was working in the Surveillance and Internal Security division of the Centre. Her mother had once been the head of SIS. Miss Parker was starting at the bottom, in internal affairs. She had been assigned two Sweepers, Sam and Larron, and would begin security sweeps of the Blue Cove facility the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow belonged to someone else.

"You miss your mother, don't you?"

Miss Parker shook her head as she tried to forget the boy's sincere concern.

"My parents are gone, too."

Why hadn't she ever recognized the pleading in Jarod's voice - his longing for comfort? Because you were too busy feeling sorry for yourself, a voice said from within. Miss Parker slammed the manual shut in anger. She didn't have time for this.

She went into the kitchen and rummaged through the refrigerator. She pulled out a Styrofoam box of leftover pasta from the nearby Italian restaurant that her father frequented. Miss Parker stared blankly at the microwave oven while the pasta and marinara was being nuked. The last home cooked meal she could remember having was on this day, fourteen years ago.

"I miss you, Mama," Miss Parker whispered to the heavens.

"We both do, Angel," said a voice from behind her. Miss Parker whirled around to see her father standing in the doorway with his briefcase still in hand.

"Daddy! What are you doing home so early?"

"Well, my little girl is home from college! I think that's worth celebrating! Come on, we'll go to that Chinese place with the moo shu that you like."

"But I…" Miss Parker began, gesturing to the humming microwave.

"Never mind that. Come on, indulge me my parental pride, Sweetheart!"

Miss Parker caved for the second time that day. "All right…"

"Good! I'll get the car."

Mr. Raines's Office
Centre Biological Research Facility
Donoterase, Maryland
18:57

"What have you found in Sydney's research on twins?" Raines asked the younger man sitting across the desk.

"It seems the connection between identical twins is quite strong. Those separated from birth that are later reunited seem to share many traits, even though they have never met. One set that Sydney studied had both become policemen, had the same hairstyle, exact same model of glasses, and had the same favorite brand of beer. It's quite fascinating," Mr. Lyle reported. "Of course, the Gemini twins are not identical, but from what you've said, they're damn close."

"Yes, they are," Raines said absently. "So it's possible that they share such a connection."

"Yeah, which means Jonas could have shared a Perception with the girl," Lyle concluded.

"Dammit!"

"Mr. Raines, this doesn't have to be a bad thing. There has never been any research performed on genetically altered twins. The Centre could be the first to produce some," Lyle suggested.

Raines sat thoughtfully for a moment. "Yes," he murmured, "yes, that could work. I like that idea, Lyle. Draw up a proposed course of action immediately!"

Tower SIM Lab
The Centre
19:40

"You did that simulation well, Jarod," Sydney praised after the Pretender completed the Review Board's simulation.

Exhausted and sore as he was, Jarod beamed on the inside, but only let a twinkle shine through in his eyes. Locked in the darkness of indifference, Sydney's occasional praise was the fuel that kept Jarod's soul alive.

Sydney saw how Jarod's shoulders drooped and noticed that he appeared unstable on his feet.

"I believe that's enough for today," Sydney said, nodding to the Sweeper at the door. "I will see you in the morning, Jarod."

The Sweeper led Jarod out of the SIM Lab and Sydney turned and went through the only other door in the lab. With an audible sigh, he sat uncomfortably across the table from the five Triumvirate delegates who were assigned to the Pretender Program as reviewers.

"The subject's progress is satisfactory. However, I am concerned about the frequency of his insubordination," the chief delegate reported.

"Jarod is becoming frustrated with his work. I would like to offer him new stimuli to keep his increase his mental productivity," Sydney returned.

"Do you believe that the interaction with Project Gemini will remedy this behavior?"

"Frankly, I don't believe the joint simulation is a good idea. Jarod has always responded abrasively during simulations with small children. To force him into a situation like this is asking for insubordination," Sydney responded.

"And what does Mr. Raines say about this?" a Triumvirate member asked.

Sydney shook his head in frustration. "Mr. Raines believes that everything can be solved if the correct amount of force is applied to the subject."

"That sounds reasonable," the chief delegate concluded.

"Jarod's will is strong," Sydney warned.

"So is the Triumvirate's," the chief delegate said meaningfully. He looked at the other delegates who nodded once. "Doctor, we believe that the subject is becoming too… comfortable under your care."

"What are you saying?"

"Mr. Raines will be in charge of this project and its subjects - both of the subjects," the chief delegate said pointedly.

Sydney stood up and slammed his fists down on the table. "I won't allow this!"

"It is not yours to decide, Doctor. And if you refuse to accept our decision, it may become a permanent situation."

Sydney nodded without saying a word and took his cue to leave.

The chief delegate turned to his fellow board members. "He may complicate our objectives."

"I can draw up a contract," one woman replied.

"No," the chief said quickly. "Sydney is not expendable. The subject is clearly attached to him, and that is more incentive for the Pretender to cooperate. At this point in the project, it is imperative that we gain complete control over the subject. No one touches the psychiatrist."

A murmur of assent came from those seated around the table.

"Soon the next generation of Pretenders will be ready."

None of the Triumvirate members saw the figure hunkered down in the ventilation system. After they gathered their things and retired to the executive lounge, Angelo jumped down and placed a hand on the table where Sydney's had just been.

"Jarod sad. Sydney scared," Angelo whispered. "Darkness is coming, darkness is coming, DARKNESS IS COMING!"

Endenantes
Related By Blood
pretender_gurl



Mr. Raines's Office
Centre Biological Research Facility
Donoterase, Maryland
April 13, 1994
01:20

Jonas lifted the manhole cover and peeked out. He was in the corner of Mr. Raines's office. Across the room was a surveillance system. Jonas slithered out of the sewer and walked closer to the technological Mecca. He came close to giggling when he saw the looped feed from his room, but of course Jonas did not know how to smile. He also didn't know that he tripped a silent alarm walking past the door.

Jonas sat before Mr. Raines's computer and was prompted for a password. He closed his eyes and focused on his mentor. A girl's face entered his mind and Jonas found himself typing A-N-N-I-E. The computer sprang to life and Jonas scanned the computer's hard drive. There you are, he thought as he saw a file labeled "Gemini." Double clicking on the document, Jonas had just opened the file when the door behind him slammed open. He spun around to find Mr. Lyle, Mr. Raines, and two Sweepers standing in the doorway.

Lyle crossed the room in two steps and lifted Jonas out of the chair by his collar.

"What the hell are you doing?" Lyle shouted.

Jonas tried to stammer out an answer, but he couldn't seem to put together a coherent sentence.

Playing his part to the letter, Raines stepped forward and ordered Lyle to let go of the boy. "Jonas, what Mr. Lyle meant was, what are you looking for?"

"I-I just wanted…" he broke off and looked at Mr. Raines. Raines inwardly rolled his eyes, but gently prodded the boy. Jonas nodded and continued. "I just wanted to find out where I came from."

Raines smiled inwardly and nodded. He turned to the sweepers and told them to prepare the SIM lab.

"All right, Jonas. It's time you learned the truth."

Parker Mansion
Blue Cove, Delaware
03:00

Miss Parker was curled up in the rocking chair in the corner of her bedroom. Tears began to fill her eyes as she fingered the intricate carving of the armrests and remembered her mother's embrace.

June 11, 1976

"…and they lived happily ever after," Catherine finished.

Little Miss Parker giggled with delight on her mother's lap. "Tell me another, Mama!" she cried.

"Not tonight, baby. It's late and you need your sleep. You wouldn't want to be tired when we go to the zoo tomorrow," Catherine replied. She started to get up from the rocking chair, but Miss Parker interrupted her.

"Please, Mama, will you stay with me tonight?"

"What for, baby girl?" her mother asked with concern.

"Well, what if the mean old witch from the story comes?" Miss Parker asked with wide eyes.

"Oh, sweetheart, that old witch couldn't hurt a hair on your head!"

"But what if she takes me away from you? I don't want you to leave me, Mama!" Miss Parker began to sob.

Catherine held her daughter close as she rocked back and forth. When the little girl had stopped crying, Catherine lifted her up so mother and daughter were looking into each other's eyes.

"Baby, I'm going to tell you something that I want you to always remember, okay?"

A small, dark head bobbed up and down.

"Good," Catherine said. "I will always be with you. No one could ever take me away from my baby girl. I love you too much!" Catherine said as she tickled her daughter playfully.

Miss Parker giggled and then hugged her mother. "I love you too, Mama - for always."

The memory faded and left Miss Parker feeling even more alone.

"You lied, Mama," she whispered to the shadows. "You said you'd never leave me. You said you'd always be with me, but you're not… you're not."

Her words were lost in an onslaught of tears.

Simulation Laboratory 2
Centre Biological Research Facility
Donoterase, Maryland
03:19

Jonas was standing before a large projection screen that was flashing pictures of a vicious murder. A woman was lying on the floor of a nicely furnished living room. Her nightgown was torn and soaked from the pool of blood surrounding her. A man was nearby, his body beaten so badly that it didn't look human.

"Why do I have to see this?" Jonas asked, a tear escaping the corner of his eye. He brushed it away quickly, but Mr. Raines saw and slapped him.

"Keep your emotions in control! They cloud your objectivity!"

Jonas instinctively put a hand to his cheek where a bruise was already forming, but he nodded.

"Good," Raines said. Then turning back to the projector screen he said, "These are your parents." Raines looked quickly to Jonas, monitoring the boy's reaction.

Jonas's eyes grew wide as he watched the images flashing across the screen. "My - my parents? They're dead?"

Jonas knew that Mr. Raines was watching him closely, so he pushed his feelings down in his heart, afraid that if he acknowledged them, he would break down in front of his mentor. "What happened to them?"

"They were murdered when you were very young. We took you in, cared for you, and raised you," Mr. Raines said. He and Lyle had been planning this for quite some time and it was going beautifully. Now he could lay it on thickly. "When you were all alone in the world, the Centre became your home."

Jonas walked slowly to the screen in a trance-like state. He reached out to touch the screen as it showed a picture of his mother's face. Her eyes were wide, a bullet hole in her forehead. Jonas turned away before his fingers brushed the screen.

"I don't want to see anymore," Jonas whispered. "May I go now?"

Raines nodded and motioned to a Sweeper who led Jonas out of the room. Mr. Lyle entered and congratulated Raines.

"That couldn't have gone better!" he exclaimed.

"Lyle, I want you on surveillance. If Gemini so much as frowns, I want Sweepers in there. I will not have his work suffer due to senseless emotion!"

"But Mr. Raines, those pictures were -"

"Don't tell me you're going soft, Bobby."

Mr. Lyle flinched at that. He had not been called by his first name in years, and it dredged up memories that Lyle preferred to keep hidden.

"I didn't think so," Raines wheezed with satisfaction. "I have to return to Blue Cove. I don't want to hear about any problems while I'm gone."

"Yes, sir," Lyle managed to reply with some degree of composure. Hatred and anger were burning inside of him with an intensity that could not be squelched.

SL-23: Room 2309
The Centre
06:58

>Stop sniveling, you worthless piece of shit!<

Jira awoke to an aching body and tear-streaked face just moments before the buzz of the alarm came over the speaker in the corner of Jira's room. She had been Perceiving that boy again - Jonas. He was in trouble, hurting, and there was nothing she could do to help him.

>Hang on, my friend! Hang on!< she thought, sending all encouragement she could across the distance.

Miles away, Jonas heard her comforting words and braced himself against Mr. Lyle's fury.

>You will be all right, Jonas. I will find you.<

Jira's thoughts were interrupted as one of the few female Sweepers entered the room. This woman was large and masculine. She came for Jira every morning and insisted that Jira call her Ma'am.

"Shower," was all that Ma'am said.

Jira slipped out of bed, shivering as her bare feet touched the cold concrete floor. She followed Ma'am to the end of the hall where she stripped and was tossed into a large stall with one shower head that had one temperature setting - freezing.

"You have three minutes," Ma'am called as she did every morning, tossing Jira a bar of soap.

The skeletal child's lips turned blue as she vigorously scrubbed herself, taking more care across scarred flesh. Just as she finished rinsing, the flow of water ceased and Jira was left shivering and dripping wet. Ma'am tossed her a set of Centre clothes and Jira managed to tremble her way into the drab garb, still wet. Ma'am stood with a brush in her hand which she dragged through Jira's long hair. Then she pulled her hair back and braided it so tightly that Jira winced at the strained roots. When one long plait hung down Jira's back, she was handed a bowl of optimized nutritional supplement that stuck to the roof of her mouth. But it was warm and for that she was grateful.

When the remainder of the morning routine was completed, Jira was brought to a SIM lab where she was instructed to wait. She didn't have to wait long.

The door opened and a tall, dark man was ushered into the room. He stared at Jira with wide eyes and an open mouth. He walked forward slowly, growing pale as if he had seen a ghost.

Jarod couldn't take his eyes off the girl standing before him. She had the same silvery blue eyes, dark hair, and pronounced cheekbones as another young girl he used to know.

"Ah, I see you've met," Mr. Raines said, entering the lab. "Jarod, this is Project Gemini. We call her Jira. Jira, this is Jarod, Project Prodigy."

"Jira - Swahili for 'related by blood'?" Jarod said with curiosity. Then looking around the room, he noticed a face missing from the crowd. "Where's Sydney?"

"Sydney will not be participating in this endeavor," Raines said with the most evil grin Jarod had ever seen.

Jarod shook his head. "I'm not doing a simulation without Sydney."

Raines glared at the Pretender. "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, Jarod."

Willie the Sweeper stepped forward with a long, black stick in his hand. It was a type of cattle prod used by the Centre Sweepers called a Motivator. Jarod steeled himself for its sharp bite, but instead, Willie reached out to Jira. The Motivator crackled and lit up with electricity. Jira, still wet from her shower, futilely attempted to hold back a scream as the current ripped through her small body. Jarod shouted in protest and tried to claw his way to Willie, but two more Sweepers held him back. After a minute or so, Willie stepped back and Jira slumped to the floor, gasping for air. As soon as she caught her breath, she scrambled back to her feet. Jarod's stomach turned to lead as he realized this little girl was used to this type of treatment. Looking at her tiny frame, Jarod guessed her to be about six or seven, but knew from her file that she was almost nine. How could Raines abuse such a small child?

"You bastard!" he screamed at Raines.

"Now, Jarod, there are children present!" Raines scolded.

Jarod just stared at the man in disgust.

"Let me be perfectly clear, Jarod," Raines said, moving directly in front of the restrained Pretender. "Unlike your dear friend Sydney, I will not tolerate any disobedience. If you so much as look at me the wrong way, little Jira will be punished. Do you understand?"

Jarod said nothing.

Willie grabbed Jira and slapped her across the face.

"All right! I understand!" cried Jarod quickly. The Sweepers let him go.

"Goooood," wheezed Raines.

Jarod hurried across the lab and knelt down in front of Jira, but she backed quickly away from him. There was so much anger radiating from this man that she began to tremble. Instinctively, she moved closer to Mr. Raines. While he sometimes hurt her, in Jira's mind it was only when she deserved punishment. This new Pretender was a stranger and Jira didn't know how he would deal with his rage. Besides, Mr. Raines was emanating nothing but joy right then.

"You'll have to be far more careful with your emotions, Jarod," Mr. Raines told the bewildered Pretender. "Even I can tell you're angry, and Gemini is a gifted Empath."

Realizing that the girl feared his wrath, Jarod took a few deep breaths and forced himself to relax. Then he approached Jira once more. This time she stayed where she was, though her body was shaking like a leaf.

"My name is Jarod. I'm here to help you, Jira. Would it be alright if I looked at your face?"

After a moment's hesitation, Jira nodded. Jarod smiled and reached out to lift her chin. When his fingers touched her skin, both Pretenders drew in a sharp breath. It was like something had passed through both of them at the same time.

>A small boy sat at a table, his arms crossed and his head buried in his arms. He slowly lifted his head and one could see he had been crying.

"I want to see my mommy! Let me go!"

"My name is Sydney, I'll be taking care of you for a while."

"Where are my mom and dad?"

"Sydney, I'm scared! I can't do this!"

"Jarod, remember, when you're doing the simulation and you become frightened and want to stop, say 'refuge.' All right?"

"Don't you love me, Sydney?"

"I'm tired. My legs hurt."

"There's nothing that can save us!"

"I can't do it alone!"

"I did tell the truth! I'm at peace!"

"It's not for me. I'll never give up."

"They can no longer trust their own leader."

"Finish the simulation and I'll make sure you see your family!"

"No! Please, Sydney, don't make me! I don't want to get inside his head! I don't want him in mine!"

"Jarod, the plane your parents were on, it crashed. There were no survivors."<

Jira pulled away, frightened by the images she had Perceived from this man. His life had obviously been far from happy. Jarod saw the pain and amazement in her eyes and knew that she had seen a darker part of him. He looked away in guilt.

Mr. Raines had been watching this exchange in fascination, but he was as surprised as Jarod at what happened next.

Jira felt Jarod's guilt when he looked away from her. Reflecting on her Perception, Jira was overcome by an emotion that she thought she had forgotten - compassion. Seeing this man's obvious pain, Jira reached out and gave him a hug, and one last Perception entered her mind.

>A tall woman with very long black hair and a pastel colored dress was walking toward her. Jira knew this woman - her name was Catherine and she was Jira's grandmother. Jira called out to her in greeting and the woman smiled back with bright dimples.

"Hello, Baby. I have something important to tell you."

Jira waited expectantly for her grandmother's news.

"This is your father, Baby, and he loves you very much, just like me. He will help you, just trust him. Trust Jarod, Baby. He is the One."<

Jarod blinked in surprise as thin little arms encircled his neck so tightly. He didn't know what to do for a moment. Then he relaxed and awkwardly returned the embrace, although it was like hugging himself because Jira was so small. Acting on pure instinct, Jarod stood up and lifted the girl with him. He was overcome by how right it felt to hold this little girl in his arms.

Mr. Raines's previous look of glee had dissipated to complete disgust and unchecked anger. He had spent four years training Project Gemini to repress emotions and practice complete obedience. He was now watching all of his hard work disappear. How dare she show such disregard! She will pay for this! Raines nodded to Willie who stepped forward and wrenched Jira from Jarod's strong form with the help of the two other Sweepers. Jira called out Jarod's name and tried to wriggle from Willie's hold in vain. But Jarod was being sedated by the other Sweepers as Raines approached Jira with a syringe filled with amber liquid. Within seconds, the cries of protest from the two Pretenders had ceased and Mr. Raines ordered that Jarod be taken back to his space.

"What about the girl?" Willie asked.

"The joint simulation is terminated. Take her to Renewal Wing."

Endenantes
The Little One Is Gone
pretender_gurl



The Centre Cemetery
Section G
Row 14
Plot 6
April 13, 1994
10:00

Miss Parker's eyes were red and bloodshot behind her designer sunglasses. She stood stoically before the black marble headstone. Kneeling down on the grass still wet with morning dew, Miss Parker replaced the flowers in the bronze vase with a fresh bouquet. Reaching out with a slender, polished finger, Miss Parker traced the engraved epitaph - LOVING MOTHER.

"Why did you leave me, Mama?" she choked.

"Your mother has never left you, Miss Parker," said a voice with a distinct French accent.

"Sydney? What are you doing here?" Miss Parker asked, turning to face the older man.

"I came to speak with a friend," he said, gesturing to the decorated gravesite. "Catherine was a very special woman."

Miss Parker nodded, and Sydney did not miss the tears that rolled down her cheek from behind the dark glasses. Miss Parker brushed them away angrily and turned back to the headstone.

"Before she died, my mother said she'd always be with me, Sydney. She let me down," Miss Parker said in a halting voice.

"Miss Parker, Catherine is still with you! She is inside of you! You just need to look within and you will find her compassionate soul," Sydney said, placing a hand on the young woman's shoulder.

Her mother is gone, and her father… well, she may never know who her father really is, Sydney thought remorsefully. Though he would never admit it, not even to himself, Sydney felt immensely paternal feelings towards Miss Parker. When she and Jarod were growing up at the Centre, Sydney had done his best to shield them both from the Centre's unforgiving wrath and lust for power.

February 22, 1980

Sydney had just left a meeting in the Tower and was anxious to get back to work. He walked briskly down the Centre corridors, stretching his long legs to lengthen his step. When he reached Sublevel 21, he entered the large simulation lab that was located just outside his office. But voices stopped him before he could descend the metal stairway to the SIM lab floor.

"Like this, Miss Parker?" a boy asked. Sydney recognized Jarod's voice.

"Yeah! You're really good at this, Jarod!" Miss Parker's young voice complimented.

There was a clunk and Jarod cried out. Miss Parker began to giggle and after a moment, Jarod joined in. The two children were laughing and chatting like they didn't have a care in the world.

Sydney's first reaction was pleasure that the children were enjoying themselves and each other's company, but this joy soon dissipated as he remembered where they all were. This was the Centre! Subjects like Jarod were not to have contact with those not in the program, and they certainly were not allowed to play and have fun! They could all get into severe trouble for this, Sydney included. Glancing up at the mounted cameras that spotted the walls, Sydney knew the damage had already been done.

Flying down the stairs, Sydney turned to see the two children hiding under the stairwell, each with a yo-yo in hand. Jarod had been smiling, but when he saw Sydney and the frustration upon his face, Jarod's entire demeanor shifted.

"You shouldn't be down here, Miss Parker," Sydney scolded gently. He didn't have it in his heart to admonish Catherine's daughter. "Jarod needs to focus on his work."

"I was just…" Jarod began, but Miss Parker cut him off.

"…taking a short break. He didn't know how to yo-yo, and my mama taught me, so I was showing it to Jarod. He's really good, Sydney! Jarod, show Sydney how you can walk-the-dog," Miss Parker chattered.

"I'd rather not," Jarod mumbled, aware of his mentor's growing impatience.

Miss Parker sensed the tension and politely excused herself, telling Jarod to keep the yo-yo. Once she had left the room, Sydney confiscated the wooden toy and reminded Jarod of the danger he was putting them all in when he disobeyed Sydney. Jarod apologized quietly and returned to the simulation waiting for him.

Later that day, Sydney was called to the Tower. The Chairman had viewed the surveillance, no doubt thanks to Dr. Raines. Mr. Parker was raging out of control, crying out about how the entire Pretender Program was a waste and that Jarod was not bringing in enough revenue. They had argued this point before on many occasions - with Sydney siding alongside quality while Mr. Parker and the Triumvirate heavily supported the theory of quantity.

"Kyle has been producing stellar results," Mr. Parker said.

"Yes, I've seen the reports," Sydney replied, not sure where this conversation was going.

"I'm thinking of giving Dr. Raines control of Jarod," Mr. Parker said, getting to the heart of the matter.

Sydney's chest constricted and his mind raced for excuses. "Sir, I don't believe that's necessary."

"The current stats say otherwise, Doctor. Now, you have two weeks to get Jarod's results equal to Kyle's or Dr. Raines will be given unilateral control of the Pretender Program. Is there anything, or anyone, that is hindering the Pretender?" Mr. Parker asked, most likely knowing that there was.

Sydney knew that he could save his own skin if he admitted that Miss Parker had been visiting the Jarod when he was supposed to be working. But Sydney had seen the bruises that Miss Parker tried to hide, just like her mother once did. While Sydney's blood boiled every time he saw the faint remnants of a purple handprint on Miss Parker's face, he knew that if he said anything he would only make matters worse. Besides, Sydney had seen Jarod escorting a limping Miss Parker down to the infirmary on more than one occasion. No, Sydney could never separate the two children. They needed each other.

"I am not aware of any such hindrance, sir," Sydney lied easily. The Chairman narrowed his eyes at the young doctor, finally dismissing him with a wave of his hand.

Sydney left, exhaling deeply when he exited the office. Despite the nagging feeling of guilt at the prospect of pushing Jarod harder, Sydney was thankful that he had kept the children safe from the darkest agents of the Centre. At least for now…

Miss Parker's voice brought Sydney back to the present.

"I've looked, Sydney, but it's too late," Miss Parker said, her voice steely and cold. "I have become my father's daughter, just like he always wanted me to be."

Miss Parker shrugged Sydney's hand off of her shoulder and knelt beside her mother's grave. Unable to control her tears and trembling, Miss Parker brought her hand to her lips and then placed it gently on the headstone.

"Goodbye, Mama," she whispered, so quietly that Sydney wasn't sure she had said anything at all.

Standing up, Miss Parker gave Sydney a momentary glance and then began to walk away.

"Miss Parker!" Sydney called, stopping Miss Parker in her tracks. He walked to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. "If you ever need to talk, I'm always here for you."

Miss Parker nodded and turned to walk to her car. With one last glance, she slipped into the Mercedes and drove in the direction of the Centre. There was someone she needed to see.

SL-23: Room 2303
The Centre
10:58

Miss Parker was standing outside the door to Jarod's room, futilely attempting to talk herself out of what she was about to do. She looked down at her watch. She had bribed that geek Broots in the Tech Room to loop the camera feed for ten minutes, beginning in two.

10:59. She leaned her head back against the wall. For eight years she had hated this man with false cause. Apologies were not something she was accustomed to, and she wasn't even sure that he would forgive her. If she were in his position, she certainly wouldn't.

11:00. Time to find out. She moved to the keypad and typed in the code that Broots had given her after she introduced him to her Smith 'n Wesson. The door beeped and Miss Parker waited while the door slid open. She steeled herself for the encounter and walked in the room.

Jarod was sitting on his cot with a red notebook in his lap. He looked up when the door opened and was shocked when Miss Parker entered the room. Miss Parker was surprised at how well he looked considering he had attempted to escape the Centre and been caught by Raines's team.

"Miss Parker! I didn't think you would come," Jarod exclaimed.

"I… I watched the DSA, Jarod. I came to… to apologize."

"I didn't know that Parkers apologized," Jarod said, leaning back on his bed with a playful smirk.

"Spare me," Miss Parker replied. "Jarod, I really am sorry. If I'd known…"

Jarod stood with difficulty and limped over to her, taking her small hand in his bandaged one.

"We're together now, and that's all that matters."

"Jarod…" she began, but he put a slender finger to her lips.

Jarod brushed her hair back and gazed into her tear-filled eyes. He leaned down towards her and she lifted her head, inviting him closer. Jarod's rough lips brushed against hers and she felt warmth within herself that she had not felt in eight years. As he broke the contact, she put her arms around his neck and pulled him back again. Closing the gap between them, the two held each other tightly.

"I have to go. The cameras will be on any minute," Miss Parker said breathlessly.

"I'll never let you go again," Jarod whispered against her lips.

"You'd better not," she responded with a smile and one last kiss. With a final burst of willpower, Miss Parker pulled away and walked to the door. She turned around to see Jarod standing in the middle of the room, his face flushed.

"I'll be back later," she promised before closing the door behind her.

SL-25: Renewal Wing
The Centre
11:17

Her splitting headache woke Jira. She tried to reach her aching head, but found that she couldn't move her arm. Then she tried to move her head to see her arm, but found she couldn't do that either. There were straps across her bare torso, chest, forehead, wrists, and ankles that were holding her supine and spread-eagle on a table of sorts. Her eyes darted quickly around the room, but there was not much to see. Besides an IV pouch and the light shining above her, the room was a sterile white. Then Mr. Raines moved into her line of sight.

"Hello, Jira, and welcome to Renewal Wing," he crooned.

Renewal Wing! Every Centre subject knew about Renewal Wing, the place where insubordinate and failed subjects were permanently re-educated, a process said to be worse than death although no one knew for sure. Subjects that had been re-educated in Renewal Wing rarely spoke again.

"Since our little experiment with Jarod didn't go as planned, we're going to try another method to mold you into a successful Pretender," Raines informed.

He nodded to another doctor who came forward with electrodes and airplane glue. The doctor swiftly went to work, refusing to meet Jira's eyes. He had been at the Centre a long time and knew that the only way to do this job was to think of the subjects as experiments, not humans.

Jira felt the electrodes being placed on her temples, the back of her head below the occipital bone, chest, and lumbar regions. She deduced from their positions that these were neural electrodes, designed to deliver electro-chemical stimulants to her central nervous system.

When the doctor had finished gluing the electrodes in place, he tugged on Jira's chin and placed a mouth guard between her teeth and then proceeded to check all of the padded restraints. Then he took the wires from the electrodes and hooked them up to a formidable looking machine.

"Now you're sure that this procedure will not fail like it did with Timmy?" Raines asked the doctor.

"There is always a risk, but I am confident we will be able to hyper-develop the desired neural pathways," the doctor replied.

Her brow began to sweat as Jira listened to this exchange. They're playing with my brain! She began to struggle in a vain attempt to free herself. The table shook and the two men looked over at her. Raines smiled and turned back to the doctor.

"Do it."

Jira's eyes widened and she began to struggle more violently. The doctor moved over to the IV line and injected a dark blue solution into the tube. Jira felt her muscles begin to relax. The doctor began to set dials and settings on the machine beside Jira. After a few moments, he looked up at Mr. Raines who nodded. The doctor flipped one switch, then another. The third switch sent a current through Jira's nervous system that was unlike anything she had ever felt before. This wasn't like the Motivator that Willie used so liberally, this was a pain so intense that she couldn't see or think straight. She couldn't even scream.

Raines watched as Jira's body convulsed into a grand mal seizure and her body pulled at the restraints as her back arched. Her eyes had rolled back in her head and her face had drained of color.

Behind the vent covering, Angelo was hugging his knees and rocking back and forth. "The Little One is gone! Little One is gone!"

Endenantes
Refuge
pretender_gurl



SL-23: Room 2309
The Centre
15:22

Jira was running as fast as she could. Ahead of her, she could see her grandmother beckoning to her. She looked over her shoulder and screamed. There was a dark shadow chasing her, getting closer and closer. Jira began to falter.

>Come on, baby girl! Be strong!< her grandmother called.

>I can't do it! It hurts so badly!< Jira sobbed as the shadow loomed over her.

Catherine Parker smiled at her granddaughter. >Just come to be, darling. I'll keep you safe.<

Jira put her head down and ran faster.

SL-23: Room 2303
The Centre
15:23

Jarod kissed Miss Parker's neck and she leaned into him. She had threatened Broots into giving her twenty minutes this time. He had whined and said something about having to loop the feed for all of SL-23, but Miss Parker didn't care. She was longing for Jarod's touch.

"Have I told you how truly beautiful you are?" Jarod whispered in her ear.

"Yes, but once more wouldn't hurt," Miss Parker replied.

"You are beautiful, Miss Parker, inside and out."

Miss Parker pulled away and looked down at the floor.

"You're wrong, Jarod. I-I've changed. My father…"

Jarod lightly placed his hand on Miss Parker's cheek and gently lifted her head. She looked up at him with sad blue eyes that glistened with tears. Miss Parker leaned into his touch.

"How I feel about you hasn't changed and it never will, no matter what happens," Jarod said softly before bringing her closer for another kiss.

Mr. Raines's Office
The Centre
15:31

"You scrambled her brain like Angelo's?" Mr. Lyle asked in disbelief.

"We don't know yet. There is a period of recovery from the neurological shocks. Once she comes out of it, we'll be able to run tests to determine the effectiveness of the treatment," Raines explained calmly. "If all goes as planned, her ability to relate to the outside world will be erased. Nothing will distract her from her work and simulations will be run with three times the efficiency.

"And if it doesn't work?" Lyle asked with a raised eyebrow.

Raines shrugged. "We have another Gemini."

SL-23: Room 2303
The Centre
15:48

Jarod was lying on his cot with his hands clasped behind his head and a goofy smile on his face. The room still smelled of Miss Parker's Chanel No. 5 and the feel of her lips lingered in Jarod's mind. Eight years of dreaming about this woman had not prepared him for the real thing. Yes, Jarod could now die a happy man.

He was shaken from his thoughts when the vent cover to his room squeaked open and a shaggy head poked out of the shaft.

"Little One is hurt! Needs help, Jarod!" Angelo cried urgently.

Jarod only hesitated for a moment. Angelo had never led him astray and Jarod didn't think he would start now. Jarod lifted himself into the vent shaft with ease and followed Angelo a short distance before the Empath stopped. They entered a room that looked identical to Jarod's, although it appeared to be unoccupied at the time. A small whimper from the corner of the room made Jarod spin around quickly. He gasped when he saw Jira curled into a tight, trembling ball. Jarod rushed over, and checked her vital signs. She appeared to be in shock. Jarod grabbed the blanket off of her bed and wrapped it around the girl.

"What happened to her, Angelo?" Jarod asked.

"They hurt her like they did me! Like they did me!" Angelo exclaimed.

Jarod nodded. He didn't know what exactly had happened to Angelo, but he knew it must have been horrific.

At that moment, Sam the Sweeper came through the door to Jira's room. Jarod ran at Sam and pushed him up against the wall.

"Did you do this to her? Tell me!" he shouted.

"I didn't do anything to her! I heard a rumor that she was hurt, so I came to check on her!" Sam replied.

Jarod let go of the man's collar and stepped away. "The rumor's true. I think Mr. Raines used the same technique as he did on Angelo."

Sam crossed the room and lifted the tiny girl easily into his arms. She let out a small whimper at his touch, but her eyes remained blank and unseeing. Anger welled up inside of Sam as he looked at the helpless child in his arms.

"Where are you taking her?" Jarod growled.

"None of your business," Sam snarled back.

Jarod threw himself in the doorway. "I'm not going to let you hurt her!"

Sam sighed. He didn't want to hurt the young man. "Look, I'm not going to hurt her. I'm taking her to Sydney."

"And then what?"

"I'm getting her out of here," Sam replied resolutely.

Jarod blinked and stepped out of the way. "Y-you're taking her out of the Centre?"

Sam nodded. "Children don't belong here." And with that, he rushed out of the room.

He ran up the two flights of stairs to SIM Lab 1 and started banging on the door to the Centre's psychogenic researcher's office. Sydney motioned to the Sweeper from behind his desk and pressed the stop button on his digital voice recorder. Sam shifted Jira's weight and opened the door. He ignored the shocked look on Sydney's face and walked directly to the chaise lounge where he laid Jira. Sam took a pillow and chenille throw from a nearby armchair and tried to make the shaking girl more comfortable.

"Do you have a washcloth in your bathroom?" Sam asked gruffly, nodding to Jira's sweating brow.

Sydney nodded dumbly and disappeared for a moment. He returned with a damp washcloth which Sam placed across Jira's forehead. She cried out at the coldness, but didn't struggle.

"Sam," Sydney said softly, "what happened?"

"I don't know. I found Angelo and Jarod trying to help her in her room. Jarod said that Raines did what he did to Angelo."

"Damn him!" Sydney cursed.

"What? What is it?" Sam asked.

"He tried to artificially enhance her pretending abilities by taking away all of her sense of self."

"Bastard," Sam whispered. "What can we do?"

Sydney sighed sadly. "Nothing. It's all up to her now."

Jira was faintly aware of something happening around her, but she was still running from the monster. Her grandmother was beckoning and Jira gave her last bit of strength in a final effort to reach the safety of Catherine Parker's arms.

"I'm taking her home with me, Sydney," Sam said suddenly.

"I think that's a very good idea," Sydney replied grimly. "I'll research the effects of the procedure and see if I can't find a way to help her."

"Thank you. Now, I've got to get her out of here."

Sydney nodded. "Go down the SL-26, towards the infirmary. No one will think twice if a Sweeper is taking a subject there. Then you can make a dash for the elevator to the parking lot. Be quick and careful, Sam."

Sam grunted his assent and took Jira in his arms once more. This time she didn't make a sound. Without a backwards glance, Sam left the SIM lab and headed for SL-26.

Endenantes
T For Torture
pretender_gurl



McCarthy Household
Dover, DE
April 13, 1994
19:57

"Sam, we can't just take a child!" Evelyn McCarthy cried.

"What do you want me to do? Take her back to the people who did this to her?" Sam replied.

"There must be some kind of child services office that we can contact."

"Oh, that's great, Evelyn. I can just see that conversation now. 'Yes, ma'am. She was a subject at a secret organization where she was trained to perform covert simulations.' They'd send me to the nuthouse, Evelyn!" Sam said, throwing his hands up in the air.

Evelyn watched as her husband paced the room with his hands on his hips, pushing his suit coat back behind him. She sighed and peeked through the door where Jira was lying on the extra bed in Lucy's room. She looked so small and helpless that Evelyn's resolve melted away.

"This means a lot to you, doesn't it?" Evelyn asked softly.

Sam turned to face his wife. "Evelyn, when I first met that little girl, she ran every time I came near her because she was so used to being beaten just for breathing too loudly. I saw her one time after such an occurrence and…" Sam lowered his head for a moment before continuing. "I just kept thinking 'that could be Lucy.'"

Evelyn gave her husband a comforting squeeze. "You're right, Sam. We'll take care of her for a while."

"Thank you, honey," Sam said, giving his wife a kiss.

At that moment Lucy bounced into the hallway. "Mommy! Daddy! Joey's crying!"

Evelyn gave Sam one last peck before allowing her daughter to lead her down the hallway. Sam watched them disappear into the master bedroom before he opened the door to Lucy's room. He pulled the rocking chair closer to the twin bed where Jira lied motionless.

"Ah, kid, I'm so sorry. I should've known that Raines would try something like this." Sam reached out and dabbed her head with a damp cloth. "Come on, kid, you've got to pull through!"

Jira tossed in her sleep and Sam tried to soothe her. "I hope Sydney found something," he muttered.

Office of the Chairman
The Centre
22:59

"Daddy, I told you I wasn't starting until tomorrow!" Miss Parker reminded her father.

"I know, Angel, but we're in the middle of a crisis. We need to find the missing subject and you are the only one I trust to do so. Please, Angel, do it for me," the Chairman persisted.

Miss Parker sighed with reluctance. "What do you want me to do?"

"The cameras must have been tampered with because there is no footage of the subject leaving the room," Mr. Parker explained as Miss Parker's stomach did a flip-flop, but she didn't think her father suspected her to be behind the camera sabotage. "When the cameras came back on, we saw Jarod in the missing subject's room. I want you to find out what he knows."

"Daddy, I don't think - " Miss Parker began, trying to dissuade her father.

"I knew I could count on you, Angel! I'll see you in a bit!" the Chairman interrupted. He picked up his phone and was barking orders to the person on the other end. Miss Parker sighed and walked out the door, praying that Jarod would not make this difficult.

Undisclosed Location
The Centre
April 14, 1994
02:21

The Centre was in chaos after learning of Jira's disappearance. As was Centre protocol, Jarod had been located immediately and pulled from the SIM lab in the middle of a simulation. He was "escorted" to an undisclosed location by no less than four Sweepers. This room was just large enough for a cot and one chair, the latter of which was occupied by a Sweeper. The other three were guarding the reinforced steel door. Jarod was sitting on the cot with his back to the wall and his arms wrapped around his knees, hugging them to his chest. Jarod and the Sweeper were engaged in an unofficial staring contest, each looking at the other with scorn.

But Jarod's thoughts dwelled with Jira. He wanted to know that she was safe and being cared for. Sam had seemed sincere, but Jarod wondered whether he could trust a Sweeper.

The Pretender's rumination was interrupted by the clanking of the steel door. Jarod looked up as a well-dressed Centre employee walked into the room.

"Miss Parker!" he cried. She was the last person he was expecting to see. "What are you -"

"Get up," she ordered coldly. Jarod looked at her in confusion and surprise. "I said get up!"

Jarod did as she asked and stood. His four Sweeper buddies quickly surrounded him, two behind and one on each side. Miss Parker nodded to one of them and he produced a pair of handcuffs. Miss Parker took them and told Jarod to hold out his hands.

"Look, I can cuff them in front or in the back where it would be more uncomfortable, but these handcuffs are going on," she said when he hesitated.

Jarod slowly and reluctantly raised his arms. Miss Parker snapped a cuff on each wrist and the Sweepers on either side of Jarod grabbed him roughly by the arms. The entourage walked down the corridor to the elevator which they all crowded into. Miss Parker pressed the button for the SL-3, a sublevel that Jarod had only been to once or twice. Thinking back to those occasions, Jarod began to panic. He turned to Miss Parker who seemed to examining the door with great intensity.

"Miss Parker, what is going on?" Jarod whispered.

"Just do what they tell you to and it will be over soon," she replied softly.

Jarod was slightly taken aback by her answer. He kept looking at her until the elevator had stopped and the Sweepers escorted him off the lift. The hallways was very dark with small lights along the floor illuminating the path to the two rooms at the end of the hall. One of these rooms was dark and the other was emanating an eerie blue light. Jarod's legs felt like lead as he was escorted to the lighted room. Upon entering the room, he began to have a panic attack. His breathing became fast and shallow, hands cold and sweaty, and his heart was racing. The Pretender began to struggle against his captors for all he was worth.

The room was empty save for a table in the shape of a T. This was a T-board, T standing for torture. The surface of the table was a grid of metal and there were shackles attached to ends of the table.

Miss Parker gave Jarod a pleading look which he returned tenfold in the midst of his struggling. It was then that Miss Parker knew that Jarod would not be making this any easier for her. She gave him a slight head shake, one that told him she would not or could not help him.

"Get him up there," she told the Sweepers, averting her gaze from Jarod's scathing glare.

Though he continued to struggle, the Sweepers each grabbed one of his appendages, ripped his shirt off, brought him to the table, and secured the shackles. Then Miss Parker left the room and entered the one next door. There a group of Tower and Triumvirate members were seated around a tinted window through which one could see Jarod. The sight of the Pretender's bare chest brought to mind the day that she took him to the Centre BioTract. She remembered the warm feeling of his soft skin across that sculpted body. Her father's voice brought her from this nostalgia.

"This is your test, Angel. As head of internal security, you must find out how the girl escaped. All of our evidence points to Jarod as the source of this knowledge," Mr. Parker informed. "Here is the list of questions we want you to ask the Pretender."

Miss Parker's throat was dry and swollen, so she simply nodded.

"The missing subject is an enormous asset to the Centre. It must be found promptly, Miss Parker," Mr. Raines wheezed from his seat.

"I understand," Miss Parker managed to squeeze out. She returned to the T-Board where Jarod was bound and quickly skimmed the questions she was to ask the Pretender. Her heart sank. They were not going to let him leave here unscathed, and that meant she wouldn't either. Sighing, Miss Parker set the paper down and approached Jarod. She walked around the table twice and watched the rise and fall of his chest quicken in pace.

"Where's the subject, Jarod?" Miss Parker asked suddenly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jarod replied quickly.

"Where is the subject?"

Jarod said nothing.

"Do you remember what I told you in the elevator?" Miss Parker said softly.

"Yes."

"Then tell me where the subject is!"

"I can't do that, Miss Parker," Jarod replied.

"Fine. Be difficult. But I can be a hard-ass too, Jarod," Miss Parker said, stepping back from the table.

A noise came from the table and Jarod felt three metal rods touching his back along his spinal column.

"Please, Miss Parker, you don't have to do this," Jarod said quietly, his eyes wide with fear.

"Dammit, Jarod! I don't want to do this, so just tell me what I want to know," she pleaded.

"Miss Parker, when I first saw that little girl, it was like I was suddenly eleven years old and looking at my best friend," Jarod said quickly.

"Little girl? The subject is a little girl?" Miss Parker muttered in astonishment.

She heard the door open behind her and turned to see her father silhouetted in the doorway. She unconsciously flinched at his formidable presence.

"You know what to do, Angel," he said stiffly.

"But Daddy…"

"The T-Board must go on. Continue, Angel," her father said even more forcefully.

Miss Parker turned to look at Jarod and then back at her father. The Chairman's eyes flashed with anger and Miss Parker took a step backwards.

"Do it now!" Mr. Parker ordered with finality.

Miss Parker jumped and her finger moved to the red button.

"Please, Miss Parker, don't do this," she heard Jarod say, but his voice seemed far away. From somewhere in her mind another voice echoed forward.

"This is a chance for you to prove yourself, Angel. Now, make your father proud."

Miss Parker pressed the button.

A surge of electricity spewed from the metal rods and Jarod's body shook, rattling the shackles that held his bruised body to the table. Miss Parker watched in horror as Jarod bit through his lip, trying not to scream. She was in a trance, oblivious to everything around her except Jarod, disbelieving that she was responsible for the agony of the man before her.

Pressing the button to terminate the machine, Miss Parker rushed out of the room and down the corridor. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to get away from the man she had just tortured, the man she loved.

Endenantes
Chapter 22
pretender_gurl



Simulation Laboratory 2
Centre Biological Research Facility
Donoterase, Maryland
April 14, 1994
05:30

Jonas stood in the center of the SIM lab, patiently awaiting instructions from Mr. Raines on today's simulation schedule. He suppressed a yawn as Raines walked into the lab. Jonas had not gotten any decent sleep last night since Mr. Lyle's Sweepers had made sure that any sleeping position was painful. But Jonas knew that it was his own fault. After all, emotions were a sign of weakness and there was no room for weakness with Mr. Raines.

"Jonas," Mr. Raines greeted the boy as he entered the lab.

"Good morning, sir," Jonas returned.

Instead of walking up the observation deck in the lab, Mr. Raines stood directly in front of Jonas.

"Jonas, I know that you learned some troubling things yesterday, but the important thing for you to know is that the Centre is now your family. We will protect you, but you have to help us in return. You have been gifted with the intelligence designed to help others. Your emotions will only get in the way of your work, and so will dwelling on your family. They're gone Jonas. It's time to forget the past and look to the future," Raines said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Yes, sir," Jonas mumbled, looking at the floor. Mr. Raines was right. He should be grateful for everything the Centre had done for him. Jonas decided that he would follow Mr. Raines's advice and stop dwelling on his past. "My allegiance is to the Centre, Mr. Raines."

Raines straightened up with a smile. This was the twin who would redeem the Centre. Gemini was still the answer.

McCarthy Household
Dover, Delaware
05:38

Evelyn woke up to the shrill ringing of the telephone. She turned to wake Sam, but he wasn't in bed beside her. Evelyn picked up the handset and mumbled hello as she threw back the covers. She slipped into her robe as the caller asked for Sam. Evelyn asked him to hold for a moment, and padded down the hallway to Lucy's room.

Sam had fallen asleep in the rocking chair beside Jira's bed. Evelyn gently shook him awake.

"Someone named Sydney is on the phone for you," she informed.

Sam thanked her and grabbed the phone.

"Sydney? Did you find anything?"

"I'm not sure, Sam, but I think so. In any case, it's our best bet so far."

"I took the morning off. Can you get over here?" Sam asked.

"I'll be there in an hour."

Sam clicked the 'off' button as soon as he heard the dial tone. Evelyn had gone back to their bedroom where Joey was crying. Sam stood up, stretching his stiff body and yawning.

"Daddy," said a small voice from behind him. Sam turned to see his daughter sitting up in bed. "Daddy, why is that girl so quiet?"

Sam walked over to Lucy's bed and knelt down beside her. "She's very sick, Princess. Some mean people did bad things to her."

"But you're going to make it all better, right Daddy?" Lucy asked with a confident smile.

Sam smiled back sadly. "I'm going to try. Now go back to sleep for a little bit, Princess. You don't want to be tired at pre-school later."

Sam tucked his daughter back into bed. He smoothed back her golden locks and kissed her forehead. Checking on Jira one last time, he went down the hall to his own bedroom where Evelyn was rocking Joey.

"That was Sydney," Sam said, referring to the phone call. "He thinks he may have found something. He'll be here in a little while."

Evelyn nodded and gently laid Joey back down in his crib. "I'll go make some breakfast while you get dressed."

Parker Mansion
Blue Cove, Delaware
06.58

Miss Parker rolled away from the sunlight streaming in through her windows.

"Don't cry, Miss Parker. Please don't be sad. I'm never sad when I'm with you. After all, you've given me the sun."

"Yeah, and then I put you through a T-Board," Miss Parker grumbled as she recalled Jarod's words from so long ago.

Miss Parker opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the framed photograph of herself and her mother that had been taken after a piano recital when Miss Parker was ten years old.

"Oh, Mama. What am I doing?" Miss Parker lamented aloud.

The phone rang and Miss Parker chose to ignore it. The answering machine clicked on and Miss Parker waited through the pre-recorded message until her father's voice came on the machine.

"Angel, where are you? You were supposed to be here an hour ago! Now, I understand that you're a little upset about yesterday's T-Board, but you're a Parker for godsakes! Pull yourself together and get to the Centre now!

Miss Parker reached over to the answering machine and yanked it from the wall, sending it flying across the room where it shattered against the opposite wall.

McCarthy Household
Dover, Delaware
07:03

Sydney looked up at the house and double checked the address Sam had given him. The small house was a pale blue color with white painted shutters. Tasteful shrubbery surrounded the house and Sydney couldn't help but smile at the tulips that grew along the pathway to the door. Sydney quickly admonished himself. Just because Sam worked at the Centre as a Sweeper didn't mean that he couldn't have a normal home life. He rang the doorbell and waited as footsteps came to the door.

Sam answered the door wearing Calvin Klein jeans and a faded University of Delaware sweatshirt. On his hip was a baby boy in a blue onesie.

"Thanks for coming, Sydney," Sam said as he held the door open for his guest.

Sydney stepped into the house and was wiping his feet on the mat when he noticed a curly blonde head darting out from behind the corner to catch a glimpse of this stranger.

"Lucy," Sam called, addressing Goldilocks. "Lucy, this is Sydney. Daddy and Sydney work together. Sydney, this is my daughter Lucy and this little guy is my son, Joey."

"You have beautiful children, Sam," Sydney told his colleague.

Sam nodded his thanks and led Sydney into the kitchen where tantalizing aromas met his senses. Standing before the stove was a tall, lean woman with flaxen hair that was pulled into a ponytail.

"Sydney, I'd like you to meet my wife, Evelyn," Sam said as he kissed the woman's cheek and handed her the baby. Evelyn wiped her hands and turned to greet her husband's guest. Evelyn's lustrous green eyes were brighter than any Sydney had seen before and he couldn't help staring at them as he shook the woman's hand.

"It's so nice to finally meet one of Sam's co-workers," Evelyn said. "I'm afraid that breakfast is not quite ready yet, but it shouldn't be more than five or ten minutes."

"Oh, that's quite alright. Actually, I'd like to see how the girl is, if it's not too much trouble."

"Not at all. She's in Lucy's room right now," Sam said, leading the way to the bedroom.

Sam pushed open the door that had been left ajar and Sydney followed him into the bedroom. The ivy colored carpet from the hallway also decorated the bedroom. The walls had been painted a very light rose color that matched the antique doll border that surrounded the room near the ceiling. The blinds were drawn across the two windows in the room and a white valance with ivy bows hung from the top of the windows. There were two twin beds in the room, made from cherry wood with a low head and footboard and matching quilts. One of the beds was made with a monogrammed pillow that said 'Lucy Elizabeth' and a doll that bore a remarkable likeness to her owner.

In the other bed, Jira appeared to be in the throes of a nightmare. She kept throwing her head from one side to the other and was whimpering loudly. Her pale skin was coated in sweat and her long braid was coming undone Sydney was surprised to see Sam rush to the rocking chair beside the bed and stroke the girl's head with a tenderness that Sydney would never have expected from him. Sydney watched as the girl began to calm down at Sam's soothing words and touch. The scene was reminded him of the first week Jarod was at the Centre.

*****

February 7, 1973
21.23

Sydney was packing up for the weekend. This week had been an emotional rollercoaster for him. Four days ago, a little boy who couldn't have been more than three or four was brought to the Centre as a new subject in the Pretender Program. Eight months after his application to be given a subject in the project, Sydney's request had finally been granted. This subject was his.

They were calling the boy Jarod. Based on the tests they had been running, Jarod appeared to be the most gifted of all the Pretenders currently in the program, and he was so young! Sydney had high hopes for the project. The Centre's Pretenders could do so much to help mankind, not to mention the knowledge he could obtain from studying the physiological and psychological attributes of the Pretenders. The project would be the golden goose of the Psychogenic Research Department.

And yet, as elated as he was over the prospective success of the Pretender Program, Sydney's conscience was nagging at him. He reached over to the closed circuit television on his desk and turned it on. Immediately the surveillance feed from Jarod's space came onto the screen. The boy was curled up in a fetal position, hugging the limp pillow to his chest, but he wasn't sleeping. Sydney turned off his record of Brahms and turned up the volume on the television. Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1 in d-minor was replaced by the muffled sobbing of the little boy in his light blue cowboy pajamas. Sydney's stomach twisted violently.

He turned off the television and sighed. There wasn't anything he could do about it without compromising the integrity of the study. The boy would get used to living at the Centre and forget his family with time. Besides, if the Tower found out that Sydney had interfered, he would loose his subject. Sydney picked up his briefcase and coat and left the office. Sydney walked down the empty corridors of sublevel 21 and boarded the elevator at the end of the hall. But instead of going to the lobby, Sydney found himself pressing the button for SL-14 where the child subjects were kept. Taking a deep breath, Sydney left the elevator and took a right down the hallway to Jarod's space. He left his briefcase and coat by the wall underneath the access panel and swiped his keycard. The lock clicked open and Sydney walked in.

Jarod had his head buried in the flimsy pillow and Sydney assumed that the boy hadn't heard him come in. Sydney crossed the room to the corner where the bed was and knelt down beside it.

"Jarod? What's wrong?" he asked softly.

Jarod sprang up in the bed, still clutching the pillow, and looked at Sydney with big, round eyes. Sydney got up and sat on the edge of the bed.

"I-I had a b-bad dream," Jarod said, his lower lip trembling.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Sydney asked again.

Jarod shook his head, then seemed to think better of it.

"Sydney?" he asked. Sydney leaned in closer to show the boy he was listening. "Do my mommy and daddy not love me anymore? Is that why they sent me here?"

Sydney leaned back, trying to think of the best answer. "I'm sure that your parents love you very much, Jarod."

"Then why did they send me away?" Jarod asked, his brown eyes filling with tears.

"I think they knew what a special little boy you are and that the Centre is the best place for you to maximize your potential and help people," Sydney explained as much to himself as to the sad little boy before him. "Now, you should go back to sleep, Jarod, and I'll see you in the morning."

Sydney stood and turned to the door.

"Sydney?" Jarod called in a timid voice.

"Yes, Jarod?"

"Do you think you could tuck me in?" Jarod asked.

Sydney smiled and walked back over to the cot. He helped Jarod lie back down and then pulled the sheet and thin blanket over him. Sydney gave the boy's hand a comforting squeeze and went to stand up, but Jarod held onto his hand. Sydney knew that he shouldn't, but he sat back down on the edge of the bed. He tightened his grip on the boy's hand and ran his other hand through the boy's soft hair, staying long after Jarod had fallen asleep.

*****

"She seems to have nightmares constantly," Sam was saying.

"Yes, I talked with her for a while and she seemed…plagued by her past," Sydney affirmed.

"She doesn't deserve a life like Angelo's, Sydney. Can you help her?" Sam asked hopefully.

Sydney sighed. "No, Sam. I can't."

Sam looked up in shock. "But you said - "

"I can't help her, but I think you can," Sydney finished.

Office of the Chairman
The Centre
07:05

"She's not answering," Mr. Parker told the wheezing man across the desk.

"I told you this wasn't a good idea," Mr. Raines hissed back. "She's too much like her mother!"

"Catherine may have been her mother, but I am her father and I raised her! She's a Parker, dammit!"

"You could have fooled me," Mr. Raines muttered.

"How long has it been since the girl disappeared?" Mr. Parker asked with a glare.

"Sixteen hours and still no sign of her."

"Do you think that Jarod knows where she is?" Mr. Parker continued with his interrogation.

"It doesn't matter anymore. He's unconscious down in the infirmary and probably will be out of it for a while. But I'm telling you, that doesn't matter! We should re-focus on the boy. Jira's talents were sub-par, stunted by her time with the Triumvirate," Mr. Raines insisted.

"So what course of action do you propose, Raines?"

"Drop the recovery of the female from high priority to low. We can run routine scans of hospitals, schools, and other areas with high traffic by children. If something comes up, we'll investigate. But in the meantime, we increase the security around the boy and accelerate his training. By the time he is twelve, we will have a Pretender matching Jarod's skill level," Raines explained.

"Hmm. I like that, Raines. Set it up. However, the boy has four years to go until his twelfth birthday. In the meantime, Jarod is still our greatest asset," Mr. Parker reasoned. "I'm bringing Sydney back in as Jarod's mentor. Perhaps he can bring Jarod out of his catatonic stupor."

"I never liked Sydney," Raines growled between clenched teeth. "His brother and your wife were too close. Both of them may have had a hand in Catherine's plans to cross the Centre."

"Sydney is the only one who can get Jarod to cooperate these days. We need him."

Mr. Parker pressed the button on his intercom.

"May I help you, Mr. Chairman?" a sing-song voice came.

"Have Sydney paged with the message that he has been reassigned to Jarod," Mr. Parker instructed, cutting the woman off before she could confirm his request. Then he turned his attention back to Mr. Raines. "And how is the boy progressing, Mr. Raines?"

"Swiftly. We had a minor setback when he went searching for information on his family, but it has been taken care of and seems to have solidified his loyalty to the Centre. The male Gemini is ours, Mr. Parker."

Endenantes
Chapter 23
pretender_gurl



>You're almost there, baby!< Catherine Parker called out in Jira's mind.

Jira screamed as the shadow chasing her grabbed hold of her ankle. With a quick kick, she managed to free herself and jumped into the safety of her grandmother's arms.

>You did it! Don't worry, baby. No one will hurt you anymore. I'll keep you safe< Catherine soothed.

Jira smiled as Catherine began to sing to her granddaughter.

>Cree craw toad's foot, geese walk barefoot. Cree craw toad's foot…<

McCarthy Household
Dover, Delaware
April 14, 1994
08:47

Sydney was seated at the McCarthy's kitchen table enjoying his second cup of coffee and watching with amusement as baby Joey played with his mashed bananas in his highchair. Evelyn McCarthy was washing dishes at the sink while trying to entertain her husband's guest since Sam was dropping Lucy off at preschool.

"I hope breakfast wasn't too horrible, Sydney," Evelyn said, turning towards the table as she wiped the soap suds off her hands. "Sam usually does the cooking."

Sydney had to swallow his coffee quickly to keep himself from choking. Sam the Sweeper cooking?! Sydney could hardly believe it.

"On the contrary, Mrs. McCarthy. It was delicious," Sydney assured her.

The two adults made small talk while Evelyn finished cleaning up and then joined Sydney and the baby at the table. They were discussing the high price of gasoline when Sam walked in the back door. He moved to the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting beside his wife.

"Alright, Sydney, let's hear this plan of yours," Sam said, addressing the psychiatrist.

"I'm not sure how much you know about the process that Raines was using on the girl…" Sydney began.

"We don't know anything."

"Raines was using a type of neuroelectric shock to mold Jira into a better Pretender," Sydney explained, giving a shortened version of the procedure. "The degree to which she recovers will depend mainly on two factors: her own will to recuperate and the support of those around her."

"I don't understand," Sam interrupted. "Jira isn't a Pretender; she's a Perceiver."

"Her parents are both Pretenders and it is therefore almost certain that Jira carries the Pretender gene in addition to her Perceiving and Empathic abilities."

"Wait, her parents are Pretenders? Meaning that they are still alive?" Sam asked in disbelief.

Sydney smiled. "Yes, they are, and I believe you know them, Sam."

Sam's eyebrows shot up even higher.

"The Centre stole reproductive samples from two Prodigies and created genetically altered embryos which were implanted into surrogate wombs. Jarod and Miss Parker have no idea that they are parents," Sydney explained.

Sam cursed and ran his hand through his thinning hair.

"Well, if Jira has a mother and a father, we must return her to them," Evelyn said quickly. Sam and Sydney looked at each other.

"It's not that simple, Evelyn," Sam said to his wife. "You heard Sydney. They don't know that Jira is their kid and even if they did…" Sam's voice trailed off.

"Even if they did, they would not be able to care for her," Sydney finished for Sam, understanding from the Sweeper's look that his wife didn't know what kind of a place the Centre was. "If Sam were to return Jira to either of her parents, she would undoubtedly be found by the people who hurt her."

"So what can we do, Sydney?" Sam asked quickly.

Sydney sighed, debating how much he should reveal to Sam and Evelyn. "Jira has one relative who does know of her existence and has a legal claim to her care. However, he does not believe he can keep her safe. I have the signed paperwork requesting that Jira's guardianship be transferred to a family that can properly care for her and encourage her recovery. I believe that you are that family."

Sam and Evelyn looked at each other as Sam reached across the table and took his wife's hand.

"How can we help her?" Evelyn asked, giving Sam's hand a squeeze.

"Love her," Sydney said simply. "It will be a difficult road at first, but I will do everything in my power to ease Jira's transition to life outside of the Centre."

Sam and Evelyn exchanged another glance. "It would be our honor to have Jira as a part of our family."

Sydney smiled at the couple, knowing that his great-niece would be in good hands.

***********************

>It's time to go back now, baby girl< Catherine Parker whispered to the girl in her arms.

>No! I want to stay with you!< Jira cried, clutching her grandmother tightly.

>Trust me, baby, it's safe now. You'll be alright; I'm watching over you.<

Jira became aware of her pounding headache and for a moment, she was afraid that she was back in Renewal Wing with Mr. Raines. Jira opened her eyes and gasped in surprise and relief at the sight of her surroundings. She shifted her position and looked down in surprise. The bed was soft! And she was warm! These were words that Jira knew, but had never experienced before. They were even better than she had imagined in her dreams!

Jira sat up in the bed, smiling and how the mattress sank under her weight rather than pushing back against her bony frame, then quickly grimacing as her headache flared up. When the sharp pain had reduced to a dull throbbing, she glanced around the furnished room, amazed by all the colors and textures surrounding her. Closing her eyes, Jira concentrated on the room. She could feel concern and caring emanating from her surroundings. Jira frowned as she heard voices floating from down the hall. She pushed back the covers and decided to investigate. Jira stifled a giggle as she wiggled her toes in the ivy colored carpet.

Still musing at the strange sensation of the carpet, Jira prowled down the hallway to where the voices were coming from. She peered around the corner to her left and saw three adults and a little baby sitting at a table. Jira recognized the younger of the two men from somewhere, but she couldn't remember where. Hoever, her Inner Sense was telling her that he was safe and that she could trust him. He was sitting in between a blonde woman and the baby. The other man had his back to Jira, but she recognized the voice. As Jira was trying to place it, she eavesdropped on the conversation.

"There are several precautions that you must take. The Centre will be running searches in local areas with high populations of children: schools, hospitals, shopping malls…" the familiar voice was saying.

When Sydney mentioned the Centre, Jira gasped in fear. That was a bad place! Three sets of eyes turned to look in her direction and she knew she was caught. Jira's eyes darted around the house, looking for an exit. Sydney recognized the girl's actions and called out to her.

"It's alright now! You can trust me!"

Jira paused as she heard the familiar voice echoing her grandmother's words of consolation. She slowly lifted her large, pale eyes to those watching her. The older man looked so familiar, but Jira couldn't sift through the fog in her mind to put the pieces together.

Jira backed up unintentionally as Sydney moved closer to the girl. He knelt and waited for Jira to finish Empathing him.

"I know you," Jira said quietly after a few moments. "Sydney."

"Yes! That's very good!"

"Where am I?" Jira asked.

"You're safe. Away from the Centre," Sydney replied.

"But… but the Centre is my home. They took me in after my parents died. I owe the Centre my allegiance," Jira recited as Raines had conditioned her to.

Sydney raised his hand to cut her off. "It's very important that you tell us exactly what you can remember about the Centre."

"It's… it's all a blur. I don't know what was real and what wasn't," Jira said without emotion.

"What is the last thing that you do remember?" Sydney asked.

"I couldn't move… there were leather straps…" Jira looked down at her wrists, pulling back her gray sleeves to reveal friction burns around each wrist. "… and the wires… then it hurt so badly!"

Evelyn squeezed Sam's hand tightly as the little girl's tears began to fall without her even knowing.

"Mrs. McCarthy, would you feel comfortable helping Jira bathe and then get dressed in some of the clothes that I brought?" Sydney asked, nodding to the department store bag that he had left in the front hall.

"Of course!" Evelyn said, walking over to Jira. "Come on, kiddo. Let's get you cleaned up."

When Jira and Evelyn had moved into the back bathroom, Sam let out a large sigh and picked up the baby.

"How could anyone do that to a child, Sydney?" Sam asked, rocking his baby boy in his arms.

"She was never a child," Sydney answered simply. "Although, Raines may have inadvertently given her the chance to be one."

Sam looked up sharply as Sydney continued.

"The mind of a child is highly malleable. The procedure enhanced this suggestibility by fading her memories. She can no longer recall events from her past with any degree of reliability or accuracy."

"That's great! She won't be able to remember everything that happened to her at the Centre!" Sam concluded happily.

Sydney shook his head causing Sam's smile to invert itself.

"You cannot make someone forget a memory if they do not want to forget it. Jira remembers everything that happened to her, but it has been fragmented and buried in her psyche."

"So what's the problem?" Sam asked, eyeing the shrink.

"They won't stay buried forever," Sydney said sadly. "Eventually, Jira will have to face the truth of what occurred at the Centre. Research suggests that the sooner therapy takes place, the better chance the victim has of recovery."

"And that's what you meant when you said that you would be willing to help."

Sydney nodded. "I would like to have the opportunity to help Jira sort through her memories and emotions until she can find even the smallest sliver of who she is. Besides that, Jira's relative has set up a sizable trust fund that should take care of any needs she may have," Sydney explained, still leaving out the fact that his twin was the girl's grandfather.

Sam nodded his head emphatically. "Of course I'd like you to help Jira."

***********************

"So what's your name, honey?" Evelyn asked the girl cowering before her.

"I think it is 'Jira' but I don't really remember," Jira said, worrying her bottom lip as she tried to sort through her jumbled mind.

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry," Evelyn said, moving forward to take out Jira's braid.

Jira saw Evelyn's movement and scrambled backwards, running out of the bedroom and towards the door she had seen earlier. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the two men talking in the kitchen. Jira ran the other way, only to find herself in the living room where she became disoriented. Jira felt her head spinning and collapsed on the floor.

Sam gave a shout and raced into the living room, jumped over the sofa, and knelt beside the trembling girl. She looked up at him, her pale eyes crazed with fear.

"It's okay. You're safe now, it's okay," Sam chanted soothingly until his mantra had calmed the girl down.

Behind them, Sydney turned to Evelyn and asked what had happened.

"I don't know. I was going to undo her hair and she ran away from me," Evelyn responded. "What happened to her there, Sydney?"

Sydney looked back at Jira who had her knees drawn up to her chest and sat stiffly with her arms wrapped around them.

"I can only imagine…" Sydney murmered.

While they were talking, Sam edged closer to Jira until he was sitting right up next to her. Then he slowly brought his arm around her shoulders, whispering encouragement when she flinched at his touch. Sam looked up at Evelyn and motioned for her to come and sit on the other side of the girl. Evelyn approached her slowly from the front so that Jira could see her the entire time and wouldn't be scared if Evelyn came out of nowhere. She placed her hand on Jira's trembling one and was surprised when Jira took her hand and squeezed it tightly.

Sydney came to join the trio, sitting in front of Jira. The girl lifted her head and looked at Sydney.

"Jira, you are safe now. Sam and Evelyn are going to take care of you and you are going to stay here with them. Would you like that?" Sydney asked.

"I don't have to go back to the Centre?" Jira asked softly, hardly daring it to be true.

"No. The Centre will never find you. I promise you that," Sydney assured.

To everyone's delight, the corners of Jira's mouth turned up into the slightest of smiles. Sam looked at Sydney and they both knew that this was a wonderful step for a child who had never been allowed emotions.

"Okay then, kiddo," Sam said, "you go with Evelyn and take a bath while Sydney and I make you something to eat."

Sam and Sydney went to the kitchen to check on the baby and talk logistics as Evelyn and Jira once again left for the bathroom, this time hand in hand. Evelyn rolled up the sleeve of her blouse to check the water temperature as she drew the girl a bath.

"Is… is that warm water?" Jira asked in amazement. Again, this was a concept she had heard of, but never understood.

"Well of course, honey!" Evelyn said, looking confused. "Now take those clothes off and I'll grab some bubble bath."

It was Jira's turn to look confused as she shrugged out of her Centre clothes. Evelyn poured in the purple bubble bath and laughed as Jira's eyes grew as wide as the bubbles.

But Evelyn's laughter stopped abruptly and she gasped when she saw Jira's beaten and mutilated body. There were burn marks the size of silver dollars on Jira's chest where the electric current from the Motivator had entered and exited her body. In the mirror behind the girl, Evelyn caught a glimpse of the welts that covered every inch of Jira's back and the scars underneath them. The bright light of the bathroom accentuated Jira's face and Evelyn could see small bruises on her temples from the electrodes and the yellowish remainder of a black eye. Similar coloring covered the girl's spindly legs and arms.

Evelyn forced herself to calm down because she could see that her reaction was upsetting Jira.

"Um, okay. Why don't you just relax in the bathtub for a moment and I'll go get you a washcloth?" Evelyn said.

She waited until Jira had gotten in the tub before rushing to the bathroom in the master bedroom where she promptly threw up.

After emptying her stomach and rinsing her mouth, Evelyn walked into the kitchen where Sydney was bouncing Joey on his knee.

"Look, honey! Joey and Sydney… Honey? Evelyn, what's wrong?" Sam asked after taking one look at the expression on his wife's face.

"What the hell kind of place do you work at?" Evelyn questioned both men evenly.

"Why? What is…?"

"That little girl has been tortured in…unspeakable…ways! What in God's name do you people do up there?" Evelyn's voice was shaking as she spoke.

"Mrs. McCarthy, you must understand…" Sydney began before Evelyn cut him off again.

"Yes, yes, Sydney. Please help me understand why an eight year old girl's back is completely covered in scar tissue. Help me understand why she is grossly underweight and why her bony limbs are multicolored from bruising. Help me understand why she has been electrocuted, for godsakes!" Evelyn cried as her calm demeanor slipped away.

Sam stood and wiped away the tears on his wife's face that she hadn't even known were there.

"Evelyn, she's safe now. Sydney is going to help her sort through everything that happened at the Centre. All that you and I have to do is show her kindness and love, okay? All right?" Sam asked as he held his wife.

Evelyn nodded and pulled away, mumbling something about a washcloth. Sam turned back to Sydney. Joey's pudgy hand was resting on Sydney's mouth and the psychiatrist had a faraway look in his eye. Sam knew that he was seeing a different little boy and the regret in Sydney's eyes told Sam the turmoil that was raging within him.

Sydney and Sam sat in silence for a long time, just watching Joey play. The silence was finally broken by Sydney's cell phone.

"This is Sydney… Mr. Chairman!... What happened? Where is he?... I'll be right there!" Sydney cried as he flipped the phone closed.

"Is everything all right, Sydney?" Sam asked as the older man quickly gathered his belongings.

"No, it's not. Jarod's been hurt. He's unresponsive in the Centre infirmary. I have to go to him now."

Endenantes
Loneliness & Heartache
pretender_gurl



Infirmary
The Centre
Blue Cove, Delaware
April 14, 1994
12:32

"Jarod!" Sydney cried as he rushed into the sterile white room in the Centre's Infirmary.

The Pretender was lying on a reclining hospital bed intensely staring at the ceiling as if he were counting the holes in the plaster. He was in white Infirmary pajamas and had a five o'clock shadow. Reviewing Jarod's chart, he say that Jarod had gone into shock and lost consciousness for a brief period of time. Sydney moved to the bed and began checking Jarod's vital signs. Satisfied that his charge was not in imminent danger, Sydney sat back in the chair beside the bed and held Jarod's hand.

"Jarod? Jarod, can you hear me? It's Sydney," the psychiatrist said, but he received no response.

This puzzled Sydney. Jarod should have bounced back by now. His body was as healthy as ever, but it seemed as though Jarod's mind was holding back. It was almost as if Jarod didn't want to heal, didn't want to come back to reality. Watching the even rise and flow of the Pretender's chest, Sydney decided that he could only wait. The rest was up to Jarod.

SL-5: Tech Room
The Centre
13:05

Miss Parker stood before the wall of surveillance screens with her arms crossed. Her bluish-gray eyes scanned the wall slowly, occasionally glancing at the blueprints of the building that were on the desk before her. She was following the movements of her Sweeper, Larron as he wound his way through the Centre. The Tower had specified that the Sweeper should never be out of the camera's sight for more than two seconds.

Her father had forcefully encouraged her to return to work at the Centre. Her first project was updating the surveillance system in the building to ensure that cameras and audio bugs were placed in the most strategic of locations. The feeds that were shown in this area of the Tech Room were mostly from offices of the menial Centre workers, residential areas, the Infirmary, and other low clearance areas of the building.

On the far left wall of the room was locked door that required a very high level of security to enter. This room had the feeds from the all of the laboratories, Renewal Wing, offices of the higher-ups, and the conference rooms. The techs in there had all been with the Centre for at least twenty years and were given extremely thorough background checks. Miss Parker also suspected that the Centre was holding a stick over their heads, but she doubted that anyone could prove it.

"Camera 49 needs to be moved ten degrees to the upper left," Miss Parker called as Larron disappeared behind a pillar.

A young woman called out a confirmation as she typed codes into the computer and Miss Parker watched the camera angle shift. Besides changing camera angles, over eighty new units had been installed throughout the Centre since Jarod and Jira had both escaped the Centre. She had done Jarod's space personally since she knew where their special hiding place was under the camera when they were children. The Centre had also increased the number of Sweepers and Cleaners by thirty percent. From now on, four Sweepers would stand guard in the laboratories and the remainder of the Sweepers were assigned to the most important Centre subjects.

"Miss Parker! What are you doing here?" Sydney asked as he came into the room.

"I'm reviewing the surveillance system," Miss Parker said quickly. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for the surveillance on Jarod today. He seems to be experiencing some sort of catatonia and I don't know what brought it on," Sydney replied.

Alarms sounded inside Miss Parker's head. "Is he all right?"

"He seems to be stable for now, but I believe he may have gone through a T-Board."

He's sharp for an old man, Miss Parker thought. "Yeah, Syd, he did. What did you expect? He ran away from the Centre! You had to have known they would retaliate."

Sydney sighed. "I know, and it's not the first T-Board that Jarod has attended. I just don't understand his reaction. It's as if he no longer wants to face the world, and that is not like Jarod."

"I'm really sorry, Sydney. If there's anything I can do to help..." Miss Parker offered, hoping that there wasn't.

"Perhaps there is…" Sydney began thoughtfully. "Perhaps there is."

Simulation Laboratory 2
Centre Biological Research Facility
Donoterase, Maryland
13:27

Jonas had just finished another simulation, his third so far today. This one had been fairly easy and he solved it primarily through mathematical formulas and algorithms. He was scheduled to work out in the fitness room at 1400 hours. Since he had finished the simulation early, Mr. Lyle gave him a booklet of exercises to work on. Jonas looked down at the hyperbolic functions and their derivatives and sighed.

Mr. Lyle was sitting at the desk in his office in the corner of the lab. He was filling out paperwork, not focused on Jonas at all. The boy put his pencil down and closed his eyes. He tried to concentrate as hard as he could on the voice that he had heard in his head earlier. It had been a female voice, and she was whispering for him to hold on. But Jonas couldn't find her. He couldn't hear anything.

Pushing his chair back, Jonas stood and walked to the doorway of Mr. Lyle's office. He knocked on the doorjamb and cleared his throat.

"Mr. Lyle?"

"Hmm?" Lyle replied absently.

"Could I talk to you?" Jonas asked.

"About what?" Lyle asked without stopping his work.

"I don't hear the voice anymore," Jonas said quietly.

Lyle looked up at the boy and put his pen down. "What voice?"

"A girl's voice. I used hear her talking to me inside my head, but I can't anymore."

"What did the voice say?" Lyle asked, his eyes cold and hard.

"Um, I'd rather not say," Jonas said, looking at his feet and jamming his toe into the floor.

"What did you hear, Jonas?" Mr. Lyle asked in a warning tone, jumping up from his chair to tower over the eight year-old.

"She said she was going to come for me!" Jonas said quickly.

Lyle visibly relaxed and began to chuckle. "She's not coming for you, Jonas. No one is. Your family is dead. Mr. Raines and I are your family now. Do you understand?"

"Oh, yes, sir! I understand," Jonas said emphatically.

Lyle smiled at the boy's enthusiasm. "Good, then let's get back to work."

Mr. Lyle's smile grew as he watched Jonas walk back to his table and continue the exercises he had been assigned. Raines was right. The pictures of Jonas's murdered 'parents' had indeed sealed the boy's loyalty to the Centre. Though they had lost the girl, Jonas was most definitely theirs. As long as secrecy prevailed, Project Gemini was Lyle's ticket to the top.

Infirmary
The Centre
15:32

Jarod was vaguely aware of his surroundings. He could see the bright white of the room and the occasional dark blur of another person in the room. He heard muffled voices talking above him and could smell the scent of antiseptic all around him.

From this, Jarod had deduced that he was in the Infirmary. Tracing back the events of the previous day, he remembered the T-Board and immediately his chest constricted. It felt like his heart was shattering into a million pieces and he had difficulty breathing.

Miss Parker had betrayed him.

Jarod couldn't imagine facing her again, or Sydney for that matter. Where had he been? Didn't Sydney care that Jarod was called to a T-Board?

The empty feeling in Jarod's stomach and his aching heart were all that he could clearly process. So Jarod used his pain to shut out the world. Transforming Miss Parker's betrayal into a defensive wall between his mind and body, Jarod replayed moments of warmth between them; the first time they met, their first kiss, the day her mother died, their adventures, the day Faith died, the escape to the gardens, all leading up to the consummation of their relationship less than twenty-four hours ago.

And then twelve hours ago, she sent 325 volts of electricity through his body.

Suddenly, the wall that separated Jarod from his pain crumbled and he was once again left with his loneliness and heartache.

Endenantes
Promises
pretender_gurl



Miss Parker's Office
L-2: SIS
The Centre
April 21, 1994
16.24

Miss Parker threw her head back and sighed with frustration. She had finished the week-long surveillance sweep of the Centre and had been looking forward to going home. Then Sydney called for what seemed like the hundredth time that week. He was still insisting that she help Jarod. Now she was torn between childhood loyalties and her father's expectations.

Rolling her chair back, she unlocked the top drawer of her new desk. It held one item - her old diary. Opening to a random page, Miss Parker began to read.

May 13, 1980

One month ago today, my mommy died. Daddy said she was sick for a long time before she died, but I don't remember that about her. I remember all of the good times that we had together. I remember little things about her too, like her laugh, how she looked in her favorite dress, and the smell of her shampoo in her hair as she brushed it. But what I miss the most is having her arms around me when I was sad or scared.

I didn't have school today so Daddy brought me to the Centre so early in the morning that it was still dark outside. Big raindrops fell on the top of the car and trickled down the windows. I followed one with my finger, but Daddy yelled at me for touching the glass so I just traced the path with my eyes.

When we got to the Centre, I asked Daddy to come with me to visit Momma, but he said he was too busy. He said that if I went, I shouldn't stay for very long because I might get sick from the rain. I promised that I wouldn't, but Daddy didn't see that I had my fingers crossed behind my back.

In the first few weeks after Momma died, Sydney came with me to see her almost everyday. He said I shouldn't go out there alone, but today was a special day and I wanted it to just be me and Momma. I followed the path that Sydney and I took and found Momma very quickly. It was almost like she was calling to me.

I knelt on the wet grass, not caring that the mud stained my dress and tights. I told Momma about everything that I was doing - the school play, my special teacher, and Jarod.

Then I told her how much I miss her. I told her how Daddy is always working, and how I now have a room at the Centre because sometimes Daddy works through the night or goes on business trips and leaves me at the Centre where the Sweepers watch me. I told her that I almost prefer it when Daddy is gone because then I don't have to worry about him getting angry with me.

I realized that I was crying and then I remembered how Momma would hold me when I was sad and that made me cry harder. I wanted to feel her arms around me again and hear her comforting words as she smoothed back my hair. I moved closer to the headstone and curled up beside it, not caring that the rain had soaked through my coat or that I was shivering. I just wanted to be close to Momma.

I don't remember falling asleep, but the next thing I knew, Sydney was shaking me. I tried to tell him to leave me alone, but my mouth couldn't seem to form the words. Sydney said a bad word and then lifted me in his arms. I remember looking down and seeing a bouquet of flowers on the ground and realized that Sydney must have come out to see my mommy too.

Sydney carried me into the Centre, calling out for help. He took me to a room that was all white and smelled funny. Sydney started prodding me - listening to me breathing with a stethoscope and taking my temperature. He stuck a thermometer in my mouth and said the bad word again when he read it. A nurse took off my wet clothes and covered me in a blue hospital gown. I tried to push her away from me, but I felt so sleepy. My eyelids felt like lead and I couldn't keep them open.

The next thing I remember, I woke up in the same white room, but this time I felt much better.

"Miss Parker!" someone called.

I turned and was surprised to see Jarod sitting in the chair beside my bed.

"Jarod? What are you doing here? What am I doing here?" I asked through a dry throat.

"Sydney said I could come. You were experiencing early signs of hypothermia from being out in the wind and rain. We were really worried," Jarod said, speaking for Sydney and himself. Jarod reached out and took my hand in his. "I'm glad you're alright, Miss Parker."

Jarod stayed with me all day. Sydney brought him some work, but let him do it in the Infirmary. When he was done, we talked for a long time about our families and about death. We shared a lot in those few hours. It was like talking with Momma; I could say exactly what I was thinking and Jarod would understand.

"Jarod, let's make each other a promise," I said resolutely. "Let's promise to never leave each other. Then we can be like a family."

"I'd like that, Miss Parker."

Miss Parker looked up from the diary and smiled. They had sealed their promise by spitting in their hands before shaking them. Jarod had come to the Infirmary every day for the next three days that she stayed there for observation.

They had promised to always be there for each other. Jarod had kept his promise. Now it was time for her to do so.

Harbor Zoo
Dover, DE
16:48

Evelyn McCarthy smiled as she watched her husband jog towards the monkey exhibit followed by two giggling little girls - one with curly blonde hair and another with plaited dark brown hair. Evelyn pushed the stroller that held her gurgling baby boy at a more relaxed pace.

It had been a week since Jira came to stay with the McCarthys and it had been an incredible experience. Sydney had brought them a birth certificate for the girl that gave her the name Jayne Meredith Doe. He said the Centre would be conducting sweeps of local school registries and adoption proceedings searching for an eight year-old with the name 'Jira.' Sydney had given her a semi-generic name, but mentioned that Jayne's middle name was her mother's name. Jira liked the name and asked that the McCarthys call her 'Jayne.' Sydney seconded the idea by pointing out that taking on a new name was symbolic of leaving the past behind.

And Jira, now Jayne, was remembering much of her past. Sam, who woke very early in the morning would often find Jayne already awake in the kitchen where she was writing out complex differential equations and solving them. On the third morning of this, Sam asked her why she wasn't sleeping since it was only 3:45 in the morning.

"Mr. Raines comes when I sleep," had been her simple reply. She told him that the math problems helped her focus and relax.

Sydney came over every night and had supper with the McCarthys and then talked with Jayne. He would ask her permission to relay the information of their sessions with Sam and Evelyn. Jayne would always assent, but only after Sydney promised not to tell them the specifics of what had been done to her. Sydney had his suspicions about why she made this request, but it was not confirmed until Sam told him about their experience at the zoo.

In the monkey house, Lucy was bouncing around and imitating the monkeys while her father complimented the authenticity of her act. Meanwhile, Jayne was staring at the gorillas. Sam looked up and saw that one of the female gorillas was sitting two feet from the glass and staring back at Jayne. He silently walked up and stood beside Jayne.

"She looks so sad," said Jayne, who had seen Sam's approach in the glass's reflection. "Do you think she likes it in there?"

"I don't know. What do you think?" Sam asked.

"I think she wants to be free. I think she misses her home and her family. She hates it how people stare in at her and point, like she's just there for their amusement. I think she's angry with herself for what's happening to her," Jayne said with quiet anger.

Sam knelt down and put a hand on Jayne shoulder, turning her towards him. His heart clenched when he saw the tears running down her cheeks. He put his palms on her gaunt face and wiped her tears away with his thumbs.

"What happened at the Centre was not your fault, Jaynie," Sam said with confidence. "They never should have done those things to you."

"I should never have been created," Jayne whispered. "So everything that happened was my fault."

"What do you mean, kiddo?" Sam asked, though he now realized that Jira was ashamed of what Mr. Raines had done to her.

"I heard Mr. Raines thinking about me one day and so I used my abilities to Perceive my conception. I was interrupted, but I saw them create me in a test tube," she explained. "I'm nothing but an experiment."

"That's not true!" Sam said with such ferocity that Jayne flinched and jumped away from him. "That's not true, Jaynie. You are so special, and I'm going to prove it to you. Jaynie, would it be alright if Evelyn and I adopted you?"

Jayne just stared at him. "You - you want to be my daddy?"

"Sure I do! I mean, you can still call me Sam if you're not comfortable calling me Dad - "

But Sam didn't complete his sentence because at that moment, Jayne launched herself into his arms.

"I'd like that," she whispered into his neck.

"Me too, kid. Me too."

5th Street Apartment Complex
River Valley, North Carolina
17.23

The light turned green and Emily punched the accelerator on her rusty Jeep and pulled into the apartment complex garage. Please, let Mom be working late! she silently prayed to any deity who would listen. She grabbed her basketball gear and backpack and jogged to the lobby door.

"Shit!" Emily whispered under her breath when she found the mailbox to be empty. Maybe she hasn't looked at it yet, Emily hoped.

She dashed up the three flights of stairs to her apartment and dropped her gear beside the door as she fumbled with the lock on the front door. Just as Emily got the key in the lock, the door flew open.

"What is this?!" Margaret cried, holding up an envelope with Wesley seal in the upper left hand corner.

"It appears to be a letter," Emily said, pushing past her mother with her bags.

Emily kicked off her school shoes that she put back on after basketball practice. She went into the kitchen and refilled her water bottle, taking liberal gulps of the cool water.

"Emily, I thought we agreed that you weren't going to graduate early!" Margaret said, wiping up some of the water that Emily had spilled in her haste.

"No, you decided that I wasn't going to graduate early," Emily retorted. "Mom, I'm bored at school. I'm not challenged enough, I don't have any friends, and the teachers don't like me."

"They might like you better if you did their assignments and stopped correcting them in front of the class," Margaret said, bringing up an exhausted topic.

"Can I just read the letter? Maybe I wasn't even accepted!" Emily interrupted.

Margaret sighed and handed her daughter the letter. Emily's heart began to beat faster and her hands felt clammy as she fumbled with the envelope. When she had finally opened the envelope, Emily pulled out the letter and unfolded it slowly. She drew in a short breath as she began to read.

"Well?" Margaret asked anxiously.

"I got in," Emily whispered.

Margaret turned and collapsed into a chair at the kitchen table.

"They saw my perfect SAT and ACT scores and that talent scout, Mrs. McCarthy, talked to them about my basketball. They've offered me a full scholarship if I start in the fall," Emily said softly. "Mom, say something."

"I don't want you to go."

"I know, but are you going to hold me back?" Emily asked quietly.

"Emily, you don't understand. If it were anywhere else in the country I would be fine with it," Margaret said.

"What's wrong with Dover?"

"Not Dover, Blue Cove," Margaret whispered.

"The last place we saw Dad?" Emily asked in confusion. "Blue Cove is close to Dover?"

Margaret nodded.

Emily sank into the chair across from her mother and put the letter on the table. She put her elbows on the table and her head between her hands.

"So this is about Jarod and Kyle, isn't it?" Emily asked quietly. "That's where they are. Dad went to get them and disappeared."

Margaret nodded again, her mascara running with her tears.

"I don't understand. If you knew where they were, why didn't you try to get them out?" Emily asked.

"That place is like a black hole, swallowing up the members of my family. If I went there and something happened to me, who would take care of you? I've lost everything, I - I can't lose you too," Margaret sobbed.

Emily stood up and backed away from the table. "I'm going to Wesley in the fall, and I'm going to find our family."

Margaret smiled. "We'll find them together."

SL-14: Infirmary
The Centre
21:24

Miss Parker's heels clicked on the cement floor as she walked down the corridor of SL-14. The eerie white glow of the infirmary loomed ahead and Miss Parker could already smell the disinfectant. She peeked through the curtains of several patients before finding her quarry.

Jarod was reclined in the adjustable hospital bed and Sydney was sitting in a fold-out chair beside him. Sydney looked up in surprise at Miss Parker's presence.

"You came!" Sydney said with delight.

"What do you think I can do to help?" Miss Parker asked, cutting right to the chase.

"Jarod has no will to return to reality. He has chosen to live in his mind. I need him to want to return to us."

"And you think that I can get him to wake up?" Miss Parker asked with doubt.

"The connection the two of you share is something that no one has ever understood," Sydney said with sincerity.

"Syd, we're not close. We've hurt ea-"

"Miss Parker, please. Just try, if not for Jarod then for me, please," Sydney interrupted.

Miss Parker opened her mouth, intending to protest, but she saw herself two weeks ago - walking across the stage to receive her degree, looking out into the crowd for her father's face, the disappointment when he wasn't there, and the surge of joy when she saw Sydney there to support her.

"All right. What do I do?" Miss Parker asked in resignation.

"Just talk to him, Miss Parker. Let him know that you're here," Sydney said as he stood and offered Miss Parker his chair.

Miss Parker hesitated for a moment, but then took the chair. Sydney smiled and patted Miss Parker on the shoulder.

"Thank you," Sydney said quietly as he left the room.

Miss Parker sighed and leaned forward before she spoke.

"Jarod, I … I didn't want to put you through that T-Board. I didn't know that the missing Pretender was a little girl. I was just following orders."

>>> Jarod saw a shadow leave the room as another took its place. But he knew this one. He knew that smell. It was Miss Parker. What was she doing here? Had she come to gloat about her newfound power, power that she had used to hurt him. > "That's right, blame it on your father," Jarod thought to himself. But Jarod knew that the relationship between Miss Parker and the Chairman was a strange one. She craved his approval, attention, and love. He wanted total and complete subordination from everyone around him and would go to any length to get it. There were so many times that Jarod found Miss Parker hiding from her abusive father in the corners of the SIM lab and sporting a new set of bruises. Sometimes her injuries were so severe that Jarod had to help her get to the Infirmary. Years of abuse had obviously had an effect on her. > "She's saying I'm weak," Jarod thought. "Well, I don't care. I don't have to." > "Jira!" Jarod thought. He remembered how it felt to hold that little girl in his arms, how they melded together for those few moments before the Centre tore them apart. Jarod's chest tightened as he remembered the vacant look in Jira's eyes when he and Angelo found her huddled in the corner of her room. Than Sam took her. Sam the Sweeper. He said he would protect her, but what if he didn't? What if he brought her back to Mr. Raines? What if she had been found despite Jarod's silence? Miss Parker had information about Jira that she would share with him if he came back from this safe place. But if he left the warm folds of apathy he would have to return to his previous life. On the other hand, what if Jira needed help? What if Raines had hurt her again?

"She's… okay… ?" Jarod croaked, his throat dry and scratchy.

Miss Parker smiled and turned back to Jarod. "I couldn't tell you. The Centre can't locate her."

Jarod closed his eyes and smiled. After a moment he opened them, looked Miss Parker in the eye, and said one word.

"Why?"

"I already told you. I had no choice," Miss Parker replied quickly.

"Did you choose to screw me, or did Daddy make you do that too?" Jarod threw back.

"At least I'm not running away from my problems!" Miss Parker's cheeks were flushed and her eyes were throwing flames.

"Problems? What kind of problems could you possibly have?" Jarod growled as he sat up in the bed. "You seem to be the cause of all my problems! Do you cause your own as well?"

"What are you talking about?" Miss Parker cried, throwing her hands in the air.

"When we were kids, you always dragged me on those stupid adventures! And then when we were caught your father had Mr. Raines punish me. Then you left without saying goodbye and never answered any of my letters. And last week you and I made love and hours later you almost killed me! Those are problems I don't know how to solve! Just because I'm a Pretender doesn't mean I'm not human!" Jarod screamed in frustration.

"Those are human problems, Jarod! They're called emotions! You're right, you don't know how to deal with them and that's why you will never understand what I did," Miss Parker hissed and then ran out of the room.

Jarod sat in his pure white Infirmary pajamas wondering what had just happened. Oh, no, he thought as he replayed the conversation in his head. What have I done? How could I say those things? He knew that the words they had thrown back and forth would be lethal to their friendship. The truth, no matter how irrational, is often revealed in anger. In his mind, Jarod had sub-consciously blamed Miss Parker for the treatment he received after they were caught together. And in his anger, he had forgotten how she too had been punished by her father. He had been wrong. It was not Miss Parker who caused him pain. In fact, she had been his sanctuary. It was Mr. Parker who was determined to destroy the haven that Jarod and Miss Parker created together.

What have I done?

**************

"That bastard!" Miss Parker cursed aloud as she stalked back to her office. What right did he have to dump his emotional deficit on her lap? She had explained the circumstances of the T-Board. She had no choice! She couldn't defy a direct order from her father!

And then accusing her of screwing him under her father's command! Granted, she had been with many men in the eight years she was away from the Centre, always attempting to fill a void that had consumed her since her mother died. Jarod was the first to pour something into her aching heart. For almost twelve hours, Miss Parker had felt like a more complete person. And then she emptied herself again when she carried out the Tower directive.

Miss Parker came to a sudden halt in the hallway as her stomach wrenched.

What have I done?

Endenantes
Epilogue
pretender_gurl



Jarod returned to work the next day, but he no longer bantered with Sydney and preferred to stay busy with work. He requested that Sydney alter his privileges so that he no longer worked in the BioDomes and spent more time in the Centre's fitness facilities. Sydney was required to accompany him for the first week and was distressed to find Jarod spending most of his allotted time with the punching bags. He would beat on the canvas bags until his knuckles were bloody and sweat had soaked his Centre-issued sweatpants and T-shirt.

Miss Parker spent two more months as a Cleaner before requesting a transfer to the Corporate SIS office where the Centre's projects were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Miss Parker traveled for the majority of her business, spending a week here and a week there actually in her Tower office. She preferred this setup as it prevented the occasional and awkward meeting with Jarod. Meanwhile, her father continued to instill negative emotions towards all those who were below her, including Jarod. The raw pain of her last encounter with Jarod mingled with her father's words and left Miss Parker a bitter woman.

Sydney watched these two grow farther and farther apart with a heavy heart. Though he would never admit it, not even to himself, Sydney had paternal feelings towards both Jarod and Miss Parker. Jarod's unhappiness at the Centre made working with him a constant challenge and as Sydney became more forceful in his insistence that Jarod comply, he knew that Jarod was growing more resentful of him. When he watched Miss Parker stalk the halls of the Centre, Sydney's stomach churned. What would Catherine and Jacob think if they could see their little girl now? And of course Sydney's guilt laid heavily on him, for he had not been able to protect the children as he had promised Catherine.

Jayne Meredith Doe became Jayne Meredith McCarthy three months after the family's visit to the zoo. Sydney, with Broots's help, had organized all of the legal paperwork and found Jayne a wonderful lawyer who was unaffiliated with the Centre. After the judge ruled in favor of the adoption, Lucy gave her new sister a drawing of the four McCarthys and Jayne. The caption said 'Welcome to the Family.' Sam and Evelyn did everything in their power to make Jayne feel welcome and within a year, she felt as if she had always been a McCarthy. Jayne adored her siblings and her new parents. She was enrolled at a school for gifted students in Middletown, Delaware where she excelled. Sydney still came over every week to talk with Jayne and after a while, her nightmares subsided to the occasional bad dream. For the McCarthys, it truly was a fairy tale ending.

Jayne's twin was not so lucky. The mental and physical abuse that Jonas received rivaled the treatment that befell his father. But Jonas didn't mind. After all, the Centre had saved him from a life in the streets. As grateful as he was, it didn't stop Jonas from dreaming about what his life may have been like if his parents were not killed. He found himself harboring a frightening amount of hatred toward their murderer.

Mr. Raines and Mr. Lyle couldn't be happier about the progress that Project Gemini was making. His simulations were bringing in even more revenue than Jarod's. Jonas had not asked about his parents since he had been shown the photographs of the murdered couple, and the boy's professed gratitude to the Centre assured them that they had his unwavering loyalty and obedience.

Margaret kept her promise to Emily and allowed her daughter to attend Wesley College the following fall. Emily had a wonderful freshmen year. She declared her major of journalism during her second semester. Emily became a starter on the women's basketball team thanks to the talent scout who recruited her. Evelyn McCarthy found herself having a soft spot for the girl. There was something familiar about Emily that Evelyn could not place. Since Emily was younger than the other students, she was often unable to participate in team activities, like going to the bars or casinos. On these nights, Evelyn invited Emily to have dinner with the McCarthys. The prospect of another night in the cafeteria prompted Emily to quickly accept the offer. The dinners soon became a regular occurrence and led to Emily becoming the family's babysitter.

The summer of 1996, Margaret came to Dover where she and Emily rented an apartment. The two spent the summer searching for information on their family members. In late August, Emily had a breakthrough and located the Centre. In three week's time, she had penetrated the Centre mainframe and found evidence that while Kyle was no longer at the Centre, Jarod was being held in one of their many sublevels. Emily and Margaret immediately began to plan a rescue mission. However, before Emily and Margaret could launch their plan, Jarod escaped from the Centre.

No one knew how Jarod had escaped, only that Willie saw Jarod ripping off a Sweeper's suit as he ran through the woods and caught a ride away from the Centre. The Tower was furious and immediately launched a full-forced retrieval directive. Despite her protests, Miss Parker was called in from Corporate by her father to act as project coordinator in the pursuit. All of the Sweepers and Cleaners were briefed on Jarod's past and given photographs of the Pretender to carry with them in case he was spotted. Centre facilities across the nation were alerted and instructed to keep a look out for the errant Pretender.

Sam was among those Sweepers present at the Jarod briefing and immediately recognized the slides that showed Jarod's mother and sister as Margaret and Emily. He got word to them right away about what happened and told them to leave the area and get as far away from the Centre as possible. The next day they were gone.

Mr. Raines dreamed of recapturing Jarod and winning the Triumvirate's approval. He showed Jonas slides of Jarod and when Jonas asked who the man was, Mr. Raines told him that Jarod was the man who killed Jonas's parents. Yet something inside Jonas wasn't sure that Mr. Raines was telling the truth. Jonas told himself that maybe Mr. Raines had the wrong man. Maybe his parents' killer was still unknown to them. But Jonas couldn't risk this man killing someone else, so he willingly attempted to locate the Pretender.

Meanwhile, Jarod had begun his flight as THE PRETENDER.

El fin!