"No, you stay here! " Jarod placed a hand at the wall to keep her from moving away. He was furious. It was to late anyway, but he wanted to hear why. "Now I am waiting", he demanded.

Miss Parker kept her gaze on his left arm, her mind was racing, trying to come up with an explanation. He was just too close and she never saw him so angry. He had every right to be, from his point of view. She knew there was no other way.
"Jarod.... " she trailed off, trying to gather her thoughts. 'Come get a grip, you know it is the best way.'

A silent battle in her head.
She could feel herself slowly slipping back into the cold unmoving image she had pretended to be so many years. He never had believed her, maybe now.

"Jarod", she began again, her voice now clear steady raising her gaze , looking him directly into his eyes. „what do you want, this is all none of your business, and you know the whole think was just an accident."

She saw his eyes darken a bit more.

"Nothing more than another little science experiment", she curled her lips up in a little smile, raising one eyebrow at him. Mocking him, making a joke out of him and his feelings. For a split second she thought he would slap her.

"Science experiment? " he choked. This could be not true, she would never... he stared in her eyes....dark blue and sparkling in the dim light. Laughing, laughing about his feelings. He was such a fool, everybody had seen in her what she was, only he demanded that they all had been wrong. That she was not cold and selfish, uncaring. Now she was there in front of him against that damn wall

After he received the file he tried to reach her, to hear that it was faked, that it was not true. He wanted to hear .. yes what ? That she loved him , that she never would do anything so cruel?

He tried to ask her, he called her, but as soon as she heard his voice she ended the call. 24 hours and he finally was able to catch her alone. Now here he was looking at her hearing her words, but not believing them. A little voice in his head came up and told him he had always known. 'What have you expected? She is a Parker'

It was even more horrible to see her leaning back, relaxed confident unmoving.... uncaring.... than the call he made earlier, his last try to get her into talking over the phone. But Lyle had picked up. He had laughed at him, what he still wanted, it was already to late. He better should deliver himself to the Centre......

With this he simply hung up. His laugh still echoed in his ears.

But this was nothing comparing to her silent laugh. He had to fight not to take her and shake her, try to get an sense or any feeling into her mind.

He simply had to admit that she had lied, nothing she had told him that night had been true. It had been a kind of game for her, nothing more, he was a toy for her, used and thrown away.

Miss Parker could see his thoughts racing, his expression changing from shock to deep disgust, not hate, or pity, just disgust, it was like a knife in her heart. She could not tell where she got the strength to keep up her attitude. Her heart cried out not to believe his eyes. But her performance was perfect. She was in her own way as well trained as Jarod. Not by sims but by her life.

Jarod slowly pushed his body up, away from the wall, away from her. He took two steps back, his gaze roaming over her body.

He shook his head in disbelief., but he could tell it was the truth. His friend was dead, died long ago in one of the dark corridors of the Centre, dead and buried with her mother. She had lost her soul, has sold it to the Centre. It was true, the file was no fake, she had done it.

"How could you do this? " he asked, with this he turned and moved further to the shadows of the night. When his
figure was not more than an outline he turned a last time, glanced back at her, still leaning against the wall.

"This little science experiment was our Baby. You have killed our child, I hope you are happy now. " with this he vanished into the darkness.

He was sitting in the semi dark of this room. After his little conversation all he wanted was to go away. Somehow he ended up in this motel, somewhere along the road. In front of him a half empty bottle of whisky and his cell phone. Jarod eyed the freshly filled glass and the phone, carefully he picked up the phone, in slow motion he pushed the second number on his speed deal.

****

"This is Sydney", a low voice with a gentle accent said. Seconds later Sydney was about to ask who was there when he finally hear something on the other end.

"Sydney?"

Sydney had trouble identifying this voice as Jarod's. He always sounded different, excited, cheerful, concerned what ever, but he was always clear to understand, but now he slurred, almost as if he was....

"Jarod? Jarod what is up, you are all right?" his words alarmed the other person in the room.

Broots looked from his screen over to the older man.

"Sydney you are alone?

"

The voice slurred again into Sydney's ear.

"No, Broots is with me." He hesitated for a second "Miss Parker is not here. " He finally said.

"Oh good, .... "He paused to focus on his words, his mind was reeling, the alcohol was no help in this. "How could she do this, Sydney? "

There was so much pain in his voice that the older man was not able to answer. To know the young man he cared deeply for, was somewhere alone and wounded, broke his heart. What could he do, there was no refuge for Jarod. No place he could turn.

He had no family, or better to say nobody know where they where, nobody saw the Major or Jay again after they took off from the airfield. He was sure the Centre would follow his every word closely but the urge to ask him where he was so he could go and try to comfort him was nearly overwhelming. Miss Parker had been always been like a daughter to him and with all the incidents around Project Gemini and her actions he really had hoped.. .. dam that she not only looked like Catherine, that she had her heart, her passion.

"Syd, please I need to know...."


Jarod's helpless plea was almost enough to make Sydney cry as well and he thought he had no tears anymore after Jacob's accident and Catherine's death....

But how to answer a question when you do not know the answer there is not even a comforting lie.

"I don't know", he finally stated with a deep sigh.

"Liar! It was a Centre plan. It was all a fake, she tried to set up a trap. She and her lovely brother. Only their plan failed, a baby was not on their schedule, so what to do? No problem, erase what is not wanted. The Chairman's daughter with a child from a Lab rat, this would not look good in her record. I was not even worth enough to her to tell me. Do you know that she had called the baby an accident, a science experiment" The last words he nearly shouted. With all his remaining strength he threw the phone at the next wall, watched it shatter in 1000 pieces like his life.

Sydney stared at the phone.

"Sydney you are OK?", Broots hesitantly stepped closer to the desk of the older man. He was not sure what he should say. His friend was simply sitting there staring at the phone. He had heard that he had talked with Jarod. The last words from the Pretender had been so loud that he heard the voice in his corner of the room, he had not been able to understand the words, but he had a clear picture what it had been about.

Sydney looked at him, that back to the phone comma realizing that he still held it in his hand, exhaling slowly he laid it down.

"No, I am not and neither is Jarod. You know someone their whole life, you see them grow up, you work with them and suddenly you learn you know nothing. Everything you believed in was a fake. I saw Miss Parker changing, but I always believed she was still the lovely girl I knew. I was always sure there was more between Jarod and her than you could see. always been so good for each other. I hoped.... " the older man trailed off.

Broots was not sure what to say, he had never seen Sydney so out of balance, he could not even remember that he said ever so much. He was normally the quiet person in the background, listening, a knowing smile on his lips. Observing. Always so controlled. Now he looked like he had slept in his suit for a week, his eyes were tired, he Broots could even see his hands trembling. Everything he had believed in was slipping away. Jarod had always been like a son to him."

To see him reunited with his father had been hard for him. He had feared to losing him. He had risked everything to save the Clone, the thought of the lab in Donoterase still sent a shiver down his spine. All those dead babies, the thought brought him back.

"Sydney, uh.. do you have a any idea where Jarod is? " Broots asked quietly.

The man behind the desk looked up confused.

"No, why do you ask, do you want to send some sweeper to get him, cause he would maybe not run this time? " Sydney replied with a angry voice, hurt and betrayal evident in each word.

Broots shifted unsurely from one foot to the other, he was not sure if he should go on. Maybe this was the time to talk about it, maybe he could now do something for his friends and maybe sharing his story would help Jarod and so Sydney. Broots was not upset that his college had reacted that way. Sydney had been sure about Miss Parker that he could trust her, that he knew her and that she would never do anything that would really harm Jarod. But he had been wrong, so why trusting him, they knew each other only for some years, the woman he saw grow up had made him lose faith in his own judgment.

"This is not the reason I asked. " Broots stopped again, still not sure if he should really go on. Before he could change his mind, he decided to tell Sydney, maybe after all the time there could be at least something useful coming out of it.

"Sydney, I have told nobody, but maybe it is time to do it now. My ex-wife never wanted children, they where simply useless for her, as waste of time and money, ruining the shape of her body. Then she got pregnant with Debbie and we had a hell of a fight I was scared she would do something stupid, like have an abortion. I was so relieved when I was able to hold my baby girl for the first time. She was a miracle. The only good thing I had ever done in my life." He took a shuddering breath before he continued.

"Debbie was about 2 years old, I found an invoice from a doctor. Debbie was supposed to have a brother or sister. The invoice was nearly 2 months old. I had no idea. I confronted her with, this, she said she simply forgot to tell me, it would it was no big deal. Sydney can you imagine this? I looked at her and I could tell, she really could not understand why I was upset. For her it was not no different than to go to a coiffeur."

He looked at the shocked psychiatrist

"You know, there was never a question that Debbie's mother did not want her. So I was surprised that she took her after our divorce, but as you know not for too long. I saw Miss Parker with Debbie, first I was not sure if she would not hurt her even more, but Debbie adored her. After the first time she spent some time with her, Debbie nearly stopped talking and asking about her mother. Funny or? After seeing Miss Parker, with Debbie I always thought she would make a good mother and I even thought she would like to have or children "

Sydney was about to answer as both men heard a loud argument in front of the door. Soon the door was pushed open and Miss Parker and Mr. Lyle came inside.

"She is my project. I captured her!" the young man stated in an, angry voice.

"Oh, poor bro", Miss Parker replied with a sarcastic smile. "But I think in this case I really have to thank you!" She turned to both men at the other side of the room.

"Broots, Sydney, there is something you need to know. ", she glanced over to her brother who looked completely frustrated.

"Lyle will be now replace me here, he will work with you, also Angelo will be assigned to your team permanently. The
Triumverate expects from your team soon results."

"May I ask you where you are going now Miss Parker?" Sydney inquired.

Lyle let out a low sneer. ,

"You my may ask", with this Miss Parker turned and walked out of the room.

"What was this all about?" Broots asked completely confused.

"This, " Lyle answered, "was my dear sister's way to let us know she won. At least for the moment. It seems you have not heard the good news. After you failed for more than 3 years to catch Jarod, I was able to catch his sister today..."

Lyle stopped and savored the shocked expression on the other men's faces. He stepped closer and continued.

"Our lovely Miss Parker convinced the Triumverate to restart the Project Gemini. She is in charge and Emily is her number one lab rat now."

Parker looked at the amber liquid in her glass, swirling it absently, and sighed. She raised it half-way to her lips before lowering it again with another sigh. She didn’t really want a drink, she’d only poured it from force of habit. She put the damn thing down on the end table and wrapped her arms around her middle, pulling her feet off of the floor and onto the sofa with her.

Eyes as blue as a Caribbean sea stared blindly at the night through her living room window. Tears wavered indecisively before one spilled over, others following in a torrent. She wished she could tell Jarod, could explain to Sydney. Their contempt and their pain hurt her deeply, but she didn't dare try to justify herself to either of them. She didn't dare talk to anyone.

Poor Jarod, she'd always hoped he'd never find out about this. She knew how important family was to him and she'd always known that the thought of his child being destroyed before it was even born would devastate him. She couldn't take it back, though. She couldn't change anything now just to spare him. She had done----hell, she *was doing* the only thing she could for all of them. No child of theirs would be safe in this environment, ever. Not as long as the monsters in the Tower and the Triumvirate wanted to own it.

Still, the silent tears fell and Parker hugged herself tightly as the memories rose in her mind. Learning that she was pregnant, that her night with Jarod hadn't just been an unusually vivid, and pleasant, dream, had been a shock. Then hiding her pregnancy, hoping no one would know. And, finally, that awful confrontation with Lyle.

"We know about the baby, Parker." Lyle had said, his perfect face lit with malicious glee.

At Parker’s blank look of shock he’d laughed.

"You weren’t really imagining I didn’t notice your illness while we were trapped in Jarod’s shipping container, did you? And of course I checked into your doctor’s findings after you went to her for a check up. I’m your brother, I had to make sure you didn’t suffer any ill effects from your ordeal, didn’t I?"

He laughed again as Parker glared darkly at him, wondering how she could have imagined that she’d have any privacy simply because she visited a doctor unconnected with the Centre. Lyle, however, went too far when he spoke again.

"But don't worry, once *his* baby is born we'll take it off of your hands and you'll never even have to look at it again."

Suddenly Parker wasn’t angry anymore, but icily calm as a truly dreadful suspicion began to grow in her mind.

"What makes you think it's Jarod's brat?" She had asked him, a white hot rage roaring beneath her surface calm.

"I arranged the encounter between the two of you, of course." Lyle answered nonchalantly. "You didn't really think Jarod was going to be wandering around the Centre without help, did you? And to make it as far as YOUR office the one night you happened to be working late? Really, Parker, I thought you were smarter than that."

The rage broke free, making Parker see red, and Lyle came closer to having his brains violently scattered across a wall than he ever had in his life. No threat from the shadowy underworld figures he’d dealt with before coming full time to the Centre, or the drug cartels, or even the Japanese Mafia that had taken his thumb, could compare to Parker’s need to wreak havoc on the smug face standing before her. It was an indication of her monumental control that her hand only twitched restlessly, rather than grabbing the 9mm nestled against her back and pulling the trigger, repeatedly.

"I see." She managed through tight lips. Did they somehow ensure her cooperation? Is that why the whole affair had seemed so much like a dream?

"Not to worry, though, Sis. I'll make sure you have the best of care. In fact, I'd like you to take your suite of rooms in the Tower for the duration."

"Not a chance, Psycho Boy." She had snarled in the low, husky voice that presaged her worst displays of anger. She’d felt a savage spurt of satisfaction as Lyle’s face darkened with impotent fury at her petty name-calling.

"Perhaps you’ll have no choice." He’d suggested menacingly.

"Don’t even go there, Lyle!" She had replied, just as menacingly. "You still don’t have that kind of authority and you REALLY don’t want to get on my bad side." Her thoughts returned longingly to the her gun and Lyle’s gray matter decorating the wall behind him.

"Fine!" He’d backed down as her hard blue eyes bored into his. "I’ll take it up with the Tower. Be in my office at 9am tomorrow, got it?"

"Lyle, why don’t you----" What Parker suggested then was anatomically impossible, but Lyle understood the underlying message. His face was as sulky as a two-year-old being sent to its room for a nap as she moved past him, her every sense alert as she passed by him, and sauntered out of the room as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

She blessed the instinct that had kept her from showing her fury and the sick feeling of violation that the conversation had left her. She knew if Lyle had picked up the slightest inkling of what she intended to do next he would have called in a sweeper team and had her detained. *He* wanted the baby, as would the Triumverate, but they would never get their hands on her child. Lyle had underestimated her and he would pay for his arrogance.

The next morning she’d called in sick, explaining to her brother with acid satisfaction that she’d had an abortion the night before. She had spent that day assembling the proof of her successful abortion, and obtaining a suitable specimen of fetal tissue to turn over to the Centre. She knew that Lyle had demanded it because they wanted to try to clone the baby. She wondered how long it would take them to realize that she’d given them tissue from an infant that had spontaneously miscarried because of severe genetic defects. They’d never get a viable child from the what she’d provided!

Emily’s capture had only complicated matters, even though it gave her the perfect revenge against Lyle. Death was too quick and easy for him, she decided bitterly, far better for him to live a long life in hell. And she was just the person to ensure that his life remained a living hell. He had no hope of outthinking Jarod and none of the others on his team were going to put forth any real effort in capturing her nemesis. Taking away his specimen and his pet project had given her the most joy she’d felt in weeks.

The tears fell faster, and she began to rock back and forth with the pain as she wondered again how the two men she trusted most in the world could believe such a horrible thing of her. Were they starting to accept her cold mask as the real her? Did she really seem so heartless? Was that Emily would see when she finally met her and spoke to her? Worst of all, were they right? Had she become that angry and bitter?

Damn them both! She decided, anger rising to her rescue again. Let them suffer! Let them hurt, just like they’d hurt her. She wouldn’t even tell Jarod about Emily if he called her. Wouldn’t give him a clue that she was going to get Emily out of this place if it killed her! Sydney could give her all of the wounded and reproachful looks in his repertoire, she wouldn’t change her stance in the slightest. So they didn’t want to trust her? Trust her judgment? Fine, she’d make sure they lived with that choice----both of them.

Tomorrow, Parker told herself, trying to regain control. Tomorrow I will meet the girl, and I pray that she’s a smart as Jarod. I’ll have to clue her in subtly, that I’m not the enemy. If she doesn’t understand me, I don’t know what I’ll do. What if she accepts me at face value as Sydney and Jarod have? Damn, what does it matter? I’ll make it work, somehow, she promised herself----for all of our sakes.

Groaning, Miss Parker opened her eyes. The first light of the morning slowly pushed the dark shadows of the night away. She stretched out her right arm, searching for the clock on her night stand. Finally she found it an brought it in front of her eyes... barely past 6 AM. She lowered her arm and let the clock fall down on the carpeted floor with a low thud, but still loud enough to make her head pound even more. She tried to remember the events of the last day and night.

Yesterday everything had been so clear, but than her beloved mutant twin brother had caught Emily. God she would never forget the look in Sydney’s and Broots eyes when she told them she was taking over Gemini and Emily. The hurt and the betrayal all mixed up with disgust. Disgust for her and what she had done during the last days.

Now everything was going wrong! Why in Gods name had Jarod hacked into that damn mainframe and found her medical report? *He’s always worrying about you*, a small voice in her head answered her silent question. *No, better change that to, he always did*. She knew she should be really happy that he wasn’t a violent man, but she still could feel the chill of fear running down her spine when she remembered the look he had given her in that damn alley. She knew it had taken him all of his willpower not to hit her.

With another groan she dragged herself to her feet and headed to the bathroom.

She flicked on the lights in the room and looked at her refection in the mirror above the sink. She looked like hell. She had dark circles under her eyes and her skin was so white it was nearly transparent. It would take a lot of makeup to cover the signs of another sleepless night. She had no idea how much her body could take, although from the way she looked this morning she knew it couldn’t be much more. Her whole body was on fire, her back ached more than the last 6 weeks, felt like she could sleep for a week straight, and a faint nausea accompanied the pounding in her head.

She had nearly died from blood loss after Willie had shot her, but she had been able to heel quickly. She had an unpleasant feeling that this damage was going to take much longer to heal, if it ever did.

There had never been a time she had not missed her mother, but now she felt like she couldn’t survive without her. Sydney had always been a refuge for Jarod, an anchor of sanity in the craziness of the Centre, but for her there was no one. Since her mother’s death she’d had no hiding place, no sanctuary where she could stop and let herself relax and regain her strength.

Everything has a price; it’s only a question of whether you’re willing to pay it. She had paid, and she would pay for this for a long time. Miss Parker stared at the pale woman looking out of the mirror at her. What would her mother have done in her situation? *Oh Momma, why aren’t you here? I really need you*. Silent tears ran down her cheeks.

With a small sob she turned to take a shower. A nice warm shower to wash away the tension in her body. *A hot shower and some fresh air and I’ll feel much better*.

*****

"Good morning Syd, Broots", Lyle greeted the 2 men in the office with overdone cheer. He hated to being trapped like this. His damn sister had made a smarter move than he had ever dreamed she would. He had underestimated her daring.

He went over his plan again as he made his way over to his desk, trying one more time to figure out where he’d gone wrong.

His plan had been completely perfect. Her weak spot had been always her family and her friends. Damn it! It had been perfect! Everything had worked out fine. She had returned to the Centre and it had been no problem to exchange the painkillers for his drug. It had taken several days to get everything flawlessly set up, but then It had been even easier than he had ever dared to hope.

He silently grinned. Jarod was a Pretender, a smart man, Lyle sneered mentally at this. ‘Wonderboy’, this name reminded him always at the comics he had loved so much as a child and he was never allowed to read. He still remembered one day when his father caught him secretly reading one of them, he could still hear the crack when his rib broke under the powerful blow from his father that had sent him crashing against the wall. He shook his head to clear his mind. He would not go back there, that was his past now; that was all that mattered.

Anyway, if he had ever the slightest doubt about the feelings the Pretender had for his sister, his actions on the airfield had given him away. A really stupid move for such a smart man. All he needed was to make a apparently accidental comment about his sister working too much and too late after she had been wounded so recently. Sure enough Jarod ‘sneaked’ out his cell to check on her. Look who’s smart now, Lyle thought smugly.

At that point everything had been fine; which was good since Jarod’s real escape 3 days later had definitely not been part of the plan. He silently congratulated himself for the bomb, though. It had been a master stroke on his part. Either Jarod rescued his sister, and then she would be more receptive to further advances from him later, should that be necessary, or he wouldn’t, and the biggest obstacle to his advancement in the Centre and in his family would be gone. No matter what happened, he won.

The morning before they had been trapped in that container she had been in a bad mood. He had offered her some breakfast and she had looked at him like she was going to throw up all over him. He’d noticed that every morning her face was a faintly green, which he’d taken as a good sign. He’d continued to keep a close eye on her the whole time while they where locked in that miserable box. In a way he’d been grateful to Jarod for giving him so much time with his sister to observe her without raising her suspicion.

By the time they’d arrived back at the Centre he had been convinced that his plan had worked out. He had nearly danced with joy when she visited a doctor on her own initiative. He hadn’t dared to hope that he’d have that much luck. But that was the end of things working out the way he had planed them.

Lyle could still not believe that she simply walked out and had a abortion. He’d never have believed his soft, sentimental sister could do such a thing, at least not without a lot of soul searching first. Then, for her to provide the Centre with the fetal tissue to clone, he still couldn’t believe it! He was even more shocked when she handed everything over to the Triumvirate! And for her to then claim that now that they were using her genetic material as well that they should give her the project! Well, that was simply too much. Lyle could feel the anger rising again about the entire situation.

But it was her next demand that nearly knocked him out. He had caught Emily and he was coming out ahead in the meeting, but she destroyed it in an instant. After the Triumvirate had agreed to give her Gemini, she had demanded Emily for research. Before he could protest he saw the satisfied look on Mutumbo’s face and his nod of agreement. He had flexed his hands longingly, dreaming of wrapping them around the neck of his sister, who was giving him an acid smile of triumph.

He tried to protest, only to have Mutumbo warn him that the Centre was not a democracy. He’d only dared to ask what his role in the Centre would be from now on. Of course, Daddy’s "Angel" already had a *wonderful* idea. They still had a Pretender on the run and Lyle had always claimed to be the better choice to hunt him, now was his chance to prove it. She had cheerfully suggested that he work with Sydney and Broots, and oh, Angelo too, to recapture Jarod. That damn Freak.

There was no logical reason he could find to refuse this job, so, silently cursing, he agreed. On top of everything else, now they had blocked his access to all of Project Gemini’s data.

While was lost in his thoughts he searched in the data base, not really knowing what he was looking for. He didn’t care that he was venturing into forbidden files. After all, if he found a proof that she had betrayed the Centre it wouldn’t matter that he’d disobeyed orders.

He was about to open the next file when something caught his eye. It was the findings of the initial tests on the fetal tissue Parker had provided. He exulted as he realized that the data had been altered, and the Rhesus Factor had been changed from positive into negative. This file was the automatic backup and it showed the original findings. He was positive that Parker had done this. No one else would have anything to gain from it and he was sure if Broots had somehow been convinced to do it for his sister he would never have made such a big mistake-----not that he would help her anymore anyway. Lyle grinned, sure now of victory.

Time to show his dear sister where her place in Life was. After the Triumvirate saw this report his position and authority would be returned and Parker would----well, maybe he could arrange a nice cell in Donoterase for her, next to Emily. At this thought his smile grew even wider.

He never noticed the uneasy looks Sydney and Broots exchanged as they secretly observed him the whole time. They knew him well enough by now to know that his smile did not promise anything good.

Broots gnawed absently on his lower lip as his fingers flew over the keyboard. Every now and then he cast a furtive glance around the room, even though he tried to stop it. It didn’t matter that he was in his own study in his own home, he feared the Centre would find out about his activities and half expected Sweepers to come bursting through the door at any minute. Satisfied once again that all was peaceful and still he turned his attention back to the monitor on his desk.

He couldn’t remember ever being so frightened in his life. Even when he’d been running from Lyle he had only been afraid for himself. Now, he was afraid for Parker. Sydney believed that she’d done something unforgivable, and even he felt a sickening pain inside when he thought of her aborting her child. He’d seen the strain on her face, though, and wondered just what was driving her. Oh, she’d carefully hidden her distress behind makeup and her brittle mask of antagonism, but it was unmistakably there if one looked closely enough.

Something was driving the woman he respected, admired, and, yes, even loved in an untouchable way. Maybe she had done something horrible, but really, could he judge her? Was she wrong to save the baby from life in the Centre? He thought of his daughter Debbie, peacefully sleeping in her room, at the mercy of Raines, (before he’d found religion) or Lyle and shuddered. He wasn’t sure, be he thought he just might kill her himself, now, if it would spare her such a fate. Whatever Parker had done, he had faith that she’d only done what she thought she had to do. She might be abrasive, and appear ruthless and cold sometimes, but he knew that she was a warm and loving woman underneath all of that, and he trusted her heart.

He didn’t know how to tell her he believed in her, knew that she was only doing what was necessary to survive, so he was doing the next best thing. He was trying to uncover what Lyle had been so happy to find in the Centre’s main database. So far he’d managed to get as far as Project Gemini’s files, but he hadn’t yet figured out how to get into them. It wouldn’t be long, though. He’d have the security guarding the project down and get the information "through the back door", as it were.

He found himself looking around for Sweepers again, as he waited for his program to do its work, and was relieved when his computer beeped and drew his attention back to the monitor. He cursed his foolishness in ever taking a job at the Centre, not for the first time, and reflected that he simply was not cut out for a life of intrigue, also not for the first time. His fears were forgotten, however, when he started reading the files around Project Gemini. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in amazement as he realized what he’d found.

Disregarding the late hour he phoned Sydney not ten minutes later.

"Sydney." He said to the man’s drowsy query. "I’ve found something that’s concerning Miss Parker."

"I don’t want to hear it, Broots." Sydney answered with weary pain. "I just can’t deal with another problem right now."

"Sydney, you *want* to know this, trust me." Broots insisted, getting Sydney’s attention with his persistence.

"Okay, what is it?" He sighed, his mind drifting longingly towards the dream he’d been having when his phone had rung.

"I know what Lyle found today." Broots answered simply. "But that isn’t all. You have to come over here, now."

He waited out the dead silence on the line while Sydney considered the matter. He knew Sydney’s feeling of pain and betrayal was warring with his lifelong habit of caring for Miss Parker. In the end a lifetime of habit won out and he agreed to make his way to Broots’ home, adding his warning that Broots would be an extremely unhappy man if his information was not earth shaking in importance.

************************

Parker strode through the sterile hallways of the underground installation know of by only a select few. She thought she was successfully masking her revulsion, and nausea, at returning to this house of horrors, but she was still glad that only a skeleton staff was awake and about at this hour of the night. She came to a metal door, set anonymously into the concrete walls without even a number to label it, and paused.

She’d already seen enough hurt and betrayed looks for one lifetime, was she ready to deal with one more? Did she have a choice? She took a deep breath for courage and unlocked the door, pushing it open and then jumping back as a container full of disgusting refuse plummeted down. Fortunately none of the repulsive stuff got on her. Parker delayed her entrance long enough to call for a janitor to clean up the mess. Already the smell was making her earlier nausea return.

"Emily, I presume?" She asked dryly, eyeing the petite brunette who glared at her with stubborn defiance and Jarod’s brown eyes. She felt her heart twist painfully to see his eyes set in her face, and eyeing her with such hostility.

"What the hell do you care what my name is?" The young woman might be petite, but she was courageous, Parker admitted to herself. She kept her reaction to a slightly raised eyebrow, and circled the girl assessingly.

"You can call me Miss Parker." She informed the prisoner, her lips twitching slightly as she awaited the girl’s response. Emily didn’t disappoint her.

"I’d prefer to call you,-----" Parker couldn’t restrain a grin of admiration at the audacity, and sheer vulgarity of Emily’s preferred name for her.

"I think you’d better stick to Miss Parker." She chuckled, confusing Emily who had obviously expected anger, not humor. "And don’t you think the "pail over the door" trick is a trifle childish?"

"If you’d spent the better part of a day with dark, handsome, and octopus hands, you’d arrange a suitable greeting for him too." Emily answered without the slightest sign of regret or intimidation. Parker’s smile grew. She *liked* this girl. For the first time in weeks she was feeling halfway good, and it was Emily’s stubborn rebellion, and indomitable spirit that had brought it on. She was suddenly glad that she’d decided to rescue the girl.

"I believe you mean my brother, Lyle." Parker answered, eyes twinkling. "My suitable greeting for him is a gun, but I’m assuming that isn’t an option for you?"

"Whoa, talk about family feuds! As for a gun, don’t I wish! Nope, I just had to do the best I could with what I had on hand."

"Your best is very inventive." Parker approved. Emily noticed, however, that as friendly as the woman seemed she made sure she wasn’t within an arm’s length of her at any time. Her half formed hope that she could jump the woman and use her as a hostage to escape died aborning.

"Do you know where you are?" Parker asked curiously, wondering if Emily had any idea of just how serious her position was. Emily retained her antagonistic pose, but Parker saw a glimmer of fear in her brown eyes as she answered.

"Well, if this isn’t the Centre that stole my brothers then it’s a branch of it." She answered, hostility renewed by her reminder of captivity. She didn’t want to like this tall, and intimidating, if she was honest, woman. Emily reminded herself that the woman was the enemy, no matter how kind and welcoming her blue eyes seemed.

"You’re in the Centre’s satellite installation, Donoterase." Parker corrected her bluntly. "The Centre is quite interested in your family’s genetic makeup, and you’ve just volunteered to assist Project Gemini."

"Project Gemini?" Emily’s eyes narrowed as she turned over the implications of the name. "Twins? What’s that got to do with my family?"

"Not twins, dear, clones. The Centre appreciated Jarod so much that it has decided to make more of him." Emily’s frown grew as she eyed Parker grimly. It hadn’t escaped her attention that the woman had yet to refer to herself in a fashion connecting her to the Centre. On the other hand, she hadn’t offered to look the other way while Emily took off either.

"I just thought we should get acquainted, Emily, seeing as how we’re going to spend a fair amount of time together." Parker finally said, breaking the silence that had descended while Emily tried to puzzle out Parker’s position in all of this. "I’m the new head of Project Gemini. If you need anything, do be sure and let me know----I don’t know if I’ll get it for you, but who knows?" Her words were saying one thing, but her eyes were locked intently on Emily’s, willing the girl to see that she wasn’t what she appeared to be.

"A key to the door would be nice." Emily finally responded, leaning back on her bed with a sardonic grin on her lips. An undetectable sigh of relief escaped Parker’s lips. Emily’s questioning, and faintly challenging, look told Parker that she’d accepted that there was more going on that what was visible on the surface. Parker smiled a trifle sardonically herself.

"Sorry, dear, I’m afraid that’s not an option." She responded, her stance relaxing slightly as Emily showed no signs of rebuffing her hidden overture of friendship. "One thing I think I *can* do for you, though."

"What?" Emily asked warily.

"I can make sure my brother Lyle gets your "greeting" tomorrow when he goes into his office. I *might* even be able to get a picture of it. I owe the smug bastard a thing or two myself." Emily stared at the viciously vindictive expression on Parker’s face with a touch of awe. It dawned on her that the petty humiliations Lyle had heaped on her after her capture were nothing compared to what he must have done to Parker to rouse such hatred.

"Ah, that would be satisfying, but don’t you think that’s taking sibling rivalry just a bit far?" She asked hesitantly, unknowingly echoing Sydney’s sentiments voiced over a year earlier. Parker gave her a smile dripping with venom, although Emily realized that none of the acid was directed at her.

"Emily, you have no idea how far either my brother or I will take our personal battle. Suffice it to say that my dear brother crossed a line that he should have never even approached. He will live to regret it, but I’m not sure how much longer than that I’ll give him."

"Right." Emily said cautiously, giving Parker a look that was usually reserved for lunatics, or angry postal workers. Her lips were quirked slightly, though, as she went on. "Remind me not to piss you off, okay?"

Parker found herself laughing, rich, full bodied sound of utter delight, before she realized it.

"Oh, Emily, if only your brother had your sense of humor!" She finally managed, still chuckling.

"Wait!" Emily cried, leaping off of the bed as Parker made for the door. "You know my brothers?"

Parker swung around at Emily’s question, her heart dropping sickeningly as she realized that Emily didn’t know that one of her brothers was dead. The humor disappeared from her face as she realized that she was going to get to break the news of Kyle’s murder to his sister.

"I grew up with Jarod." She admitted briefly. "We’ll talk more tomorrow, okay? I’ve got to get going if I’m going to prepare Lyle’s office for tomorrow."

"Please!"

Parker regretted closing the door on that heartfelt plea, but she simply couldn’t face anymore pain that day. She was glad that she’d finally gotten her initial meeting with Emily over with. She’d managed to bring herself up to date on the Gemini project while she was working up the courage to face Jarod’s sister, so the day wasn’t wasted, but it had still been a hell of a day and she was exhausted. Her momentary cheer in Emily’s cell had evaporated, and it was a drooping, and curiously emptied, woman who made her way out of the Donoterase installation.

*****************

"One more!" Jarod waved his hand vaguely at the shot glass in front of him.

"I think you’ve had more than enough, son."

It was a measure of Jarod’s level of inebriation that he didn’t recognize the voice that sounded behind him. He didn’t even feel afraid that the person shaking his shoulder might be a sweeper. He simply didn’t care anymore. All he wanted was to numb the pain that seemed like it was going to consume him and leave nothing but cold ashes behind. He just blinked blearily at the older man who’d turned him around in his bar stool and now sighed in disappointment.

"Dad?" He asked foggily, sure he was delirious.

"Well, you can still see." His father noted dryly. "Now, can you walk?"

"Doan’ know." He admitted. "Doan wanna."

"Son, I don’t know what made you come here, but I promise you alcohol isn’t going to do a bit of good." Major Charles tossed a bill onto the counter to cover Jarod’s tab and pulled his nearly incapacitated son to his feet. Jarod wavered unsteadily, and the Major pulled one of Jarod’s arms over his shoulder, holding tightly to that hand, and supported him around the waist with his other arm.

"She killed it." Jarod mumbled, drunken tears rolling down his face. "Thought it would make it stop hurting, just for a little while, but it still hurts so much!"

Major Charles wondered who "she" and "it" were, but knew better than to question a drunk. He just propelled his weeping son into a waiting jeep, told J.J. to wait on his questions, and headed them out of the town and towards the cabin he’d rented in the boondocks. In the morning they’d find out what was going on, he assured J.J. (Jarod Junior), in the meantime the older Jarod needed peace and quiet. He did wonder, briefly, if his son knew what a price he was going to pay for his excesses the next morning. Considering the boy’s upbringing, he rather doubted it. Oh well, what better way to learn to avoid too much liquor than a monster hangover?

Sydney entered the building. The Centre was the last place he wanted to see again today. It was nearly midnight and the long dark corridors were nearly empty with only a few security guards doing their patrols. As he approached the elevator the doors slid open. He had let Broots talk him into coming back against his better judgment. All he wanted was to sit at home staring
into the flames of his fireplace and trying to analyze where things had started to go so wrong. He’d already done just that for several hours without coming up with an answer. Perhaps that was why he’d let Broots talk him into this midnight expedition.

He had always feared that Jarod would have a nervous breakdown. He had spent so much of his life in this place that Sydney had never been able to believe he could live successfully outside of them. Jarod was brilliant, but emotionally unstable, he needed to have a fixed point in his life in order to survive all of his pretends over the years. He had always wondered how Jarod had managed without his emotional anchor, but now Sydney knew he hadn’t. His fixed point had been Miss Parker. Whether or not Jarod understood this wasn’t important.

Sydney felt like slapping himself. How could he have been so blind? (We see what we want to see,) a little voice in his head mocked. Was it really true, he wondered. Had he not wanted to see the truth? Had he deceived himself into believing he was the only reason Jarod stayed in contact with the Centre?

Sooner or later the Centre destroyed everybody, he mused. His eyes traveled over the inner walls of the elevator, finally coming to rest on the bullet hole in one corner. If you needed proof of how sick this place was, one quick look at the hole was enough. Who else would let such a reminder stay. He normally avoided looking at that morbid reminder, but he was always aware of it. It always made him feel uneasy and gave him a faintly sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had often wondered if the little girl had died with her mother here in this elevator. Soon after her mother was shot Miss Parker had been sent away to a boarding school and after that he only caught the occasional glimpse of her, sometimes not even that for a year or two.

When she was 19 and came back to work for the Centre’s security the happy little girl was completely gone. She looked exactly like Catherine, except for her eyes. The eyes are the widow to the soul, after all, and she had locked her soul up during her years away.

Sydney had been shocked when the Chairman had proudly told him that his daughter was about to join the Centre’s security team. He remembered praying that she would fail her tests, but she had passed every one with flying colors. From time to time Jarod had asked if she was still there, but she never came down to the sim labs. Once Sydney had spoken to her as they passed each other in the halls. They had talked about the old times and during their short talk he mentioned that Jarod still asked him about her. She had totally ignored the statement, and after a bit more small talk, she had excused herself and simply walked away.

The elevator finally reached his destination. Sydney walked down the corridor to his office he hoped that Broots had a good reason to drag him back. The last few days had been too much for him. He briefly wondered if Jarod would ever call him again or if he would now simply disappear. Before he could follow this train of thought he reached his office. Broots sat behind his desk and his laptop sat on top of it. The face of the younger man relaxed visibly as soon as he recognized Sydney and he waved him over.

"You won’t believe what I found!" Broots stated. He eagerly typed into the laptop. "You remember the gloating grin Lyle had this afternoon? Well, I had the a really bad feeling about it, so I sneaked into the mainframe." Grinning, he looked at the surprised and now curious expression of the man who leaned over his shoulder.

"You did." Sydney stated rather than asked. Broots nodded his had in agreement.

"I know now why he was so happy!" He continued his explanation. "Miss Parker handed the Triumvirate a sample of fetal tissue because Lyle demanded proof of the abortion and to give them some new cloning material. This was the reason they gave her the Gemini Project." Broots was too excited about his news to notice the older man’s expression of shock and revulsion. Sydney straightened up and took a step back. He felt like he was going to throw up. He was concentrating so completely on taking slow, even breaths to control his rebellious stomach that he only faintly heard "Set-up" and "Lyle". Sydney realized that Broots had never stopped talking.

"Could you repeat that, please?" Sydney asked, even though he wasn’t sure he really wanted to hear it.

"Sure" the technician answered a bit confused about Sydney’s request. "I had a feeling that something was going on here that nobody wanted us to know, but I was sure we needed to know." Broots explained again.

"After I saw Lyle’s smile I was sure it was vital that we find out what’s happening. So I searched for all the medical data relating to Miss Parker and Gemini. I came across a report abut the fetal tissue. I read it over and over again. It seemed legitimate, but something about it disturbed me. Then I found it! There was a backup file. I opened it and saw that it was another version of the same test. This was easy to find; too easy. Everything else is perfect, and this is a mistake nobody who could set up something like this would make. It makes sense only if this mistake was planned." Broots looked expectantly at the man behind him, but after he only received a shrug he turned back to the computer and continued.

"So I searched deeper. I came up with a document signed by Miss Parker and the Triumvirate. The Triumvirate knows that the test is a fake. In other words, it’s a set up!" Triumphant, he turned around again. Sydney couldn’t seem to process this new information. He opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it without making any comment.

"Yep", Broots said, "I felt exactly the same." Once again he leaned over the small computer. After a few seconds of work he spoke again.

"Lyle has no access to any genuine Gemini data, so if he tries to use this information to turn the Triumvirate against Miss Parker, he will fail. Not that he came up with wrong information, but he violated a direct order and I have a feeling that the Triumvirate won’t take that lightly."

"But... ," Sydney finally found his voice again, "But what about the baby?"

"That is the question." Broots answered. "I’m working on it now. I’ve found yet another file with data about a different sample of fetal tissue, and it seems to be the real thing this time." He added sadly.

*******

Lyle was walking around in his apartment. He still could not believe that his sister had made such a big mistake. He was really lucky. She had told him never to underestimate her or Jarod again, but then she foolishly underestimated him.

He was excited, thinking about tomorrow when he would claim what was his. He was in charge and nobody else. The odds were good that he’d get Gemini *and* his sister. She would soon be completely at his mercy! He would control her; do whatever he wanted with her. She was beautiful; wasted, really, on the Lab-rat, but it had been for a higher good. Soon, however, she would belong only to him.

He stopped walking and imagined how he would touch her. He could almost smell her fear. He could feel his heart beating faster, his blood rushing through his veins. He closed his eyes and let her image rise up in his mind. He saw her creamy white skin and he wanted to touch her, to kiss her, to... he let out a deep growl. His eyes snapped open and he realized he was turned on too much to even think about sleep. He grabbed his coat end left his apartment, looking for someone to vent his raging hormones with. It wouldn’t be the same as toying with his lovely sister, but soon, very soon…

Major Charles looked at his softly snoring child and sighed sadly. The boy still reeked of alcohol even though it was nearly 8 in the morning. Jarod stirred and mumbled, reminding the Major of his disjointed rambling the night before. Over and over again he’d told them that "she killed it, and she didn’t even care!" Charles had an uneasy suspicion that he could guess just what it was that "she" had killed, and if his suspicion was right he knew that he would probably be upset too. However, he was still wildly curious about who "she" was.

"Shouldn’t we wake him up?" JJ looked at his older brother with the kind of fascination only younger siblings could manage. "He’s sleeping kinda late, don’t you think?" He added with a hint of chastisement.

"He’ll wake up soon, son. When he does his head is going to hurt like the very devil too."

"Don’t-----shout." The weak voice came from the man on the bed. Both the boy and the Major looked at him and both smiled with amusement at the way Jarod had his pillow wrapped protectively around his head.

"That pillow won’t do any good, boy. You need aspirin and plenty of liquids." The man told his miserable son.

"I need to die." Jarod argued painfully.

"Well, you aren’t going to, so quit complaining and make yourself presentable. I would have thought you, of all people, would have known better than to try and solve your problems with the help of the bottle." His father was lacking in sympathy, to say the least.

"I didn’t look for any help---I got drunk." He corrected his father, not understanding the metaphor.

"Exactly my point. You know getting drunk doesn’t accomplish anything."

"Sure it does." JJ interjected mischievously. "I made him suicidal."

"Go set the table." The Major ordered his youngest child, trying hard to control the twitching of his lips.

"Set it where?" Both boys responded with the same question at the same time. The older man sighed, feeling decidedly outnumbered.

"You, set out the plates, glasses, and silverware for breakfast." He ordered the grinning adolescent. "And you, shower, change into one of my outfits, and join us at the table." He ordered the moaning adult.

"Yes, Sir." JJ saluted smartly and giggled as he made his way to the kitchen.

"All right, Dad." Jarod sighed. "But when I die it will be your fault."

Major Charles sighed and wondered if he really wanted to be a father after all.

Within the hour he and the boy were demolishing the scrambled eggs and bacon he’d prepared while Jarod downed his fourth glass of orange juice. At least his oldest looked like he would live after all, the Major reflected with some humor.

"Okay, son. Tell me what’s so bad that you had to drink yourself under the table." He said, as his son poured a fifth glass of juice.

"I wasn’t under a table, I was sitting at the bar." Jarod frowned.

"A phrase, son. It’s just an expression mean very drunk." He wondered if he was going to spend the rest of his life explaining the obvious to his two brilliant sons.

"It was Miss Parker." Jarod said, his face contorted with pain.

"The woman you stayed behind on the airfield to help?" His father questioned.

"The pretty lady who asked me if I wanted to play like other kids?" The boy asked excitedly.

"Yes." Jarod answered simply. "She and I---well, let’s just say that we like each other a lot and one thing led to another and she ended up pregnant."

"Well, ask her to marry you and live happily ever after." Charles urged, recognizing the misery of love when he saw it.

"It’s not necessary, Dad." Jarod answered, his eyes filling with tears. "She had an abortion." He pushed away from the table and hurried into the room he’d awakened in. He didn’t really want to cry in front of his father or the boy.

"Damnation!" Charles sighed, his fears realized.

"No she didn’t!" The boy declared, his brows lowered in a dark glare. "She wouldn’t do something like that!"

"She might have, son. She wasn’t always as kind as she seemed to you." Charles tried to explain.

"No! You’re wrong!" JJ insisted, jumping up from the table in his fury. "I know you’re wrong!" And he raced out of the kitchen as though the hounds of hell were on his heels.

The Major looked from one exit to the other, wondering which son needed him more. Finally he left the boy alone and went in to comfort Jarod.

****************

Broots and Sydney looked up as the door to the Sim lab they had claimed as their own slammed open. Lyle stood in the door, breathing hard, with fury in his eyes. Broots, easily intimidated, shrank back and Sydney, working hard to contain the amusement he felt, straightened slowly. Mr. Lyle was dripping from head to toe with something green and slimy.

"Mr. Lyle! What on earth happened to you?" Sydney was proud of his control when not even a hint of a smile graced his lips.

"If I *ever* find out that either of you had anything to do with this, if I even find out that you knew about it and didn’t warn me, YOU WILL BOTH BE DEAD!!!" Lyle threatened them darkly. "Now, one of you will call the conference room and make sure that the Triumvirate knows I will be a few minutes late. I have to shower and change."

"Yes, Mr. Lyle." Broots whispered, no longer terrified of Lyle, but still terrified he was going to laugh out loud and get himself killed by the psychopath. In spite of his best efforts a giggle slipped out as the door shut behind Lyle. Then Sydney snickered, then the two of them were laughing helplessly.

"Oh, did you see him?" Sydney moaned, trying to regain control.

"His shoes squelched!" Broots managed.

"What *was* that stuff?" Sydney wiped his eyes.

"I don’t know. Slime?" Broots rested his head on the table before him, knowing that if he saw Sydney he’d start laughing again. "Oh, God, how am I going to keep from laughing the next time I see him?" He chortled.

"Shhh!" Sydney’s admonition broke midway with another chuckle. "I have to call the Triumvirate!" He tried desperately to compose himself while he dialed the number, and only his broad grin betrayed his continuing amusement.

"Hello, this is Sydney, from the Centre in Blue Cove, Delaware?" He spoke with as much gravity as he could muster. "I have a message for the Triumvirate from Mr. Lyle." He stopped and held the receiver away from his mouth while he laughed silently again.

"I’m afraid," He gasped, trying to go on. "He’ll be a few minutes late for their conference." Once again laughter overwhelmed him.

"I know that the Triumvirate doesn’t consider meetings a laughing matter." He defended himself cheerfully, "But you didn’t see Lyle and we did!" He disconnected the phone and dissolved into guffaws that were completely at odds with his normally reserved personality.

**************

Lyle, grimly staring down each and every amused Centre employee he encountered, squelched his way to their family apartments at the Centre. At least he kept a change of clothes here for emergencies, he thought, trying to be optimistic.

Since last night all he’d had were disasters. Some he knew were deliberate, some he wasn’t sure of. His sheets had been shortened in a childish practical joke. The hooker he’d picked up to help him release the pressure his imaginings had brought had fled the apartment screaming when it was discovered that along with the shortened sheets came a pair of garter snakes slipped into the bed. This morning, his car wouldn’t start, forcing him to call a tow truck and a taxi, and then, when he’d finally arrived at work, a pail of green Jell-O had doused him when he walked into his office. Someone was going to *pay* for his humiliation, he fumed.

Finally, cleaner and calmer from his shower, he discovered the final straw. Someone had replaced every piece of clothing he’d left in the suite with an identical piece that was two sizes too small. His options were to borrow something of his father’s, which would make him look like a little boy playing dress up, or to blow off the conference he’d called with the Triumvirate. Knowing his life expectancy would drop to nothing if he did the latter, Lyle pulled on his father’s smallest suit, belted it as tightly as he could, and made his way to the conference room.

When he entered the room the first thing he saw was Parker’s amused smile and it took all of his self-control to keep him from leaping over the table and throttling her. Only the reminder that after this meeting she would be his to do with as he would kept him from losing it.

"New style, Lyle?" She purred sarcastically. "I’m sorry, but I just don’t think you can pull off the baggy look."

"Mr. Lyle!" Mutumbo’s faintly accented voice came from one of the large, flat TV screens on the walls of the overseas conference room. "You do realize that we do not take it lightly when we are kept waiting, particularly when *you* called the meeting!"

"I’m truly sorry, sir." Lyle apologized through gritted teeth. "Apparently someone has decided to play a few----practical jokes on me."

"We aren’t interested in your excuses." Mutumbo growled. "Now, what is this information that you feel we simply *must* know about right away?"

Smiling a predatory smile Lyle began to explain his findings in the date base. About half way through his explanation he realized that Parker wasn’t looking at all concerned. In fact, she was smiling her own predatory smile. Lyle felt the first twinges of unease looking at her smug grin.

"So, you see, she’s betrayed you. I’ll bet she didn’t even have the abortion at all!" Lyle finished on a tone of faint desperation, wondering what was wrong.

"The only person I see who has betrayed us is you. Were you not given specific orders to remain away from anything concerning the Gemini project?" Mutumbo snarled menacingly.

"Well, yes, but I-----"

"You violated a direct order!" Mutumbo’s voice cracked like a whip. "You presumed to think you knew better than the Triumvirate!"

"Ah, well, I----"

"Silence!" Mutumbo thundered, the apparent spokesman for the group. "It would appear that your suspicions were right, Miss Parker." Mutumbo acknowledged heavily to the smirking woman. Lyle’s vision turned red as he realized his sister had set him up.

"Lyle, only your relationship to the chairman has saved you from our full wrath. You will return to your assigned duties and any further violations of a direct order from this body will result in your immediate termination---is that understood?"

Lyle, realizing that termination in this sense meant death and not unemployment, nodded his head with apparent submission.

"Very good, you may leave." Mutumbo dismissed him. "Parker, we would like to discuss your proposals for Project Gemini further."

Lyle was so angry that he literally couldn’t think straight. He slammed out of the office and a few minutes later out of the Centre itself, trying desperately to come up with a plan for revenge. His temper wasn’t improved in the slightest when he realized ten minutes later that he wasn’t wearing his own clothing and didn’t even have the change to call for a taxi to take him home.

Parker, her face carefully arranged in respectful lines, present her proposal to the Triumvirate, while rejoicing at her brother’s downfall. She wasn’t satisfied yet that he’d been adequately humiliated for his treachery towards her, but it was a start.

*****************

Emily looked around the barren, cement room and sighed. There was absolutely nothing of interest, in fact there was nothing in the 10' x 12' room except her steel frame twin bed and a chemical toilet in the corner. She wondered why they hadn’t at least left her a book, even a book of physics would be preferable to this mind numbing boredom.

She laid back on the bed and clasped her hands behind her head. Well, she could always try again to puzzle out the actions of that strange woman, Miss Parker. She had informed Emily that she was in charge of this Project Gemini thing, and then she promised to help her to get revenge on the man who’d kidnapped her in the first place. She’d seemed nice, in a coldly reserved sort of way, but she was a stranger, and connected to this hellhole, and Emily wasn’t about to trust anyone connected with this place.

On the other hand, there was a faintly lost and lonely look in her eyes that Emily empathized with. Somehow she knew that Miss Parker had no one in her life to trust, much like Emily at this point in time, and she was drawn to that need in the tall brunette. Emily never questioned her insights, she’d always had a gift for getting into the heads of the people around her. She knew who she could trust, who to avoid, and most of all, who was hurting and needed her help. Parker, for all that she was her jailer, needed her help----Emily just wondered if Parker realized it.

She sighed briefly. Until the woman returned there wasn’t anything more she could do. No one spoke to her, her meals, if you could call them meals, were shoved into the room through a slot in the door, and she was utterly ignored. She wondered, and not for the first time, either, just how people could work for an organization like the Centre. As near as she could tell its only purpose was to spread misery and heartbreak.

Miss Parker stepped out of the elevator and headed towards the Sim lab where she knew she would find Sydney and Broots. She stopped in front of the door, took a deep breath trying to steel herself for the hurt disapproval she knew Sydney would subject her to. Without further hesitation she pushed the doors open and strode in. Surprised, she stopped after the first two steps. Broots and Sydney where standing close to each other chuckling and sipping coffee, and there was no sign of Lyle. Neither of them noticed her at first.

"What, taking a coffee break so soon?" She asked with saccharine sweetness. "Maybe you could include me in on the joke?"

Inwardly she was pleased with the entertainment her practical jokes on Lyle had provided. She knew just how they felt, really. She had already watched the DSA of Lyle’s journey to the family apartment within the Centre and he’d been madder than a wet hen. She just wished that she could have seen her dear brother’s face when he realized his clothes were completely worthless to him.

At the sound of Miss Parker’s voice Broots stumbled backward spilling his coffee

"M---Miss Parker." he stammered.

Slowly Sydney put the coffee cup onto the table.

"Miss Parker. What can we do for you?" He asked her warily.

‘Yes,’ Parker thought painfully. ‘His disapproval does still hurt. Damn! I wish I could make him understand.’ She felt the pressure of rising tears in the back of her throat, and determinedly swallowed them back.

He narrowed his eyes and studied her carefully as she approached them. Superficially she looked like always; a dark navy blue miniskirt with a matching blazer and light blue satin blouse, no jewelry, except her usual square ring and the watch from her mother, and her hair and makeup as immaculate as always. But he had worked closely with her for several years and he could tell that all was not as well as she tried to make it appear. Even someone who barely knew her would be able to tell she was under a lot of stress if they just looked closely enough. Sydney felt a twinge of concern.

‘Get a grip!’ He ordered himself firmly, ‘She isn’t who you always thought she was. She can take care of herself. Besides, she deserves every moment of pain she might be feeling.’ Immediately he felt guilty for his thoughts. Despite her harsh voice and her cool appearance she looked like a lost little girl underneath

"I’m looking for my brother." Miss Parker replied and waved the manila folder in her hand. "I have a profile done on Jarod for him. It comes directly from the Triumvirate, based on the DSA’s of his time at the Centre and the Pretends he’s done since----after escaping from the Centre, again." When all she got from the two men were identically baffled shrugs, she handed the folder to Sydney.

"Maybe he needed to change his clothes again." She speculated, with what Sydney would have sworn was an amused and devilish glint in her eyes----if he hadn’t known her better than that, that is.

He wondered what she knew that he didn’t. Hadn’t Lyle already gone to the family apartments to shower and change? Perhaps Broots and he had missed out on some of the fun. But how was it that Parker seemed to know more about this than they did? Could she have----no,’ Sydney dismissed the thought almost as fast as it surfaced. There was no way Parker would have---‘ His examination of her sharpened slightly as he examined the possibilities.

Miss Parker tried to ignore the way Sydney studied her, [but] she felt more and more uneasy under his intense stare. She knew she had to get out of there soon, before she broke down and confided in the man that she trusted far more than she did her own father, and if she did that then all of her sacrifices would have been wasted.

"Since Lyle isn’t here I’ll leave this with you. Give it to him when he comes back." With these words she handed Sydney the slim yellow folder and headed back towards the door.

"Oh, and if he decides to come back today," she added, stopping just short the door. "Please tell him that he shouldn’t bother to come to my old office. I’m will just going there to grab a few things and then I’ll be tied up at Donoterase for the rest of the day." Miss Parker turned to leave the office then. It took all her of willpower to saunter coolly and not run out, like she wanted to. As soon as the doors closed behind her she stepped to one side and leaned against the wall. Closing her eyes, she realized how close she had come to losing it. She promised herself that she would avoid her former colleagues as much as possible without raising anyone’s suspicion. Maybe she should just move her office permanently to Donoterase.

After a few seconds she felt calm enough to make her way to her office. Inside her room it was dark, as always, with only a small light on the desk giving off a dim glow. She walked over to the desk and picked up a picture in a square, silver frame. She looked at it for what must have been the millionth time. The woman, who looked exactly like her, held a baby in her arms. Lost in her thoughts she stroked the woman’s face in the picture with her thumb. Looking at this picture was nearly like looking into a mirror----except.. She felt a tear sliding down her cheek. With an unconscious sigh she put the frame down, and headed to the adjoining bathroom. Once there she kept her mind blank while she carefully wiped the tears away without destroying her makeup.

‘If it’s possible,’ she thought. ’I look even worse than I did this morning’. All she wanted was to drive home and to curl up in ball and pray that this was just a bad dream, but she knew that wasn’t an option. With a deep sigh she went back into her office, unaware of the dark, shadowy figure watching her from the vent.

****

Lyle was in his apartment, still fuming. The smug grin of the taxi driver had been the last blow to his bruised ego. All he had wanted was to hit the man and wipe the grin from his face. Since he hadn’t remembered to transfer his wallet to his father’s outfit he had no money. He was forced to ask the cabby to come up to his apartment with him so he could pay him. It wasn’t until he opened the door that he remembered the condition he’d left it in. The driver had turned around twice, double checking the chaos he saw.

"Wild party?" He had asked, amusement radiating from him like heat from a radiator. The idiot had no idea how close he had come to losing his life.

Finally, though, he was alone and he knew he needed to calm down. He hurriedly stripped off the oversized clothes he had borrowed from his father. Then he had carefully opened the closet door but nothing happened. He sighed, relieved.

‘Am I right?’ He wondered. ‘Was this really her work? Had she really been in his apartment while he wasted his time trying to find a hooker that resembled her? Had she been here and placed the garter snakes in his bed?’

‘Yes, she had been,’ he decided. ‘Here in my bedroom.’ He turned towards his bed and looked at the shortened sheets.

‘She touched those sheets, she had been so close---‘ With a low growl he headed towards his bathroom. He knew he needed a quick, cold shower before he could drive back to the Centre. He glanced at the big mirror in the corner of the room.

‘Better make it a long cold shower.’ He amended.

****

JJ was in front of the house. He had been so happy at first that they had found Jarod. The fact that he was drunk was pretty funny too. Jarod was the first really drunken person he had seen. He stifled a giggle as he remembered how strangely Jarod had talked. The best part, though, had been seeing him in the morning hiding under his pillow.

He had looked forward to talking with Jarod, he realized, sobering quickly. And he had wanted to share some ice cream with him again, even though his new father wouldn’t let him have it for breakfast. Breakfast… He thought about the conversation at the table during breakfast. No matter what Jarod and his father believed, he knew they were wrong. His father claimed that she was not always as kind as he remembered, and maybe he was right, but she wouldn’t hurt a baby, of that JJ was certain.

The boy sat on the wooden fence and let his feet dangle, recalling the time he had first seen her. It had been in that empty hallway, and she had looked at him as he was a ghost. He had even wondered, for a split second, if she was going to faint. Later she had come to his new room inside the Centre.

He couldn’t remember ever being that scared; not in his entire life. He’d been on the floor, trying to fight back his tears of fear and loneliness when he heard the door to his room open. Of course he remembered her immediately, and he wondered what she wanted him to do. But she hadn’t said or done anything he expected her to. She didn’t ask him to work but instead she asked him questions that he simply couldn’t answer. What did *he* want to do? He wasn’t allowed to want anything, just to work. And did he want to play? He wasn’t even sure what play was. He had been sitting on his cot by then and she came down on his level so he could see in her eyes. She had spoken in a low, reassuring voice and even in the dim light of the room he could see the sparkle in her beautiful blue eyes. Somehow her kindness just made him feel worse, and even though he knew that Raines would be very angry with him, he’d started to cry again.

Never in his whole life he would forget how he had felt when she joined him on the cot and took him her arms. Nobody had ever touched him like that. For a moment he wanted to pull away, but then he leaned against her and he felt safe somehow. He wasn’t listening to her words anymore only concentrating on the warm feelings. He had wanted the moment to last forever, but, all too soon, Raines had come and broken the spell.

JJ had hoped he’d see her again, but he’d only caught a glimpse of her in the rear view mirror of the truck when Jarod had rescued him and she had captured their father. And then he had seen her on the airfield. He’d had a clear view through the open door of the plane. He had seen her running towards the plane, and Jarod shouting at her. She had shouted back and ignored him, running towards her father. Then things had happened so fast that he could barely remember them. All he had heard was a single gun shot and she had flown in the arms of the father. Sadly JJ shook his head. He wished he could remove that image from his memory. She’d looked so frail, so hurt and her father and Jarod had looked so shocked and frightened.

Shaking off those frightening memories he made himself recall more of her words in his room. She’d told him that she had never let the sad little boy she’d grown up with know how much she cared about him. Now he realized that the boy she referred to had been his brother Jarod. Chewing on his bottom lip he reviewed the whole conversation he had with her in the cell again.

‘Nope.’ He decided adamantly. ‘There is no way that she would never do anything like what my father and brother believe she did. The boy hopped down from the fence and walked inside, determined to make them see his point. He had no idea how he was going to accomplish that; he knew that Jarod would need more than his gut feeling that she wasn’t as cold as they thought she was. He looked around in the living room tying to come up with a good plan as he a beeping sounded from the laptop that sat in the heavy table in front on the fireplace. Curiously he walked over and opened it. A little mailbox had a flag up and the words "you have mail" written by it. Wondering what it meant, he clicked on the mail icon.

Angelo watched Miss Parker placing the few papers and files she would need at Donoterase into her leather briefcase with a heavy heart. He had no special ability to foretell the future, but he knew this was probably the last time he’d see her at the Centre. Too much had happened to her in too short a time. She couldn’t cope with the lies, the unethical acts, the outright inhumanity of the Centre any longer. As he watched she picked up the picture of her mother, the one where she was holding her as a baby. With a smile that was infinitely sad and loving at the same time she placed the picture on top of her files and closed the briefcase.

His childhood friend was sad, almost heartbroken, but fighting it with all of her not inconsiderable strength. She finally felt like she knew exactly how her mother had felt, and she wished her mother were here to share those feelings with her. Angelo stretched his empathic senses, reaching for Broots and Sydney. Did they know?

No. Not only did they not realize her pain, they didn’t realize that their lack of understanding was part of the reason Parker felt she had to leave. Why she felt so alone and like she carried the weight of the world on her slender shoulders. As he watched her, and touched the feelings of Sydney and Broots, he realized that he had to tell Jarod, his other childhood friend. Parker needed Jarod, more than either of them would admit. And Jarod needed Parker just as much. Somehow, in a way that not even Angelo with his extraordinary ability to empathize understood, Parker and Jarod were connected and always would be.

Jarod might be devastated and furious at Parker, Parker might be bereft and furious at Jarod, but they still longed for the other. They each suffered more from the estrangement than they did from the cause of their rift. As Parker strode out of the room, no hint of her pain revealed in her steady, confident walk, Angelo wiggled out of the vent and went to her computer. Once it was booted and connected to the Internet Angelo’s fingers flew, rivaling Broots in their speed, and he smiled a secret smile of glee as he hit the "send" key. There! Now the two would have to make up and join forces. Now things would get better at last.

***********************

In the living room of the remote cabin JJ read the message Angelo had sent only moments after he’d composed it. As he read it a grin grew on his face. This would show them! He thought. This would teach them not to be so judgmental! He all but skipped as he headed for his brother’s room.

"No, Dad! She can rot in hell before I ever try to help her again." JJ stopped dead in his tracks as he heard Jarod’s angry shout.

"Son, you obviously care for her very much." Charles tried again, exasperation showing in his voice. "You need to hear her side, for your own sake if nothing else."

"No." Jarod’s voice was no longer a shout, but it was still filled with fury, hurt, and determination. "Never again. I won’t play their games anymore----I’m finished with the lot of them."

JJ could barely hear their father trying to reason with Jarod over the roaring in his ears. He had never been this angry in his life. How could he give up on her so easily? How could he when anyone could see she needed their love and support, not anger? He spun on his heel and returned to the living room and scribbled out a quick note which he propped on the open laptop. Then, prompted by an impulse that he didn’t understand, he grabbed his brother’s cell phone from the open briefcase and was out of the cabin and long gone before Jarod and Major Charles ended their debate.

*******************

A cold shower had done nothing to soothe Lyle’s anger and bruised ego. In fact, the longer he thought about the atrocities that he *knew* his sister had inflicted on him, the angrier he got. When he finally got out and dressed he didn’t choose an expensive suit, but instead grabbed jeans and a simple turtleneck sweater. The Lyle who stalked to his expensive sports car and squealed out of the garage looked nothing like the smoothly sophisticated man he usually portrayed.

Parker had gone too far, and she was going to pay! That was the only thought Lyle could complete. She’d humiliated him and he was going to make her beg him to kill her before he was through. He didn’t even consider that Parker was the Triumvirate’s fair haired child this week, or that they would undoubtedly order his termination once they discovered what he planned to do. No, all he could think about was inflicting enough pain on his sister to restore his confidence and pride.

Even in the insanity of his anger Lyle knew better than to attempt to carry out his plans for Parker at the Centre. No, he was going to wait for her to come home tonight. And then------

*********************

Emily looked at the tall woman with tears in her eyes.

"You’re sure?" She asked, one tear spilling over to track down her cheek. "Kyle is dead? This isn’t some sick game to make me do what you want, is it?"

Parker sighed, wondering why it was that everyone she seemed to speak to lately thought she was such a bitch.

"No, it’s true." She assured Emily sympathetically. "He was murdered and Jarod had his organs donated. His heart went to a thirteen year old boy who would be dead by now if it hadn’t." She told her, sure that Emily would be touched by Jarod’s kindness.

"J-Jarod? He’s still okay?" Emily asked, her tough stance of the night before vanished in her grief for the brother she didn’t even remember.

"Jarod’s fine." Parker said brusquely. "He’s out there somewhere, giving candy to babies, helping little old ladies cross the street, and making a nuisance of himself in general."

Emily smiled just a little.

"Why do you pretend to hate my brother so much?" She asked curiously. "Do you really fool people with that act?"

Parker looked at her sharply.

"Look, maybe other people think you eat kittens for breakfast, but I can tell you aren’t anywhere near as nasty as you try to look."

Parker grinned mirthlessly. "Don’t bet on it." She told the girl sardonically. "I’m as nasty as I have to be."

Emily studied her carefully before nodding her head. "Yes, I can see that you believe that and I know that you are quite capable of doing whatever you might feel is necessary. You aren’t cold, though, no matter how much you might try to tell yourself you are. And you’re hurting right now."

"Don’t be a moron!" Parker snapped, but a guilty flush rose to her cheeks, telling Emily that she’d struck home. "I’m fine. You’re the one who needs help." Emily looked assessingly around the room.

"Yes, I’ll agree to that. You got any ideas?"

She nearly jumped off the bed when Parker sat down next to her.

"Well, you could always cooperate with us, like a good little lab rat, and we might just start granting you a few luxuries." She suggested. She looked for all the world like she was sitting casually, but Emily’s sharp eyes picked up her subtle movements as she hid something under Emily’s thin pillow.

"I might." Emily went along with Parker’s diversionary conversation guardedly. "I don’t suppose I could get a book or two?"

Parker raised a considering brow. "Perhaps." She allowed cautiously. "What kind of books?"

"Well, I wouldn’t mind the books that taught MacGyver how to make a bomb out of spit and chewing gum." Emily said wistfully, surprising a laugh out of Parker. "But I’d settle for almost anything. Romance, Mystery, Romantic Mystery…." Parker laughed again and shook her head.

"You really are a brat, aren’t you?" She marveled.

"Hey! I’ve never been a lab rat before." Emily protested. "How am I supposed to know how they act? I didn’t even pass biology in school."

Parker was about to make a remark concerning Emily’s inability to dissect the frogs, but her phone rang before she’d done more that open her mouth. A puzzled frown creased her brow as she pulled it out and flipped it open.

"What?" She demanded, causing Emily to raise her brows. "You have my *what* at the station?" Parker demanded, her voice taking on a slightly shrill tone. Emily strained her ears and heard a few words from the other end.

"….son….lost…..runaway…." The expression on Parker’s face was priceless, although Jarod would have enjoyed it more than Emily did. Finally Parker nodded.

"Fine---okay, fine!" She snapped, finally shutting the voluble sergeant up. "I’ll be right there to pick my-----son---up. Just keep your pants on, okay?" She snapped the phone shut, cutting the officer up in mid-comment, and stood abruptly.

"Your son needs you?" Emily asked innocently, knowing from the glare on Parker’s face that something was skewed in this situation.

"Apparently." Parker affirmed dryly. "Which is nothing short of a miracle, when you consider that I’ve never had a child."

Emily laughed appreciatively as Parker headed for the door. Parker, her hand on the knob, turned towards Emily one last time.

"Remember what I said about cooperating, okay, Emily? It could do wonders for your situation here." Emily’s face became serious.

"I’ll remember." She assured Parker, determined to examine the package she had left under her pillow as soon as possible. "Take care, you know how children can be."

"Actually, I don’t." Parker quipped. "But I suspect I’m about to find out.

Alone again, Emily went over the events of this visit, trying to glean every nuance of information from it before she examined her "gift" from her jailer.

****************

Outside Parker’s house Lyle lay concealed by a convenient bush and watched her place with the intensity of a mountain lion waiting for prey. He’d left her a few of his own "practical jokes" any one of which would leave her incapacitated for him to capture. After that? Well, after that he was going to let his fertile, twisted, and sadistic imagination take over. He gloated, kept warm on the cool fall day by his sick plans.

This is a nightmare, that’s all it is. It could only be a nightmare and I’m going to wake up any minute now. Miss Parker told herself, shifting gears. ‘What a mess. What else could possibly go wrong?’ She wondered, slightly hysterically.

First she had been forced to change all of her plans because Lyle captured Emily. and after she finally thought she had the situation under control again she received that call from a police station. Angry, she pressed her lips together and stepped harder on the accelerator. She couldn’t be positive, of course, but she had a strong suspicion that her mystery "son" was actually Jarod’s clone!

Damn the lot of ‘em!’ She thought resentfully. ‘I haven’t met one member of that family that hasn’t been hell bent on screwing up my life. First Jarod, then the Major, and Emily throwing a monkey wrench into my departure plans, and now the clone. What next? Is Margaret going to show up and need a blood transfusion from me?----What a mess.’ She thought again.

She slowed the car down and pulled up into the parking lot in front of the police station. This kid had better have a stellar explanation for this!’ She cursed silently. The trip had taken 2 hours from her already very tight schedule.

Miss Parker hurried up the stairs, pushed open the big double doors in the front, and entered the police station. ‘A typical police station.’ She thought, disgusted. She hated the smell, a mixture of unwashed bodies, stale alcohol, and inadequate floral scented air freshener. She was just about to ask for directions when she spotted the boy at a nearby table.

JJ looked up at the same moment, jumped up and threw himself into her arms, almost knocking her off balance with the exuberance of his greeting.

"Momma!" He called overjoyed.

****

Lyle closed his cell phone. Where the hell was she? He had been waiting her for hours now. He had called at the Centre and Donoterase looking for her] Her new secretary at the lab had told him that she left about 2 1/2 hours ago. She volunteered the information that when she left Miss Parker had seemed to be in a pretty big hurry. When she hadn’t returned home in a reasonable amount of time, he’d called the Centre too, but she hadn’t returned there either.

‘Damn her and her eternal secrecy.’

Her long absence only served to fuel his anger. He would make sure she paid for every second he had to spend in these damn woods, he promised himself. His rage grew as he studied the house again and the thought crossed his mind that Jarod had probably been inside it more than he had. How dare she leave her house so easy for him to break into? How dare Jarod presume to invade his sister’s home? But thinking about Jarod was not the best way to regain control, Lyle admitted grimly. The next time he laid hands on that arrogant bastard, though, he *would* die. Soothed by visions of Jarod and his sister bound and at his mercy, Lyle settled back down to wait.

****

"Dad, leave it!" Jarod tried to avoid his father, and stepped out of the bedroom, the older man on his heels.

The Major sighed inwardly, ‘Here we go again.’ He thought tiredly. They had been arguing for over two hours. Jarod had resorted to yelling at his father; telling him to leave him alone, claiming that he didn’t need anybody. Then, a moment later, he had cried, wanting to know what he had done to deserve his hellish life, and that was followed only minutes later by more angry yelling. The fact that he was still fighting the alcohol in his system didn’t help anything either.

The older man looked at his son, who now sat in a chair next to the table in the living room, his shoulders slumped and his head hanging. What could he do? Nothing, really, except to be there for his son, and to offer himself as a sympathetic ear for Jarod to express his anger and pain.

Major shook his head, convinced that he wasn’t seeing the full picture. Something was wrong, but he wasn’t able to put the finger on just what it was. He had only met Miss Parker once, and most of that encounter he’d spent looking down the barrel of his own gun, a relic from his time in the military. She had started the interview by announcing her intention to shoot him, and things didn’t get much better after that. She had been angry and on edge the entire time. In the nearly non-existent lighting of the cell there in the deep sublevels of the Centre, he’d only glimpses of her, but his first impression was that Catherine was back. She had the same beauty as her mother, but there was something more. Something different.

She had been a strange mixture of contradictions; strong, yet vulnerable, angry and yet her eyes betrayed a desolation that made *him* want to cry. It was clear that she wanted to hate him, but there was another side to her that wouldn’t let her take action without knowing both sides of the story. She had listened to him, even though it was clear she wasn’t sure if she could believe him. He knew without a doubt that she had heard far too many lies in her life.

He remembered his last conversation with Catherine. She had told him that she was willing to do anything at all to rescue her child form the claws of the Centre. The major wondered what her daughter was willing to do to keep her child safe. Not to have the child in the first place, had that been her solution?

He looked at the miserable figure huddled in the chair; his son. Jarod would have loved to be a father, and he knew exactly how his felt right now. With another inward sigh he remembered his elation when his wife had told him that she was pregnant. With a smile he recalled the moment when he laid his had on Margaret’s lightly swollen stomach and felt the light movements of the baby. He regretted that Jarod wasn’t going to have the chance to experience that kind of joy this time.

Love could be cruel, and there was no question that his son loved this woman. A part of his anger, the Major suspected, was the result of the fact that no matter what she had done he simply could not stop loving her.

He walked over to his son and laid his hand on the younger man’s shoulder.

"Why don’t I go out and see where JJ is? I think we could all use something to eat right about now." With an encouraging squeeze of the shoulder, he left his oldest to look for his youngest.

Jarod lifted his head and looked after his father’s retreating back. He felt like someone was using his head as a drum. He could still feel the pulsing rhythm.

‘Parker would have loved---’ Jarod groaned out loud. Sooner or later every thought lead him back to the one person he never wanted to think about again.

He still could not understand why. The thing that hurt the most was that she hadn’t even considered him important enough to tell. He had always dreamed of having a family; his father, his mother and Emily, yes, but also a family of his own. He wanted to have somebody to love and to take care of. A place he could call home, where he could always return. Children were a part of that picture. A baby girl with deep blue eyes.

‘Enough!’ He tried to stop his thoughts. This image had haunted him during the nights and now it was creeping in when he was awake as well.

He scanned the room, maybe he could find something to distract his mind. Nothing. Chair, table, laptop, note, fireplace.. he stopped.

There was a small yellow note on the laptop. Slowly, afraid that a sudden movement would bring back the full orchestra in his head instead this lonely drummer, he rose from his chair and made his way over to the other side of the table. He reached over and grabbed the post-it.

He read the note and felt a wave of nausea swept over him. He was just about to call for his father when the Major came back.

"I can’t find JJ...." the Major’s comment trailed off when he saw Jarod. He looked at his grown up son; he looked, if possible, even paler than he had when he’d first awakened this morning. He stared at him with a shocked expression. At the same moment he noticed the piece of yellow paper in Jarod’s left hand..

Not expecting any good news Jarod father slowly walked over to his son.

"JJ is on his way to Blue Cove to help Miss Parker." Jarod said bleakly, handing the note to the older man.

In slow motion the Major lowered the gaze to the paper in his hand, not sure if he really wanted to read the full message. While reading it he felt like he’d been hit by a train. He shoved the paper in his pocket turned to grab the laptop.

"Grab your jacket, son," he ordered.

With a click he closed the small computer not bothering to turn it off. Neither of the man noticed still open mail icon on the screen.

*****

Angelo made his way to the vent as fast as he could. After Miss Parker had left he had crawled back to his favourite hiding place curled up and tried to make the right decision. It always came back to the same thing, she needed help. More than just Jarod. He began to move again.

He carefully scanned he room, but nobody except from Sydney and Broots where inside. Once he was sure that it was safe he opened the vent and entered the room.

"Angelo." The older man welcomed him warmly.

Angelo tried to smile and hurried over to Sydney.

"Help." He cursed his difficulty in speaking as he forced out the word.

"Help whom? Are you hurt? " Sydney asked with concern.

"Miss Parker needs help." Angelo managed, thinking that at least that was clear. He hated his inability to get out the words that were so clear in his mind.

Angelo sensed Sydney’s hesitation with a growing sense of desperation. They had to help soon, or it would be to late.

"Miss Parker needs help," He repeated, his voice pleading. "both dead soon."

"Sydney, what is he talking about?" Broots asked in a scared voice. Angelo seemed to be highly agitated, desperate even.

"I am not sure." The psychiatrist answered him. "I think Miss Parker and Emily might be in danger." While he told this to Broots he looked at Angelo, who nodded and shook his head at the same time.

"Help, now!" He stressed urgently. Broots and Sydney looked at each other for several heartbeats; Broots worried and ready to spring into action, Sydney unsure.

"I’m going!" Broots finally burst out defiantly. "She’s never let me down and I won’t fail her now."

"You’re right, Broots." Sydney sighed with a touch of self contempt. "I have been a bit of a self-righteous prig, haven’t I?"

Broots wisely left that question unanswered as the three men hurried out of the Centre.

"Momma?" Parker responded dryly, trying to hide the sensation of warmth she felt from the boy’s enthusiastic hug.

"Are you mad at me?" The boy asked worriedly.

"Well, I’ve been happier." She admitted, "but I suspect that I’ll let you live. Who do I have to talk to about getting you out of here?"

"He’s over there." JJ pointed to an older man, balding and sporting the beginnings of a beer belly.

"Okay, kid, let’s spring you." She smiled down at him lovingly just as the officer looked up and spotted the two of them.

"You must be Ms. Parker." He said genially, offering a hand to shake. Parker obliged him and agreed that she was Ms. Parker.

"JJ wouldn’t tell us why he ran away, but I do recommend that you talk it over and work things out." He advised seriously. "We picked him up hitchhiking on the highway. Too many sickos out there to have our kids doing that."

"I agree wholeheartedly." Parker flustered the man with a dazzling smile. "Thank you so much for saving----JJ from his rashness. We’ll work things out on the way home. I’m sure he’ll never try that again; will you, JJ?"

"No, Mom. I’m sorry I did such a stupid thing." JJ managed to look loving and contrite at the same time.

"Now, if you don’t mind, I’ve got to get JJ home and call in to work before they send a posse after me. Is it all right for us to go now?" She cut the voluble man off as he opened his mouth, and sent another killer smile at him that made him blush.

"Sure, Ma’am. Nice kid you got there." He added kindly. "You’re doing a good job with him---not a disrespectful brat like so many of them nowadays."

"Thank you so much." Parker’s teeth were gritted as she tried to reign in her irritation. Would the man never shut up and let them leave? JJ solved the dilemma by tugging on her arm.

"Mom, I’m hungry." He said innocently. "I haven’t eaten since breakfast."

Parker shot the officer a "what can you do?" look and hustled JJ out of there before the man could come up with something else.

****************

At Donoterase an older woman was entering Emily’s cell, flanked by two sweepers. Emily was well educated in the martial arts and with the addition of Miss Parker’s parting gift she’d been feeling optimistic about making an escape, but the sweepers gave her a twinge of worry.

"We need you for a few tests. If you’ll just come this way?" The woman said impersonally.

"Okay." Emily said agreeably. When she reached the small group by the door, though, she swept the smaller guard’s feet out from under him in a scythe kick and stunned the other guard with a double fisted punch that had all of the force of her body’s upward momentum as she sprang up from the kick.

Keeping her advantage of surprise she’d hustled the researcher out of the room and slammed the door shut on the dazed sweepers in a blur of movement. Almost before the woman knew what had happened Emily had the gun Parker had left under her pillow pressed against the scientist’s ribs.

"Okay, I don’t want any trouble and I’m sure you don’t want any trouble." Emily said calmly, only slightly out of breath from her exertion. "So you show me the exit to the hellhole, and I’ll let you live. Sound like a deal?"

The woman glance briefly at the door, thinking about the two hulking brutes on the other side that Emily had managed to take out, and nodded her head slowly.

"This way." She squeaked timidly, leading Emily through the subterranean passages to an exit. She took a less direct route so that they could avoid other people and they were fortunate enough to reach the door to Emily’s freedom without an encounter.

"The carpool is in here." The researcher whispered. "It’s not guarded because this place is already hidden. You should be able to find something with the keys in it without too much trouble."

"Thank you!" Emily responded, surprised at the woman’s helpfulness.

"Once you take employment with the Centre it’s for life, but that doesn’t mean we all enjoy our jobs. I’m glad your escaping." The other explained wryly. "Now I have one less nightmare to keep me awake at night."

"Thanks." Emily repeated. "Now, if you’ll forgive me, this is for your own good." She spun the woman around and applied a sleeper hold on her.

"We don’t want them to think you helped me willingly." She heard Emily explain before the lack of oxygen to her brain took effect and she passed out.

"There." Emily looked at the unconscious woman with satisfaction. "It’ll be a few moments before you come to, and I know your head will hurt, but not nearly as bad as it would if I’d hit you." She slipped through the door and had appropriated a silver Towncar before the scientist regained consciousness. By the time they could get the woman to tell them what had happened, Emily was miles away and putting more distance between her and the hidden facility as fast as she dared.

"Now what?" She thought suddenly. "I can’t just leave without letting Miss Parker know I’m safe, but I haven’t got a clue how to find her."

*****************

Jarod and his father searched a 50 foot radius from the cabin and then got in the vehicle to search the roads. An hour’s searching finally took them as far as the small town several miles from the cabin. There they discovered that a boy fitting JJ’s description had boarded a bus for Delaware several hours ago.

It was then that Jarod realized his phone was missing. He opened his case to retrieve it and discovered it was gone.

"At least if something happens he can call for help." He suggested, trying to ease both of their anxiety. "But I still want someone I trust at the Centre watching for him."

He opened the laptop, ready to e-mail Broots since Sydney seemed unreachable, and saw that the machine was still running, still displaying the message that has sent JJ off. He read it, felt the blood drain from his face, and read it again.

"Dad." He said hoarsely, swallowing down nausea. "Pull over. You need to see this."

"What’s the matter, son?" Major Charles glanced over, noted his son’s pallor, and pulled over. Jarod just turned the computer screen to face his father, unable to speak.

"Well I’ll be damned!" The Major breathed in amazement.

"No, Dad, I think that’s my line." Jarod groaned. "I’m going to kill her, you know." He added, anger rising even hotter than before.
"Son." Charles cautioned him. "She was only doing what she thought best. Give her a chance."

Jarod stared unseeingly at his father.

"I’m going to kill her." He finally whispered again, not even seeming to register his father’s presence. With a sigh the Major put them into motion again.

‘Those two are like fire and oil.’ He thought with an element of amusement. ‘Perfect together, but so combustible!’

*******************

Lyle stiffened as he heard the car approaching. He knew it was her, who else would be so far away from civilization at this hour of the day. His heart began to pound with anticipation as he waited for her to arrive, so he could spring his trap.

He noted the presence of the boy with a sense of fate. His sister *and* the boy! When he turned the boy back over to the Triumvirate he’d be forgiven anything. His eyes gleamed with avarice as the car parked and the tall woman and growing boy stepped out….

"Out of the car young man." Miss Parker ordered.

JJ opened the passenger door from the car and hoped out.

"Wow, do you always drive that fast?" The boy asked, exited and with a happy sparkle in his eyes.

"No, only when you or your family is involved." Miss Parker scowled at the boy. JJ’s smile faded until he saw her wink. Then his grin reappeared, a bit broader this time.

"OK, let’s go inside. You can wait here while I drive back to Donoterase and grab your Sister." She lifted her arm a bit in a silent invitation and the boy slipped in to let her squeeze his shoulders while she guided him to the entrance of her home.

JJ snuggled closer, thinking that he had been right, she was kind and nice. He hadn’t expected the police to grab him, and he hadn’t been sure how she would react when the police called her and told her that her son was waiting for him. He had been a bit worried while he waited that his father and Jarod might have been right. But the moment he saw Miss Parker walking in he knew he was right, and they were wrong.

The boy snickered inwardly at their misconception. She was really cool. As far as he could tell, she had broken every speed limit and many other traffic laws on the way here. Driving with Jarod or his father had never been as much fun as his one ride with her.

Miss Parker looked down at the happily grinning boy at her side. Normally she would have be angry, or at least irritated. To her own surprise she only felt happy to see him again. No matter what, she vowed inwardly, she would manage to keep him safe to. For what seemed to be the thousandth time she asked herself just how had she ended up as the rescuer for Jarod’s entire family?

****

Lyle watched them walking up to the house, and it made him sick to see the boy snuggling up to his Sister. !0 minutes, then he would follow.....

*****

"You’re sure this was the boy the police grabbed?" Jarod asked the truck driver.

The man carefully studied the picture over the rim of his sunglasses. "Yeah, sure. He was asking around for a truck heading to Blue Cove."

"Do you know where the police took him?" The Major stepped in.

"Nope, but there’s a police station at the end of this road." The driver pointed to a single building about 600 yards away.

"Thank you very much." The Major answered gratefully.

"I just hope," Jarod said to his father while they hurried back to the car. "That he is still there."

"Don’t worry, son, where would he go? The police won’t let him walk out on his own." The older man assured him.

******

"Sydney, I have a very bad feeling about this." Broots sighed and nervously clutched the steering wheel harder. "Nobody has heard anything from Lyle or Miss Parker for hours. This isn’t good; not good at all."

Sydney sat in the passenger seat with his eyes nearly closed. He was trying to make sense out of all the confusing information they had received in the past two hours. Broots was right; recent events had left a foul taste of fear in his mouth. Something was utterly wrong. He was worried that something might have already happened and they would arrive too late to help her. If that were so, it would all be his fault. Instead of trusting his own instincts he had believed Parker’s icy act. He still wasn’t sure what was really going on, but he knew he had made a big mistake in condemning the woman he’d worked with for the past 4 years If he hadn’t learned anything else in his years at his less than ideal workplace, he should have at least figured out that at the Centre nothing was ever what it seemed to be.

He sighed again. He had worked with Miss Parker very closely for 4 years. They had spend nearly every day and more than a few late work nights together, and he thought he should have known her by now. After she had told him that she knew about his Refuge box he had seen her smile. It was the first really warm and relaxed smile he had seen on her face in far too many years and it made him hope that she cared more for Jarod than she would admit. And the way Jarod sacrificed everything to try and save her after Willie shot her in the back... Sydney shook his head, angry at himself. He was a fool, that’s all, an old romantic fool.

Broots slowed the car down as they neared her house. Sydney hoped that she was at home because they really needed to talk.. He only hoped she would trust them enough to finally be honest about what was troubling her and to let them help her.

****

2 hours earlier

*****

"What do you mean my son isn’t here? You just let him take off? Alone???" Major Charles demanded incredulously.

"No, we let him go with his mother." The officer answered solidly, his manner expressing outrage that his judgment had been questioned.

"His mother?" Jarod asked softly. "Tall woman, auburn hair, bluest eyes God ever made? Name of Parker?"

"Yes." The officer smiled. "Looked like a model, in a lethal sort of way. Gorgeous woman. If I were only a few years younger…" He trailed off with a happy sigh. Jarod fought down a red haze of jealous anger.

"Parker, yes, that’s what she said her name was." He finally pulled his thoughts back to the present, but the reminiscent smile on his lips made Jarod’s blood boil. The officer, seeing the anger, but misunderstanding its source, assumed that Jarod was angry that Parker had custody of the boy at the moment. "Her and the boy were obviously very close. Is that why he ran off? This some kind of a custody battle?" His eyes narrowed with suspicious censure.

"Something like that." The Major admitted, placing a calming hand onto Jarod’s shoulder.

"Well it would be a sin to try and separate those two. I never saw a mother so devoted to her child." The officer scolded.

"Is this Mis---uh, Ms. Parker, we’re talking about?" Jarod demanded with open skepticism.

"I already told you that." The officer growled, he and Jarod sizing each other up like two strange dogs preparing for a battle over territory.

"So, you released JJ into Ms. Parker’s care." The Major confirmed smoothly while Jarod tried to regain control of himself. His father’s vice-like grip on his shoulder warned him to keep his mouth shut from here on out.

"Yes. And if you want my advice," (They didn’t, but that didn’t stop him.) "You’ll all make up. That’s a good kid you guys got. Don’t hurt him with your own problems." He scolded albeit with the best of intentions.

"Officer, you have no idea how much we want to do exactly that." Jarod answered fervently. "C’mon, Dad. Let’s go get my brother and make up with Parker, okay?"

The Major and Jarod both suppressed smiles as they made their farewells and tore out of the station. Jarod knew where Parker lived. Soon now, very soon…..

*****

Back to the present.

*****

Lyle entered the house through the back door. He could her his Sister happily chatting with the boy, and it made him sick. He had never heard her laugh so much. He stopped and listened them. Pizza? They were discussing the best toppings for pizzas? Now the boy was asking for ice-cream for dessert. ENOUGH! He couldn’t bear to stand by and listen to them pretending to be a loving little family any longer.

Silently he stepped towards the kitchen door, glad that it wasn’t completely closed, so he could enter without making any noise that could reveal his presence. He reached for his weapon, and as quietly as he could he flicked the safety off. Carefully he peered through the small door slit.

‘Perfect!’ He thought with malicious satisfaction, ‘The boy is close enough to grab before she can react to my presence.’

With one powerful push he slammed the door open and grabbed JJ in the next instant. He had the gun pressed to the boy’s temple before his Sister could even turn.

Miss Parker heard a loud thud from behind and whirled, instinctively reaching for her gun while she turned. The sight that met her eyes made her freeze, and then lower her weapon a bit.

"That’s right, Sis. One wrong move and your little clone is dead. Drop it. NOW!" The last word Lyle shouted triumphantly at her. He had no real intentions to kill the clone, but if she didn’t obey he would shoot him in a painful, if non-fatal place.

"OK. You win. Just let the boy go." Miss Parker replied as she slowly placed her weapon on the nearby table.

Frantically, she tried to come up with a plan of action, a solution to this unexpected twist, but at the moment there wasn’t anything she could do. Better to play along, and hope that later Lyle would make a mistake she could take advantage of. If there was a later, that is. If she didn’t solve this problem soon, everything would be lost anyway. She didn’t dare to hope that the Triumvirate would take much longer to discover her plans and treachery.

Lyle pushed the kid slightly away from him.

"Don’t move!" He ordered grimly. "If you do, I’ll shoot you, but I’ll make sure you live long enough to watch my traitorous Sister die."

JJ nodded in agreement. He was shocked and not sure how to react. Everything had happened so fast, he thought dazedly, and it was all his fault. He’d never even thought that Miss Parker would need his help. Parker tried vainly to catch his eye, to reassure him everything would be okay, but JJ wasn’t focusing on anything but his self-recrimination.

Lyle kept the weapon trained on the boy’s head while he reached with his other hand into his pocket and pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

"Here Sis, put this on one wrist." With this he threw her the cuffs.

With a dark glare she obeyed.

"Good girl" Lyle taunted, his good humor restored by the fear and anger radiating from his two captives. "Now take your cuffs and use them to chain the boy to the pipes over there. He pointed with his head to a spot close to the door.

Miss Parker stepped closer to the teenager, noting the fear and guilt in his eyes with deep regret. ‘God, he thinks this is his fault!’ She wished she had time to explain the sick nature of her brother to him, but Lyle’s jaw was clenching ominously.

"It’s all right." She assured JJ softly. "Come over here and take a seat on the chair, so you can sit while you’re chained. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you"

The boy kept his head down.

"Do you hear me?" She stressed insistently. "I won’t let anything happen to you; remember that."

JJ looked up, straight into her eyes, and the utter faith and love in his eyes took her breath away. Once again, she swore inwardly that she’d do anything that was necessary to keep her promise to him.

"That’s enough!" Lyle interrupted their silent conversation impatiently. The concern and protection his Sister was showing for this brat infuriated him. Hell! He was her brother, but she had never even given him a friendly word. Now this clone, not even a *real* boy, but one created in a test tube, was the recipient of her love. Lyle’s hatred of the boy grew. Maybe he should kill him anyway...? No, he was worth too much, but he would show the boy just who had the power here-----later, though, much later! First he had to teach his sister a lesson.

"Move to the door." Lyle ordered, pointing to the door at the other end of the room.

Not wanting to make him even more angry, but unable to resist, Parker ruffled JJ’s hair before she moved to obey, hoping to calm him and reassure him that everything was going to be OK. She ignored the fulminating glare her brother gave her with the mask of cold indifference she’d spent most of her life perfecting. When she reached the door Lyle ordered her to stop. He moved over to check JJ’s cuffs, satisfying himself that he was securely chained to the pipe before he turned his attention back to his sister.

Lyle kept the gun trained on Miss Parker at all times, being careful to stay out of her reach. Her present cooperation didn’t fool him for a second. If she had half a chance she could, and would, take him out in an instant. He had the utmost respect for her physical prowess, he’d seen her work out.

"Go." He ordered tersely.

Miss Parker obeyed, following his instructions as he guided her through the living room and over to the door of her bedroom. Her heart sank as she opened the door and walked in, Lyle directly behind her. Her mind was racing futilely. No matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn’t come up with a solution to this dilemma.

Damn! Why hadn’t she anticipated something like this from Lyle? She tried to buy herself some time by walking slowly through the room. Waiting for help would be a waste of time, she knew. No one who knew her would have any reason to think she needed help, not that they would care even if they did know. She’d pretty much burned her bridges behind her with Sydney and Broots, Jarod was God only knew where, and he’d made it pretty obvious he hated her now, her father was also missing in action, busy guarding Brigitte and the baby he wanted so desperately. Right now the only two people who’d give a damn about her safety were Emily and JJ, and they were as helpless as she was.

Parker heard Lyle follow her into the room. She turned and looked at her brother. If she had doubted at all what he wanted from her, that doubt was erased by what she saw on his face. She ruthlessly suppressed a shiver of dread as the anticipatory gleam in her brother eyes gave him away. That sick bastard wanted to see her fear and disgust, and she’d die before she gave him the satisfaction.

"Could you please close the door?" She asked as coolly as she could manage.

"Trying to spare the little brat, are you?" Lyle jeered with a smug grin. "Practicing to be a mommy, dearest sister?" he mocked viciously.

"No, I am still not sure if you’re carrying the little lab rat or not. To be honest, I don’t care one way or the other. You’re mine; you’ve always belonged to me and no child, real or imaginary, will ever change that." Not waiting for an answer, he slammed the door shut and advance into the room, determination in his every move.

"Now go over to the bed, sit down and cuff yourself to the bedpost." Lyle ordered, the hot light in his eyes and the greed with which he appraised her body making Parker battle with both nausea and rising fear. "If you’re a good girl for me I may just consider not hurting your little boy out there. But you want to be a good girl for me, don’t you?" He asked, an insane note of delusion entering into is voice.

Miss Parker nodded in agreement, concentrating with every fiber of her being on maintaining her mask of calm. Mechanically, she walked over to her bed and did what he had ordered. He was smarter than she expected----he was staying just out of reach until she was safely restrained. If they’d been alone she would have taken a chance and jumped him, regardless of the consequences. But if he shot her now JJ would be left all alone. No matter how smart the boy was, he didn’t stand a chance against this psycho. She suspected her brother knew that the boy was a much stronger chain than the cuffs.

Lyle watched her sitting down on the bed and closing the handcuffs around her wrists. A satisfied grin engulfed his face when he heard them click hut. For a moment he considered finding something to tie her feet with as well, but he dismissed this idea a moment later. Thanks to the boy, further restraints wouldn’t be necessary. Of course, he’d still have to teach the little brat a lesson later, regardless of what he’d promised his sister about not hurting him, but reneging on a promise had never bothered him in the least.

Parker was given a few precious moments reprieve as Lyle became distracted by thoughts of what he could do with the boy when he was done with his sister. Maybe he’d could play a round of Russian roulette with him---the Triumvirate needed his brain, not his body. They surely wouldn’t mind if he just shot the boy’s kneecaps, after all, that would only make it harder for the rat to ever run again.

The original Jarod had never quite satisfied him when he’d gotten to toy with him. The Tower and the Triumvirate had always watched far too closely for him to really enjoy himself, but nobody had the slightest clue that he was here, at his sister’s house, much less that she’d somehow managed to locate the clone. He briefly wondered just how she had managed that anyway, before returning to his pleasurable plans. Yes, the boy would be much more fun to play with. He was younger, malleable, and far more easily frightened. Maybe he would let his dear sister watch him work. That would teach her to give someone else the love and affection she owed him! The thought filled him with sadistic anticipation and refocused his attention on his stoically waiting sister.

She watched, keeping her face impassive by exerting every ounce of her willpower, as Lyle laid is weapon on the nearby night-stand. He slipped out his jacket, his eyes never leaving his sister’s face. Not only was he ready to grab his gun the instant she made a single wrong move, but he wanted to savor every moment of her fear and pain. No matter what she might try, she knew that right now he had the upper hand and he’d win.

‘Face it Parker,’ she told herself grimly. "You’ve been outmaneuvered and now you’re checkmated.’

Lyle stood about four steps away from the bed, avidly watching every nuance of her expression. He knew she was trying to hide her fear, but he was a master at this game and he recognized every flicker of the eye, every twitch of the jaw. He relished the expression on her face, knowing that her mind was racing, trying to come up with any kind of a plan to save herself and the boy.

His smile broadened, she’d been a worthy adversary, and even now she remained a challenge. It didn’t matter that he’d won, that she was completely defenseless, not even now would she give up. He respected her strength, even as he looked forward to breaking it. It was a shame, really. None of this would have been necessary if she had only been able to see that they belonged together. Fate itself had bonded them together in the womb and it was obvious that they were a team----and what a team they would make when he finally finished her training! Together nobody could would even dare to competed with them. Right now he was willing to settle for second best, but Lyle knew that eventually he could dispense with the chains. One day she would stay where she belonged, next to him.

"Don’t worry," he said, his voice oddly gentle. "Everything will be okay now. I’m not angry with you anymore. Even if you are still pregnant, and I will find out soon enough if that’s so, it won’t affect us. You’ll just have the baby and then we’ll give it to the Triumvirate. You’ll never even have to think about it anymore; it will be just you and me. I promise that nobody, except me, will ever touch you again. I’m truly sorry that I let Jarod have you, but eventually you’ll understand it was for the best."

Lyle closed the distance between them and sat down next to his twin. He reached out with his damaged hand and placed it on her cheek. He smiled as he saw her flinch, but his heart warmed with pride as she continued to deny her fear. He was, inwardly at least, blown away by her courage. Every other woman he had "trained" had started to cry and plead long before he had gotten this far. But he had never really doubted her valiant heart, not really. After all, she too was a Parker.

It was almost as though his hand had taken on a life of its own as he caressed her face. She started to jerk her head away, but simply raising his eyebrows made her stop and submit to his attentions. Pleasure coursed like fire through his veins, such sweet submission! She was his, he exulted, only his!

"I don’t want to hurt you." He assured her, his voice full of Lyle’s twisted version of love. He lowered his face towards hers until he was so close to her ear that she could feel his hot breath on the exposed skin of her neck. "But you know that I will have to if you ever do this again. You are mine, never allow yourself to forget that. You belong to me, body and soul. If you try to deny that, I will have no choice but to hurt you. First you, and later the little bastard in the kitchen. Do you understand? The choice is yours, I don’t ever want to have to mar your perfect skin, but if you force me... " his voice trailed off regretfully.

He could not see her at that moment, he was too busy breathing in the warm fragrance of her neck, but he felt her nod her understanding, her soft hair brushing his cheek, and he felt goose bumps of excitement raise the hair at the nape of his neck and on his arms.

God, he loved the hold he had over her! Lyle knew it was mostly because of the non-entity in the kitchen, but that was okay with him for now. He couldn’t understand why she tried to protect that little brat, but he was thankful that she did, it made things so much easier.

Barely touching her he let his hand slide down her face, towards her neck, the sensation of her soft skin under his hand made his mind spin.

"Don’t you like this?" He asked in a soft and low voice, but without the slightest doubt that she soon would. He lifted his head and looked straight into her eyes.

"I *am* sorry that I let Jarod touch you. I see now that it was a mistake, that he could never be worthy of you, but I’ll make it up to you. I’ll make you forget him, I swear."

"Don’t delude yourself." Parker answered through lips so tight that they were white along the edges. "I *loathe* the feel of your hands on me. I wouldn’t even shake your hand if I could avoid it. And I *loved* the way Jarod touched me. If you knew me half as well as you think you do, you would have known that the drugs you fed me that night weren’t necessary. I would have given him freely what you have to take by force."

She never saw the blow coming, although she knew it would. Suddenly the left side of her face was on fire and a trickle of salty blood filled her mouth from a cut that the force of the blow left just inside of her cheek.

"Never, NEVER, speak to me that way again." Lyle yelled, love and tenderness burned out of his mind by white-hot rage.

Her raised his hand to hit her a second time when he saw a small stream of blood running down her arm. He had hit her so hard that her whole body had jerked, and the metal of the cuffs had sliced the skin around one of her wrists.

In an instant his mood changed again, to guilt and remorse.

"Why did you make me do that?" He asked sadly, his eyes glued to the fluid trickling down her arm. "I told you not to make me angry."

He reached out and caught a drop of blood on the tip of one finger. Parker’s face twisted in a grimace of disgust as he carefully he studied the red liquid on his finger, and then slowly brought it to his mouth, his eyes closing as he tasted her for the first time.

The sweet and metallic taste sent a hot jolt of desire through his body. He had wanted to make this special, after all, your first time should be a memory to cherish forever, but he couldn’t withstand the lust to possess her a moment longer. Later he would be able to claim her again, as slowly as he wanted. Now that she was his they would have time enough for him to fulfill his every dream, his every desire. But right now he needed to feel her; to take her with all his power and mark her forever as his own.

With a quick motion he grabbed the collar of her jacket and ripped it open in one swift jerk. Lyle e heard her gasp of surprise, but he didn’t care about her reactions anymore. He couldn’t think coherently anymore, all he could do was obey his twisted desires.

He placed his hand on her breast, slowly sliding down to her stomach and the back up to her breast again. He ignored the way she stiffened in mute rejection. She was still wearing her powder-blue satin top and its smooth texture whispered a promise of even softer skin to his fevered mind. Lyle was so caught up in a haze of sensual pleasure and carnal thoughts that he never noticed when her eyes filled with surprise and concern. In spite of the concern, though, her face expressed her dawning hope.

****

"You are sure the report she assured us was genuine is a fake as well, then?" Raines asked a unseen person on the other end of the phone line.

After a slight pause he answered: "Understood , Sir. I agree with you completely. Time to end the charade once and for all." He put the phone down and turned to a figure who stood at the nearby door.

"Sam," he stated calmly, but with an undertone of savage pleasure, "I need 3 sweeper teams. Have them ready in 5 minutes."

****

"Let her go!" The voice was nearly unrecognizable, so filled was it with outrage.

Lyle froze as he heard the order from behind him. At the same moment he cursed himself for being such an idiot. He had forgotten to take his sisters gun with him when they left the kitchen. Somehow that damn brat had managed to get rid of the cuffs and now he had the audacity to threaten him with the 9 mm!

It took a lot of effort, but he managed to keep a lid on his temper. The last thing he needed was to provoke a panicked reaction from the boy. Lyle turned as slowly as he could manage, his passion extinguished in an instant.

The boy was standing in the doorway, holding Parker’s handgun firmly and pointing the business end of it directly at his head.

"This is not a toy!" Lyle snapped, hoping to trigger reflexive obedience with the tone of authority in his voice. "Give me the weapon." He demanded.

The only response was a short but confident shake of the boy’s head.

Without taking his gaze away from determined young man Lyle grabbed a handful of his sister’s glossy hair and shook her head sharply. She pressed her lips together against a cry of pain, but Lyle continued with his ploy. The threat of violence had been so effective with his sister, after all, that it would be nothing short of a miracle if they didn’t work with the boy as well. He obviously idolized his perfidious sister.

"If you don’t hand the gun over to me right now, Miss Parker here will have to pay the consequences for your defiance. I’m sure you don’t want to be responsible for her being hurt, now do you?"

Uncertainty flickered in the boy’s eyes and it was all Lyle could do to control a savage grin of triumph. JJ looked over to his sister for reassurance, and that was all the opening Lyle needed. Unnoticed by either of the others he had managed to grab the corner of a pillow. With all his strength he threw it at the kid.

As the pillow hit JJ he lost the weapon and almost lost his balance as well. As soon as he saw the pistol hit the floor Lyle released his hold on his temper and sprang to his feet with an inarticulate roar of anger. When he got his hands on the boy he’d-----

"Run!" Parker shouted forcefully, triggering JJ’s instinct for self preservation. He turned on his heels and raced nimbly out of the room with Lyle directly behind him. At the last moment JJ was able to slam the door into his pursuer’s face.

Lyle’s howl of pain and mindless rage was all the promise JJ needed of what would happen to him if Lyle caught up with him. Fear gave his feet wings, and he fairly flew through the house and into the surrounding woods. In moments he had hidden himself in the thick underbrush with all of the cunning and agility that lurked in the heart of every child.

He lay utterly still, trying to control his gasping breaths and pounding hear, and tried to think of what he’d done wrong. He had to understand that before he could go back again to help Miss Parker. As terrified as he was he still didn’t even consider for a second that he should abandon her.

****

"It appears that she’s home." Broots said while he pointed at Miss Parker’s car in the front of the house.

"What do you think Sydney? Should we go closer?" He asked uncertainly.

Neither of them noticed the silver jeep pulling up on the other side of the road, almost hidden in the dark shadows of the nearby trees.

Sydney had just opened his mouth to respond to his companion when all hell broke loose around them.

With his mouth still open, Sydney watched the clone run out of the front door, round Miss Parker’s car, and dive into the shelter of the nearby bushes. In an instant the boy was completely concealed. Then, before he regained his composure, Lyle stormed through the same door, and even as far away as they were, Sydney could see him fuming. Neither Sydney or Broots had the slightest trouble hearing him shouting for the boy to return immediately.

Sydney slowly closed his mouth, thinking with amused detachment that the clone, even with his sheltered upbringing, wasn’t naive enough to respond to an adult ranting at him with a voice so full of rage.

****

With a hiss of pain Parker dislocated her thumb and slipped out of the cuffs, scraping off even more skin in the process and leaving a trail of blood on the bed.

‘Lyle really is an idiot!’ She thought as relief, anger and disgust warred for supremacy in her heart. In his fury he had grabbed his weapon, but forgotten about her gun lying on the floor. She swung her legs over the bed and bent over to pick up the 9 mm that was almost like an old friend to her by now. Then she froze, horror and disbelief swamping her as she stared at the floor by her gun.

Miss Parker couldn’t believe what her eyes were telling her. Next to her weapon there was a snake.... a bright green Mamba.

‘Lyle!’ She groaned inwardly.

Fortunately for her, the snake was curled up and seemed to be asleep. She was glad that her bedroom was always cold. The thought of how close JJ had been standing to the reptile put a knot of second-hand fear in her stomach. For a split second she considered just to taking the chance and to grabbing the pistol, but the next second she realized that would make her even more of an idiot than her crazy brother. The last thing she needed now was a bite from a poisonous snake.

Growing frantic for JJ’s safety as the seconds ticked past, she looked around the room. Her eyes fell on the wicker laundry basket in one corner and a slight smile of relief dawned on her face. With a few quick strides she was there and snatched it up, only to reveal a Black Widow spider. The sick bastard claiming to be her brother was really trying to kill her, she realized. A shudder run down her spine as she tried to imagine what other lethal surprises might be lurking in her house for her to discover. No time for that! She forced her mind to focus on her current task. She had to get her weapon and stop Lyle from hurting JJ.

Miss Parker paid no further attention to the spider who was slowly making her way over the floor towards her wall. The insect crept determinedly on, lifting her long, hairy legs almost in slow motion....

As soon as she was close enough to see it, she thanked God that the snake was still coiled in sleep. She carefully positioned the basket over the deadly creature, and then scooped up her pistol, cursing the time she’d lost solving her venomous problem. Violent and painful methods of retribution raced through her mind as she followed after JJ and Lyle, praying that she wouldn’t encounter any more of Lyle’s unpleasant versions of a practical joke.

"I should have made sure that green jello was radioactive!" She muttered furiously to herself.

****

Jarod and the Major watched with astonishment and more than a little apprehension as JJ and Lyle played their obviously deadly serious game of hide and seek. Wondering what Lyle was doing here, Jarod was about to jump out of the car to help his brother when his father grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. The Major responded to Jarod’s inarticulate cry of protest by pointing to the rearview mirror. Three black Lincoln Towncars were heading their way at high speed. Jarod’s heart skipped a beat, but the cars passed them without seeming to notice either the jeep or its passengers.

With squealing brakes the black cars slid to a halt in front of Miss Parker’s house. At just the same moment Miss Parker came rushing out of the house, her ripped jacket still fluttering around her body, the handcuffs dangling form one wrist, and her gun held ready in the other hand.

"Lyle!" She shouted to her brother, ignoring the Centre vehicles in her anxiety for the boy. Lyle’s head snapped up from the bushes he was searching several yards away from her.

"Where is JJ?" She demanded, gun trained on her brother’s head. "I swear, if you’ve hurt him in any way I will shoot you again, and this time I will make sure you don’t come back from the dead!"

Lyle looked at her with nearly comical disbelief. All he could think about were the words he had said to her about a year ago. He had told her that she was beautiful when she was angry and she had replied that he had never seen her angry. They had both been right, he reflected almost humbly, now she was truly angry and she was the most magnificently beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Her sapphire eyes blazed bright enough to overshadow the growing sunset in the west, her long, dancer’s legs were planted firmly on the ground, and her weapon remained trained on his head. Of course he knew that she would never shoot him, and he marveled at her fire and vibrancy. She looked so powerful, so full of life, so---so---Parker. He had seen DSA’s of their mother when she had been fighting save one of the Centre children, and Parker looked exactly like her, except that she was foolishly fighting against him, rather than with him like she should be.

Nobody could separate them, couldn’t she see that? The time they had spent inside of their mother together had formed a bond nothing could ever destroy. They belonged to each other, surely she could sense that even as he did. Even when he’d been growing up with the Bowmans he had known that she was out there, somewhere. Oh, he hadn’t known that she was his twin sister, but he knew that there was a companion waiting for him. Someone who would never leave him, never hurt him, who would be closer than the air he needed to survive. One day Raines would pay for taking her away from him, for keeping them so far apart for so long. *He* should have grown up with her, not Jarod. Nobody else could ever be good enough for touch her---nobody. Tonight they would be together again, just the two of them. He would take such good care of her...

"Oh, come on, Sis, you won’t shoot me. I’m your brother; I love you." Lyle informed her in tones that were calmly reasonable. Parker felt a shiver run down her spine as she realized that her brother truly was insane.

"Come here," he coaxed sweetly. "Give me your gun, and help me find the boy. You don’t need to ever worry about using a gun again; I’ll always be here to take care of you. I love you, Parker." He added again, madness and sincerity shining from his face.

Parker’s gun never wavered, although she was suddenly assailed with doubt. Could she do it? She wondered uneasily. Could she kill her own brother? A man who was too insane to see the lunacy of his inconsistent words and actions.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of several car doors opening at once. A veritable wave of sweepers poured out of the black cars that had arrived seconds earlier.

Raines left the last car, and as soon as Lyle saw him he yelled over to him: "She has the clone! "

"I want her and the boy alive!" Raines rasped as loudly as he could manage with his damaged lungs.

"You have no choice now, Sis." Lyle changed from cajoling to threatening without a moment’s hesitation. "You and the brat are both going back to the Centre. And I promise you, neither of you will ever see the sun again. Come here, give me your weapon, and I can still save you. We belong together. The Triumvirate will surely allow me to keep you in my team where you can be supervised. I’ll be in charge, but we still can be together, and you’ll still have your freedom. You know that I’m the best chance you have. "

Lyle was elated when he saw a haunted look flicker across her face. He was now close enough to see the emotions on her face, two more steps and he could reach out for the gun, four more and he could touch her again. A triumphant grin blossomed as he saw that she lowered her weapon slightly. Finally! Finally, she had accepted the truth. Nothing could stop them now, and nobody would ever be able to come between them.

Lyle was planing their future together as a thought crossed his mind.

"Sorry about the baby. You’ll have to have it you know. I wish we didn’t have to force you to, but you know the Triumvirate will need some reason not to kill you." Parker wondered if he really knew that she had never had the abortion, or if his demented mind had just decided that she hadn’t because that was the most convenient to him.

"And you have to agree that it will undoubtedly be perfect Pretender material. But don’t worry, you’ll never have to go through that again; as soon as Jarod’s brat is born you’ll never see it again. Raines can have the little bastard and good riddance. I forgive you, you know. I know that you’ll never let Jarod touch you again." Lyle rambled disjointedly, never noticing how utterly senseless his words were.

Miss Parker felt like a animal surrounded by hunters; no escape, no way out, no recourse. There were Sweepers behind her and Lyle in front of her. Raines wanted her alive, and Lyle did too, but she suspected that wouldn’t be the case if she made a break for it. She was confident that he would shoot her rather than let her escape. In his sick fashion he undoubtedly felt that it would be the loving thing to do.

If she let them get her now, she would be lost. Never again would she have a chance to be free. They would bury her alive and nobody would ever find her again, even if she hadn’t already driven off everyone who truly cared about her. As things stood now, there wasn’t anyone left who would bother to search for her. She had no other choice but to get JJ and herself out of this now.

Her weapon came up again and pointed directly at her brother.

"Order the sweepers away," Parker demanded steadily. "Or I’ll shoot you. And believe me, Lyle, I *will* do it!

‘Damn!’ She cursed inwardly at the obvious frailty of her threat. She had to come up with a better plan immediately, but she couldn’t seem to force her sluggish thoughts to cooperate. If ever she needed to have a plan of action, rather than being forced just to react, it was now. But her mind was a fuzzy and she saw no other options.

‘Poor Sydney,’ she thought regretfully. ‘To think that he once believed I might be a Pretender too!’ Well, if any more proof was needed to verify that his faith in her was in vain, this would certainly be it. She might be carrying the gene, but that was all. She wasn’t any different from any other normal person in any other way. She almost burst into a hysterical laughter as she realized how ridiculous her thoughts had become.

‘Maybe Lyle’s insanity is hereditary and I’m losing it as well.’ She thought with amusement.

"Shoot the clone! Fire at the bushes around here, he must be hiding somewhere near us!" Lyle yelled at the sweepers who were simply standing there, unsure of how to go on. Even Rains was standing quietly next to his car.

"NO!" Miss Parker shouted frantically, her finger squeezing the trigger of her weapon the same moment.

How long is a second? This second was an eternity, at least it was for her. She was sure she could see the bullet leaving her gun and make its way towards Lyle in slow motion. She felt like she was trapped in a Hollywood movie, one where time seemed to stand still. From the look of complete surprise on Lyle face, she was sure he too was in that slow motion scene. She was sure that he saw the bullet coming towards his head.

*Mom, I just wanted her to love me like I love her.*

The mental plea was forced into Miss Parker’s mind like the bullet into her brother’s, and she felt all of the loss, and confusion, and loneliness that went along with that thought in her brother’s mind. For a moment she swayed with the sheer agony she felt in that single sentence and she feared she was going to pass out from the pain. And then, for just a split second, she was looking into a dark hole, and the horror of being sucked into it was nearly enough to make her lose her mind. She was out of her body, no longer connected to her world, and drifting away from every rational thought she had ever had.

The thud when Lyle’s dead body hit the ground pushed her back into herself and the pain was, if possible, even greater. Her body and her mind were reeling with shock. She couldn’t believe that she’d done it, that she had actually pulled the trigger.

‘You killed your brother!’ A voice was screaming inside her head. Her body was frozen in the same position it had been in when she had fired her gun; her arm was still outstretched, her finger still pulling against the trigger.

‘Good think I had it set to fire single shots rather than continuous fire.’ She thought incongruously.

She didn’t even noticed that every one of the Sweepers had trained their weapon at her, just waiting for Raines to give the order to fire. Every Sweeper but one, that is.

The frozen tableau was shattered by the sudden sound of a car engine. The Towncar nearest the scene howled as its motor was mercilessly revved up. Before anybody could react, the car had traversed the distance to Miss Parker’s side and was now partially shielding her from the trigger happy Sweepers. The driver’s door flew open and Sam leaped out of the car.

"Miss Parker, get into the car!" Sam bellowed, releasing her from her paralysis. She hesitated for an instant, then she ducked and raced to the side of the car. She opened the front passenger door, but she didn’t get in. Instead she turned, her eyes searching the foliage around her.

"JJ come here!" She called, desperation clear in her voice while she prayed the boy would be close enough to make it.

She saw the small figure crawling out of a nearby bush with a warm rush of relief and she silently thanked God that the boy hadn’t hidden on the other side of the drive. He quickly ran over to her and dove under her arm into the car. Parker followed him closely, almost landing on top of him in her haste, and slammed the door shut even as Sam accelerated out of her drive in a shower of gravel.

At the same time, Sam took out his own weapon and aimed it at the nearest Lincoln as they passed it. His shot blew out the front tire, and bought them a little time.

"Shoot that damn traitor!" Raines howled. "You morons! What are you waiting for?" He bellowed in a surprisingly strong voice at the last sweeper team with a working car.

"Get back you car ready to follow them! Remember, I wand them alive if at all possible." He turned his attention to the other Sweepers, ignoring the bustle his words had triggered in the last group. "Get a Cleaner team down here on the double. Have them take care of this mess and then all of you return to the Centre. We’ll discuss this farce when I get back!" With that final threat Raines took his seat in the waiting Towncar and was rasping out orders and reminders as they sped off in pursuit of the fleeing trio.

****

Major Charles and Jarod each drew in a long breath at the same moment. They had almost forgotten to breathe as they watched the whole scene unfolding in front of Parker’s house. They were still in shock from those final explosive moments of the confrontation between Lyle and Parker.

Before he could voice the question on his mind, Jarod caught a flicker of movement in front of Parker’s house out of the corner of his eye and turned to see the last Towncar speeding after Parker, Sam and the boy.

"No!" Jarod gasped, determined not to fail Miss Parker a second time. Before his father could say anything he had started their car and was speeding after the other two.

****

As the silver Jeep passed Sydney and Broots both men had a clear view into the interior of the vehicle. They recognized the father and son and both men groaned in unison.

"Syd, could you please pinch me? I think, no, I *hope* I’m dreaming!" Broots gasped.

She trudged along the deserted back road in rural Connecticut angrily kicking at any rock that was large enough to connect with.

‘Damn piece of crap!’ She thought, looking over her shoulder to the car she stolen at Donoterase. It was just barely visible in the distance. ‘You’d think a multi-national corporation full of amoral, greedy crooks would at least invest a little in their mechanics. Cheap bastards!’

Her mood lifted when she finally topped the gentle hill she’d been climbing and saw a farm in the valley below her.

"A phone!" She breathed joyfully. "And a bathroom!"

With the hope of relief in sight Emily’s mood perked right up and she started down the other side of the hill with a spring in her step.

********************

Sydney and Broots were waiting for the Cleaners to leave Parker’s house before they went down there to look the place over for clues. Already three of the cleaners had been carried out of the house with various injuries, one had been placed in the Cleaner van, face covered with a handkerchief, so they knew he was dead, and the other two had been whisked off in the van that doubled as a Centre ambulance for non-critical injuries. The two men were grateful for the first time that the Centre had Cleaners as they watched Parker’s house being slowly made safe for humans.

"Just the same," Sydney told Broots soberly. "We’d better be careful when we do go in. Even Cleaners can miss things."

Broots wanted to ask Sydney if it was really necessary to search Parker’s house, especially after he saw a man walk out the front door with a writhing green snake in his hand, but the ringing of Sydney’s cell phone stopped him.

"Jarod?" He asked instead of his usual greeting.

"Um," the female on the other end answered uncertainly. "Is this Sydney?"

"Yes. May I help you?" He wondered who she was, he knew he’d never heard her voice before.

"Miss Parker slipped me your phone number earlier. I tried her number, but no one answered."

"Who is this?"

"Jarod’s sister; Emily."

"Good Lord!" Broots head jerked over to look apprehensively at Sydney. Sydney waved a dismissive hand and hoped Broots would realize that nothing was seriously wrong. "Are you still at Donoterase?"

"I don’t think I should answer that question." Emily said warily. "I’m not sure why Miss Parker gave me your number."

"Because I’m a friend of hers." Sydney answered with a growing smile. "She apparently thought that I would help you if you needed it and she wasn’t available."

"Okay." Emily responded noncommittally, her thoughts racing as she tried to decide whether or not to trust him. Sydney knew better than to press her and it was his patience, and the fact that he obviously knew her long lost brother, that decided her in the end.

"I’m in northern Connecticut. At a farm in a small town called Woodbury. Think you can help me? The car I used to escape went kaput."

Sydney’s smile grew deeper as he nodded. Parker still trusted him, or she wouldn’t have given Emily his number. The thought of beginning to make amends to her eased some of the heavy load of sorrow that had weighed him down for the past week.

"We’ll head out immediately. Why don’t you call this number again in two hours with directions. We should be close by then." He told her, motioning for Broots to wait when he would have asked Sydney what was going on. After another satisfied nod he folded the phone shut and turned to Broots.

"That was Jarod’s sister. Apparently she’s escaped Donoterase and Parker had given her a few emergency numbers just in case."

"You aren’t planning to take her home with you, are you?" Broots asked worriedly. "If the Centre find out you didn’t turn her in they’ll kill you!"

"No, Broots, I won’t be taking her home with me." Sydney assured Broots, much to the younger man’s relief. "You’ll be taking her home with you."

Broots nearly jumped through the roof as the meaning of Sydney’s words penetrated.

"What!? I can’t---- you can’t---- They’ll KILL me!" He finally squeaked.

"They’ll never know, Broots, now let’s run through Parker’s house and head out for Connecticut."

"But, why ME?" Broots protested, looking like he was ready to cry.

"Because you have an extra bedroom. I’ve only got the one." Sydney answered complacently. "Now get going."

*******************

"Son, are you sure you know what you’re doing?" Major Charles clung to the crash bars of the jeep as Jarod sped after the black Towncar.

"Get your gun out, Dad." Jarod said distractedly, he didn’t seem to have heard his father. "We’ve got to stop that car."

The Major sighed and pulled out his handgun.

"Son, we’ve got to hook you up with that young lady before you kill me!" He muttered, taking careful aim at the car in front of him. It took half a dozen shots, but he finally blew out the tire. He thoroughly enjoyed the look on Raines face when he gave the man a cheery wave as they roared past.

"Thanks, Dad." Jarod told his father, his eyes still fixed on the final Towncar as it continued to gain distance from them. Still, they chased it for another two hours before Major Charles called a halt.

"It’s pitch black tonight son, we can’t see the car in the dark, and we’re low on gas. Time to cut our losses. Maybe your friend at the Centre will be able to give us a clue of where to start looking tomorrow." He told his son gently.

Jarod stared unseeingly out the windshield, his face set in lines of worry, regret, and fatigue.

"I’ve got to find her, Dad." He said flatly. "I’ve got to!"

"We will, Jarod, tomorrow." He promised him.

"Tomorrow." Jarod sighed, leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes.

"Tomorrow never comes, you know. I’ve already waited a thousand tomorrows."

"We’ll find her, son, I swear." With that the Major bullied his son out from behind the wheel and began looking for a motel for the night.

****************

JJ was beginning to be very worried. Miss Parker wouldn’t talk to him, she just kept shaking and crying and she said over and over again,

"I killed him! Momma, I’m sorry, I killed him."

"Sir?" JJ looked up at the large man who’d rescued them. "We gotta do something for her."

"Let her cry." Sam told the boy, not unkindly. "As soon as we’re far enough away from our pursuers I’ll get her to a doctor."

"Please hurry." JJ asked him urgently. "It’s not good for her to be so upset. She’s going to have a baby."

Sam sucked in a lungfull of air and shot a quick, sideways look at the woman he’d just killed his career for. She didn’t look pregnant, but it wasn’t like her to be so distraught either.

"Next hospital, kid." He promised, worry coiling in his gut like a snake.

Parker felt their worry from far away. It was almost like there was a glass wall between her and them. Her mind was completely taken up with the memory of Lyle’s last cry. He’d been so hurt, so surprised, somehow his mental cry had made her think of JJ needing her.

‘Why didn’t I try to make a relationship with him?’ She wondered remorsefully. ‘Maybe if I’d tried things could have been different.’

"I think she’s in shock." She heard JJ tell Sam, and felt his warm little hand holding her cold wrist. She wanted to reassure him that she’d be okay, to give him a smile or a hug or something to ease his palpable worry, but it was just too hard to form words.

"Please, Miss Parker, please don’t be so upset." He pleaded earnestly. "I know he was your brother and everything, but there wasn’t anything else you could have done. He would have hurt you, I know he would have hurt you."

Parker turned her head and looked at the boy, her eyes still faintly dazed looking, as shivers racked her body.

"I know, JJ, I know." She breathed, trying to see him through the tears she couldn’t stop.

"This is all my fault." He berated himself. "If I’d stayed with the Major and Jarod----"

"No, JJ, not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong." She managed to say, patting his knee feebly. "I shot him, not you."

With that, her attention turned inward again and she wondered if she would ever feel warm again.

"Hurry, Sam." She heard JJ tell her old friend. "She could miscarry from all of this, and that would be too much for her."

‘Momma!’ She screamed in her mind, pain and guilt pushing her dangerously near the edge. ‘Momma, why aren’t you here? I need you, please Momma, I need you." But, as always, there was no answer to her pleas. Momma was with Lyle now. Maybe he would be happy now…

***************

In the basement of St. Anne’s Cathedral in downtown New York City a woman paused in the act of comforting a crying child, his face bruised from a drunken father’s rage. Her hair was snow white and would have fallen to her waist if it hadn’t been gathered into a knot at the nape of her neck. Her face was surprisingly unlined, though, and her soft blue eyes were clear and contained a wealth of strength. Every day she dealt with the uglier side of life here in St. Anne’s shelter for victims of domestic violence. She knew pain, in all of it’s various guises, but her eyes were peaceful and serene, bringing comfort to the battered women and children who turned to her for help.

Just now, though, her eyes were dark and troubled. Earlier today she’d felt a wave of unease, though she had no idea why. Now, she felt a nagging sense of restlessness. Someone needed her, she could feel that, as she so often did, but who? And more importantly, why?

It had been completely useless to go into Miss Parker’s house. The cleaners had done a damn good job. Nervously Broots glanced over to the older man in the seat at his right side.

He was sitting there with nearly closed eyes, gaze focused on a framed picture he held in is hands. It was the only thing he had taken from Miss Parker house . A picture of Catherine Parker with her baby girl. Both are smiling happily at the unseen photographer.

The way Sydney was starring at the picture scared the hell out of Broots. The only interruption to his absorption in the picture had been a short phone conversation with Emily just a little while ago when she had given them further information how to find her..

It was nearly time for the last turn... ah yes there was the road that would lead them directly to the farm. Moments after he’d started down it Broots silently wondered who would dared to call this rutted, gravel topped track a road, and prayed inaudibly that his car would survive this unscathed.

Once again Broots shot a quick look at the other man before he returned his attention to making his slow way up the rough road. Sydney seemed totally unaware of the bumpy journey. His heavy heart lightened when Broots saw the distant light from the farm, maybe now Sydney would pull out of this dark introspection. Broots sympathised with his friend’s feelings of sorrow at letting down Miss Parker; he knew Sydney was more of a father to her than Mr. Parker, but he also knew that regrets weren’t going to do anyone any good. He pulled the car up in front of the house with a feeling of relief, mixed with renewed apprehension about their course of action.

"Syd," he tried a last time to change the older man’s mind. "Are you sure that Jarod’s sister really should to stay at my place? " His eyes pleaded with Sydney to tell him ‘No’. He wanted to hear that Sydney had changed his mind and was going to put the girl up in a motel somewhere.

Instead, Sydney looked up from the picture and gave him a reassuring smile, then he gave Broots’ shoulder a quick pat, and left the car.

With a big sigh Broots followed him.

****

"I want her alive!" He was walking up and down the row of Sweepers, his oxygen tank squeaking behind. "And the Clone as well." He added.

After he reached the desk he studied every sweeper carefully… "I just hope for your own good that you all know that your first loyalty belongs to the Centre" he threatened and with this he dismissed the men.

After the last sweeper has left the office he turned over to the phone on the desk.

"I assure you, Sir. We will find her soon. She has no money and no place to hide. "

"What about Sydney and Broots?" A deep male voice came cracking over the speaker.

"Don’t worry about them; they are under control. Sydney is just a old powerless man. We took everything from him long ago. As for Broots he has a daughter, he will not do anything stupid. I already arranged that she will be picked up from school tomorrow. " Raines assured.

"Agreed! What about the tests?" the voice came up again.

"Everything is ready, we can start as soon as we have them. There is a jet ready to bring the clone to you. The woman will be tested and go to Mexico a day later. Nobody will ever find them again. I only hope she is better than her mother was, but even if she is not we will get a new Pretender from her. If our calculations are right, the IQ of this child will be higher than that of every other subject we’ve had so far. "

"I hope you are right. She has already cost the Centre a lot of money; she’s had more time than anybody else. Not to use her for the breeding or cloning project was a waste. You had tested her more than once after Catherine was finally out of the way and always with negative results." The voice sounded annoyed now.

"We had to be careful in her case, to push too hard could have destroyed everything. We had hoped her hunt after Jarod would trigger something. I kept her under close observation at all the times. You know what happened when we tried to hurry matters; Lyle was a total failure. The only benefit he ever brought us was to free us from that man."

"True. You may go ahead with your plans, but keep it in mind that I do not tolerate any failure. This matter is far too important for any mistakes; we need it to work. You know yourself that the Pagode is not far behind us in this. Whoever succeeds first will have the lock on the market for the next several years. Don’t fail us!" With this the connection was terminated.

Unnoticed by anybody, Angelo stopped recording their meeting and made his way back to his hiding place.

*****

"Mr. Jamison? " a friendly voice asked.

Before Sam could react, JJ pushed past him.

"How is she? " He asked, worried.

The doctor smiled down at the boy

"Don’t worry, your mother is fine. She is sleeping now, we gave her something to calm her down. Why don’t you go over and keep her company? But please be quiet and don’t wake her up. She’s just down the hall in room 214." The man pointed out the direction.

Without further hesitation JJ hurried toward the room. Sam started to follow him, but he was restrained by a firm hand on his arm.

"Mr. Jamison, I need to talk with you alone." The doctor stated.

"She is not fine, right? What is it?" The former sweeper asked, concern clearly written on his face.

"I am sorry, sir. Your wife is in a state of shock. We’ve sedated her, but I am concerned about the child. She started spotting and having contractions while I was examining her. We’ve given her steroids to halt the contractions, but if she doesn’t relax, and stay relaxed, she will lose this baby. I’m very sorry.... " the doctor trailed off.

"That’s not all, is it?" Sam pushed further.

"Unfortunately not. A miscarriage is always traumatic, particularly emotionally. In your wife’s current weakened state..... There’s a significantly greater risk that we would lose her as well. You should go to her now as well. She needs her family now more than ever." With this the doctor turned and left.

******

With a resigned growl the Major swung his legs out of the bed and padded over to the adjoining room. He stood in the door frame and watched his son pacing through the room like a caged animal.

"Jarod, could you at least lay down and try to rest a bit?" The Major sighed.

"Can’t sleep." came the muffled response from the window.

"I know. Me neither." The older man replied. "Especially not when I’ve listened you pacing for hours now. There’s nothing you can do at the moment and you’re definitely going to be no help to her if you wear yourself out this way. "

"Dad, I let her down. All these years I’ve been trying to convince her trust me. I never believed in the image she displayed for the Centre. I pushed her to her limit and sometimes even further. Then, the first time she needed my trust I failed her.

"The last time I talked with Sydney----he was sure she had sold her soul as well. Do you know what this means? She was alone. Completely alone; nobody to turn to, nobody to trust. I know that feeling. The only person who had faith in her was JJ. He only met her once and only for a few minutes, but he knew her better than I did after all our years together."

Jarod stopped glanced over towards his father, unshed tears glittering in his eyes, and than stared out into the darkness again.

Emily heard the car pull up in back of the small farmhouse with a sensation of deep relief. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Baker, but their fussing was seriously starting to get on her nerves. If Mrs. Baker pressed one more cup of tea or another bowl of stew on her, Emily knew she would scream. If Mr. Baker asked her one more time if she was sure she could trust these men coming to pick her up, she would scream louder; of this she was sure.

Still, the manners her mother had impressed on her as a child held, and she remained patiently in her seat when the knock sounded at the kitchen door. She listened to the deep voices of Mr. Baker and one of the newcomers, and smiled at the men he finally moved back and allowed into the kitchen with far more warmth than she would have under other circumstances.

Sydney was a tall man with a deeply lined face. Her first impression of him was that he had a lifetime of regrets and sorrow. Her second was that he was a very stable, a very comforting man. She resisted the urge to throw herself into his arms, like a little girl greeting her father after a long trip, with an exercise of will that seemed far too hard. She had to remind herself that he still worked for the very people she was running from.

Broots was a smaller man, only topping her by a few inches, with a nearly bald head and a gentle, perpetually bewildered expression. Emily wanted to hug him too, and then she wanted to comfort him, to see if she could erase that look of apprehension. It was hard for her to believe he worked for the Centre, especially not when her first instincts were to try and ease his fears, rather than to actually fear him.

Sydney returned her smile with fatherly benevolence and a strange air of gratitude, adding to Emily’s contradictory impressions of the two men. She was careful to keep her face calm and her manner confident, however. Mother had always taught her; never show fear, never show doubt, and never, ever let them see that you don’t know what to do next. People, her mother had explained, rarely look past the obvious. If you show them what they want to see, then that is what they will see.

So Emily held her smile and rose to shake Sydney’s proffered hand and then Broots’, although she smiled just a little more warmly at the younger man, flustering him further. She realized, with a touch of impish humor, that she would have to be careful what she said and did around the younger man; he was the type who was easily agitated.

"I hate to rush you, Emily," Sydney had said as soon as the social niceties were over. "But we really must leave right away. It was kind of you two to take her in like this, thank you." He added to the plump couple. Mr. Baker flushed a little and insisted it was nothing, while beaming with pleasure. Mrs. Baker twittered and pressed a package of homemade cinnamon rolls into Emily’s hands.

"Thank you so much for your help." Emily told the couple quietly, but sincerely, as she unobtrusively urged Sydney and Broots out of the kitchen.

Finally they were out, in the car, and creeping down the long, gravel driveway towards the highway. Sydney had ended up in the back and Emily in the front with Broots, which pleased all of them for various reasons. Emily liked Broots on sight and felt comfortable with him. Broots thought Emily was stunning and was now glad that Sydney had insisted that she stay with him and Debbie. Sydney wanted the privacy of the back seat to brood.

**********************

"Wha’ happened?" Far sooner than she should have, Miss Parker stirred in her hospital bed and began making demands. She knew instantly that she was in a hospital. By now she was so familiar with the sounds and smells of a hospital that she’d known were she was while she was still asleep.

"The doctor had to sedate you-----dear." Sam added the endearment as an afterthought, realizing that the staff would expect to hear some loving words between them.

"Dear?" Parker’s face showed confusion and then cleared at the pointed look Sam shot towards the woman taking her vitals. "Uh, when can I get out of here?" She asked quickly, trying to adjust to her newfound relationship.

"The doctor wants to keep you for 48 hours." Sam answered quietly.

"48 hours?!" Parker exclaimed, causing the nurse to turn towards Sam and shake her head admonishingly.

"Hon’," Sam said awkwardly, obviously not liking these expressions of affection. "You started to miscarry when we got you here. They were able to stop it, for now, but it’s still really iffy. You need total rest and quiet."

"Sam." Parker said in an ominously quiet tone, although she spread her hand protectively over her barely curving belly. "If I stay here for 48 hours you know that I won’t rest, and it certainly won’t stay quiet for long either, will it?" The nurse had left so Parker went on, although she kept her voice down.

"You know the Centre can’t be more than a few steps behind us."

"Parker, is it Jarod’s?" Sam ignored her comments and cut to the heart of the matter. Parker looked down and bit her lip.

"Yes." She admitted in a near whisper. "So you know why the Centre wants it so badly." Her head was still lowered so she missed Sam’s wince at her admission that the child was Jarod’s. He and Jarod weren’t on the best of terms, particularly not after Jarod’s most recent captivity at the Centre.

"Okay. I know of a place we can go that the Centre shouldn’t be able to trace. When we get there, though, you will go to bed and stay there until there’s no further risk of miscarriage---do you understand?" Sam told her firmly. Parker looked down at her belly, still covered protectively by the one hand.

"I promise." She told Sam sincerely. "I want this baby---I won’t risk it."

"Okay." Sam agreed reluctantly with her need to leave. She was right, the Centre wouldn’t be far behind. "I’ll go collect the boy from the cafeteria while you get dressed. Take it easy, okay?"

"Sure, Sam." Parker promised absently. Her eyes were dark and troubled as her thoughts returned to Lyle and the reason she’d been so upset. Sam’s mention of JJ had brought it all back to the front of her mind---the standoff, her finger squeezing the trigger, Lyle’s final anguished thoughts. But the baby was more important, and she pulled her thoughts away from the memories with an effort. Later she would grieve, now, she had a new life to protect.

Sam knew they were deliberately stalling when the nurses refused to tell him where to go to pay the bill. Parker shifted restlessly in her wheelchair, she hated to sit in them, and JJ patted her hand comfortingly. Everyone looked relieved when the doctor came striding up, rebuking Sam before he’d even reached the little group.

"Didn’t you hear what I told you? Do you *want* her to miscarry?" He demanded furiously.

"Doctor Snider, I didn’t get the chance to explain to you earlier," Sam began smoothly, having worked out his story while collecting the boy. "But my wife has a phobia about hospitals. She was traumatized as a child, you know, when her parents died."

Parker tried to turn her glare into a convincing look of anxiety.

"It would be worse for her to stay here than it would for me to take her to our cabin in Niagara. Trust me, it would be much worse." He added with heartfelt sincerity.

"Mrs. Jamison," The doctor turned to her beseechingly. "Do you understand the risk you’re taking?"

"I understand perfectly, Doctor. As my husband has said, it is truly the lesser risk. I promise to stay calm and take it easy. If you’ll give me prescriptions for whatever medication you think I should be taking and a list of instructions to follow, I promise to follow them all faithfully." Parker said with a convincing tremble in her voice. She allowed her eyes to dart around a little wildly too. Really, it wasn’t that hard to act phobic, what with the level of paranoia she was now experiencing.

"You realize I can’t approve your discharge." He tried sternly.

"I’ve discharged myself AMA before." Parker informed him forcefully.

"Park---uh, my wife never has been good at taking doctor’s advice." Sam added seriously.

"Okay, fill out the paperwork." The doctor sighed, giving in. "Make sure to note her discharge is against medical advice."

Once they were in the Subaru that Sam had traded the Towncar for Parker’s optimistic facade dropped and tears filled her eyes again. They trailed quietly down her face as the car cut through the darkness. She wasn’t getting agitated, Sam noted worriedly, but she looked very lost and alone sitting in the passenger seat. Neither of them noticed JJ in the back seat pull out Jarod’s cell phone and study it contemplatively.

**********************

Major Charles sighed again as he pulled the quilt over his son’s sleeping form. It had taken an hour, and a cup of hot, sweet tea with a ground up Demerol, but he’d finally gotten him to sleep. Any guilt he might have felt over drugging his son disappeared when he looked at his haggard face and sunken eyes. Jarod had been running on nerves for too long, and desperately needed the sleep he had forced on him.

Now, however, the Major was awake, and unlikely to drift off again soon. He went into the living room, turned the radio on quietly, and fed the fire while he brooded. His thoughts, as was usual when he had a few quiet moments, turned to the family he’d lost so many years ago. Margaret, his wife, how was she? Did she miss him, like he missed her? Was she even alive? Jarod had told him that Emily was now separated from her too. And Emily, did she even remember her father? Was she okay? At least he knew JJ was all right. Miss Parker would take care of the boy, he knew that and was grateful.

"God," he prayed at last, watching the dawn paint the horizon pink and red. "Bring us all together again, that’s all I ask. Let us be a family-----please."

*****************

Sydney started awake when the cell phone by his bed rang in the early dawn hours.

"Jarod?" He asked instantly.

"N-no----" The young voice was so like Jarod as a teen that Sydney had to swallow down a lump.

"Hello," he said gently, wanting the boy to talk to him. "Can I help you?"

"This is the clone. I go by JJ now." The boy answered uncertainly.

"I know who you are, JJ." Sydney infused as much warmth and welcome in his voice as he could. "I’m so glad you called."

"You are?" The boy was frankly amazed. "Why?"

"Because I liked you very much when I met you."

"But I’m not----him."

"No, JJ, you aren’t. You are your own person." Sydney encouraged him. "And I like that person."

"You do?"

"Very much." Sydney affirmed. "Did you need something? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"It’s Miss Parker." JJ sniffed forlornly. "She left the hospital, even though the doctor said she shouldn’t. He said she could lose the baby, especially if she doesn’t stay calm, but all she did on the way here was cry. She cried herself to sleep. I don’t know what to do for her."

There was silence on the other end as Sydney struggled to the comprehend the stunning information that JJ had innocently thrown at him.

"Miss Parker is pregnant?" Even as he said it, Sydney realized that he should have known. Parker was too much her mother’s daughter to willingly have an abortion.

"Yes, but she got really upset when she killed Lyle. She kept crying and shaking and we took her to the hospital. The doctor said she started to miscarry. He said she couldn’t get upset anymore. But she just cried and cried on the way here. Is she going to die?" JJ didn’t sound in the least like a child prodigy at the moment. He sounded like any other young man who was terrified someone he loved was going to leave him.

"No, JJ." Sydney reassured him, while wondering if he was right. "You and Sam are there to take care of her, aren’t you? She needed to cry, she’s had a very hard time lately, but you and Sam will make her feel better just by caring, I’m sure. Does Sam know that you’re talking to me?"

"No, he’s asleep. I didn’t know if he’d let me call you if I asked, so I waited."

"Okay, JJ, this is what I want you to do. When Parker wakes up, if she looks like she’s going to keep on crying, or get upset, I want you to call me again and let me talk to her. Even if she seems okay when she wakes up, I want you to ask Sam to call me and talk to me, can you do that for me?"

"Yes." JJ told him, his voice stronger and more confident now that he had an idea of what to do.

"Good boy." Sydney approved warmly. "Now, I want you to get some rest. You won’t be able to watch over Miss Parker tomorrow---well, today----if you don’t get some sleep yourself, okay?"

"Yes, Sydney." JJ answered, once again reminding him of young Jarod. "Thank you." He added softly before he disconnected the phone. Sydney closed his own phone and sighed as he lay back down. It seemed that he had more to make amends for now. He’d not only let Miss Parker down by not being there for her, he’d also misjudged her. The lines of sorrow on his face deepened as he stared thoughtfully at his ceiling and waited for daylight.

*****************

"Sister Mary Claire?"

In the shelter in St. Anne’s basement the white haired woman approached one of the nuns in the office.

"Yes, Kahtie?" Mary Claire answered serenely.

"I’m afraid I’m going to have to leave you for a while. Something has come up." The younger woman told the older regretfully.

"But what?" The older woman’s serenity shattered in an instant. In all the time Kahtie had been with them she’d shown no signs of having any family or friends outside of those she’d made in the shelter.

"I’m not sure. It’s a feeling, Sister. Much like the feeling that brought me here in the first place. I have to follow it and see where it leads me. Someone needs me. She needs me very badly. That’s all I know."

"Well, my dear, you will be sorely missed here." Mary Claire assured her sincerely. "But if the Lord is calling you to another task we can’t stand in His way. I’ve seen His work in your life before."

"Thank you, Sister, for understanding. I will return if I can." With that Kahtie turned and left the room, her blue eyes troubled and sad. She’d been at St. Anne’s for many years now, and it was hard to leave the secruity of its walls. She knew she had to follow her feeling of unease, though. She just wished she knew where it was leading her.

She still had no idea where she was going, but when she reached the bus station she bought a ticket to Rochester. She chose her destination by the simple method of closing her eyes and picking the closest town to where her finger fell on a handy map. The feeling still pulled her, though, even after she arrived there in the middle of the night so she paid the extra fare to go further north; to Niagara Falls. Now in the first light of the new morning she stood there and watched the water pouring down.

On her bus trip through the night she had barely slept; every time she had closed her eyes she heard a little girl crying for her Mom, somehow familiar, but mixed with a the sound of an adult man doing the same. She knew that the cries were from real people. Whether they’d called out at the moment she felt them, or some time in the past was unclear, but most of her hunches were extremely vague anyway, and she’d learned to live with uncertainty.

The first rays of the sun created little rainbows over the water and one magnificent one over the main cataract. The sound of the water was deafening and the flow of countless gallons of water mesmerizing. Kahtie decided that she like this place. The turbulent water of the river was as chaotic and troubled as her feelings.

The sound of laughing people startled her, she turned and saw a young couple playing. The man was chasing the woman around one of the potted trees decorating the walkway. She could feel their happiness; she could sense her love. She remembered that Niagara Falls is a popular spot for honeymoons, but she couldn’t remember how she had learned that. Like much of her past it was clouded and full of impenetrable shadows.

Kahtie tried to remember when she had been that happy; she had the feeling once she had known such joy, but she could not remember when or why. With a heavy sigh she walked away from the rushing water and began strolling down the promenade, watching the growing crowd of people and window shopping in the little shops that lined the way.

This was where she needed to be; she wasn’t feeling pulled to go anywhere else, but she had no idea why she was here. As far as she knew, she’d never been to this place before. Then again, as far as she knew she’d never been to New York City before she went there and found St. Anne’s. As she had before, she would simply wait now, and sooner or later her premonition of need would become clear.

*****

"Who are you?"

With a start Emily shot up in her bed and starred into a pair of curious eyes. Frantically she tried to recall where she was. The memories of the last days came back to her and with a groan she dropped back into the bed.

"Who are you?" The girl demanded again, a bit more forcefully this time.

Emily smiled at her.

"My name is Emily, and you must be Debbie." She replied patiently.

The girl next to her bed nodded.

"What are you doing here and why are you wearing my Dad’s pajamas?" The girl wanted to know next.

‘Kids!’ Emily thought, realizing that she wasn’t going to get to go back to sleep. The young woman sat up in her bed again and patted the bed next to her, inviting Debbie to have a seat.

After Debbie had complied Emily tried to come up with an explanation that would satisfy the child, but not open them up to discovery by an innocent slip of the tongue on Debbie’s part. In the end she decided to stay as close to the truth as possible.

"Your Dad was nice enough to offer me a place to sleep last night; maybe even for a few days. I had a bit trouble and your Dad’s colleague Miss Parker helped me, but she had some troubles of her own to take care of, and couldn’t keep helping me. Your Dad decided to help me then, so I came to your place. You don’t mind that, do you?" Emily asked.

"Is she OK?" Debbie asked.

"OK? Who?" Emily had the feeling she had lost a important part of their conversation.

"Miss Parker!" Debbie explained with the exasperation of an adult dealing with a particularly stupid child. Emily restrained an amused smile with some difficulty.

"You know her?" Emily asked her, maybe this was her chance to learn more about the woman. She was still not sure what to think about Miss Parker; she was a strange combination of contradictions, but the girl seemed to like her.

"Yes I know her. I even lived with her for a few days when my father was out of town." Debbie declared proudly. "So is she OK? "

"I think so. The last time I saw her she seemed perfectly fine. Why don’t you get down and go wait for me in the kitchen. I’ll get dressed and we can have breakfast and chat some more, how does that sound?"

Debbie cocked her head and decided she liked the woman; she seemed to be really nice. She hopped down from the bed ad walked towards the door, but before she left the room she turned and looked at the woman in the bed.

"I think the pajama looks much nicer on you than on Daddy." She volunteered with a broad grin and then she hurried out of the room.

Emily looked down on the bright red garment with white Teddy bears. It was so garish it made her eyes hurt. Groaning Emily leaned again back onto the pillow and pulled the covers over her face.

****

"Do you have a coffee for me as well?" Jarod asked his father as he approached him from behind. "I could really use one. My head is pounding and my mouth is dry; almost as if somebody slipped a sedative into my tea last night…" he glared at his father suspiciously..

"You needed the sleep badly." Major Charles defended himself unrepentantly. "I know how you feel, but if you want to find Angelina, you need to think straight. You can’t do that if you’re sleep deprived, now can you?"

"You know Parker’s first name?" Jarod looked so surprised that his father paused in the act of handing him a cup of coffee and grinned.

"Sure I do. I’ve known her longer than you have. The first time I saw her she was about 5 years old. She was with her mother; a happy little girl. I asked her what her name was, and she told me. Her mother smiled and told me that she only tells her first name people she really likes." The Major’s grin turned into a reminiscent smile.

"I had no idea you knew her." Jarod said, still surprised.

"I hadn’t heard anything about her for many years; not after her mother..." He trailed off with a deep sigh. "The last time I saw her was shortly before you arranged to trade me for her father."

"She came into my room---well, cell really." He continued at Jarod’s look of avid curiosity. "She had a gun in her hand-----*my* gun. She was all set to shoot me, thinking I was the one who killed her mother. It’s so ironic, really----" His voice faded but he didn’t finish that thought.

"Anyway, I was stunned by how much she looked like her mother, it was like a look into the past. She has the same bright blue eyes that she had as a little girl, but there’s no happiness inside them anymore."

"I want to bring the happiness back to her, " Jarod sighed, "but I’m afraid that it might be too late. You know, I have a feeling that she is moving further away from me with every passing minute. That’s why I need to find---I need...." he trailed off.

Suddenly an idea struck him. He got up and took the laptop from his room, then he opened it, and connected to the Internet to check his mail. As he had hoped, there was mail waiting. He silently send a thank you to Angelo.

Jarod started the video file while his father watched over his shoulder. Astonished they watched the scene with Raines in his office. When the recording had finished they sat in thought, still staring at the blank screen for several moments. Finally the Major turned to his son.

"Jarod, what do you know about this? What is a red file, why is she in one, and what the hell is the Pagode."

"The red files are the Centre’s records of their Pretender Project subjects. I knew she was in one, but..." Frowning fiercely, Jarod tried to make sense out of what they had just seen. She wasn’t a Pretender, he was sure----or was she? No impossible.

"As for the Pagode----I don’t know much about it, but what little I do know is not good. Believe me it isn’t a bit better than the Centre; to be honest I am not sure which organization is worse. "

"Son, I have a bad feeling about this whole thing. We need to find Angelina, and it had better be soon. I don’t even want to imagine what would happen if they got to her first.." he trailed off cursing under his breath.

Jarod buried his head in his hands and raked his fingers through his hair. Things just went from bad to worse and he had an awful premonition that they hadn’t seen the end of their disasters yet.

"Jarod, I’ll do whatever it takes to help you to find her first. It’s the least I can do since she’s carrying my first grandchild." Charles promised his harried son.

Jarod winced at his father’s last sentence. He didn’t need a reminder that she carried his child; he already felt like an idiot. After all this time he had finally had her and he stupidly let her go. Instead of holding her close, he had called her after his escape and told her that they were both still alone. He had tricked her into a shipping container, with her crazy brother, no less, and after he’d uncovered the file about her abortion he had accused her, and pushed her away. He never even gave her a chance to explain. May God forgive him, but he had actually wanted to slap her.

"Why don’t you call Sydney? He helped you with JJ." Deciding that Jarod had wallowed in guilt and remorse long enough, the Major interrupted his thoughts with a positive suggestion.

***

"This is Sydney."

"Sydney, this is Sam." The other man responded instantly..

"How is Miss Parker? I hoped she would want to speak to me. " Sydney replied sadly.

He had hoped so much she would give him an opportunity to talk with her.

"I’m sorry, but she can’t talk to you right now. We gave her another sedative about an hour ago. I don’t dare give her another today for fear of harming the baby, but I’m worried about what will happen when she wakes up. She’s been sleeping a lot----when she isn’t crying, that is." Sam explained.

"It’s that bad?" Concern was clearly evident in Sydney’s voice.

"I am not a doctor." Sam answered slowly. "But to be honest I think it will be a miracle if she carries this baby to term."

JJ looked at the shops, feeling a little guilty because his spirits were rising while Miss Parker was still having such a hard time. But Sam had given him 5 bucks and sent him out of the cabin. JJ saw an ice cream vendor and his spirits rose even higher. Grinning hugely around a drumstick, he began to stroll down the walkway.

Kahtie froze in front of the store selling romantic gifts. It was time, something big was about to happen. For the first time since she’d started this trip she felt fear. She simply wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what had pulled her to this spot.

However, the feelings couldn’t be denied and she slowly turned away from the store, scanning the people around her with a faint sensation of dread. Her blue eyes fell on an adolescent boy, innocently enjoying an ice cream cone at the same moment his fell on her.

"Jarod!" She whispered, color draining from her face as a barrage of memories broke loose from the bonds that had held them back. She sank slowly to the ground, holding her head in her hands as she remembered everything: her daughter, her husband, the Centre, the children, her murder…

"Miss Parker?" JJ whispered, just as incredulously. The woman had Parker’s face and white hair! Who was she. His cone tumbled from numb fingers as he started through the river of people to the woman who sat so still against the front of the store.

"Please, let me through." He pleaded with the well meaning people who surrounded her, asking her if she was all right. "She’ll talk to me."

Grudgingly, the crowd parted and he was allowed through. He knelt beside her and placed an uncertain hand on her shoulder. Her head slowly came up and she stared at him with a touch of blank incomprehension.

"You can’t be him. It’s been twenty years." She told him faintly.

"I’m not." He answered, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "Do you know anything about Gemini?"

Color began to return to her cheeks as old memories started to settle into place and she was able to reassure herself that she hadn’t lost her mind.

"Yes." She told him, more strongly now. Her hand came up to cup his cheek wonderingly. "It worked, apparently. But how is it that you are here? They wouldn’t-----" She stopped suddenly, realizing that they were surrounded by curious onlookers.

"I’m okay, now." She told everyone firmly. "It was an old injury." She explained with heavy irony that only she understood. Still, as she stood, with the boy’s help and moved off, holding his hand firmly, the crowd parted and let them through unhindered.

She held JJ’s hand in her own until she found a secluded park. Then she seated them on a bench and turned to him urgently.

"Please, tell me what’s been happening. I haven’t been in touch with anyone from the Centre in over 20 years. Has it been destroyed?"

JJ’s suspicions about her dissolved at the hope on her face when she asked about the Centre.

"Who are you?" He asked curiously, instead of answering her. "You look just like Miss Parker except for your hair."

"My baby? Is she okay? Where is she?" Catherine responded breathlessly.

"You’re Miss Parker’s mother? But she said her mother was dead?"

"I survived the attempt." Catherine answered slowly. "But I don’t know how. I don’t know who rescued me from that elevator and got me to the hospital. When I actually woke up in the Intensive Care Unit, I didn’t know who I was or what had happened to me. I didn’t remember anything except strange feelings and nightmare flashes until I saw you----You look so much like the boy I tried to rescue from the Centre."

"I’m the clone." He said matter-of-factly. "Jarod helped me escape and I was with our father, Major Charles for a while. Then I ended up with Miss Parker and Sam. We’re staying at Sam’s cabin near here. I think you should come with me. Miss Parker needs you, I think. Oh, and you can call me JJ. Jarod Junior." He added with a smile that was all impish boy.

"What is wrong with my daughter?" She asked, deeply concerned and realizing that this was what here intuition had led her here to deal with.

"She’s going to have a baby. But she had to shoot Lyle, to save me, and he’s her brother. Now she keeps crying and she almost lost the baby once. She keeps asking for her mother, though, so I think you should go to her." JJ recited flatly, trying to push down his feelings of guilt for the part he played in Lyle’s death and Parker’s subsequent anguish.

"Yes, she needs her mother." Catherine whispered. "And I need answers. Take me to her, please."

Silently JJ took her hand and started back to the cabin..

****************************

Angelo chewed on a fingernail while he pondered the way events were developing. He’d never known of the name of the Pagode, but he’d known that there was more than one organization that competed with the Centre. He’d always known that Parker had special abilities, even though she didn’t. His problem now was communicating this knowledge to the people who could act on it----Sydney and Jarod.

He’d been alert when Jarod opened his e-mail, and he knew that Jarod still missed the point, as did Sydney. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see a way to make his knowledge clear to them. His speech, as always, was inadequate to the task. He sighed and concluded that there wasn’t anything he could do at the moment. As always, he had to wait for the opportunity to present itself and seize it when it came.

*****************************

"Sydney." Jarod’s voice was low and full of anguish. "Do you know where she is? Is she okay?"

"No, Jarod." Sydney sighed heavily. "I don’t know where she is, and she isn’t okay. She’s already come close to miscarrying the baby."

"Oh, God!" Jarod groaned. "I’ve got to find her, Syd. I’ve got to be there for her!"

"They went to a hospital. I don’t know which hospital or where, but there might be a lead if you can find that hospital." Sydney offered his protégé sympathetically. "I need to apologize to her too." He admitted a moment later.

"How could I have let her down like this?" Jarod castigated himself.

"We all make mistakes, Jarod. Just find her and make it right, okay? If I speak to her first I’ll tell her how you feel."

"Thanks, Sydney." Jarod said hoarsely, trying to suppress tears. "I’ll keep in touch."

"Find her fast, Jarod." Sydney urged. "I’m worried about this Pagode organization."

"Me too, Syd." Jarod admitted heavily. "Me too."

******************************

"So, what are your plans now?" Broots asked Emily nervously. He still found her very attractive, but he was sure that she wouldn’t think twice about a computer geek like himself.

"I’m not sure. The trail I was following on my brother is bound to be ice cold by now. From what you’ve told me about Miss Parker, I wonder if I shouldn’t try to catch up to her and lend a hand? I’ve had a lot more experience in eluding the Centre than she has." Emily answered thoughtfully, absently twirling a strand of mahogany hair around one finger.

"I’m sure that if you find Miss Parker that Jarod won’t be too far behind. He’s bound to know by now that she’s having his baby."

"I still can’t believe you guys thought that she’d had an abortion! Men!" Emily snorted derisively.

"Well, she did go to great lengths to convince everyone she had." Broots defended his friends mildly.

"Yes, but anyone with an ounce of insight would have known better. Beneath that stone cold facade beats the heart of a very caring person. Even I knew that before our first encounter was over----and she was supposed to be my jailer!"

"Well, I called in sick today, and apparently so did Sydney. He should be on his way here soon and we can decide how to proceed then." Broots wisely decided to change the subject.

"Yes, but I suspect that I’m going to end up going after Miss Parker while you two try to cover for everyone at the Centre. Be careful, though. I don’t believe that they don’t suspect that your loyalties have been compromised. They aren’t that stupid." Emily speculated darkly.

"We’ll see…" Broots responded noncommittally. ‘Thank goodness,’ he thought gratefully. ‘That Debbie is safely at school during all of this.’

********************************

Meanwhile, at Debbie’s school, a black suited man explained to the secretary that he had been sent by her father’s work to pick her up. There had been an accident, he explained, and he was to take the girl to the hospital to be with her father. Innocently, the secretary called Debbie to the office and delivered her into the hands of a Centre Sweeper.

**************************

"Raines, why haven’t we received a progress report?" Big Mutumbo’s distinctively deep voice asked with sinister calm over the speaker phone. Remembering his recent stay at Equatorial Africa, Raines began to perspire.

"I just received a report from my Sweeper team." He stammered, grateful he had something good to report. "It looks like she’s gone to ground in Niagara Falls. Apparently Sam’s mother left him a cabin there several years ago. And Jarod has already spoken to the source who gave us this information. There’s a good chance we’ll be able to retrieve him at the same time."

"And the other matter?" Mutumbo’s voice was still disapproving.

"Debbie Broots was collected from her school twenty minutes ago. She’s on her way to a safe house even as we speak." Raines voice was more confident now, his fear subsiding as he realized that matters were progressing towards a productive end.

"Keep me informed." Mutumbo broke the connection, still without expressing a shred of approval.

Kahtie looked down at the boy who firmly held her hand and led her away from the Falls towards one of the areas with small cabins.

Her memories were coming back with such a force she felt like her head would explode. Details of her life. Small things, voices, images, smells, everything; forming a picture of a past she thought she had lost forever.

Raines, he had really done it. That damn bastard! Gemini. God what had happened during all those years? What else had he done?

Her thoughts came back to her daughter. Her baby was alive. She was a grown woman now and would be a mother herself soon. This thought nearly made her stop. JJ had only mentioned it briefly, and from what he hadn’t told her, namely anything about a husband, it seemed that her Angel was alone. Who was the father? She cringed inwardly; she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the answer. Not knowing she had grown up at the Centre; under the care of the unfeeling monster she had once loved enough to marry…

The boy, the image of young Jarod, had said that Jarod had freed him. But what that would mean that Jarod was out! How long? How? Her head started to spin from an overload of unanswered questions.

‘First things first,’ she told herself firmly. "My daughter needs me now. JJ said she wouldn’t stop crying; the she was devastated because she had shot Lyle. And Lyle was----her brother? How did her Angel get a brother? That unfeeling bastard she had married had to have known she wasn’t dead----would he have remarried anyway?’

Her confusion grew with every passing second.

****

"Mrs. Jamison!" Jarod snarled. "A stroke of genius! If Sam thinks this will keep her safe he’s more of a gorilla than I’d thought. And to top it all off, he told the doctor that they are heading to Niagara Falls. Why didn’t he just take out an ad in the paper?"

"Jarod, calm down." The Major laughed. "I have a feeling you aren’t angry because of Sam’s actions----you’re just mad because it’s Sam with her and not you." He added astutely.

Jarod gripped the steering wheel harder and clenched his teeth so tightly that they hurt. His father was right, damn it! It wouldn’t have mattered what Sam had done, he would have been furious anyway. And it wasn’t so much that Sam was there and he wasn’t, though that rankled too, it was just… Why of all people did it have to be *Sam*? His most recent "stay" at the Centre hadn’t exactly left them the best of friends, to say the least.

And what the hell did he think he was doing anyway? Out of the blue he just decides it’s time to play the hero? Why? Why Parker, why now? This was the question that constantly jabbed at his heart and mind. He tried to convince himself that Sam had done it because it was his job, but he knew better. If Sam had been doing his job he would have dragged her back to the Centre by her glorious auburn hair, not taken her to a cozy cabin in Niagara.

Well, Sam had better not be getting wrong ideas. If he thought he and Parker could play house and pretend that Jarod didn’t exist… Jarod stepped harder on the accelerator and glared at the road. He missed his father’s amused smile and resigned shake of the head.

****

"Syd, I’m glad you’re finally here." Broots said with a nervous smile. He looked apprehensively up and down the quiet street in front of his house and then opened his door wider to let the older man in. "I just received a message from Angelo. He sent us another video."

Sydney entered Broots’ house and examined his colleague’s pale face. He looked so confused and even more apprehensive than usual. Sydney wondered silently just what kind of video Angelo had sent.

Broots led him into his study and hit a key on his computer, returning the video sequence to it’s beginning. Sydney stepped closer to the screen, curiosity written on his face. Broots hit a button and the images began to move on the screen. Broots stepped back, watching Sydney’s face closely.

On the surface it appeared that Sydney was unmoved by what he’d just seen, but Broots had worked with him long enough to see the signs of trouble. His eyes had narrowed and his arms were folded in front of him. Most telling of all, he was leaning back ever so slightly in an exaggerated pose of nonchalance.

"Sydney do you have any idea what Raines is talking about?" Broots asked hopefully.

"The Pagode; I haven’t heard from them in nearly 20 years. Not since Catherine Parker’s death. At that time they were desperately trying to copy our Pretender Program. As far as I know they didn’t have any luck with it." Sydney answered thoughtfully.

"What about Miss P? They want her as well, not just the baby. But if she is a Pretender too, then why hasn’t she used her ability to catch Jarod??" Broots questioned, confused.

"When Miss Parker was a little girl she sometimes came down to the Sim lab; she even joined Jarod in some of the Sims, but she never did a real Pretend. I am almost positive that she isn’t a Pretender. She sometimes did things that surprised me, but I was never sure if she did them on purpose or not...

"When Raines tested her for the Pretender ability she failed. But..." Sydney trailed off.

"But what, Sydney?" Broots sounded uncharacteristically impatient.

"Yes, but what?" Emily chimed in. She was leaning against the door frame and observing them with open curiosity.

Both men turned as one and stared at her in shock.

"Hey, she’s going to make me an aunt soon! Don’t you think I have a right to know?"

"She has a point." Broots agreed.

Sydney raised his eyebrows, but decided to let it go. After all, they where all in this together..

"When she was done with the test, Raines tried to scare her. He yelled at her and called her a stupid arrogant little girl. For a minute I thought she would burst into tears." Sydney resumed. "But then Raines walked out. She raised her head and, as soon as she was sure he was gone, she made a paper plane out of the test and threw it after him. She had a smile on her face. I never saw her smile like that again." Sydney took a deep breath.

"The next day Catharine Parker died." He ended the story. After a few silent moments he added: "I had forgotten all about that until today. Catherine’s death changed everything."

****

"I want a coffee, not milk. I hate milk!" Miss Parker glared darkly at the tray Sam had plopped on her bed.

"Caffeine would only stimulate you. You need to relax." Sam replied calmly.

"So you’re a doctor now as well as a nursemaid?" She asked with annoyance.

"No, but the doctor at the hospital gave me exact instructions on what you should eat and drink and what you shouldn’t." Sam replied patiently. He was much too happy seeing her awake and not crying to worry about her touchy temper.

If it would make her feel better he would even let her throw the tray at him. He looked closer at the woman sitting in the bed; now that he’d thought of it, from the way she looked at the things on the tray he might just want to start looking for cover.

Milk, honey, fresh fruits and a croissant. Parker eyed them with distaste, but she wasn’t able to stay angry with the man who’d brought them in. She knew Sam had only the best intentions and she really was grateful to him. He had rescued them all from certain disaster.

"Do you think you can manage some fresh orange juice for me?" She asked and flashed him a bright smile. Maybe she could get rid of him long enough to get a quick shower, she thought hopefully. He had made it clear that he was not about to let her out of the bed.

"Sure, just as soon as JJ gets back. He’ll be here any minute now, and he can keep you company while I make some. That way one of us will always be available to help you if you need anything." Sam replied easily, with a wicked twinkle in his eye. He knew her well enough to understand that she only wanted him out of her way so she could do something the doctor had expressly forbidden. He’d gotten her and that baby this far, though, and he would be damned before he let her do anything that would jeopardise all of his hard work.

Even though he’d been expecting it since he brought the tray in, he was caught off guard when the glass of milk came flying in his direction.

JJ held out a restraining hand and kept Catherine back from Parker’s door as they heard the tinkle of shattering glass. It was a good thing too, in the next instant her door was flung open and Sam barreled out into the hallway, dripping with milk and with tiny traces of red scratched on his face from flying glass. He saw Catherine and paused for a moment, his eyes wide with shock, but a frantic glance into the room had him gesturing them back and ducking to one side of the door. A bowl of fruit sailed out the crash against the far wall. It broke into three perfect pieces and tumbled to the floor.

The three people in the hall stared at each other in amazement or stunned shock until Catherine’s lips twitched involuntarily.

"I see my daughter still has a bit of a temper." She understated dryly. Her words released Sam from his paralysis.

"God! You look just like her!" He marveled. "But you’re----"

"Dead? As the saying goes, young man: Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated." Catherine raised one brow in a manner reminiscent of Miss Parker. "I think you might want to clean yourself up, change, and put something on those cuts. But before you do, please tell me exactly what is wrong with my daughter."

"Ahhh," Sam’s eyes rolled as he tried to figure out how to pack everything going on into one easy explanation. Finally he decided to give her the barest sketch of events and retreat to his room.

"She’s pregnant, 5, 6 weeks or so, but things have been really stressful for her from the start. Several days ago she was forced to kill her twin brother and even though there was no love lost between them before she’s been completely beside herself. She almost miscarried shortly after, but we got her to a hospital in time. The Centre is after us, so we left the hospital AMA and I’ve been trying to keep her calm and relaxed like the doctor told us too, but she isn’t cooperating much." Sam explained quickly, glancing towards the still open bedroom door as if he was afraid that more food was going to come flying.

"Hmmm, that will do." Catherine mused. "It’s going to give her another shock when I walk in that door, but I think I can help her deal with it. Give us a few hours, okay? And then you can bring in her lunch or brunch or whatever the heck it will be time for." Catherine gave the dazed males a dazzling smile and moved into her daughters doorway.

"Mama!?" They heard Parker exclaim shrilly. "Am I dead now too?"

"No, my precious girl-----" The door shut on Catherine’s answer. Sam and JJ stared at each other for several more long moments before JJ broke the tableau.

"You better go get changed like she said." He advised the burly Sweeper. "I’ll clean up out here."

"Two of them?" Sam murmured dazedly as he stumbled down the hall. "*Two* of them?!"

***********************

Angelo’s fingers flew over the computer as he sent his latest bit of inside information to the small party at Broots’ house. He was grateful that at least computer language was far enough removed from ordinary speech to allow him to use the machines. If only he could simply type what he wanted to say! But the hindrance to speech that bound him kept him from pulling up the words he needed to use, even when he used a keyboard and not his mouth. At least this bit was as clear cut as anyone could ask for.

*************************

Broots’ gentle face paled to the point that Sydney and Emily were afraid he was about to pass out.

"Debbie? They took Debbie?" He breathed, an unfamiliar flame of anger sparking in his eyes. His color returned slowly, his lips folded firmly, and he straightened, suddenly seeming taller and rock steady. He walked out of the small study, his steps firm and measured.

When he returned a minute later the change in his personality remained and he was sliding in a clip of bullets for what was only the second time in his Centre career.

"Broots, are you sure you want----" Sydney’s question broke off in mid sentence at the look Broots gave him.

"They have taken my daughter, Sydney." He said, the very quietness of his voice emphasizing his commitment better than a shout ever would. "It’s past time the worm turned."

Emily closed her mouth with an effort. This was unexpected!

"Now, I’m going to make an intensive search of the Centre mainframe, see if I can narrow down the choice of Centre safehouses where they might have Debbie. Sydney, I want you to send Jarod an e-mail, he’ll help once he gets it. Emily, I hate to ask, but could you possibly make us a lot of sandwiches or something? I don’t think we’re going to have much time for meals." Broots ordered the two people around as if they were long-time employees. He didn’t even wait for their responses, just laid the gun gingerly beside his computer, and seated himself before the screen to begin typing furiously.

After another long moment of silent amazement Emily and Sydney exchanged wondering looks. Then, with a shrug Emily went off to the kitchen. Sydney tapped his upper lip thoughtfully with his finger, and then he too left the small study.

************************************

"No! I don’t WANT any cookies! I’m ALLERGIC to chocolate." Debbie shrieked, her face red and her brunette hair tumbling messily from her barrettes. "Daddy always gives me GRANOLA BARS after school! And where is my Daddy! I want my DADDY!"

Her shrieks became a wailing, off key cry. If the two Sweepers guarding her had been a bit more alert the would have noticed the fleeting smile of triumph that crossed Debbie’s lips when they covered their ears and winced.

"Look, Debbie," the younger sweeper, a slender blond man, pleaded. "We’ll get you granola bars, just PLEASE stop that noise!"

The wail broke off in mid-stream and Debbie cocked an inquiring eyebrow.

"And apple juice?" She asked with amazing calm. The two men exchanged looks of relief, not experienced enough with children to realize that Debbie’s abrupt change of temper was unnatural, to say the least.

"Yes!" The older man agreed quickly. His hair was gray and he had the thicker waist of a man in his later 40’s. "We’ll get you any kind of juice you want, just please don’t cry anymore."

Debbie’s lip quivered artistically and her eyes filled with tears, and both men braced themselves involuntarily.

"But I want my DADDY!" She wailed, at the top of her lungs. Unfortunately for the two Sweepers, Debbie had recently decided that she wanted a career on stage. Multiplying their sorrows was the fact that she had discovered the old Disney film, The Ransom of Red Chief, only a few months ago. Debbie was having a blast. The Sweepers were wondering which would be worse, dumping Debbie off on her own front doorstep and facing the Centre’s wrath, or listening to her incessant whining and crying.

************************

"Hello, Sydney." The woman’s voice on the other end of the phone was low and husky, seductive even though she was young enough to be Sydney’s daughter.

"Marion." He said warmly. "I haven’t heard from you in ages! How are you doing?"

His heart lifted. Marion was the last child Catherine had rescued before her death and she’d kept in touch with Sydney over the years. After the run of grim events they’d all been experiencing it was a balm to his battered heart to hear from someone he could remember with a sense of pleasure.

"How is Jarod doing?" She asked curiously. Sydney smiled, she always asked about Jarod. She’d only seen him once, but he seemed to have made quite an impression.

"He’s under a little more stress than usual at the moment, but he’ll work things out, I’m sure. " He answered her easily.

"And Miss Parker? Is she also doing well?"

Now Sydney frowned slightly. Was there a touch of acid in that question.

"She’s as well as could be expected." He told the young woman noncommittally.

"That’s good to hear." Marion carefully modulated the dislike she felt for the other woman out of her voice. Sydney was far too perceptive for her to relax her vigilance when she spoke to him. "I know it was hard on her, losing her mother the way she did. And that father of hers…."

"Yes, Mr. Parker seems to be a bit lacking in support where his daughter is concerned." Sydney understated his feelings with characteristic dryness. Marion stifled a chuckle. She knew that Mr. Parker had been acting on the advice of her foster mother for years. Neither he or Sydney knew of their connection to the Pagode.

"Well, I’ve got to go now. Drop me an e-mail if anything comes up, okay?" She ended the conversation breezily.

"I’ll do that, Marion, and you take care of yourself, okay?" Sydney urged with paternal concern.

"I always do, Syd." She assured him cheerfully. "I always do."

***************************

Major Charles woke slowly, finally realizing that the car had stopped. His son sat with his head on the steering wheel, tears slipping down his face again. Charles opened his mouth, caught the words of the song Jarod was listening to on the radio, and closed his mouth again.

When you love a woman you tell her that she's really wanted
When you love a woman you tell her that she's the one
Cuz she needs somebody to tell her that it's gonna last forever
So tell me have you ever really - really really ever loved a woman?



"Son," He said, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Don’t beat yourself up like this…"

Jarod stopped him with an upraised hand, listening to the song with every fiber of his being.

To really love a woman
Let her hold you - til ya know how she needs to be touched
You've gotta breathe her - really taste her
Til you can feel her in your blood
N' when you can see your unborn children in her eyes
Ya know ya really love a woman

When you love a woman you tell her that she's really wanted
When you love a woman you tell her that she's the one
Cuz she needs somebody to tell her that you'll always be together
So tell me have you ever really - really really ever loved a woman?

You got to give her some faith - hold her tight
A little tenderness - gotta treat her right
She will be there for you, takin' good care of you
Ya really gotta love your woman...







"Dammit, Dad!" He said, as the last notes faded he switched off the radio. "I *thought* I loved her! I thought I knew what love was."

"Switch places with me son." The Major said firmly before opening his door and leaving the car to stand outside of the driver’s door. For an instant Jarod looked like he was going to protest, but the Major’s steely gaze overcame his objections without either of them saying a word. Sighing, Jarod slid over to the passenger seat and fastened his seatbelt.

Nodding his satisfaction, the Major slid behind the wheel and put the vehicle in motion again. Only then did he resume his conversation with his son.

"Jarod, trust me in this----you love the woman." He said flatly. "Just because you let her down it doesn’t mean you don’t love her. No matter what any song in the world says, you’re never going to meet you’re loved ones needs all the time."

"Dad, I accused her of killing our baby!" Jarod said hoarsely, fatigue and grief distorting his voice almost beyond recognition.

"And she did everything in her power to make you believe she had." He pointed out to his son reasonably.

"But I should have known better!" Jarod cried out. "Dammit, I’m a Pretender! Knowing what people feel is part of who I am!"

"Son, I don’t care if you were the Messiah himself, when a man’s in love all of the intelligence in the world won’t save him from making an ass of himself."

"She needed me." Jarod said stubbornly.

"And you needed me all of those years. Did I not love you enough? Is that why we weren’t a family?" His father asked abruptly.

"Well, no…" Jarod admitted slowly.

"The *important* thing to remember here, son, is that you’ve seen your mistake, you’ll learn from it, and you want to make amends. Now, listen to your old man, here, you won’t be a damn bit of good to the woman you love, or your baby, if you don’t quit torturing yourself for making a very human mistake. I may be mistaken, but I’m fairly certain that even Pretenders are human." He added dryly. "Now forgive yourself and get some sleep. We’ll be in Niagara in a few hours."

"Yes, Dad." Jarod smiled briefly, although he knew his feelings of guilt weren’t going to be so easily banished. The Major knew it too, he just wanted his son to get started on the process.

**************************

"Sir, we’ve reached the Falls and we’re looking for the cabin’s neighborhood now." Two voices from two nearly identical goons spoke into different cell phones and to different bosses.

"Good." Rasped Raines feeble voice. "Don’t fail me."

"Excellent." Marion said crisply. "Don’t fail me."

After Catherine had closed the door behind her she walked over to her daughter.
It was like looking into a mirror; a mirror that showed her an image of herself 20 years ago.

She looked pale, thin, and shocked. Catharine wished there had been an easier way, but time was running out. As soon as Sam had mentioned that the Centre was after them she knew there was no time to waste. She could only prayed that they would have enough time to work some things out before they had to run again.

"Mama?" Miss Parker asked again, this time in tiny voice, sounding like the 10 year old girl her mother remembered so well again.

"Yes, sweetie, I am so sorry I was not there for you for so long."

"Why did you leave me?" Her voice was unsteady and the first silent tears started to run down her cheeks.

Everything Catherine had wanted to tell her, to ask, to declare, vanished from her mind. She simply rushed over to the bed and took her daughter in her arms. Then she held her daughter tightly and rocked her like she had when she’d been a little girl.

"Sorry, baby," was all she could manage before she too was crying for the irreplaceable lost years.

*****

"Jarod." Major Charles lightly shook his son by the shoulder. "Jarod wake up."

He hated to wake him, especially since he had been only been able to fall into a light doze just an hour ago. He knew that the little sleep his son had gotten wasn’t restful either, but even this little bit was better than nothing.

"Wha," the muffled response came slowly as the younger man tried to find his way back into the real world. Suddenly he was wide awake. The car was no longer moving.

"Why have we stopped?" He asked, but as soon as he looked around he knew how stupid his question was.

"We are here; the cabin is over there----the one on the right side about 400 yard from here. When I pulled by to check the address I saw the car parked in front so I think.... he stopped in the middle of the sentence as the door of the cabin swung open and two figures walked out. Even from their vantage point it was clear that they were Sam and JJ.

....they are still here. " the Major finally finished, pointing out the obvious.

He looked at his son who stared at the two people who were indulging in a little roughhousing while they headed for the big trash can next to the building.

"What do you want to do now?" Jarod’s father asked. Jarod was wondering if he had the nerve to just leave his seat, much less intrude on what seemed to be a perfectly happy family unit.

"I *want* to smash Sam’s face in, but I think I’ll settle for just approaching them directly. The Centre can’t be far behind us. If we want to get them out there safely we’ll have to do it quickly." Jarod sighed.

****

Catharine had no idea how long they sat there just clinging to each other and allowing that non-verbal assurance of love do their talking for them. Just being able to hold her daughter again was an overwhelming joy. She had missed it so much, even though she hadn’t known she even had a daughter, and now she felt the painful wound in her heart finally starting to heal.

"Angelina?" Catherine finally addressed her daughter in a soothing, low voice. She kissed her daughter’s damp forehead. "How do you feel?"

"I’m pregnant, Mama." She answered in a barely audible voice, her head still buried in her mothers neck.

"I know, baby, how far along are you?" Her mother responded softly.

Six weeks, came the surprised reply, but how did her mother know?

"Six weeks tomorrow." She added after a moment’s thought.

Now it was Catherine turn to be surprised. How could she know it so precisely? She decided to drop the subject for a moment, though, and to try instead to find out why her daughter was so angry at the nice man outside.

"And just why have you been throwing food at your boyfriend? What is his name anyway?" Catharine asked slyly hoping her guess was right. The man she’d met briefly in the hall seemed to be kind and steady, just what she’d like for her daughter.

Miss Parker lifted her head and looked into her mother eyes as a tiny smile crept onto her lips.

"He is not the baby’s father." She answered her mother’s unspoken question. "And his name is Sam."

This was the mother she remembered; caring, probing, but rarely asking her questions outright. The only real difference was in her; now she recognized her mother’s tricks to get the answers from her.

"Who is it?" Catherine asked, trying to keep her misgivings from coming out in her voice. Silently she prayed that the Centre was not involved, that they had not forced her daughter like they had tried to do to her.

She studied her daughter closely. A red blush crept into Parker’s cheeks and she broke the eye contact quickly.

"I don’t want to talk about him. He doesn’t matter anymore. He was .....," Miss Parker’s voice trailed off as she tried frantically to come up with an answer that would satisfy her mother. "He was a mistake!"

After a few seconds of silence she dared to look at her mother. She was looking at her with raised eyebrows and Parker knew instantly that this was not the end of this discussion, but that she would not have to answer right away. From the concern she saw in her mothers eyes, she was sure she suspected the Centre was involved. She wished she could tell her mother they weren’t.

She also wished she could tell her mother everything; her fears, her foolish longings, her constant pain, but after all those years of silent self sufficiency it was impossible for her simply to open up and spill her heart out. Not even for her mother could she break the habit of reserve. To tell the truth, she still could not believe that she was here in a cabin and in the arms of her mother. A part of her kept waiting to wake up, most likely in a Centre detention cell.

But this felt so good that she hoped that the dream would go on forever. She felt loved again, finally, and in her mother’s arms she was at home. Nobody had loved her for a long time. Okay, that wasn’t strictly true, Thomas had, but he was dead. She knew now that her creepy brother had, in his own perverted fashion, but he was... The thought of Lyle cut through her like a hot sword. Her mother didn’t know about Lyle; not that he’d survived his birth, and definitely not that she had killed him not even a week ago.

Miss Parker could feel a wave of panic rising in her mind she started to struggle free from her mother, but it seemed she was not going to let her go.

"Sh sh sh…" Catherine tried to calm her down; she could feel the panic in her daughter, feel that she was desperate. For a moment Catherine thought the fear had to do with the father of the baby, and she vowed if that bastard had done anything to hurt her he would pay dearly.

She was about to tell Parker that everything was going to be OK, that she was here to help now, but an image popped into her mind, freezing her in an instant.

It was young man with dark brown hair and dressed in tailored gray pants and a white shirt. Her old house in the background, and he was screaming.

‘Twins!’ She remembered suddenly. ‘The boy had said *twin* brother.....’

"He just drove in with his father, Ma’am." The man, like Centre Sweepers, was dressed in black. However, where the Sweepers wore suits, this man and his companions wore black T-shirts and jeans. Even their sneakers were black. The only contrast was a stylized asian-like temple in white incorporated in their T-shirts on the upper right side of each man’s chest.

Every one of the dozen men were blond, their eyes hidden behind wrap around sunglasses, and in peak physical condition. The leader, speaking to his boss at the Pagode, knew that they were up to the challenge they’d been given.

"The Centre?" Marion asked her prized ‘Seeker’, the best in a lot of highly intelligent and motivated men.

"We arranged for a delay in Pennsylvania. They’ll be delayed for several hours filling out paperwork and undergoing background checks." He assured her. "I had confirmation that they fell into our trap 15 minutes ago."

"Excellent, Alexander! Give them half an hour and if they haven’t left the house by then, go In and get them. Return with my prizes and you will be well rewarded." Marion promised, triumph gleaming in her blue eyes.

She ended the call, and swiveled her plush, leather chair around to look out of the expansive windows of her penthouse office. He was almost hers, it was only a matter of hours; she gloated silently.

She’d wanted Jarod from the first moment she’d seen him; just a glimpse into his Sim lab as she was hustled back to her room by a Sweeper. She’d only been 13 then, it was just hours before Catherine Parker had rescued her and another little boy and girl. Jarod had been focusing intently on something Sydney was telling him, his dark eyes narrowed in concentration and his lower lip trapped between his teeth. He was the most appealing boy she’d ever seen.

Granted, her years at the Centre hadn’t allowed her to meet many boys, but she’d had plenty of chances to know them after she’d been rescued. As she grew into a well endowed young woman, with her fair hair, blue eyes, and porcelain skin, she’d had more than her share of boyfriends and lovers. None of them had made her forget the boy, with his soft, sad brown eyes and gentle, caring face.

So she had kept tabs on Jarod almost since the day she had been rescued by Catherine. And when he’d escaped the Centre she’d been able to get pictures of him as her men tracked him. He’d grown into a magnificent specimen of manhood. Well muscled, tall, with the same dark eyes, one of which drooped endearingly. And, of course, he still had the same caring face; the face that she wanted to regard her with caring and love.

She knew, of course, about his infatuation with that irritating Parker female, but she knew that she could make him forget her with just a little persuasion. Unlike Parker, she was not afraid to be a woman, and once she’d won Jarod to her side the Pagode would rise in power to where nothing could affect them. And once Parker had the child she could be dismissed to the breeding project in Siberia. Marion and Jarod would raise the child, train it to use to the fullest its dual genetic gifts; intelligence and that extra sense that the Parker wench had no idea she carried.

And she and Jarod would have other children----heirs to take over the Pagode and carry it into the next millennium. Of course, creating those children wouldn’t be a burden either. A cat-like smile of satisfaction curled her lips.

Almost as if it sensed her thoughts, a gray/black tabby cat strolled over to Marion’s chair and leapt into her lap. She curled into a purring ball of contentment, kneading her mistresses thigh with her claws, as Marion stroked her gently, still imagining herself with Jarod.

*******************

"Broots, are you sure you don’t want me to take the gun?" Emily whispered once more as the three would-be rescuers crouched in the shadows around the house they had determined was the most likely to hold Debbie.

"Enough, Emily!" Broots snapped, his firmness still startling his two companions. "I am going to have every advantage I can get until Debbie is safely with me again. Besides," he admitted with a trace of his old timidity, "I don’t know any of the martial arts like you say you do."

Sydney smothered a smile with one gloved hand and rose quickly to peek into the window over their heads. He swept the room with his eyes and ducked back down in seconds, unnoticed by the room’s occupants.

"Well?" Broots demanded impatiently.

"Two men, in the center, playing cards. I didn’t see any sign of Debbie." Sydney answered thoughtfully, replaying the picture of the room he’d fixed firmly in his mind.

"Okay, are you ready, Emily?" Broots asked the young lady. She settled a lightweight coil of nylon rope to her shoulder and nodded silently. Broots took a deep breath, worry flashing on his face for a moment before determination pushed it off. "Wait for us in the car, Sydney." He whispered to the older man, and began making his way to the back door of the house. Sydney nodded and crept cautiously towards the front of the house.

He’d barely started the car and pulled it, with the headlights out, in front of the house when Broots and Emily burst out the front door, each holding one of Debbie’s hands. They tumbled breathlessly into the back seat and Sydney accelerated away from the house. As he did an angry figure appeared in the doorway, firing two shots at the fleeing car before it turned the corner and was gone.

"Daddy, I *knew* you’d come for me!" Debbie cried joyfully, hugging her father tightly. Broots blinked away the moisture in his eyes and passed his gun to Emily behind Debbie’s back before he enfolded her into his arms to return the hug.

"Did they hurt you, honey? Are you okay?" He asked her when she relaxed her hold on his neck. Debbie giggled mischievously.
"No, Daddy, they didn’t hurt me. They didn’t know *anything* about taking care of a little girl, though." She told him cheerfully, her eyes dancing as she remembered how she’d gotten her own little revenge on the two men with her temper tantrums.

"Rochester, Broots?" Sydney verified their destination quietly with a quick glance in the rear-view mirror to catch Broots’ nod.

"Are we going to visit Uncle Frank and Aunt Karen?" Debbie asked happily.

"Only for a few hours." Broots told his daughter, still watching her like she would disappear if he took his eyes off of her for a minute. "Then we’re going to have to leave again."

"They might come looking for us, huh?" Debbie asked solemnly, surprising the two men with her immediate grasp of the danger. Emily, however, knew that Debbie undoubtedly understood far more of what was going on at her father’s work than he wanted to know.

"Yes, Debbie." She answered the girl gently when it became clear that Broots couldn’t find the right words. "They aren’t happy that your father helped me, so now I’m going to help you two disappear."

"Okay." She accepted this simply and tried, unsuccessfully to smother a huge yawn. "I hope you remembered to bring Peter, though." She told her dad sleepily, referring to her favorite, battered old stuffed animal. It was a bunny, rather than the traditional bear.

"He’s in the trunk." Broots reassured his daughter, stroking her light brown hair softly as she snuggled her head into his lap a began to drift off to sleep. Her histrionics had worn her out.

************************

"Hello, Sam." Jarod’s voice was low and even, but a muscle jumped in his jaw and his brown eyes burned with an angry fire.

"Jarod." Sam’s own eyes were narrowed and wary.

"Are you going to let us in, or am I going to come through you?" Jarod demanded when Sam showed no signs of either opening the door wider or moving aside for the two men on the porch.

"Son!" The Major reproved sternly.

"Might as well come in." Sam answered tersely, finally stepping back to let them in.

"How is she?" Jarod asked as soon as the door closed behind them.

"She’s a little better right now." Sam answered grudgingly, but he kept the information that Catherine was with her to himself. "I think that if she doesn’t have to deal with anymore shocks she just might make it through this pregnancy." He added pointedly.

"Sam, that’s my baby she’s carrying. If you think I’m going to walk away and leave her to go through that alone, you’re dumber than I thought." Jarod responded acidly. A hand clenched and unclenched at his side, as if he was just itching for an excuse.

"Dad? Jarod?" JJ’s young voice interrupted the male posturing by Sam and Jarod. "How’d you find us?"

"The genius here announced to the hospital you stayed at where he was going." Jarod answered the boy bitingly, still glaring at Sam. "You’re just lucky the Centre hasn’t gotten here yet. We’ve got to get out of here before they do. Now which room is hers?"

"She’s in the first bedroom." JJ answered slowly, his puzzled gaze swinging between Sam and Jarod. "But she’s not-----" His voice trailed off as Jarod strode away without waiting for the rest.

Now Sam and the Major sized each other up. The Major broke the silent appraisal with a smile and an outstretched hand.

"Thanks for taking care of JJ and Miss Parker." He told the faintly surprised ex-Sweeper. "When he has a chance to think sensibly Jarod will realize what a debt we owe you."

"He’s got reason to dislike me." Sam admitted unwillingly.

"Well, now he’s got even more reason to thank you." The Major maintained. "And I’ll see to it that he remembers that, if he doesn’t remember on his own.

"Dad?" JJ pulled the Major’s attention to him. "You know I was right, don’t you?" He asked anxiously, afraid that Jarod would upset Miss Parker if he didn’t realize that she really was pregnant.

"Yes, son." He reassured him. "We do know, and Jarod was feeling bad about what he’d said to her even before that."

"That’s okay, then." JJ nodded once, satisfied. "I guess I’ll go get my things together then." He added, starting towards the hallway.

*********************

"Parker, just hear me out!" Jarod opened the door and spoke the words simultaneously, and was in the room with the door closed behind him before he realized that there was another person present.

"Parker?" His disbelieving eyes swept from one face to the other in shock.

"What are you doing here, rat-boy?" Parker demanded harshly, her hand clinging to her mother’s for strength.

"Angelina!" Catherine reproved her weakly.

"Mama, you don’t understand." Parker defended herself as Jarod spoke to her.

"Parker, please forgive me." He pleaded, shelving his shock at Catherine’s existence in order to focus on the matter at hand. "I should have trusted you----I’m so sorry."

"Jarod, get the hell out of my room and out of my life!" Parker answered steadily, although her grip on her mother’s hand had tightened.

‘Jarod?’ Catherine thought, her gaze on the man standing in front of the door sharpening with interest. She kept silent and watched the exchange between her daughter and the intruder with avid attention.

"Listen, Parker." Jarod demanded desperately, raking a hand through his hair and beginning to pace. "That gorilla in the next room might as well have left a trail of neon signs pointing the Centre this way. They’re going to be here any time now. You’ve got to stop fighting me and let me help you."

"I don’t have to do anything, Jarod!" Parker responded bitingly. "I’ve taken care of myself all of my life and if you think a baby is going to change anything you are sadly mistaken. Go find some other fool to listen to your drivel."

"Don’t be so stubborn!" Jarod flared. "You aren’t blameless in all of this either! You did everything you could to make me believe you’d had an abortion."

‘Bad move.’ Catherine thought, watching the anger grow in her daughter’s eyes. But she thought she saw a hint of guilt too.

"You’re the genius. You should have figured it out." She hissed furiously. "Trust me, Parker. I understand you, Parker! All those head games for all of these years and all of a sudden you no longer understand me? I don’t think so!"

"Parker, please! I was hurt and I was angry!" Jarod backpedaled frantically, finally realizing what a mistake his anger had been. "I wasn’t thinking clearly."

"You weren’t thinking at all, wonder-rat. You took what you wanted and you left. Just what did Lyle promise you to get you to cooperate anyway? A real chance at escape?" Parker’s eyes were the only thing with color on her face and the hurt she would have done anything not to show flared in those eyes.

"It wasn’t like that!" Jarod gulped, his heart pounding in response to the pain on her face, pain he’d caused. "I thought-----"

What Jarod was about to say was lost when an oval, metallic object crashed through the bedroom window and began spraying white gas.

"Parker!" Jarod managed two steps towards her before the gas overcame him and he stumbled to the floor. The last thing he saw was a dark figure stepping over him to brace a chair under the handle of the door.

**********************

"Sir, it’s Mr. Mutumbo." Raines’ secretary called out as he passed the door to his office. Raines’ swung around to face her, his already pale face growing paper white with fear. What was he going to tell Mutumbo?

"Hey Debbie, wake up." Her father softly stroked her face. She had slept through the entire trip. Even when they stopped to change the drivers she’d remained dead to the world. Broots was thankful that they had let him stay with Debbie instead asking him to take his turn at the wheel.

"Where are we, Daddy?" The sleepy voice of his daughter made him smile. She was the only good thing that had ever happened to his life. No matter what it was he did for her, he was always her Hero. And even better than her confidence in him was the fact that it made him feel brave.

He still couldn’t believe what he had done. Broots tried not to think back on the events of last night. Every time he did he started to shake as all the possibilities of what have could gone wrong popped up into his head

"We’re at Uncle Frank and Aunt Karen‘s. We will go in and get cleaned up and catch a little sleep. Later we will have to try to find Miss Parker, JJ. and Sam." Broots looked into the tired eyes of his daughter. "Do you want me to carry you in?" He asked with a smile.

The only answer were two little arms sliding around his neck. Carefully he lifted the small body out of the car and carried the already sleeping girl into the house.

***

Jarod watched the two woman in front of him. He had been awake for about 10 minutes already but Miss Parker and the woman who could only be her mother still slept. He suspected that he had been less affected by the gas because he had been the one farthest from the window, not mention the fact that he was bigger and would require more of the drug for the same effect.

They were on a plane, secured with to their armrests by cuffs that had a longer chain than normal. But they weren’t long enough for him to reach the others. He had tried to open the cuffs but had no suitable object to pick them, and unlike Parker, he couldn’t dislocate his thumb at will. Even if he could get the restraints off he had no clue where they would go afterwards. He had no idea where this plane was heading, but he knew that what he’d seen between breaks in the clouds beneath them was water, and not land.

He had studied the jet carefully and was positive it wasn’t a Centre jet. After he heard several German words being used around him he guessed that it was a plane from the Pagode. He wasn’t sure which was worse. At least he knew the Centre and always knew that he had a friend there in Angelo. He castigated himself for being a complete fool. Why hadn’t he used his time to find out everything he could about the Pagode? He wanted to protect Parker, but all he had accomplished was to end up in the same trap as her, with no useful information at all.

A stirring caught his attention, and he watched as Catherine Parker’s body came slowly alive. He looked over to her daughter but she was still not moving at all. If it hadn’t been for the regular rising and falling of her chest as she breathed he would have said she was dead. Her body was far more limp than he liked and her face seemed completely bloodless.

He wanted to go over and check her out more closely, but the cuffs wouldn’t reach. He was frustrated, to put it mildly. Everything that had happened since that night he confronted Parker in the Centre had gone totally wrong, and worse, it was all out of his control. He had wanted more than anything to walk into her room in the cabin and tell her what he felt for her, but they had ended up fighting instead.

Sure he had been surprised to find her in the arms of her mother, especially considering the fact that she was supposed to be dead, but it was better to find Parker in her dead mother’s arms than in Sam’s. He still couldn’t quite figure out what he had done wrong that had led to their fighting instead of making up.

For the first time his mind returned to his father and JJ. He saw no sign of them, and had heard nothing to indicate there were more prisoners elsewhere on the plane, and he prayed that meant they had been able to escape. He looked over to Mrs. Parker again and was greeted by a pair of icy blue eyes, identical to her daughter’s.

Jarod blushed slightly; she had watched him staring at her daughter. He wasn’t sure what he should tell her and she said nothing that would help him figure it out. The silence was getting on his nerves; he almost felt like she could see right into his mind.

"You really love her, right?" Catherine finally broke the silence, but it was more a statement than a question.

Jarod could only nod.

"What has happened to you two?" She continued softly.

"I have no idea?" Jarod replied with a deep sigh. He broke their eye contact and lowered his head.

Catherine looked at the young man, and thought about how much he looked like the little boy she had tried so desperately to rescue. She nearly smiled when she thought about her daughter who’d had such a big crush on him at that time. She glanced over to her daughter. Now it seemed that they where starting their own family. But from the short argument in the cabin, it would appear that her Angelina was not too happy about it.

Catherine was sure she was happy about the baby, but there was something in this whole situation that was definitely wrong. The argument in the cabin had sounded more like a cat fight than a lover’s quarrel. She was somehow sure the that Centre was involved in this pregnancy. Why in Gods name would her daughter have faked an abortion otherwise? The mother in her was still a bit angry with Jarod for believing it, though.

On the other had 20 years are a long time. She had left them as kids and she had no real idea what has happened in all those years. She vowed to try to help them work things out. She prayed that her daughter was not too stubborn to be able to give a little. She had said that the father of the baby does not matter anymore, so there had to have been a time when he had.

"Mom?"

Catherine’s head snapped around towards her daughter. Finally! She was awake as well. She had been worried about any side effects but except from a slight dizziness she seemed perfectly fine.

"Where are we?" Miss Parker asked.

"We’re on a Pagode plane." Jarod answered her.

Miss Parker focused on him, her brows lightly furrowed. "I didn’t ask you, wonder-boy!" She hissed into his direction.

"Parker, please..." Her icy glare made him stop.

"Why is it that every time you step into my life it goes down a bit more?" She snarled.

Catherine Parker wondered if she should step in before they went any further, but decided against it for the moment. Better for her daughter to get everything out in the open, and maybe she could get a little more information about this entire situation. She could interrupt them later if things got too bad, but it hurt her to see them act this way. She saw Jarod wince when her daughter used that name on him. Where had she learned to act so mean? Once again, Catherine Parker wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know.

She knew she needed to know more about what was happening, but every tidbit she learned made her like the entire scenario less. What had they done? What has happened during those years.?

"I’m not going away." Jarod stated firmly, raising his head and setting his jaw. "This is my child too, and I will be damned if give up on either of you so easily. If nothing else, I have a right to be a part of the baby’s life as well as you. I *am* the father." He declared glaring back.

‘Smart!’ He chided himself. ‘Make her angry instead of telling her that you love her. That will certainly win her over.’ But he couldn’t bring himself to say the words; he had no idea what would happen if she simply laughed into his face if he did.

"So sure of that, are you? Well if you remember what happened then you have an edge on me!" Miss Parker retorted.

"What do you mean by that?" Jarod asked in confusion.

"Oh, something wonder-boy hadn’t ‘discovered’ yet?" She taunted him bitterly. "Lyle drugged me, you idiot!"

She looked away from his shocked face and finished her attack.

"Oh come on, now! You don’t really believe I would have even let you come close to me without *some* help. If you believed for a minute that I was a willing participant then Lyle must have had them beat you harder than I thought!" Her voice full of venom.

She couldn’t resist the urge to glance at him and she saw that his face had lost all of its color and his eyes had darkened with hurt.

"I just wish that this was Thomas’ child, at least then I would know I don’t have a freak growing inside of me." With this final jab she turned away, pretending that she had lost all interest in the subject.

But she knew one more word would make her break down. She needed all her strength now to go on. Maybe this subterfuge would save them all.

With tear filled eyes she watched the clouds outside the plane.

Sam, Major Charles, and JJ sat in the silver Jeep in the parking lot of a McDonalds, eating a meal. Well, JJ was eating, Sam and the Major just picked at their meals while they brooded morosely on what to do next. None of them noticed the maroon Volvo pulling into the parking lot of the fast food establishment.

Emily, like most of her family, seemed to thrive on next to no sleep and she’d awakened a few hours after they’d arrived and Broots’ relatives. Debbie had slept most of the way to Rochester, so she too woke a few hours later. Rather than risk waking people up, Emily decided to take Debbie to McDonalds for breakfast. Debbie was thrilled, and it was the two of them who pulled into the parking place to the left of the silver Jeep in the maroon Volvo.

"Hey, isn’t that Sam?" Debbie asked curiously, staring at the dark haired man in the driver’s seat.

"Sam who?" Emily asked, wondering if Debbie really thought she would know who ‘Sam’ was.

"Sweeper Sam, from the Centre!" Debbie explained absently as she stared harder at the man. He seemed to sense her gaze because he looked directly at her.

"It is! It is!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Hi Sam!" She waved, smiling broadly.

"Debbie don’t!" Emily protested, restarting the car and preparing to pull out of the parking lot.

"No, he helped Miss Parker. I heard Daddy tell Sydney about it." Debbie justified herself with all of the hurt only a child could muster.

"Who’s that with him?" Emily asked warily, noting that there were more people in the jeep.

"I don’t know, but maybe they can tell us where Miss Parker is!" Before Emily could stop her Debbie was out of the Volvo and pulling open Sam’s door.

"Sam!" Debbie declared happily.

"Who’s that?" The question came from both JJ and the Major at the same moment.

"Hello, Debbie." Sam said gravely. "I don’t think you should be here right now."

"Emily was just getting me some breakfast." Debbie answered him, looking hurt again.

"Emily?" Major Charles repeated, trying to hold down a dawning hope.

"Debbie, I don’t think-----" Emily’s voice trailed off and her brown eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of the man in the passenger side of the Jeep.

"Daddy?" She asked, tears springing to her eyes.

"Emily?" He breathed, with similar tears. "Is that you, baby?"

Before anyone else could move the Major was out of the car and Emily was in his arms for a fiercely joyous reunion.

"Daddy, we thought you were dead!" She told him, looking at him like he would vanish if she took her eyes off of him for a second.

"No, I wasn’t in the plane that crashed, but by the time I could get to our rendezvous point you and your mother were gone!" He explained sadly. "Oh, baby, I didn’t think I was ever going to find you again!"

"Me either!" She admitted to his shoulder as he hugged her again. Sam, Debbie and JJ watched them with amazement. Sam understood first, remembering bits and pieces about Jarod’s family that Miss Parker had let slip in his presence. Then JJ realized that this was, in a way at least, his sister and climbed out of the jeep smiling broadly.

"Why are they hugging?" Debbie asked JJ, as he came to stand beside her. She tried to whisper, but her question was heard by all.

"This is my daughter, young lady." The Major explained to Debbie. "And we haven’t seen each other since she was close to your age."

"I wouldn’t like it if my Daddy went away and didn’t come back." Debbie decided solemnly.

"I didn’t like it either." Emily confessed to the girl. "But my Daddy couldn’t help it."

"Oh." Debbie looked like she was trying to decide if that made things all right or not.

"Emily, I’d like you to meet JJ." The Major gestured to the boy who slowly moved closer. "He’s your brother."

"Brother?!"

"I’m Jarod’s clone." JJ announced gravely. "Dad says that that means we’re identical twins born a long time apart, so I’m his son and your brother."

"So I finally get a brother I can be with!" Emily smiled her welcome and moved to hug JJ, much to his dismay. "And I get a little brother to boot! I’m not the baby anymore!" She grinned mischievously. JJ looked like he wasn’t sure this was a good thing or not.

"Look, let me get Debbie something to eat for breakfast, and then you can follow me to her aunt and uncle’s place. I think we all have some catching up to do." Emily suggested impulsively.

"We all?" Sam asked pointedly.

"My daddy and Sydney are here too." Debbie told him. "They had to run away after Mr. Raines tried to kidnap me. But Daddy saved me."

"Broots and Sydney have left the Centre too." Emily explained more clearly. "They felt it was necessary after Debbie was kidnapped and we retrieved her. We’re looking for Miss Parker now."

JJ’s face fell and he opened his mouth to tell them she was gone, but his father quelled him with a shake of his head.

"We’ll share all of the news when we’re all together, okay son?" The Major explained gently. JJ nodded obediently.

"I just wish we had better news to share." Sam and Emily said in unison.

******************

Catherine tried to reach her daughter mentally. She could feel Angelina’s pain, and she knew that her daughter loved this man, in spite of her words, but she couldn’t get past the walls her daughter had raised in her mine. Once again she found herself mourning the years apart and wondering what had happened to her daughter to make her so hard and self contained. And, once again, she found herself wondering if she really wanted to know the answers to those questions.

Jarod looked away from the two women, his chocolate brown eyes nearly black with emotion. The primary emotion was hurt, but Catherine sensed that he was feeling somewhat unfairly attacked as well. Well, she could understand that, men aren’t the most observant creatures at the best of times, and if you brought his emotions Into play you could just about guarantee he’d make an ass of himself. She would have smiled if she’d known how closely her sentiments echoed those that Major Charles had told his son just days ago.

"Angelina, don’t you think you’re being a little unfair?" Catherine asked her daughter gently.

"You don’t know anything about it, Mother." Parker answered harshly, refusing to look away from the window. "You weren’t even there for most of my life!"

Catherine reeled with the pain of that attack, even though she realized that her daughter didn’t mean it.

"Dear, I had amnesia after that attack on the elevator. I didn’t remember anything until I saw they boy this morning." She managed to keep her voice even and loving.

"How could you forget me?" Parker demanded, finally turning away from the window to stare at her mother. The woman looking at her wasn’t 30 some odd years old, though, she was a little girl and full of hurt.

"I don’t know, darling." Catherine’s eyes radiated just as much hurt. "I don’t know how or why it happened, all I know was that until I followed my feeling that someone needed me up north, I had forgotten all about you, and your father, and the Centre."

"What feeling?" Parker felt uneasy, sensing that there was something threatening about her mother’s hunch.

"It was almost like I could hear you calling for me, although you sounded like my little girl, not like you do now, and, oddly enough, I could hear a man calling for me too. I----" Catherine’s voice trailed off as she remembered, once again, what Sam had said about Angelina killing her twin brother.

"That was your brother I heard, wasn’t it?" Catherine asked sadly, but with no anger. "My little Daniel wasn’t stillborn at all, was he?"

"Daniel? Is that what you were going to name him?" Parker asked her mother, desperately stalling for time.

"It was him, wasn’t it? Tell me, Angelina, it’ll eat away at you until you do." Catherine kept her eyes locked on her daughter’s and Jarod watched in amazement as Parker’s face crumpled and she began to cry.

"Yes, Mama, I killed him." She admitted, sounding more like a little girl than the cold, hard woman Jarod was used to seeing.

"You had no choice." Jarod insisted, his eyes dark now with worry rather than hurt. "He would have killed you if you hadn’t."

"No, it was JJ he threatened." She wept.

"Oh, and those bruises on your jaw and wrist were from Sam?" Jarod demanded astutely.

"He just wanted me to love him!" Parker burst out. "Oh, God, Mama, I felt it all when the bullet hit him. He was so hurt and he couldn’t understand why I didn’t love him."

"Oh, my poor baby!" Catherine cursed inwardly when the cuffs kept her from being able to hold her daughter like she wanted to, but she was able to grab Parker’s hand and hold it tightly.

"But Mama, I killed him." She looked at her mother, her eyes full of remorse and faint confusion.

"I believe Jarod when he says you had no choice, Angelina." Catherine kept her eyes steadily on her daughter and her face full of love and compassion.

"Oh, Mama, I’m so tired." Parker sighed, leaning her head on her mother’s shoulder. Catherine was able to reach high enough to stroke her daughter’s hair and she soothed her with her thoughts and her words.

"It’s okay, baby. Mama’s here now and you’re going to be fine." Catherine noticed Jarod’s look of amazement and asked, quietly. "Is she asleep?"

"Yes, but how?"

"It’s a mother’s trick." Catherine dismissed his question airily. Jarod’s eyes narrowed fractionally, telling her that he wasn’t convinced, but then he looked at Parker and smiled a little.

"Whatever it was, I’m glad. It’s not good for her to be so upset." He told Catherine bluntly.

"Maybe now that she’s finally told me, she can start to heal." Catherine speculated.

"That’s not all she has to heal from." Jarod told her darkly.

"Tell me." Catherine responded promptly. "Tell me what I’ve missed."

Jarod sighed, where to begin?

"Well," he started slowly. "After you died…"


**********************

"Ma’am?" Alexander kept his voice down, even though he was in the front of the plane where none of the captives could possibly overhear him.

"Yes, Alexander."

"She’s got the gift, just like her mother." He told his leader smugly. "I overheard them talking about it."

"Parker and Jarod?" Marion was frankly amazed, she hadn’t expected Parker to open up, even to Jarod.

"No, Parker and her mother." Alexander corrected her.

"That’s impossible! Catherine Parker is dead!"

"No, Ma’am." Alexander answered slowly, beginning to worry that he was in serious trouble now. "We picked her up with Jarod and Parker. They were all in the bedroom together."

"Catherine Parker? Alive?" Marion was silent for a long moment, increasing Alexander’s worry. Her next words didn’t soothe him much.

"I’m not happy that you waited until now to tell me this, Alexander. I do not like surprises. However, you at least told me in time for me to make some preparations. Remember not to make this mistake again."

"Yes Ma’am." Alexander was relieved that the rebuke was so mild. "We’re about three quarters of the way to you now."

"Good. I’ll be waiting." Marion disconnected the phone abruptly, her eyes narrowed in thought.

Alexander hung up the phone and made his way back to his seat, feeling like a man who’d been reprieved from a particularly nasty death sentence.

********************

"Where are they?" Raines demanded frantically over the phone. "Mutumbo is on his way here right now, and I’ve got to have them in my hands before he gets here!"

"Sir, I don’t know." The Sweeper said solidly, praying inwardly that he wasn’t going to wind up in the renewal wing for this fiasco. "The house was empty, door open, when we got there. Someone had thrown a sleep gas in through one of the bedroom windows, but other that that we’re without information."

"It’s the Pagode." Raines mused desperately. "It must be! Get the Centre jet ready and get your best team together. We’re going to Berlin."

‘If nothing else,’ Raines thought silently. ‘I’ll be on a different continent from Mutumbo.’

"Where is he?" Mutumbo’s voice growled like thunder through the empty halls of the Centre.

All the stories about what happened to messengers who brought bad news made the nameless Centre employee sweat.

It had been a freaky week for all of them. The gossip around the Centre was running wild, nobody was sure anymore what was true or what was false. Nobody was even sure anymore who was the hunter and who was the hunted. It didn’t help matters any that neither Miss Parker or Lyle had showed up here during the last few days. He even had heard rumours that Miss Parker had killed her brother, not that anybody really minded. He only hoped that if it was true that she had survived it. Her absence was not a good sign.

There was even a betting pool gong on about which of them had survived and would come back. He’d placed 20 bucks backing Sydney and Broots, who’d left to help their boss, but now it looked like he wouldn’t survive long enough to find out if he won. He had often heard about how your life was supposed to flash before your eyes just before death, but all he could do is think ridiculous thoughts about money----but maybe that was a good sign; maybe it meant that he was going to survive after all.

"Raines found them and he took the jet to follow them. It seems that the Pagode caught Miss Parker at Sam’s cabin. We are not sure who else might have been with her; the cabin showed signs of a fight and we found an empty gas cartridge in one of the bedrooms, Pagode standard issue. So Raines decided to head towards Berlin as soon as he could to keep up with them." The man reported with much more confidence than he felt.

"I hope for your own sake he succeeds this time. If he fails, his team has failed, understand?" The threat was evident with every word.

With a nod the man fled, glad to have survived, at least this time.

****

Jarod had tried to fill in the gaps from the years Catherine had missed as briefly a possible. She would never have believed these things if anyone else had told her. A matter of hours... curious, she had saved so many children over the years, but failed her own daughter. She glanced over at her daughter’s sleeping form. Catherine prayed the scars weren’t too deep, that she could really heal, but from what Jarod had just told her, she feared it was too late.

Jarod leaned back and watched the two women who had always played such a big part in his life. Even after her death Catherine had affected him, and everyone around him. He had no idea how to deal with Miss Parker at the moment. Everything he tried so far seemed to just make matters worse. He had always refused to believe that she really wanted him to leave when she tried to push him away. But now, without the Centre, it was still the same old story. She still treated him like he was the enemy. Now he wondered if he was right about her, or if he’d just been fooling himself all those years.

He should have known that she was drugged that night six weeks ago. But it hadn’t felt artificial in any way, it was more like she was the way he remembered being in their happier, younger days. She had been warm and caring. She had smiled in the same irresistible way The way he loved so much. She had been exactly what his battered spirit had needed after his time under Lyle’s attentive care.

All he had wanted later was to get out of the Centre and take her with him. But after he had really escaped he had discovered that she was back on his trail, hunting him. He had never felt more betrayed than he had at that moment. Then, after he had finally worked up the courage to call her, she had sounded like she didn’t even remember that night. And now he knew that was exactly the case. Now he finally understood and could forgive, but was it too late.

But the worst thing about this whole thing was the stunt she had pulled with the baby; his baby----their baby. She knew how much family meant to him! Centre or not she should have found a way to tell him. She had made him so angry that he almost slapped her. He could still see the picture in his mind; the alley, the icy glare, and, worst of all, the smile.

It had been the first time he had ever wanted to hit a woman, and he still felt guilty just for thinking it. He was sure she had known what he wanted to do, he was sure that he had even seen a spark of fear in her eyes. But at that moment he had felt like he was being torn apart, everything he had believed in at that moment had vanished in the face of that damn smile.

His thoughts were starting to run in circles; he had no idea what he felt anymore. He loved her, and there was nothing that could ever change that, he was sure, but sometimes he hated her as well. In one way he wanted to take her in her arms to comfort her and promise that everything was going to be OK, but he also wanted her to feel the same pain he did. How it feel to be rejected by somebody you love.

He still marvelled what Catherine had accomplished in getting her to sleep that way, and he still wondered how she’d done it. Parker looked like she was completely relaxed, and he could swear there was even a little smile She looked like an Angel, true to her name, but he was sure as soon as she would wake up the devil would wake up with her.

"Mrs Parker? " he asked quietly, hating to interrupt the woman in front of him. "Please could you exactly tell me what you have done? "

Catherine smiled at the young man, for a moment she considered to tell him the truth, but regarding the situation they where all in at the moment she decided it was better to keep her mouth shut.

"Nothing, you should worry about, it is really a small trick I learned when she was a baby. She was always so active, I could not get her sleeping so.. " she trailed off. From the look she saw that Jarod did not believe, her.

"Tell me, it has to do with her Red File , right? " he demanded. He wanted to take his words back when he saw all the colour leaving her face. Damn he thought she knew.

"I could kill that bastard who claimed to be her father,!" Catherine Parker cursed darkly.

"Mrs. Parker... " Jarod started but he was interrupted by her hand.

"Please don’t call me that, Catherine would be fine, please" she insisted

"Catherine... " Jarod started again, not willing to drop the subject. "You’re saying that Mr. Parker is not her real father, Ben Miller is, right? "

Catherine’s head snapped into his direction again a surprised wide eyed look on her face. "How..?"

Jarod smiled back, pleased with himself. "This was easy from her birthday" he nodded in Miss Parker’s direction, "the weeks you where gone every year.... he trailed of a proud look on his face.

"Not bad Sherlock," Catherine returned with a amused smile, "but also not good enough. Ben is not her father."

Jarod smile faded, and a puzzled look crossed his face. His first thought was to ask why she had called him Sherlock, but then her last words sunk in as well. Ben was not Miss Parker’s father?

"Who then?" was all Jarod could manage.

Before Catharine had a chance to answer the door to the cockpit opened and a young man walked into the cabin.

"We will landing in about 20 minutes, so be ready!" He informed them coldly. He let his gaze wander over the 2 woman, thinking that he had to remember to keep an close eye on them; they could be really dangerous.

They were all gathered in the living room for a war council; Sam, Emily, Broots, Frank, Karen and Major Charles. JJ and Debbie had been banished to the Rec Room in the basement where Debbie was busy teaching JJ the ins and outs of the game Zelda on the Nintendo 64 her aunt and uncle kept down there for her.

"I don’t know about the rest of you," Emily was saying resolutely, her delicate looking face set in a frown that veritably dared anyone to disagree with her. "But I’m tired of the Centre breathing down my neck, threatening my family, and screwing up my life!"

"No problem." Sam told her with heavy sarcasm, glaring at Emily like she was a spoiled brat. "We’ll just take them out for you. Would Wednesday be soon enough?"

"Yes." Emily answered sweetly, smiling at him with a dazzling display of teeth and dancing eyes. "That would be perfectly lovely."

Sam subsided, glowering darkly.

"Well, why not?" Karen asked practically. "Let’s figure out what would be necessary to destroy the Centre and see if it’s feasible. Frankly, I’m tired of worrying about Broots all of the time."

"Okay, dear, let’s." Frank agreed with a comfortable grin to his wife. Unlike Broots, Frank was close to 6 feet tall, broad shouldered, and had a thick head of hair.

"Okay, talk!" She ordered the group, poising her pen over the yellow legal pad in her lap.

"We can’t just take out the Centre." Sydney contributed unexpectedly, the forefinger tapping his upper lip indicating that he was deep in thought. "There’s the Triumvirate too."

"That’s right." Sam agreed, his frown also turning thoughtful. "If we don’t eliminate the Triumvirate too we’d be leaving the head to simply start all over again later."

"Not to mention all of the branches and hidden research stations the Centre has." The Major said glumly.

"So." Karen restated briskly, writing as she went. "We need to A) determine just who the Triumvirate are, B) determine all of the branches and hidden bases connected to the Centre, C)….?"

"The Pagode." JJ’s voice sounded from the kitchen doorway. He’d come upstairs to get sodas for himself and Debbie and overheard the strategy session.

"JJ?" The Major frowned unhappily. "What are you doing up here listing to us?"
"Dad, you need me." JJ said patiently. "I’m a Pretender, remember? For instance, why take out the Centre? Why not screw up their taxes and set the IRS on them? Or work out a hostile take-over and use Centre resources to take out the Pagode?"

"That’s not a bad suggestion." Broots offered suddenly, considering JJ’s suggestion so carefully that he missed the amazed looks he drew from the other participants.

"Well, not the Centre taxes, they stay strictly in the straight and narrow there, even pay the L&I tax, but we could certainly get almost every higher up in the Centre on tax fraud in one form or another. And the Triumvirate, I’m sure that they’re breaking countless of our international trade laws."

"So, C) is weaken the Centre from within?" Karen received a round of nod and wrote that down. "And then, D) will be decide what to do about the Pagode." She added firmly.

"Now, just how do we accomplish all of these miracles?" Sam demanded skeptically.

"I can track down all of the finances." Broots offered.

"And I can help!" JJ added eagerly.

"I suppose I can look into the legalities." Emily offered unhappily. She didn’t enjoy learning nearly as much as her brothers did.

"Sam and I can reconnoiter the Centre grounds, see what we can pick up on hardcopy. See what other leads we might turn up." The Major volunteered Sam blithely. Sam looked surprised, but didn’t protest.

"I can look into the Pagode issue." Sydney volunteered. "I probably already know more about them except maybe you, Sam."

"Okay, I’ve got friends in government agencies that might help us." Frank said thoughtfully.

"I’ll hold down the fort and keep everyone fed." Karen declared cheerfully.

"No one could do it better than you." Frank assured his wife warmly. "Now, why don’t we break into our individual groups and brainstorm while my lovely wife prepares a good lunch for us? Emily, I think you and I might want to work together…" He added, nodding towards the younger woman.

************************

Catherine, Parker, and Jarod all wondered exactly what to expect when they were whisked out of the private jet and into a waiting black limousine. Jarod’s respect for Pagode influence went up as he realized that they’d totally bypassed Customs. His estimation of their audacity went up when the limo headed straight for downtown Berlin. His opinion of their subtlety went down, however, when the limo pulled to a halt in front of a tall, glass and metal building with the same emblem of a stylized pagode on the doors. No name, just the image.

The three were hustled into the building, Parker being firmly supported by two burly blond men holding her arms like she was a keg of dynamite that might go off. Looking and the lowering frown and tightly clenched jaw, Jarod had to agree that their caution was prudent. Parker WAS like a powder keg about to go off. He had to wonder why he and Catherine were being treated with so much respect, though.

"Jarod! It is SO good to finally meet you face to face!" A svelte blond woman undulated across the plush foyer, ignoring Parker entirely, smiling seductively, and exclaiming her greeting in warmly welcoming tones. Jarod’s bruised ego started to feel better, in spite of his mind’s insistence that he couldn’t trust this woman.

"And, Catherine! It is so good to see you aren’t dead after all!" She added, turning to the older Parker and speaking with just a hint of genuine feeling in her voice. "I owe you everything, you know."

Parker’s cheeks reddened at the deliberate snub, but a pointed glance from her mother stilled her incipient blow up.

"Marion?" Catherine asked gently, turning her attention back to the blond woman. "What happened, dear? Why are you working here?"

"Catherine, I AM the Pagode." Marion said proudly. "I took it over after my foster mother’s unfortunate accident ten years ago." There was not hint of guilt in her voice or manner, and yet somehow all three of them know that the accident had been one Marion had arranged.

"Now, Jarod." Marion purred, moving closer to Jarod and running a greedy hand down his chest. "I have so much I need to discuss with you. Just be patient for a few minutes my dear, while I deal with Catherine and the other female, and then I’m all yours."

Jarod battled twin emotions of gratification and the flattery, and embarrassment at the predatory interest in Marion’s eyes.

"Alexander, the female is to be taken to the infirmary for a thorough check-up and debugging." To date Marion had managed not to look at the taller brunette, but her carmine red lips took on a slightly deeper grin at the angry hiss that sounded from the other. "And Catherine is to be returned to the States immediately, with all the comfort we can give her, understand?"

Parker’s angry self control faded suddenly and she shot her mother a desperate look.

"Marion, this is my daughter you are discussing. I will not leave her." Catherine answered calmly, a serene smile directed at her daughter.

Marion frowned in irritation. "I suppose I could give you a guest suite for a few days." She suggested grudgingly.

"I will go where my daughter goes." Catherine turned her eyes to Marion and showed the steel beneath the gentleness. "I don’t know what has happened to make you so amoral, Marion, but I must say I am terribly disappointed in you."

Marion flushed, anger, and just the tiniest hint of hurt, flaring in her blue eyes.

"Very well, Catherine." She answered stiffly, looking just a trifle sulky. "Take her with her daughter. Set them both up in the luxury holding cells." She turned her shoulder on the two women and her seductive smile blossomed again as her eyes fell on Jarod.

"Come along, dear." She purred, running her hand along the bulging muscles of his biceps like a cat stroking itself along her owner’s leg. "We really DO have a great deal to discuss."

Jarod threw a glance towards the Parker women that was amused, flattered, resigned, and ever so slightly nervous. Miss Parker glared stonily and Catherine smiled sympathetically before Marion once again demanded Jarod’s full attention.

Miss Parker and her mother where guided towards an elevator while Marion led Jarod in the other direction. He threw a quick glance over his shoulder and saw Miss Parker glaring darkly at the blond woman by his side. His heart rose slightly as he realized that at least some of that glare was from jealousy. Then Marion tugged on his arm, silently demanding his attention.

Two tall blond men leading Miss Parker and her mother into the elevator. Inside Miss Parker noticed a large row of buttons, several indicating an extensive system of sublevels. ‘Finally,’ she thought, ‘not so different from the Centre at all.’

The tall man on their right side pushed the lowest button and a slight jerk indicated that the elevator obeyed the command. Nothing indicated how fast they where going down, but soon another light jerk indicated the end of their journey.

As soon as they stepped out, Alexander, the blonde man from the plane, stepped in front of them, blocking their path.

"Sorry, Ladies, but this is where you two part company." He turned towards the two goons who had led the women this far.

"Martin, Kevin," he addressed the two men, "begleiten sie Mrs. Parker zu ihrem Raum.

"Oh, no!" Catherine protested after hearing him say that she was supposed to have her own room. "Marion promised that I could stay with my daughter."

A condescending smile appeared on Alexander’s face, "And you believed her?"

"Mom," Miss Parker stepped in; "please just let them take you to your room. I’ll be just fine on my own." The last thing she wanted was a fight here in the middle of the floor. She had no idea what was going on here, but she had the bad feeling that she would find out soon enough.

{Angel, hon----)

"NO! Alexander roared. "No telepathic conversation! "

It was hard to tell who was more surprised, mother or daughter.

"You heard me?" Catherine was astounded.

"Look around," he pointed over to the men he had ordered to take her to her room. "We don’t just all resemble each other, we all also have what you would call ‘telepathy’ to some extent. Our gift is not a natural occurrence, as it is with you and your daughter; we’ve all been genetically enhanced. We are the first designer humans." Alexander seemed almost proud

"The Centre is still working on cloning and genetic manipulation for the Pretender project, but they are only in the very first stages with their research. We have already succeed in achieving exactly the effect we want with our enhanced mental abilities, and now, with the DNA from the little one you carry, we will soon surpass the Centre’s Pretender Project too. "

The way Alexander casually divulged top secret research results to them made the knot of worry in Miss Parker stomach grow even bigger. This wasn’t a good sign; not at all. The knowledge that they were all in big trouble was no surprise to her, she’d known it from the moment she awoke on that damn plane, but Alexander’s revelations of Pagode secrets were now making her wonder just how big of trouble they were in.

Suddenly another part of the conversation sunk in, "---and your daughter".

Lyle! That mental scream, the emotions that came with it----now it all made sense. And other incidents that had happened when she was just a little girl came up in her mind as well; knowing when her Momma wanted her, even though she hadn’t called, hearing her mother’s voice in her head after a nightmare, even Jarod’s words "You have the voice of your mother inside of you", could now be seen in a different light. But why had she forgotten that non-verbal communication she used to have with her mother? She had no idea, but it raised yet another question, why had it suddenly stopped? She couldn’t have been more than 3 or 4 the last time she remembered hearing her Momma in her mind. What had happened? More and more questions popped up into her mind as she digested the information Alexander had given them…

*****

Jarod had no illusions as to what was on Marion’s mind as she led him further into the Pagode building and into a different elevator. She was guiding him with one of her arms linked through his, and as much of her body as humanly possible glued to his side. In a way her obvious interest was flattering, but it also made Jarod extremely nervous.

"Where are we going?" Jarod asked, still trying to decide whether or not he liked what was going on. Of course he hadn’t expected that their captors would allow them to stay together, but Marion’s aggressive semi-seduction was quite a shock.

Marion. While the elevator ascended to the penthouse floor he tried to bring up anything he might have learned about her while investigating the Centre. Catherine’s reaction to her indicated that she was one of the children Catherine had smuggled out of the Centre. Things were falling into place in his mind; she’d told Catherine she had taken over the Pagode from her foster mother, so she, at least, had to have been involved with the Pagode. It made him wonder if they had been involved, in some way, on the attempt on Catherine’s life. He decided to try to do a Sim on this later. Right now he needed to recall all he could from Marion’s Centre file.

She had been tested for Pretender abilities and had been deemed not good enough to train. She’d been one of Raines’ subjects, but he couldn’t recall that he had read anything about her being subject to any of Raines’ less humane experiments.

His musing were interrupted when they reached a big double door at the end of a long corridor. Marion pushed the doors open and dragged Jarod into the room.

For a moment the Pretender was speechless; this was completely different from all the offices he knew from the Centre. The wall in front of them was one huge window offering a breathtaking view over Berlin. Jarod was so caught into the view he missed Marion’s approach entirely.

"If you promise to be a good boy I can take these off." Marion purred into his ear as she lightly rattled chain on the cuffs.

Jarod stiffened slightly when she pressed herself against his back, one hand reaching up to bury itself in his hair. He could feel her breath on his neck and the heat from her body where she was pressed against him. Her sweet perfume made him feel a bit dizzy. His body wanted to respond as any normal male would. He suddenly found it hard to breathe, much less concentrate on his situation.

Marion slithered around to his front, never losing her contact with his body, and twined her arms around his neck. She didn’t look anything like Nia, but for some reason he was irresistibly reminded of her. He struggled to pin down what it was that made him think of her; anything to keep from responding in a way that would get him in trouble with Parker later.

Marion gazed invitingly into his eyes, and suddenly Jarod identified the resemblance; Nia had looked at him similarly, like a woman, like a caring woman. Parker had only looked at him like that once----the night they-----

‘Stop!’ He told himself sternly. ‘Nia DID care, Parker was drugged. As for Marion, well,’ he had the feeling he’d find out soon enough.

"We will have a great time, Jarod." Marion told him in a low, husky voice. "No more loneliness, no more Sims, and you’ll never have to run again. Nobody would dare to try take you away from me. What a team we’ll make! We’ll run the Pagode together and then, not to long from now, we will take over the Centre as well. "

She reached behind him to undo the cuffs, never breaking eye, or body, contact. Jarod tried not to lick his lips nervously. ‘Sydney, why didn’t you ever teach me what to do in a situation like this?’ He wondered, slightly desperately.

"We will have everything we always dreamed of." Her voice was a beguiling whisper. "The dream every one of us Centre children shared will come true for you and me. We will finally have our own family, our own children." She felt Jarod stiffen under her hands and frowned slightly, unhappy with his reaction.

Soothingly she slid her hands up and down his sides, frown vanishing as she smiled at him again.

"I know that woman carries your child, Jarod, but don’t worry, we’ll keep it with us and raise it together. You know that she does not care about it, that it was just another project she did for the Centre, but we both know better." She snuggled even closer, as Jarod’s arms went hesitantly around her. Her words were striking buttons in him, the longing for a family, the fear that Parker hated the baby as much as she seemed to hate him.

He wasn’t ready to believe everything Marion was telling him, his logic told him that if she ran the Pagode she had to be at least as ruthless as Raines, but she was persuasive, and beautiful, and very, very willing. Besides, he needed to hear all of her plans, didn’t he?

"We will give your baby a real home----with a real daddy and a real mommy."

*****

"The last time I was here it was a small building, if you could have called it a building at all. Nothing ground level or above was habitable, much less useful." Raines hissed in disgust. He looked out of the window of the limo over the streets to the impressive Pagode building. People hurried in and out constantly. A never ending stream of cars crawled over the streets between the building and the car where he was sitting, many of them depositing or picking up visitors to the glass and metal building.

"Is everything set up?" Rains asked the man hidden in the shadows beside him.

"Yes, our informant will be meeting us as scheduled." As the man answered he also leaned forward, revealing his nearly paper-white skin and pale, white hair.

Sam and the Major were gone. They’d left just before dark to return to Delaware. They warned the rest of the gang not to worry if they didn’t hear from them for a few days, saying they were planning on keeping a communications blackout just in case. Sydney asked them to try and bring Angelo back with them. He knew that the childlike man could take care of himself, but both he and Broots found themselves worrying about him the longer they were gone from the Centre.

Everyone else threw themselves into a flurry of study, research, and investigation. The Centre didn’t know it yet, but their days were numbered…

******************

"Jarod…" Marion breathed, tugging his T-shirt out of his jeans. Jarod practically levitated off of the plush sofa where she’d dragged him. He was standing next to the floor to ceiling windows, chest heaving as he tried to calm down, before he even realized he’d moved. Marion stretched lithely on the couch and smiled a feline smile of pleasure.

"Oh come on, Jarod. I KNOW you aren’t that innocent." She laughed huskily.

"Look, Marion, it’s not that I’m not flattered---" Jarod began with a slight edge of desperation in his voice as he started to pace, and raked his fingers absently through his hair. "It’s just that, well, Parker isn’t carrying my baby for nothing. I CARE about her. And---and----" He searched his mind frantically for another reason to give the amorous woman before him.

Marion laughed again, startling Jarod who had expected anger.

"Forget her." She advised him callously, rising and going to her en suite bar to pour herself a drink.

‘Is there something about me that drives women to drink?’ He wondered nonsensically, seeing Parker and her flagon of scotch on her sideboard.

"Parker will be kept in the subject infirmary until the child is born. At that time she will be transferred to our breeding project----in Siberia." Marion clinked the ice in her glass as she strolled over to the man standing frozen with horror in front of the window. She made a self satisfied noise in her throat that sounded surprisingly like a purr as she lightly ran the tips of her fingers up and down Jarod’s arm and shoulder.
"You can save yourself, Jarod, and you can save your baby, but you cannot save that woman. Now, are you for me, lover, or against me?" A perfectly arched eyebrow rose inquisitively, but the satisfied smirk on her blood-red lips made it clear that she thought she knew the answer to that one already.

**************************

Alexander led Parker to the end of the hall, and then turned her down a side hall that proceeded in the opposite direction that Catherine had taken.

'Obviously they want to keep us as far apart as possible.' Parker thought grimly.

And that thought brought her right back to the assertion that she and her mother were some kind of telepaths.

'Is it possible?' She wondered skeptically. She glanced at the man leading her to her cell and a cynical smile twitched her lips. 'Only one way to find out.' She decided.

{Hey! You there, Blondie!} She thought with her typical attitude of derision. {If you can hear this, pass a message along to your boss for me. Tell her I’ve seen cats in heat with more subtlety than she’s got, and she’d better just remember that JAROD IS MINE!!!)

Alexander’s brow rose, but he kept silent and managed not to grin. Catherine, however, yards away in what was admittedly a quite comfortable cell, grinned widely as she overheard her daughter's mental comment.

Parker observed that brow with equal measures of amazement and satisfaction.

'So it's true.' She thought privately. 'Now all I have to do is figure out how to use this telepathy thing to get us out of this mess. And, of course, give that blond bitch exactly what she deserves.' She added with more than a touch of malice.

*******************

"How long until he gets here?" Raines asked again, impatiently.

"Half an hour." His companion sighed, tired of reassuring the old man. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to go to a hotel and let me handle this?" He asked for the twelfth time.

"No." Raines snapped. "I have to be here when we get Jarod. This time he won't escape."

The pale 'Finder', closed his eyes, wondering if working for the Centre was such a good idea after all, and missing Lyle, who had at least allowed him to work unhindered.

*********************

Catherine Parker looked around in her room, not sure what she had expected, but sure that it hadn’t been this. She knew the Centre’s cells; the gray and semi-dark rooms. But this was more like a hotel suite in first class hotel. She carefully moved around and searched the room for surveillance cameras.

Either there weren’t any, which she really couldn’t believe, or they were damn good. The Centre never settled for subtlety. The cameras were always clearly visible; a reminder that you were never alone.. The red blinking eyes were always there to keep you in line.

With a sigh Catherine sat down in a chair next to a large table. The last days had taken their toll on her. A past she had believed was lost forever had returned, and with a force that left her feeling that her head was going to blow up any minute.

The joy of having her baby back was worth everything, even the pain that the old memories brought her. She felt sad when she thought about her son, a son she had never had the chance to meet, but she tried to push those thoughts back. Now wasn’t the time to mourn. Now was the time to think about the living; about her daughter who needed her more than ever.

She had tried to reach her more than once after they had been separated, but no luck. The last time she had had felt something like a angry yell, which she took as a good sign. If her daughter was able to be angry then she was fine. She just hoped that Angelina wasn’t letting herself get too upset. She’d nearly lost the baby once already.

Even though she was sure the Centre was somehow involved in the pregnancy, Catherine knew that her daughter wanted the baby. She sighed again, feeling slightly overwhelmed. As usual where the Centre was concerned, there was much more going on than what met the eye.

*******

"Miss Parker, please! Dr. Baker is only here to make sure you and the baby are OK." Alexander was starting to feel desperate. This wasn’t going like he had planned it. No matter what Marion had planned for Miss Parker, Alexander was sure he would regret it.

"Alexander is right, I just want to make sure you are all right. He made sure I would be here when you arrived for *your* sake. Don’t fight us. We know what Marion plans to do; to you and to the baby, but that doesn’t mean we can’t help you." The elderly woman tried to calm her down.

"Sure, you’re just going to give me a check up and then you’ll let me walk right out of the building." Miss Parker replied sarcastically.

She saw Alexander and the Doctor exchanging uneasy looks that ended when Alexander shrugged his shoulders.

"What?" Miss Parker demanded harshly.

After a few seconds of complete silence Alexander decided it would be better to tell her everything. It would surely be better than having her working against them the whole time.

"Things have been going down hill here for some time." The blonde man started his explanation. "As you can see, we have made good progress in genetic design, but we have made no progress in increasing the abilities we achieved. I can understand your thoughts, yes, but only because of your ability. If I want to read anyone else, I have to touch them and even then we have to concentrate. Alexander stopped and shot the woman in front of him a nervous glance.

"Marion contacted your brother, trying to trade him some of our research in return for you. She was sure he had no idea about your abilities. Maybe she was right, I do not know, but Lyle never agreed to the exchange. One day our spy inside of the Centre told us of his plan. I don’t think I have to tell you that Marion was overjoyed to hear about the baby." He cast another nervous glance over to Miss Parker, but still she showed no reaction. He was sure she didn’t believe a single word he’d said, and he had to admit that in her situation he wouldn’t believe him either.

"OK," Alexander finally gave up. "I will leave the room and let Doctor Baker check up on you in privacy. Please don’t try anything stupid! We will talk later; maybe you will be more willing to listen then than you are at the moment. I have important meeting to get to right now."

"Important for you, or for me?" Miss Parker mocked

"For all of us," Alexander answered as he headed for the door. "For all of us." He repeated softly as the door closed behind him.

As soon as the door was closed Doctor Baker walked over to the younger woman. She opened her mouth to continue the argument when Miss Parker stopped her with an upraised hand.

"You win." She conceded, but the moment she saw the smile forming on the doctor’s face, she added; "for the moment."

But the smile just broadened on the older woman’s face. Strangely enough Miss Parker felt that she could like this woman and she wasn’t sure if she liked that feeling,

*****

Marion just starred at Jarod’s back, giving him some room to think. She was sure she knew how he would decide. She had studied him for a long time. She may not have been such a good Pretender, but to know a man it wasn’t required to be a genius.

Jarod’s first priority had always been his family; the baby was, of course, but the mother---not really. He might think he loved her right now, but she would teach him otherwise.

As the silence drew on she wondered if she had made the right choice. Maybe it had been a mistake to talk about the breeding project to early... Marion was just about to speak when Jarod suddenly turned to face her.

"OK. I’ll take you up on your offer. I’ll stay with you, and the baby will stay with me." Jarod stated flatly.

With a victorious grin Marion stalked towards him...

"Yes, Raines is in Berlin right now." The black man said impatiently over the phone. "He seems to think he'll have Jarod before this day is out."

The man nodded his head twice, something that amused his unseen audience.

"Of course I'll deal with Raines when he gets back. Jarod or no Jarod we agreed that he's outlived his usefulness." Mutumbo responded, the bite to his tone growing sharper. "I'll report as soon as he arrives---do not worry."

With those final words he place the receiver firmly back onto the phone. He stood for a moment, seeming to be lost in thought, and then strode out of the room with a swish of white robes and brightly colored sash.

Angelo put his finger to his lips in warning and led the other two men back into the maze of ventilation shafts that riddled the Centre.

"Thank you, Angelo." The Major whispered, when they reached the savant's hiding space in the center of several shafts. "Now, while we're waiting to see if they recapture my son or if he escapes again we need to gather any and all evidence of misconduct and illegal activities we can. Do you think you can help us with that too?"

A sly smile crossed Angelo's face and he gestured for the two men to follow him again. Sam looked none to happy to be crawling through the metal passages again, but he said nothing and followed along. After almost an hour of crawling and climbing, always down, never up, they finally emerged into a dusty, abandoned room.

Major Charles sniffed once, when they emerged.

"Smoke?" He questioned.

"We're in SL 27." Sam informed him sourly.

"Stay here, safe." Angelo explained, heading straight for the half open door. Sam paused to stretch a kink out of his back, and the two men followed again.

Angelo stopped at an unmarked door just before the end of the corridor and opened it to reveal a pristine room with two neatly made cots and boxes of MRIs in one corner.

"Safe." He repeated, as if the two hadn't gotten the message the first time. "Come."

He pulled the door shut and opened the one that marked the end of the corridor. This too was an immaculate room, with a desk and stacked with countless cardboard boxes. Angelo pointed and giggled softly.

"Evidence." He said simply.

"Evidence?" Sam repeated in utter amazement. "A room full of evidence just waiting for us?"

"Did you get this for us, Angelo?" Major Charles asked, looking behind him for the other man, but Angelo had vanished.

"Okay, Sam," the Major sighed, looking back at the mountain of paperwork stored in front of them. "Let's start sorting. It'll give us something to do while we're waiting for my son at least."

"Something to do?" Sam parroted blankly. "We'll be going through this stuff until Christmas!"

"Then we'd better get started." The Major chuckled. "Because I have plans for this Christmas."

**********************

"I told you, I can't get the man out!" Alexander repeated angrily. "She's got him in her personal apartments!!"

"I don't appreciate it when my allies start reneging on our agreements." Mr. White drawled menacingly. Alexander's eyes narrowed ominously.

"Look." He responded, venom filling his voice. "I'm working on a way to get the two women to you but the man is a lost cause. If I could I'd go to his room, knock him out, and deliver him to you bound hand and foot, but it isn't an option. Now, do you want your female friends or not?"

Mr. White glanced back at Raines who nodded grimly and turned back to the blond man.

"Very well," he responded smoothly. "10:00 pm at Brandenburg Gate?"

"Okay." Alexander agreed, but he didn't like the look the two had exchanged and suddenly wondered if they knew the Parker women at all. Only one way to find out, he thought.

"No hard feelings about the other?" He asked, holding out his hand to shake and mentally preparing for the physical contact with the pale man in front of him. Mr. White hesitated, but finally took the other man's hand.

"No. Just let us know if anything changes." He agreed grudgingly.

`Like hell I will.' Alexander thought as he smiled and turned to leave. His brief contact with the assassin had worked better than he'd hoped. His thoughts whirled madly as he made his way back to the Pagode building.

`Damn! Now what am I going to do?' Was his predominant thought.

************************

{Sweetheart, can you hear me?} Catherine tried once again, being careful to keep the thought as focused as possible. She didn't want any of the blond bully boys picking up on her message to her daughter.

{Momma?} Parker thought back cautiously. Catherine could feel her daughter's continuing disbelief in this mode of communication. She stifled a grin, no reason to give any unseen watchers a reason to suspect she was up to something.

{Yes, baby.} She thought back, infusing the message with all of the love in her heart. {Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?}

{No.} Parker's thought was as dry as the Sahara. {Alexander saw to it that I doctor was on hand to check me out.}

{And is everything okay?} Catherine was still worried about her daughter's near-miscarriage not even a week earlier.

{We're fine.} This time Parker's thoughts held more than a trace of wonder. She'd barely had time to think about the fact that she was pregnant since the moment she'd found it out. {I heard the baby's heartbeat.} She added, still touched with awe at the miracle taking place inside her. She felt her mother's warm wave of love and understanding of the emotion.

(We have to get out of here.} She told her mother firmly, ignoring a headache that was forming behind her eyes.

{That's enough thinking at each other for now.} Catherine sensed her daughter's headache and knew what it meant. {That headache means you're on the edge of overdoing it. Rest, we'll discuss escape later, after they feed us, maybe.}

{Momma?} Parker thought hesitantly. Catherine was irresistibly reminded of her daughter as a toddler, asking for one more story or one more glass of water before going to sleep. {Do you think I could----sense Jarod?} She asked, trying to bury her burning curiosity and jealousy.

{I don't know.} Catherine answered honestly. {Normally I would say no, but there's something about Jarod…} It was just a feeling, nothing she could explain, but she wasn't prepared to dismiss some form of telepathy where he was concerned.

{But not now.} She added. {You're just learning how to use this gift and you need to exercise it and grow stronger. Later, maybe, you can reach him. For now, rest.}

Parker's response was a wave of exasperation; she was getting tired of being told to rest! On the other hand, she was feeling oddly drained. She lay down on the soft couch in her suite of rooms and closed her eyes----just for a minute, she told herself sleepily. In a minute she'd start thinking of how to escape this place…

********************

Jarod's back was pressed firmly against the windows overlooking Berlin and he felt perspiration dotting his forehead and upper lip. And still the blond woman advanced on him, looking at him the way he'd been told he looked at ice cream.

"Uh, look, Marion." He slid nervously to the left and froze as she altered her course to intercept him. "Can't you give me a little time?" He asked her desperately.

"I mean, I've only just met you, really, and I----"

"You're *shy*!" Marion chortled, slowing slightly to draw out her moment of triumph. "How sweet."

"No, it's not that!" Jarod lied quickly, sensing that shyness would only intrigue her more. Marion chuckled in the back of her throat and drew one blood red fingernail down his neck from just below his jaw to his collarbone, resting her fingertip just over the wildly pulsing artery.

"Poor baby!" She tsked with mock concern. "Your heart is just racing! I really think we should just go right ahead and--------get better acquainted."

"Wouldn't you rather I freshened up first?" The situation would have been hysterical to anyone watching it. Jarod was taller than Marion by nearly a foot, and yet she had him cornered like a wolf to a rabbit. Of course, if she hadn't had Parker and the baby as hostages the situation would have been far different, but she did and Jarod didn't dare risk offending her.

Fortunately, Marion chose to remain amused by his "shyness" and backed off slightly.

"Very well, Jarod." She agreed suddenly, much to Jarod's relief. "Your apartment is just down the hall to the left. Rest, refresh yourself. Tonight will be soon enough to get to know each other."

She shot Jarod a look from diamond hard blue eyes, though, before he could move.

"But don't go anywhere near the elevator, lover." She warned him. "You wouldn't like what I would do if you did."

Jarod nodded, to consumed with relief at his reprieve to even think about elevators and consequences. Yes, he told himself as he made his escape, Marion's husky laugh floating in his ears, he did have to find a way out of this building, but for now it was just enough to get out of that room.

He made it to the door she'd indicated and closed it behind him, leaning against it in relief and almost as a barricade.

`Got to get out of here!' He thought dazedly. `Even the Centre wasn't this bad!'

******************

Miss Parker struggled against the hand that was pulling her out of the warm and glowing chamber. She didn’t want to leave. Here she was safe.

"Miss Parker, please wake up."

The urgent male voice and the constant pushing of a hand on her shoulder forced her to leave the wonderful place of her dreams. With a low sigh she open her eyes, unwilling to face the real world. The moment she saw Alexander’s face in front of her the whole situation came back to her and she wished nothing more than to be able to go back to her dreamland.

"What?" The word was more a groan than a anything else.

"Please, you need to wake up; sit up." The urgency in the young man’s voice brought her fully back to the present.

"Is my mother okay?" Miss Parker had no idea where this thought came from, but the possibility of losing her mother a second time made her sick.. A hot wave of panic shot from her stomach through her whole body. It took her several second to realise that Alexander had said something to her again. Her brain frantically tried to recall his words and to make a sense out of the sounds but failed miserably.

Alexander was a bit confused by Miss Parker’s reactions. First he had tried for ages to wake her up, and now she didn’t seem to be able to listen. But then he got it; she was still in the process of waking up. So he decided to tell her again.

"Your mother is fine; don’t worry about her. You and the baby are also fine." He added before she could start to worry about that. "We have a different problem." Alexander nervously stepped back and started to pace. He had no idea how he could tell her. At first it had seemed to be a good idea; a smart idea, but after his short contact with Mr. White he knew it had been a big mistake. Damn what a mess.

Alexander was so deep in his thoughts that he didn’t noticed that Miss Parker had left her cot and walked up behind him. When he felt her hand on his shoulder he nearly jumped out of his skin, but before he could react further he felt her presence in his mind. It was completely different from the short contact he had with Mr. White; different from every other mental contact he had ever had.

It was not the usual invasion, more like a knock from a gentle hand, asking for permission to come in. Alexander was more than happy to share the thoughts he’d picked up from Mr. White with her; it was easier than forming them into words. He tried to relax completely, giving her access to all parts of his memory. In a way her was upset with himself that he hadn’t thought about this earlier when he had tried to convince her that he was on her side.

It only took Miss Parker a few seconds to see what Alexander had picked up from Mr White and it took all her strength not to pull back in horror. Her first thought was to run and hide, but the rational part of her mind told her that there was no place where she could hide from this. Alexander was here because he needed her .

When Miss Parker first had touched Alexander she had only wanted to get his attention, but the physical contact lead her immediately to a mental contact as well. She was still surprised and amazed about this new ability. The big question was why she was suddenly able to do this. It had been easy to get the information from Alexander, but the contact had also frightened her. She would need a shield of some sort, or sooner or later she would go crazy receiving such a rush of information with every touch.

"Okay," Miss Parker finally stated thoughtfully. "I think we have to change your plans some."

****
A cage is a cage, no matter how much gold you put on the bars. Jarod looked again around the apartment. Modern, elegant, expensive, it was easy to forget the reason why he was here.

God how had this all ended up this way? Jarod tried to find the moment where things had gone so terribly wrong. There must have been a moment where things had taken this turn. He hated this, his life and every thing around it. It was always a struggle about control, power, money.

Jarod slumped into a big chair, not sure what to do now. He had been a prisoner his whole life, in one way or another. This was just another prison, but he had to admit it was one of the best he’d been in so far. The offer from Marion also wasn’t the worst he had ever received. The only thing that really disturbed him was that he had no Choice. Marion never really said what would happen to him if he refused this honor.

Of course, he had a pretty good idea of what might happen; this was the Centre, after all. True, it was in another country, under another name, but it was the same facility underneath. How long would it take to escape here? Here he had no friend who would be willing to help. And, most importantly, they had two women who meant a lot to him. One of which he had believed died a long time ago. When he had seen her in that cabin it had been a real shock and it was only on their flight over here that he had finally been able to convince his mind that what he was seeing was the truth.

And there was Miss Parker, his.... what was she? He honestly had no idea. At a time, long ago she had been his friend. Things had been easy and clear at this time. Now he had no idea where he stood. He knew what he was feeling, but he had no idea about Angelina’s feelings. She had lied to him and he still felt betrayed; he was sure she knew how much family meant to him.

After he found out he had confronted her, but she had pretended that she was not pregnant anymore. He would never forget how he’d felt in that moment. Jarod tried to ignore the little voice that told him that it was partly his fault as well, that he had failed her too, he hadn’t trusted her to come to him.

But had she not made perfectly clear that she didn’t want him to be a part of her life? She wanted to go away and take his baby away as well. So was it wrong that he wished to have his child? He had the same rights, didn’t he? It was his child as well and...

Jarod shot up from his seat and started to pace. It wouldn’t be right to separate mother and child, but what if he had to make a decision? If he couldn’t rescue them both, maybe he could keep at least their child safe. But he knew this was an illusion and it was time to do something about it.

He had stopped at the big window and stared again at the Berlin skyline. It was a different angle than the office view, but no less impressive.

A loud pop made him jump and turn around in a split of a second; thoughts about gunshots, silencers, and every possible scenario involving them playing over in his mind. But nothing prepared him for the sight in front of him.

Marion stood in the middle of the room, dressed only in a short dark red nightgown and a freshly opened bottle of champagne in her hand.

*************************

"I’ve found them!" Broots’ exited voice sounded from his corner of the living room. He looked up from the computer in front of him with a wide grin. J.J. left his computer and went over to read the screen in front of Broots.

"You’ve found what, dear?" Karen asked, poking her head in from the kitchen where she and Debbie were making cookies.

"I’ve found the identity and locations of the Triumvirate." His grin was tinged with an understandable hint of smugness.

"I’ll call Frank and Emily." J.J. offered, his eyes glowing with anticipation. Cracking the identity of the Triumvirate was the last task they needed, although Frank and Emily were out visiting a large law library in New York City to find any extra edge they could.

"Do that." Broots agreed. "I’m going to send an e-mail to the Major and Sam. I’m sure they’ll be able to pick it up somehow. I just wish we had a little more information on the Pagode to go along with our background on the Centre."

J.J. frowned, thinking of Sydney who was currently out on a long walk. He’d been unable to dig up any extra information on the Pagode, and he was feeling slightly inadequate to the current situation. After he’d warned Michele and Nicholas, and exhausted his resources in trying to ferret out facts about the other organization, he’d grown more and more withdrawn from the group. J.J. felt a certain bond with the older man. Sydney had all but raised Jarod, his older brother, and he’d treated him with respect and kindness before Jarod had rescued him from the Centre. And J.J. knew that he’d have never been rescued at all if Sydney hadn’t leaked information to Jarod about his transfer. All in all, he was saddened by the other man’s obvious depression and wished he knew of a way to cheer him up.

"We’ll worry about the Pagode after we deal with the Centre, Broots." Karen said firmly. "J.J., I’ll call Emily and Frank, you find Sydney and let him know the good news. And tell him lunch is almost ready, okay?"

"Okay." J.J. agreed readily, happy to be moving. It was hard for the teenager to remain still for long periods of time, although he handled it better than most would. "Maybe we can pick up some ice cream for dessert." He added with a hopeful gleam in his eye as he headed for the front door.

As soon as the door closed behind him Karen fixed Broots with a stern look.

"Not one word about the Pagode when they get back." She ordered him firmly, making him flush as he realized that his comment would have hurt Sydney deeply if the older man had been there to hear it.

"Of course, Karen." He agreed guiltily. "Thanks for reminding me."

Karen nodded once, an indulgent smile on her lips. Broots wasn’t insensitive, just oblivious. She returned to the kitchen to call Frank on his cell phone and bring them back in. Matters were coming to a head, and she, for one, could hardly wait for the Centre to be eliminated and life to become reasonably sane again.

***************************

"Sam, come here and look at this." The Major demanded, never taking his eyes from the glowing computer screen on the desk.

Angelo had helped them to "liberate" it from a storeroom, and while Sam waded through the hardcopy records Angelo had amassed, the Major probed the electronic maze of information stored in the Centre’s mainframes.

"What is it?" Sam asked, looking at the screen blankly.

"It’s a travel agenda. Raines left here early yesterday evening for Berlin. He took the albino with him. What do you suppose they were after?" Charles looked up at Sam, hope growing in his eyes.

"Has to be Jarod." Sam confirmed, easily picking out the orders for sedatives and restraints, now that he knew what he was looking at. "So, Jarod and Miss Parker are somewhere in Berlin?"

"That’s where the Pagode headquarters is." The Major agreed, trying to control the relief sweeping through him. Jarod, Catherine, and Parker’s abduction had weighed heavily on everyone, but they’d had no choice but to deal with the Centre first before trying to rescue the others. "I think that one of us should remain here in case Raines manages to actually get his hands on Jarod."

"Yes, but one of us also has to get this stuff out and back to the others. We’re ready, I think, to start taking out the Centre. In fact, with Mutumbo in residence, now is the perfect time to start the collapse." Sam suggested thoughtfully. The Major sighed.

"You know the Centre better than I do; you’d better stay. Angelo and I will take as much as we can and see to it that it reaches the proper authorities." He conceded regretfully. "Please, though, don’t resume the hostilities if he does get brought back here." He added wryly. Sam’s returning grin was just as wry.

"Don’t worry. Now that I don’t have to answer to Lyle I don’t have any need to insult your son. I’ll be gentle, I promise." The Major laughed at that, and began gathering together silver disks of information and files of the most damning evidence they had found. Soon matters were going to come to a head, and he was going to be ready for it.

*************************

Jarod’s momentary sensation of calm shattered at the sight of the provocative woman in front of him. His stomach plummeted sickeningly as he realized that his grace period was over; this time she wouldn’t take "wait" for an answer.

The nightgown only barely concealed her lush assets, plunging deeply in the front and floating gently only to the very start of her thighs. Marion’s blue eyes glittered with satisfaction as she stared at the nervous man in front of her. She knew it was time to put her particular gift into play----her ability to "push" a person into seeing things her way. It wasn’t as flashy as his Pretender gift, or as unusual as the Parker women’s telepathy, but it had served her well in the past. She had no reason to believe that it would fail her now.

A little champagne, a some small talk, a few nudges with her mind, and Jarod would be hers. She could hardly wait. His decent nature called to the wary little girl in her; the girl who had always known that she’d only been wanted by her foster parents for her ability to push. She knew that once she convinced Jarod that she was desirable, however, that he’d never forsake her. And he was so adorably male in addition!

"Come, sit by me, lover." She chuckled, deep in her throat and snuggled onto the plush, red velvet bedspread.

"Ahhh," Jarod’s mind froze as he tried to come up with an excuse, any excuse, not to comply.

"Time’s up, lover." Marion insisted, a hint of irritation coming into her voice. Didn’t he realize what an honor she offered him?

"Of course." Jarod muttered hollowly, moving reluctantly closer to the blond. His mind raced. What should he do? What should he do?

"Have a glass." Marion told him, making him wonder for one shocked moment if she’d read his mind.

"Thank you." He gulped the bubbly liquid desperately, and then sneezed and the wine tickled his nose.

"Sip it, silly." Marion smirked.

"Sorry." Jarod mumbled. "Never had…" His voice trailed off uncertainly as the drug Marion had put into the champagne hit his bloodstream.

"What? What did you?" He was suddenly finding it difficult to think coherently, and he wondered who’d turned up the heat in the room as Marion’s skimpy outfit teased him with glimpses of more flesh than he was prepared to deal with. She took the alcohol and glasses to the table in front of the couch, and returned, deliberately making the nightgown swing and slide suggestively.

"Just a little something to relax you." She murmured, giving him a nearly complete view of her breasts as she leaned over to nibble on his ear. His heart pounded and the room tilted dizzyingly, but he tried manfully to hang on to his control and push her away. Instead of her shoulder, however, his hand pressed into something soft, and he lost track of his thoughts when she giggled joyfully and pushed him back onto the bed.

"Now," she purred, "isn’t this better?"

He tried desperately to remember why it wasn’t as she leaned down to capture his lips.

<Parker!> He thought fuzzily. <Something about Parker. Something important.> He was loosing the battle against Marion’s determined attack on his virtue when an inarticulate screech sounded from the doorway.

"Get away from him you peroxide harpy!"

<Funny! That sounds just like--- >

"Who let you out of your cell?" Marion growled, jumping to her feet. Jarod lay were he was, his eyes crossing as he tried to comprehend what was happening.

"You listen to me, you little----" Jarod dimly heard the sound of a slap and suddenly the room was filled with the sounds of battle.

"Jarod is mine!" He finally heard Parker explain, slightly breathlessly.

"Parker." He sighed contentedly. She moved over to glare at him and he smiled cherubically.

"I love you." He volunteered happily. "Always have." Parker’s glare faltered slightly and then sharpened again as she realized his condition.

"She drugged you!" Parker exclaimed irritably.

"Yep." Jarod agreed cheerfully. "You saved me." His eyes were wide and round, like an awed little boy. "You love me too."

"You wish!" Parker grumbled, looking over to the doorway. "How are we going to get him out of here like this?" She demanded of the two people in the doorway.

"He can walk." Alexander answered with a measure of reluctance. "He’ll pretty much do anything you want him to until the drug wears off."

"Will he?" Parker looked at Jarod speculatively.

"No, dear." Catherine restrained whatever impulse had come over her daughter gently. "We have to get away, remember?"

"What about her?" Parker asked sourly, looking at the motionless Marion on the floor.

"We’d better take her with us." Alexander suggested quickly. "If she’s with us there will be no one left to organize a pursuit." His look at Marion was faintly protective.

"Fine." Parker agreed acidly, glaring at the unconscious woman. "Just keep her away from me."

She tugged on Jarod’s arm, slightly mollified when he rose readilly to his feet and stood passively beside her, waiting for direction.

"Come on, Lover Boy." She told him, some of her rancour fading at his obvious helplessness. "Let’s get your genius back where it belongs---in the States."

"Okay." Jarod agreed, a glazed smile on his face.

"No, dear." Catherine said to her daughter again. "Escape, remember?"

Parker sighed and began guiding Jarod out of the room as Alexander wrapped Marion into an afghan and swung her into his arms to follow.

*******************************

They stumbled into the growing evening twilight; Alexander, carrying Marion over his shoulder, Miss Parker, guiding the weaving and dazed Jarod, and Catherine. The two men who’d been waiting for any sign of movement from the darkened building moved quickly in to action.

"A car should be here soon." Alexander mumbled, his attention focused on his unconscious employer, who was growing far heavier than he would have ever believed she could.

"Why not take mine?" A new voice asked amicably. "It’s pulling up right now." Mr. White smiled quietly as he gestured to the three startled refugees with his handgun.

Parker’s blue gaze narrowed as she focused longingly on the gun. Catherine’s brow furrowed with concern, and then smoothed as she fixed her mask of calm over her patrician features. Alexander just sighed. He’d known that trusting someone from the Centre would turn out to be a big mistake! And Mr. White’s limousine pulled up to the curb, a relieved and smug Mr. Raines waiting in the passenger seat by the driver.

"Do get in." White urged firmly. "The plane’s waiting for us, and you know how tense pilots can get when they’re kept waiting."

Catherine intercepted her daughter’s sudden movement towards White, knowing that an attempt to overcome the man right now would be nothing sort of suicide.

"Let me help you there, dear." She said quietly, grabbing Jarod from the other side and propelling him towards the car. With Jarod in motion, Parker had no choice but to follow.

"Mother!" Parker hissed angrily.

"Not now, dear." Catherine answered serenely. "We can talk on the way home; privately." She stressed the final word with a mental nudge at her daughter.

Parker, still unused to her newfound ability, looked a little like she’d just swallowed a bug, but followed her mother’s lead. Alexander smiled warmly. He, of course, had caught Catherine’s nudge too, and suspected he knew what the older woman was thinking. He caught her eye and nodded slightly, conveying his approval and support.

Alexander wiggled into the limo first, somehow managing to get himself and Marion onto the seat behind the chauffeur, facing the trunk. Parker maneuvered Jarod in next, and slid in beside him, checking to make sure the door beside him was firmly locked and belting the still bemused man in place. Now that she’d rescued him from the scarlet tipped claws of the blond harpy in front of her, she didn’t want to risk losing him to a stupid move he might make in his drug induced haze. Catherine, after one last measuring look at Mr. White, slid in next to her daughter, and Mr. White slid in next to Alexander last. He was the only one in the back with a gun, but he seemed supremely confident anyway.

As soon as the car was in motion Alexander leaned forward and put his hand on Parker’s knee.

{Take your mother’s hand so we can all talk privately.} He thought to her while his mouth said, "Don’t worry, Miss Parker, the drug will wear off of your friend in a few hours."

"I don’t know where my mother is." Jarod answered Alexander’s unspoken communication plaintively. "I look and I look, but I just can’t find her."

The three telepaths looked quite startled, but to their relief, Mr. White seemed to take his comment in stride; apparently believing it was a product of the drug Alexander had just mentioned. Parker clasped her mother’s hand, as if for comfort, and instantly the three were aware of each other’s thoughts.

{We’ve got to overpower them, somehow.} Parker said decisively. Jarod stirred, as if to speak, and she shushed him mentally. {Go to sleep dear.} She urged, and imitating her mother’s trick with her, although she wasn’t aware of it, she nudged Jarod into a deep sleep.

{I don’t see how we can.} Alexander returned practically. {Without one of us getting seriously hurt.} Unspoken, but implied in a way that only a mental communication could manage was Mr. White’s gun.

{I don’t see why we should.} Catherine countered quite calmly. {We want to go to the States, and they want to take us there. Much better to wait for an opportunity on the plane ride back. I think that we can manage something then, when their guards are down.}

{What about her.} Parker’s thought dripped disgust and was obviously directed at Marion.

{You’re right dear, she will be a problem.} Catherine conceded thoughtfully. {However, I know of a way to put a leash on her.}

{What? Is it painful?} Perhaps Parker could be forgiven for the tinge of glee that thought brought her. Catherine smiled involuntarily.

{It won’t hurt her in any lasting way.} She reassured Alexander, who cared about Marion. {But if she tries to use her ability to "push" it will give her a migraine headache.}

{I suppose it is for the best.} Alexander sighed mentally.

"I’d like to take a look at Marion." Catherine told Mr. White out loud. "I’m afraid my daughter hit her pretty hard."

Parker smirked with satisfaction and fixed her cold glare on White; promising him silently that she’d hit him even harder if the opportunity arose.

"Go ahead." White agreed grudgingly. "But we aren’t stopping at any hospitals on the way."

Parker leaned back and closed her eyes, letting herself really think about the events of the past week, while her mother worked her "magic" on Marion.

It had begun on such a sour note, she remembered with more than a touch of sorrow, with Jarod’s rage and her lies. They were lies that she believed were for the best, but that didn’t make the pain they left behind any less. Somehow, between the lies, the threats and accusations, and the continual crisises that kept arising in the middle of their personal crisis, she had managed to back herself in a corner where Jarod was concerned. And after Marion’s determined pursuit of the man that she finally realized belonged to her and her alone, Parker also realized that she didn’t want to fight him anymore.

But how could she mend her fences with him now? The words they’d thrown at each other were horrible and the wounds they’d left behind were still bleeding. And, since she was being honest with herself she decided she’d better be completely honest; apologies were not her strong suite.
{Just talk to the man, dear.} Her mother’s soothing advice sounded in her mind. {He’s a good man, he’ll listen. If you two start talking, instead of hurling verbal knives at each other, you’ll reach an understanding together.}

{But what if all he wants is the baby, Momma?} She revealed her greatest fear to her mother, tears welling behind her closed lids and trickling down her cheeks. {What if he really doesn’t care about me at all?}

{Don’t be silly, Angelina.} Catherine chided her daughter gently. {You two did not make a child without some feelings for each other. You care about him, and you know that he cares about you. Don’t let your insecurities rob you of the joy you could have.}

With that, her mother leaned back and also closed her eyes, leaving Alexander to be the only one of the party who watched the threatening Mr. White. It wouldn’t do for them all to surrender easily, he knew, that would simply put Mr. White more on the alert than he’d been before. So he watched, and brooded, and made sure their captor noticed him watching and brooding. The silence was thick enough to cut with a knife.

***********************

"Broots!" Karen’s voice was so panicky that Broots raced to the kitchen without a moment’s thought. Nothing could have prevented the fragmented images of certain doom that flashed through his mind, though. Images of sweepers bursting through the kitchen door, or some Centre-owned policeman looming over his sister-in-law. None of them, however, involved Karen sitting white-faced at the kitchen table with her phone held to one ear by a shaking hand. Debbie sat across from her aunt, her eyes wide and frightened while she watched her aunt’s palpable fear.

"What is it, Karen?" Broots asked apprehensively. Karen’s eye’s filled with tears as she handed the phone to him wordlessly. As Broots managed a tentative, "Hello?" Debbie flew from her spot at the table and into her aunt’s arms. She was both seeking and giving comfort, and she still didn’t know what had frightened her strong minded relative. From the safety of Karen’s arms she saw her father’s face pale too.

"Please repeat that?" Broots asked. His voice was admirably firm, and even though his face had paled, it had settled into grim lines of determination; something that wouldn’t have happened a week earlier. His days of timidity were on their way out---his boldness in rescuing his daughter had been the first step towards his own measure of courage and self-confidence.

"I see." Broots managed, his lips tight. "No, Mutumbo, we will not be waiting for your goons. You will not harm either my brother or Emily, because if you do, we will immediately release all of the information we’ve gathered on the Centre’s activities and its employees. Yes, that means you. We have hardcopies of your business files. I suggest that if you are not clever enough to release our loved ones, that you at least cover your ass by treating them VERY well." With that, he disconnected the call, managing to mask his shaking so as not to frighten Debbie more.

"We’re leaving, right now." He told Karen firmly. "Where are Sydney and JJ?"

Karen opened her mouth, but before she could answer the phone rang again. The three frightened people stared at it apprehensively before Broots picked it up on the third ring.

"Hello?" If possible, his face got even grimmer. "Can’t do that, Syd." He responded after a few moments. "Just make sure to remind Mutumbo of what we’ve got on the Centre. That should keep you guys alive until we can figure out what else to do. Take care."

Broots’ voice cracked a little with that last statement, but he hung up the phone without hesitation.

"Karen, grab every piece of evidence we have with us---we’re going to need it. Debbie, grab your coat and your sleeping bag. We’re leaving; now!"

But as rapidly as they moved, they were still greeted by the sight of a Centre "Cleaner" van pulling up in front of the house as they prepared to leave. Broots hustled them back inside and jammed a chair desperately under the doorknob.

"This way, Broots!" Karen finally shook off the paralysis the news of her husband’s capture had brought her and pulled on Broots’ arm insistently.

"Frank always said this day might come. We have, as melodramatic as it sounds, a secret exit. Come on!"

Broots, at his wits end with this latest threat to himself and his family, allowed Karen to take over. She hustled them down the basement stairs to the family room, pausing only to throw the metal bar locking the basement door behind them. Since it barred the door across the middle, it would undoubtedly buy them several extra minutes of time while they cut the door away around it.

In the family room, Karen rushed over to the entertainment center and pulled three books halfway out of place on the shelves next to the television. Debbie grinned and Broots gasped as the entire entertainment center swung away from the wall.

"Go, go!" Karen all but pushed them into the dark corridor. She turned as she entered behind them and pushed a red, palm sized button on the wall. The shelving swung shut behind them, leaving the three in total darkness.

"Now what?" Broots asked, his voice hushed in the utter blackness.

"Just a sec." Karen responded, rustling around in the dark. A moment later a strong flashlight beam appeared, catching Broots briefly directly in the face, and dazzling all of their dark-adjusted eyes.

"Okay," She went on, not bothering with an apology for Broots’ momentary blindness. "There are supplies loaded in a RV that’s been hidden at the end of this corridor, but it’s going to be a long hike. I’m guessing that we’ll reach the end just about the same time they figure out that there’s another exit to the family room. If we hustle, we’ll be long gone before they have any clue where we went. I take it you’ve got some plan for getting the others back from the Centre?"

She added the last with a razor sharp look at Broots that irresistibly reminded him of Miss Parker. For just a minute that reminder made his throat close up with grief that he hadn’t found the time to acknowledge, much lest vent.

"Not yet." He finally managed, clearing the lump from his throat with a cough. "But I’m working on it---and as far as we know, the Major and Sam are still free. It isn’t over yet." He finished, his voice ringing with determination and defiance by the end of his little speech.

"Good enough." Karen nodded, her face grim as she firmly held back her own grief. "We’ll be able to try to contact the others from the RV. It has a computer with a wireless modem onboard."

The three fugitives scurried down the corridor, Karen in the lead with the light, Debbie in the middle, and Broots bringing up the rear, the gun he and his daughter hated so much held firmly in his hand. As far as they knew, their little freedom force was down to them, but somehow that just strengthened their resolve to see the Centre destroyed once and for all.

Sydney placed a comforting arm around J.J.’s shoulders, although it was questionable as to who was comforting who. It was all he could do to keep his spine straight and his face impassive as the black Towncar that held them sped north. He’d never felt so old before, not even when Catherine had died.

“It’ll be okay.” J.J. murmured to him, his brown eyes belying his words. They held apprehension, and a certain fatalistic acceptance of coming pain that struck Sydney to the core of his soul.

“I know.” Sydney tried to find a reassuring smile, but failed miserably.

Where is Jarod? He wondered. Is he safe, is Miss Parker safe? Were any of them ever going to be safe again?

“Broots will think of something.” J.J. continued. “He’s very smart.”

“He certainly is.” Sydney agreed, trying to believe in Broots, if only for J.J.’s peace of mind.

“What do you think they’ll do to us?” J.J. finally asked, getting to the heart of their worry. “When we get back to the Centre, will they give me back to Raines?”

“I don’t know.” Sydney sighed, praying as hard as one who’d given up on God years ago could. “I don’t know what’s been happening at the Centre, and I don’t know who’s in charge now.”

“I hope Broots just turns everything we found over to the FBI or the CIA!” J.J. burst out, a frown that was a mixture of anger and fear contorting his young face. “I don’t care anymore what happens to me, if they just close down the Centre!”

“Broots will do what’s best, J.J., don’t worry.” Sydney soothed him, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly. “He’s a very resourceful person.”

“I just wish I knew what they were going to do to us, when we get back.” J.J. sighed, before lapsing into a brooding silence.

‘I do too.’ Sydney thought tiredly, wishing he had something positive to say and knowing that J.J. was far too clever to be reassured by platitudes.

*****

“No!” Major Charles gazed at the computer screen that Angelo had brought up, his face expressing his horror even more than the pain in his voice. “What about Sam? Did they get him too?”

He tore his gaze from the screen to look at the man-child next to him. Angelo shook his head solemnly from side to side.

“Sam, Karen, Broots, Debbie, free. Miss Parker, Jarod, Catherine, Alexander, free soon.” Angelo replied.

“Free soon? What do you mean by that?”

Angelo looked at the Major blankly, having no way to explain matters further. Major Charles sighed and shrugged disconsolately.

“I don’t suppose it really matters anyway.” He muttered, studying the computer screen. “What matters is closing this place down so that we can all be safe again.”

“Close the Centre.” Angelo nodded eagerly. “All closed, all safe.”

“I think it’s time I called in a few favors.” Charles murmured thoughtfully, his hands moving across the keyboard with increasing confidence.

“Soon, all safe.” Angelo whispered with quiet satisfaction. The Major didn’t hear him, or notice when he slipped quietly out of the room to carry out his own plans to help his friends.

*****

“Talk to me, Parker.” Jarod urged patiently, his head clear now that Marion’s drugs had left his system. “We have to work this out.”

“I’m not a broodmare, Jarod.” She answered him frostily, not deigning to look at him as she spoke. “I won’t simply be the mother of your child, accepted on sufferance.”

Jarod smiled with relief. At last, something he could understand! All of her life Parker had felt not quite good enough where her father was concerned, and Lyle’s appearance and acceptance by the man hadn’t helped matters at all. When her baby brother had been born, she’d probably felt even more insecure than before.

“Parker, I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember.” He assured her with quiet intensity. “When you bleed, I bleed. You are the reason I didn’t vanish completely from the Centre’s radar. Even when you were chasing me, it was a connection between us. Don’t ever believe that I want you for any reason other than I love you.”

“And the baby? What if I told you it wasn’t yours?” She demanded with brittle hardness.

Jarod blinked. Not his? He looked up and saw Parker watching him out of the corner of her eye, and his face settled into a new determination.

“You could tell me it’s Raines’,” he informed her gently, “and all I would ever see in it was you.”

A tear trickled down Parker’s cheek, and Jarod switched seats to the one next to her. Silently, he turned her to face him and enfolded her in his arms, and his sigh of contentment rivaled hers.

“Not that this isn’t touching as all hell,” Mr. White’s bland voice sounded from the door to the cockpit, “but we’re about to land, so you’d all better buckle up.”

“We’ll be ready.” Catherine assured him, her blue eyes glittering with a determination that he mistook for fear.

Before White could turn again to slip back into the cockpit Marion spoke, her words backed by the subtle force of her talent.

“Take me to New York.” She asked softly, her pale blue eyes pleading.

“New York?” Sweat beaded on White’s forehead as he fought a command he couldn’t even hear. “I—I must…”

“You must take me to New York.” Marion insisted, her voice still soft, but demanding now rather than pleading. “To LaGuardia, to be exact.”

“LaGuardia, yes…” White murmured softly. “What was I thinking? Of course I am to take you to LaGuardia.”

“I’ll go with you, while you give the pilots their new orders.” Marion murmured, a slight smile of satisfaction curving her pale lips.

“And I will accompany you.” Catherine added, her gentle smile at odds with the steel lacing her words. “Just to make sure you have no problems.”

“Shouldn’t I go too?” Alexander asked worriedly. “You might need…”

“We’ll be fine, Alexander.” Catherine replied, rising to place a hand on Marion’s shoulder, both to guide and restrain the headstrong woman. “Marion knows just what to say.”

*****

“Now what?” Karen turned off the motor home and slumped tiredly over the wheel before turning to face Broots. Debbie was asleep in the bed over the driver’s compartment of the vehicle.

Broots chewed nervously on his lower lip, wondering what to do himself.

“Do you know who Frank’s contacts were?” He asked his sister-in-law finally.

“Only Carol Vaughn. She’s supposed to be Port Authority, but I’m pretty sure she’s an investigator for one of the government’s invisible agencies. Frank helped her to track down a particularly nasty group of slavers --- luring women in with promises of wonderful singing or acting careers oversees, and selling them to the highest bidder once they got them off American soil --- and she’s kept in touch with us ever since. I’m pretty sure one of the girls taken was related to her—her search was certainly personal.”

“Can you get in touch with her?”

“Of course, we meet a couple of times a week. But I don’t know if even she will have the resources to help unravel this mess.”

“Right now she’s our only hope.” Broots insisted doggedly. “Maybe she can’t do much, but I’ll bet she can hook us up with the people who can.”

“Should we, though?” Karen asked, a worried frown creasing her brows. “What if the Centre retaliates against Frank and the others?”

“Exposure is their only hope.” Broots told her with brutal honesty. “If we don’t break the Centre now, before they end up in the Renewal Wing or worse, the Centre will always hold them in the palm of their hands. Believe me, I’ve seen it happen.”

“I’ll make the call.” Karen agreed, her frown of worry deepening at the bleak pain in Broots eyes.

Broots nodded his approval and moved back into the RV to study his sleeping daughter. She was his life, and he was so grateful that he hadn’t sent her off with J.J. to call Sydney in. He didn’t know what he would have done if the Centre got their hands on her again. He knew he wasn’t a very brave man, but he’d do whatever was necessary to protect his child, including putting his brother and the man he trusted as a friend at risk. The Centre had to be stopped before they could threaten his baby again.

*****

Sam listened to the phone ringing over and over again before hanging up with more force than was strictly necessary. He’d called the number 5 times now, twice from the plane, as soon as they’d landed at LaGuardia, after he’d eaten what he could of an overpriced meal, and now, an hour later. It was clear that they were gone, but where? And why?

Tapping a finger on his lips he considered his next step. Return to Delaware? Or try to find the missing conspirators? Why hadn’t they considered a back up number to leave information at in case of emergency?

“Excuse me, sir, but if you’re finished with your call there are people waiting behind you to use the phone.” The security guard’s tone was polite, but the steel in his gaze left no room for quibbling on Sam’s part. He nodded, excused his rudeness, and strode off as if he knew where he was going.

He’d wait one more hour and try again. If no one answered then, he’d catch the next flight back to Delaware.