May 2 -Morning. Seattle, Washington.

“What flavor?” Kathleen asked the kids who came up to the ice cream stand. She tried to be cheery. She wasn’t a real people kind of person, but she had to put on a display to keep the job. She needed it along with her other minimum wage job as a cook at a local establishment. Not a fine establishment, just a hole in the ground that people come to eat at when they get lost in the city and need something to eat that’s halfway decent. She used to be on a better track when she was younger, but misfortune dealt her a hell of a hand in life. Every time she started to climb the corporate ladder, she’d have some kind of accident, and then fire. Squished. Her resume basically read hard worker who flakes out sometimes. 

She even lost her restaurant job cooking pizzas. 

“Chocolate, please.”

Kathleen’s nose wrinkled. Though she had lost her jobs, she never lost him. How she hoped she could. Cuyler. A greasy two-faced asshole who thought he was funny. He had a brilliant mind, but he never used it. He was a bum that never applied himself, and he tended to tag along behind her. She glared at him and made him an ice cream. 

His look of dismay was worth it. “You fixed pistachio, not chocolate? You know I’m allergic to pistachios, Kitty Katty.”

“Don’t call me Kitty Katty.” Such a jerk. Her name was Kathleen. Solid Kath, Solid Leen. Kathleen! “Life is going decent for me, I don’t need you here ruining everything.”

“Oh, it’s not me that ruins it,” Cuyler smiled at her. “It’s just your terrible accidents. Chocolate please.” He handed his ice cream back. 

Kathleen served the other customer first. He had been waiting. After she dealt with him, she grabbed a chocolate ice cream and gave it to him so he could leave.

“So you found a new job, huh?” He started to make conversation instead. “Where are you working?”

“So you can stalk me there too?” Ugh. “None of your business. Go away.”

“You’ve got to learn to be nicer to your customers,” he said. “Just because you’re as pretty as your mother, doesn’t mean you get to be mean to people.”

Grr, his words sometimes! Her mom wasn’t as pretty as her. He’d never even met her mom.

“Work more on that behavior. Be nicer to people,” Cuyler said, “even the ones you have a secret crush on.”

Kathleen swallowed deeply and looked away. Disgusting. There were girls who treated the guys they really liked like crap sometimes. They were called school aged teenagers. If she liked someone, she would tell them, or at least be kind to them. There was no hidden crush on Cuyler. He was a burden on her, in the worst ways. Seeing his face sometimes was hard to bear. When she lost a job or a direction, she had to start from the ground up, except with him. He always found out her new place of work, found time to visit her, and eventually he found a way to work where she worked.

That was not flirting. He was a stalker, but she couldn’t prove it. He never made the move right away. Never acted threatening. The most he could get away with was ‘I was worried about my friend’. He knew exactly how far to go to never get caught. She was convinced he was a genius. A genius hiding in trash. 

His taste. His lazy attitude. She even knew that he had put her life in danger more than once. He never admitted it, but when she had someone after her (again), she cornered one of them and they swore to her? They swore.

She was ‘co-loaner’ on some nasty shit. And why would he do that? For fun. If it was fun, if it made life interesting, he did it, and he dragged her along. 

So his comment about flirting? Was not welcome at all. “I think I just threw up in my own mouth a little, excuse me.”

Ignore him. Just ignore him. She caught him wink at her as he took a bite of his ice cream and finally walked away.

--------------------------------------

May 2- Same Day. Lincoln, Nebraska.

“Well this is interesting. Seems we won something. Honey?”

Miss Parker overheard her dad say those words at the table. She looked up from her homework. Jarod? His name instantly popped in her head. It was unlikely her family won anything big. Maybe it was a small thing, like a discount at their store and it was one of her dad’s favorites? She watched her mom come over and make a fuss too. “What is it?”

“Oh, wow. I won this?” He chuckled at Miss Parker and showed her a paper that was too far away to see. “This is the yearly vacation raffle the company throws before the summertime.” He looked at the dates. “Whoah, this is cutting it close. This is less than five days away.”

“So is it like Hawaii?” Miss Parker asked.

“Oh no, they wouldn’t raffle something that big,” her father replied, “This is a nice hotel in Florida. I think the boss has some connections to the owner.”

“Well, they have to give you the time off,” her mother said excitedly. “This is exciting! We never win anything.”

Jarod. His name popped into her head again. Jarod wouldn’t randomly just set her up to win something, unless he wanted to talk somewhere specific. Or maybe. Did The Centre find us? It was the last couple of days of her high school. She was finishing her last homework of the year. She listened to her parents talking about it. Jarod.

When she was twelve years old, she had gotten away from The Centre with Jarod. He helped her find a new family and a new life. He had popped in on her a time or two, but he couldn’t come back often. He had his own family he had found for him, but he always swore he’d watch out for her. He said last time they met, he’d try to leave her to her own life. Let her enjoy her family and her own life, but if anything happened, he would emerge and get her out. 

Was it Jarod?

--------------------------------------

May 6. Georgia. Middle of Nowhere.

Family. It was a tricky block there. Besides the kids, Jarod had the residents themselves that could take a lesson in decency. His employer, his employer’s ex-wife but mother to two kids, and his employer’s current wife and mother to the other two kids were sitting down for dinner. The air tightened in the room, again, Jarod could feel the tension. The lies in that household reminded him of the shadows of The Centre. 

Jarod’s employer’s ex-wife was showing signs of being pregnant again and it wasn’t going to be denied much longer.

“So, Natalie,” the current wife said to the ex-wife. “Looks like you’re getting a might bit fat? Maybe you should slow down on the food.” Natalie just gave her a nasty look.

“Well, dig in,” Jarod said politely. They lived in the middle of the country with no other property nearby except Jack’s brother and wife, and Jack’s sister. There were only two men at any of the properties old enough to get a woman pregnant, and it definitely wasn’t Jarod. 

“I think we can actually scarf this down,” his employer Jack said as he looked at the chili. “Don’t you usually make tons to cover the rest of the hooligans?”

“I did,” Jarod said, “except that it got ‘frogged’ yesterday.” An entire crockpot of chili. The nearest town was far and he calculated a certain amount of food for the shopping. His chili would have lasted two days along with the rest of the meal today. Now he had no leftover chili and just some small side dishes for the main family.

“Those kids.” Jack shook his head. “My brother never did raise them right.”

As misbehaved as the other kids were, Jarod hated the thought of them going hungry through the night. It’s not their fault they weren’t shown attention. Any love. It isn’t their fault they can’t get food!

Sydney had been the one to hand Jarod the slip on Jack’s caretaker job. Jarod knew there must be something there he wasn’t seeing, and he hadn’t made a move until he could see it. So far, all he did see was that Jack was getting a nice little paycheck from The Centre each month. Nothing big, just a quiet down kind of extra cash. No idea why, except that maybe his brother and sister had something to do with it.

Like it or not though, Centre or not, those kids couldn’t be living out there alone much longer. Jarod scraped his dinner, and looked out the window. The wind is heavier, but nothing said for the amount of dirt I see on my truck. He exited the house and went over toward his truck. As he approached, he saw two of the kids near it, bail. “Damn.” He ran toward his truck to check it. He looked back at the others. None of them were old enough to reach the pedals, right?

The dirt on it said otherwise.

-------------------

A little distance from Jarod but still in Georgia, middle of nowhere.

“He didn’t make extra Aunt Par,” Judith said as she entered the door. “I checked. Michael and Vince say so too.”

“Good. He needs to concentrate on his own job, not us.” Aunt Par served Judith. “To the table. I have to see your Aunt Bar.” She moved up toward the stairs. She knew Sydney would eventually do something, but sending Jarod himself? Ridiculous. Couldn’t he offer just a little help without turning traitor on her? She opened the door with a smile to the woman in the middle of the room. The one the kids affectionately called Aunt Bar. She kept her name relatively similar that way if the kids overspoke, someone would assume the P and B were just misplaced. Kids growing. Getting confused. That kind of thing. “Good evening, Miss Bar.”

Bar looked over toward her. “Hello, Miss Parker. How are you?”

“I’m fine, but it’s not that. It’s Par.” Damn Sydney for writing Parker on the prescriptions too. She got out the pills. “Here you go.” She had needed medicine badly. Bar wasn’t quite on the ball, but she wasn’t dangerous. Her biggest problem was moving away from the chair. She had to go to Sydney to seek some medicine for the woman. She was looking better every day, even getting up every once in awhile to move.

“Is Denise and Arnold back yet?” she asked Miss Parker. “It’s been days since we’ve seen them.”

Months, actually. Poor woman. “No, not yet. Still looking.” She patted her hand. “Kids have been fed. House is still nice. Everything’s fine.”

“The cats, all the stray cats? They are fine?” She asked. “All of them, even Mittens new ones? Oh, I miss when I could take care of them.”

“They are all fine.” She once again had to use a connection, this time Broots, to put the word out about the cats. She was down to three now. At least Broots didn’t turn on me. 

 “Jack and Natalie haven’t visited for a long time. They must be real busy. Can we go visit them soon? The kids getting better at taking care of it you think? Have you heard from Denise and Arnold yet either?”

“No, Miss Bar. Eventually maybe we can go visit everybody.” Fat chance.  She gave her some water for the pills she needed.

-----------------

Georgia. Middle of Nowhere. Jarod’s Pretend House

Jarod looked at the leftovers. Not much. He went to his assigned room and called Sydney.

 “Sydney.”

“I don’t see what I need to do,” Jarod said to Sydney. “These kids, I’m trying to get them help. Is that all I’m doing here though?” he asked Sydney. “Are you going to tell me anything else? Why is The Centre paying Jack off? What happened to his brother and sister?”

“I can’t tell you, Jarod. Just open your eyes and look everywhere,” Sydney insisted. “Everywhere.”

“Looking everywhere is tough when you’re feeding eight people, Sydney, but know that when you fail making ‘extra’, others starve for the night.” What was he going to do? “I can’t run to the store, it’s way too far, and I have a budget I can spend. Go over and they’ll see it.” Maybe I should make some quick sandwiches. Something. Mayonnaise. Real small amount of tuna but spread on them? Maybe pickles over the top. “I am almost out of here, Sydney, I should have enough for those kids to get real care soon.”

Jarod heard a small knock on his door. He looked over and saw Stephanie. Not one of the resident’s kids, it was one of the neighbor kids that came over to play. She was still real young too, Jarod hated that she was actually playing so far without real supervision..

Next door wasn’t even within seeing distance and those kids ran all the way there everyday. Stephanie was only four but somehow she was always there too.

“I gotta go, Sydney.” He hung up the phone. I need to get her something. “I don’t have any extra tonight.” He hated saying that. “I can make you a sandwich? I can make you a plate of sandwiches and you could go take them to your brothers and sisters?” He would have to go shopping again to get through the week, but if she was coming for food, he couldn’t leave her to go hungry.

“Aunt Par’s getting fat,” she said. She held out her tummy. “Not like fat fat. Bouncy fat, like she swallowed a ball. Like how momma looked before she disappeared with daddy.”

A ball? Jarod had never seen the Aunt, just that Jack called her a trouble maker. “You think your Aunt Bar is pregnant?”

“I told Jack and he said ‘your nuts’ and he pointed at me and,‘cause no one messes with her.” Stephanie stumbled on her words, showing her real age.

Hm. It might not be pregnancy, it could be something else health related. It was high time he met this mysterious Aunt. “Let me make some sandwiches real quick and I’ll go check over on her before we go to your house. Travel in the car with me and you can show me the way?”

----------------------

When Jarod got out of his car, he saw another girl, Judith, right by the door scolding Stephanie. Well? Sydney said look everywhere. As he approached the house, he saw most of the kids around the table. With food and plates and clean forks. “Your parents came back?” Jarod asked. They all shook their heads. Why were they all eating at their Aunt Bar’s house? Was she taking care of them too?

“Stephanie brought him!” Judith yelled, glaring at him. “You shouldn’t be here!”

“All of you are lining up to eat at your aunt’s house?” Something was wrong here. He set the sandwiches down. “Where is your Aunt Bar?” Stephanie pointed upward. 

Jarod went upstairs. There was only one room and one bathroom up there. He knocked on the door and heard her voice. She invited him in. Instantly, he knew this couldn’t be the same figure he’d spotted on the property before. “Hello, Bar. My name is Jarod. I work at Jack’s. How are you?”

“Hi there.” She waved. “Have you seen Denise and Arnold yet?”

“No. Do you need some food or help?” He moved closer to look at her. She didn’t exhibit any signs of pregnancy that he could see. The four year old Stephanie must have thought it was funny to lie. “How are you feeling?”

“Wonderful,” she said. “I don’t need any food. My doctor just fed me. She tries to take good care of us. You should meet her.”

 “You have a doctor?” 

“Oh yes. She’s been here for a week or so now. Or longer? She is much better than the last one.”

“That’s Aunt Bar,” Stephanie shouted from the door. “Bar not Par so, so what do you want with Aunt Bar?”

“Do you know her doctor?” Jarod asked Stephanie. He looked back at the woman. “What’s the name of your doctor?”

“Doctor Par. She goes by Aunt Par since she helps so much around here.” She scratched her head. “I don’t remember your name?”

Well? “Jack didn’t say you had a doctor.” Jack didn’t mention the state of his sister at all. She couldn’t be the one coming back and forth. Why was he lying?

“Ah? She’s shy. She didn’t want me to mention her,” Bar answered back. “I forgot.”

Jarod heard the front door open downstairs. Someone was hiding as a doctor. There’s someone here that shouldn’t be here. He’d be meeting this doctor soon. He looked around Bar. “Where’s your medication?”

“The doctor holds it. She keeps it and brings it to me only when I need it so I don’t get confused.” She smiled.

Jarod moved downstairs but heard the kids almost yelling in unison, “Jarod’s here, Aunt Par!” He went by the front door first, making sure she couldn’t back out.

Someone was here. Good or bad, if The Centre was involved, he needed to see this through.

“Go away, she doesn’t want to see you!” Judith yelled at him. “Go away, you don’t belong here, go away!”

“It’s all Stephanie’s fault!”

“But she’s so big!” Stephanie complained back as she came from downstairs, “and we don’t have diapers or a crib!”

“Is not, Stephanie, you promised not to tell!” Judith yelled back at her.

The kids yelled back and forth, Jarod had to interject. “Hey, hey, hey!” Jarod made them all quiet down. “Where is this Aunt Par?”

“Hiding,” one of the littlest said at the table. “It’s what she does.”

“Hides.” The kids clearly cared about her. A nice person. It looked like she was taking care of everything. Someone was actually feeding these kids. Maybe? Is it my mom? Is that why Sydney . . . No, she’s big like she is pregnant. She could also have something else wrong with her. Not to mention, she’s scared or doesn’t want to see me. He couldn’t rule anything out. 

Jarod looked at Stephanie. Stephanie was now crying in the corner, isolated from the others who were angry at her. Jarod always knew there was a reason those kids didn’t like him. He moved closer to Stephanie. “Where would she hide at?” She didn’t answer. “You were worried, right? I can’t help her if I can’t find her. I won’t hurt her, I promise.”

She gestured to the room on the other side. “Her room.”

Jarod moved over slowly to the other side. Friend or foe, he didn’t know. He had to be careful, play both sides. Be prepared to fight or hug at a moment’s notice. He opened the door and looked in. 

Then he heard movement on the other side. Oh, I don’t think so. He knew someone trying to get away from him would try to get out. He tried to come out over the other side, but she already scooted by the kitchen. “Damn.” At least she was near. “Stephanie thinks you might be pregnant,” he called to her. “If you are, running around from me shouldn’t be something you’re doing.” He tried to move steadily closer. “If this is about The Centre, I am not with them. I am here to help.”  What else? “Do you know Sydney?” Still no reply. “This gets us nowhere. You can’t leave these kids behind, it’s obvious you care. I can’t just leave them here with someone that I don’t know either. Just, reveal yourself.”

He heard another sound, but it was too light. It was a cat. Then? He heard it. He really heard it.

“Get the hell out of my spot, Jarod! I never asked for you to show up, Sydney did! You hate me, I hate you, get the hell out!”

Parker. Aunt Par, of course. “By all means.” He took several steps back. “Are you pregnant, Parker?”

“Get out, get out, get out!”

“Come out,” Jarod muttered. “Have you been looked at?” No answer. “I’m not leaving.”

She gave one cold laugh. “I’ve got eight reasons you will, unless you plan on fighting off some amazing kids?”

Jarod looked behind at him. Everyone from the six year old to the twelve year old had been glaring at him. Everyone but Stephanie. Her eyes were just pleading. 

“You are all just going to leave your Aunt Par in that condition?” Jarod asked them directly. “Stephanie’s the only one around here with the most sense and bravery.” He looked toward her voice. “Some need more bravery. When they’ve been undeniably hurt, or have undeniably hurt others. Some need to have the bravery to ask for help.” He turned his attention back to Parker. “Sydney knew I would not be happy to hear about you, but he still got me here, Parker. I haven’t ran off.” He sighed. “Just ask for some help. Be the next brave one.”

He gave it a minute and then saw her starting to emerge. 

She no longer had her fancy business suits or style. She had no makeup, no hair style, and she was as plain as she could be. Her stomach was bigger but definitely not pregnant. “You aren’t pregnant.”

“As if I’d ever allow that,” she muttered. 

“They why are you hiding?” 

 

“I told you before. Momma’s unfinished business.” She whistled loudly. “Everybody assemble, front room, on the double, PK up front!”

Jarod watched as more kids headed in, with some having twins. She was taking care of more than a few kids.

“I betrayed trust, everyone’s trust, even Broots’ trust, only for one thing, and I wouldn’t change it.” She moved forward and picked up about a six year old with red hair. She gave him to Jarod. “Meet Ronald. First Pretender kid. He’s Angelo’s son.”

What? Jarod stared at the little boy. He did have some traits of Angelo’s.

“And Stephanie, who is supposed to stay here but does run off to the other side.” Parker picked her up. “And fibs!”

“No, I don’t,” Stephanie’s twin said from a corner.

Stephanie touched her finger to her lip innocently, and then Jarod realized she’d been playing the cute diction game the whole time. “I wanted him to help,” she said. “He’s supposed to be the best one, and this is substandard care for too long. You are getting some extra weight around you so it worked.”

“Well, I can’t have my usual diet, it’s messing up my weight, but it’s not that bad! Mph.” Parker looked toward Jarod. “Here’s a blast from the past. Look at her eyes. Cute little Steph? Damien’s,” she muttered, setting her down.

Damien? “The ex-pretender?” That he killed to save Broots? Converted Pretender turned Cleaner for The Centre. “ . . . okay.” She better not pull out one for me. If she does, if she doesn’t share it now . . .

“Genes don’t change just because jobs do,” Parker groaned as she bent over for another one. “This is Lucas, he’s Alex’s. Say hello Lucas.”

“I don’t like him,” Lucas said.

“Sure you don’t. Back down you go.” Parker looked around. “And Eddie’s girl.” She picked up about a five year old. “She has no name, she was under a project called Rain and Thunder so she just goes by Rain and the other one goes by Thunder. She’s the last one, so breathe, you don’t have one here.”

Jarod exhaled heavily. “Showing kids of pretenders left and right suddenly, you could have started with that.” He looked out at them. “What about um?” Kyle. “Did he have one?” Did he have a niece or a nephew from his passed on brother?

“No, sorry.” Quick but simple. No relatives. She put Rain back down. “Mom knew I wouldn’t be old enough to do anything for the other files, but she knew I could be around to stop the next set of generational problems.” She motioned to the other kids. “Nobody counts kids on isolated farms. I made a deal with his brother to keep quiet.”

“So Jack’s brother and sister-in-law only had four.” Jack kept quiet about the pretender kids not being part of his family. “The other children’s parents?” Jarod asked. “Denise and Arnold?”

“They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They aren’t coming back, and it’s not because they didn’t love their children.” Parker looked toward the others. “They’re okay. I’ve been here six months with them to get them through the truth too.”

“Taking care of all these kids and one sick woman?” Jarod couldn’t believe it. That didn’t sound like Parker at all.  “You should’ve told someone.”

“Ah, ah, ah. How to commit the perfect murder is about the same to committing the perfect crime,” she said. “The more that knew, the worse the chances I could steal them away. I involved Sydney for the medication she needed. I involved Broots because I had to get these cats out to better homes. I didn’t want you involved, period. The Centre sniffs your scent like dog to meat.”

“I took a period of rest.” Still. “You betrayed everyone you cared about, to rescue children?” He chuckled. “I approve.”

“Pardon me if I don’t jump up with pride, Jarod.”

“I kept trying to get social services to go to their home and see them alone, but you didn’t keep anyone there.” Jarod smirked. “You kept them here. Tricky, Miss Parker.” Aww. “You saved pretender kids. All of them. I really want to hug you?” He held out his arms. Wishing but knowing.

“No. Down. Away.” She backed away. “I don’t do hugs.”

He looked at the little Pretenders. “They all have the gift?”

“Of course,” she uttered. “Some are obviously genetic offspring, but not all of them.” She gestured to some others that were twins to the the pretender kids she just showed. “Cloning ring a bell?”

Oh geez. They weren’t all twins. “Cloning?”

“These are far from the only ones. You wouldn’t believe what’s been going on,” she admitted. “It’s a start though.”

He wasn’t the only guinea pig now. He gestured to her. “You took my truck out, didn’t you?”

“Your truck was better on the highway. I kept the PK and the others fed on decent food. Mostly. I can’t cook, it was worth the drive.” Her nose wrinkled a second. “Did it twice before too, just didn’t kick up much dust. You, I said no hugs!”

Jarod stole a little hug. He was so proud of her. She did it. She kicked The Centre out of her life! He never thought he’d see this day. “I want to help.”

“Of course you do,” she said. “I’ll get the others to the other home.” She saw their faces. “They are being expected.”

“They need taken care of,” Jarod assured her. “We’ll take care of the PK’s too. All Sydney had to say was children from The Centre were involved, I would have been right here to help.”

“He doesn’t know,” she revealed. “He just knew I was hiding out in a strange area for nothing to be wrong. None of you know anything. Clueless.”

“I know that you’re finally ready to get past The Centre. That’s all I need to know.” He tried to hold her hand but she resisted. “Same Miss Parker.”

“Shut up. I told you, no one knows anything.” She gave him a look of cold, hard steel back. She wasn’t playing. She was serious. “None of you know anything. About anything! I wasn’t kidding. Help me place these kids somehow, but don’t expect any kind of friendship.”

Well, she wasn’t going to change overnight. “I got sandwiches.”

“I don’t want a sandwich.”

“You didn’t sneak away in my truck today. It’s getting later,” Jarod suggested. “You have the plates laid out but no food. Kids will need sandwiches.”

“Don’t you still have a job to perform?” she reminded him.

“Nope, just quit. Just ran away in the middle of the night, couldn’t take it anymore.” There was a husband and two wives watching their own kids. They did it all those years without his help. They could watch them again until they found someone else to fill the position. 

There were a ton of kids there, some that had lost their mom and dad, and more who never even knew them, or never had any. Plus, it was clear there was more to this than Miss Parker knew. “Do you have a spare bedroom?”

 “No,” she said. “N.O. No! You can’t stay here.”

“Why not?” Still a lot of hostility built up inside of her. “It’ll be better if you had someone here to help with the problem.”

“You can help from a distance,” she pointed out. “A distance away.”

Nope, he wasn’t going. “No. Spare bed?”

“No. Are you kidding? Most of the kids sleep on the floor and on the couch in sleeping bags,” she said. “Some sleep near me. They find a place and park it.”

“I can find a place and park it, Parker.” Jarod smirked. He had her thinking about it. 

“Don’t ask me any questions about anything that isn’t about the PK’s. Don’t get too friendly. I’m not your friend.”

It didn’t matter how many times she said it. He’d never believe she was a solid enemy now. She just rescued pretender kids from the clutches of The Centre. “Did you get them all?”

“I got who was there. I found some outside help from the woman they used as the mother,” she said. “Maggie. I don’t know much else, she guided me to the records first before I found the actual kids. These ones all knew each other. Feel better?”

“Actually, yeah, I do.” Very. Except. “You sure about Kyle too? I don’t want to leave a little niece or nephew or clone of his behind. Just because he can’t be there . . .” 

“Yeah, well.” She moved slightly. “I admit it.  I don’t really know, there are so many.” She shrugged. “I do need help, Jarod. I don’t know who to go to for this. I was going to let things cool down and then have Sydney help somehow.”

“There is no cool down for The Centre,” Jarod disagreed. “They pursue no matter what. Sandwich?”

“Oh for the love of!” She crossed her arms. “Fine! Give me one sandwich, then feed the rest of them. You got enough for all of them or do I still have to trudge out of here for some drive in food?”

“Drive in food?” The nearest town was nearly an hour away. “Parker. If there’s food, I will fix some.” He moved past the gawking curious kids and went to the fridge. Nope on food. “We need to go shopping.”

“If you tell anyone about this, Broots or Sydney, I swear I’ll kill you.” She went over to the cupboards and pointed out the mac and cheese’s and ravioli cans.

“Yeah,” Jarod agreed as he grabbed three boxes of macaroni. “We need to go shopping.” He wasn’t surprised she lacked cooking skills. Instant food or fancy restaurant food was all she had ever known. “Relax, Parker. I’ll take care of it. I’ll show you how to cook real food for yourself too.”

“I am fine with a sandwich.”

Nope. “Everybody’s getting full bellies tonight.” 

“No, Jarod, you can’t just walk in here and . . . and just start fixing sandwiches like it’s been a week.”

Yeah. Carthis definitely wasn’t a week ago. It was years ago. “Not much to say. I had to stay farther away or you and your crew would die. Compliments of Raines. I didn’t want anything to happen to Sydney, Broots had a daughter to take care of back then, and you? Well. Things . . . just didn’t end real well I guess.”

Heh. Life. It was never dull outside of The Centre. Who knew he’d be ending the evening cooking at ‘Aunt Bar’s’ with Miss Parker and a ton of interesting kids. “It’s great to be free, isn’t it? Never know what will happen.” He noticed a side step of Miss Parker. Yeah. Well. She better get used to it. He wasn’t leaving her presence until every kid there was safe and sound with a new life. “Did you tell them to frog up my chili?”

“Distraction, I needed real food,” she complained.

Yeah, and the weight gain? It wasn’t pregnancy, that was very certain. It was the rapid change in her diet. Some nights fat enriching cheap foods, others when she couldn’t get away, scraping by on ravioli’s. Without a proper diet, she was changing. She was doing what she could though, with what she had. 

Jarod stole a quick look around. The property was decent, but it would never have lived up to Parker’s standards. None of it, she liked luxury city. Six months out there. Even looking at her? It all took a toll on her. She hid and stayed out of the way, yet played doctor and nanny to the kids?

It wasn’t her element at all. Getting out into the thick of the problem. She did it for the kids though. The PK’s, and the poor kids left behind with Aunt Bar, who couldn’t really even take care of herself well. “How did you survive this? You’ve never been a bright and blooming mother type.”

She almost looked offended. “Oh. Jarod. I’ve survived much worse.”

When? It was clear she believed that. When had she hunkered that far away from The Centre, that isolated? That bare with no makeup? She never seemed like she’d be caught dead without it when he knew her. “You should get some better clothes on. You could have shopped for clothes.” She was wearing virtual rags with a hood. It kept her from being seen clearly, but she shouldn’t be hiding in it all the time. “Do you have better clothes?”

“It’s best to stay out of the way and unseen,” she answered back. “I like watching things from behind the stage. I don’t want to be on it.” Something in her voice again that just didn’t sound like Parker. Her eyes too, they had glazed over when she spoke. She walked away toward the couch. “Regulars, this way. Let the PK’s drive Jarod crazy for a bit.” The regular kids left the room with her.

“Well, food, soon,” Jarod said. He was glad Parker took the others, the issue of parents would be coming up and it wouldn’t be easy to talk about around the ones who just lost theirs.

He’d left his attention strictly on Parker during their conversation but now it was time to open it back up to all of the kids that were and had been making their presences known. Some had been badgering him to cook faster, thanking him for having cooking skills, some still asking to go out and eat somewhere, and some just stating how much he shouldn’t have shown up. All dancing around him like monkeys needing attention.  “Hey, hey?” He spied the girl last time that was around earlier that day. “No frogging the macaroni or nobody eats it tonight.”

“I’d still eat it!” 

“Nobody eats raw frog tonight.” Prepared correctly, fine. Out of the thick of the wilderness? Not fine. “I’d have to fix more food,” Jarod said, spying Alex’s boy who said that. “It would just take longer, Lucas.” He looked at the twin pair but they pointed at each other. Were they each given the same name too?

“Jarod?” He felt Stephanie pulling at the hem of his shirt. “You’re a pretender.”

Not surprising Parker warned them about him. “Yes,” Jarod said as he started to fix the simple macaroni. Parker could have done it, but she’d already done a lot. 

“Are you married?”

Typical kid questions. “No.”

“Do you have kids?”

“No.”

“Do you have grandkids?”

Jarod smirked. “You usually have kids to have grandkids. So, no.”

“Great grandkids?”

Kids were missing the concept. “No great grandkids either.”

“What was your favorite pretend?”

Hm, that was easy. “I liked flying. My dad flew.”

“You knew your dad?”

“I eventually got to know him.”

“Did you know my dad?” Stephanie asked him.

Oh. I killed your dad. He sighed. “Little.”

“What was he like?” the other Stephanie asked.

“What was my dad like?” Eddie’s daughter Rain said, bouncing over toward him. “What was he like?” Thunder asked from beside her.

“What was mine like too?” Ronald asked Jarod.

“Aunt Parker said that our dads were a mix of terrible and awesome,” Stephanie said, still pulling at his shirt’s hem. “She wouldn’t tell us who was who?”

Hm. “That’s . . . .that’s because it doesn’t matter,” Jarod told them. “It doesn’t really matter. You are all different.” Some were natural kids and some were clones. It was better not knowing at that age the differences yet. He doubted Miss Parker even knew who was who either.

Geez. He remembered when he first met Major Charles, it was hard to believe The Centre had actually been experimenting with cloning. Now? It looks like they had refined it into an art. Terrible.

“You express too much emotion for a simple question,” Lucas said, staring at Jarod. 

Ah. He definitely had some of Alex in him. Jarod nodded toward him. “True. Some of your dads I’ve had experiences with. Good and bad, but it doesn’t matter.” He looked at the eight potential Pretenders around the room again. “What made you biologically is not going to make you the same to anyone completely.”

“What about mine?” Ronald still insisted. “Do I look like him at all? Do we look like what our dads looked like?”

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” he heard Miss Parker utter.

Jarod glanced behind him at Parker sitting on the couch. He knew what she meant. He couldn’t lie though to Angelo’s family. It wouldn’t be right. “You do look like your dad does.” Subtle but enough.

“Does?” Ronald asked. “I thought he was dead? All of the dads are dead.”

“Your dad . . . he isn’t dead.” Jarod couldn’t bend the truth as much as it hurt. “Your dad isn’t . . . ready for society,” he settled on.

“He’s crazy?”

“He’s been changed by The Centre in a way that makes him different from whom he should have been,” Jarod said, knowing the truth always hurt. “His name is Angelo, and he’s still at The Centre.”

“Did you know mine too? Do I look like him?” Stephanie kept a hold of the hem on his shirt. “Jarod?”

“Do I look like him too?” the other Stephane asked.

“Do you know anything about our mom?” Lucas, Alex’s boy asked.

“Is it almost ready?” One of the regular kids that actually belonged there interrupted.

Good. Jarod could deal with that kind of disruption. “Food takes time, and I am making more than one box to feed everyone.”

“Aunt Parker makes one box at a time,” Judith said judgingly as she came back into the room. She definitely had a trust issue with losing her parents. “The most hungriest eats faster. She’s better at cooking than you.”

Jarod heard a small chuckle escape Parker in the background. Or she doesn’t know how to cook away from the directions on the box. That was way more likely. “Not everyone does everything the same.” He eyed her extra close too. She was also one of the kids that had been around when the chili got frogged. “Definitely not a good idea to do anything to the food since there’s a large portion of it.” Jarod looked through the cupboards above and beneath him too for stuff to add to it. “Green beans.”

“I hate green beans!” Some of the kids yelled from behind.

“I love green beans!” Some others yelled.

Optional side dish. Check. He looked deeper for things to add that Parker wouldn’t have outright eaten, but since she didn’t cook, wouldn’t be going after. Beans as a side dish? Okay. There wasn’t anything to mix with the mac that well. Most of it was bare except for all the different quick ravioli’s and mac and cheese. Never going to get far in the world if she doesn’t learn how to cook. 

Seattle, Washington. Same Time.

"How does this place even run when food comes out like this?"

Kimberly heard another complaint about her cooking. Complain all they want, they were the ones who came by for the damn food. What did they expect, star quality at two fifty a burger?

"Even the toast is burnt."

So was the tip probably now, but usually she didn't get it. No decent cook was taking the job in that place on the salary it gave out. She flipped a burger. A little burnt. Edible, whatever. A little bit of ketchup would fix it up. She added the cheese. Shit, that was supposed to be added on the grill. She felt distracted today. In fact, she felt like she was getting sick. The flu? Just what she needed.

She plated the cheese, the bun, and the burger. She added extra ketchup and onions and pickles to make up for the mistake. Damn. It didn't look too burnt, but her head. Her head was downright feeling dizzy. This always happens to me when Cuyler finds me. The dread of what he would pull her into.

He didn't find that hole in the wall yet. He wasn't involved yet, he just found the ice cream truck. It'd be fine.

Back to Georgia. Nowhere.

As the kids ate, relaxed, and found their place in the strange house, Jarod came over toward Miss Parker. She was on the couch, currently a willing/unwilling pillow to Alex’s kid. He knew from her words that The Centre was involved in new things he didn’t know about yet.  He did manage to find some tea, and remembering Carthis, decided trying to take her some wouldn’t be a bad way to start this conversation.. “Everyone’s asleep.”

She looked at the tea a moment and took it. “Guess so.”

“A lot of children here. They won’t be able to stay together,” Jarod admitted. “They’ll have better lives though. Thanks to you. Aunt Bar couldn’t watch them in her condition. I never knew where they went to, Jack wouldn’t tell me. I’m glad it was somewhere safe.”

“I am not safe.” She had a distant look in her eye. “I am far from safe? I am . . .” Her voice seemed off, almost like she was uncertain of what she wanted to say. “ . . .  the definition of, um, bitch?”

Jarod shook his head. “No. You helped those kids.”

“I didn’t help you,” she muttered. “You spent your life behind glass. I never lifted a finger.”

“I don’t think I was on your list of things to be worried about.” Jarod grabbed his own cup of tea. “You couldn’t have broken me out.”

“Yes, I could’ve.”

Jarod just lingered on her. The way she said it. It was almost like a fact. “It took a genius, and it took me a very long time. Mister Raines’s daughter or not, I knew that.” He never could have even asked. “You’d just get yourself killed.”

“Yeah. I chose to not free you and live a comfy life.”

Still. There it was again. Did she finally develop a conscience about it? “It’s not your fault, Parker. The chasing me afterwards? That was your fault. You know that all I ever wanted, was you with me.” He’d told her that, ever since the first time she chased him in February. He backed off more when he found Thomas for her. Then with Carthis? “We could have had some great times.”

“Things trigger things. Plans trigger things that can’t be changed.” Her tongue rubbed across her teeth, almost like a regret. “Sometimes, even when you find the good, you can’t escape the bad.”

“I’d never blame you for not getting me out.” It would be too dangerous.

“I paid a very big price for it happening.” Her voice slightly shivered. “Fate won’t let me escape. The fact that I have done everything I could to make you stay away from me and still? I end up stuck with you is proof of that.” She yawned. “You were like my mother, Jarod. I couldn’t save you anymore than I could save her.”

“I know.” Of course he knew that. “Just, forget it. Have some tea. It’s a new beginning, right? No more Centre. After this, do you need help finding a place?” She didn’t answer. There was no reason for her to still be so distant. “Do you need help after this, Parker?”

“You can’t help. No one can help me,” she openly admitted. “I just go round and round and round.”

“Like a record, Baby?” he teased, having had heard the song.

“I owed them, those kids aren’t justification of helping to be a good person. It was dues.” She looked away. “No, I don’t need help. I’ll be going back to The Centre.”

What?! “You’re kidding. You just freed yourself.” Ugh! “Parker, it’s too dangerous. Look what you just did. What if they catch you?”

“Then they kill me, no big deal.” She sipped her tea like he just said it was raining. It completely bypassed her like it was nothing.

“No Centre. Stay.” Jarod had been refused before. It had really hurt the last time, no matter how long ago it had been. With that reaction though, he had to ask again. “I can get you out. I can keep you safe. The Centre will never find you. You can make a new start.”

“This many years later and you still use that same old song and dance. I have to go.” She wasn’t budging. “Once these PK’s are OK.”

“Then why bother being out here?” What was he missing? “Do you feel like your mind is your own?” Maybe they had messed with her brain surgically.

“That’s such a loaded question I really want to laugh,” she answered back. “I know that staying away from The Centre.” She seemed to roll her tongue around in her mouth. “It’s a break, at most. The Centre is my future. The . . .” She was hesitant about something. “I don’t know, but . . .” She bit her lip lightly. “I dream and I feel . . . me in different places. Different pasts and different times. Different memories. I know that doesn’t make sense.”

“Try and explain,” Jarod said. “I can help deduce what’s going on if you trust me?” Then maybe they could get it reversed.

“I see me, in high school. My parents just won a trip to Florida.”

Okay. Interesting.

“I also see me, middle school age. Small town elementary. Struggling with decimals in math.”

She felt like different people, and herself?

“I also see me dealing with an annoying you while I’m trying to serve ice cream from a truck.”

Okay, now he was in it? 

She almost choked. “I’m going insane, Genius Boy.”

“No. The Centre is messing with your mind,” Jarod said. “You’re not insane.” He touched her hand with his. “I don’t know what it’s up to, but that’s just more reason to leave it and not go back. You said yourself, that no one knows what is going on inside there. Let me in, Parker.”

“The life, where I’m going to Florida soon. I’m excited. I’m pretty sure I am going to meet you. We busted out at twelve,” she said. “I guess it’s like a combination of old memories except . . . I know it’s not memories. It’s the here and now. They didn’t have that game on phones. They didn’t even have those graphics, period.”

“It feels like the here and now.” Jarod was trying to understand it. He was silent a few minutes, using his brain to the best capacity he could.

The Centre was trying to make her feel like past memories that didn’t happen, were happening now. Why? Were they testing some kind of re-education mixed with memories? Maybe her inner sense mixed with some kind of re-education was the cause of her feelings. “Have you thought about the possibility that The Centre has tried a new re-education technique, and your inner sense is clashing with it?”

“Re-education? You mean making me believe in what I’m seeing actually happened?”

“Yes, in segments in the past. A phony, made up life,” Jarod said. “Re-education, in their hands, is powerful on the mind. Not every mind is the same though. The parts of yourself that you see, they are just parts of a past they tried to conjure up. Nothing more.”

“It is my imagination. I know it is,” she said, “but my mind still feels it. Like, it’s real, and it’s happening. Now.”

“It’s in your head.” Jarod would have to look into that. With enough time, re-education would weaken against her. “The longer you stay away, the less The Centre’s work can harm you. Time can heal you. But you must stay away from The Centre.”

Miss Parker looked toward the children around her and then back at him. She sighed and then swallowed. “Every instinct in me says it’s wrong, while my mind wants to scream that you are right.”

“Leave the Centre.”

“It can’t be real but you don’t know how real it feels.”

“Leave the Centre.” Jarod would keep repeating himself. She would not heal from The Centre’s treatment of her, until she left it behind. “I will help you set up a new life. I will help you get these kids placed.”

“I hate . . .” She seethed. “Not being able to cook! I’ve tried, I got meat and chicken once. I feel like I could? I can see myself doing that. Fixing pancakes and sausage. I see myself as someone who would be good at taking care of kids too, but I can’t . . . here. I can’t do several things, but I feel like I could.”

Jarod waved his hand in front of her face, bringing her back. “This isn’t a question anymore.” The Centre was messing with her mind. “I’m a very good doctor.”

“Pretend doctor,”she reminded him.

I say she isn’t of sound mind to make the decisions right now. He wasn’t accepting any answer of yes or no from her now. “I’m staying here with you. Get some rest.” Whatever The Centre did to her, it messed her up badly. Would he be able to pull her out of it?

The Centre

“Just can’t find it, Mister Raines,” the security camera man said, pointing to the doors that were involved in the break in with the offspring pretenders. “The intruder was there during their last meeting, but nothing was broken in.” A person in rags was going through all the security without anything needed.

“She had the codes,” Mister Raines said, staring at the video footage. “How could someone have all the codes?”

“How could someone survive? There were even lasers she had somehow passed, knowing the sequence to break it?” The security camera man scratched his head.

“It’s great to see everything you don’t know. Call me when you have something that you do know,” Mister Raines demanded. He stared at the figure on the footage again. “It has to be her. She’s been missing six months.” He watched his son finally stroll in. “Lyle, what took you? I called you earlier. You should have been here.”

“Sorry, Mister Raines,” Lyle Parker said honorably. “Just going through the steps of my own cases. Anything helpful?”

“Nothing anymore helpful. Pretenders are gone.”

“Still think it was my sister?” Lyle adjusted his tie. “Our mother was a big believer in rescuing children. Maybe she came down with the same disease?”

“Now?” Mister Raines asked as he pinched his chin. “She gives a damn now?” He watched the videos once again. “She wouldn’t just give a damn now.” Hmm. “Did you look into the other incident more carefully?”

“Sure did.” Lyle gave his brother a folder. “I couldn’t find a thing about Miss Parker trying to break out any clone out from The Centre. Everything was done on Jarod and Major Charles’ end.” Lyle looked back at the footage too. “You really think she was secretly trying to rescue the clone back then?”

“No. She didn’t lift a finger back then.” He looked back at Lyle. ”She knew she didn’t have to.” He rubbed his mouth. “Send out an official statement to the Triumvirate, signed by Mister Raines Parker.” Him. “Upon further investigations, The Centre believes our in-house pretenders were taken, along with my daughter, possibly by Jarod.”

“Wait, we are saying Miss Parker was taken?” Lyle asked confused. “So far all the evidence points to-“

“I don’t pay you to think,” Mister Raines said, putting him back into his place. “Just do it.”

------------------------

Sydney entered the office. “Good morning, Broots. I’m not too surprised to see you here.”

“Six months.” Broots sat down. “Morning, Sydney.” He dragged himself to behind the computer. As he dug into his computer though? “Sydney? To hide this well from The Centre,  do you think Miss Parker ran with Jarod? And?”

Sydney scooted toward the computer. “They think Jarod took Miss Parker and some pretenders?” He feigned ignorance. “Odd indeed.”

“The Centre sent it straight to the Triumvirate not long ago.” Broots glanced at Sydney. “The ages of the pretenders?” He shook his head. “Man, there’s no way Miss Parker would survive hanging out with those kids. Not six months.”

“She did fine with Debbie,” Sydney pointed out.

“Debbie was one kid, she was well behaved, and it wasn’t super long. That would be a lot of  excitable kids getting to be on the outside for the first time, for six months. I can’t see her surviving that.” Broots stared at the computer. “Still? More pretenders? I can’t believe more were hiding in here and Jarod didn’t know about it. Anyway, why would anyone steal Miss Parker with a bunch of kids? Did they find footage of her being kidnapped?” He fidgeted. “I don’t think she was kidnapped.”

“Maybe.” Sydney shrugged. “We won’t know the truth until she comes back. Until then, Broots. Just keep looking.”

--------------------------

The Centre Playroom

Mister Raines moved toward a special room in The Centre and slipped in his card. He opened the door and went in, seeing more clones there. Lucas. Ronald. Coded Rain. Stephanie. While it was good to have backups, it wasn't as good as the originals. The originals were disciplined and raised in The Centre. These were pulled back into The Centre from their normal lives.

Cloning tech had been perfected some time ago. Catherine and the Miss Parkers were the best of any of them. In fact, for the longest time, they were the only ones The Centre had. Their inner sense made them so unique.

However, tech did catch up, and The Centre knew exactly how to handle them now. Since the old ones were causing trouble with the new ones, it might be time to get rid of the old ones.

These new ones were plenty. He looked down at the kids. "Enjoying The Centre's toys?"

Ronald smiled. "Yes!"

"Where's my mom?" Stephanie asked him. "My mom and dad should have been here by now."

"The Centre's been working out arrangements with them, Stephanie," he answered.

“My name’s Alicia,” Stephanie insisted. “Alicia Brundghart.”

You won’t remember that for long. "They'll come soon, Sweetie." He took a deep breath while the kids all stared at him. If I don't get the others back, then they'll have to remain backups. Annoying, they’d have to be trained, all because of his daughter. Or clones. Or, whatever anymore.

They were all the same thing. He looked toward Lucas, staring at him. He still had the same kind of cold eyes the original had. Still great potential. "Lucas. Why don't you come for a walk with me? We'll get to know each other better."

"My name’s Evan, and only if you stop the song in the background," Lucas said as he grabbed his hand. "That stupid song is driving me crazy. I’m a kid, not tone deaf."

Mister Raines went over to the small tape recorder and turned off the senseless happy dribble. "There we go. Now let's go enjoy a nice walk, Lucas. You can tell me what your dad does for a living."

"Listen to mom," Lucas answered.

Mister Raines smirked. Yes. He'd be a good one to try. Smart alecs were the easiest to break.

The Centre. 5:30 AM

Mister Raines approached the office Broots and Lyle were working in, tracking Jarod. “Broots. Lyle. Where’s Sydney?”

"No idea," Lyle said.

“Uh? I don’t know,” Broots said weakly. He didn't. It was earlier than usual. "I was told to come in at 5:00. I don't know if Sydney had been told that too." For some reason, that seemed to please Mister Raines instead.

“What are you finding for data on our lost Miss Parker, Lyle?” Mister Raines asked. "The Centre needs her. She needs to be found."

Lyle was just staring at Mister Raines. Broots ignored the tension and went back to his work. No doubt he'd find out what that was about soon. Sibling rivalry at massacre levels again?

-------------------------

Lyle got up from the office and went down the hallway, leaving Broots behind. “Lots of calls coming in from our sources, Mister Raines. I don’t know how we got this many this fast, for one technically lost person?”

Ah. “Some bitterness in your voice?” Mister Raines asked. 

“What do we do with all these reports?” Lyle demanded. “Sir, this is insane. It’s not gonna . . . it’s too big for The Centre.”

“Nothing’s too big for The Centre. The Centre isn’t a place, it’s a god.”

“Was I ever like this?”

“No, who would need you?” Mister Raines adjusted his tie. “We aren’t going after any of the others, relax. Just Miss Parker. Now, how many do you have?”

Lyle still seemed to have a slight bitter edge as he brought the folders. “This far. It’s too many. It’s too obvious.” He still seemed conflicted.

“You don’t have enough faith,” Mister Raines said. “How many?”

"234."

"That's good. Tell the sources it's feeding time," Mister Raines said to Lyle. "As I am sure you are guessing? We’ve excelled past them and we are eliminating them."

"Elimination? All of them?" It seemed like such a waste and a hassle. “That’s like . . . like  killing my sister. Many times over.”

"Hm. We were going to bring them in, cool them down and get answers about which one had the kids," Mister Raines said. "Change of plans, especially with 234. More than one confidential source has claimed they are awakening memories without instruction to do so. That’s a step too far, we are getting rid of the pest problem now. We'll take care of this and then lay low awhile. Besides, this project is old news, it's not needed anymore. Very few successes."

They'd have to stay below the radar for a little while. In house experiments only.  The real shame was The Centre would be on an extreme lockdown of all their usual Centre business for quite some time.

No more outside government projects coming in. Nothing but the basics. He’d probably have to use his own earnings to keep it running through these dark times.

But it was necessary. Being compromised was not an option and this will hit the news. Hard. There was no stopping it, the public would see this move. "Tell them there's fifty million on the table. Send all data you've accumulated out to each source. Collect one object per kill for identity, no bystanders shot or no payment. It will all be divided like a Sunday potluck dinner." Lyle seemed almost frozen. "You have a problem with that?"

"No." Lyle looked at the folder again. "We are killing Miss Parker. There's no way Broots will do that without question. He’ll look into things, he’ll discover the connections. He’ll see the truth."

“If he does ever get that far somehow? He would only think we pushed him through re-education and messed with the mind. No one would guess the truth. Everyone has a price for their soul," Mister Raines said. "Some are more expensive than others. Some are cheap. Yours is cheaper. Get it done."

"Yes, Sir. I know where it hurts this one," Lyle said. "This is still a bad idea."

"Cold feet?" Mister Raines asked. "Never got rid of this many so fast?" It was the Miss Parkers. It had to be swift and quick.

"No, I'll do it, Mister Raines. Jarod might come kill us you know."

"Which one?" Mister Raines smirked. “Less fear, Mister Lyle. That’s why you haven’t gotten very far yet. You need to be strong to survive The Centre.” He held up a finger. "There's also a pool on who'll live longest. If you want in, you've got thirty minutes."

Lyle still looked weird. "This isn’t like shooting fish in a barrel. She’s got incredible skill."

"Not all of them are the same. Use the term sister loosely,” Mister Raines warned him.

----------------------------------

Lyle came into the office room behind Broots again. The things he knew. The things he’d seen. This computer guy, he’d never believe it. He wouldn’t. Never. Even if he was there when the clone of Jarod was found in Donoterase? He’d never believe what had happened. “Possible places my sister could be hiding.” He kept the top identifiers on the top. He had given Broots only the basics of a standard missing person job so he wasn’t any wiser.

Broots had been doing fine, his Centre computer skills sewing the destruction of Miss Parker with each click, unknowingly. File after file, the computer kept lighting up his visage. Click by click by click. Then, he started to slow down lightly. Getting a little suspicious of Lyle. Meanwhile, Lyle kept his phone handy. They met each other’s eyes briefly, before Broots looked back at the paper. He looked back toward Lyle.

“There a problem, Broots?” Lyle questioned. “Clickety clack it up.”

Broots picked up the file and started to look at it closer. “I don’t think your sister would ever be there. Would she?”

“I don’t know? She did steal kids,” Lyle said. “I mean, the pretender probably stole her with the kids. Seems reasonable. Back to work.”

“Jarod wouldn’t put them into a public school.” Broots was hesitating. “Who saw her in a public school?” He looked at another file.

Lyle knew that would happen. “We are The Centre, Broots. We cover all possible ways of escape.” He shrugged. “Probably a long shot, but it’s still a shot. Especially if it's for a short time. Hell, Jarod fakes surgeon papers like nothing, that shouldn’t be a big deal. I mean? Was it tough for you when put your daughter through school? Trusting place, isn’t it?” Yeah. Broots was starting to eye him even more. “Lots of friends. Open area. I believe it actually is, what, your kid’s lunch time soon?” He had a small lunch calendar on him he’d only get from the school. Broots would know, he probably had onen too. "Ooh, yes. Chicken nuggets today. That sounds great. Not lunch time, yet. In about fifteen minutes. Hm."

Yeah. Broots looked back at the computer slowly, looked toward the folder and started typing again.

Keystroke by keystroke. Somewhat aware of what he was doing, yet still not really. Knowing it was wrong, but still pushing those buttons. 

Keystroke by keystroke. A little slower. A little more deliberately. Lyle just leaned over and watched. 

Damn. The power of the keyboard right now.

Broots didn’t know. Oh, Broots didn’t know.

—------------------------------------------------------------------

Seattle

Dimple’s Diner

“Oh, I can’t wait for some yummy service!”

Aww shit! “Cuyler.” Bastard found her finally. He walked into Dimple’s and sat straight down at the counter.

“I think I want a burger.” He eyed her in the corner. “Well, what a surprise to see you here, Kitty Katty.”

Ass. Ass. Ass. Kathleen delivered the next hamburger she had, as soon as possible. She didn’t say a word, hoping he would just leave.

“So, Kitty Katty,” Cuyler bugged her. “There is this awesome new job I wanted to introduce you to. It’s way better. I want you to come see it.”

“No way.” She had to answer. “I have a job, and I’m good at it.” Relatively speaking. “Every time you try to get me involved in anything, I end up in the hospital or something. Screw you. Eat your burger and get out.” No way.

“Don’t be that way Kitty Katty,” Cuyler kept bugging her. “This one is out of Seattle. The first opportunity away from here. It’s all in the way in Delaware.”

“I woke up in Delaware one time,” she reminded him. “Still in a hospital.”

“You woke up delirious,” Cuyler insisted. “You were never out of Seattle’s area.”

No. It didn’t matter what he said, she knew she woke up in Delaware. It felt like Delaware. Wait. How do I know how Delaware feels?

“It’s an organization. It pays good money,” he insisted. “My connections found an open spot there. No more dawdling around in these miserable pity jobs, or making dangerous contracts.”

The contract thing was him, not her. She flipped the next burger.

“A different state. A different beginning. Come with me?” he insisted. “Kathleen?”

Miserable pest. “You really think I’m just gonna drop everything and go live in a different state with some guy?”

“Yeah, it’s not unheard of,” he said with a strange tilt in his voice. “It’s not unheard of at all. I need you to come, we have to get out of here.”

He did sound strange, but there was no way she was doing that. Ever. Recipe for disaster, it didn’t matter what he did, she wasn’t budging.

He nagged for a little while until customers made it harder for him to bother her. He eventually took off, but he warned her that ‘they were going soon’.

Whatever, she wasn’t moving an inch.

—-------------------------------------

Georgia, Nowhere.

Miss Parker got up earlier, moving the kids sleeping around her as she sensed something at the door. She didn’t hear a sound, but she knew someone was there. She looked out the window and saw Maggie, the mother of the PK’s. Without thinking much about it, she opened the door. 

The woman, Maggie, stared at her. Just stared. She didn't talk.

Parker came closer. Almost within arm's reach but not quite. "Maggie? How did you get out too?"

The woman continued to stare at Parker. Nothing was said.

Parker spoke again. "I’m Miss Parker. We met?” She could feel something wrong. “Your children are safe, the ones I could find."

"Your name’s not Miss Parker," Maggie said. "No one's Miss Parker. She’s Imaginary."

Okay? "Imaginary or not, I'm here." She should just ask about it. "Were you born at The Centre?" She doubted she could simply hand over her kids.

"Maggie born of everything and everywhere." She just smiled at Parker. "You were born of everything and everywhere. Imaginary woman."

Who was this woman? “I’m not imaginary, I'm Miss Parker.”

“Are you? Then?” She held out her arm toward her, snatching it. “Who are they?”

New York

"Buddy, will you knock it off, I'm driving here!" Miss Parker yelled as she honked her horn.

Denver

"If you ask me, I think the Lord could have spent a few extra minutes on those looks," Miss Parker giggled to her friend as she poked fun at someone on the other side of the school.

Tennessee

Miss Parker stared at her paper. Her teacher had called on her, in all subjects, math. "One?" She looked toward her teacher, hoping she got her guess right.

Washington

"Dollar ninety nine, get 'em for a dollar ninety nine!" Miss Parker yelled to the kids from her Ice Cream Truck.

Florida

"Leave me like five minutes, I have three minutes 'til I beat this level," Miss Parker insisted to her parents as she played on her game system.

“If you are Miss Parker, then who are they?” Maggie asked.

Them. Images and voices of her at different times and ages. Just like I told Jarod. Just like I’d seen. All hitting her all at once, started somehow by Maggie’s touch. She felt herself fall backwards. She heard Jarod’s voice, he was trying to get her up. “Maggie.” She pointed at Maggie. She isn’t good, she’s bad. There’s something bad about her.

Jarod didn’t pay any attention to the woman standing in front of them. “What is it, what are you pointing at?” he asked. “What happened?”

He couldn’t see her? “Maggie.”

—------------------------------

“Who is Maggie? The mother of the PK’s?” Jarod planned on being the first one up, but for some reason, Parker was over by the front door. He watched as she completely seized up looking at the door and then fell to the ground. Now, she was pointing and calling for someone named Maggie.

While he was checking her over, he was met with another hell of a surprise. “Sydney?” Sydney was getting out of a car. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to know that myself,” Sydney said. “I was called out here early this morning by Miss Parker.”

Miss Parker called him? Jarod looked at Miss Parker. “Did you call Sydney for some reason?”

“It’s more people with Aunt Par!” Stephanie said as she approached the door. “Aunt Par fell down and went boom!”

Her twin came to the door as well. “Does she need some medical care?”

“No, just stay inside,” Jarod warned her. “It might be getting dangerous, don’t come out unless I say.” Then, knowing how kids liked to do the opposite of what adults wanted? “Keep everyone inside, and I’ll make it up for supper. Whatever you guys decide, I’ll get for you.” Yep, that got them both hightailing it inside yelling. “Stay away from the door and we can have whatever we want for supper!”

Sydney came closer. “Miss Parker, what’s wrong?”

Miss Parker exhaled deeply and blew out a ton of air. Then yawned. She looked around herself. Up. Down. Right. Left. "Huh. Okay, Rene, what the hell you get yourself into now?" She turned and looked at Sydney and Jarod oddly.

What? She suddenly had a strange accent. A different way of moving about her.

"Okay?" She stood up and Jarod let her go, seeing she was moving steadily. She got off the porch though, and then started to walk backwards from them, like they might hurt her. "I'm not here to cause any trouble. I'll just get in my car and go." She looked around. "I don't see my Toyota anywhere."

"Miss Parker?" Sydney called to her. "Are you okay?"

 

"Eh? Look, I'm sorry fella," she apologized. "My name's Rene. Rene Grossberg. Peyton, Colorado? You've got me confused with someone else." She rubbed her neck and looked around. "Where's my car?"

Tennessee

"Can you help me with this answer, Jarod?" Miss Parker asked. She looked at the boy beside her in her science class. "Jarod?"

Jarod turned to look back at her. He looked toward her answer. "Looks good, Clarice, but why are you calling me Jarod? It's Brandon."

Miss Parker scratched her head. "Why are you calling me, Clarice, Jarod? Is that supposed to be funny?"

Seattle, Washington

"Hey there!" Miss Parker waved at the customers. "Got two scoops right here. One for little Jarod."

"Tony," he corrected.

"One for little Debbie."

"Megan."

"I'm terrible with names," she laughed. "Hey? Who wants a Centre special on top? Whipped cream and a whole lot of fudge?"

"Don't you mean the Circus special, Ice Cream Lady?"

New York

Miss Parker looked at her fare so far. "So, Mister Sydney, is there any place I can drop you off in particular?"

"Weaver, Mister Weaver," he corrected her., "and why are we heading the wrong way?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to go to The Centre?" She asked. "I thought you wanted to go to a nearby Centre?"

"No, I never said that!"

"Shoot," she muttered. "Sorry, Mister Sydney Sir, where is it you need to go?" She fidgeted around for something. She was craving something. "Hey, you got a cigarette on you?"

—-----------------------------------

Georgia. Nowhere

Sydney had called up Broots to do a search on the woman Miss Parker now claimed she had been, and what he found was shocking.

Jarod was still trying to wrap his mind around it. "Missing seven months. Rene Grossberg." The woman Parker just said she had been. The one busily rubbing her sleeves, worried. Car description, Toyota. Lived in Peyton, Colorado. Three kids. Married to a Stephen Grossberg over six years ago. Over six years ago. She gave Sydney and Jarod all the details they wanted as they each made a statement on how they found her.

"So I was wandering around? You don't remember how or why? Anyone around me?" She desperately wanted answers, but they couldn't give them.

"No," Sydney lied easily to her face, in only the way he could. "Both of us are psychiatrists, and I'm afraid we were riding through when we noticed a woman just standing in the middle of the field. We brought you here in hope of helping you out of your catatonic state." He patted her shoulder, a friendly smile on her face. "I am glad you will be reunited with your family soon, Rene."

"Thank you." She looked at her clothes. Probably scared about the rags she wore and all of the memory loss.

Jarod didn't blame her. Anything could be going through this woman's mind. "At least you're safe now. Back to your husband and kids." Something about that, of course. "Where you'll be happy. Excuse me."

He moved out of the way. It was hard to breathe. He swore it was Parker. Everyone did. He was with a stranger all this time? I knew something was wrong. She was more emotional. The visions, and the sharing. Everything. 

How could they have those conversations? How could she know about The Centre? How could she know him so well that he, a master at pretending to others himself, couldn't see it?

"My God!"

That was extreme for Sydney to say. Jarod came back over and saw just why. "Catherine Parker?" But, no. She died. Having Ethan. Yet, a woman with the same haircut, the same kind of grace, charm and an unbelievable smile full of hope and cheer. Older now. Sydney's age. Yet it was miraculously her, getting out of a car.

"Hello, Sydney," she remarked. "How are you?"

Sydney just blinked. "It's . . ."

"It's good to see you too." She smiled at Sydney briefly before going to see Rene. "Hello." She patted her hands. "Everything's okay now. Your name?"

Rene stared at her with a slight nod. "Rene . . . Grossberg?"

"Ah. Hello, Rene." Catherine let go of her hand and tucked some of her hair back. "Do you know who I am?"

A gentle shake of the head. "Momma?"

"Yes. Now, be a good lady and just wait a moment. The men here are going to have to catch up." She looked back toward Sydney. "I am going to need a favor? Rene Grossberg and her entire family will need to hide. Somewhere that The Centre won't find them. Please find someplace." She turned to see Jarod. "Hm. You're a familiar one?"

"Jarod." Catherine Parker. Jarod had no idea how to react. She should have been dead since the early seventies. She had somehow faked her death a second time?

"The boy from The Centre." She remembered. She looked toward Sydney. "He's really grown, hasn't he?"

"Catherine?" Sydney was still shocked too. “You were the one who wanted to meet out here?”

"You knew my mother," Jarod of course had to start with that. Of all things. Now?

From death, never being found, not a shred of evidence of her existence. She was just standing there, speaking casually to them. "Sometimes a simple hello isn't enough?"

"Not when you've been presumed dead since the early 70's!" Sydney’s temper flared a moment. "Where have you been?"

"Safe," she said. "Living my life. Everyone was safe." She gestured to Rene. "Poor Rene, I’m sorry." 

Jarod had a million questions his mind wanted her to answer, but his heart was set on one. "Where is your daughter, Miss Parker?"

"Straight and to the point. She meant a great deal to you," Catherine said. 

Meant? "Is she . . .?"

"She is and she isn't," Catherine said. "Just like I am, and I am not."

No. "I don't have time for games right now," Jarod said desperately. He glanced at Rene. "Is Rene Grossberg, Miss Parker?" He should have that answer, but he needed to hear it from Catherine Parker.

"None of them are Miss Parker, Jarod, and all of them are. Give me a few minutes to share my story, and you'll understand." Catherine took a deep breath and watched as another car came forward. "This never should have happened. There will be much blood upon Maggie’s hands."

Jarod did a double take as someone else who looked like Catherine was coming down toward them in her car. She came out. Slightly different hairstyle, but the same kind of clothes and expression. “What?”

"Am I late?" The woman who looked like Catherine, looked at Catherine. "I am. Hello."

"Hello," Catherine said.

The woman smiled at Sydney. "Hello, Sydney." She looked at Jarod. "Hello, Jarod. I'd say you've grown, but I've already said that, haven't I?"

"I'm." There was nothing else for it. "Tripping out," Jarod remarked. "Catherine and Catherine? Miss Parker not being Miss Parker? What's going on?! Where is the real Miss Parker, and which one of you knew my mother?!"

"Real," Catherine said. She looked toward the other Catherine counterpart as they exchanged a dialogue toward him. "What's real?"

"What's not real?"

"Who am I verses who died?"

"Died in an elevator."

"Died giving birth."

"What is the meaning of real?" they said together.

"This two in one will get strange for them," Catherine said to the other woman. "You should go. They will press on you harder."

The other Catherine nodded. "Are any others coming, do you think?"

"I don't think so. They would probably find us and call."

" . . . okay." The other woman that looked like Catherine went toward Jarod. “Gentle with Jarod. He's obsessed."

"Where is the real Miss Parker?!" Jarod demanded again. He wasn't used to being kept in the dark by things going on around him anymore. He didn't like it! He even found Catherine Parker alive, with a twin. "Where is my mother? Where are they both? Are they together?"

"One moment, as one of us takes our leave." Catherine looked at the one who looked like her go back toward her car. "Okay."

—---------------------------------

Catherine gave it a little bit of time. Her friend Sydney was so overwhelmed, and the young boy she once knew had grown up to be quite a man. An interrupter at that. "I'm afraid I won't have much grace in this matter, Sydney." She looked toward Sydney. "This explanation will be rushed for the sake of time. I'm sorry." Sydney nodded toward her. "My friend, do you remember your work at The Centre?" She touched her chest delicately. "My, listen to me? Like I'm talking in the past, you still work there." She moved her hand again. "Sydney? You worked with twins. Do you understand what's happening?"

Oh, she could see Jarod behind her slightly, looking like he was angry. Being ignored. Well, under the circumstances, she would do the best she could.

"I understand that The Centre did something to Miss Parker's twin," Sydney said. "The Centre apparently even hid the fact that you were a twin."

"No. That's not it. I've called my boy here, but he's not going to make it in time. He's too far." She looked toward Jarod. "He will call instead to comfort Jarod." So he'd stop bothering her. She smiled at Jarod. "Now."

Jarod took out his phone and flipped it open. Ethan was calling? "Hello?"

"Hello, Jarod. Is she there? The voice? In person finally?"

"Keep him on the line," Catherine insisted. There. That would help Jarod feel more involved without having to address him much. She turned back toward Sydney. Now she could continue again. "Do you know what it was all for? The testing over the twins? Why The Centre wanted it? Why The Centre wanted so much information over it?"

"Some twins share a great bond," Sydney said. "Some are very in tune to each other."

"Yes. Some going as far as being psychically connected." She looked away a moment toward the sky. "What happens in the closest of connections, Sydney? Please tell me."

"The closest," he confirmed to her. "In the closest, they share the same pain. If you zapped one, for instance, the other would move like they felt it. They share similar words, each finishing each other's sentences. Sometimes, they were so interconnected, it was hard to find a personality difference between them."

"They were like the same person," Catherine said to him. "Yes. They were. Give it a moment, I told Ethan to hang up." Now she could address Jarod as he closed his phone slowly staring at her. "Ethan told me about your clone, Jarod. The Gemini Project?" Ah, Jarod just stood up absolutely straight. He was starting to get the hint once she moved Miss Parker out of the equation and placed in Ethan who heard 'the voice of his mother'. She could hear his voice too. All of them could now. Such a nice boy.

She looked toward Jarod. "It's not perfect, but your genes, ooh. They must have been the absolute toughest to keep straight, Dear. It still amazes me that they managed to do it. No matter how much I see."

"Does someone named Maggie have something to do with this?" Jarod was starting to question more closely. “She said that name right before she stopped being . . .” 

“Oh, Maggie has everything to do with it.”

"Catherine." Sydney moved closer. "Catherine, we need to understand what you are saying. Are you saying that Maggie and Miss Parker have a connection that are as close as a twin?"

Catherine brought out her ID toward Sydney. "It's not fake. That's who I am. Look at the dates. Do you recognize me specifically? Anything about me?" She watched Sydney examine the dates.

"Momma?" Rene called out. "I have to get home, I can't wait. I have to get to them. I have to get out." She looked toward Jarod again but didn't say anything. "I have to go now."

Catherine knew she wouldn't address it. She was aware of the truth now, which was most likely interfering in her real life.

"Do you remember anything?" Jarod pressed her. "Rene?"

" . . . I know that you're a good person who'll take good care of the children left in my care," she said. "I can't anymore. I have a husband and three children. I have to get out. Things just became dangerous, every second longer- I have to go!"

"I know, Dear." Catherine stood up and hugged her. "Take one of their cars and get out as fast as you can. I have to do my best to save who I can." She kissed Rene on her forehead. "Be a good girl? Get going. Sydney? I'm going to need your keys for her." He was reluctant but he seemed to understand the need and parted with his keys. She gave her one more hug, not knowing if she'd even arrive safely at home or not, before letting go and paying attention back to the guys.

"Do you need help?" Jarod probably couldn't help himself.

"I will be fine," she insisted. "You're needed here. Just do what you can." Then, she left.

Catherine watched him try to go after her. "She can take care of herself. She's right, innocents could die if we don't hurry. We all need to talk."

The Centre: 1940's

Catherine stared ahead at two people sitting down. Two grown women. They looked identical. She felt a connection to both of them. Was that her grandparent?

"Hello," she and one of the woman said at the same time. "My name's Catherine."

"Excellent. Good job," the doctor who observed them said. "I am going to hold a card up-"

"Five stars." All three of them already knew.

Catherine stared at the two women again. To one, she felt more distant, while to the other? She felt. Like she was watching some future of herself. She reached out to her.

"Don't touch her, Cathy," the woman said. "She's dirty. She's not real."

Not real? The young Catherine didn't understand. She could feel, eat, taste and smell. She had affection for others. Why was she not real?

Catherine looked at all of the counterpart children around her. There were four more, staring at her in just the same way. Like they were all mirrors of her. "Hello," they all said at the same time. "My name's Catherine." They each pursed their mouth slightly, then they each held up their hands and waved at each other. Then they all looked out toward a window at a man making notes uttering 'brilliant'.

Catherine didn't see it as brilliant. She smiled, as they all did, and they all spoke again.

"Catherine 1, when I give the word, I want everything that is blue that you can think of. Catherine 2, I want the same thing except with the color red. Catherine 3, the same thing except with purple. Catherine 4, the same thing except with yellow."

Oh. Catherine could think of some things. The sky. Water.

Blueberries.

She heard that. She smiled at the Catherine that somehow shared that. That Catherine had the color red, so she would help her too. Roses. As they went, each of them seemed to share with each other their thoughts and ideas without ever uttering a word. By the time the doctor asked for the objects, they each had over fifty in a space of thirty seconds, each rattling off their lists.

"Big lists." The doctor wrote down information. "Did you . . . find a way to exchange information among your . . . selves?" They all shook their heads. "Brilliant. It really was passed along."

Catherine lived at The Centre with the counterparts to her. The doctor took care of her and her soul sisters. Not sisters, but clones, and so closely bonded that soul sisters seemed to fit. Each of them had been called Catherine, but they all instinctively knew which was which. One day, she struggled as she was taken to medical. They told her that she had grown up enough to leave The Centre, but The Centre was her home! She didn't want to forget them. She didn't want to leave her sisters.

1962

Catherine approached her soul sister. Although forced to forget each other, when the Catherine that married Mister Parker had cried out in the largest anguish any of them had ever felt? They had all reconnected through her emotion. Her soul sister was in a terrible state. Her husband Mister Parker was now gone at work. Catherine approached her, playing with her child. Only . . .

she was not her child. 

Catherine reached for her sister to hug her. "We are all here. Together, we will all get through this." It wasn't needed to say out loud but it sounded even more reassuring. 

At birth, the Catherine who married Mister Parker had lost her son to The Centre, but even worse? Her second child was now gone, and replaced.

No one out of the loop knew the truth, but that little baby’s mother had felt it. The Centre had wanted to start a new line of ‘Catherine’, and they wanted to use her daughter. New habits. New experiments. 

The real baby was probably lost to the cloning, considering how hard it had been. The Catherine’s genes had worked remarkably well in cloning, but even the first original Catherine to be cloned didn’t survive it.

The little toddler girl strolling around fell slightly. She was only one of probably a dozen The Centre made. Who knew? They might have made even more this time around. "What have you called the new one?" Catherine asked her. “Can you bear this new one after what happened?”

"Miss Parker,” that Catherine replied. “I will call all of them Miss Parker. It's fitting.” She hugged her tighter. "We had Catherine as our name. Everyone needs a name, and any they make will be my child. I don't know how to get out. I can't leave."

"I know."

"They have my daughters. They are still my daughters. I can't leave without them."

"I know." Of course they were. They understood that connection better than anyone. "We will help you. As long as a Catherine is here at The Centre, that's all they will know. We will share the physical burden to watch over all of them. No matter what."

1971

Each Catherine held each other, mourning the loss of the feeling. They would never be the same. They had been tricked into being helped by Raines, and one of the Catherine's died giving birth. At least, that is what they had to assume for the one who died could no longer be in their shared memories. She could have been killed too. It was risky to assume either way.

The one who had birthed the original Miss Parker needed the most help to keep it together. To her, it should have been her fate. She had been the one to marry Mister Parker. 

Each Catherine had shared the duty of taking place over the other at The Centre, so that responsibilities could be taken to rescue and care for the children. Those kidnapped by The Centre. Those made by The Centre.

There were so many that didn’t even know they were owned by The Centre. They lived outside of The Centre, but it still ran their lives. They weren’t free, just another point of research.

Now there was no way to help them anymore. The current Centre Insider Catherine was dead, and Raines was aware of their schemes. To interfere with the children would put all the others in danger. This was not a simple task to undergo, it was simply too much for them. They did comfort the new baby Ethan as they could, with their own connections to him.

But there was nothing more they could do. The daughters would have to stay in The Centre’s grasp, and to corrupt that plan would send every one of them into danger. They could not risk a rescue of more than 200 lives safely.

 

They would keep an eye out for each other, and an eye out for their children. But they would never interact.

"Unless it became so bad," Catherine admitted. "So bad, that we didn't have a choice but to interact again." She looked straight at Jarod. "I am not the one who bore Miss Parker, but I am a Catherine.”

It was tough to believe, but Jarod couldn’t deny it. “The Centre had cloned me too,” he told her. “They succeeded once with me.”

Catherine chuckled. “Oh, Jarod. They’ve succeeded more than once with you. You only found the match that was the most perfect to use and keep.”

Jarod was afraid he’d hear that. Let’s get this over with. “Miss Parker, the one who was birthed, she died shortly after birth. I understand that. Where is the Miss Parker that I knew as a child? The one that used to chase me?”

Catherine didn’t answer Jarod’s question. “”Inner sense pretender clones was what they always wanted. They've achieved each separately, but never together. This is their goal, and now that one of mine has got in their way of stopping their favorite experiment? I am afraid all of the Miss Parkers are in danger."

"This is bad." They needed computer access right away. He looked over toward Sydney and called to him.  "Sydney, contact Broots again. Make sure he isn't doing anything stupid." Jarod had to think.

Miss Parker's clones were all in the average range of intelligence. Average testing could be performed. But pretenders? Experimenting was risking genius. The Centre most likely kept the pretender kids safer after what happened with his clone in Donoterase.

"Jarod." He watched Sydney come back toward him. "Broots was called in at five this morning. He said they had multiple ideas of where she had been kidnapped too."

"Kidnapped?"

"Yes. The Centre put out the word you kidnapped the children and her," Sydney stated. "So that a standard search and rescue Centre process would begin. He had to enter a huge list of addresses of possible locations to search."

Jarod felt himself sinking. "No."

"Yes. Broots put in all the data." Sydney rubbed his forehead. "All 234 locations. He says he sent what information he could."

"What?!" That many? Jarod looked back toward Catherine. "You only had five, how many clones of your daughter are there?"

"Oh, I was early work for The Centre," Catherine reminded Jarod. "Very early. While the world was discovering computers, The Centre had already gone so much further, and I'm sorry." She nodded toward him. "I tried. I tried to act like I didn't know, but at the same time, I tried to stop the Gemini Projects."

Jarod didn't know what to say to that. "234 . . . Miss Parkers?"

"They perfected it as well as they could so as not to waste as much with the next goal. The Gemini Project," she reminded him. “It’s nowhere near 200 though, don’t worry.”

So more clones of me. "They are right next to the clones of Parker, aren't they?"

"It would save observation space."

"How many of me?" Jarod asked.

"I think they had plans for five successes, but to say they are perfect clones is a stretch. I believe they were chimeras. Considering how close they kept the Gemini project, he is probably your only true clone." She shrugged. "Either way, after they lost him, those out in the field can't be recollected as easily. They weren't groomed in the same way. They didn't want them groomed, they wanted to see them raised in different ways too. You . . . are different than us, Jarod. Than the Catherine's and the Misses. You stayed separate from their minds. There was no twinning they were cloned from."

"Wait," Sydney stopped her as he came out with a piece of paper. "Are you saying these pretender children all have twins?"

"Yes, and The Centre has already called more in," she confirmed. “They actually have triplets I think. Could be more. We don’t involve ourselves as deeply, but we try to do what we can.”

Hundreds of those pretender kids. “Hundreds of Stephanie’s, Ronald’s, Lucas’, and not even named except with a code.” Terrible. They were coming. "Once they perfect that, there will be hundreds of pretender children."

"Considering the technological advancement of the normal world outside The Centre, I am guessing more in the thousands in a few more years," Catherine corrected him. "Designed to think together, just like us. It doesn't matter still though, you want to know where the Miss Parkers are that you knew? Physically? Don't you?"

"There are 234." Jarod didn't want to say it that way. "Did they die and get replaced?" He had to know. Did every Miss Parker he really know, just . . .

"No, no. The ones that were the right ages would get 'called in', and then sent back to their own lives," Catherine said. "Watching them grow, progress, go through different events, have children, study their children, study addictions that sprang up, feelings that sprang up, it was worth all the data to The Centre. However?” Her voice went darker. “The mind sharing will disappear if two certain clones are lost. The heart and mind.” She shook her head. “There will be no more Miss Parker as a whole, only parts, if anything happens to them..”

"I'll save everyone I can," Jarod promised. "Parts or whole. Rene Grossberg then?"

"She might not have the memories of Miss Parker, but she is still essentially trained to be Miss Parker. She will take care of her family. We need to help others, if we can. I can help quiet their mind. Not only that, we need to help Maggie."

Maggie? "Maggie, the mother? Is she another clone of Parker?"

"No. She's a clone of the original Catherine’s sister," she admitted. "We are close to her. She is the mother of the pretender kids. She is in an institution, under Centre control."

Great, another person to help. "I will do what I can." He already had way more than he could take care of, he knew that. 234.

Jarod was still trying to understand. He didn’t want to sound mean, but she still hadn’t answered his question and it didn’t look like she would. To her, they are all the same. 

"I have the list," Sydney said coming toward Jarod. "Broots could only stay on for so long to type. Lyle is hanging around him mostly, he gave me what he could."

Jarod looked at the list. Hundreds of different names and different places. Which one did he grow up with? Which one was on the island? Which one did he give the flu too? "All over the world." He could get some, not all. "My dad and Gemini can help too.”

"A good idea," Sydney agreed. "I'll try and get in touch with Broots again."

"Sydney." Maybe it did offend that Catherine, but Jarod said it anyhow. He had to.  "See if Broots can locate our Parker."

"Too many Parkers." He heard the stigma in 'Catherine's' voice. "Is Rene not her? Weren't you shocked with how much time you spent with her, not knowing she was not her?"

"Whose physical body was at The Centre as your daughter?" Sydney said it for Jarod.

"Many," she said again. "They liked bringing them in and out, to see if the adaptation to the main mind role as Miss Parker was completely accepted. Especially as children." She covered her bottom lip with her top lightly. “They each have two different lives. One personal and one shared mind with shared thoughts.”

"Who had the ruptured ulcer?" Jarod asked more clearly. Moving into physical ailments.

Catherine took a deep breath. "I don't know. I love 234 people, but I don't know who was who and where at what time. I also don’t know who the mind or heart had been. Only The Centre knows that."

Try again. “What is the heart and mind pieces? Were they Miss Parker more often?”

“No,” she said quickly.”Yes and no. I don’t know who was Miss Parker, I said that.”

Damn. Simpler. “What is the heart and mind?”

“The most recognized pieces,” she said. “The heart is the personality of Miss Parker. The mind is the intellectual traits, however after the mind’s excellent traits, the rest of the Miss Parkers tend to fall in a line for sharing.”

“Donating ideas?” Sydney asked. “So, the heart is essentially Miss Parker without any fringes?”

“Fringes?” Catherine was offended again. 

“The great traits of the mind and the other Miss Parkers,” Sydney said. “I’m sorry. Let me rephrase, Catherine? If Miss Parker A is good at math but excels in german, and Miss Parker B is bad at math and excels at her french studies?”

“Yes, the good pieces come first until the contribution is more subtle,” Catherine said. “That will disappear if the mind and heart disappear. They will start to suffer, making killing them even easier.”

“The heart is Miss Parker without any memories,” Sydney said to Jarod, his manners disappearing again.

“They form a line, like a train.” Jarod was starting to see it. “They aren’t like the Catherine’s, just sharing wildly between each other. Hm, if that were possible, The Centre would have sent out more than one Miss Parker at a time. They don’t know about each other’s existence. The strengths unconsciously come before the weaknesses.”

“Yes, one Miss Parker,” Catherine agreed, “while the rest continue to live their lives. It’s like a switch, and The Centre always controls that switch. None of them are any better or any worse. Save who you can, don’t waste time figuring out a heart and mind. By the time everything is said and done, most likely, they will be gone anyhow. The template will snap. Just bring who is left here, and I’ll help quiet the mind.”

Jarod shook his finger at her. "You are so confident I shouldn’t waste time figuring it out, but you are confident you need to save Maggie!"

"She connects with my daughters!" Catherine admitted. "I hate to say it, but? The. The reasons they are going after them, it may be less of just the kids. Their minds. I have a strong connection with my soul sisters, but I can connect with the Miss Parkers lightly. Being related to them as well, I believe Maggie is the one changing that connection. She is making their minds remember parts of the other lives that weren’t part of the shared mind. That is making them a burden to The Centre." She breathed deeply. "She has always been the switch The Centre used. Instead of working for it, she is sacrificing them to give her children time to escape The Centre."

What? "You want me to concentrate on saving a woman, who is making everyone lose their cover?!" Now it made sense. Rene was fine as Miss Parker, but then she started to become like Rene Grossberg for no reason. “Interference in however they worked?"

"She had her children taken," Catherine said again. "She isn't all there. She's been trapped for years by The Centre as the switch. You need to save her eventually, she'll know more. You'll need her access later on. Don't forget her."

"I don't buy this, this isn't right! Miss Parker cried out all the time, and no Catherines were ever there! No one heard her cries. No one soothed her. You soothed Ethan but not her? Not her, not Rene, not any of your so-called daughters! But the sister who is responsible for all of this? Oh don't leave her behind!" Jarod was angry, he was seeing right through to her. 

She didn’t have any extra love for any part of Parker. This was just the nearest ‘Catherine’ to intercept them. She cared more about keeping this Maggie safe than any of the Miss Parkers.

"Name and locations of the Miss Parkers I know?" Jarod asked. “Are they all near Delaware?”

"To go after them, even if they are far away from here?" Catherine responded. "Will you honestly play favorites?"

"Oh, I honestly will!" Jarod was getting tired of it, his capacity for being polite was disappearing.  "I don't really know if you yourself were at The Centre taking turns as Catherine. I don’t think just talking and sharing information makes you into each other, and I don’t think you do either.”

“They are all unique people, but Miss Parker is the shared mi-”

“I don't know who the woman was that I talked to personally last night like Parker. I don’t know who is the heart or the mind, and neither do you. I do know that I am going to rescue the women I knew all those years as Miss Parker!" That was a damn fact. "Name and locations, Sydney!"

"Then you forsake any of the young dears you could have saved around here," Catherine reminded him. "The young dears at school? All the Little Misses, still so innocent out there? Just because they never took a turn as Miss Parker?"

Sydney laid his hand on his shoulder. "I know this is difficult, but all we have are location, name, and Broots found the ages..”

“They are all Miss Parker,” Catherine said firmly. “Their names are separate, their lives are separate, and their memories are separate. It’s only when The Centre pulls them in, that those shared memories become Miss Parker. Every bit of her life that was lived by the others, it all forms in the mind and creates Miss Parker.” 

“I already get it,” Jarod said firmly back. Jarod glared at her, trying to keep his feelings in check. "Address of where Maggie is, and Sydney can watch over it." Maggie was safe inside of a building, Sydney could watch people come in and out. Most likely since she wasn't even Miss Parker, she would stay safe. "I'll have my dad and Major Charles help once I call. Wherever they are right now, they can get the closest ones to them." 

Jarod tried to think logically with his mind instead of just his heart too as he called. There was no time for a long warm conversation about how long it had been since he’d seen them. “Can you concentrate on finding the younger Miss Parker clones?.”

Jarod just hoped The Centre wasn't moving too fast. If it was set for a quick elimination with a reward? Fast. Efficient. Enticing.

It Begins . . .

---------------------

Fran checked her fare. She waited for the next person to come in. "Where-"

----------------

"Seriously? You just called me for dinner!" Clarissa whined. Her parents were interrupting her game again. At least it was only one more year of high school and-

---------------------

"Whoah there, that is not how much I pay for groceries," Jillian complained as she looked at her grocery ticket. "What is this, highway robbery? What in my groceries cost-"

-----------------------

Florence stared at her wallet as she waited for her friends to arrive. Hopefully none of them asked for extra money. She heard the man yell 'tickets' and she went up to the ticket man. "Three for-"

-----------------------------

Seattle, Washington

"Hi there." Mabel welcomed the teenagers coming to Kathleen’s Ice Cream Truck. She was doing her a favor for a small cut of the profit that day. "What would you like?" They didn't look happy. "What is it?"

"Where's the sexy one with the legs?" One of them asked. "The hot ones always working at this time. Not you."

Oh. Her nose wrinkled only a minute. "Not everyone is gifted with Kathleen Davis’ looks." These kids!

"Yeah, you're telling me. One snowcone, Tigers Blood."

Oh, Kathleen so owed her! Mabel bent down to get the cup ready for the snowcone. When she looked back up-

-----------------------------------------------

Dimple’s Diner

Kathleen Davis took off her tennis shoes for some softer shoes when she came into the diner she worked in. It was so stupid, one of those teenage punks decided to flake on her. So who had to come in? Her, and that was bullshit. It was late and kids were out playing around. Those brats needed cold treats. The kids and the teen boys that came around to stare. She usually charged their butts double since they were only there to linger at her. She was an attractive woman, but looks weren't enough to get by in the world. Well, unless you wanted to do something unscrupulous with those looks. 

At least she got Mabel to cover for her, but she still had to split some of the profits.

She rested in the back room for a little while before her shift began. The TV was on a special report. Probably weather. The weather always sucked. She looked toward it, eyewitnesses to whatever local weather problem was going on. People overreacting too, downright crying.

"The ages are all different, yet the synchronicity of this horror can't be ignored. These victims with what families say all share the same kind of features so much with each other, they practically look like twins. They all have dark-"

"Hey!" Kathleen complained as her 'mini-boss' came in and turned off the TV. Manager's favorite pet. "I was watching that."

"You're on duty," he said. "Get out there."

"I had two minutes before I started, and you should be thankful," Kathleen said as she tied her softer shoes. "I should be making money off brats and leering teens."

"You know as much as you hate people, you'd think you'd find something else different," the Manager's pet neighed to her.

"I take these stupid people jobs so I can make enough to . . . find something else." To get the hell out of there, but she couldn't go too far. She'd get fired, and she didn't want that again. Her last job reference swore she left and never came back. That didn't rub her employers the right way. Proven hospital stay records of an accident? Oh no, she just left with no excuse. Stupid bastards. She went out toward the front, waiting for the orders to come in.

That moron Cuyler better not show up today.

Tallahassee, Tennessee

Clarice ignored the notes being passed by her in school, she was trying to concentrate. She moved her feet back and forth by her desk. There was nothing more horrifying than geography. She felt a note landing on her chin, bouncing to her table. She rolled her eyes and looked at who did that.

"Clarice? Are you passing notes?"

"What?" The teacher was blaming her. "No, it was Terrence." She gestured toward Terrence.

"Uh huh." The teacher didn't believe her. "Why don't you give us an interesting state fact of anywhere other than Tennessee, hmm?"

"Um."

"Stand up and speak loud and clear," the teacher insisted.

Clarice looked at the geography map. She didn't know the world that well at all. Somewhere besides Tennessee. Her eyes went over toward Delaware. It was always an interesting state to her. "Delaware gets a lot of rain each year." She watched her teacher. She wasn't impressed, but not denying it either.

"Sit down, Clarice and pay attention." The teacher went back to teaching.

Geez. She didn't even do anything. Clarice looked toward the door though. A boy was lingering out the door. Staring at her. He looked familiar. He looked a lot like the boy Brandon she knew from science, but his hair was different. Brandon had cool different colored hair. Different colored eyes too. No, he was clearly someone different.

Her eyes drifted to the clock. It's where everyone's eyes were settling. Almost time for school to get out.

—----------------------

Gemini moved away from the schoolroom door and dialed on his cellphone. "I found her. What should we do, Major Charles?"

"Hope we are extremely lucky. I'm coming. Watch out for anything suspicious. You sure you are up to this, Gemini?"

"Yeah. She's a clone, like me," Gemini admitted. "There's no way I can just leave her out here to be killed off. Not this time, we have to make this one." He was taking some heat and some chances. He knew it. The attempts were moving fast, and no one cared about the ages of anyone involved. Major Charles and him had found the nearest clone of Miss Parker and she was taken out in the name of The Centre.

So was the second. 

The third was a teen, like the one now. She was already gone too.

He didn't want to mess around again! The names on the list were getting shorter, and the news were doing their fair share of the name dropping too. This wasn't just The Centre, it was like a bunch of groups assigned to kill asap! 

The original Jarod had no luck. They'd be lucky if any of them saved just one. 

He kept his eyes on the empty hallway. At the end of school, it would probably happen. They didn't want a big commotion in the way, they were wanting just their target.

While the older ladies were being warned by the media now, there were significantly younger ones. The last ones to be born. Only four according to the full list so there was no warning for them at all. When the bells rung, everyone started to pour out. He watched as she came out and walked to the left. He quickly tried to catch up. Schools were huge, people really poured out of them once it was over.

He was the only one young enough to get into a school building. He was the only option to get this done. Waiting later was too dangerous.

He wouldn't lose her. He moved, twisted and bent around everyone trying to catch up with her. She was heading out the front doors. He picked up the pace, practically dashing. Please! They could be anywhere. "Wait up!" He called.

She was moving along the sidewalk, looking at it as she walked.

He finally caught up to her, out of breath. "Wait."

She stared at him, but didn't stop walking. "You look familiar. Have we met?"

Wow. Even not being triggered to be a 'Miss Parker' she recognized him as Jarod. "My name's . . ." Catch up on his breathing. Crossing the street didn't help.

"Jarod." She said it like it was a certainty. "I mean, I think it's Jarod? You look like a Jarod. That was horrible of me. Sorry." She shrugged. "You're related to Brandon, right?"

"Gemini," he spoke. "My name's Gemini. How do you do?"

"Oh. Hi." She gestured to the road. "Do you walk home this way too?"

No. She needed to get out of such an easy spot. "You shouldn't walk home by yourself right now."

"I live like four blocks away," she said. "My mom and dad come to pick me up, but most times they are so late. It takes less time to just walk home. Oh, wait." She smiled and waved at a car. "There they are."

Gemini watched the car come close to the road and park. She tried to get in. "No, don't go."

"Don't talk that way to my daughter," the driver said. Clearly her dad.

"Don't talk that way to the nice boy," the passenger said. Most likely her mother. "He just wanted to talk longer."

"She doesn't need to be talking to boys," her father said. "Get in, Clarice."

Gemini would have protested again, but he saw it. Coming up from behind. He grabbed and pushed her down to the ground. 

Shots rang out above them. 

He held on tightly to her, she was trying to get up on instinct to get away to safety. "Don't move!" From the angle and the speed it was an attempt at a drive-by. That should give them just enough time before they could pull back and try again. She screamed, scared and traumatized. Hopefully he made her duck down fast enough to miss her family's end. 

Gemini pulled her up slightly and moved to the right as Major Charles’s car came careening around the side. As it stopped, he got the door opened and kept her ducked down still.

Major Charles pulled away just in time as shots rang out again. Gemini made her duck her head.

"Damn!" Major Charles yelled. "You get her, she okay? You okay too?"

"Yeah." He got her. She was crying, emotional, and screaming.

 

But alive.

Seattle, Washington

"Hey."

Kathleen Davis continued to scratch her scratch ticket as she glanced at a customer from the side calling to her. "I'm the cook, you need to order first." Typical. Cashier was out. Not her concern. She continued to scratch the ticket. Big money. Momma wants out of here. Life of luxury. Gucci. Prada. Penthouse maybe? Yeah right. Alright a fifty for a new outfit, come on fate. Give me something good 'cause I feel like shit today. Worse. Ever since she left the Ice Cream truck to come to work, she had felt less of herself. More, depressed. She felt like someone close to her had just died. She heard a cash register. Oh good, the cashier came back. 

No chance of a fifty. She could still make a 25. If she could just get one more match, she could get 25 bucks. Damn. 

"You're obsessive today," the Cashier Broots said as he came back. Of course he chose her to focus on before the griping customer. "You okay, Kath?"

"Yeah." Strange. She was obsessed. "I just. I haven't been feeling good lately. At all." In fact, she'd felt more miserable in what felt like the minute. "Hey, Broots?"

"Shawn," he answered. "You really aren't feeling okay. You're in a corner trying to scratch tickets?"

"Ticket, I can only splurge on one. Money makes me feel better." Sure it sounded hollow, but it was true. "I can't explain it. I feel like shit today." She wiped her eyes and showed her ticket. "Twenty five. Lucky me." Did somebody slip her something? Nah, when would someone have the chance to? Why did she feel like she was rotting in hell? "I feel like I piled up 9,000 dollars of debt in a week again."

"Ooh. You were a gambler?" Shawn asked her. "I didn't peg you for it."

"Oh no, not me. Before my accidents that changed my life," she said, "I used to work with this terrible guy named Cuyler. Man was a freaking genius, but he was an idiot. The guy literally borrowed money for fun and got into trouble just to make his life exciting. I swear, I wanted to shoot him so bad." It was nice talking about him in the past tense, like he didn't already find her again. "One day I am checking my account and it is 9,000 dollars overdrawn."

"Damn," Shawn said. "Anything your bank did?"

"No, no. They swore it was me. I mention this guy was a genius? Nope, 9000 in debt. I found him the next day and tried to choke him. Plague." If she had his smarts, she'd never be that stupid. She would have moved up in the world. Cuyler's personality would never change. "Everything canceled, overdrawn, and I couldn't make rent. He tried to deny it and invited me to stay with him. But that feeling?" Hopelessness. Tragic. She sniffed, but not very loud. "I can't explain it."

"Maybe someone you know just died?" Shawn recommended. "I mean, some people are more in tune, like have a sixth sense. Have you tried calling your folks to see if they are okay?"

Oh. Like she wasn't feeling worse enough. "I don't have any," she said. "My mom died. My dad was barely around anyhow and I hated his guts. If he had died, I'd be cheering, not feeling like this." Words were strong, that was it. What was she feeling? She sheltered her eyes again. She grew up tough, and she knew how to handle her sorrow. There was something more though.

“Your mom isn’t dead, Kath,” Shawn answered.

“Not dead. Right. Yeah, she’s not.” Why did she say she had been?

"You know, maybe you should leave the night to me?" Shawn recommended. "You honestly look like shit right now, Kathleen."

"Yeah." She found herself almost drunkenly on the bare ground now. Shawn bent down to see her better. "My body aches." Not like the flu. So many parts of her hurt right now.

But, her senses kicked in when she saw her co-worker's smile get marred by a bullet as he got back up from comforting her. No, not his smile. His head. Someone shot him dead.

Instinct kicked in and she grabbed a piece of wood siding from the cupboard's cover. While the shooter aimed at her, she threw it at the gun. It was torn apart, but gave her the chance to get into the back. She could feel the pursuit and locked the back door.

The door was getting riddled with holes. I need a weapon. Where? She wanted to keep reaching for a gun on her side, but she didn't carry a gun at work. She went to the breakout room's fridge and opened it up. Shawn always brought things in, after hours. There. She grabbed a single malt bottle by the top and smashed it. Splintered glass flew everywhere but she now had a shank. Which still couldn't beat a gun. She moved behind where the bullet-ridden holed door would be thrusted open soon, just a little farther from it. If she could catch them by surprise.

Instead, she heard commotion outside. Fighting. Someone else was fighting whoever was after her. Good, that gave her enough time to try something else. There was a small window in the break room. Not large. No guarantee. She went for it and squeezed through. Tight fit but adrenaline helped. She started to run down the street, looking for help. Randomly yelling help to people wouldn't do any good though. No one cared about help, fire would work better. "Fire!" She yelled. "Dimple's Diner is on fire!" Meanwhile, while some people were heading that way, she had no idea who that gunner had been. She just really wanted to find a weapon of her own.

Then, she heard more fire ring out into the air. Someone was still after her? She opened the door to a shop she knew. "Mikey!" She yelled. She'd learned from experience it wasn't just the size of the paycheck, it was where she worked too. "I need a gun, someone's after me!" She reached the service desk. "If you don't give me it, someone's going to come in here shooting!" Mikey popped up from behind the counter with his own gun. "Give me one."

"No."

Shit! She would have to rely on him. She hid behind his counter. At least there were guns around her now. "That thing better be loaded. They are shooting to kill."

"Man, Kathleen, why are you the only one who gets yourself into these things?" He criticized her. "You got an old debt again? You sleep with some psycho's boyfriend? Why you gotta drudge this mess up on me?"

"I asked for a gun, not a lecture." Still, she knew which gun she wanted if it came down to it. "How's the wife and kids? I heard Ryan's going out for baseball this summer?" Normally, Kathleen didn't give much of a care about people and their own personal agendas but when it came to friends with resources? She always kept their personal business close to her mind, if not her heart. "When's the first match, I'll be sure to be there."

"I think tryouts are in April. I don't see anyone coming. I set up the security too and I auto-locked the doors. This place is sealed. Anyone hits it and the cops will come fast."

"Good to know." Much better place to work. Too bad he wasn't hiring.

"I think it's fine now, Kath. What was that all about?" He asked as she came from behind the service area.

"I don't know. I need a gun. You know my background, just give me one. I'm good for it." If only she had brought one of her guns to work. They would have pitched a fit though, no one needed to carry at a small diner. "Mikey?"

"I'll drive ya home safely."

"Thanks, yeah, so much better." Can't just break the law for her, could he? Fine, she wouldn't complain. As long as someone had firepower until she got home, then she could get her own.

As they started to drive away, the radio came on.

"The targets all have similar features. Most were aesthetically pleasing with-" Mikey turned off the radio. He drove one of those models that always had the radio come on. "You still live on Chester?"

"Yes, I still live on Chester." He just had to drag that up, didn't he?

"You know if you could stop getting yourself into this kind of trouble, I'd let you make friends with my wife," he teased her. "Except I wouldn't feel comfortable with her visiting your neighborhood. Boy, trouble. It likes to follow you, doesn't it?"

Kathleen exhaled. "It wasn't my fault last time. Cuyler gave them my name and number for his debts. His collection agencies weren't just a nice phone call." He was mad about the thrashing she gave him for the 9,000. So what did he do? Put her in as his co-loaner on dangerous loans. Screw that guy.

"At least you don't have to work with him anymore," Mikey said to her as he dropped her off. "You be careful. Call the cops."

Sure. "After I get my gun ready." She wasn't a quick truster of authority. If someone wanted to kill someone, they would want to kill someone. While it might deter them, it didn't take care of the problem for those brave enough to start shooting in public. "Thanks for the ride." She waved goodbye. "Shoot." Now she had to go to a kids' baseball game.

She still felt like shit too but she made it to her apartment. She went to her gun safe and grabbed her favorite. It always fit just right in her hand. She didn't need a shot gun, just a real good aim with something fit for her fingers. She slid her holster on and slid it on. It always felt like she should always carry it. It was the only damn thing she could thank her father for, the training. "I should have became a police woman, but with my record?" Whatever. The place was just going to have to get used to her wearing it until it was safe.

Then, she heard a knock on the door. Normally, shooters didn't do that, but never assume. She moved to the side of the door and looked in the peephole. Cuyler?! Screw that guy, what was he doing there? Miserable piece of nothing ruined her life!

Although? He didn't look half as terrible as usual. His hair had been combed. His clothes were decent. Expensive, actually. Fashionable. Maybe he was dressing for a girlfriend. Maybe he was trying to put on a good show because he was the reason someone was probably shooting at her?

Yeah probably the second one. One of his pranks gone wrong.

"Kathleen Davis?" His accent sounded different. He knocked with more urgency. "Please tell me you are in there?" Panicked. Cuyler never sounded panicked. What did he get her into now? "Please?"

No, not panicked. Pleading? He better be worth it and get me out of this mess. "What do you want, Cuyler?! What did you just pull me into?"

"Please, just open the door," he pleaded. "I'll explain."

Dunce. Jerk. Yet never once had Cuyler physically hurt her though himself, he just liked to make her life miserable. She unbolted the door and opened it up.

Wow, she called it right. He actually did look a little more rugged than she thought, like he'd been kicking up dirt on himself, but he definitely looked put together.

Yet, that didn't last long as she heard shooting again. She held her gun ready, but watched as Cuyler had his own gun ready. Oh great, he did pull her into something. Absolutely confirmed.

Cuyler shot at the direction first. "Follow me to the car!"

"What?" She ran after him. "I'm not driving with you!" More shots rang out above her. "Fine, then I'm driving!"

She followed him outside but they were running toward a different car? Way more tasteful than his usual car. He was already moving in the driver's seat and he never gave her the keys. "Damn it." Well? "You better not make me regret this." She slid into the passenger seat and Cuyler took off quickly. He was literally breaking the law and moving into fast speeds, even after the whole shoot out. That's when she noticed where the beverages would be in such a fancy car. In there, he had multiple identity tags. 

A surgeon. A police officer. He even had a different first name. A familiar name that kept ringing in her head all day. She even called one of the kids it earlier before she had to leave the Ice Cream truck for extra work at the diner. "Jarod."

She glanced at him again. Her head felt so dizzy. No way. There was no way this man was that incompetent piece of work. They looked the same, but he wasn't him. "Who are you . . . Jarod?"

—--------------------------

He did it. Jarod swallowed as he now worked on escaping the city. He did it. Kathleen Davis. He still felt shaken up. She wanted to talk. She clearly knew someone that must have been a clone. He'd give her something for that. "Cuyler is my twin." Close enough. "He got me into trouble too. I knew I needed to get you as well, you'd be facing the same problem." Absolute lie, but if it kept her steady for now, it was worth it. The Centre was moving too fast, they clearly hired people who already knew where they all were to get rid of them. They were being taken out in surprise. There was no kidnapping, it was straight out assassinations of every one.

Since each were in their everyday lives, they hadn’t been able to tap the shared knowledge to get away. Jarod had kept trying, but he had a feeling in the end, they wouldn’t get very many.

"Oh." She seemed to relax but she still kept her gun close. "Do anything and I'll shoot you,” she said right before she seemed to fall unconscious.

It felt so good to hear her say that. She seemed a lot more like Miss Parker. After all the tragedy, a threat from a piece of her felt good. He reached for his phone and called Major Charles. "Got one called Kathleen Davis.  Well?"

"We got one too called Clarice. We only got one," Major Charles said. "We couldn't have done it if Gemini didn't insist on getting close. Her parents were killed right in front of her though. She's about Gemini’s age."

Jarod could hear crying in the background of the phone. Probably unconsolable right now. He knew how she felt. He missed two Parkers, and barely missed saving a third. It was like time repeating, watching someone he loved dying all over again. He had watched the information Broot sent to keep him informed. In such a short time, he had to keep changing directions because the one he tried to get to was already a confirmed kill or taken into police protection.

And the woman sitting right next to him, was the first one he managed to save. There were more he could try for, but he needed to take care of her first.

There was only one thing left to do now. Get out of that city. Get her to safety.

—------------------------------------------------

"Her hysteria is getting worse again," Gemini said as he tried to comfort Clarice, the small clone of Miss Parker.

"Jarod said he'd light the flame when he got one," Major Charles reminded him. "He'd try and help her remember. It's probably affecting her." He was comparing more names on the list among the names of the dead they had so far.

Technology. It made things easy and hard, seeing the updates in real time. There went another one.

"Anyone else?" Major Charles asked. "We could try and help anyone."

"Nowhere near us." If it hadn't been for the fact they all looked alike, no one would have noticed the difference. The lucky ones were mostly in police protection now. The only good thing about it all? The Centre would have to lay low and not do anything for awhile. 

For now, unless anything changed. Clarice. Kathleen Davis. The first one Jarod found. Out of a connected connection of 234 Miss Parkers, they were the only ones they could save. 64 had found police protection. The rest had been confirmed killed.

There were bound to be repercussions.

—-------------------------------------

Jarod heard his phone again and waited.

"Jarod."

Oh. There was only one person who had that number, that sounded just like that. "Rene."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I forgot you," she apologized. "I can't . . . explain it. I wish I could. I know you probably feel confused and maybe betrayed. I never meant to hurt you. I am still Miss Parker, I didn't lie. I'm just . . ."

"Someone else too."

"I have two sets of . . . I am me, which is still Miss Parker. I'm. I am all over the place, I'm sorry. Look? Just, take care of whatever me’s you find. Okay? I am still sorry."

"For what?" He quipped. "You weren't responsible, you didn't know." He just wanted to get off the phone. He could already feel such a difference between her and ‘Miss Parker’.

"I love my husband, but a part of me, I can't fully turn off will care for you too. It's part of who I am." She almost sounded like she was choking. "It's not easy. Running two lives. There's a woman, Maggie. She had partly connected me as best she could. She wanted this. For me to get the kids out. For us to meet. The whole bloody mess, it was all planned. You knew that though, probably. I just . . . I hope one day you really understand." Falling apart. "My memories? I can't hold onto them all. We were all one. So many. Memories. Lost." She hung up.

Jarod hung up too, but he rubbed his eyes, feeling the sting. She was Miss Parker. 

The last few hours. Such hell. He knew he couldn’t save all 234. He had a feeling it probably wouldn't even be a hundred. He was hoping with his dad's help at the very least he could save twenty.

Calculated. Cold. Fast assassination. The police protection would cause a delay, but eventually it would all start back up again when they were released. He looked back at the last update.

3 saved.

44 police protection.

40 unknown.

127 killed.

Jarod waited with the unconscious Kathleen Davis, hoping there would be something more.

Anything more.

Nothing though. No extra calls.

The Centre

"Final score?" Mister Raines looked at it. The list had almost been done. "Interesting. Three got away. Police protection because of press, only 44. Temporary. Technically still still winning." Technically, she was even still alive. That? Well, it pleased him. He knew if anyone could make it out, it would be that particular Miss Parker.

Whether Miss Parker was dead or not, it was going to be a battle to see. He’d be waiting for that call.

—-------------------------------------

Kathleen started to wake up and glared at Jarod as they bumped along in his car out of the city. Her memories were starting to come back. "Brats. Oh my gaw." Ew. "Six months? Hire a babysitter, that would have been smarter.”

"It just happens, doesn't it?" Jarod questioned her. The guy sounded angry at her? "No consent. No real transfer kind of permission. You just remember everything." He squeezed the wheel tighter, like he was suddenly pissed off at her. "You know everything Rene knows, don't you?"

"The hell is Rene?" she complained. Ooh, something rattled her brain viciously. I was a clone. She understood it now. She didn't know where that understanding came from, just that it was there. A whole bank of new memories, and now she knew why. Still? It was a lot to accept. "I'm a clone."

"You're a clone," Jarod agreed. Well, that couldn't have been more confirmed. "The whole explanation, anything Rene heard from Catherine, you know. Right?"

Geez! "Could you tone the hatred down?"

"It's not for you." Huh. The way he said that. "It's not for you, it's never for you." He glanced toward her."I am privileged to even be here with you."

Oh. That look said it all. He was mad about something else. Very. Strange. "I feel like . . . a lost puzzle piece to a gigantic puzzle." Not whole. "Jagged." Very jagged. . .

"It's a finished puzzle, placed right on the bottom of an unfinished puzzle, with the missing pieces shining through the bottom." Jarod explained it succinctly. "I know."

"There is a lot shining through." Why did that scare her? A lot of the things she saw, it wasn’t her.

"Because." Jarod hesitated. "You are 127 memories short of who you were before." He held onto the wheel. “Or, according to Catherine, it might have all snapped if two specific Miss Parkers were killed.”

Hm. "Why do you look so much like the guy I hate?" she questioned him. "I'm serious, you look just like him."

"This Cuyler you spoke of is probably a clone. Something close to it at least," Jarod said. "Maybe a chimera. I was cloned too."

Really? "Are you a clone?"

"No, I'm the original. Not that I'm any better." He was clearly not wanting to hurt her feelings about being a clone. "Your mom is not your mom."

"I know. I." She could see it, that piece felt filled. She could see her, a vision of her. In front of Jarod and someone else, a short distance away. Too scared to get involved. Hearing terrible things, things she didn't want to know. Coming out with her beautiful voice. But it was more than that, she felt more than her. More than one. "She's not one." Still. "She took care of me though. Us though." Her mind was so corrupted. “Images, in and out of different lives."

"I can understand why. They understood you even better than you knew yourself," Jarod answered. "Can you give me a rundown of what you remember from The Centre? Not the secrets. Something familiar."

Hm. Centre. Weird word. Important word. She didn’t know what the importance of the word had been. 

“Miss Parker?”

The hell was Miss Parker? “I don’t know anyplace named Centre or Miss Parker.  I feel crazy.”

“No. You are probably synching up into the last of the Miss Parkers,” he said.

You know what, Kathleen? Forget it. He’s probably crazy too.

"All of the clones that were out here before, had separate lives too," Jarod said, like he knew what she was thinking about. "You see yourself here, and you see yourself elsewhere." Not even recognizing the difference between her memories and this Rene he talked about. "Everything falls into place when you pick up on 'Miss Parker'. There is a woman though," Jarod said slowly. "Maggie. She must be in tune with you, being relation, yet not actually you. Designed to be almost like a control switch. I think she's been feeding you the wrong memories, to mess you up in front of The Centre."

"Someone else has control of me." She wasn't just a clone, someone controlled her thoughts too. Her thoughts felt screwy. 

“Do you have family? A husband or children that might be potential victims The Centre could use to get you back?” Jarod asked.

Eh? "I couldn't even hold down a decent job, how the hell would I have any of that crap?" That seemed to make him smile. Weirdo.

"Can you tell me any of the details you remember on chasing me?" Jarod asked.

Hm?

"I guess you weren’t at The Centre." He looked back toward her. "It doesn’t matter. I'll keep you safe."

She felt like almost gagging. Someone keep her safe? "I want to meet Maggie. I see her." She knew her. She felt her. She was different than the other sides of . . . her that she was seeing..

"Oh no," Jarod said. "You don't want to play nice."

"Like hell I want to play nice, I'm going to kill her." She shook her head. “I mean hurt her.” Like she knew how to kill? Weird word to use. Still. She was responsible somehow, she knew it! I feel it, I felt it! I- their screaming it.

"Kathleen," Jarod said calmly. "She's dealt with The Centre's experimentation all of her life. Been given kids that she never should have been given. I know when that Catherine said it, I was mad too. She's probably disturbed."

"So it gives her the damn right to kill a bunch of people?!" Gaw! “I can't even grieve for those I hear because I don’t or can’t remember them!” Yet, there was so much missing inside of her. “I . . . don’t remember. A lot of things.”

"We're rescuing all of the pretender kids, before they start doing anything else. The Centre will have to keep its head down, if anyone gives their name away to the authorities, people will be looking into them," Jarod explained. "We can't let them begin this all over again."

Uh? That has nothing to do with me. The guy was using her as a soundboard. He must have liked talking to himself to figure things out. She had no idea what a pretender kid was or what this centre place had been. She leaned her head back on the seat. "Your acting like I'm really going to go with you." There was no way. "Forget it."

"Kathleen Davis, I am going to take you to someone important."

Yeah she thought so. He didn’t even know her, he was just talking out loud about whatever his own goals had been. This is not the guy with my best interests in mind. I just needed the lift out. "Drop me off anywhere."

"Your mother's waiting for you." He said that, knowingly.

Mother. He wasn’t talking about her mom that raised her, he was talking about someone else. A different face in her visions. She almost felt like crying, she couldn’t explain it. Blast it, don’t get emotional. You don’t even know who he’s talking about. A kind smile. Strange memories with that kind smile. “Ever play video games, Jarod?”

“I dabble,” he said. “Why?”

“Ever get real involved as a kid in a video game, and you feel like you're the one that’s actually doing the adventure? Instead of just some kid pushing buttons? I kind of feel like that right now.”

He just made a strange noise and then sighed. “Video games as a kid. I can’t . . .You really don’t even know what a Pretender is.” He seemed saddened by her words.”I need to get you to a woman named Catherine. She can probably help you.” He seemed to pick up speed again. "I am having a deep conversation with her too. She's going to tell me what I want before she disappears again. I want to know about all of you clones, about Maggie, and most importantly?"

Huh? "What?"

"Your mom knows my mom. I will never forget that,” Jarod said.

Oh. Okay. Well, at least she could see why he was in this picture.

The Centre

Broots heart raced. Looking back, making sure no one was coming, and trying to double check all the original names. He had used his tablet to keep up with all the information he copied, but he had been in a hurry to get the original information. "Okay." He tried to keep his heart out of the equation, there was only one thing he could do. Check everything. No one is that perfect. Missing even one name wasn’t an option.

After getting an actual print out this time, he left to his car. He compared it to the digital one that he had given out. While he was doing that, he was double checking the database too, to see if they were still alive. "There." He checked the name against the database. "Got one." Just one left. She wasn’t located by any kind of police, nor was her body found yet.

 

He dialed up Sydney as fast as he could.

Florida

Miss Parker looked at the fountain. It felt ridiculous that Daddy wanted to have a family vacation in the middle of her school year. That was her Daddy though. Most times, she never even got to see him. He was a business man. She didn't really care for him that much. He wasn't a warmhearted individual. Just like her original daddy.

"Miss Parker?"

She looked toward the bushes.  Yep, there he is.  "Couldn't you at least wait for college, Jarod?"  

Jarod smiled. "No. This was a rapid vacation decision because you won tickets but only if you went immediately. I saw some strange things being sent out, and I . . .watch The Centre like a hawk and I always will.”

That didn’t sound good. Jarod was rarely ever nervous. “What came through?”

“Some strange order came through about someone being a mole. I can't make heads or tails of it, but your address was in there," Jarod said. “I had to get you out as soon as possible to watch out for you.”

"Daddy's address? I mean, my current Dad's address?" she corrected herself. "Centre still has me sometimes, I guess."

"We'll always feel it." Jarod approached her after looking around again. "You're okay?" She nodded. "Okay. I'm going to look into it deeper. You can’t come off vacation until I figure it out. If need be, your family might win a longer vacation. You need to stay away from your address. Okay? Are you okay?" He asked it again.

"Of course I'm okay," she insisted. Although? Maybe she wasn’t feeling exactly as okay as she tried to lead him on. "I'm Miss Parker. I'm always okay, right?" She tried to smile for him.

"You don't look okay." Jarod approached her side by the fountain. "What is it? Nobody knows where you are at, I promise."

"The nightmares," she confessed. "They're returning." She touched the side of the fountain. "I'm older. You're older. You were never freed from The Centre."

"I get nightmares still too," Jarod said. "I'll always have them. It's important to remember that's all they are. Just nightmares. You're 18. I'm 19. That's all. Ignore it."

"I . . . I feel like I'm not me at times. Especially during the nightmares, Jarod." He just didn't seem to understand. "Lately today? It's been hitting really hard. It's lost. I feel lost. I feel. I don't know. Like I'm just not there. Like I'm just not whole. I remember The Centre, but I don't, and I remember a Broots and Sydney. I told you that before but. . . someone was shooting at me. I was behind a cash register, scratching a ticket. I ran for a gun. I went home. I ran into you, older. Really older, Jarod."

She heard his sigh. Somewhere between tired and concerned. That was Jarod. "Listen? I'm going to look into this whole thing more deeply. Okay? It's just stress, Parker. Nothing else."

"But, him. I see him. I always see him, Jarod." Raines.

"Was he the one shooting the gun?" Jarod asked.

"No. I mean, not in this dream, but I always see him. I just?" Geez. She tried to hold her hands over her eyes as she cried. She couldn't keep it together today and that wasn’t good!

Jarod made her feel strong. Protected. He wasn’t good with emotions though, if she didn’t quit, he’d bail. "I’m sorry. What's wrong with me, Jarod?"

"Nothing. It's just the consequences of having lived at The Centre when we were kids," Jarod told her once again. "I'm not old. You aren't old. You don't work for The Centre. There is no Broots or Sydney like in your last dream. I mean no one big in The Centre with the names. You know what I mean, nothing to do with us. Look? It's okay." He put his hand over hers. "Don't focus on it, just ignore it. Alright?"

“But? It feels like I lost something. Someone today. Someone precious I loved. Daddy jumped out of an airplane and Momma was shot in the elevator."

"Oh Miss Parker." He was concerned yet getting annoyed. "I don't know how your real parents went. I just know they are gone." He shrugged "I've got to figure this new problem out now. Be alert, but be okay."

She moved past the fountains. He could go if he needed but she felt like her heart was absolutely crushing within her chest. She couldn't hold back her grief, even if it would drive him away.  "I've been thinking about children so much lately. I don't want to be a mother, and yet I do? Cute little girl called Stephanie. Weird little boy called Ronald. Sharp tongued boy called Lucas. I'm going insane, I feel like I'm going insane, Jarod."

"You're not." Jarod came over beside her, trying to calm her down. "You're just 18, you aren't interested in babies or kids and you've never met this Broots or Sydney. You've got to see it for what it is. The Centre wasn’t a typical place for childhood, as we get older, there will probably be mental consequences. We went through this many times. If you need to, get therapy when you get older."

She looked toward Jarod but he was losing patience. He was the one really trapped in it being a pretender, so when she complained about The Centre, it always irritated him. He felt like he had way more right to be mad at it and complain, she just left with him. They each even had decent families Jarod found for them. 

Things couldn’t be better, and here she was, drudging it all up again. She wasn’t getting better though. She tried to wipe her eyes, but it wouldn’t be good enough. "Sorry."

"Grow up." Jarod shook his head. "I can't do this right now, Miss Parker. Things are intense on a different front, keep yourself together! Get back in touch with me when you get yourself back under control. I'm out." He went back into the bushes and went away.

Of course. That was Jarod. He never was a real people person.

"I . . ."

Miss Parker turned and saw him back. He'd changed his clothes pretty fast, but Jarod could do anything for any reason. "I feel like I'm breaking." She was driving him away again though. Jarod didn't do well with emotions. He was never taught about them as well at The Centre.

—-------------------

Gemini stared at her. He'd just caught her talking with another boy named Jarod, that looked just like . . . him. There is another clone out here too? It was so hard to believe.

He seemed almost like him, except with a lot less grace toward the end with her. Impatient. He was impatient too, to try and get her out. That impatience did save her life though. The computer guy Broots had missed her on the list because of the swift address change that particular Jarod must have caused. Things are going to get complicated. "Miss Parker. I need you to come with me." She had been crying, almost losing her balance into the fountain. He moved closer and caught her. "It's okay. I'm here."

She grabbed him and clung to his shirt. "Something's wrong, Jarod, I know you don't believe me. I'm sorry, but I know. My nightmares are telling me something’s wrong!" Her whole body was trembling.

“Yeah, something is wrong,” he agreed. Gemini didn’t know this Miss Parker, any part of her, but he felt for her. Just like Clarice. "I know. Let's go." He comforted her and aimed her toward their destination.

Outside Seattle

Someone was using me like a temporary flashlight needed for the dark. She was nothing. On the scale of it all, she was nothing. Her thoughts were theirs to manipulate. Being used and then deleted like old files to make way for the new. "Was I always watched as Kathleen Davis, Jarod . .  um.? What’s your last name?"

Once again, it’s like she said something wrong to him. "I don't know,” he said a little standoffish. “At least not when everything was set off," Jarod guessed. "You were in the wrong area to them. They knew your scheduling. Someone else was killed, I’m sorry."

Ice Cream truck? “Mabel?”

“It was a woman and I believed her name was Mabel,” Jarod confirmed. “I’m sorry. Was she a friend?”

“Uh.” Keep it together. She scratched her shoulder. She looked beside herself. Mabel wasn’t the closest friend in the world. She didn’t keep a ton of the same friends when she moved from job to job, but yeah. Damn, Mabel. I’m sorry. Shit! 

“Are you okay?” Jarod asked her. 

Kathleen didn’t want to talk about her friend’s death with a stranger. Instead, she found herself focusing elsewhere. "There's three brats around me and there's no one here." Her mind rejoining. "There's someone looks like you. Maybe a son or something? There's a person in the front seat. Older?”

"You might be seeing Major Charles and Gemini. They are more clones of me," Jarod said.

"Creepy." Too creepy. "I shouldn't see this side. I don't want to connect in some weird psychic fashion, not to another life I don't understand." She grabbed her head.

Too much. Her friend had been killed. People were after her to kill her. She was stuck riding with someone she didn’t know. And to top it all off?  "I'm staring at myself!" She shook her head back and forth. "Screw this, I hate this, make it stop!"

—---------------------

Not good. Jarod dialed up Major Charles again. "Major Charles? What's going on?"

"Is your Miss Parker getting it too?" Major Charles asked over the phone.. "Yeah. These girls freaked out once they saw each other and tried to talk. They're mirroring each other and they don't mean to be. We separated one from the backseat to the front seat."

Jarod could hear the panicked crying though. Catherine was used to being connected, but none of the Parkers were. None of them saw each other. Suddenly knowing couldn't be easy.

"Stranger yet? One of these girls knew even another clone of you, Jarod. He's the one who moved her, probably saving her life."

Jarod smiled slightly. Good work. 

"His name was Jarod, they called her Miss Parker, and they basically remembered The Centre. Oh, and this clone of you? He's very good. And now - how did he manage that?"

"Manage what?" Jarod asked.

"He's in the middle of the road, demanding the car to stop."

Once again a smile. "Nice to see him doing the right thing. Pick him up too, Dad." He hung up and looked over to Kathleen. "Better?"

"I'm not staring at myself." She nodded. "I don't have any peanuts."

"Peanuts?"

"The flight. The kids. I don't have any peanuts, they keep pestering me for some." She shook her head again. "I missed my brats? I don't ever miss brats. It's disgusting.”

A good comparison, he understood it. "Rene Grossberg again." Yeah. On her flight, with her husband and kids to safety. "Maybe that's how she handled them so well." Maybe that's why Rene took the full reigns of taking care of the PK's. She'd been a mother. 

Did the qualities of the individual identity cross to Miss Parker too? Did it help make Miss Parker?

He watched Kathleen in the corner. She didn't look so good at all. She tried to hide it. How she felt about it all, but even the toughest woman in the world couldn't shrug off feeling different, personal lives running through their mind. Maybe Catherine could help the forms of Miss Parker. Maybe a Catherine could help, he corrected himself.

Her expressions. What she shared was like the tip of the hardest iceberg. He could see in her expression, she was finding it hard to keep it all together. Her nose wrinkled. It was like hearing bad news after bad news, but trying to soak it up in the corner. Knowing there was no other way out.

Rene had her life together, she deserved it back. Kathleen deserved it too. All of them did. It hurt at first, learning the truth. He had felt betrayed, believing Miss Parker was just one person.

Just Miss Parker. 

Just like he'd always believed in the rest of them. Having two identities, with one joining other minds. That can't be easy for her either. More appropriately. He was starting to understand things better, seeing how this one remembered Rene's time with him and the kids, just like she'd been there. Even if it wasn't the same feelings. "You don't have to squirm in the corner, Kathleen."

She glanced back to him. She looked out the window. Still shifting. Still probably feeling things she shouldn't be feeling. “I’ll take you out if you start playing Pink Floyd in the car.”

A couple of more hours. At least. Jarod turned on his wipers as rain started to come down. "Are you sure about taking me out if I play Pink Floyd in the car?" he teased, wanting to get to the bottom of that statement. 

"Yes, you did that." Then, she moved funny and looked at him. "When I rescued you. When another me rescued you," she corrected herself, "she introduced it to you. You tried it. I mean, he tried it and it was his favorite."

"Music is pleasing to hear, especially when you first leave The Centre."

"Not everyone likes it though," she said.

Hm. "What do you see?"

—------------------------

Florida

Gemini shifted in his spot as this clone of Jarod, named Jarod, believing he was Jarod, stared down at him. Gemini got out and tried to explain the situation. Meanwhile, Jarod was obviously trying to figure out how to break 'Miss Parker' free. In the meantime, he just glared at him as Major Charles tried to calm him down with what he said was his favorite music. He carried it around with him in a small CD case he kept in a duffel bag. The music was different, but that wasn't what was bothering him. "Could you not stare so much?"

"How could I be your clone?" Jarod asked. "You're not confident, you're lousy, and I don't like you at all."

Gemini just tried to stare ahead as he spoke to Major Charles. "How much longer before we reach Jarod?"

"I am Jarod," the clone insisted. He had made Gemini take the side seat while he took the middle so he could be beside his Miss Parker. This Jarod wasn't raised by Raines, but he wasn't raised in a nice way, it was obvious. 

Gemini looked over the seat past Jarod. Miss Parker wasn't looking too good. "Are you okay?"

"She's my business, not yours," Jarod told him off.

Gemini looked toward the front and saw something similar happening to the one called Clarice. "Are you okay?" Neither of the girls looked good.

"How are you doing, Clarice?" Major Charles was trying to be sympathetic to Clarice. 

"I could come to the front seat and keep her more company?" Gemini asked. There was less room up front but he could squeeze in. Only thing was, the other Jarod might take off with Miss Parker. "Nevermind." Yeah, he probably would. Gemini didn't mind Major Charles. He was decent. This Jarod was decent too but, he was highly suspicious, way too overprotective of the Miss Parker he'd apparently grown up with, and wasn't willing to even bend to listen to them. He seemed to verge on the edge of a bully toward Gemini and he had little patience. While this Jarod was concerned for Miss Parker, he wasn't actually offering comfort though. Just keeping Gemini separated.

It was unnerving.

"Jarod," Miss Parker said to him nicely. "Be nice to your clone."

"I didn't even know The Centre had those," Jarod complained to her as he eyed Major Charles and Gemini. "It's a trick, I know it."

"Jarod. I don't think it is," Miss Parker tried to speak up. "I hurt. I hurt really bad, if there are other Miss Parkers out there getting killed, then it explains it." She tried to hold back her tears. "All these weird feelings I've felt."

"Sure." Jarod answered her in a non-believing way. "Don't worry, you'll get better. Turn up the music." His nostril flared. "I need to concentrate on something good to drown out the bad, like someone taking away Miss Parker." He glared back at Gemini.

"I'm not bad," Gemini told him. "Major Charles, how much longer to the other Jarod?"

Outside Seattle

"It's all about association. Your bullying yourself right now," Kathleen said to Jarod.

A bullying clone? I can't do anything right now. He’ll have to learn how to stick it out. "We'll all meet soon."

"I don't really want to," she said. "It'd be much better if you just dropped me off  and - what the hell?!"

Jarod kept his eyes focused on the road and watched someone do a swift U-turn on him. He got out. Oh, great.

"Cuyler! Recognize that greasy hair scumbag anywhere." Kathleen started to get out, which meant Jarod better follow.

"Ah, ah." Cuyler wagged his finger at her like she was being bad. "What do you think you're doing, Kitty Katty?" Not surprisingly, he recognized Jarod as looking similar to him. “Oh no.” He didn’t look well. “Is The Centre after my part?”

His part? Then he was watching over her. "You need to get out of the way. I am taking her to safety."

"Kathleen Davis is my responsibility,” Cuyler replied. “I know it might sound like I’m the enemy, but I’ve been training her to be evasive if anything bad happened. I’ll take care of her until the coast is clear. You go and save more parts of Miss Parker. We need to save everyone that we can.” 

"You don’t take care of me," she complained as she pushed him. "I've got a lot of issues right now, go away."

"I keep her on her toes,” Cuyler said to Jarod, ignoring Kathleen. “I can’t be a gentle friend and teach her what she needed, but I’ve never actually hurt her.” He gestured to her. “Read her, Jarod.”

Jarod watched her.

“You  . . . make life hell,” she growled.

Well? I’ve got more I have a chance of getting. Each one more is a life saved. Jarod would have to trust that Cuyler was telling the truth. If Cuyler had  known her all that time, and never actually threatened her, then maybe he was right. While her eyes said ‘annoyed’, he’d seen those eyes plenty of times. Her stance said not scared though.  “Take her to this address.” Jarod started to write it down. “There is someone there that will help her mind.”

“She’s losing connection with the others?” Cuyler asked. “That’s bad. Is Catherine here?”

Yeah, he wasn’t clueless. Jarod would remember to ask him more, when he had time. It looked like they had the same goal. 

“You are as moronic as him!” Kathleen yelled as Jarod went back to his car.

Still, Jarod didn’t have time. Another one saved, but he could still save more. He took off in his car.

—-------------------------------------

“Stupid!” Kathleen yelled back at him. She thrust her finger at Cuyler. “And you? You are an asshole, give me one good reason that I have to go with you!”

“You’re in the middle of nowhere?” Cuyler shrugged. “Don’t worry, Kitty Katty.” He smiled. “You are safe. I just have to make a call.”

“You better have something up your sleeve, someone was trying to kill me,” Kathleen grumped. With no choice left, she grabbed hold of the door. She didn’t know much about that last guy except he had a ride to get her out and then just left her with Cuyler.

Which meant? Absolute asshole too. “I’m not up for tricks today, Cuyler.” She remembered Mabel’s death again. A friend was dead, thanks to her.

“You know about Mabel.” Cuyler was actually being empathetic. “I’m sorry. I tried to watch out, but things moved so fast. Just come with me. We’ll get it straightened out, I promise.”

Well? This was the middle of nowhere. Someone was shooting to kill her. “Go with the devil you know.” As she got in though, she felt a pulse of pain and a voice telling her it would be okay.

Then, she slowly went to sleep.

—-----------------------------------

The Centre

Mister Raines heard his phone ring and looked at the number. Yep. “Hey there 68.”

“Why are you shooting at Kathleen?”

Yep, it was Cuyler.

“Kathleen never left Seattle, not once! I don’t care what is going on with the other parts of your so-called Miss Parker, but I will not let you kill her,” Cuyler warned him. “Now, why are you shooting at Kathleen, and can I do something to change it?”

Ah. Jarod’s clones or chimeras tended to be quite smart. Not as smart as the chosen one in Donoterase, but technically pretty genius. None of them had their gifts honed at The Centre except a very chosen few. But, Cuyler? 

That clone had spunk, he’d noticed a clear difference the few times he’d associated with him. “Maybe you can. There is a mole, one of the Parkers we believe are hiding some pretender kids. They took them from The Centre. Can you get them back for us?”

“Pretender kids? You made more pretender clones again or something?”

“A new set,” Mister Raines announced. “They are a combination of Miss Parker’s genes and actual pretender dads. They are going to make the future bright at The Centre, but only if we get them back. So?” He waited.

“Kathleen is surveyed in Seattle, and I write reports over her all the time. She is not in this and you know it.”

“She is a clone of Miss Parker,” Mister Raines reminded him.  “I can’t set out a kill order but say, ‘hey, watch out for this one’.”

“You lousy Centre scumbag!” Cuyler yelled. “Every time you get your greasy paws on her, she ends up in the hospital or hurt! You set me to watch over her for a reason, she is the heart of Miss Parker! Don’t be so stupid as to lose the entire package because of some little misplacement of kids! You will want her in the future.”

Hmm. “If you find those pretender kids for us? I’ll set across a cease and desist over The Centre. We’ll embed a chip in her arm that’ll prevent our little squad from gunning her down. She can come straight to work with no fear.”

“What about the mind?” Cuyler asked over the phone. “Her head is everywhere right now. I know you killed the mind piece, didn’t you?”

“She’s probably a little funny because she’s technically being killed left and right,” Mister Raines joked. “It’ll end soon.”

“What about the mind?” Cuyler insisted again. 

“You are just going to have to have some lessons to get her through,” Mister Raines answered. “Mind was zapped in the taxi, one of the first kills. It’s the reason they are all scatterbrained right now I bet.”

“No, it’s not. Jarod saved her, and according to my bug on her, there is a woman named Maggie playing havoc with their minds,” Cuyler said. “It sounds like she is the one you are really after, she’s just messing with all the parts to distract you.”

“So Maggie is to blame?” Damn. “You are good. You really should have been picked for The Centre instead of detail duty in Seattle,” Mister Raines complimented him. 

“Nah, I’m good. I prefer the rain.”

“There’s a lot of rain out here,” Mister Raines noted. “In fact? You don’t sound so certain about our intentions with Kathleen Davis.” He smiled. “How would you feel about working right beside her at The Centre? You’ll get the same chip to keep your identity straight. You can keep her training up, fill in some details, and make sure she knows she’ll be killed if she leaves. Beautiful house, nice wealth, and the greatest name in the world.”

It was silent for a little while. Mister Raines waited for the pretender’s mind to catch up with the words.

“You aren’t going to just tell them it’s a Maggie, are you?” Cuyler asked.

“No.” Not now. If The Centre had figured it out first, he would have called off the whole thing. Having Miss Parker at The Centre worked well, and she had been a choice to take over it one day. However, he saw more potential now.. “You usually don’t show this much intellect in your work. I’ve seen you use your brain here and there but nothing to call attention to yourself.” Hm. “Probably on purpose, wasn’t it, Cuyler?” 

“How many pretender kids?”

“Just, four,” Mister Raines answered honestly. “Damien’s daughter Stephanie. Alex’s son Lucas. Angelo’s. . .”

“I don’t know other pretenders,” Cuyler interrupted him. “I’ve only got a little info on Jarod and I’m fine with that. Now. How many clones of those kids?”

“So far, three sets but we are going to be making it into the thousands in a few years with the success we’ve seen so far.” A sigh. Not surprising. “I need an answer.” He snapped. “The Centre waits for no one, what do you want to do?” 

“If you pause it, I’ll give you an answer in 24 hours. I need time to think.”

 

Normally, Raines didn’t like to wait, but this one was worth it. “Fine, it’s paused but not canceled. Decide quickly.” Raines heard the phone hang up.

The original younger clones of Jarod and Miss Parker that escaped together will be known as Teen Jarod and Teen Miss Parker, to eliminate the confusion. They will be referenced by their names only when someone is speaking to them. 

Georgia. Middle of Nowhereish.

"I didn't see or know the one with Clarice," Gemini said to Jarod after he asked him about any other potential clones. "She thought I was a relative. I think he was a Chimera. Jarod though. The other Jarod."

"Sorry you felt bullied." Jarod remembered what Miss Parker said. "We're all different, clones or not." He watched the survivors. After getting her family back to safety, Rene Grossberg was there. He had managed to get eight Miss Parkers safely there, but none of them had acted like . . . . Miss Parker.

They were all different. So different. There was also a younger clone named Clarice and one in high school. Named simply Miss Parker. 

Kathleen Davis still wasn’t there. Jarod needed to go after who he could, but if he read Cuyler wrong? It would be another painful regret in life.

Nobody had the same story or the same kind of life, and that went double for his clones. The one named Miss Parker and the clone called Jarod were actually trapped in The Centre until Miss Parker took the initiative to bust him out as children.

She lived on the run with him for a couple of months until they got a steady footing. Decent homes. They were unknowingly still tracked by The Centre. They never really got away.

Then there was Clarice who knew nothing of The Centre. Never had a starring role as Miss Parker. Clarice. Still getting over the death of her parents. She looked scared half to death. Her expression, it was like watching Miss Parker (the one he knew) when Faith had died. Since this 'Brandon' Chimera or clone that she knew never did anything for her either, it was likely he was a blank slate, to see how he'd grow up without any direction.

The other Miss Parkers lined up. They all looked like her, but had different clothes and . . . not her. None of them were close to her. Jard tried not to think about it. Of course not. Stop thinking about it, everyone has their own life to live. Just help, don’t think. Just be the one to help them.

Jarod looked at his watch. He had really hoped that Kathleen Davis would be there too by now. She would need help with her mind, just like the others. He had no way to get back in touch with Cuyler. Come on. 

“The person we are waiting for still isn’t here?” Gemini asked Jarod. “You didn’t leave him a number?”

“Which one, I barely knew him. He knew the woman, and she didn’t seem scared of him. It was the best I had at the time.”. It’s true, Cuyler wouldn’t be the same, but he should be brilliant. He should have got Kathleen Davis onto some kind of flight.

They all gave The Centre so many different ways to experiment off of them and there had been 235 different ones to play with. Jarod watched the survivors all glance toward each other.

Catherine wept as she approached. She said nothing. She went over and hugged Rene first. Then she went to each of the others.

"You just hugged me." Kathleen was still adapting to the feelings. Catherine hugged her anyway. She tightened the hug. "Momma?”

Her caring ran deeper, Jarod noticed it. No condolences or phony talk. She may look the same, but Jarod could tell. Just like the difference between when Kathleen sensed Rene's time with her children. One treasured it, while one hated it. They sensed, but they were each different. This one is a true mother. 

"I know," Catherine said softly in the hug. "I know." She let go and looked toward the second youngest version. "Miss Parker. Hello." Teen Miss Parker backed away into Teen Jarod's embrace. He didn't accept her into his embrace, but he didn't push her away. "It's okay. I know you've hugged me and you don't know me. But you know me. We'll speak later." She moved on toward Clarice. The youngest, no more than 11.

Jarod watched while Gemini went over by her. He'd been trying to give Clarice a little extra support. There was no one there for her, and she had no recollections of Parker. Gemini must have known that lonely feeling.

Then, thankfully, Jarod noticed a car that definitely wasn’t Centre driven. As it came closer, it spun on the hard dirt. The owner looked out with his shades on. “You made it.”

“You don’t have to spin the tires, I swear, anything with you.” Kathleen Davis was giving him an earful as she got out of the car. She moved over toward the line of other clones. “I guess just stand here?”

Catherine bent down lower for Clarice. She hadn't had a growth spurt yet. "I'm sorry about your parents. I'm sorry that you are confused and you don't know what's going on." Catherine glanced toward Gemini and then back at her. "You have someone willing to help you though. I hope you stay near him." She turned to look at Jarod, her eyes shining with tears. "Over 100 taken away from this world. The hurt inside them is so massive and confused."

Jarod nodded. "Can you please help them?" he asked. "They feel each other, in different ways. In ways that shouldn’t be shared. It's hurting them."

"It's who they are," Catherine answered him back. "They no longer have enough of one side to rule over them. Their memories of Miss Parker fill in the gaps. That sense where they are each other, yet they aren't, it's making them feel . . . squirmy." She looked toward all of them. She held her hands out to them. "You are like sisters now. You aren't each other. You have different memories, but you have the same ones too. The Miss Parker that you shared knowledge of, has changed. There is a great chance it could be entirely lost.. If any Miss Parker that fell was the heart or the mind, then the template to share her has snapped. The memories left in your mind of her, are between your own experiences as her. Nothing more."

"We're all just Centre puppets they used for a fun show," Cuyler said from the back. He looked toward Kathleen. "No. Guess the Jarod's were the puppets. The Parkers are all just pretty Centre Dolls, lined up in a row."

"Don't call Miss Parker a doll!" Teen Jarod challenged him. He moved in front of her. "You take that back!"

"It's the truth. Even tossed out after being played with," Cuyler egged him on. "Straight to the trash heap, to make room for new Centre dolls."

"Are you kidding me?" Jarod looked between Cuyler and Teen Jarod. He was already annoyed at him for being late. "Now is not the time for this!" Not the time at all. "The only thing that matters is reducing the impact. and preventing this from happening, ever again." He couldn't let the PK's replace all the clones. To live just like them. As experiments to be watched until the next best thing came along.

"I don't know!" Kathleen suddenly bursted out toward Teen Miss Parker. "Maybe there is something to it, little girl, but I don't care."

Oh. They are communicating. Like Catherine used to do.

"You don't have to butcher the poor girl for asking," Rene seethed at Kathleen. "It's a simple question. A difficult time for her. We all think about it!"

"Think about what?" Jarod asked them.

" . . . him." Clarice was trying to speak up. She was still connected, even if she never experienced Miss Parker before. "Nightmare Man."

"Nightmares," Teen Miss Parker agreed.

"Always nightmares, always in dreams," Rene added to the girls.

"It's okay, we can focus on your common nightmares soon, Honeys," Catherine said delicately. "We have some things to do first though. There should be twins to each of the children inside."

It was Catherine, 100%. She hadn't said it yet. Maybe she didn't want to draw a distinction between her and the other clone that came. Maybe she thought there was no distinction, but there had been. Her eyes were lonely but kind. Regretful but brave. Her words were modest. There was no way she could tell the full story and keep herself together like the other had done.

"Are my children going to be safe?" Rene asked her.

"Yes," Catherine said. "Yes, Dear. They only want link-minded pretenders."

Rene nodded.

Catherine turned to look at Jarod. "I invited and brought him. I knew he'd be needed. I didn't know if you'd be mad I was involving him, but I need a surrogate mind from Maggie. A strong mind, stronger than just me to help them. I know him and them, but not you," Catherine said to Jarod. "I knew you as a child, but I can't feel you the same way."

"Invited who?" Jarod watched as someone started to approach into view.

Ethan.

For once, Jarod could almost absolutely understand what all the switching voices in his head had been. When it had left him conflicted, until he only heard one voice.

"They will always share Miss Parker," Ethan said as he approached Jarod, "but sharing their individual selves is too much." Ethan touched his head. "It's like? Like too many voices all at once. Miss Parker is like one voice. They can't handle all the feedback everywhere else. Hi, Jarod."

Just like Ethan couldn't handle it all. "Hi, Ethan. Are you sure you can handle this?"

"Yes. I don't have a 'Miss Parker' uniting voice," Ethan said, "but I have my mother." He looked toward Catherine and smiled at her. "All the voices stay in the background, like the wind outside, and I only hear her voice." He gestured to the Parkers. "The wind is rowdy for them right now. I will help them hear just the wind, unless they want more."

Catherine smiled back gently at Ethan.

"We need to help quiet their minds, and then we need to find and locate all the pretender children, so this tragedy never happens again," Ethan said to Jarod. "I know what I'm doing, Jarod."

Catherine went over toward the child and teen of Parker, while Ethan went over toward the adult Parkers. Clarice was backing up. "It's okay." She still wasn't reciprocating. "I won't hurt you."

"She's going to be nice," Gemini tried to encourage her. "I know it's a lot-"

"Too much!" Clarice yelled. She tried holding herself. "I don't want anyone else in my head, get out of my head!"

Catherine tried to reach for her again, but she backed away. She didn't force anything on Clarice, just moved to the teen Miss Parker.

Closing his eyes, Ethan was holding Rene's hands on the other side. Jarod glanced away but then looked back. They are all her. Traces of her. She probably has a nice husband like Thomas Gates. Good kids. Amazing kids.

She had a future. The future he tried to give Miss Parker all those years ago. She had found her own happiness. After a few minutes, Rene looked much more relaxed.

"Thank you," Rene said to Ethan.

Meanwhile, Jarod had something he had to do. He approached her. "Hello."

"Jarod," Rene greeted him. "Sorry. I wasn't very good last time we met." She smirked. "Am I ever?"

He smiled back. "How do you feel?"

"Like. I have a little of her in me?" she said. "Parts. Memories of when I was there." She rubbed the tears of her eyes. She gulped. "Over 90% is just me now. Just Rene. I'm not like her. I cook, I do cook. I loved kids, I had a bunch of them. I’m actually happy and I love and miss my life. I’m sorry."

"Don't be. I think Rene's a great person," Jarod said to her. Taking initiative, he hugged her. "You enjoy your family. I'm glad you found happiness."

"Only a tiny part of Miss Parker found that happiness, Jarod," she answered. "I'm more Rene than I will ever be her again."

"Yeah." He guessed that. More than that, he could see it. Her eyes, her emotions, her words. 

"That feeling I had, it wasn't mine. That closeness between us." She let go of him in the hug and gestured to the Teen Jarod and Teen Miss Parker again. "I fed off her. To escape the other feelings."

"You're ready to go back to them." Her family.

"My family is safe. I got them safe. I had to come back though, my head was killing me," she said. "We shared Miss Parker, not ourselves. The other way, it hurt."

"That extension is full now, on both sides. Both sides of you know Miss Parker?" He asked.

"Yes. I can hear the others as her. It's like . . . a phone extension. There's a part of me that I can feel connected to now, but I don't have to pick up the phone anymore."

Jarod understood that. From a full fledged personality, a full person he used to believe was the daughter of Catherine Parker. Now. Reduced to a phone extension. Like Ethan said. Just wind. Nothing but- what the heck?

"What the hell you jerk?!"

Jarod left Rene to go toward Cuyler. Copping a feel? I should not have trusted him at all.

"You are being rude." Ethan scolded Cuyler about as much as his delicate nature allowed. He saw Jarod coming. "I am trying to quiet voices but-"

Jarod had already grabbed Cuyler before Ethan explained anything more. Cuyler tried to fight him back, but he was no match. Some training, not a lot. He pushed Cuyler's head away as they got far enough. "What are you thinking? They are stressed out enough!" 

“Grabbing attention before you run off because I could have seconds, no one knows you.” Cuyler said it in a manner Jarod recognized. An S.O.S without anyone else knowing. He even kept his voice low. “And they, just they huh?” Cuyler egged him on. He poked at him. “You know you didn’t just start getting lucky with how many your reached. Orders were paused, not stopped.” Then his expression changed and he spoke out real loud. "Not many opportunities come my way to cop a feel of Kitty Katty, she highly guards herself." He walked away.

Jarod stared at him. He only did it to make sure I didn’t take off. He also talked about the orders, Jarod had noticed something had happened to the kill order.. He probably wouldn’t have stuck around long, he never did. Doing what he could for the Miss Parkers, and then off to investigate what happened to the order..

Fine. He’d stick around for a little while longer. Still, there were other ways to handle that. 

"Oh come on, Kitty Katty, gimme a break," Cuyler yelled. “That was two knuckle sandwiches.”

“Be polite, there’s over twenty people and only two sandwiches.” Kathleen punched him in the arm, hard. In the way that Miss Parker would.

Quit it. No one was Miss Parker. 

“I’ll help the picnic,” the teen Miss Parker said as she hit him on the other side.

“Oh come on, that’s not fair,” Cuyler complained. “I didn’t even do anything to you, Mini Version.”

“Don’t call her mini version.” Teen Jarod also knuckled him, but in the back.

“Ouch! Ow.” Cuyler grabbed his back and turned around. “Not even fair you aren’t even a Centre Doll. Ow! Damn, wha-?”

“Much better place, thanks Kid,” Kathleen said to teen Jarod. “Think twice before trying that stunt again. You haven’t done that stupid thing since I was eighteen.”

“Hey, it made the birthday memorable. Hey!” Cuyler fell down.

Gemini looked down at him after sweeping his leg. “You need to be nicer to everyone. You’re being a nuisance and it’s important we help these girls and women.”

“Whatever.”

Still, Jarod smirked. Gemini’s leg sweep was useful. For one, even though Cuyler was trying to brush it off, it did hurt his head worse than twenty knuckle sandwiches. For two? Cuyler isn’t trained by The Centre. 

He could tell Cuyler could fight, but if Gemini could take him down, he wasn’t as strong as a fighter. He never gained mastery over it. He feels like an odd jumble of a man. The way he spoke, walk, and acted. He would be a hard one to pin down on what actions he would take.

Ethan and Catherine had calmed each of their minds. Even the small traces of Parker disappeared, left with only the memory of this or that. They were all working out on how they would get back home, and normally Jarod would sneak away. Especially since he hated goodbyes.

Getting into a thick good pretend while he investigated and dealt with the emotional issues that had risen was a good idea, but Cuyler didn’t do that just because. He took several licks for that action, just to make sure Jarod stuck around.

So, he wandered away a bit. Checked on the PK’s who weren’t real far off, but nowhere near the meeting spot. Talked to Sydney. Talked to Ethan, and tried to talk to Catherine. She slipped away pretty quickly, with a few of the women.

Others continued to hang around slightly, but they each seemed to find their own ways. Most of them had followed Jarod in their own cars, so they wandered off back to their own lives, or not their own lives. Depending on how each of them felt about the shooting.

In fact, most of them didn’t seem to remember a whole at all, not understanding why they were even there after awhile. The connection did more than quiet down, it was removed from them all.

Once everyone was gone, Jarod made his move. The only ones out there now was Kathleen and Cuyler. “Okay,” Jarod said to him. “Let’s go talk.”

“You chipped my tooth,” Kathleen said to Jarod. “You also gave me the flu? While I was . . .” She shook her head. “Whatever.”

Aw. Early times. It made sense, being around Cuyler, Kathleen would have had an inner instinct to go after someone that looks like him. Just filled the rage even more. 

“She was a favorite,” Cuyler said as he walked away from her with Jarod. “I made Raines give a pause on the order. He wants an answer to something. I’m not . . . trained in the same ways as you,” he told Jarod. Seriously, I was never allowed to leave Seattle. I only did to retrieve Kathleen when they . . . they just went too far with her.”

Jarod was getting a better beat on Cuyler now. Not bad. Not very experienced, but experienced enough to deal with The Centre. 

“I think this is a good opportunity to save everyone, but I don’t have the experience to make the call,” Cuyler said honestly. “Raines gave the pause order, and it will start again, depending on my answer. See, I’ve kind of been a . . . pain every once in awhile to The Centre. I didn’t actually get ordered to bring back Kath each time I did.”

Yeah, Jarod nailed it. Good guy beneath a crummy facade. “How many times did you get ordered to bring her back?”

“Never,” he said truthfully, “but I couldn’t just leave her there when she got hurt, and my first duty always had been to make sure she stays in Seattle.” He shrugged. “Centre thinks I’m just bugged in the head. Well, they did.”

Raines. “This last time, I think he noticed I kind of . . . I don’t exactly show off my skill too much,” Cuyler confessed. “I don’t act like someone who has any because then The Centre would want me.”

“Smart,” Jarod agreed. “What deal?”

“He wants Kathleen as Miss Parker, and he wants me to still be watching over her. He even wants me to train her on what Miss Parker was like, so everybody will be fooled by her.” 

Ooooh. “You have direct access to The Centre?”

“Sort of.”

No, not with that move. That was a fidget.

“Yeah, I know you saw that,” Cuyler said quickly. “I watch Kathleen extremely well, and most times, she doesn’t see me unless I want her to,” he admitted. “I keep her bugged real well too, so I knew about Maggie.”

Oh no. “The pretender kids’ mother.” Damn. “You told Raines. You work for The Centre.”

“You either work on the outside, or work on the inside,” Cuyler told Jarod. “You were on the inside, innocent people got hurt that way. On the outside? I just watch Kathleen and keep her in Seattle. That’s all. Which would you choose?”

“You ratted out Maggie to Raines.” Jarod eyed him carefully. So far, no Centre cars had come.

“I will rat out someone who just tried to kill over 200 people,” Cuyler said strictly. “Something was happening, so I reached out to find out what it had been. Yeah, I have access, but not deep.”

Okay, Jarod understood that. Morality aside, he was trying to save her. The Centre hadn’t come after him, and never really put Kathleen in danger except to play the part of Parker. “Do you want to help?”

“I don’t want Kathleen in danger and I don’t want . . .” He shuffled his feet. “I don’t more of us, the same thing, The Centre controlling everything behind the scenes.” He seemed to almost fade out. “I’ve done everything I could to stay on The Centre’s side, and they still went after her. They knew for a fact she couldn’t be involved, my reports are thorough. That is what I do.” He motioned toward Kathleen standing around. “I watch, but I don’t pretend?”

Jarod was getting a sinking feeling in his stomach. 

“When we go in, The Centre is going to tag us with something so that when the shooting begins again? They’ll know she isn’t worth anything. They are also going to tag me, because they don’t want us to get confused. You know? You trying to sneak in looking like me.”

This . . . “This has potential.” Jarod started to look at the exact way he slumped, the two different eye colors, the-

“They want me to train her to be Miss Parker.”

Jarod stopped his examination of him. 

“I need to share all the likes, dislikes, the fashion stuff, her allies, her enemies, and any secrets Miss Parker knew. It’s all gone,” Cuyler reminded him. “Thing is? I pulled her out of The Centre, but I don’t really know Miss Parker that well.”

As if Jarod hadn’t suffered enough already. “I don’t think I’m up to that.”

“Do this, and you have the access. You are me. I don’t have any,” Cuyler reminded him. “Plus, Kathleen will be safe. She’s the heart.”

“The mind is gone, I guess.” That was why everyone had such problems with the connections.

“Raines said she went fast, one of the first,” Cuyler agreed. “Kathleen is the heart.”

“What happens if something happens to her?” Jarod asked. “Miss Parker is already gone, the connections are gone.”

Cuyler just gave him a look like he was an idiot. “You don’t get it yet, do you? The connections are gone. Even you said it. Miss Parker, as a connection, is gone.”

“Yeah.”

“How has Kathleen been acting?” Cuyler pointed out. “Her attitude? Isn’t it a little reminiscent of-”

“Cuyler, what the hell are you doing?” Kathleen said as she came over. “Thanks, for getting me here,” she said a little roughly. “You helped. A lot, don’t smile.” She held her finger at him. “Get us back home now. I want out of this weird place. Now that the voices stopped, it’s time to pull out of wherever we are.” She turned to leave, then looked back at him. “This does not make us even for the 9,000 though, you still owe me.”

“Your life isn’t worth 9,000?” Cuyler teased her as she walked off. He glanced back at Jarod. “Get it?”

Parker. Parker. That’s Parker. That was it! She was too scatterbrained, and with the start of the connections, he didn’t understand. None of the Parkers had acted like her anymore. Jarod thought it was just rubbing around her still, but that connection was gone. “Is that always how she is?”

“Yeah,” Cuyler insisted. “Kathleen is the heart, as in the basic most primitive form. The fancy languages she knew, gone. The smarts, pretty much gone. Average. She can fight, a little. I made sure she got some basic training. She almost made cop, but I had to put a stop to that.” He smirked. “Not gonna say ‘thank god, I thought she was a figment’ out of offense, are you?”

“The others, they channeled to her.” The heart. 

“Yeah, everything they knew rubbed off to her when she played the part. Even when she didn’t, her personality was always the strongest.” Cuyler stared at Jaord. “Best chance at getting those kids. You know The Centre way better than I do. I  guarantee, first visit, they’ll chip us. We won’t be able to take a second shot later.”

Jarod didn’t know if he was doing it more for Kathleen or the kids. Getting to Maggie. Getting these kids figured out, it was important. “I already have a twin set of each pretender kid,” Jarod told him. “Rene was watching them, but she won’t be able to do that anymore.” He was going to send them off with Gemini and his dad, but they were already watching all of the teens for now. 

“Go and the button will stay paused. Women will be safe to go home,” Cuyler said. “But yeah, I don’t know what you’ll do about the little rugrats.”

“Yeah, I do.” Jarod was going to get into the Centre archives first and dig up more on Cuyler before he did it. Once he saw everything Cuyler had done, all the interactions, and was sure of them? If I’m at The Centre, then he’ll be right here. For now? “I’ve got an idea. Stay here.”

Jarod approached Sydney. “I need someone to stay with the kids for a short time. Either you or Mister Broots. I’ll have a better answer as to how long in a little while.”

“Jarod.” Sydney knew something was wrong. “What are you scheming?”

“Am I just talking to myself over here?!” Kathleen yelled at Cuyler from his beat up old car. “I will take you down for those keys, don’t think I won’t.”

“Hm? That one seems to have Miss Parker’s spunk? I thought they all lost that connection.” Sydney looked at Jarod. “Is she the root of Miss Parker?”

“Yeah.” Jarod smiled in her direction as she went toward Cuyler. “I’m going back to The Centre with her as Cuyler. The Centre called them in. She is going to be replacing Miss Parker permanently.”

“Jarod?” Sydney sounded worried. “Are you sure about this?”

“If they are putting a chip in them, so they stay safe and sound, then yeah. I’ll be tagged as Cuyler.” It would let him move around and investigate more freely. Afterwards, he could get it out or hack the system so no one could track him. “Don’t tell Broots I’m Cuyler.” He wasn’t nearly as good at keeping a steady face when keeping secrets.

“We do not even know this clone of yours,” Sydney warned him. “He is not you.”

“No, I know,” Jarod agreed. “He wants to protect Kathleen Davis, the part of Miss Parker he watched over. He could have brought out Centre cars and surrounded us and stayed safely away.” He came. “I want you to stay with the kids until I give the word.”

“I can’t be here for long,” Sydney warned Jarod. 

“Time to use that vacation time,” Jarod told him. “I’ll figure out something soon, I promise.”

Sydney crossed his arms and held his mouth. Thinking. “You’ll be in ground zero, Jarod. Unless they suddenly assign her to a different section-”

“Nah, they still want her catching me,” Jarod said without enthusiasm. “They didn’t want to lose Miss Parker. They wouldn’t care about teaching her to act like Miss Parker, if they wanted to use her someplace else.”

“Then . . . yes,” Sydney agreed. “I won’t tell Broots that you are Cuyler.” Sydney looked back toward Kathleen again. “The attitude is passive. I don’t know about anything else. Miss Parker would never be caught, even dead, in that outfit.”

“She wasn’t raised with money.” Jarod didn’t know how he’d teach her everything. A lifetime in a short time? No, just the surface. He could teach her what she needed on the surface. 

All she needed was the surface. The rest is already there.

“Look, will you stop dragging me?” Cuyler complained as Kathleen went over and started to tug him. He fell off balance and she dragged him easier. “I told you, we have to talk about some things first already!”

“Talk about what?” The fire in Kathleen. “Mabel is dead. People were shooting at me. I was a clone. You are making up for everything you caused, and you are telling me how you knew about all of this in the first place!”

“Good luck with her, Jarod,” Sydney said. “I better go watch over the children. I believe it will be safer.” 

 

—-------------------------------------------

Kathleen waited. She didn’t get much choice, Cuyler wanted to talk something out with Jarod, the other guy that looked like him.

She kind of knew him. Jarod. He felt like someone she might have known, but most of what was ‘Miss Parker’ that she had recalled? It felt more like something distant. Like a film she had watched or acted in when she was younger.

She got some weird facts and visions in her head. A balding guy named Broots. He was easy to step on with these huge . . . high heels she didn’t know how to wear. Sydney. A strange older man who could try to be stern but she didn’t listen to.

Then, that guy. Kathleen watched as that guy started to head over. Jarod. She felt an annoyance at his presence too. “Well, if it isn’t the moron who left me with another moron.”

Cuyler moved more in front of her, leaning. “That’s Kitty Katty’s way of saying hi.”

“It’s not Kitty Katty, one more word and I’ll . . .” Gr. She bit her tongue. The things she always wanted to say weren’t exactly polite.

“Don’t irritate her,” Jarod had said to Cuyler. “No more games.”

Cuyler moved slightly and Kathleen just hung out of the side of the vehicle as Jarod came closer. “What?”

“You’re the heart of Miss Parker.” Jarod had a strange happy yet sadness in his voice and eyes. “You have the best chance of survival in this.”

“Survival?” That woman said that it was all over now to her. “Aren’t we all safe?” She glared at Cuyler. “You said we were okay now!” Ugh! She stood up. “I was literally shot at, by someone else besides your nonsense, I get picked up by Jarod, shoved back with your ass, taken to the middle of fucking nowhere, had my brain screwed around with, feel like I lost a thousand people I love, and now you are saying it’s not over?!”

Cuyler held up his finger to his lips. Silence her? Silence her?! “Oh, don’t you dare do that to me,” she went off on him.

“You are the one keeping the others safe now,” Jarod interrupted. “You will be safe too, but we have things to talk about. What do you remember about The Centre?”

She was keeping the others alive? “The Centre?”

“Yes.” Jarod gestured to himself. “Do you remember it at all? Did you ever remember me?”

Kathleen was trying to figure out how to answer that. “It felt like, when you’re a kid, and you are in a play. I remember walking around long hallways, with echoes. I had a balding guy next to me. Broots. Another one, older. Sydney. There was some kind of office.”

Jarod got closer. “What do you think of when I say ‘daddy’?”

“That you’re weird?” No, wait. “A vision popped up for a second. Another old man. Why is everyone either old or bald around me?” Bald. “Nightmare man. He wheezes everywhere.”

“Yeah, that’s Raines,” Jarod told her. “Do you remember anything about me yet?” He reached in his pocket, like he planned on needing whatever was in it. “This is a close picture of me when we first met at The Centre.”

Kathleen took the picture. She recognized that face. Somewhere. “This is real familiar. This is you?”

“It’s close.” Jarod took the picture back. “It’s a picture of my clone. You saw him in your thoughts before.”

“Not anymore, that weirdness is fading.” Hmm. “There was some kind of a rabbit.”

“You remember the rabbits?” Jarod seemed to get really excited. “What do you remember about them?”

“There was like a gift?” Kathleen didn’t remember a lot of rabbits. “There’s a christmas tree.”

“Oh.” Jarod seemed to lose his excitement again.

“Okay. Kitty Katty isn’t the most patient person in the world,” Cuyler said to Jarod. “Ask her all the questions you want afterward. What are we going to do now?”

Do now? Kathleen watched Jarod move into the vehicle, on the driver’s side. “The hell are you doing?”

Cuyler just grinned at her. “You are going on an adventure.”

“You could save a lot of lives, just like the others that were like you,” Jarod said more compassionately. “There are children, with clones, like you. The Centre is doing more than watching them. They are continually cloning them. They’ll be in the thousands soon, being watched, being used without their consent. Their life will be run . . .” He looked toward Cuyler, then back to her. “ . . . without them ever knowing they were manipulated.”

“Manipulated.” Yeah. Jarod didn’t just randomly look like Cuyler. “Cuyler works for The Centre.”

“I made sure you were always safe and sound in Seattle,” Cuyler said. “When you were out of it, I would end up getting you again as I could.”

“That is a good skill level,” Jarod said to him. “Especially without even me seeing it. You’re good enough. You are going to be me, watching over the children, while I am you, chasing after me.”

“What?” Cuyler and Kathleen both said together.

“You want to trust me with the little pretenders?” Cuyler questioned Jarod. “Why do that right off the bat? I thought you wanted-”

“You’ve already proved some things to me,” Jarod reasoned. “I will go to The Centre, and then, I will have Sydney contact you, when we are ready for the exchange.”

“Hm, I get it. You want into The Centre to find out more about me,” Cuyler reasoned. “If I pass muster, you stay there, and I get to watch eight overactive kids. That’s . . .”

“It won’t be forever,” Jarod told him. “If you pass. If not, I am still superior to you,” he warned him. “If you, in any way, do try to double cross me? You won’t get away with it for very long.”

“You sat down in the middle of The Centre to strike a deal before,” Cuyler said to him. “I get it and I don’t underestimate you.”

“Good, then you will need to move quick too,” Jarod warned him. “Not only will Broots be tracking you, but I will have to do a fair amount too. If The Centre suspects anything, everything will fail.”

Cuyler didn’t look comfortable with that. “If you are too good, you’ll catch us.”

“Yep. I catch Jarod and all the little clones,” Jarod said to him. “It will make it twice as hard having all of you in The Centre, but I can’t show my real hand.”

“Plus, The Centre would trust you even more,” Cuyler agreed.

“Hey!” Kathleen was getting tired of this. “I’m not just a piece of wallpaper here, what the hell is going on?”

“Just can’t not know something,” Cuyler said to her. “I think Jarod wants to talk to you, one on one. I know my part.” He leaned closer. “Now you get to learn yours.”

Hers? She watched Cuyler back away. She glanced at Jarod. “What’s my part?”

“Kathleen Davis.” Jarod was being very respectful, and her senses were tingling that wasn’t a good sign. “I need to get into The Centre to find out about the children. Cuyler was a part of it, and he’s been invited into it. With, you.”

“With me?”

“You, as Miss Parker,” Jarod told her. “The Centre heads will know who you are, and they are wanting you there. The rest of The Centre will not know, including Broots.”

“I . . .” Kathleen didn’t know what to say. “You said I was keeping everyone safe?”

“Yeah,” Jarod agreed. “You’re going to be Miss Parker.”

“I?” Kathleen touched her head. “This is insane. Even the little I remember, it’s more like a stageplay.”

“You were part of her. The heart, the most important part,” Jarod said. His eyes seemed sad. “The way you act, you yell, you talk, your every movement. That part of her, it came from you. I will be there to fill in the rest of the gaps.”

“Gaps.” She started to glare. “I am seeing a verrry big gap right now. As in the fact?” She said with a slight seethe in her voice. “That you want me at The Centre, when you want to be at The Centre.”

“Yeah. The Centre wants you and Cuyler to start chasing down the children and me,” Jarod agreed. “Only, it’s going to be me and you.”

“What?” It was nuts. “You think you can just walk into some dangerous building and pretend to be somebody?”

Jarod just sort of stared at her. “I’m a pretender. I . . . I don’t know who I am. I was raised to become anyone or anything. I can be a doctor, a lawyer, a rodeo clown, and I have been.” His voice was almost angry. “So, yeah. I think I can handle being Cuyler. A person that The Centre only knows the surface to makes it even easier.”

Ummm? “Well, I greatly pissed you off for the day.” Kathleen didn’t know how to take that. “You were raised in the place we are going to.”

“Yes.” There was still some anger in his voice, but not as much.

“The place I grew up at too?”

“No, you visited with your ‘daddy’.” Jarod still didn’t sound good at all. “You went home to a large luxurious house, with your family. I never left until I escaped.”

“Okay.” Alright, do not mention the phrase ‘as a kid’ to him at any point. Still? She didn’t like how hard he was acting. “Fine, I get it. But don’t forget, that Miss Parker wasn’t me. I? Spent my childhood with a son of a bitch that was more eager to teach me how to prep for an apocalypse, than get a real education.”

Oh, look at that. She seemed to surprise him. “What?”

“Yeah, my father takes the cake. Ma didn’t stay long. She visits, but she didn’t take me.” She glared out the window toward Cuyler. “And I bet none of that’s ever been an accident.” She glared back at Jarod. “So no college, no high techy skills, and definitely no luxury. Especially when I can’t seem to hold the same job because I kept waking up in the middle of a hospital over and over!”

Yeah. There. That seemed to put Jarod in his place. “The Centre liked using you many times. The hospital was probably the only way Cuyler could get you out safely.”

“Whatever, but it doesn’t make ones resume look pretty,” Kathleen sighed. “So, I have no skills, and whatever I had of her locked up? They toned it all down. And I am in no way a pretender person thing, so I don’t know what you think you’ll be able to do with me.”

Jarod was watching past her as Cuyler came back over. “Apocalypse training?”

“She was the favorite for a reason,” Cuyler chuckled. “Her old man’s downright kooky.” He leaned back into the vehicle to talk. “Anyway. You know the deal now, right?”

Eee. She was trying not to bite down on her tongue. “Cuyler.”

“Okay, okay.” Cuyler smiled. “If you can learn from Jarod how Miss Parker acted? You’ll get her nice, huge, luxurious house. Paycheck. Fashion. Respect. Everything you have ever wanted in life. If you don’t?” He patted her head. “You get to hang out with me and eight kids for the rest of yours.”

Oh. Well. When he put it that way? “It can’t be harder that grilling a burger.”

Cuyler sighed. “You still burn them a lot, Kitty Katty.”

“I will twist your arm off, if-!” Wait. She backed off.

“Keep going,” Jarod encouraged her. “The biggest difference, is Miss Parker will go all the way with what she wants to say or do, and never gives a damn about anyone else’s feelings.”

Really?

“No one’s going to fire you or ruin your life. You are too high up in the chain,” Jarod egged her on. “Go ahead.”

“I will twist your arm off, if you say that to me one more time!” She pushed him away and stepped out of the vehicle. Properly standing while Cuyler had fell to the ground. “Yeah, that’s where you truly belong.”

She heard a slow clap behind her from Jarod. “So, Pretender, do you think I’m trainable?” Ooh, wait. Should she have said that? He did say to just say what I feel.

“More than trainable.” Jarod didn’t look offended, he seemed happier than she’d ever seen him as he crossed his arms. “Miss Parker.”

 

————————————

 

The Centre

 

Kathleen stared at the front of the building. This place. It felt like a dream. Like a play she once starred in. She closed the door. Jarod said he wouldn’t give her any training until later. It would look suspicious if she knew everything when she first walked through the doors.

She just had to remember to be herself, follow through with any actions she feels, no matter who she felt it toward. Jarod himself came from the other side.

He’d dressed for the part, looking exactly like Cuyler now. Complete with cheap dumb shades that looked terrible on him. The messed up hair, and the messed up looking clothes

“It’s impressive, huh?” Jarod said. “Remember Kitty Katty, you’ll be fine. This is like second home.” He strolled into the building just pushing those doors like nothing at all.

Kathleen tried to remember to call him Cuyler. He said if she messed up a little, it was okay, in front of those in The Centre who didn’t know her as Kathleen. Not right now.

Otherwise, Pretender, would be a safe bet for either one. So far, he was being Cuyler perfectly, so she would do her best not to mess up.

She opened the doors. So many familiar sensories, deja vu all around her.

“This way, Kitty Katty, big wigs come this way.” He grabbed her hand and waved to people as they went by.

“Miss Parker.”

Oh man. It was Nightmare Man. The man from the rain, the man from her dreams. Talking to her.

“Mister Raines,” Jarod greeted him. “Hi.”

Mister Raines said something to her in some weird language.

She didn’t know how to react.

“Perfect. Come this way.”

She and Jarod followed him through the weird halls. He eventually led them to another place she remembered. Large doors. Elegant looking and pretty.

He stood to the side, gesturing for her to open them.

Kathleen stared at them. Instinct, follow the instinct. She grabbed both handles at the same time and launched them both open, going through both at the same time. It created an energetic, weird flare in her.

Raines came through. “Yes, interesting. Kathleen Davis, this could work out.” He glanced at Jarod. “You must be Cuyler.”

“You must be right,” Jarod said almost jokingly.

“You will be in charge of training Miss Parker to be more like herself,” Raines instructed him. “You can’t get everything, but surface level, no one should know she’s seriously someone else. You won’t get the languages, but we will make an excuse for that. Re-education hits hard.”

“Getting educated once is hard, how to get educated twice?” Jarod asked.

“Don’t worry about that,” Raines answered back. “Focus on the surface level. She should dress, fight, and act like Miss Parker. She should know all the sordid secrets she once knew. She should also know about the times she did spend with Jarod.”

“Aye, aye,” Jarod responded. “We can do it, can’t we, Kitty Katty?”

“Will you knock it off, before I knock your block off?” Kathleen warned him.

“Yes, the attitude is just right.” Raines looked at her clothes. “Miss Parker wouldn’t be caught dead in that outfit though.”

“Well this perfect Miss Parker character probably never worked a day in her life!” Kathleen let him have it. “Oh, it’s easy to play dress up when you can afford whatever you want. But I guess since she is me, if she had to make do, then the feel of my clothes and its minimalist style is what she would settle for. Stupid asshole.” She crossed her arms.

Raines wheezed at her. Angry, but she followed Jarod’s advice. She didn’t hold back. “That is Miss Parker, but she knows nuances you don’t know about me. We’ll let that slide until you get more comfortable in this arrangement.”

He led her and Jarod over to a desk and gave her a file. “You will be working with a team. Two people named Broots and Sydney. You might remember them slightly?”

“Yeah. Balding and older gentleman guy.” Kathleen plucked the file from him rudely before she even thought about the action. She had no idea what to do with it though, so she handed it to Cuyler. Jarod.

“Yes, good.” Raines seemed to like that for some reason. “A few lessons with Cuyler and you’ll start working to catch Jarod and the other little pretenders. Now, this is important. If you want-”

“Can I use the bathroom?” Jarod interrupted Raines.

Kathleen just ughed. He was real good at imitating Cuyler.

“Can this wait?” Raines asked him.

“Well, it was going to, but then you said something about being important, and I can’t just be dwelling here on if I can handle my pee while I’m supposed to be listening.”

Damn, Jarod does have Cuyler down to an art already.

“It was a long trip,” Jarod said in his defense.

Raines called for something called a sweeper. He commanded them to go with Jarod.

“Ooh, fancy,” Jarod answered as he looked at the sweeper. “Do you need to go too Kitty Katty? It was a long-”

Before she even knew what she was doing, Kathleen punched him right in the arm. “I’m not kidding, I will start hurting you over that stupid nickname!” Then? Shit, that’s not Cuyler.

Jarod had grabbed his arm. That probably hurt. “Yeah, okay, getting a little stronger there, Kath. Bathroom?”

 

—————————————

The Centre Bathroom

 

Jarod whistled as he pretended to use the bathroom. Interesting. It was another place in The Centre he’d never actually visited. “No matter where you go, you always get the brittle toilet paper for wiping. Even the nicer places?” He flushed and came out of the stall.

He looked at the sweeper. “I’m ready.” The sweeper gestured toward the sink. “Oh, I didn’t get my hands dirty.” The sweeper insisted again, with a little more frustration. “Fine, fine.”

Jarod went and washed his hands, ignoring soap and played with the hand dryer.

“Could you please add soap?”

“Aw, so polite.” Jarod went and added soap to his hands, then dried them off again. “Just for you Mister Broom.”

The sweeper just gestured out the door and they both went back to the office. Hopefully, Kathleen was doing okay. So far, she was playing the part perfectly, and she did nothing different except stopped holding back her feelings.

When he came back to the office, she hadn’t hurt or helped the progress. Good. He also noticed someone new in the room, quite close to him. Probably wanting to surprise him. “Okay, I’m ready for the important-” Ah! “Owwww!” Jarod sucked on his arm where he was just chipped. It was a little over the top, but that was Cuyler.

“Ah.” It hurt Kathleen, but she kept herself in control for it. “You could have given a little warning.”

“A lot of warning,” Jarod played it up. “Geez, that hurt.”

“You are tracked now,” Raines said. “Neither of you can get confused with clones. From now on, in order to get in, you will need to show an attendant your arm.”

“We’re like living barcodes?” Jarod asked. “Cool. So where do I live?”

“You’re training Miss Parker to be as cold-blooded as she once had been,” Raines said. “You can only train if you live with her. I’m sure as frequently as you got her, you have the means to get inside?”

“Nah, not really.” Jarod shrugged. Then he snapped his fingers and rolled his eyes. “Okay, so maybe I do.” Cuyler had given the keys to him before they separated for good. That and a few other goodies. “Living together with Kath kind of ruins the fun of keeping it.”

He noticed Kathleen looked at him a second. Yeah, Kath seemed tolerable to her. It was probably something she actually heard a lot from others.

“Take her home and start training her in Miss Parker’s likes and dislikes,” Raines commanded. “You have three days to make her passable around The Centre as Miss Parker.”

“Three days?” Kathleen questioned. “Three? I’m supposed to learn all about someone in three days?”

“The languages are on hold,” Raines said to Jarod. “Eventually she will have to learn. It’s imperative to speak to the triumvirate in their native languages. Take her home, and be ready in three days.”

“But what if I’m not ready in three days?” Jarod asked like an idiot.

“You will be.” That’s all Raines said. That should have been enough, even for Cuyler. “Don’t try to run away if you mess up. You are now chipped, we will find you anywhere you go.”

“The ouch chip.” Jarod looked at his arm. “Guess it isn’t just protection to keep us safe, huh?”

“Try and run and we will get you,” Raines warned him. “Do well here, and you can get used to this lifestyle. Don’t do well, and The Centre will kill you.”

“Oh.” Jarod looked back at his arm again. “I better get started?”

Miss Parker’s Home

 

“Easy with that, I want that back!” Jarod yelled after the sweeper that took Cuyler’s car.

Another sweeper was there with more keys. “Here. These are all the keys to her vehicles. Don’t get caught riding in junk again, it’s embarrassing for The Centre. Get yourself better clothes too.” He gave him some money. “Mister Raines wants you to look like you actually work for The Centre, because you do. See you in three days.”

And off they went.

Jarod held the keys to the house and twirled them. It felt interesting to actually be going in at the same time as her.

“This place is freaking ginormous,” Kath said on the outside. “Pretty. How the hell does she take care of all of this?”

“Everyone works for her,” Jarod reminded her. Such a strange thing to say. He opened the door and walked in.

Kathleen couldn’t help an expletive as she stared around the room. “Fucking hell, she was loaded!” She looked around the rooms, noticing all the strange things.

Jarod watched her curiously as she touched and looked at so many things. The heart. Remove all of the Centre education, the languages, the faux pas of right and wrong, and this was her.

The real Miss Parker, stripped down to her core. Touching the walls with fascination, opening closets, and absolutely excited about everything she saw. There wasn’t a corner she didn’t seem interested in.

Then, she dropped a home phone she’d been looking at onto the couch. “Ooh, bedroom.” She went straight to the closet and opened the door. “Wow.” She reached toward the tag. “Designer clothes. Can’t pronounce it, but definitely high.”

She moved so Jarod could see the closet. “Do you see the stuff she wears? It’s extremely, I don’t know.” She looked at more and more tags. “Nothing here is from Ross. Like, not even Macy's.”

Jarod just tried to keep a straight face. He was looking around too, but more for bugs and hidden cameras. He didn’t see anything that screamed-

“Ooh!” She reached into the closet. “Look, I know this label. It’s Gucci.”

She looked proud that she recognized a label? “Yep.” Anyhow, back to checking around. As he started to look around more, she was showing him exactly how much work he had to do though.

“Channel. Chan-el? Door? Deeor? Dieor?” She shrugged. “Die or figure out how to pronounce it.” She hung the clothes back up. “I don’t even know what this whole closet’s cost would be.”

“Her soul,” Jarod said. “She worked for The Centre. Welcome to hell on the soul.”

“It looks real nice for hell.”

“Looks aren’t everything.” Jarod sighed. “There are more important things in life than money.”

“Yeah, like a roof over your fucking head. Every time Cuyler made me wake up in a hospital, he couldn’t take care of me without revealing a connection. I’d always end up staying somewhere else. Stupid places with stupid people until I could crawl back up somehow into another place. Those were the okay times.” She kicked a small box in the closet. “Don’t fall for Cuyler’s lie about taking care of me. I’ve slept out beneath the stars for more than a fun hobby more than once.”

Right. Right, right. Jarod had to figure out a new way to handle that. Miss Parker had never gone without anything for too long at all. Kathleen didn’t have that same kind of life. “I’m sorry.”

She just ignored Jarod and moved over to another section, looking at jewelry. “It sparkles. The sparkly kind were always in the display cases in department stores. Nice to look at, but the price was ridiculous for something to just put on.” She reached for a bracelet and put it on. “It could be 100. It could be 500. I don’t know.”

Jarod looked at the bracelet. “Closer to 5,000.” His figure made her immediately take it off like it was stinging her.

“Fuck, that’s a lot for a bracelet.” She looked at the other pieces. “Is that like a special piece?”

“No, they are around the same or more expensive.” Jarod still didn’t see anything that looked like a camera.

“I’m not wearing that.” She started to move from the whole area. “I’m not wearing any of that.”

What? “Yes, you are,” Jarod said. “It’s what she wore. The Centre wants you in her clothes.” He looked toward the closet. “Lot of red and black. I’m sure there is some color in there.”

“She wears stuff that costs months of paychecks.” Kath didn’t look so good. “It feels weird.” She looked all around her. “If that’s just the jewelry, what does all this cost?” She looked at her hands. “No, no, none of this is me. I mean? Everybody wishes for this, but like nobody actually . . .”

Strange. Jarod didn’t expect he’d have to deal with this. Well, if they had cameras anyway, they would have made a move. It was highly doubtful they would have known he met Cuyler with Kath. They had even chipped them already. “A little bit of culture shock in a different way?” He approached her closer. “The first night you didn’t have a place to go home to, it felt weird. Didn’t it?”

She nodded.

“But you got through it. You went through it, kept it up, fell down into it again, and kept getting back up.” He gestured around the place. “It’s a place you don’t know. Clothes you don’t know. A feeling of not thinking you belong. It’s not surprising. You are the heart of Miss Parker, but as Kath, you weren’t allowed to live her life.” That wasn’t a bad thing, and he should probably let her know that. “That’s not a bad thing to me.”

She didn’t seem to know how to respond. “I survived for me. This time, I have to survive for so much more. For the others like me. For those girls. For those kids.”

“In a strange new world,” Jarod agreed. “Being in a new world and a new place isn’t always just exciting. There are ups and downs. A little more nerve wracking.”

She seemed to connect to those words. “What do I start with?”

“Pick any you want. They are all yours. I have money that I have to spend to look like The Centre.” He looked at Cuyler’s clothes. “It’s at least a nice upgrade for them both.”

“Them?” That didn’t sound thankful in his voice. “A nice upgrade for them both? A nice upgrade for Kathleen and Cuyler, huh?” She crossed her arms. “Cheap and screwed up Cuyler gets to get dressed nicer, and so does cheap and screwed up Kathleen.”

“I didn’t mean.” No. Wait. There was something different in her eyes. It wasn’t blame against his words. She was thinking about herself and Cuyler. Their lives. The differences in it all.

Her finger was delicately touching a table. She was thinking. Hard. Probably about her past. Seattle. The change that she would have to create. She was probably wondering how long she’d be there. Short or long term. “Didn’t you want to look into Cuyler? She must have a computer here somewhere.”

Yeah, she would. Jarod would go do that, and give her some time to think.

 

————————————

With The Centre access at her house, and the actual names Kathleen Davis and Cuyler known now, he found exactly what he wanted. Security videos of Cuyler. They were dated back far.

Really far. Yeah, she knew what Jarod looked like as a kid. It was right on screen.

“My first report,” Cuyler said. “At least, on this system. Anyway, I’m taking up the duty of watching over Kathleen Davis. She’s actually already good at combat ‘cause her dad is a nut. Her mom is trying to get custody, so I keep messing things up. If she’s raised by her nutso dad, then she’ll be perfect for The Centre.” Then he chuckled. “Then I can get paid more.”

Ugh. Still, Jarod couldn’t judge. Real young. He looked through random months each year. He reported every month until Jarod actually escaped. Then, the reports changed.

“This is Cuyler,” he started. “I know you guys took Kitty Katty for some reason to hunt Jarod? You are pulling all of them together and thought, ‘hey, the heart should be her’? It wasn’t smart. She’s not doing so good, so just to let you know? You need to give her back and pick someone else for a little while. Thanks.” He winked.

Yeah, there was a stern warning in there. By watching the videos, Jarod knew which Miss Parker adventures she had been involved in, and every time Cuyler had invaded The Centre. The entries were getting harder to make.

Less playful. More serious.

“I can’t with this anymore!” Cuyler yelled. “Why do I have to keep doing this? This is getting worse. Just because I irritate her, doesn’t mean I can erase anything happening between her and Jarod. I’m not him!” He swished his hand in front of the camera. “She could have been hurt with that loan trick. I can’t anymore. I’ll keep watching her back, making reports, but I won’t interact. The less she sees me, the less she’ll think of Jarod. I guess, we can call that a new theory I’m trying?”

Intensely mad. Hatred. The Centre was instructing him to do things that he actually didn’t want to. Then, he saw another change in Cuyler.

“Something’s happening with Kathleen Davis,” he announced. “I saw her today. I teased her, like always. Um. I asked her on a date in jest, nothing serious. I’m never serious with her. As instructed.” Cuyler bit his lip. “She actually said yes?” He looked like he didn’t know how to take that. “She said that her gut felt something about me, so she’d try it.” He was quiet. “I groped her and made a bad joke to make sure she stayed away. I intensified everything.” He looked so troubled. “It’s of course a no, right? Just the watcher, the stalker, the observer for The Centre? I’m not ever supposed to be friend. Never supposed to be anything else.”

Seeing the date on that video, Jarod didn’t know how to feel. It was after Carthis, but according to reports, he wasn’t with Kathleen on Carthis. But? She was the heart. Something inside, maybe it had wanted to give Cuyler a chance because of their moment together?

After that, Cuyler kept the videos more standard. He wasn’t even getting too close to her, unless he had to. Overall?

Yeah. Jarod would get in touch with Sydney. Cuyler was not only smart enough to take care of those kids. He was more than trustworthy.

 

——————————

Jarod went back to the bedroom. Kath listened and jumped into the culture shock. She put on a couple of bangles and a black and red outfit. She even tried to put on the stilettos. “I’m glad to see you jumped in.”

Still, her eyes were glistening. She didn’t quite get it, but Jarod did. Nerves were probably shooting through her, like the first time she had to walk up to a shelter looking for help.

She patted the clothes down. She tried to walk. “I remember . . . this walk with echoes.” Her feet were uncertain. “I remember . . . but I can’t do it.”

Jarod watched her feet. “They have been in them before several times. You can do it.”

Kath was a little shaky as she moved. “There’s another pair, Pretender, why not try yourself?” She almost lost her balance, but caught herself. “She doesn’t own one pair of sneakers. These hurt, she really hated herself.”

“Miss Parker was unique,” Jarod settled on. “Try slow walking. I’ve been on stilts before. Take it slow and you’ll get there.” He watched Kath practice in the stilettos.

She didn’t take too long to start making significant progress. The connection to ‘Parker’ was still there, just quieted down. Jarod watched her explore the other room again.

“I remember that.” She reached for Miss Parker’s favorite drink. “I know she liked that. I never saw it.” She took off the cap and smelled it. “Strong.”

“Her favorite drink, especially toward the end of the day,” Jarod said as he watched her. It was like her senses were having a battle between how strong it had been, verses how familiar it felt. “Broots will expect to see you drink that. Unless you are averse to alcohol, you should probably see how it is.”

Kath gave him a half intrigued look. She searched around, almost unconsciously, for the same glass that Miss Parker would use. She popped the top open and poured about the same amount Miss Parker did.

Then she smelled it, swirled it, and tasted it. The way she did all of that, it looked more like how Kath probably enjoyed her own alcohol.

“Ooh, it’s a nice burn,” Kath complimented it. “Why did she like this?”

“I think because it was her daddy’s favorite drink,” Jarod said. “Her daddy is dead. Her biological father is still alive though. He’s Raines.”

“Nightmare man?” Kath looked disgusted. “Him?”

Jarod nodded. “Yeah. You better bring your drink and join me on the couch. We need to go over a ton of secrets.”

 

——————————

Oh, look at that. All gone. It was strong what she drank, but what Jarod shared was so much greater. “So.” She cleared her throat. “One of the Catherine’s had a child, it was cloned and created us. I knew that. Everything else seems harder to believe.”

Jarod just smiled at her. “Well, Miss Parker lived in that kind of life. Hid deep inside of it, and tried to be normal.”

“Like with that Tommy guy?” Okay. “Let me try this then. You escaped, and when that happened? The Centre took our channeling and made one of us Miss Parker at a time. During that time, she learned that she had two brothers. One that is a serial cannibal?”

“Maybe serial cannibal?” Jarod offered. “He did kill. He killed my brother, Kyle.”

“Right. Twisted family.” Kath thought her family was weird. “Another Catherine had a second child named Ethan, that Miss Parker felt was a brother?”

“Close,” Jarod agreed. “You saw him. He helped quiet your mind.”

“Right. Ethan.” Okay. “Am I good now?”

“Close enough for now,” Jarod said. “Miss Parker was trapped in a hurricane with me. That one, was you. Cuyler pulled you shortly after that.”

“Hm. So, her mom was going to take her away to Paris before she died. She was obsessed with pleasing her father who she called daddy. He died, taking out some dead sea scrolls?”

Jarod just nodded like everything she said was perfectly normal.

She rubbed her hand over her hair. She noticed a look he gave her. “What?”

“Your hair. We are going to have to tuck it in like hers,” Jarod said. “She never changed her hairstyle.”

Kath sucked her lip slightly. “I don’t know anything about hair.”

“Pretty sure she didn’t either. She should have a hair stylist,” Jarod remarked.

“How long is this going to take?” She had to ask. “You’re a really smart guy, so what’s your guess?”

Jarod didn’t seem to want to get into it. He touched his eyebrow softly. “I try not to think about how long something takes, just the end goal.”

Kath closed her eyes. “Am I going to be here months as her?”

Jarod sighed. “I have to find the information to get the children out, and end them being able to clone any more of them. It will take some time. As for you here? That . . .”

He didn’t want to say it, but she could see it. “I’m pretty much fired from Dimple’s Diner, aren’t I?” She tried to hold back her emotions.

“We need to save the children first,” Jarod said, “and then we can see what we can do for the others.”

“If a genius can only give the answer ‘and then we can see’?” She shook her head.

Jarod was quiet for a time. “Okay. Even if we can save the others, and you, eventually everyone will have to move on to another kind of life. Another state. Another . . . way to stay out of the way of The Centre. Towards a possible end, you could go with Cuyler. He’ll be able to move around and avoid The-”

“Just.” She put her hand up. “Don’t.” She touched her forehead and leaned against the couch. “So in like a year, I need to decide to travel with Cuyler or just stay as Miss Parker? Just say it, it’s written on your face!”

Jarod still couldn’t say it. “I cannot predict how long it will take, but you should get used to the name Miss Parker for-”

Kath looked away. So this is it? Kathleen Davis is gone, I’m going to live this weird life as a figure that I once channeled? That was quieted down in my mind? That I was kidnapped to so many times?

She saw Jarod’s hand on her knee. “I don’t know you, but I don’t mind that?” She hit her limit and started to cry.

“You do know me, it’s just been quieted down to a whisper,” Jarod said. “It had to be.”

“Yeah because seeing others that looked like me as kids in my brain was just a little on the insane side.” Yeah, that wasn’t easy on the head. She wiped her eyes. “No, no.” Kathleen wiped her nose. Kath, you are not weak. You were never raised to be a pansy. “I can survive an apocalypse, I can survive in these clothes.”

Jarod just had a wayward smile on his face. “I’m going to take the guest bedroom. Take your room. It’s yours now.”

She watched him get up and leave. She left the room and headed over to the Maker’s Mark again. Should she get another drink?

While she was thinking about that, she gazed back out the window and saw a familiar balding man. “Broots?”

“Miss Parker!” His eyes were delighted to see her. “Oh, good! See, I told Sydney with everything happening we should probably just check your house. Lo and behold, hello!” He said cornishly. “Are you okay? I’m sorry about your clones.”

Kath shrinked back. I haven’t had any lessons! “Broots, you ass, use a damn door!”

“Well, I didn’t know you were actually back.” He waved behind her awkwardly. “Um? Hi, Jarod?”

Kath looked behind her at Jarod.

“Not Jarod,” Jarod said. “Cuyler. I’ve been assigned to watch over Miss Parker. You’ll see her again in three days, when we all meet in the office. So, toodles?” He waved goodbye and closed the curtain. “Mister Broots has always been a curious one.”

Kath heard the knocking on the door.

“Parker, go answer the door, and treat him like Cuyler to make him go away,” Jarod instructed.

Parker?

“You need to get used to the name. You’ll have it for awhile,” Jarod reminded her.

Miss Parker. Right. “Just get the egghead to move along quickly.” She approached the door as he started to knock again. Like Cuyler. She swung the door open. “What do you want now?!”

“Uh?” The balding man squirmed. “I was just worried? Jarod has a clone watching over you?”

“Yes, The Centre has him here.” she told him. “The Centre knows he is here, he’ll be joining us, and you’ll meet him in three days. Now? I have a lot of things to do and I don’t have time for you right now. Go away.”

“But Miss Parker?”

“Are you deaf, Broots? I said go away! Leave me alone!”

Broots held his hands up. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry, Miss Parker. I was just worried. I’m glad you are home and okay. And, I’m sorry, about the clones thing.”

“Just, go, you are giving me a migraine.” She touched her head. “Three days. You’ll know more. Go.”

“Okay. Sorry,” he apologized once again. “Good to see you Miss Parker. I’ll see you in three days.”

She sighed in relief that he left. She had no training yet at all.

“Perfect, Miss Parker,” Jarod congratulated her. “Broots should stay away now that you’ve yelled at him.”

She shut the door again. “No more surprises. Just.” She went ahead and took more Maker’s Mark after all. She deserved it for that impromptu test.

“I’ll leave you to your business for the night, Miss Parker,” Jarod told her as he headed back to the guest room.

“Alright, Cuyler.” She had to practice too. Tonight, she tricked one man. In three days, she had to be able to trick the entire Centre. “Sweet Dreams?”

“One can hope,” Jarod answered her unexpectedly as he closed his door.