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Chapter or Story
AN: I thought I could make it through this time without bothering you with a certain musician. Apparently I can’t. Sorry for it, but listening to one of his songs inspired me again. So again, I used some of his lyrics and adapted them to my liking. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind that infringement - he still owes me! Lol. And of course he owns me! For those of you that are not familiar with my obsession, the musician I’m talking ‘bout is Bruce Springsteen, and the song I used is ‘Human Touch’.
House of Cards
Part 12
When they arrived at her house, Parker refused to pay any attention to the car that was a few yards down the street, hidden in a dead-end side road. The preying eyes would only see what she wanted them to see. Walking up to her house, she clutched at Daniel, pretending to have weak knees and trouble walking alone. To the sweepers watching, she would appear mightily drunk; not something out of character for her. After some purposeful fumbling with the keys, she finally ‘managed’ to open the front door.
She slammed the door behind them quickly and let go of her companion. Parker simply slumped onto her couch in the living room. She felt so desolate, so exhausted. Daniel watched all that without saying a word, but he followed her to the couch. She was grateful for his silence. There was a chance that the house was bugged as well.
But Daniel, watching her graceful figure and her beautiful face in the dim light of the living room, had other ideas than interrogating her.
He knelt down in front of her and started tender ministrations of endearment. He caressed her face and soon started to wander downwards. He opened one button of her blouse and then two, until his hands were able to wander underneath. Daniel was aware enough to look into her eyes for permission. . When he saw no resistance, his hands moved backwards to open her bra.
Her body didn't resist. She couldn't resist. Her whole being had been alert a few hours ago, waiting for more, waiting for release. Parker knew that this would happen; she actually knew that this SHOULD happen because everything else would have been suspicious for the knowing eyes outside.
It was not that she didn’t enjoy the tender touches, but that she had to suppress any thought of the circumstances. The first time she had taken Daniel into her bed were on HER terms. This time was different and it hurt. Feeling her body respond to the things the strong but gentle hands did to her, she concluded to discard all thoughts on that for the moment and deal with the repercussions later.
Parker's gaze moved up and down his perfectly built body. He had fallen asleep half an hour ago. Again she couldn't complain. Their lovemaking had been very satisfying. But for the first time in her life she had problems to come to terms with making love to a man she barely knew. She pondered about the whole mess, and looked at the beautiful man beside her. He was not the man she wanted to lie next to that night. For the first time in her life she felt as if she'd betrayed someone. It was stupid, she knew, but she felt like it.
While she looked at one man, her mind wandered to another.
‘Well, boy-genius, you were right. You and me, we were the pretenders. But we let it all slip away from us. We should’ve known better. Because, what we don’t surrender, the world WILL just strip away from us.’
Without getting any sleep Parker got up in the morning and went to the shower. She would wake up Daniel after it. She had to think of a good explanation for him.
************
In a car somewhere in New York State, on its way back to Connecticut, two men sat in silence, neither willing to talk. One was steering the vehicle and, except for the road ahead, was barely aware of his surroundings. He tried to figure out what had happened between his siblings.
The other man was even more lost in thought. He was not angry with her for leaving. He understood well why and for whom she had to return. What he didn’t know was if their brief moments of closeness and her final words meant that she’d come back to him one day. And the uncertainty almost drove him crazy.
Jarod wasn’t looking for praise or mercy, he wasn’t asking for any miracle. But he thought that in this world without pity he wasn’t asking for too much.
Just for someone to talk to, just for a little sign of her friendship. The sign. And that was what almost drove him over the edge – for a few minutes, she had shown him. He had seen it, grasped for it, but once again it had faded away. Eluding him just before he could hold on to it. It had disappeared with a ring of a cell-phone.
He knew that the feeling of safety they both prized came at a hard and high price. But in his opinion, they couldn’t shut off the risk, nor the pain without losing the love that remained in them. And more and more he thought it was worth the risk.
Thinking back at the things she had said in New York, Jarod realized that she had been right: they both had been broken and hurt. But he also knew that there wasn’t anyone out there who wasn’t. She needed someone to hold on to, and so did he. Because all the answers they were seeking, they didn’t amount to much without each other to talk to, to hold on to.
Why didn’t he tell her that? Where was she now? What had she on her mind? What did she do at the moment? ….a million questions. And no answers. At least not until he’d call.
Jarod grabbed for the phone and dialled her number.
A deep, sleepy – and male - voice answered with a suppressed cough. “Hello?” Jarod disconnected the line with the “..lo”. He looked down at his cell-phone in surprise, utterly shocked. When it registered what just happened, an unprecedented anger built up in him --anger at her that he had never felt before.
***********
Parker re-entered her bedroom already dressed for work. Daniel was fumbling through his discarded clothes. He looked around with a guilty expression on his face.
“What? I didn’t compliment you for your ‘talents’ and you think ‘mission unaccomplished’?”
“Huh? Ah, no.” He gave her a self-assured smile. “I don’t need compliments for things I KNOW I am good at.”
“Ooooh, there’s someone mightily sure of himself. So, why this look as if you’d committed a capital crime? You didn’t sneak into my drawer with the underwear, did you?”
“In fact, I do have something to admit, but not that. I’m sorry, but your cell rang earlier, and I wasn’t fully awake yet. I didn’t realize where I was, so I thought it was mine. I grabbed for it without really looking and answered. But the caller hung up immediately, so … I’m sorry for that.”
“Oh. He hung up you said? Without a word?”
“Yeah, nothing.”
“Ok. Doesn’t matter anyways.” Parker accepted the apology as a genuine one. Daniel wasn’t the kind of guy to pry into her business on purpose. He had proved that last night. She already knew who the caller was. She had expected her phone to ring today. It might as well be this way that he found out. And that he would had been a no-brainer for her. He always found out.
“So, Parker, tell me. Will I come face to face with a jealous ex-lover who apparently likes to keep close tabs on ya?” Daniel asked rather pleasantly. “Will I need a baseball bat with me now to defend myself?”
Parker looked at him and briefly wondered if she should suggest a Smith and Wesson instead. Not because of Jarod though, but because she had dragged him into her game with Lyle. She felt guilty for that, but somehow she knew that the Centre would have no interest in him if he stayed a one-nighter. And that was exactly what he was. She would not endanger Daniel anymore than that.
“Don’t worry. I’ll have everything under control.”
********************
Jarod threw his cell onto the glove compartment in front of him so hard that it bounced back from the car windshield and fell at his feet. He cursed and bent down to retrieve it, just to throw it once more -- only this time onto the backseat. He wanted it out of his sight. He wanted to get the phone call out of his mind.
He had had a bad feeling about her secret phone call in the bathroom, and now his worst assumption proved to be right.
She had gone literally out of his arms to spend the night in some other man’s arms. The rational part of his brain – usually the more prominent one – told him that she must have had good reasons to do that. Sydney’s phone call probably had meant big trouble for her. To spend the night with a man virtually unknown to the Centre, was her way of assuring that no one found out about her previous endeavour.
But the pretender had difficulties with this rationale. Because the emotional part of his superior brain was still working overtime. He could still feel her in his arms, he could still smell her, even taste her on his lips.
Ethan interrupted his thoughts. “Did you call Parker? What happened? Jarod?”
“Huh? Yeah. Nothing. Nothing happened.”
*********************
Parker was on her way to the Centre. She had given Daniel a kind of farfetched explanation, but he hadn’t seemed to mind much about that. If he really believed it or not was not that important.
She had asked him outside to talk to him in her backyard. There, in the early morning sun, Parker had talked about an important public figure who she had had an affair with.
The affair had been brief but the media as well as his wife had caught on and she was now under the scrutiny of both of them.
She told Daniel that she had been on a business trip in New York last night and she had felt observed. That’s why she had needed him to pick her up and wanted to appear drunk.
The young bartender had taken the story with a sympathetic smile. Apparently he knew about situations similar to her ‘predicament’. They had parted afterwards with a kiss and an open plea by Daniel that she’d call him soon. She had not answered him, only given him a smile that could be taken as a sign of promise. A promise that she didn’t intend to keep.
After she had passed the security at the main entrance to the Centre, Parker sighed in resignation. Here she was, again up against the devil and his minions. She wanted nothing more than to make Lyle pay for his intrusion into her life, despite her warnings.
Though this time she had to take a more subtle road. For the sake of Daniel as well as for last night’s event to appear even more real, she would not reveal to her twin that she had known about the surveillance. If Lyle thought that she had been oblivious to the sweepers, her night with Daniel would be so much more believable.
But Parker needed a plan to make Lyle pay nevertheless. She had told Jarod to end the game, but what she had not expressed openly to the pretender was that she planned to end it from her side as well.
It was time to face the music. Parker had the eerie feeling that something big was about to happen and she needed to be prepared for it. Even if Jarod would listen to her – and somehow she believed that he would – she knew that he would not let go of her mother’s plan completely. She only had to figure out how to use the momentum that certainly would present itself.
Her first destination was the tech-room. Broots was definitely already at his computer, tracing some useless lead on the ‘elusive’ pretender.
********************
Ethan felt the apprehension in his brother. He also felt his sister’s worry about something. And he heard his mother’s voice, whispering words of caution. The young man wanted to help his siblings more than anything else, but he didn’t know how exactly.
They arrived at the family’s safe house in Connecticut around noon. A few times Ethan had tried to get his brother to talk, without much success though. After a while he relented and decided to wait until his older brother was ready. The pretender needed to come to terms with what had occurred the night before and earlier that morning.
Before they got out of the car, Ethan started once more, this time not to interrogate Jarod about what happened, but about what would happen now.
“Jarod, what will you do? What will you tell them?”
Jarod ran his fingers through his hair in a futile attempt to calm his nerves. The knowledge of what she had been doing that night still bothered him tremendously. But he couldn’t let this influence him in his future actions. He would deal with his anger and hurt later.
“I don’t know Ethan. I don’t know. We have this once in a life-time chance to use your mother’s plan on the one hand, and your sister’s unequivocal demand to let it go.”
“She wants us to disappear.” Ethan offered.
Jarod closed his eyes briefly. Her face appeared in front of him. Like a movie in fast forward mode, their conversation at the lake in Maine replayed in his mind. The ‘movie’ came to slow motion the moment she faced him. Her eyes pleading with him telling him that she wanted this, needed this more than anything.
With sudden certainty and a new found determination Jarod opened his eyes and looked over to his younger brother.
“She wants me to end the game. And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. My way.”
***
The two brothers entered a house full of activity. Emily was on a computer browsing the net. Ryan sat on the couch. Dozens of sheets of paper were spread in front of him. Chewing on a pencil he gazed at a book placed on his lap, trying to figure out a specific problem. The television was running on medium volume.
The door to the kitchen was open and they could see their father setting the lunch table while Margaret was busy on the stove with a spatula in one hand. With the other she was just about to bring a string of spaghetti to her mouth, apparently to check if it was al dente.
Emily was the first to realize their return.
“Jarod, Ethan! Mom! Dad! They’re back!”
The dishes, as well as the spaghetti, were immediately forgotten. Major Charles and Margaret left their respective chores and came running into the living room.
The family gathered around the two newcomers. All had a million questions on their faces. Margaret was the first to speak.
“Has everything gone alright? Has Miss Parker’s question been a genuine one? Can we move on now?”
Ethan was a bit hurt by Margaret’s implied accusation at his sister. But he didn’t say anything. He told himself she was just worried about them and he didn’t want to start a fight again.
Jarod hugged his family and began to assure his mother.
“It’s alright, Mom. We have settled everything. We can go on now. I will start right away.”
The Major put his arm around Ethan and looked at his oldest. “What was it all about?”
“Later Dad. I’ll explain later. Now the important thing is to adapt the plan to new circumstances.”
Margaret frowned at the news and began to update Jarod immediately. “Yes, the plan. You know, Ryan had been working on it almost all night. He made quite some progress.”
The young man twitched slightly at these words and felt the need to elaborate. With an apologetic look he explained. “Well, not too much progress. I did some calculations but somehow I always hit a wall at a certain point of the sequences.”
“It’s alright Ryan. We’ll look into it together.” For the first time Jarod flashed a smile at his family. “Do I smell some pasta here? Can’t we eat something first? We’re starving, right Ethan?”
After lunch Jarod grabbed a cup of coffee and went to the front porch. He wanted a moment of solitude to gather his thoughts and prepare for the work ahead. Everyone else was still in the kitchen, busy with the dishes, or in Ryan’s case, with the dessert.
Margaret appeared on the porch a few minutes later. She watched her son for some time. After a while she couldn’t hold back anymore.
“She won’t come, right?”
Jarod sighed heavily and looked at his mother with sad eyes. He saw the love of a mother in her face, but he also saw an expectation that he didn’t know how to fulfil. He tried to find the right words to prepare his mother for some setback, when she started again.
“I can see that you are hurt, and I am so sorry for that. But she has made her choice. She’s not your responsibility anymore Jarod. We will go on and finish this. If she doesn’t understand, doesn’t want it, so be it. We need to take care of us now.”
“It’s not that simple, Mom! She …. She doesn’t have a choice. Not yet anyway. There are people there she cares for! She had a point in the things that she said. And I promised her to ….”
“No Jarod, no! Whatever she said, whoever she cares for, I don’t give a damn! Because I care for you, for the people inside this house. That’s all that matters to me! Her mother never wanted her there, she knows that now. If she’s too stubborn, too entangled with this evil going on there, then we shouldn’t… you shouldn’t pay attention to her demands! You don’t owe her anything. Whatever you think she means to you, she isn’t anymore!”
For the first time in his life Jarod became really angry at his mother. He tried to control his emotions, but he couldn’t let her talk like that. She didn’t know the whole story, and he was adamant in making his mother realize that this was not only about this family.
“Stop it Mom! Stop it! You don’t know! I…. I care about her, a lot! And she cares about me too! You know why she’s against the plan? Because she cares for me, for Ryan, for all of us! This tampering with the DNA is dangerous and she knows that. This could have fatal consequences, and she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to any of us!”
“But Jarod….”
His own outburst frightened him. He never thought he would yell at his mother like that. At his mother’s attempt to interrupt, he fought back some of the anger. With a raised hand he shook his head sadly and continued in a calmer, but nevertheless determined, voice.
“No Mom, don’t! I will work on the plan. I’ll find a way to get us out of here safely. But I’ll also find a way to keep my promise to her. I owe her that. I do owe her.”
Jarod turned and left his mother alone on the porch. Margaret felt as if torn apart. She felt guilty for making her son so upset, but she also was a bit angry at this change of course. The day before everything was set to proceed and now all of it had changed. She was scared. For her son, her family.
For thirty years she had believed in something, thirty years of hoping for this one chance to come. And now the feelings of her son clouded his mind. The one woman who was the reason of Catherine’s initial conception of the plan, was now the woman to destroy thirty years of Margaret’s hopes.
The older woman decided to go for a walk. She needed to clear her head. Maybe she could talk to him later. He was so angry at the moment, and so was she. They both needed a little space to calm down.
The Major had watched in silence as Jarod came back into the house and stomped up the stairs. He heard a door slam and looked out the window. His wife was about to walk down the road. The older man could imagine what had just happened outside. Some of their arguing could be heard clearly in the house. He pondered which of his loved ones needed him more now. He decided to walk after his wife.
House of Cards
Part 12
When they arrived at her house, Parker refused to pay any attention to the car that was a few yards down the street, hidden in a dead-end side road. The preying eyes would only see what she wanted them to see. Walking up to her house, she clutched at Daniel, pretending to have weak knees and trouble walking alone. To the sweepers watching, she would appear mightily drunk; not something out of character for her. After some purposeful fumbling with the keys, she finally ‘managed’ to open the front door.
She slammed the door behind them quickly and let go of her companion. Parker simply slumped onto her couch in the living room. She felt so desolate, so exhausted. Daniel watched all that without saying a word, but he followed her to the couch. She was grateful for his silence. There was a chance that the house was bugged as well.
But Daniel, watching her graceful figure and her beautiful face in the dim light of the living room, had other ideas than interrogating her.
He knelt down in front of her and started tender ministrations of endearment. He caressed her face and soon started to wander downwards. He opened one button of her blouse and then two, until his hands were able to wander underneath. Daniel was aware enough to look into her eyes for permission. . When he saw no resistance, his hands moved backwards to open her bra.
Her body didn't resist. She couldn't resist. Her whole being had been alert a few hours ago, waiting for more, waiting for release. Parker knew that this would happen; she actually knew that this SHOULD happen because everything else would have been suspicious for the knowing eyes outside.
It was not that she didn’t enjoy the tender touches, but that she had to suppress any thought of the circumstances. The first time she had taken Daniel into her bed were on HER terms. This time was different and it hurt. Feeling her body respond to the things the strong but gentle hands did to her, she concluded to discard all thoughts on that for the moment and deal with the repercussions later.
Parker's gaze moved up and down his perfectly built body. He had fallen asleep half an hour ago. Again she couldn't complain. Their lovemaking had been very satisfying. But for the first time in her life she had problems to come to terms with making love to a man she barely knew. She pondered about the whole mess, and looked at the beautiful man beside her. He was not the man she wanted to lie next to that night. For the first time in her life she felt as if she'd betrayed someone. It was stupid, she knew, but she felt like it.
While she looked at one man, her mind wandered to another.
‘Well, boy-genius, you were right. You and me, we were the pretenders. But we let it all slip away from us. We should’ve known better. Because, what we don’t surrender, the world WILL just strip away from us.’
Without getting any sleep Parker got up in the morning and went to the shower. She would wake up Daniel after it. She had to think of a good explanation for him.
************
In a car somewhere in New York State, on its way back to Connecticut, two men sat in silence, neither willing to talk. One was steering the vehicle and, except for the road ahead, was barely aware of his surroundings. He tried to figure out what had happened between his siblings.
The other man was even more lost in thought. He was not angry with her for leaving. He understood well why and for whom she had to return. What he didn’t know was if their brief moments of closeness and her final words meant that she’d come back to him one day. And the uncertainty almost drove him crazy.
Jarod wasn’t looking for praise or mercy, he wasn’t asking for any miracle. But he thought that in this world without pity he wasn’t asking for too much.
Just for someone to talk to, just for a little sign of her friendship. The sign. And that was what almost drove him over the edge – for a few minutes, she had shown him. He had seen it, grasped for it, but once again it had faded away. Eluding him just before he could hold on to it. It had disappeared with a ring of a cell-phone.
He knew that the feeling of safety they both prized came at a hard and high price. But in his opinion, they couldn’t shut off the risk, nor the pain without losing the love that remained in them. And more and more he thought it was worth the risk.
Thinking back at the things she had said in New York, Jarod realized that she had been right: they both had been broken and hurt. But he also knew that there wasn’t anyone out there who wasn’t. She needed someone to hold on to, and so did he. Because all the answers they were seeking, they didn’t amount to much without each other to talk to, to hold on to.
Why didn’t he tell her that? Where was she now? What had she on her mind? What did she do at the moment? ….a million questions. And no answers. At least not until he’d call.
Jarod grabbed for the phone and dialled her number.
A deep, sleepy – and male - voice answered with a suppressed cough. “Hello?” Jarod disconnected the line with the “..lo”. He looked down at his cell-phone in surprise, utterly shocked. When it registered what just happened, an unprecedented anger built up in him --anger at her that he had never felt before.
***********
Parker re-entered her bedroom already dressed for work. Daniel was fumbling through his discarded clothes. He looked around with a guilty expression on his face.
“What? I didn’t compliment you for your ‘talents’ and you think ‘mission unaccomplished’?”
“Huh? Ah, no.” He gave her a self-assured smile. “I don’t need compliments for things I KNOW I am good at.”
“Ooooh, there’s someone mightily sure of himself. So, why this look as if you’d committed a capital crime? You didn’t sneak into my drawer with the underwear, did you?”
“In fact, I do have something to admit, but not that. I’m sorry, but your cell rang earlier, and I wasn’t fully awake yet. I didn’t realize where I was, so I thought it was mine. I grabbed for it without really looking and answered. But the caller hung up immediately, so … I’m sorry for that.”
“Oh. He hung up you said? Without a word?”
“Yeah, nothing.”
“Ok. Doesn’t matter anyways.” Parker accepted the apology as a genuine one. Daniel wasn’t the kind of guy to pry into her business on purpose. He had proved that last night. She already knew who the caller was. She had expected her phone to ring today. It might as well be this way that he found out. And that he would had been a no-brainer for her. He always found out.
“So, Parker, tell me. Will I come face to face with a jealous ex-lover who apparently likes to keep close tabs on ya?” Daniel asked rather pleasantly. “Will I need a baseball bat with me now to defend myself?”
Parker looked at him and briefly wondered if she should suggest a Smith and Wesson instead. Not because of Jarod though, but because she had dragged him into her game with Lyle. She felt guilty for that, but somehow she knew that the Centre would have no interest in him if he stayed a one-nighter. And that was exactly what he was. She would not endanger Daniel anymore than that.
“Don’t worry. I’ll have everything under control.”
********************
Jarod threw his cell onto the glove compartment in front of him so hard that it bounced back from the car windshield and fell at his feet. He cursed and bent down to retrieve it, just to throw it once more -- only this time onto the backseat. He wanted it out of his sight. He wanted to get the phone call out of his mind.
He had had a bad feeling about her secret phone call in the bathroom, and now his worst assumption proved to be right.
She had gone literally out of his arms to spend the night in some other man’s arms. The rational part of his brain – usually the more prominent one – told him that she must have had good reasons to do that. Sydney’s phone call probably had meant big trouble for her. To spend the night with a man virtually unknown to the Centre, was her way of assuring that no one found out about her previous endeavour.
But the pretender had difficulties with this rationale. Because the emotional part of his superior brain was still working overtime. He could still feel her in his arms, he could still smell her, even taste her on his lips.
Ethan interrupted his thoughts. “Did you call Parker? What happened? Jarod?”
“Huh? Yeah. Nothing. Nothing happened.”
*********************
Parker was on her way to the Centre. She had given Daniel a kind of farfetched explanation, but he hadn’t seemed to mind much about that. If he really believed it or not was not that important.
She had asked him outside to talk to him in her backyard. There, in the early morning sun, Parker had talked about an important public figure who she had had an affair with.
The affair had been brief but the media as well as his wife had caught on and she was now under the scrutiny of both of them.
She told Daniel that she had been on a business trip in New York last night and she had felt observed. That’s why she had needed him to pick her up and wanted to appear drunk.
The young bartender had taken the story with a sympathetic smile. Apparently he knew about situations similar to her ‘predicament’. They had parted afterwards with a kiss and an open plea by Daniel that she’d call him soon. She had not answered him, only given him a smile that could be taken as a sign of promise. A promise that she didn’t intend to keep.
After she had passed the security at the main entrance to the Centre, Parker sighed in resignation. Here she was, again up against the devil and his minions. She wanted nothing more than to make Lyle pay for his intrusion into her life, despite her warnings.
Though this time she had to take a more subtle road. For the sake of Daniel as well as for last night’s event to appear even more real, she would not reveal to her twin that she had known about the surveillance. If Lyle thought that she had been oblivious to the sweepers, her night with Daniel would be so much more believable.
But Parker needed a plan to make Lyle pay nevertheless. She had told Jarod to end the game, but what she had not expressed openly to the pretender was that she planned to end it from her side as well.
It was time to face the music. Parker had the eerie feeling that something big was about to happen and she needed to be prepared for it. Even if Jarod would listen to her – and somehow she believed that he would – she knew that he would not let go of her mother’s plan completely. She only had to figure out how to use the momentum that certainly would present itself.
Her first destination was the tech-room. Broots was definitely already at his computer, tracing some useless lead on the ‘elusive’ pretender.
********************
Ethan felt the apprehension in his brother. He also felt his sister’s worry about something. And he heard his mother’s voice, whispering words of caution. The young man wanted to help his siblings more than anything else, but he didn’t know how exactly.
They arrived at the family’s safe house in Connecticut around noon. A few times Ethan had tried to get his brother to talk, without much success though. After a while he relented and decided to wait until his older brother was ready. The pretender needed to come to terms with what had occurred the night before and earlier that morning.
Before they got out of the car, Ethan started once more, this time not to interrogate Jarod about what happened, but about what would happen now.
“Jarod, what will you do? What will you tell them?”
Jarod ran his fingers through his hair in a futile attempt to calm his nerves. The knowledge of what she had been doing that night still bothered him tremendously. But he couldn’t let this influence him in his future actions. He would deal with his anger and hurt later.
“I don’t know Ethan. I don’t know. We have this once in a life-time chance to use your mother’s plan on the one hand, and your sister’s unequivocal demand to let it go.”
“She wants us to disappear.” Ethan offered.
Jarod closed his eyes briefly. Her face appeared in front of him. Like a movie in fast forward mode, their conversation at the lake in Maine replayed in his mind. The ‘movie’ came to slow motion the moment she faced him. Her eyes pleading with him telling him that she wanted this, needed this more than anything.
With sudden certainty and a new found determination Jarod opened his eyes and looked over to his younger brother.
“She wants me to end the game. And that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. My way.”
***
The two brothers entered a house full of activity. Emily was on a computer browsing the net. Ryan sat on the couch. Dozens of sheets of paper were spread in front of him. Chewing on a pencil he gazed at a book placed on his lap, trying to figure out a specific problem. The television was running on medium volume.
The door to the kitchen was open and they could see their father setting the lunch table while Margaret was busy on the stove with a spatula in one hand. With the other she was just about to bring a string of spaghetti to her mouth, apparently to check if it was al dente.
Emily was the first to realize their return.
“Jarod, Ethan! Mom! Dad! They’re back!”
The dishes, as well as the spaghetti, were immediately forgotten. Major Charles and Margaret left their respective chores and came running into the living room.
The family gathered around the two newcomers. All had a million questions on their faces. Margaret was the first to speak.
“Has everything gone alright? Has Miss Parker’s question been a genuine one? Can we move on now?”
Ethan was a bit hurt by Margaret’s implied accusation at his sister. But he didn’t say anything. He told himself she was just worried about them and he didn’t want to start a fight again.
Jarod hugged his family and began to assure his mother.
“It’s alright, Mom. We have settled everything. We can go on now. I will start right away.”
The Major put his arm around Ethan and looked at his oldest. “What was it all about?”
“Later Dad. I’ll explain later. Now the important thing is to adapt the plan to new circumstances.”
Margaret frowned at the news and began to update Jarod immediately. “Yes, the plan. You know, Ryan had been working on it almost all night. He made quite some progress.”
The young man twitched slightly at these words and felt the need to elaborate. With an apologetic look he explained. “Well, not too much progress. I did some calculations but somehow I always hit a wall at a certain point of the sequences.”
“It’s alright Ryan. We’ll look into it together.” For the first time Jarod flashed a smile at his family. “Do I smell some pasta here? Can’t we eat something first? We’re starving, right Ethan?”
After lunch Jarod grabbed a cup of coffee and went to the front porch. He wanted a moment of solitude to gather his thoughts and prepare for the work ahead. Everyone else was still in the kitchen, busy with the dishes, or in Ryan’s case, with the dessert.
Margaret appeared on the porch a few minutes later. She watched her son for some time. After a while she couldn’t hold back anymore.
“She won’t come, right?”
Jarod sighed heavily and looked at his mother with sad eyes. He saw the love of a mother in her face, but he also saw an expectation that he didn’t know how to fulfil. He tried to find the right words to prepare his mother for some setback, when she started again.
“I can see that you are hurt, and I am so sorry for that. But she has made her choice. She’s not your responsibility anymore Jarod. We will go on and finish this. If she doesn’t understand, doesn’t want it, so be it. We need to take care of us now.”
“It’s not that simple, Mom! She …. She doesn’t have a choice. Not yet anyway. There are people there she cares for! She had a point in the things that she said. And I promised her to ….”
“No Jarod, no! Whatever she said, whoever she cares for, I don’t give a damn! Because I care for you, for the people inside this house. That’s all that matters to me! Her mother never wanted her there, she knows that now. If she’s too stubborn, too entangled with this evil going on there, then we shouldn’t… you shouldn’t pay attention to her demands! You don’t owe her anything. Whatever you think she means to you, she isn’t anymore!”
For the first time in his life Jarod became really angry at his mother. He tried to control his emotions, but he couldn’t let her talk like that. She didn’t know the whole story, and he was adamant in making his mother realize that this was not only about this family.
“Stop it Mom! Stop it! You don’t know! I…. I care about her, a lot! And she cares about me too! You know why she’s against the plan? Because she cares for me, for Ryan, for all of us! This tampering with the DNA is dangerous and she knows that. This could have fatal consequences, and she doesn’t want anything bad to happen to any of us!”
“But Jarod….”
His own outburst frightened him. He never thought he would yell at his mother like that. At his mother’s attempt to interrupt, he fought back some of the anger. With a raised hand he shook his head sadly and continued in a calmer, but nevertheless determined, voice.
“No Mom, don’t! I will work on the plan. I’ll find a way to get us out of here safely. But I’ll also find a way to keep my promise to her. I owe her that. I do owe her.”
Jarod turned and left his mother alone on the porch. Margaret felt as if torn apart. She felt guilty for making her son so upset, but she also was a bit angry at this change of course. The day before everything was set to proceed and now all of it had changed. She was scared. For her son, her family.
For thirty years she had believed in something, thirty years of hoping for this one chance to come. And now the feelings of her son clouded his mind. The one woman who was the reason of Catherine’s initial conception of the plan, was now the woman to destroy thirty years of Margaret’s hopes.
The older woman decided to go for a walk. She needed to clear her head. Maybe she could talk to him later. He was so angry at the moment, and so was she. They both needed a little space to calm down.
The Major had watched in silence as Jarod came back into the house and stomped up the stairs. He heard a door slam and looked out the window. His wife was about to walk down the road. The older man could imagine what had just happened outside. Some of their arguing could be heard clearly in the house. He pondered which of his loved ones needed him more now. He decided to walk after his wife.
