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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
The Centre
6am
By the time Miss Parker had arrived at The Centre, there was a bustle of activity. She had been expecting a meeting in the Tower, but when she was summonsed to the tech room, her heat skipped a beat. She hoped that Broots was up for this. She hoped that they had covered their tracks as well as they thought they had. She hoped Jarod was far away and safe.
As she made her way down to the tech room, she saw that a crowd had already assembled. Raines was their, with his two lap-dogs, Lyle and Cox. And at the centre of attention was Mr Broots. He looked like a man that had just had a nasty bout of seafood poisoning. But it looked like he was managing to hold his own.
“The rat escaped the escape-proof trap?” With and arched eyebrow, she strode into the middle of the room, no effort to disguise her smile. She wished she could have seen the look of surprise on Lyle's face when he had received the news.
“Ah….ahh….Miss Parker. Um…it seems….Jarod…..” Broots looked like he was about to cry.
“Our Pretender seems to have taken an unauthorised leave of absence. But fear not, we will track him down.” Mr Cox tried to disguise the anxiety that he was feeling. This was a disaster and he knew where the blame was likely to fall.
“I am surprised you managed to keep him this long.” She turned to Raines and sighed melodramatically. “Can I assume that the game is back on?”
Raines’ lip turned up in a sneer. “I want him back……on SL-27 by the end of the day. I don’t care…… what it takes. Is that….understood?”
Raines turned his attention back to Broots.
“Mr Broots….I want an update…..the second you know how this was…..done.” Dragging his oxygen tank behind him, he left the room, Willie heeling close behind. Broots let out a sigh of relief after Raines had left.
Lyle leaned into Broots and with his good hand got a firm grip on the back of his neck. Broots closed his eyes and waited.
“You find out what the hell happened. I want my boy back.”
Broots swallowed hard. He was on incredibly dangerous ground here and he could feel his entire world slipping away.
“Sir….I…I…owwww..” Broots was squirming under the tight grip at the back of his neck
“Why don’t you let him go and pick on someone your own size?” Without even turning around Lyle could see the smile on her face, and he knew that she had drawn her weapon.
“It would be a damn shame to get grey matter all over the console. Would slow down the search.”
Lyle let go of the back of Broots’ neck and turned around nonchalantly to face his sister.
“Can't have that now, can we? Wouldn’t do much for my suit either.” Lyle was smiling, but there was a dark undercurrent in his voice. He smoothed the shoulders of Broots crumpled shirt and then brushed his own suit off and gave Miss Parker a cold look. “Well sis, looks like we are going to be working together again. Hope you weren’t too settled over in Corporate.”
Parker re-holstered her gun and suggested that it might be more expedient if they all left Mr Broots alone to get on with his work. She knew that the techie was hanging on by a thread and the last thing he needed was that monster Lyle breathing down his neck.
Broots closed his eyes and silently thanked Miss Parker, swearing that he would never again curse her for anything she asked him to do.
“Keep me updated on your progress. I have some avenues of my own that I will be looking into.” As much as Lyle enjoyed taunting the techie, he did indeed have some things to look into.
Lyle strode out the office without a second glance, heading for his own. His missing thumb was aching miserably, and he started to massage it. He knew that there was no actual physical pain, but thinking about Jarod, free and not under his control, made it ache. When he caught whoever was responsible for this, he would make the Yakuza’s method of punishment seem mild in comparison. If it turned out to be Major Charles, and he had more than a sneaking suspicion that it was, he would have to come up with something very special.
Miss Parker gave a knowing look to Broots before she left for her own office. These next few hours would be critical. Jarod would be long gone by now, but if Raines or Lyle caught a whiff of their involvement, they would all be worse off than Jarod had ever been. Even Lyle would never go as far as killing their precious Pretender, but none of them had that kind of protection. She had no doubt that neither her father nor her brother would have any trouble using her against Jarod, or simply killing her if it proved more expedient. She hated the thought that her future hung in the hands of the bumbling techie. She did not doubt Broots’ loyalty, but she was not completely sure how much more pressure he could withstand.
She wondered if Sydney knew yet, and she wanted very badly to call Major Charles. But for the moment, she had to try and look like she was hot on the tail of their missing prized possession. By about midday, Broots should have uncovered the carefully placed trail that he and Gem had left and Miss Parker imagined that the chase would be on.
Broots sighed in relief after Lyle and Miss Parker left. He knew that Raines would have others working on this as well, covertly, looking for any possibility of Broots involvement. He knew that they suspected him, he was in the best position to infiltrate the security, and even though he was confident in the counter-measures that he and Gem had put in place, he was still a complete nervous wreck.
That extra month of waiting had been put to good use. Broots would discover an unauthorised incursion into the mainframe in about six hours. By the end of the day they would have tracked that to a house just outside of Blue Cove. By midday tomorrow they would have backtracked the rental of the property to a private corporation. After another day of meticulous searching, it would be uncovered that a primary stockholder in that company was one Mr W Raines.
It had taken the skills that only a Pretender could possess to set up such an intricate web. But Broots had been incredibly impressed by Gem's skills and was truly beginning to understand why they had been unable to catch Jarod for so long. Broots also really understood for the first time, that if Jarod ever decided to disappear for real, The Centre had no chance of catching up with him.
He sat back and focused on his task at hand. There was still much to do, and even though he thought he had weathered the worst of the storm, he knew that they would be watching him. At Major Charles’ insistence, he had not told Miss Parker or Sydney about their plan to set Raines up. Major Charles and Gem had discussed it at length and decided that this was the best course of action. Major Charles still had some innate distrust of Sydney and Miss Parker, and had only really ever trusted them because it had been the only way to ensure Jarod's freedom. Broots had believed that the Major was being unfair, but had reluctantly agreed. Although Broots had wanted to share the plan with his friends, he could not deny the guilty thrill of pleasure he felt at keeping the secret. He knew that he would pay for it dearly when Miss Parker found out that she had been kept in the dark, but he figured it was probably worth it.
As the tedious computer hacking continued, he allowed himself a small smile, it would be nice for the good guys to win for once. That happened nowhere near enough, at The Centre or in anywhere else, for that matter. He thought about how Jarod had helped so many people, people that had been unable to help themselves, and he realised just how much he wanted to do something for Jarod. Jarod had practically given him his daughter and had literally saved his life, more than once. Broots knew that people thought he was a nerd, a coward, and it never bothered him. Debbie’s opinion was the only one that really mattered to him, and he knew he was a good father. But he just wanted once in his life to do something that was courageous, something he could look back on with pride and say to himself. “I did that, it was a good thing.”
He wanted to email Gem, to see if Jarod was alright, but he knew it was far too dangerous now. The Centre was on full alert and they would be monitoring every incoming and outgoing transmission. His only job right now was to get past his own encryptions and not bring suspicion down upon himself. He settled himself, and for the first time in nearly a year, was happy to be at work.
Sydney's House
7am
Sydney could not stand it any longer. He was already showered and dressed. He could barely contain his desire to ring Broots or Parker, but he held back. If Jarod was indeed out, then he would be putting them all in jeopardy by ringing unless he had a legitimate excuse. And even after an hour of trying to come up with something, nothing sounded convincing, so he went back to pacing. He had thought that the last month had been unbearable, not knowing what was going on with Jarod. No matter how hard he had tried, he had not managed to extract the complete story from Major Charles. He knew he was holding back on something, and by the dark look that had entered The Major's eyes every time he had tried to broach the subject of the failed rescue, Sydney had known that it was very painful. Finally Sydney had dropped it and left the Major alone.
This morning however, Sydney was as close to the point of insanity as he had ever been. He truly believed that if they were unsuccessful this time, he would simply die of a broken heart. Since that terrible day in the sim lab, Sydney had been haunted both night and day. His only respite had been the planning for the rescue, and even in that, he had been mostly excluded. For most of Sydney's adult life, Jarod had been the centre of his existence, and the vacuum that his absence left was almost too much for Sydney to bear. Even as Jarod explored his brave new world as he searched for his parents and his stolen life. Even as he learnt more of his betrayal and the true extent of his exploitation, even when Jarod had believed that he could never forgive Sydney, even then, that connection had not been broken. But now there was nothing
Sometime during that long night, Sydney had come to a decision. If they failed with Jarod again, he would take matters into his own hands. He had spent the early hours of the morning carefully pulling his gun apart and cleaning it. It was the same gun that he had planned on killing Kreig with, but there would be no-one there to stop him this time. He wanted to kill the three of them. He knew that this would not save Jarod, but Sydney was beyond that now. The ideal situation would be the three of them in one of their monthly meetings. There would be a good chance that he could shoot all three before a sweeper killed him. But Sydney did not know if he had the patience anymore to wait and get all three at once. The decision was no longer whether he could kill, but simply who he should kill, who deserved it the most.
He spent the next hour going over in his mind who, if it came down to a choice and he could only get one of the bastards, he should put down. The list of crimes for all three were extensive. He knew that Cox was ostensibly acting under orders, but it made Sydney's stomach churn thinking about the pleasure that Cox enjoyed from hurting Jarod. Then there was Lyle and Raines. It was still difficult to think of Miss Parker as related to these two. He would always think of her as the daughter of Catherine. Could he kill her father, her brother? Would she understand? Would she forgive him? He was only faintly surprised to find that he didn’t care whether he had her forgiveness or understanding.
Although they had never really had a loving relationship, there was a bond there. Disguised too often behind acerbic remarks, but nevertheless, there was a warmth and Sydney supposed that he was almost her surrogate father. She had once told him that there was nothing he could ever do that would give her comfort, but they both knew that that was a lie. Things were different now however. After Scotland, she had been colder and distant, and Sydney had yet to find out what had transpired between her and Jarod. But since they had both witnessed the devastating destruction of Jarod, a wall had grown between them. Sydney had wanted to reach out so many times to her, but he seemed unable to push past his own wall of pain, and now they were both horribly isolated in their own world of guilt and remorse.
When he looked up at the clock, his gun neatly re-assembled in his hand, he was surprised to see that almost an hour had slipped by. He could leave for work now without raising any suspicions. He still had not come to a decision about who he most wanted to kill, he would wait and see what opportunity presented itself. He steeled himself for another failure and made his way to The Centre.
By the time he pulled into the carpark, Sydney knew that either Jarod and the Major had been caught, or the rescue had been a success. It looked like every sweeper that worked at The Centre had been called in, he had never seen the carpark this full.
By the time he reached the lobby, it was clear that Jarod had indeed escaped. He maintained his cool composure with difficulty all the way to his office. He sank down in his chair and placed his head in his hands. It was hard to tell whether he was laughing or crying. Perhaps both.
Major Charles’
Hotel Room
The Major looked at his son, asleep in his arms and started to cry. He didn’t move, not wanting to disturb Jarod, just holding him closely. This was the first time in over a month the Major had let his emotions run freely. When Gem poked his head hesitantly in through the door, the Major gently shooed him away. He rested his chin on the stubble of Jarod's closely shaved head and tried not to think of all the long nights throughout the years that Jarod had been alone, with no-one to offer him comfort.
After his aching body could no longer stand the uncomfortable position on the bathroom floor, the Major called for Gem. He must have been waiting, listening on the other side of the door, because his face appeared in the doorway in a matter of seconds.
“Gem, help me get him to the bed.” The Major instructed, keeping his voice low.
After a brief struggle they managed to deposit Jarod on the bed. He had barely stirred as they had laid him down. When he was certain that Jarod was still asleep, he returned to the bathroom and washed his face. Gem hovered over his father like a mother hen.
“Dad, you need to eat, you need to get some more rest. I can look after things here. And I promise I will wake you if Jarod wakes up.” His eyes glanced nervously at the sleeping Pretender.
“Son, what happened earlier? What was that about? Did he hurt you?” The Major had imagined many ways that Jarod might respond to his newly acquired freedom and he had thought himself prepared. But never once had he ever given any thought to the fact that Jarod might be violent or could pose a risk to Gem, might hurt him, even unintentionally. He knew that Jarod's emotions were swinging wildly out of control, but he did not want to put Gem at risk either. He was unsure how to deal with Jarod. He wanted to be there for both his sons, but he was no longer certain that he would be able to achieve this.
Gem, in an unconscious imitation of Jarod, tried to hide his wrists from his father. But the Major reached out and gently took his arms.
“Show me.”
There were two red marks that hadn’t quite faded yet and were likely to leave bruises where Jarod's thumbs had dug into Gem's wrists.
“He didn’t mean it dad. It wasn’t his fault.” Gem ducked his head.
He had been looking forward to having Jarod back with them so much, but everything was going wrong. It didn’t matter what he did, it just seemed to upset Jarod even more and he was scared that his father was going to send him to stay with Emily. He knew that he could help Jarod. He had been reading everything he could find on post-traumatic shock and the effects of long-term imprisonment and brutality.
“I simmed him, what happened to him. I couldn’t help it, and I thought it might help.” Gem looked at his father miserably.
“Did you tell him this?”
“No, he just knew.”
He smiled sadly. Of course Jarod knew, would have done the same thing had he been in the same situation. His heart went out to his young son. He was trying so hard to find his way in the world, to find his own identity. These past few years had not been easy on him, and there were so many things that had remained unspoken between him and Jarod. The boy desperately wanted Jarod's approval and love, needed some way to define himself in relation to Jarod. Gem may be a Pretender and should understand that that Jarod didn’t mean to take his hostility out on Gem, but he was also still just a kid learning how to deal with his own emotions, suppressed for so long. Could Gem understand that although he thought he was trying to help Jarod, Jarod would perceive Gem simming him as just another Centre violation?
As if reading his thoughts, Gem stood up quickly and looked out the window, his back to his father.
“Everytime he sees me, he thinks of them. All I am is a constant reminder of what they did to him. He doesn’t se ME, he sees…I'm not even a real person.”
Gem tried to control the sobs that were racking through his body. He let himself fall into his father’s strong arms as they encircled him. Gem, like Jarod, was prone to horrific nightmares. Mostly they involved his time spent growing up at Donoterase under the care of Raines, and more recently, what had been going on with Jarod. But his worst nightmares always revolved around his deepest fear, one that he did not think that he would ever get over. He was not a real person. He was an aberration against nature and he had no right to be here. He sometimes wished he was still at The Centre, at least there he had a purpose and a function, his existence was very clearly defined. Before Jarod had come and turned his world upside down, he knew exactly who he was, what he was.
“Gem, we have been through this before, many times. You are just as real as me or Jarod or anybody. And the only thing I regret is that we didn’t find you earlier. But you must never feel that you are not loved and wanted. I need you, we need you to be strong now. Jarod is going to be in for some hard times ahead, and he needs the support of his family, we all have to be strong for him, now more than ever.”
The Major turned them both around to look at Jarod who was still sleeping.
“This is our family son, for better or worse, however it came to be. This is it. You are part of us and you are stuck with us. Don’t ever forget that. Jarod is going to say and do some things he doesn’t mean over the next few days, try not to take it to heart. He has been alone his entire life and it's hard for him to adjust too. Just keep that in mind and try to be patient. He will come around. He just needs some time, that’s all.”
Gem hoped that his father was right, but deep down he knew that Jarod would always see his own stolen life when he looked at him.
After eating a light meal, the Major tried to get some more sleep. He dropped himself on the small lounge chair, not wanting to disturb Jarod on the only bed. He would get a couple more hours of sleep and then they would hit the road again. He sighed heavily as he tried to make himself comfortable. He would find some way to pick the broken pieces up and put them all back together again. He closed his eyes and let his exhaustion claim him.
Gem used this time to get his notebook out. He was very tempted to take a peek into The Centre mainframe to see what was going on, but he resisted the urge. Instead, he spent a couple of hours checking that all the leads were in place. He knew that they were, but he needed to do something to take his mind off his brooding. He wanted so badly to make it right for Jarod, but he was at a loss at what to do.
Just before nightfall, Jarod awoke with a start. He was terrified, awaking in the semi-darkness, unsure where he was and what had happened. But then he remembered what had happened, and he rose slowly, careful of his aching muscles. He saw the hesitant smile on Gem's face as he put a finger to his own lips in a hushing gesture. Jarod looked over to see his father snoring softly. Jarod got up gingerly and found that his back was aching terribly. His lips twisted in a snarl at the irony. For so long he had dreamt about lying on something soft, and now that he finally had, he’d earned himself a sore back for the privilege. Lyle would laugh.
Jarod inhaled sharply at the thought of Lyle. He needed to get a message to him, let him know that he was alright. Then another alarming thought hit him. They would probably blame Lyle for this. Jarod knew how much Cox hated Lyle for trying to undermine his authority. Lyle had tried to look out for him, and Cox would make him pay now. His eyes fell on Gem's open notebook and he started formulating a plan.
Jarod had another light meal. Gem would not allow anything heavier, not until his stomach was ready to take something more exotic. Even though Jarod knew the boy was right, it was a battle for him to fight down his anger at being told what he could or could not eat. They ate the meal in uncomfortable silence until finally Jarod could stand it no longer and broke the silence.
“Where are we heading?”
Gem’s smile was beautiful and even in Jarod’s current frame of mind, he found it hard to resist.
“Montana. Dad has some property out there.” Gem briefly paused in his rambling as he noticed a sharp look from Jarod. “Ohh, don’t worry, it’s safe, we go there all the time. Nobody knows about it, not even Emily.” Gem loved the Montana property, the house might be small and rough, but it was their special place, and though he thought of it as just for him and his dad, he was eager to show Jarod it's charms. “It’s even got a river, well a creek really, running through it. Dad was thinking we could spend some time there, you know, until you’re on your feet, then we can take it from there.”
Jarod listened to Gem rattle off a catalogue of the things that they could do in Montana, and for a while, he allowed himself to relax and get caught up in the fantasy.
“A river? It has a river running through it?’ Jarod paused his eating and focused his attention on Gem, who had failed to pick up the warning sign in Jarod's tone.
“Yeah sure, well it's not much more than a creek really, but it's good trout fishing.” Gem was pleased that he had managed to get through more than ten minutes without upsetting Jarod. But he felt Jarod tense up and he wondered what he said wrong now.
“Fishing. You go fishing there?” Jarod's tone had turned cold, and a muscle was starting to twitch in his jaw.
Gem was far too caught up in his tale now to pay attention to the danger signs. He loved fishing with his father and he plunged on before his good sense could stop him.
“Sure we do. Me and dad go fishing all the time. It's the best fun. We can do some when we get there. Oh Jarod, you are so going to love it.”
Jarod listened to Gem extolling the virtues of various fishing spots that his father liked. And it seemed that there was some disagreement as to who was indeed the better fisherman. But Jarod felt like he had been sucker punched by Sam. He found that he was having trouble breathing as pure jealousy coursed through him. He sat quietly, giving a good imitation of being an attentive listener. He was, after all, well practiced at sitting quietly for endless hours, alone in his cell, as time stood still. But dark volatile emotions were consuming him. While he was down in SL-27 being tortured, Gem and his father had been fishing. His dream of being left on the shore as they left without him hit him with full force, and he nearly gagged at the sense of betrayal. It took all of his self control not to reach forward and shake that smile right from the usurper’s face. This was HIS father, not Gem’s and Gem was stealing him, and after all the things that Jarod had done for the boy. He clenched his fists and tried to bring himself under control. He took a drink of water and made a visible effort to calm himself.
Gem must have finally noticed something was wrong, because he had lapsed into silence.
“Jarod, have I done something wrong?” Gem asked, worried that he had somehow messed up again.
With barely constrained resentment. “No, I'm just still really tired. I am going to go and sit outside. It's cold in here.”
Gem was unsure what to do, but Jarod solved the problem for him.
“Don’t worry, I'm not going anywhere. It has been a long time since I have felt the warmth of a summer night, and I want to see the sky.” Jarod felt stupid, like a little kid having to ask permission to go outside, but it seemed like the path of least resistance. He was no longer the property of The Centre, and he was no longer the plaything of Cox’s, he should not have to explain himself to anyone.
He sat on the step and let the warmth soak into his bones, melting some of the rage and anger that he felt. He concentrated on getting his breathing under control. He closed his eyes and fought down the resentment, and it wasn’t until ten minutes had passed that he opened his eyes. He was somewhat more in control of himself now, but it was tenuous and he could feel himself spinning, losing his grip. He needed to talk and his father just wouldn’t understand. It was clear that he was on the boy’s side. It was only just getting dark and the stars were just beginning to show themselves. He let himself relax and allowed his eyes to drink in the vista before him, he didn’t think he had ever seen a more beautiful sight.
This same time yesterday, he would have traded his soul, if it had been his to give, to be warm, free and looking at the stars. But now he found that he felt restless after only a few minutes. He had not turned around to check, but he knew Gem was peeking at him through the window. He hated the feeling of being watched and felt the need to get up and pace. He stood up and sent a glare at his observer, and was pleased to see him jump back in surprise. When he turned around again, his eyes caught on the van. He wandered over to see if it was unlocked. He had briefly thought of just jumping in and driving, but his mind went back to Gem's notebook. He had a few things he wanted to set up before he left on his own. And, although he hated admitting it, in his present condition, he did not think that he would get very far on his own. It was true that he felt much stronger, but he also knew that he was still suffering from borderline exhaustion.
He opened the passenger door and jumped in. His eyes caught the black backpack that his father had used when he came to rescue him. He rifled through it and found a palm pilot and a cell phone. He stared at the phone, and before he even knew what he was doing, he hit one on the speed-dial. His need to talk to Sydney was like an aching void. He held the phone up to his ear and realised that it was not ringing. This was not his phone, Sydney's number would not be programmed in. He clutched the phone to his chest as the realisation hit him. Sydney was no longer a part of his life, he had made his choice and turned his back on Jarod. Jarod choked back a sob as he realised that the man he had always thought of as his father had betrayed him yet again, and Jarod just didn’t have enough left in him to forgive him again.
He turned on the mini-computer, hooked it up to the cell phone and hacked easily into The Centre’s phone directory and found the number that he was looking for. He only had one person left now, one person that he could count on. One person that would understand. He dialled the numbers and waited.
“Lyle, it's me.”
6am
By the time Miss Parker had arrived at The Centre, there was a bustle of activity. She had been expecting a meeting in the Tower, but when she was summonsed to the tech room, her heat skipped a beat. She hoped that Broots was up for this. She hoped that they had covered their tracks as well as they thought they had. She hoped Jarod was far away and safe.
As she made her way down to the tech room, she saw that a crowd had already assembled. Raines was their, with his two lap-dogs, Lyle and Cox. And at the centre of attention was Mr Broots. He looked like a man that had just had a nasty bout of seafood poisoning. But it looked like he was managing to hold his own.
“The rat escaped the escape-proof trap?” With and arched eyebrow, she strode into the middle of the room, no effort to disguise her smile. She wished she could have seen the look of surprise on Lyle's face when he had received the news.
“Ah….ahh….Miss Parker. Um…it seems….Jarod…..” Broots looked like he was about to cry.
“Our Pretender seems to have taken an unauthorised leave of absence. But fear not, we will track him down.” Mr Cox tried to disguise the anxiety that he was feeling. This was a disaster and he knew where the blame was likely to fall.
“I am surprised you managed to keep him this long.” She turned to Raines and sighed melodramatically. “Can I assume that the game is back on?”
Raines’ lip turned up in a sneer. “I want him back……on SL-27 by the end of the day. I don’t care…… what it takes. Is that….understood?”
Raines turned his attention back to Broots.
“Mr Broots….I want an update…..the second you know how this was…..done.” Dragging his oxygen tank behind him, he left the room, Willie heeling close behind. Broots let out a sigh of relief after Raines had left.
Lyle leaned into Broots and with his good hand got a firm grip on the back of his neck. Broots closed his eyes and waited.
“You find out what the hell happened. I want my boy back.”
Broots swallowed hard. He was on incredibly dangerous ground here and he could feel his entire world slipping away.
“Sir….I…I…owwww..” Broots was squirming under the tight grip at the back of his neck
“Why don’t you let him go and pick on someone your own size?” Without even turning around Lyle could see the smile on her face, and he knew that she had drawn her weapon.
“It would be a damn shame to get grey matter all over the console. Would slow down the search.”
Lyle let go of the back of Broots’ neck and turned around nonchalantly to face his sister.
“Can't have that now, can we? Wouldn’t do much for my suit either.” Lyle was smiling, but there was a dark undercurrent in his voice. He smoothed the shoulders of Broots crumpled shirt and then brushed his own suit off and gave Miss Parker a cold look. “Well sis, looks like we are going to be working together again. Hope you weren’t too settled over in Corporate.”
Parker re-holstered her gun and suggested that it might be more expedient if they all left Mr Broots alone to get on with his work. She knew that the techie was hanging on by a thread and the last thing he needed was that monster Lyle breathing down his neck.
Broots closed his eyes and silently thanked Miss Parker, swearing that he would never again curse her for anything she asked him to do.
“Keep me updated on your progress. I have some avenues of my own that I will be looking into.” As much as Lyle enjoyed taunting the techie, he did indeed have some things to look into.
Lyle strode out the office without a second glance, heading for his own. His missing thumb was aching miserably, and he started to massage it. He knew that there was no actual physical pain, but thinking about Jarod, free and not under his control, made it ache. When he caught whoever was responsible for this, he would make the Yakuza’s method of punishment seem mild in comparison. If it turned out to be Major Charles, and he had more than a sneaking suspicion that it was, he would have to come up with something very special.
Miss Parker gave a knowing look to Broots before she left for her own office. These next few hours would be critical. Jarod would be long gone by now, but if Raines or Lyle caught a whiff of their involvement, they would all be worse off than Jarod had ever been. Even Lyle would never go as far as killing their precious Pretender, but none of them had that kind of protection. She had no doubt that neither her father nor her brother would have any trouble using her against Jarod, or simply killing her if it proved more expedient. She hated the thought that her future hung in the hands of the bumbling techie. She did not doubt Broots’ loyalty, but she was not completely sure how much more pressure he could withstand.
She wondered if Sydney knew yet, and she wanted very badly to call Major Charles. But for the moment, she had to try and look like she was hot on the tail of their missing prized possession. By about midday, Broots should have uncovered the carefully placed trail that he and Gem had left and Miss Parker imagined that the chase would be on.
Broots sighed in relief after Lyle and Miss Parker left. He knew that Raines would have others working on this as well, covertly, looking for any possibility of Broots involvement. He knew that they suspected him, he was in the best position to infiltrate the security, and even though he was confident in the counter-measures that he and Gem had put in place, he was still a complete nervous wreck.
That extra month of waiting had been put to good use. Broots would discover an unauthorised incursion into the mainframe in about six hours. By the end of the day they would have tracked that to a house just outside of Blue Cove. By midday tomorrow they would have backtracked the rental of the property to a private corporation. After another day of meticulous searching, it would be uncovered that a primary stockholder in that company was one Mr W Raines.
It had taken the skills that only a Pretender could possess to set up such an intricate web. But Broots had been incredibly impressed by Gem's skills and was truly beginning to understand why they had been unable to catch Jarod for so long. Broots also really understood for the first time, that if Jarod ever decided to disappear for real, The Centre had no chance of catching up with him.
He sat back and focused on his task at hand. There was still much to do, and even though he thought he had weathered the worst of the storm, he knew that they would be watching him. At Major Charles’ insistence, he had not told Miss Parker or Sydney about their plan to set Raines up. Major Charles and Gem had discussed it at length and decided that this was the best course of action. Major Charles still had some innate distrust of Sydney and Miss Parker, and had only really ever trusted them because it had been the only way to ensure Jarod's freedom. Broots had believed that the Major was being unfair, but had reluctantly agreed. Although Broots had wanted to share the plan with his friends, he could not deny the guilty thrill of pleasure he felt at keeping the secret. He knew that he would pay for it dearly when Miss Parker found out that she had been kept in the dark, but he figured it was probably worth it.
As the tedious computer hacking continued, he allowed himself a small smile, it would be nice for the good guys to win for once. That happened nowhere near enough, at The Centre or in anywhere else, for that matter. He thought about how Jarod had helped so many people, people that had been unable to help themselves, and he realised just how much he wanted to do something for Jarod. Jarod had practically given him his daughter and had literally saved his life, more than once. Broots knew that people thought he was a nerd, a coward, and it never bothered him. Debbie’s opinion was the only one that really mattered to him, and he knew he was a good father. But he just wanted once in his life to do something that was courageous, something he could look back on with pride and say to himself. “I did that, it was a good thing.”
He wanted to email Gem, to see if Jarod was alright, but he knew it was far too dangerous now. The Centre was on full alert and they would be monitoring every incoming and outgoing transmission. His only job right now was to get past his own encryptions and not bring suspicion down upon himself. He settled himself, and for the first time in nearly a year, was happy to be at work.
Sydney's House
7am
Sydney could not stand it any longer. He was already showered and dressed. He could barely contain his desire to ring Broots or Parker, but he held back. If Jarod was indeed out, then he would be putting them all in jeopardy by ringing unless he had a legitimate excuse. And even after an hour of trying to come up with something, nothing sounded convincing, so he went back to pacing. He had thought that the last month had been unbearable, not knowing what was going on with Jarod. No matter how hard he had tried, he had not managed to extract the complete story from Major Charles. He knew he was holding back on something, and by the dark look that had entered The Major's eyes every time he had tried to broach the subject of the failed rescue, Sydney had known that it was very painful. Finally Sydney had dropped it and left the Major alone.
This morning however, Sydney was as close to the point of insanity as he had ever been. He truly believed that if they were unsuccessful this time, he would simply die of a broken heart. Since that terrible day in the sim lab, Sydney had been haunted both night and day. His only respite had been the planning for the rescue, and even in that, he had been mostly excluded. For most of Sydney's adult life, Jarod had been the centre of his existence, and the vacuum that his absence left was almost too much for Sydney to bear. Even as Jarod explored his brave new world as he searched for his parents and his stolen life. Even as he learnt more of his betrayal and the true extent of his exploitation, even when Jarod had believed that he could never forgive Sydney, even then, that connection had not been broken. But now there was nothing
Sometime during that long night, Sydney had come to a decision. If they failed with Jarod again, he would take matters into his own hands. He had spent the early hours of the morning carefully pulling his gun apart and cleaning it. It was the same gun that he had planned on killing Kreig with, but there would be no-one there to stop him this time. He wanted to kill the three of them. He knew that this would not save Jarod, but Sydney was beyond that now. The ideal situation would be the three of them in one of their monthly meetings. There would be a good chance that he could shoot all three before a sweeper killed him. But Sydney did not know if he had the patience anymore to wait and get all three at once. The decision was no longer whether he could kill, but simply who he should kill, who deserved it the most.
He spent the next hour going over in his mind who, if it came down to a choice and he could only get one of the bastards, he should put down. The list of crimes for all three were extensive. He knew that Cox was ostensibly acting under orders, but it made Sydney's stomach churn thinking about the pleasure that Cox enjoyed from hurting Jarod. Then there was Lyle and Raines. It was still difficult to think of Miss Parker as related to these two. He would always think of her as the daughter of Catherine. Could he kill her father, her brother? Would she understand? Would she forgive him? He was only faintly surprised to find that he didn’t care whether he had her forgiveness or understanding.
Although they had never really had a loving relationship, there was a bond there. Disguised too often behind acerbic remarks, but nevertheless, there was a warmth and Sydney supposed that he was almost her surrogate father. She had once told him that there was nothing he could ever do that would give her comfort, but they both knew that that was a lie. Things were different now however. After Scotland, she had been colder and distant, and Sydney had yet to find out what had transpired between her and Jarod. But since they had both witnessed the devastating destruction of Jarod, a wall had grown between them. Sydney had wanted to reach out so many times to her, but he seemed unable to push past his own wall of pain, and now they were both horribly isolated in their own world of guilt and remorse.
When he looked up at the clock, his gun neatly re-assembled in his hand, he was surprised to see that almost an hour had slipped by. He could leave for work now without raising any suspicions. He still had not come to a decision about who he most wanted to kill, he would wait and see what opportunity presented itself. He steeled himself for another failure and made his way to The Centre.
By the time he pulled into the carpark, Sydney knew that either Jarod and the Major had been caught, or the rescue had been a success. It looked like every sweeper that worked at The Centre had been called in, he had never seen the carpark this full.
By the time he reached the lobby, it was clear that Jarod had indeed escaped. He maintained his cool composure with difficulty all the way to his office. He sank down in his chair and placed his head in his hands. It was hard to tell whether he was laughing or crying. Perhaps both.
Major Charles’
Hotel Room
The Major looked at his son, asleep in his arms and started to cry. He didn’t move, not wanting to disturb Jarod, just holding him closely. This was the first time in over a month the Major had let his emotions run freely. When Gem poked his head hesitantly in through the door, the Major gently shooed him away. He rested his chin on the stubble of Jarod's closely shaved head and tried not to think of all the long nights throughout the years that Jarod had been alone, with no-one to offer him comfort.
After his aching body could no longer stand the uncomfortable position on the bathroom floor, the Major called for Gem. He must have been waiting, listening on the other side of the door, because his face appeared in the doorway in a matter of seconds.
“Gem, help me get him to the bed.” The Major instructed, keeping his voice low.
After a brief struggle they managed to deposit Jarod on the bed. He had barely stirred as they had laid him down. When he was certain that Jarod was still asleep, he returned to the bathroom and washed his face. Gem hovered over his father like a mother hen.
“Dad, you need to eat, you need to get some more rest. I can look after things here. And I promise I will wake you if Jarod wakes up.” His eyes glanced nervously at the sleeping Pretender.
“Son, what happened earlier? What was that about? Did he hurt you?” The Major had imagined many ways that Jarod might respond to his newly acquired freedom and he had thought himself prepared. But never once had he ever given any thought to the fact that Jarod might be violent or could pose a risk to Gem, might hurt him, even unintentionally. He knew that Jarod's emotions were swinging wildly out of control, but he did not want to put Gem at risk either. He was unsure how to deal with Jarod. He wanted to be there for both his sons, but he was no longer certain that he would be able to achieve this.
Gem, in an unconscious imitation of Jarod, tried to hide his wrists from his father. But the Major reached out and gently took his arms.
“Show me.”
There were two red marks that hadn’t quite faded yet and were likely to leave bruises where Jarod's thumbs had dug into Gem's wrists.
“He didn’t mean it dad. It wasn’t his fault.” Gem ducked his head.
He had been looking forward to having Jarod back with them so much, but everything was going wrong. It didn’t matter what he did, it just seemed to upset Jarod even more and he was scared that his father was going to send him to stay with Emily. He knew that he could help Jarod. He had been reading everything he could find on post-traumatic shock and the effects of long-term imprisonment and brutality.
“I simmed him, what happened to him. I couldn’t help it, and I thought it might help.” Gem looked at his father miserably.
“Did you tell him this?”
“No, he just knew.”
He smiled sadly. Of course Jarod knew, would have done the same thing had he been in the same situation. His heart went out to his young son. He was trying so hard to find his way in the world, to find his own identity. These past few years had not been easy on him, and there were so many things that had remained unspoken between him and Jarod. The boy desperately wanted Jarod's approval and love, needed some way to define himself in relation to Jarod. Gem may be a Pretender and should understand that that Jarod didn’t mean to take his hostility out on Gem, but he was also still just a kid learning how to deal with his own emotions, suppressed for so long. Could Gem understand that although he thought he was trying to help Jarod, Jarod would perceive Gem simming him as just another Centre violation?
As if reading his thoughts, Gem stood up quickly and looked out the window, his back to his father.
“Everytime he sees me, he thinks of them. All I am is a constant reminder of what they did to him. He doesn’t se ME, he sees…I'm not even a real person.”
Gem tried to control the sobs that were racking through his body. He let himself fall into his father’s strong arms as they encircled him. Gem, like Jarod, was prone to horrific nightmares. Mostly they involved his time spent growing up at Donoterase under the care of Raines, and more recently, what had been going on with Jarod. But his worst nightmares always revolved around his deepest fear, one that he did not think that he would ever get over. He was not a real person. He was an aberration against nature and he had no right to be here. He sometimes wished he was still at The Centre, at least there he had a purpose and a function, his existence was very clearly defined. Before Jarod had come and turned his world upside down, he knew exactly who he was, what he was.
“Gem, we have been through this before, many times. You are just as real as me or Jarod or anybody. And the only thing I regret is that we didn’t find you earlier. But you must never feel that you are not loved and wanted. I need you, we need you to be strong now. Jarod is going to be in for some hard times ahead, and he needs the support of his family, we all have to be strong for him, now more than ever.”
The Major turned them both around to look at Jarod who was still sleeping.
“This is our family son, for better or worse, however it came to be. This is it. You are part of us and you are stuck with us. Don’t ever forget that. Jarod is going to say and do some things he doesn’t mean over the next few days, try not to take it to heart. He has been alone his entire life and it's hard for him to adjust too. Just keep that in mind and try to be patient. He will come around. He just needs some time, that’s all.”
Gem hoped that his father was right, but deep down he knew that Jarod would always see his own stolen life when he looked at him.
After eating a light meal, the Major tried to get some more sleep. He dropped himself on the small lounge chair, not wanting to disturb Jarod on the only bed. He would get a couple more hours of sleep and then they would hit the road again. He sighed heavily as he tried to make himself comfortable. He would find some way to pick the broken pieces up and put them all back together again. He closed his eyes and let his exhaustion claim him.
Gem used this time to get his notebook out. He was very tempted to take a peek into The Centre mainframe to see what was going on, but he resisted the urge. Instead, he spent a couple of hours checking that all the leads were in place. He knew that they were, but he needed to do something to take his mind off his brooding. He wanted so badly to make it right for Jarod, but he was at a loss at what to do.
Just before nightfall, Jarod awoke with a start. He was terrified, awaking in the semi-darkness, unsure where he was and what had happened. But then he remembered what had happened, and he rose slowly, careful of his aching muscles. He saw the hesitant smile on Gem's face as he put a finger to his own lips in a hushing gesture. Jarod looked over to see his father snoring softly. Jarod got up gingerly and found that his back was aching terribly. His lips twisted in a snarl at the irony. For so long he had dreamt about lying on something soft, and now that he finally had, he’d earned himself a sore back for the privilege. Lyle would laugh.
Jarod inhaled sharply at the thought of Lyle. He needed to get a message to him, let him know that he was alright. Then another alarming thought hit him. They would probably blame Lyle for this. Jarod knew how much Cox hated Lyle for trying to undermine his authority. Lyle had tried to look out for him, and Cox would make him pay now. His eyes fell on Gem's open notebook and he started formulating a plan.
Jarod had another light meal. Gem would not allow anything heavier, not until his stomach was ready to take something more exotic. Even though Jarod knew the boy was right, it was a battle for him to fight down his anger at being told what he could or could not eat. They ate the meal in uncomfortable silence until finally Jarod could stand it no longer and broke the silence.
“Where are we heading?”
Gem’s smile was beautiful and even in Jarod’s current frame of mind, he found it hard to resist.
“Montana. Dad has some property out there.” Gem briefly paused in his rambling as he noticed a sharp look from Jarod. “Ohh, don’t worry, it’s safe, we go there all the time. Nobody knows about it, not even Emily.” Gem loved the Montana property, the house might be small and rough, but it was their special place, and though he thought of it as just for him and his dad, he was eager to show Jarod it's charms. “It’s even got a river, well a creek really, running through it. Dad was thinking we could spend some time there, you know, until you’re on your feet, then we can take it from there.”
Jarod listened to Gem rattle off a catalogue of the things that they could do in Montana, and for a while, he allowed himself to relax and get caught up in the fantasy.
“A river? It has a river running through it?’ Jarod paused his eating and focused his attention on Gem, who had failed to pick up the warning sign in Jarod's tone.
“Yeah sure, well it's not much more than a creek really, but it's good trout fishing.” Gem was pleased that he had managed to get through more than ten minutes without upsetting Jarod. But he felt Jarod tense up and he wondered what he said wrong now.
“Fishing. You go fishing there?” Jarod's tone had turned cold, and a muscle was starting to twitch in his jaw.
Gem was far too caught up in his tale now to pay attention to the danger signs. He loved fishing with his father and he plunged on before his good sense could stop him.
“Sure we do. Me and dad go fishing all the time. It's the best fun. We can do some when we get there. Oh Jarod, you are so going to love it.”
Jarod listened to Gem extolling the virtues of various fishing spots that his father liked. And it seemed that there was some disagreement as to who was indeed the better fisherman. But Jarod felt like he had been sucker punched by Sam. He found that he was having trouble breathing as pure jealousy coursed through him. He sat quietly, giving a good imitation of being an attentive listener. He was, after all, well practiced at sitting quietly for endless hours, alone in his cell, as time stood still. But dark volatile emotions were consuming him. While he was down in SL-27 being tortured, Gem and his father had been fishing. His dream of being left on the shore as they left without him hit him with full force, and he nearly gagged at the sense of betrayal. It took all of his self control not to reach forward and shake that smile right from the usurper’s face. This was HIS father, not Gem’s and Gem was stealing him, and after all the things that Jarod had done for the boy. He clenched his fists and tried to bring himself under control. He took a drink of water and made a visible effort to calm himself.
Gem must have finally noticed something was wrong, because he had lapsed into silence.
“Jarod, have I done something wrong?” Gem asked, worried that he had somehow messed up again.
With barely constrained resentment. “No, I'm just still really tired. I am going to go and sit outside. It's cold in here.”
Gem was unsure what to do, but Jarod solved the problem for him.
“Don’t worry, I'm not going anywhere. It has been a long time since I have felt the warmth of a summer night, and I want to see the sky.” Jarod felt stupid, like a little kid having to ask permission to go outside, but it seemed like the path of least resistance. He was no longer the property of The Centre, and he was no longer the plaything of Cox’s, he should not have to explain himself to anyone.
He sat on the step and let the warmth soak into his bones, melting some of the rage and anger that he felt. He concentrated on getting his breathing under control. He closed his eyes and fought down the resentment, and it wasn’t until ten minutes had passed that he opened his eyes. He was somewhat more in control of himself now, but it was tenuous and he could feel himself spinning, losing his grip. He needed to talk and his father just wouldn’t understand. It was clear that he was on the boy’s side. It was only just getting dark and the stars were just beginning to show themselves. He let himself relax and allowed his eyes to drink in the vista before him, he didn’t think he had ever seen a more beautiful sight.
This same time yesterday, he would have traded his soul, if it had been his to give, to be warm, free and looking at the stars. But now he found that he felt restless after only a few minutes. He had not turned around to check, but he knew Gem was peeking at him through the window. He hated the feeling of being watched and felt the need to get up and pace. He stood up and sent a glare at his observer, and was pleased to see him jump back in surprise. When he turned around again, his eyes caught on the van. He wandered over to see if it was unlocked. He had briefly thought of just jumping in and driving, but his mind went back to Gem's notebook. He had a few things he wanted to set up before he left on his own. And, although he hated admitting it, in his present condition, he did not think that he would get very far on his own. It was true that he felt much stronger, but he also knew that he was still suffering from borderline exhaustion.
He opened the passenger door and jumped in. His eyes caught the black backpack that his father had used when he came to rescue him. He rifled through it and found a palm pilot and a cell phone. He stared at the phone, and before he even knew what he was doing, he hit one on the speed-dial. His need to talk to Sydney was like an aching void. He held the phone up to his ear and realised that it was not ringing. This was not his phone, Sydney's number would not be programmed in. He clutched the phone to his chest as the realisation hit him. Sydney was no longer a part of his life, he had made his choice and turned his back on Jarod. Jarod choked back a sob as he realised that the man he had always thought of as his father had betrayed him yet again, and Jarod just didn’t have enough left in him to forgive him again.
He turned on the mini-computer, hooked it up to the cell phone and hacked easily into The Centre’s phone directory and found the number that he was looking for. He only had one person left now, one person that he could count on. One person that would understand. He dialled the numbers and waited.
“Lyle, it's me.”
