Duets by JasmineSky
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Chapter or Story
Part Two of Seven
JasmineSky
As they ate their lunched they chatted.
"Are they finished with our rooms?"
"If not now, they will be soon."
"They had better get our televisions ready by nine o'clock. We get really aggravated it we miss our favorite show."
"What show is that?"
"Millennium."
"Not familiar with that one. I'll have to watch it tonight."
"It's pretty dark and gritty. Part drama, part horror."
"Sounds interesting. What else do you like?"
"On television I like: Voyager, Law and Order and Heat of the Night. As far a movies go, I've seen every one Stephen King has written. I'm a big fan of the horror genre. The Terminator and Alien series are favorites, too."
"I'm afraid I don't watch much television, although I think I saw a few episodes of Voyager and I saw Christine years ago."
"That's my LEAST favorite King movie. Firestarter, Carrie and Children of the Corn are my favorites. I liked Cujo, too, but I won't let Damien see it!"
Sydney laughed. "Oh--I did see that one too! No, we wouldn't want your pet to get any wrong ideas!"
They finished their lunches and decided to check on the rooms.
Casey and her guard were shown to her room first. She squealed in delight as soon as the door was opened. The room was exactly like the one she'd had at her home. She turned the CD player on loud and plopped on the bed.
Stacey knelt to speak to Damien, who had stopped in the doorway.
"Damien, you stay with Casey. She needs you." she told him.
He barked in agreement, and she kissed his head before he leapt onto the bed with his mistress.
Stacey was also pleased with her room.
"Yes, it looks just like the one I left." she said as she checked drawers and closets.
"I'm glad you like it. I'll leave you to relax until dinnertime." Sydney said as he exited. Carlos took his post outside the door.
Sydney stated to return to his office when he met Miss Parker and Broots going in the opposite direction.
"Aren't you going to watch the show?" Miss Parker asked him.
"Show?" "The girls' rooms are wired. The whole Tower is watching the big monitor to see if they do anything--unusual."
"Stacey specified in her demands that there would be no surveillance in their rooms."
"So? What they don't know won't hurt them--or us. Broots rigged a system they'll never detect."
Sydney didn't like the idea, but followed the pair the Tower's viewing room. Raines, Parker and the rest of the Tower personnel sat in rows in the small, darkened theater-like room watching a movie-screen type monitor that was split, showing a wide- angle view of both girls' rooms.
What do they expect? Sydney wondered do they think they will start levitating or breathing fire? He took a seat next to Miss Parker.
No one seemed to notice the figure in the shadows . Angelo stared intently at the screen featuring Stacey.
Casey had gotten off the bed to change the CDs but had soon returned and remained motionless. Stacey was still investigating drawers and rearranging things.
"There." she said to herself. "Now everything's just right."
She opened her closet door, pulled out some clothes, and began removing her dress. Sydney was not all happy at this invasion of privacy or with the looks some Tower bigwigs were giving the screen. Thankfully, she didn't remove her underwear.
White lace bra and white cotton panties Syd noticed, getting rather warm. She put on short jean shorts and a crop top.
She walked to her CD player and selected four disks and hit a program sequence.
As the music started she began to sing and dance to the song "Under the Water". The music was karaoke, and Stacey's voice filled the air and harmonized with the other vocalists on the track. When that song finished, she went straight into a version of Leslie Gore's "You Don't Own Me".
"Now that's a good one for the Centre" she said aloud as she paused the player and went back to the closet. She put on a cowboy hat and pulled on a pair of boots. She re-started the player.
Now she sang a rendition of Tanya Tucker's "Two Sparrows in a Hurricane" causing a few Tower employees to get misty eyed.
She paused the machine once again and removed the hat and boots.
Restarting the player, she got down on her knees and bent her head to the floor. "Flashdance" began to play and she danced as the lady in the movie had danced to that music, except for the jumps. There was no room for those. When she was doing the part where the dancer is on all fours, face up and kicking into the air, Sydney thought it was one of the sexiest moves he'd seen in a long time.
When the dance was over, she turned the machine off and walked to the center of the room. It looked as if she were staring directly at the hidden camera. As it turned out, she was.
"Hello, Tower members and anyone else lurking up there." She stated firmly. "I hope you enjoyed the show. I enjoy performing for a captive audience, although you can see I'm not ready to threaten Hollywood or Nashville."
"You all sit there watching, waiting---for what? What do you expect me to do?" She paused and paced a minute.
"Sort of remind me of a story I once heard. A man wanted to trap and animal. He felt that controlling an animal would make him feel powerful, so he set a trap. The next day he goes to his trap and sees the bag wiggling. He has no idea what he had caught, but he is so excited that he reached his hand in---and pulls out a Cobra."
"You don't know what you have. Better be careful." she moved two fingers like a snake's tongue and made a hissing sound for effect. "Casey and I can leave this place any time we want. And if anyone were to try to stop us--well, I don't like to hurt people, but I can and I will in necessary."
"Bad boy, Mr. Parker. I told you. No locks. No surveillance in the rooms."
She walked to the door, which was locked from the outside. After staring at it for several seconds, she opened the door and looked triumphant at the camera. Shutting the door, she started at the camera and said, "Good night, Sydney. Hope you like ‘trick' number two."
The camera suddenly ceased functioning, as did the one in Casey's room.
Several people turned to look at Sydney, who was as shocked as the rest of them.
"Damn." Miss Parker whispered to Syd, "Looks like you wunderbrat is dangerous."
Sydney made no comment, rising to exit with the other personnel.
Raines and Parker stopped him at the door.
"You better figure out what all that one can do, and make sure she doesn't use it against the Centre." Raines rumbled.
"I am doing the best I can. She seems to like me. She also seems like a nice person. We just have to be careful not to push her. And no more trying to trick her! That hidden camera was uncalled for. I have to work with her my way."
"We'll see." Parker ended the discussion.
Angelo quickly slipped out of the room. He'd watched intently the whole time. Seeing Stacey perform and dance had stirred something in him, feelings and thoughts he's never had before. He wasn't sure what--if anything--he should do
Sydney couldn't get to sleep that night. Stacey was quite a young lady, full of surprises. He couldn't get his mind off her. He looked forward to working with her in the following days.
Carlos and Stacey entered the lab where she was to begin work the next morning. Seeing that Sydney was already there, Carlos went just outside the door the man his post.
"What are doing toady. Sydney?" she asked.
Sydney looked uncomfortable.
Stacey walked up to him and took his hand. "It's all right, Sydney. Just tell me what THEY want me to do."
"Two things actually. They want you to tell me how you opened the locks and stopped the cameras and they want you to do some simulations."
"I just think about what I want to happen--and it happens. The power of positive thanking, maybe? I really don't want to discuss my little tricks--talents, I suppose. I wrote on one of the damned surveys they had me fill out that I don't want to do sims. I prefer to examine the facts and go from there."
"They still want you to try a few."
Stacey knew he was hiding something. She put both of her hands on his.
"Oh, no wonder you're so uncomfortable. They want me to repeat some of Jarod's sims--see if we come up with the same results."
"Yes. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault. Let me see what you have available--I'll choose a few to satisfy the Tower."
Sydney handed her a folder with fifty of Jarod's sims listed in it.
Stacey looked them over carefully.
"I can't do a lot of these because I already know all the theories and investigations that have been done--JFK, Marilyn Monroe, the Hindenburg. I'm not familiar with the cave rescue, the Johnson case, and the vision quest scenario. Let's try those."
It took about an hour to set up the cave rescue sim. Workers lowered Stacey head first into what appeared to be a cave. A small hand was reaching up through the rubble. She reached as far as she could, but couldn't quite grasp the hand.
"Another collapse is eminent--your must abort now." Sydney advised from his position.
Stacey hesitated only a moment. "Get me outta here, guys." They brought her over the edge as the rest of the ‘cavern' collapsed.
"What was the purpose of that sim, Sydney? It was impossible to rescue that victim under those conditions."
" The collapse happened in West Virginia. The rescuers wanted to know if they had done everything possible."
"Then this sim should have reassured them."
"It did."
"Did Jarod do the same thing?"
"No, he didn't." Syd said and explained how young Jarod has ‘died' trying to save the youngster.
"He was young then. I hope he learned from the experience. If you feel yourself killed trying to do something impossible, you won't be there to help others in a situation where rescue might be possible."
"I believe Jarod found out recently that you cannot save everyone, no matter how hard you try."
They broke for lunch the went to the sim area for the second session.
The Johnson case involved a bank teller that got locked in a bank vault and suffocated. Sydney told her find out how it had happened and if he could have save himself. She stepped into the large re-creation of a vault and the door was shut. She examined the door and everything in the room, then sat cross-legged in the middle of the vault for over an hour.
"I have some answers, Sydney, " she said, rising. They let her out of the ‘vault'.
"The bag in the middle of the floor was the tellers. He'd gone in to steal some of the money. He had plane tickets to Haiti in his satchel. He had propped the door open with a bag of coins, which I noticed just inside the door. The heavy door slowly and silently pushed the bag of coins until it snapped shut. Then, it was too late. The bank had closed for the weekend and there was no alarm on the inside."
"Very good, Stacey."
"Did they catch his partner?"
"Partner?"
"There were notes in the bag, also. The teller was leaving his wife. There were two plane tickets, so his new girlfriend must have been in on the deal."
"That never occurred to Jarod. But you are correct. They caught her at the airport, waiting for him."
"Jarod didn't have the life experiences--nor the benefit of years of watching mystery movies and detective television shows."
"The next sim may take a while to complete. We'll start first thing tomorrow."
"Fine. See you then."
Carlos escorted her to Casey's room. She spent the rest of the day with her sister. She retired to her own room at ten o'clock.
Around ten-thirty, Carlos heard her scream, then heard muffled cries. He hesitated for a few seconds, then entered the room and saw her thrashing under the covers.
"Stacey," he said softly and he gently touched her arm.
She awoke with a start, then went into his arms. He held her and did his best to comfort her. "Bad dreams, huh?"
She regained her composure. "Very bad. Thank you for waking me up, Carlos."
"Any time, little lady."
She sat on the edge of the bed as he exited. She was about to try to get to sleep again when she heard a sound at her air vent. She went to it and looked up.
"Hello, Angelo." she said.
The vent popped open and Angelo dropped out.
"You had a bad dream." he stated.
"Yes--how did you know?"
Angelo was silent. Stacey grasped his hands and `read' his thoughts.
"So--you're a receptor! You are very sensitive to psychic energy."
"Better than being a `sponge' I guess." he whispered.
"Let's go back up there--we can talk and no one will here us."
Angelo jumped back into the vent and extended his arm to pull her up. They climbed around for a while then sat side by side with their backs against the vent wall.
"Can you show me where in the Centre there are no surveillance cameras? No bugs?"
"Yes."
"Great. Why do they think you're a sponge? Because you don't talk to them?"
"I'm sure that's a part of it. When I was very young I had a hard time with oral communication and with expressing my feelings. I think I may have had childhood autism or a severe speech delay. Whatever it was, they decided I wouldn't do as a pretender. Thank goodness Sydney discovered how good I was at reading and comprehending lots of material and how good I was at using computers. Otherwise, they might have eliminated me."
"Eliminated? I knew the Centre was bad news. But they actually kill their failures?"
"A few get released back into society. They didn't think I could adapt in the real world. Until about the age of twelve, I probably couldn't have. By then, I had overcome whatever problems I had. I never told anyone, thought, because I had observed everything through the years. I didn't want to be subjected to endless simulations and I didn't want to be on the receiving end of any of Raines's projects. So, I took on the `sponge' persona. Useful in certain circumstances, but someone they ignore most of the time."
"That was a very wise move for you Angelo. Thank you so much for sharing that with me."
"I need to get back to bed now, but tomorrow night you can show me `safe' spots in the Centre."
"OK" said Angleo as he watched her crawl back toward her room. Angelo sat still for several minutes. He had just learned something about himself--not only was he receptive to those with psychic abilities, he could read thought they were not projecting. He had put his arm against Stacey's while talking and had `drawn' thoughts from her. One of these thought bothered him a great deal. He was certain of what he's `read'--Stacey was in love with Sydney. He finally found the word that described what he was feeling. Jealousy . He'd had no experience with this concept before and didn't like it one bit now. Oh, Stacey I want you myself!
He contemplated the situation a while longer before heading for his own bed.
The next morning Carlos showed Casey to the area where the last of the re- created sims was to take place.
"Good Morning, Stacey. Here are the documents you need to read about this sim." Sydney said, handing her a folder.
She read them quickly, then went over to look at the small enclosure that was supposed to simulate desert heat.
"Sydney. I can't do this one. I have claustrophobia--no way am I getting in that thing. Besides, Casey and I did something similar to this when we were twelve."
"I understand. What do you mean by `something like this'.?
"According to the notes, Jarod designed this sim for himself. He'd been reading about the various rites of passage young Native Americans went thought to become a man, or to receive a vision of who they were, or receive a spirit guide. He knew the Centre would never let him go to a real sweat lodge and smoke peyote, nor would they leave him alone in a real desert for days. He designed the next best thing. Casey and I became interested in Native Americans when were twelve and we wanted spirit guides. Our parents flew us to Arizona, found a medicine man that would accommodate us, and let us experience two days in a sweat lodge--complete with a small dose of peyote!"
"What was the result?" Sydney was fascinated.
"We got our vision--our spirit guides came to us."
"And what was yours?"
"Sydney! You know I can't tell you that!" she replied, winking at him. "Did Jarod find what he needed?" she wanted to know.
"I think he found a part of it, such as the fact that he has great stamina and will- power."
"I suppose he is finding out a lot more about himself now."
"He certainly is. Still, I worry about him."
"Of course you do. You care about him."
"He doesn't believe that, not now. He thinks he was just a --a lab rat to me."
"Was he?"
Sydney was a bit taken aback by her question, but she was looking him in the eye and he couldn't bear to lie to her. He also knew she had used her `tricks' to block the camera in the room.
"At first, I did. Rather, I tried to. He was a four year old child, for God's sake! I couldn't believe the Centre wanted me to set up sims with one so young. I went to the board of directors to see if they would consider postponing the sims for a few years until Jarod was older. I could have used those years to educate Jarod and prepare him for the tasks ahead. The board wouldn't hear of it. Jarod showed so much promise that they wanted to utilize him immediately. Mr. Parker told me if I couldn't handle the job they would get someone who could. That could mean my brother Jacob, which would have been all right at that time. It could also have meant Mr. Raines or Mr. Morah. Neither of them would have been good for Jarod. Raines had already stolen one of my clients, Angelo. And now Angleo is some twisted caricature of a person."
"So, you did the best for Jarod under the circumstances."
"Yes. I tried to play the perfect scientist. Keep my clinical cool and keep my subject focused on his task. Jarod would get frightened by some of the sims. I wanted nothing more than to grab him and run as far away from the Centre as possible."
"And then they would have tracked you down, killed you and given Jarod to another doctor."
"Probably. Quite likely. I did all I could to prepare Jarod for the sims and allowed him to stop one any time he wanted to. After each sim, I had him write what the sim was about, what he had felt and his perception of the events in a notebook. It was a kind of debriefing. By the time Jarod was ten years old, he would discuss the sims with me readily and argue a point if he felt like it. By age twelve, he was helping design his own sims."
"So--you came to care about him? As a person?"
"Yes. I don't think anyone could be around Jarod for very long and not come to care about him. I tried to keep him happy, as much as the Centre would allow. I'd have liked nothing better than to have taken him to the zoo, to have gone fishing with him, to have thrown him birthday parties. It had been decided, however, that he could perform better if he wasn't exposed to such things. I hated to keep him so isolated."
"What about Jarod's family?"
"I had been told that he was an orphan, that his parents had been killed in a plane crash."
"And that wasn't so?"
"No. Miss Parker and I just found out a few weeks ago. Jarod was kidnapped! His parents may be alive. Jarod suspected the truth months ago and is actively searching for them. I want to help him so bad it hurts. I'd do anything to prove to him that I do care!"
"Was taking care of Jarod the only reason you stayed at the Centre?"
"No. There was young Miss Parker. Both her parents were preoccupied with Centre business, then her mother died. She was left pretty much on her own. She and Jarod became aquatinted. I knew they met secretly from time to time but I didn't try to stop it. Something happened between them if their teens and they've seemed mad at each other ever since. Then too, there was the fact that no one `quits' the Centre. Not and live long, anyway."
"How come you started working here to start with?"
"My twin brother Jacob and I had just graduated at the top of our class. A representative approached us. They never mentioned `The Centre'. He just told us that a secret facility was interested in us. We were told it was a sort of think-tank and needed top psychiatrists to help in its studies. The salaries they offered were unheard of in those days for beginning practices. Jacob and I had always dreamed of opening our own clinic to study twin phenomena part of the time and to have our private practices part of the time. With the money we'd make working for this organization, we'd have had sufficient funds in ten years. Jacob was a bit suspicious, but I was gung-ho. We signed the contracts a month after graduation. By the time we figured out what the Centre really was all about it was too late. We knew too much to be allowed to quit. We resigned ourselves to making the best of a bad situation."
"You have a twin? Where is he now?"
Sydney sadly explained about the accident and how Jarod had tried to help his brother. He also told her he thought it was Raines who had ordered the sweepers to run them off the road that day, intending to kill or injure them both. He figured Raines thought that if one twin was turning against the Centre the other would follow suit.
Stacey put her arms around him. "I'm so sorry. I'll have to take a look at Halstrom's technique. Maybe I can figure out what went wrong."
"Thank you, Stacey"
She moved away from Sydney a bit. "Do you think they will want me to repeat any more of Jarod's sims? I'd really rather work on something new."
"I'll try to convince them."
"Thanks. See you in the morning!"
Stacey spent most of the day in the library, reading book after book on psychic phenomena and on comas. Mid-afternoon, she head a noise. Looking up, she saw Angleo approaching her with a rose in his hands.
She had forgotten to scan the library for monitors, so Sydney, Miss Parker, and Broots were watching.
She got out of her chair to meet him. "Angelo! Where on earth did you find a rose around this place?"
Angelo giggled. As she took the `rose' she saw why.
"Why, it's not real. You---you made this didn't you." she said smiling broadly.
He nodded his head affirmatively.
"It's beautiful! You are so artistic! And so sweet!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around him.
"Oh, my. Buzz boy has a girlfriend." Miss Parker announced.
"He's just being nice to someone new." Sydney quickly added, surprised at the surge of jealousy that had just risen in him.
"I wish I could have gotten you a real one, but as you know, the Centre isn't into gardening."
"For sure!"
Stacey glanced at her watch. "Oh, my goodness! I didn't realize how long I'd been in here. Come on--let's go see if Damien needs to go for a walk." She took Angelo's hand and exited the room.
"How sweet." Miss Parker said.
Sydney glared at her and huffed from the room.
"And look who's jealous!" Broots added, more than a bit surprised by the actions of both Angelo and Sydney.
Carlos shadowed Angelo and Stacey to Casey's room. Sure enough, it was almost time for Damien's scheduled walk. Stacey told Carlos to tell the regular `walkers' that they could skip this one. She also convinced him that she would never run away from the Centre without her sister and that he needn't shadow her every step.
Angelo had never been around a dog before and stood looking warily at the beast.
"Angelo, this is Damien. Damien this is my friend Angelo." she said, patting Angelo's arm. Cautiously, Angelo knelt down and held his hand out. Damien sniffed and licked it. Then he slowly patted the animal's head. Damien looked into Angelo's eyes and suddenly put his paws on the big man's shoulders and started licking his face.
"I don't believe it! He really likes you! I haven't seen him react that way to anyone since he was a pup!"
Obviously enjoying the beast's attention, Angelo exclaimed "I like him too!"
The pair walked the dog in the Centre's courtyard, making small talk along the way. They decided to let the `doggie squad' do clean up duty.
"I'll take him back to Casey. Is our meeting still on for tonight?"
"Of course. I'll come by around nine-thirty."
They headed in opposite directions.
Stacey met Sydney in a corridor. Damien went up to lick his hand.
"He remembers me!"
"Of course he does, Sydney. He's not a dumb animal!"
"You were walking him all by yourself?"
"I convinced Carlos that I wasn't going to escape then talked Angelo into meeting a dog for the first time. He accompanied me."
"You should be careful of Angelo. No one know exactly what he's capable of." Sydney warned.
Stacey gave him a stern look. "I know what Angelo is. He's my friend! He's nice!"
Then she leaned toward the older man and put her lips to his ear, "I have a news flash for you Syd. He's also the best pretender the Center's ever had."
With that, she left, Damien trotting at her heels.
Sydney stood still for several minutes, trying to figure out what was bothering him more--the news about Angelo or his reaction to the sensation of her lips against his ear. What's wrong with me? All these sexual feeling for a seventeen year old? He couldn't forget the tingle down his spine when her lips had touched him. It was like a match lighting a flame that had started him burning all over. Burning for her.
Stacey was feeling confused too. She had read Sydney's thoughts about her. That's what I wanted. Or, I thought it was Now she thought about Angelo. What is it I'm feeling for him? I don't know what to think or do now. This was not a part of my plan!
She ate her dinner and got ready for bed, her mind still restless.
Sydney smiled at the young blond woman sharing his bed. Stacey reached for his face, wanting another kiss, which he was glad to give. The tip of her tongue traced the shape of his lips before gently parting them and placing her tongue inside his mouth. He let his tongue wrestle with hers as his hands explored her body. When the kiss ended, his mouth moved to her breasts. With the tip of his tongue he teased her nipples to hardness and elicited a moan of delight. He continued nuzzling her breasts as his hand continued downward for further exploration of her body. Then he...
###BRRRRING### the alarm clock blared.
Damn!
"Damn!" he shouted into an empty bedroom.
Sydney sat on the edge of his bed, very hot, very bothered, and very erect. /How could on seventeen year old woman blow forty years of self control out of the water?/ he mused.
He recalled Miss Parker's jibe a few months past, asking how long it had been since he'd been with a woman, and his `animal emotions'.
How long indeed? Could it be---eight years? Yes. The last time had been at a psychologists conference in Reno. He and the bartender had taken a fancy to each other and ended up spending all five nights of the convention together. She was in her thirties, divorced and very sweet. He couldn't recall her name.
He stared down at his erection. "You, my friend, get a nice cold shower."
The shower was so cold that his teeth chattered. A line from a song he's heard on the radio popped into his head. Should I call out to angels, of just drink myself sober again? He sighed.. A legion of angels and a barrel of Jack Daniels wouldn't help me now.
He exited the shower, dressed slowly, and headed for the Centre--and Stacey.
