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Disclaimer: Jarod, Miss Parker, Sydney, Mr. Parker and all other characters do not belong to me (Yes, I am pouting). Those lucky people at NBC have that honor.
~~~~~~~~~
Destiny's Second Chance
by Oriana Lemke
The musty old warehouse was quiet. Too quiet. It was probably just her being on-edge. But still, something just wasn't right. Jarod didn't retrace his steps. Not ever. Why now?
A footstep behind her. Parker swung around, and came face-to-face with Jarod.
"What the hell are you doing back here?" Her voice was quavering with anger, even fear. Was he crazy? Had he developed a death wish?
"I had to."
That was it? He got her dragged to this old warehouse, in the middle of the night, and the best he could do was 'I had to'?!
"Not good enough. Damn it, Jarod, you could be killed. Now I want to know, what's going on?"
"Coming back to a place you've followed me to before--I figured it'd be easier to find me. But why I'm here...I had to come back, I had to get you. Better we meet up here, than in Blue Cove." He had a point. The further from the Centre, the better. But--
"Get me? What are you talking about?"
"I left the Centre, I got my freedom. But you...you're still in their grasp."
"I can take care of myself."
"And it's because of that kind of attitude that I'm here. You'd never leave on your own, would you?"
"Daddy--"
"This isn't about your father."
"My father is all I have!"
"You've got me." Just three little words, but still, she couldn't think of a retort.
"Is he up there?" Parker could hear Lyle shout from the first level.
"N-no. He must not be here." Parker couldn't look at Jarod as she spoke--what was she doing? Why wasn't she capturing him? After all the times he'd taunted her, woken her up in the middle of the night, left some stupid gift...he'd done a hundred things to piss her off. Still, when it came right down to it, when she had the perfect opportunity to catch him, just the thought of pointing her gun at him was making her ill.
"Jarod, I want you to leave," she insisted, her intense blue eyes emphasizing her words. "Get out of here while you still have the opportunity. I can be generous, but we both know how long that'll last."
"No," he said simply, using his steady gaze to keep her concentrated on him. "I'm not leaving unless you come with me."
"I'll come up there and help you look!" Lyle shouted from the bottom level. Parker felt her stomach lurch, and it took a lot of control to keep from showing her panic.
"Look, I don't know where this sudden concern for me came from, but you've got to leave. Now!" This whole situation was just getting worse; she could hear Lyle walking across the floor to the old service elevator that led right up to them. Jarod's time was running out.
"If you're so determined to stay, then so am I," Jarod replied calmly. The rusty old door to the service elevator slowly screeched shut.
"Damn it, Jarod!" Parker whipped out her gun, and pointed it at Jarod's head. "Leave now, or I'll shoot you. You know I'll do it--it's better I shoot you here, than them torturing you before shooting you, back at the Centre." He had to know that she was right. Couldn't he see what a fool's errand this was? The empty room they stood in seemed to echo the sound of grinding metal as the service elevator reached them.
"My answer is still no," Jarod said.
"Why are you behaving like this?" she asked uncertainly. Before Jarod had a chance to reply, the elevator stopped, and Lyle pushed aside the metal screen. He spotted the two right away, and thinking that Parker had captured Jarod, pulled his gun out and pointed it at the Pretender.
"Good job, sis. What, d'you catch him as I was on my way up?" Parker couldn't answer. She had frozen as soon as Lyle had walked off the elevator. Over. The chase, the cat-and-mouse games, it couldn't really be over, could it? She jumped just the slightest bit, as the sound of Lyle cocking his gun echoed. She looked over to see her brother stepping up and placing the barrel of his gun against Jarod's temple. Jarod, however, simply continued to gaze at Parker.
"What do you think you're doing?" Parker snapped. A wicked grin of delight spread across Lyle's face.
"New orders, came in just after you left. We are to shoot Jarod on sight. Seems the Triumvirate's finally coming around to the "take no prisoners" policy, my personal favorite." His obvious joy at the thought of killing Jarod just ticked Parker off. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at her brother.
"What?" She hissed, glaring at him.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sis," Lyle apologized in mock-guilt. "Of course you should have first shot at him. After all, you have been chasing the lab experiment longer than I have." His gun went down, and he stepped back a few feet. "After you."
And so she was thrust back into the uncomfortable position of holding a weapon on Jarod. Lyle stood nearby, watching her expectantly; and still, Jarod calmly looked at her. For a moment, Parker was certain that Jarod had gone mad. Why else would he be just standing there, watching her like that? Then, it slowly dawned on her what exactly that look was. It was trust. He actually trusted her.
That makes this a lot easier, she thought wryly. And suddenly, she realized that it did make it easier--it was now completely clear what she had to.
"You have no idea how much it means to me that I get to shoot you," she said honestly, switching the safety off the gun. "I can guarantee you, one of us will never forget it." And then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she swung around and pointed the gun down, then shot. Lyle didn't even have a chance to look surprised before she pulled the trigger. Before either one of them knew it, he was on the ground, bleeding heavily from his left leg. Lyle's gun landed with a clatter a good nine feet away from him.
Parker didn't stop to think, but immediately grabbed Jarod's hand and pulled him over to the elevator.
"You have to go," she insisted, pushing Jarod into the elevator. "He won't be able to run after you, but you need to get going before he gets to his gun."
"Come with me," Jarod said, looking at her pleadingly. "There's nothing stopping you. Please, just--"
"Damn it, no!" Parker interrupted him. "Look, I'm sorry--," her eyes softened, "--you have no idea how sorry. But I just can't. Now would you just leave!" She turned around, so at least Jarod couldn't argue to her face. It was then that she saw Lyle. He had reached his gun. Their time was up.
Lyle turned and aimed the gun. Parker shouted for Jarod to get down, and jumped in the line of fire. Lyle pulled the trigger, and a single shot echoed, like a death toll, throughout the empty warehouse.
"No!" Jarod screamed in a panic, as Parker collapsed on the ground. He knelt down before her, the sight of her blood pouring from a chest wound ripping his heart apart.
Lyle smiled. He never could stand that woman. Still, her getting in the way really ticked him off. With all his blood loss, Lyle would have to wait a moment before using the energy it took for another shooting attempt. As it was, he felt weak and light-headed. His sister always had been a good shot. She'd probably hit some artery or something.
"Please don't do this," Jarod whispered, his face close to her. "Please don't leave me." Her eyes were open, but unfocused. The analytical side of Jarod knew that she must be going into shock, and he took off his jacket and placed it over her to keep her warm. "Come on, Parker, stay with me. You got shot last year protecting your father, and you survived. You sure as hell aren't leaving now."
Her eyes steadied, and she turned her head, a painful and draining action, to look at Jarod. He had always been handsome, she recalled. Along with the pain came a bit of guilt, but her thoughts were becoming far off and fuzzy, so that it took a moment for her to remember why she felt so bad in the first place. But when she did, the realization brought tears to her eyes.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, staring up at him. "I should have just gone...but I was...scared, unsure..."
"It's okay," Jarod soothed her. "Don't worry about that. Just save your strength."
"No, I have...I have to say this...I wanted to...to go, because..." Her eyes began to lose focus again. Parker was no fool, she knew what was inevitable. But she was determined to say this, so she called upon every bit of energy left in her, and lifted a hand, very slowly, until it rested on Jarod's cheek. He covered it with his own, and tears fell from his eyes. "You need to know...even when we were...when we were young, I knew...deep down...I love you, Jarod...Always have...I always will...I...I promise you...Jarod." And her energy was gone, and a sort of sweet calm came over her. Jarod, tears streaming down his face, kissed her on the forehead, then her hand.
"Rest now, Angel. Go to your mother." He sat, bent over Parker's body, weeping, all thoughts of Lyle out of his mind. He didn't care anymore. He just didn't care.
But Lyle did. He had a job to finish. Besides, now was the perfect time, with Jarod vulnerable and him with just enough energy left. He lifted the gun once again, trying hard to keep it steady. He finally managed to properly aim, and pulled the trigger without a moment's hesitation. A perfect shot. Jarod was dead on contact, his body collapsing next to Parker's. He still held her hand in his grasp, their fingers laced together.
Lyle reached into his coat, wincing as he moved his leg slightly. He hit the speed dial on his cellphone. The head of the sweeper team sent to check out nearby buildings, answered on the first ring.
"Sir?"
"I've got him. Jarod's dead. So is Miss Parker."
"Miss Parker, sir?"
"A casualty of war. It happens. Listen, get your ass over here. I'm on the second floor, and I've been shot."
"Right away, sir." Lyle closed his cellphone and tucked it in his jacket, before passing out on the cold cement floor.
~~~~~~~~~
A pair of blue eyes shot open, and she let out a small, startled cry. The little girl sat up in her bed, and drew her knees up under her chin. Her face was wet with tears she didn't remember shedding, that pressed small clumps of her dark hair to her face. Then she remembered, she had been sad in the dream. She must have started crying. It made sense; the dream had been so real.
It was dark in her room, but the little girl chose not to turn the light on. Angel preferred the dark--it was harder for the security cameras to see her in the dark. Still, it made it feel awfully lonely. The little girl felt her eyes begin to water. She bent her head down, and let the tears fall.
Down the hall, in another room, a young boy woke up suddenly. Jarod lie there for a moment, unsure of why he had awakened. Then he realized that something was wrong. He had a desperate urge to go see her, to make sure she was all right. He walked to the control panel that kept his door locked, and typed in a series of letters. The small screen showed: PASSWORD TYPED: WHITE RABBIT - ENTER OR CANCEL? The boy pressed the enter button, and the screen now read: PASSWORD ACCEPTED - LOCK OFF. The boy turned the handle, and the door opened easily enough. He walked down two doors, to her door, and typed the same password in. He was the one to come up with it, but they both used it so they could get to each other. It was one of the things they kept just between them. The adults had a series of numbers they typed in, but he had reprogrammed the locks easily enough, so that they accepted both passwords now.
He entered the room silently, remembering to turn around and lock the door around him. The adults kept insisting that this was for their own protection, and he intended to keep Angel safe. It was some sort of instinct, an accepted piece of knowledge to him.
He walked over to the bed, and sat down beside her.
"Hi," he whispered when she finally looked up.
"Hi," she whispered back, sniffling a little.
"Bad dream?"
"Uh-huh." She looked up at him with sad blue eyes. He observed her calmly, watching her with patient brown eyes.
"You don't need to worry, Angel," he assured her. "I'll take care of you. Nothing will happen, as long as I'm around." He had always called her Angel, for as long as he could remember. Everyone else had always called her Miss Parker; she didn't even know what her first name was. But Jarod remembered, a long time ago, an older man with white hair calling her Angel. That was the only time he saw the old man, but he had liked the name Angel, so it had become accepted for him to call her so. Still, however, everyone else called her Miss Parker, even the kids. Except for Timmy, but they didn't see him very often.
"Promise?"
"I promise." The little girl smiled, and moved to sit next to the boy.
"Then I promise to take care of you, too."
"We'll always be there to take care of each other, I bet," the boy mused.
"Yep. You and me will always have each other," the girl said confidently.
"We should sleep. It's late."
"Stay with me?"
"Of course."
~~~~~~~~~
Mr. Parker sat in his office, quietly absorbing what the sweeper was informing him over the phone. When the man finished his report, Mr. Parker hung up the phone without a word. Outwards, he showed no signs of caring, no tears or shouts of anger and pain. He didn't ask if the sweeper was sure it was her. He maintained his appearance of complete control. Inside, he was upset, certainly. He loved his daughter, his Angel, very much.
Mr. Parker moved his chair over to where his laptop sat, and typed in a series of commands. Footage from a security camera placed nearly 30 levels beneath him appeared on the screen. It was his daughter's room. Or, to be more accurate, the clone of his daughter. He had tried often to remind himself of that fact, that she was nothing more than a reproduction of his Angel, but every time he watched her through the camera, a little girl with the same dark hair and determined blue eyes, the same sweet smile, he couldn't help but feel love for the child.
The cloning project was such a bigger success than even he had anticipated. When Jarod had come across his clone a year ago, the Pretender had actually assumed that his young look-alike was the only one, the only success. Foolish assumption.
Still, that was all in the past. The older Pretender was dead now, and the eldest clone was still out there somewhere with Jarod's father. And his Angel was dead, as well. Mr. Parker stared at the screen sadly, observing the children he saw there. The young Jarod and Miss Parker had fall asleep sitting up, with the girl's head rested on Jarod's shoulder and them holding each other's hand. It seemed that more and more these days, he would access one of their security cameras and find those two together.
Mr. Parker turned off his computer, and walked out of his office and down the hall to the elevator. Once he arrived at the right level, he showed his pass to the armed guards posted at the elevator, and walked down the hall to Angel's room. He typed in the appropriate series of numbers, then slowly opened the door, hoping not to wake the two. He wanted to catch them asleep, so that he could say goodbye. It is, after all, rather impossible to say farewell to a child that doesn't even remember the last time that she saw you.
The room was a little different than the others. There were no toys lying about, or pictures on the walls, as his own daughter's room had been, but he had requested that this little girl at least have a larger bed and walls with some color. He glanced at the rose-colored wallpaper with satisfaction--these sort of extras couldn't change her so much that the researchers would notice, and it helped him feel as if he wasn't neglecting the child.
Despite his efforts, Mr. Parker's arrival did awaken Jarod. Angel slept on, obviously quite comfortable as she was. Jarod said nothing, simply looked up at this older man, the one who had first called Miss Parker "Angel", with his solemn brown eyes. His hold on the girl's hand, however, did tighten a bit, and Mr. Parker felt proud. Whatever his limitations in caring for the girl, Mr. Parker knew that Jarod would watch over his little girl for him, protect her when he was unable.
"I just came to see A-, er, Miss Parker. Don't worry, I won't wake her." Jarod nodded his consent, and Mr. Parker walked over and knelt down in front of his daughter's clone. He felt his heart tug as he watched her rest. Hesitantly, he reached a hand out, then softly brushed the young girl's cheek. She murmured softly, but didn't wake up. He bowed his head, and kissed her softly on the forehead.
"Goodbye, Angel. I love you." He turned to Jarod, who was looking at him with a strange look. Who was this man, to tell Angel that he loved her? Mr. Parker offered no explanation, but walked to the door and typed in the security code. He opened the door, then stopped and looked back at Jarod.
"Take good care of her, young man," Mr. Parker said before he walked out, carefully closing the door behind him. Jarod looked at the door, his brow creased in confusion. After a few moments, he looked down at Angel; he shifted his shoulder to offer her a more comfortable position, then tried to get back to sleep.
Back up in his office, Mr. Parker took out his cellphone and dialed a number.
"Sydney, I need you to come in immediately."
"I already know about Jarod and Miss Parker." That explained why he answered after the first ring, when it was well past three in the morning.
"There's something I need you to take care of. Personally." There was a short pause, and Mr. Parker felt regret. Sydney had been closer to Jarod and, near the end, even his Angel, than he himself could ever have been, and no doubt was in great mourning right now. Still, this was something that couldn't wait.
~~~~~~~~~
Sydney sat in his office, staring at the man in front of him. Mr. Parker hadn't mentioned the deaths at all, deciding to first get the difficult part over with. It had been a lengthy, very detailed description of what the cloning project had become. At first Sydney showed no signs of surprise; he had, after all, been with the Centre for many years. It was when Mr. Parker began his idea to take Jarod and Miss Parker away that Sydney finally showed an emotion: shock. He couldn't speak, only simply stare in disbelief.
"Sydney, I need you to do this," Mr. Parker explained as he finished up his long speech. "This time around, Jarod and my Angel deserve a good shot at a normal life. Knowing they're locked up -both of them this time, not just Jarod- is just too much. I could handle it before, but now that my real daughter's gone...Well, you were close to them both. I'm sure you understand."
"Am I to understand that you intend to let them go free," Sydney finally found his voice, "out there, in the real world?"
"As I said, I have found two couples looking to adopt. The conditions couldn't be better if we planned this ourselves. Now, you've already put in for some leave--some psychology workshop in Pittsburgh, wasn't it? All you would have to do is miss a day, the day you spend flying those two out to Salt Lake City."
"You have all the details worked out?"
"Nothing can go wrong."
"Never say never, where the Centre is involved," Sydney warned. "But what of the children? How do they feel about all of this?"
"You'll explain the situation to them. You take them somewhere, your house or something, and explain everything to them. They're smart kids--wouldn't be in the program still if they weren't. Don't worry, they'll handle it fine."
Sydney sat, considering this proposition of Mr. Parker's for nearly an hour. Mr. Parker sat as well, not willing to leave until he had some sort of reply from him. Finally, Sydney spoke up. He leaned forward, and smiled at Mr. Parker.
"Let's do it."
~~~~~~~~~
Twelve of the twenty-two children being held at the Centre were being transferred to another station a week later. The doctors had not placed Miss Parker or Jarod on the list of children leaving, but Mr. Parker had seen to that. Four guards, armed way beyond necessity for a few children, came to the rooms of the children listed, and had all the kids follow them to a large holding room. Fourteen children on the list, fourteen children in the holding room. The guards' work was done.
It was before the guards in charge of taking the children to the transport vehicles arrived that a man came and took two of the children. Jarod and Miss Parker weren't missed--they weren't on the list of twelve children the transport guards had. Neither had argued or tried to get away. They simply followed Sydney down the dark, mostly unknown tunnels that led to a parking garage not watched by security cameras. They had escaped without the least bit of trouble.
Now, however, came the difficult part: convincing two young children that they were about to begin new lives, and that this was a good thing. Unlike the original Jarod, neither of these children had ever lived outside of the Centre walls. They didn't know that the world beyond the Centre was any different than their own lives.
It hadn't been easy, to help them understand the good side of growing up outside of a controlled environment, but -as Mr. Parker had pointed out- they were smart, especially for their age. In the end, they were actually excited about this adventure they were about to embark on. The trouble came when Sydney pointed out they would be living with separate families. His heart fell when he saw the look on their faces, and Jarod's blunt reply summed it up:
"No."
"Now, you need to be reasonable. It's impossible for the two of you to find a home together. Besides, you need to learn to not depend on each other so much." Wrong answer. Jarod's jaw clenched, and Angel's eyes narrowed in pure spite. "I can understand how you would want to be near each other, really, but I just can't make any guarantees. I mean, you'll be in the same city. Isn't that enough?"
"No," Jarod and Angel replied in unison.
"We promised to stay together," the young girl said hot-headedly, "and we're not going anywhere with you unless you promise that we can." Sydney sighed, and glanced down at his watch. This was taking much longer than expected--their plane would be leaving in 45 minutes; there was no time for this.
"All right, how about this: we get on the plane and go to Salt Lake City. We'll try to arrange things more to your liking. If it works, great. And if it doesn't, I'll just try to work something out. Deal?" Jarod looked to Angel for her opinion. When she nodded, he turned his attention back to Sydney.
"Deal."
~~~~~~~~~
They made it into the city without anymore trouble. The children had been in awe by everything they saw, which was to be expected, as their only experience with the real world was knowledge gained from simulations. They joyfully experimented with practically every food the booths at the airport offered, from ice cream to chocolate to cheeseburgers. While Sydney sat in the back of a cab, trying to find the locations of Angel's and Jarod's new homes on a map to gauge their distance, the children dug into cups filled with icecream. Each cup had three scoops, and six flavors altogether: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, chocolate chip mint, butter pecan and orange sherbet. They ate half of each scoop, then switched cups.
As it would turn out, Mr. Parker had been right--the living situation couldn't have worked out better. Their new houses were one street apart, and the backs of both houses faced each other. All that would come between Jarod and Angel were their backyards. Though they both weren't happy that they didn't have the same house, they quickly admitted that the living situation was suitable. What made the couples chosen to become their parents so ideal was that in each couple, both worked for the Salt Lake City branch of the Centre. Neither couple had children, and both knew the kind of background that Jarod and Angel were coming from. Luckily, none of the new parents had ever met or seen a picture of the original Jarod or Miss Parker--even in the best of Centre employees, questions are bound to get asked.
He hadn't spent much time with the children before leaving. Sydney had grown quite fatherly towards the adult Miss Parker and Jarod, and he knew that the longer he stayed with these younger versions, the harder it would be to leave. Still, these children were living out the hope for a normal life Sydney had always dreamed of for the originals, and he knew he would be back to visit often.
~~~~~~~~~
Over the years, Jarod Masters and Angel Hopkins grew quite fond of "Uncle Sydney," who came to visit regularly every year. They also kept in touch through letters, phone calls and e-mails.
Despite being in separate households, Jarod and Angel would only grow closer. Their fathers built them a treehouse in between the houses, and they still talked late at night, through walkie-talkies. It wasn't even uncommon for, late at night, one of the children to let the other one in, especially during bad storms or after nightmares. Bunk beds were soon owned by both kids. Angel's father would call in a school board favor every year to get them in the same class all the way through junior high. In high school, they took the same advanced classes, studied together, and eventually went to prom together. In the end, they even attended Harvard Medical together. Jarod became a surgeon, and Angel chose pediatric medicine.
One night, in front of the fireplace, Sydney was relaxing on the couch with his favorite photo album, the one dedicated to the children he'd come to care so deeply for. Once again, they grew up before his eyes, as he flipped through snapshots of science fair days, softball games, birthday parties, vacations at the beach, dances, a couple of prom photos, and two sets of graduation photos. Sydney stopped before turning the last page, taking a slow sip of his coffee and staring into the fire. Finally, he turned the page, enjoying the pride that stirred in his heart. On the left side was a large wedding photo, with the happy couple holding each other and beaming for the camera. And, on the right side, was a family photo taken only this last year, with Parker and Jarod each hanging on to one of the identical three-year-old twin boys as they walked down the beach. The children, dark haired and blue eyed, were laughing at the camera, Sydney from atop his father's shoulders, and Kyle at his mother's side, holding her hand.
With a sigh of contentment, Sydney closed the photo album. The hopes he'd held for Jarod and Miss Parker had, in a way, eventually been realized. In the end, it seemed destiny worked out in their favor.
~~~~~~~~~
by Oriana Lemke
The musty old warehouse was quiet. Too quiet. It was probably just her being on-edge. But still, something just wasn't right. Jarod didn't retrace his steps. Not ever. Why now?
A footstep behind her. Parker swung around, and came face-to-face with Jarod.
"What the hell are you doing back here?" Her voice was quavering with anger, even fear. Was he crazy? Had he developed a death wish?
"I had to."
That was it? He got her dragged to this old warehouse, in the middle of the night, and the best he could do was 'I had to'?!
"Not good enough. Damn it, Jarod, you could be killed. Now I want to know, what's going on?"
"Coming back to a place you've followed me to before--I figured it'd be easier to find me. But why I'm here...I had to come back, I had to get you. Better we meet up here, than in Blue Cove." He had a point. The further from the Centre, the better. But--
"Get me? What are you talking about?"
"I left the Centre, I got my freedom. But you...you're still in their grasp."
"I can take care of myself."
"And it's because of that kind of attitude that I'm here. You'd never leave on your own, would you?"
"Daddy--"
"This isn't about your father."
"My father is all I have!"
"You've got me." Just three little words, but still, she couldn't think of a retort.
"Is he up there?" Parker could hear Lyle shout from the first level.
"N-no. He must not be here." Parker couldn't look at Jarod as she spoke--what was she doing? Why wasn't she capturing him? After all the times he'd taunted her, woken her up in the middle of the night, left some stupid gift...he'd done a hundred things to piss her off. Still, when it came right down to it, when she had the perfect opportunity to catch him, just the thought of pointing her gun at him was making her ill.
"Jarod, I want you to leave," she insisted, her intense blue eyes emphasizing her words. "Get out of here while you still have the opportunity. I can be generous, but we both know how long that'll last."
"No," he said simply, using his steady gaze to keep her concentrated on him. "I'm not leaving unless you come with me."
"I'll come up there and help you look!" Lyle shouted from the bottom level. Parker felt her stomach lurch, and it took a lot of control to keep from showing her panic.
"Look, I don't know where this sudden concern for me came from, but you've got to leave. Now!" This whole situation was just getting worse; she could hear Lyle walking across the floor to the old service elevator that led right up to them. Jarod's time was running out.
"If you're so determined to stay, then so am I," Jarod replied calmly. The rusty old door to the service elevator slowly screeched shut.
"Damn it, Jarod!" Parker whipped out her gun, and pointed it at Jarod's head. "Leave now, or I'll shoot you. You know I'll do it--it's better I shoot you here, than them torturing you before shooting you, back at the Centre." He had to know that she was right. Couldn't he see what a fool's errand this was? The empty room they stood in seemed to echo the sound of grinding metal as the service elevator reached them.
"My answer is still no," Jarod said.
"Why are you behaving like this?" she asked uncertainly. Before Jarod had a chance to reply, the elevator stopped, and Lyle pushed aside the metal screen. He spotted the two right away, and thinking that Parker had captured Jarod, pulled his gun out and pointed it at the Pretender.
"Good job, sis. What, d'you catch him as I was on my way up?" Parker couldn't answer. She had frozen as soon as Lyle had walked off the elevator. Over. The chase, the cat-and-mouse games, it couldn't really be over, could it? She jumped just the slightest bit, as the sound of Lyle cocking his gun echoed. She looked over to see her brother stepping up and placing the barrel of his gun against Jarod's temple. Jarod, however, simply continued to gaze at Parker.
"What do you think you're doing?" Parker snapped. A wicked grin of delight spread across Lyle's face.
"New orders, came in just after you left. We are to shoot Jarod on sight. Seems the Triumvirate's finally coming around to the "take no prisoners" policy, my personal favorite." His obvious joy at the thought of killing Jarod just ticked Parker off. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at her brother.
"What?" She hissed, glaring at him.
"Oh, I'm sorry, sis," Lyle apologized in mock-guilt. "Of course you should have first shot at him. After all, you have been chasing the lab experiment longer than I have." His gun went down, and he stepped back a few feet. "After you."
And so she was thrust back into the uncomfortable position of holding a weapon on Jarod. Lyle stood nearby, watching her expectantly; and still, Jarod calmly looked at her. For a moment, Parker was certain that Jarod had gone mad. Why else would he be just standing there, watching her like that? Then, it slowly dawned on her what exactly that look was. It was trust. He actually trusted her.
That makes this a lot easier, she thought wryly. And suddenly, she realized that it did make it easier--it was now completely clear what she had to.
"You have no idea how much it means to me that I get to shoot you," she said honestly, switching the safety off the gun. "I can guarantee you, one of us will never forget it." And then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she swung around and pointed the gun down, then shot. Lyle didn't even have a chance to look surprised before she pulled the trigger. Before either one of them knew it, he was on the ground, bleeding heavily from his left leg. Lyle's gun landed with a clatter a good nine feet away from him.
Parker didn't stop to think, but immediately grabbed Jarod's hand and pulled him over to the elevator.
"You have to go," she insisted, pushing Jarod into the elevator. "He won't be able to run after you, but you need to get going before he gets to his gun."
"Come with me," Jarod said, looking at her pleadingly. "There's nothing stopping you. Please, just--"
"Damn it, no!" Parker interrupted him. "Look, I'm sorry--," her eyes softened, "--you have no idea how sorry. But I just can't. Now would you just leave!" She turned around, so at least Jarod couldn't argue to her face. It was then that she saw Lyle. He had reached his gun. Their time was up.
Lyle turned and aimed the gun. Parker shouted for Jarod to get down, and jumped in the line of fire. Lyle pulled the trigger, and a single shot echoed, like a death toll, throughout the empty warehouse.
"No!" Jarod screamed in a panic, as Parker collapsed on the ground. He knelt down before her, the sight of her blood pouring from a chest wound ripping his heart apart.
Lyle smiled. He never could stand that woman. Still, her getting in the way really ticked him off. With all his blood loss, Lyle would have to wait a moment before using the energy it took for another shooting attempt. As it was, he felt weak and light-headed. His sister always had been a good shot. She'd probably hit some artery or something.
"Please don't do this," Jarod whispered, his face close to her. "Please don't leave me." Her eyes were open, but unfocused. The analytical side of Jarod knew that she must be going into shock, and he took off his jacket and placed it over her to keep her warm. "Come on, Parker, stay with me. You got shot last year protecting your father, and you survived. You sure as hell aren't leaving now."
Her eyes steadied, and she turned her head, a painful and draining action, to look at Jarod. He had always been handsome, she recalled. Along with the pain came a bit of guilt, but her thoughts were becoming far off and fuzzy, so that it took a moment for her to remember why she felt so bad in the first place. But when she did, the realization brought tears to her eyes.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered, staring up at him. "I should have just gone...but I was...scared, unsure..."
"It's okay," Jarod soothed her. "Don't worry about that. Just save your strength."
"No, I have...I have to say this...I wanted to...to go, because..." Her eyes began to lose focus again. Parker was no fool, she knew what was inevitable. But she was determined to say this, so she called upon every bit of energy left in her, and lifted a hand, very slowly, until it rested on Jarod's cheek. He covered it with his own, and tears fell from his eyes. "You need to know...even when we were...when we were young, I knew...deep down...I love you, Jarod...Always have...I always will...I...I promise you...Jarod." And her energy was gone, and a sort of sweet calm came over her. Jarod, tears streaming down his face, kissed her on the forehead, then her hand.
"Rest now, Angel. Go to your mother." He sat, bent over Parker's body, weeping, all thoughts of Lyle out of his mind. He didn't care anymore. He just didn't care.
But Lyle did. He had a job to finish. Besides, now was the perfect time, with Jarod vulnerable and him with just enough energy left. He lifted the gun once again, trying hard to keep it steady. He finally managed to properly aim, and pulled the trigger without a moment's hesitation. A perfect shot. Jarod was dead on contact, his body collapsing next to Parker's. He still held her hand in his grasp, their fingers laced together.
Lyle reached into his coat, wincing as he moved his leg slightly. He hit the speed dial on his cellphone. The head of the sweeper team sent to check out nearby buildings, answered on the first ring.
"Sir?"
"I've got him. Jarod's dead. So is Miss Parker."
"Miss Parker, sir?"
"A casualty of war. It happens. Listen, get your ass over here. I'm on the second floor, and I've been shot."
"Right away, sir." Lyle closed his cellphone and tucked it in his jacket, before passing out on the cold cement floor.
~~~~~~~~~
A pair of blue eyes shot open, and she let out a small, startled cry. The little girl sat up in her bed, and drew her knees up under her chin. Her face was wet with tears she didn't remember shedding, that pressed small clumps of her dark hair to her face. Then she remembered, she had been sad in the dream. She must have started crying. It made sense; the dream had been so real.
It was dark in her room, but the little girl chose not to turn the light on. Angel preferred the dark--it was harder for the security cameras to see her in the dark. Still, it made it feel awfully lonely. The little girl felt her eyes begin to water. She bent her head down, and let the tears fall.
Down the hall, in another room, a young boy woke up suddenly. Jarod lie there for a moment, unsure of why he had awakened. Then he realized that something was wrong. He had a desperate urge to go see her, to make sure she was all right. He walked to the control panel that kept his door locked, and typed in a series of letters. The small screen showed: PASSWORD TYPED: WHITE RABBIT - ENTER OR CANCEL? The boy pressed the enter button, and the screen now read: PASSWORD ACCEPTED - LOCK OFF. The boy turned the handle, and the door opened easily enough. He walked down two doors, to her door, and typed the same password in. He was the one to come up with it, but they both used it so they could get to each other. It was one of the things they kept just between them. The adults had a series of numbers they typed in, but he had reprogrammed the locks easily enough, so that they accepted both passwords now.
He entered the room silently, remembering to turn around and lock the door around him. The adults kept insisting that this was for their own protection, and he intended to keep Angel safe. It was some sort of instinct, an accepted piece of knowledge to him.
He walked over to the bed, and sat down beside her.
"Hi," he whispered when she finally looked up.
"Hi," she whispered back, sniffling a little.
"Bad dream?"
"Uh-huh." She looked up at him with sad blue eyes. He observed her calmly, watching her with patient brown eyes.
"You don't need to worry, Angel," he assured her. "I'll take care of you. Nothing will happen, as long as I'm around." He had always called her Angel, for as long as he could remember. Everyone else had always called her Miss Parker; she didn't even know what her first name was. But Jarod remembered, a long time ago, an older man with white hair calling her Angel. That was the only time he saw the old man, but he had liked the name Angel, so it had become accepted for him to call her so. Still, however, everyone else called her Miss Parker, even the kids. Except for Timmy, but they didn't see him very often.
"Promise?"
"I promise." The little girl smiled, and moved to sit next to the boy.
"Then I promise to take care of you, too."
"We'll always be there to take care of each other, I bet," the boy mused.
"Yep. You and me will always have each other," the girl said confidently.
"We should sleep. It's late."
"Stay with me?"
"Of course."
~~~~~~~~~
Mr. Parker sat in his office, quietly absorbing what the sweeper was informing him over the phone. When the man finished his report, Mr. Parker hung up the phone without a word. Outwards, he showed no signs of caring, no tears or shouts of anger and pain. He didn't ask if the sweeper was sure it was her. He maintained his appearance of complete control. Inside, he was upset, certainly. He loved his daughter, his Angel, very much.
Mr. Parker moved his chair over to where his laptop sat, and typed in a series of commands. Footage from a security camera placed nearly 30 levels beneath him appeared on the screen. It was his daughter's room. Or, to be more accurate, the clone of his daughter. He had tried often to remind himself of that fact, that she was nothing more than a reproduction of his Angel, but every time he watched her through the camera, a little girl with the same dark hair and determined blue eyes, the same sweet smile, he couldn't help but feel love for the child.
The cloning project was such a bigger success than even he had anticipated. When Jarod had come across his clone a year ago, the Pretender had actually assumed that his young look-alike was the only one, the only success. Foolish assumption.
Still, that was all in the past. The older Pretender was dead now, and the eldest clone was still out there somewhere with Jarod's father. And his Angel was dead, as well. Mr. Parker stared at the screen sadly, observing the children he saw there. The young Jarod and Miss Parker had fall asleep sitting up, with the girl's head rested on Jarod's shoulder and them holding each other's hand. It seemed that more and more these days, he would access one of their security cameras and find those two together.
Mr. Parker turned off his computer, and walked out of his office and down the hall to the elevator. Once he arrived at the right level, he showed his pass to the armed guards posted at the elevator, and walked down the hall to Angel's room. He typed in the appropriate series of numbers, then slowly opened the door, hoping not to wake the two. He wanted to catch them asleep, so that he could say goodbye. It is, after all, rather impossible to say farewell to a child that doesn't even remember the last time that she saw you.
The room was a little different than the others. There were no toys lying about, or pictures on the walls, as his own daughter's room had been, but he had requested that this little girl at least have a larger bed and walls with some color. He glanced at the rose-colored wallpaper with satisfaction--these sort of extras couldn't change her so much that the researchers would notice, and it helped him feel as if he wasn't neglecting the child.
Despite his efforts, Mr. Parker's arrival did awaken Jarod. Angel slept on, obviously quite comfortable as she was. Jarod said nothing, simply looked up at this older man, the one who had first called Miss Parker "Angel", with his solemn brown eyes. His hold on the girl's hand, however, did tighten a bit, and Mr. Parker felt proud. Whatever his limitations in caring for the girl, Mr. Parker knew that Jarod would watch over his little girl for him, protect her when he was unable.
"I just came to see A-, er, Miss Parker. Don't worry, I won't wake her." Jarod nodded his consent, and Mr. Parker walked over and knelt down in front of his daughter's clone. He felt his heart tug as he watched her rest. Hesitantly, he reached a hand out, then softly brushed the young girl's cheek. She murmured softly, but didn't wake up. He bowed his head, and kissed her softly on the forehead.
"Goodbye, Angel. I love you." He turned to Jarod, who was looking at him with a strange look. Who was this man, to tell Angel that he loved her? Mr. Parker offered no explanation, but walked to the door and typed in the security code. He opened the door, then stopped and looked back at Jarod.
"Take good care of her, young man," Mr. Parker said before he walked out, carefully closing the door behind him. Jarod looked at the door, his brow creased in confusion. After a few moments, he looked down at Angel; he shifted his shoulder to offer her a more comfortable position, then tried to get back to sleep.
Back up in his office, Mr. Parker took out his cellphone and dialed a number.
"Sydney, I need you to come in immediately."
"I already know about Jarod and Miss Parker." That explained why he answered after the first ring, when it was well past three in the morning.
"There's something I need you to take care of. Personally." There was a short pause, and Mr. Parker felt regret. Sydney had been closer to Jarod and, near the end, even his Angel, than he himself could ever have been, and no doubt was in great mourning right now. Still, this was something that couldn't wait.
~~~~~~~~~
Sydney sat in his office, staring at the man in front of him. Mr. Parker hadn't mentioned the deaths at all, deciding to first get the difficult part over with. It had been a lengthy, very detailed description of what the cloning project had become. At first Sydney showed no signs of surprise; he had, after all, been with the Centre for many years. It was when Mr. Parker began his idea to take Jarod and Miss Parker away that Sydney finally showed an emotion: shock. He couldn't speak, only simply stare in disbelief.
"Sydney, I need you to do this," Mr. Parker explained as he finished up his long speech. "This time around, Jarod and my Angel deserve a good shot at a normal life. Knowing they're locked up -both of them this time, not just Jarod- is just too much. I could handle it before, but now that my real daughter's gone...Well, you were close to them both. I'm sure you understand."
"Am I to understand that you intend to let them go free," Sydney finally found his voice, "out there, in the real world?"
"As I said, I have found two couples looking to adopt. The conditions couldn't be better if we planned this ourselves. Now, you've already put in for some leave--some psychology workshop in Pittsburgh, wasn't it? All you would have to do is miss a day, the day you spend flying those two out to Salt Lake City."
"You have all the details worked out?"
"Nothing can go wrong."
"Never say never, where the Centre is involved," Sydney warned. "But what of the children? How do they feel about all of this?"
"You'll explain the situation to them. You take them somewhere, your house or something, and explain everything to them. They're smart kids--wouldn't be in the program still if they weren't. Don't worry, they'll handle it fine."
Sydney sat, considering this proposition of Mr. Parker's for nearly an hour. Mr. Parker sat as well, not willing to leave until he had some sort of reply from him. Finally, Sydney spoke up. He leaned forward, and smiled at Mr. Parker.
"Let's do it."
~~~~~~~~~
Twelve of the twenty-two children being held at the Centre were being transferred to another station a week later. The doctors had not placed Miss Parker or Jarod on the list of children leaving, but Mr. Parker had seen to that. Four guards, armed way beyond necessity for a few children, came to the rooms of the children listed, and had all the kids follow them to a large holding room. Fourteen children on the list, fourteen children in the holding room. The guards' work was done.
It was before the guards in charge of taking the children to the transport vehicles arrived that a man came and took two of the children. Jarod and Miss Parker weren't missed--they weren't on the list of twelve children the transport guards had. Neither had argued or tried to get away. They simply followed Sydney down the dark, mostly unknown tunnels that led to a parking garage not watched by security cameras. They had escaped without the least bit of trouble.
Now, however, came the difficult part: convincing two young children that they were about to begin new lives, and that this was a good thing. Unlike the original Jarod, neither of these children had ever lived outside of the Centre walls. They didn't know that the world beyond the Centre was any different than their own lives.
It hadn't been easy, to help them understand the good side of growing up outside of a controlled environment, but -as Mr. Parker had pointed out- they were smart, especially for their age. In the end, they were actually excited about this adventure they were about to embark on. The trouble came when Sydney pointed out they would be living with separate families. His heart fell when he saw the look on their faces, and Jarod's blunt reply summed it up:
"No."
"Now, you need to be reasonable. It's impossible for the two of you to find a home together. Besides, you need to learn to not depend on each other so much." Wrong answer. Jarod's jaw clenched, and Angel's eyes narrowed in pure spite. "I can understand how you would want to be near each other, really, but I just can't make any guarantees. I mean, you'll be in the same city. Isn't that enough?"
"No," Jarod and Angel replied in unison.
"We promised to stay together," the young girl said hot-headedly, "and we're not going anywhere with you unless you promise that we can." Sydney sighed, and glanced down at his watch. This was taking much longer than expected--their plane would be leaving in 45 minutes; there was no time for this.
"All right, how about this: we get on the plane and go to Salt Lake City. We'll try to arrange things more to your liking. If it works, great. And if it doesn't, I'll just try to work something out. Deal?" Jarod looked to Angel for her opinion. When she nodded, he turned his attention back to Sydney.
"Deal."
~~~~~~~~~
They made it into the city without anymore trouble. The children had been in awe by everything they saw, which was to be expected, as their only experience with the real world was knowledge gained from simulations. They joyfully experimented with practically every food the booths at the airport offered, from ice cream to chocolate to cheeseburgers. While Sydney sat in the back of a cab, trying to find the locations of Angel's and Jarod's new homes on a map to gauge their distance, the children dug into cups filled with icecream. Each cup had three scoops, and six flavors altogether: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, chocolate chip mint, butter pecan and orange sherbet. They ate half of each scoop, then switched cups.
As it would turn out, Mr. Parker had been right--the living situation couldn't have worked out better. Their new houses were one street apart, and the backs of both houses faced each other. All that would come between Jarod and Angel were their backyards. Though they both weren't happy that they didn't have the same house, they quickly admitted that the living situation was suitable. What made the couples chosen to become their parents so ideal was that in each couple, both worked for the Salt Lake City branch of the Centre. Neither couple had children, and both knew the kind of background that Jarod and Angel were coming from. Luckily, none of the new parents had ever met or seen a picture of the original Jarod or Miss Parker--even in the best of Centre employees, questions are bound to get asked.
He hadn't spent much time with the children before leaving. Sydney had grown quite fatherly towards the adult Miss Parker and Jarod, and he knew that the longer he stayed with these younger versions, the harder it would be to leave. Still, these children were living out the hope for a normal life Sydney had always dreamed of for the originals, and he knew he would be back to visit often.
~~~~~~~~~
Over the years, Jarod Masters and Angel Hopkins grew quite fond of "Uncle Sydney," who came to visit regularly every year. They also kept in touch through letters, phone calls and e-mails.
Despite being in separate households, Jarod and Angel would only grow closer. Their fathers built them a treehouse in between the houses, and they still talked late at night, through walkie-talkies. It wasn't even uncommon for, late at night, one of the children to let the other one in, especially during bad storms or after nightmares. Bunk beds were soon owned by both kids. Angel's father would call in a school board favor every year to get them in the same class all the way through junior high. In high school, they took the same advanced classes, studied together, and eventually went to prom together. In the end, they even attended Harvard Medical together. Jarod became a surgeon, and Angel chose pediatric medicine.
One night, in front of the fireplace, Sydney was relaxing on the couch with his favorite photo album, the one dedicated to the children he'd come to care so deeply for. Once again, they grew up before his eyes, as he flipped through snapshots of science fair days, softball games, birthday parties, vacations at the beach, dances, a couple of prom photos, and two sets of graduation photos. Sydney stopped before turning the last page, taking a slow sip of his coffee and staring into the fire. Finally, he turned the page, enjoying the pride that stirred in his heart. On the left side was a large wedding photo, with the happy couple holding each other and beaming for the camera. And, on the right side, was a family photo taken only this last year, with Parker and Jarod each hanging on to one of the identical three-year-old twin boys as they walked down the beach. The children, dark haired and blue eyed, were laughing at the camera, Sydney from atop his father's shoulders, and Kyle at his mother's side, holding her hand.
With a sigh of contentment, Sydney closed the photo album. The hopes he'd held for Jarod and Miss Parker had, in a way, eventually been realized. In the end, it seemed destiny worked out in their favor.
