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Chapter or Story
...Must Converge
pretender_gurl
Parker Mansion
Blue Cove, DE
14:16
As Miss Parker relaxed on the sofa, she felt a hollow apprehension in the pit of her stomach. When she had seen Jarod this morning, her heart seemed to explode with emotion. Eight years and a myriad of boyfriends after her last encounter with Jarod, Miss Parker was sure that the feelings she had for Jarod were extinct.
She was wrong.
The timid little boy she played with as a child had been replaced by a strong man, hardened years of captivity and oppression. Yet, there was something so refreshingly familiar about him that she immediately recognized her young love. Those pecs were certainly familiar, Miss Parker thought as she remembered the many times they had embraced, her head resting on his broad chest.
But then he betrayed her trust, taking advantage of her innocence. And the sting of that treachery had not dulled over the years. Miss Parker grabbed the first thing she could find and flung it across the room. The book hit the opposite wall with a thud that echoed through the house.
SL-23: Room 2309
The Centre
14:17
Jira scrambled to her feet as Mr. Lyle entered the room. He approached her menacingly and she shuffled backwards until she was flat against the wall.
Lyle frowned at how readable her emotions were. He waited until she looked up at him and motioned for her to follow him. Jira quickly fell into step behind him, hurrying to keep up with his longer strides.
After they entered the elevator, Jira was alarmed to see Mr. Lyle press a button for one of the upper levels, the ones not preceded with an "SL." Jira had never been above ground that she could remember. She gave Mr. Lyle a questioning look, but his gaze remained fixed on the elevator doors and his body language was telling her not to ask.
When the doors opened, Jira had to blink. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows that faced the harbor in front of the Centre. Jira walked slowly behind Mr. Lyle, awed by the view out the bay windows.
Lyle noticed that she was not keeping up with him and turned to see Jira goggling out the window. He reached her in two steps and backhanded her. Jira fell to the floor, dazed by the blow. Lyle grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to her feet, half-dragging her to the third door on the left.
Jira winced as Mr. Lyle's vice-like grip tightened around her arm as a Sweeper opened the door for them. That's going to leave a bruise, she thought. Jira glanced up and read the name on the door. Oh, no! Mr. Raines! Jira's heart sank as she was ushered into the large office.
"Good afternoon, Jira," Mr. Raines greeted.
"H-Hello, Mr. Raines," Jira replied. "How m-may I help you?"
Mr. Raines smiled at his young Pretender's eagerness to please. "I want you to solve a problem for the Centre."
Raines picked up a picture on his desk and held it out in front of the girl. "Find this man," Raines instructed.
Jira stared at the picture and slowly reached out to take the photo from Mr. Raines. She held it tentatively in her hands and closed her eyes. Images began to flood her mind.
A room on SL-23, he must be a Pretender. Pruning exotic botanicals in a BioDome. SIM Lab 1, and Sydney's office, watching a black and white screen. Then into a tunnel, perhaps an air vent, miles of tunnels until the sun was above. And then… freedom. Running in the shadows, the breeze blowing through his hair. Up ahead is a house, a large brick dwelling. And then a face. A young girl with mousy brown hair and electric blue eyes. Her heart-shaped face is shining at him and she reaches out to take his hand. As he moves to take her hand, she morphs to an older adolescent. Her Caribbean Sea eyes are now icy and cold, accusing. His heart shatters and he runs after her, desperate to reach her.
"Well?" Mr. Raines's scratchy voice brought Jira back to the present.
"He's looking for someone… a woman. I think he knew her when she was young," Jira reported.
Mr. Raines looked up at Mr. Lyle. "Miss Parker. Call the Chairman. He hasn't left Blue Cove. We can still catch him."
Confused, Jira tapped into Mr. Raines's emotions. She was surprised by the anger and hatred she found. He felt that this escapee had humiliated him and he wanted to punish the young man. Something snapped in Jira as she thought about what would happen when they had retrieved the Pretender. They would hurt him, just like they had hurt her.
Without thinking, Jira began to plead, "Mr. Raines, he wasn't trying to run! He just wants to talk with the girl!"
A Sweeper grabbed Jira by the arms, sending a shooting pain all the way through her shoulder from where Mr. Lyle had squeezed her earlier. But by now Jira had displaced her own feelings with her desire to spare Jarod. Her mind was back in SL-27 where she had been taken after Willie caught her. The same panic that Jira had felt when she saw the Sweepers approaching her with their torturous instruments was again welling up inside of her.
"Please, Mr. Raines, don't hurt him! Please! He didn't mean it! Don't hurt him, Mr. Raines!"
Jira's pleas died as the Sweeper guided the girl to the elevators. Once the doors closed and she was alone with the Sweeper, Jira realized what she had just done and dread filled every inch of her soul. When the Sweeper saw that her hysterics had subsided, he loosened his grip and turned her around to face him. Jira cooperated, but would not raise her eyes to meet the man's.
"Look at me," the Sweeper commanded. Jira obeyed, and the Sweeper noticed how wide and luminous her blue eyes were. I frighten her - that's good. It may save her life, he thought. "My name is Sam. I don't want to hurt you, so don't give me any reason to. Okay, kid?" Sam said in his gruff voice.
"Yes, sir," Jira mumbled, returning her gaze to the floor of the lift.
"All right. Now, listen to me. Picking a fight with Mr. Raines or Mr. Lyle is not a good idea."
"I-I didn't… I don't know what happened… I just…" Jira hung her head in shame. She struggled to hold back her tears as she had been instructed.
Sam thought of his own daughter at home. Lucy was a gregarious four year-old who loved to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" to her baby brother. Sam couldn't help but think that this emaciated and oppressed girl could have been Lucy had the circumstances been different. I have to do something, he thought. I can't stand by and watch them destroy her. Sam reached out with one hand to pull Jira into an embrace, but when the girl saw him move, she flinched and flattened herself against the opposite wall of the elevator, trembling with fear. Sam dropped his arm heavily to his side with a sigh.
The elevator doors opened and Jira glanced at Sam before exiting onto SL-23. She walked slowly down the corridor, listening for the Sweeper's footsteps at her heels. As she passed the third door on the left, Jira paused. Doors were never left ajar in the Centre, but the door to Room 2303 was open wide. This must be where the Pretender lived, the Pretender who escaped! Jira thought. She stood outside the open doorway and allowed her Inner Sense to explore what kind of man this Pretender was. She turned to Sam.
"Excuse me, sir," Jira began. "May I ask a question?"
"Call me Sam, and of course you may."
"Do you know the Pretender who lives here?"
Sam looked into the room at the drawings that had been taped to the walls, the three-dimensional model of an acetate molecule on the desk, and the red notebooks strewn about the room.
"Yes. I know Jarod," Sam replied. "Why do you ask?"
"I-I was just wondering what he's like," Jira said, not meeting Sam's intense gaze.
Sam cocked his head to the side in contemplation. He shrugged and decided that telling the girl about the other Pretender wouldn't hurt anyone.
"Jarod is one of the best Pretenders the Centre has. He has completed over five thousand simulations over the years. Until recently he was a pretty okay guy. Then he stopped doing what he was told, making trouble," Sam eyed Jira, and she nodded. Jira knew what happened when you didn't follow orders. "Now, why are you asking about Jarod?" Sam prodded again.
Jira lifted her eyes to the Sweeper, her gaze hard.
"When I empathed him, he was feeling so… free and happy to be alive. I've never felt such pleasant emotion in my life," Jira said boldly. Her confident posture slumped and she let her eyes drift to the empty cot in Jarod's room. "As we speak, dozens of teams are being sent to find him. Within the hour, he will be manacled in SL-27 being…" Jira's voice broke as memories of re-education burned in her mind. "It's all my fault," she whispered, again fighting back the stream of tears that was threatening to fall.
Sam knelt in front of the girl. "It's not your fault. Don't ever blame yourself for your gift."
Jira's blue eyes were frigid as she looked into the Sweeper's face. "It's not a gift. It's a curse!"
"Sam!" a man called from the end of the hallway. "Mr. Lyle would like Gemini brought to SIM Lab 1."
"Thanks, Kurt," Sam called to the balding Sweeper. "Come on, kid," he said, turning to Jira, and noticing her pale expression, "Don't worry, I'll stick close by."
Parker Mansion
Blue Cove, DE
14:51
Jarod walked gingerly to the doorway of the living room of the Parker's home. Peering into the room, he saw Miss Parker's slender frame slumped into a plum colored sofa. Her head was in her hands, and Jarod noticed her shoulders were trembling. Seeing his friend in distress, Jarod forgot about being cautious and knelt before Miss Parker. He reached out and touched her knee, causing her to jump.
"Jarod! What are you doing here?" Miss Parker whispered when her heart stopped racing.
"I know why you're angry and afraid of me and I had to come and tell you the truth," Jarod said sincerely, his chocolate eyes begging for her acceptance. "I don't have a lot of time, the Centre knows I'm gone. Please watch this disc. It explains everything, trust me."
"My mother told me that trust can kill you," Miss Parker retorted, her icy core impenetrable.
Jarod smiled at the familiar words. He decided to take advantage of Miss Parker's momentary mental paralysis. Jarod leaned in and gave Miss Parker a quick peck on the cheek, pausing to whisper in her ear.
"Or set you free, Miss Parker."
Jarod stood up, preparing to once again take flight. But Miss Parker caught his hand and stood beside him.
"Jarod, where are you going?"
"I have to leave Blue Cove. I can't go back to the Centre," Jarod replied, again turning to leave the house.
"Oh, okay. So you just come here, throw a DSA at me, kiss me, and then go on the run? If this is how you show someone that you care, I'd hate to be your enemy," Miss Parker spat.
Jarod just smiled his goofy grin and leaned in for another kiss, but history decided to repeat itself.
Pandemonium erupted in the Parker's mansion as thirty some Sweepers and Cleaners burst in through doors and windows. Hammers were cocked and barrels trained on the Pretender. Jarod's fear rooted him in place, unable to do anything but stare at Miss Parker, pleading her for assistance. But Parker averted her eyes, refusing to watch Jarod's capture.
"Hold it right there, Jarod!" called Garr through the mass of dark suits. He had a 9mm aimed at the Pretender's chest. "Back away from Miss Parker."
Jarod looked at his feet, willing them to move, but his intense fear had rendered him immobile.
"It's okay, Jarod. It'll be okay," Miss Parker whispered as she left the room.
Garr snarled at Miss Parker's back as she retreated. Then he turned back to Jarod with a villainous twinkle in his eye.
"All right, Genius, I want your hands on your head, fingers laced."
With trembling hands, Jarod complied. He let out a grunt of pain as his wrists were grabbed and twisted roughly behind his back and snapped into handcuffs.
"Tighter," Garr instructed the Sweeper shackling the Pretender.
"I wasn't running," Jarod growled as the metal dug into his wrists.
Garr leaned menacingly towards him to whisper in Jarod's ear. "Well Jarod, I don't really care. And neither does the Triumvirate. Get Jarod to the car!" Garr shouted, addressing the surrounding Sweepers.
Jarod yelped as the handcuffs bit into his flesh as the dark suited men manhandled him out of the mansion to one of the half dozen Lincoln Town Cars outside. He hit his head on the roof of the car as a Sweeper shoved him in. Jarod couldn't reach up to feel the blood, but he knew it was there. With his arms still cuffed behind him, Jarod sank into the leather seats of the luxurious Lincoln and tried to ignore the throbbing of his arms in their uncomfortable position. The car sped towards the Centre and Jarod grunted at every bump in the road.
As the towers of the Centre came into view, Jarod's heart began to race. He had never defied the Centre so boldly, and though Sydney had shielded him from many things, Jarod knew that not even Sydney had the power to protect him from Triumvirate.
