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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Epilogue
pretender_gurl
Jarod returned to work the next day, but he no longer bantered with Sydney and preferred to stay busy with work. He requested that Sydney alter his privileges so that he no longer worked in the BioDomes and spent more time in the Centre's fitness facilities. Sydney was required to accompany him for the first week and was distressed to find Jarod spending most of his allotted time with the punching bags. He would beat on the canvas bags until his knuckles were bloody and sweat had soaked his Centre-issued sweatpants and T-shirt.
Miss Parker spent two more months as a Cleaner before requesting a transfer to the Corporate SIS office where the Centre's projects were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Miss Parker traveled for the majority of her business, spending a week here and a week there actually in her Tower office. She preferred this setup as it prevented the occasional and awkward meeting with Jarod. Meanwhile, her father continued to instill negative emotions towards all those who were below her, including Jarod. The raw pain of her last encounter with Jarod mingled with her father's words and left Miss Parker a bitter woman.
Sydney watched these two grow farther and farther apart with a heavy heart. Though he would never admit it, not even to himself, Sydney had paternal feelings towards both Jarod and Miss Parker. Jarod's unhappiness at the Centre made working with him a constant challenge and as Sydney became more forceful in his insistence that Jarod comply, he knew that Jarod was growing more resentful of him. When he watched Miss Parker stalk the halls of the Centre, Sydney's stomach churned. What would Catherine and Jacob think if they could see their little girl now? And of course Sydney's guilt laid heavily on him, for he had not been able to protect the children as he had promised Catherine.
Jayne Meredith Doe became Jayne Meredith McCarthy three months after the family's visit to the zoo. Sydney, with Broots's help, had organized all of the legal paperwork and found Jayne a wonderful lawyer who was unaffiliated with the Centre. After the judge ruled in favor of the adoption, Lucy gave her new sister a drawing of the four McCarthys and Jayne. The caption said 'Welcome to the Family.' Sam and Evelyn did everything in their power to make Jayne feel welcome and within a year, she felt as if she had always been a McCarthy. Jayne adored her siblings and her new parents. She was enrolled at a school for gifted students in Middletown, Delaware where she excelled. Sydney still came over every week to talk with Jayne and after a while, her nightmares subsided to the occasional bad dream. For the McCarthys, it truly was a fairy tale ending.
Jayne's twin was not so lucky. The mental and physical abuse that Jonas received rivaled the treatment that befell his father. But Jonas didn't mind. After all, the Centre had saved him from a life in the streets. As grateful as he was, it didn't stop Jonas from dreaming about what his life may have been like if his parents were not killed. He found himself harboring a frightening amount of hatred toward their murderer.
Mr. Raines and Mr. Lyle couldn't be happier about the progress that Project Gemini was making. His simulations were bringing in even more revenue than Jarod's. Jonas had not asked about his parents since he had been shown the photographs of the murdered couple, and the boy's professed gratitude to the Centre assured them that they had his unwavering loyalty and obedience.
Margaret kept her promise to Emily and allowed her daughter to attend Wesley College the following fall. Emily had a wonderful freshmen year. She declared her major of journalism during her second semester. Emily became a starter on the women's basketball team thanks to the talent scout who recruited her. Evelyn McCarthy found herself having a soft spot for the girl. There was something familiar about Emily that Evelyn could not place. Since Emily was younger than the other students, she was often unable to participate in team activities, like going to the bars or casinos. On these nights, Evelyn invited Emily to have dinner with the McCarthys. The prospect of another night in the cafeteria prompted Emily to quickly accept the offer. The dinners soon became a regular occurrence and led to Emily becoming the family's babysitter.
The summer of 1996, Margaret came to Dover where she and Emily rented an apartment. The two spent the summer searching for information on their family members. In late August, Emily had a breakthrough and located the Centre. In three week's time, she had penetrated the Centre mainframe and found evidence that while Kyle was no longer at the Centre, Jarod was being held in one of their many sublevels. Emily and Margaret immediately began to plan a rescue mission. However, before Emily and Margaret could launch their plan, Jarod escaped from the Centre.
No one knew how Jarod had escaped, only that Willie saw Jarod ripping off a Sweeper's suit as he ran through the woods and caught a ride away from the Centre. The Tower was furious and immediately launched a full-forced retrieval directive. Despite her protests, Miss Parker was called in from Corporate by her father to act as project coordinator in the pursuit. All of the Sweepers and Cleaners were briefed on Jarod's past and given photographs of the Pretender to carry with them in case he was spotted. Centre facilities across the nation were alerted and instructed to keep a look out for the errant Pretender.
Sam was among those Sweepers present at the Jarod briefing and immediately recognized the slides that showed Jarod's mother and sister as Margaret and Emily. He got word to them right away about what happened and told them to leave the area and get as far away from the Centre as possible. The next day they were gone.
Mr. Raines dreamed of recapturing Jarod and winning the Triumvirate's approval. He showed Jonas slides of Jarod and when Jonas asked who the man was, Mr. Raines told him that Jarod was the man who killed Jonas's parents. Yet something inside Jonas wasn't sure that Mr. Raines was telling the truth. Jonas told himself that maybe Mr. Raines had the wrong man. Maybe his parents' killer was still unknown to them. But Jonas couldn't risk this man killing someone else, so he willingly attempted to locate the Pretender.
Meanwhile, Jarod had begun his flight as THE PRETENDER.
El fin!
