A Pretender Story
part V
by Evanescent

"Is he ready now?" Raines asked, walking into the room dragging his oxygen tank behind him.

"Yes Mr. Raines. The Alternation has been successful," Kosin replied.

Satisfied, Raines walked over to the table where the sleeping man was and waited silently. Jarod opened his eyes and Raines was pleased to see no warmth in them, no light, no hope, no love, only coldness. "Hello Michael," he replied, Jarod silently turned his head towards the man, "It’s time to start on your 1st sim."

*****

Blue Cove Hospital
1300 Hours

Sydney, who was sitting at the edge of Ms. Parker’s bed, said quietly "Jarod is gone," silence filled the room as his words sunk it.

After a few minutes Ms. Parker sat up from her bed and asked, "Syd, do you think Jarod might have escaped?" Please say yes she though.

"Jarod will not do that, Ms. Parker. Even if he could escape, he would remain at the Centre until he knows you are out of danger," Sydney replied, his heart filled with unbearable grief and sadness for the boy he loved as his own. He could see the hope in Ms. Parker’s eyes died, he looked away to avoid seeing the sorrow in them he also felt.

"Ms. Parker, you have to talk to your father, only he—" Sydney began

"No Syd," Ms. Parker angrily replied, "I have chased your experiment for 3 years and now that he’s back, there’s no way in hell I am going to let him ruin my life again."

"But Ms. Parker—"

"No Sydney, I had enough. Jarod’s mind games has no effect on me anymore, and I’m sure as hell not going to go through it again."

"I’m sorry, but the patient needs her rest now." A nurse walked into the room & smiled at Sydney & Broots. The 2 men nodded and casting one last look at Ms. Parker, Sydney followed Broots out the door, closing it behind him.

Ms. Parker reached over to the night stand next to her bed and took the cellular phone on it and punched in a series of numbers, she pressed the phone to her ear and said into the mouthpiece, "Daddy, I need to talk to you about something."

****

The Centre
1500 Hours

Their hearts heavy with despair; Sydney and Broots walked into Sydney’s office only to find a bald man standing before them.

"Raines," Sydney whispered, the anger in him grew at the sight of him. He must control his temper, he thought, if he upset this bastard in any way, he might not get a chance to see Jarod.

"Sydney, you may go see Jarod now," Raines said, he smiled mockingly. Sydney and Broots was caught off guard, they had not expected this. The smile on Raines face broadened and became more ugly. "The Alteration is complete."

Sydney’s eyes flashed and without thinking he shoved Raines to the wall. "You bastard," he hissed, "What have you done to Jarod?"

"Call it an Alteration, the Jarod you know is dead, his name is Michael now." Raines said, thoroughly enjoying the thought that he could inflict anger on the usually mild mannered therapist.  His grin grew wider as Sydney back off, stunned by the news.

"I had him performed a sim for me, his results, as usual was astounding, even you will be pleased with the results." He handed Broots the DSA before walking out the door.

Broots opened the DSA player, push the disc in and pressed the button for play. Then both he and Sydney stared into the screen….(View of DSA screen)

"Michael, I want you to see if you could break this man, he has been uncooperative and refused to tell us the information we needed. We held his family hostage yet he was still determined to not give us the information."

"Yes Mr. Raines." Jarod replied and in lightning speed he absorbed the file in front of him, when he finished he looked up to Mr. Raines answered, "Bring the family in."

The sweepers brought in a middle-aged man and forced him into a chair, Jarod walked up to him and asked, "How close are you to your family Mr. Peterson?" The man remained silent, Jarod smiled mockingly at him and said to Raines, "Bring the family in," The man’s eyes flew to Jarod’s, hoping for sympathy from him yet he found only coldness in the depths of his eyes in return. A women and her 2 children was then shoved into the room, their eyes large with fear and terror, the children grasp tightly on each of their mother’s hands as she stood quietly, trembling, waiting.

"Bring one of the children to me," he said, Raines nodded his head to one of the sweepers as the sweeper grabbed one of the children from the mother, the woman cried out and tried to reach for her child yet she was forced back by 2 sweepers. She watched tearfully as the child was brought to Jarod.

Jarod gave the child a empty smile and asked, "What’s your name little boy?"

The boy answered feebly, "Danny,"

"Okay, Danny, I’m going to play a game with you okay?"

"Okay,"

"Hand me a gun," Jarod said to the sweeper, the sweeper obeyed and withdrew a gun and gave it to Jarod.

"Now, I want you to put the pistol to your head okay?" Jarod asked Danny in a soft tone yet it has no emotions in it.

"Okay," pointing the gun at his temple, he looked at Jarod and his father for approval, his father shook his head violently, scared, Danny quickly lowered the gun to his side.

Jarod then smiled at the boy and shook his head, "Now Danny, if you do that, daddy will get hurt," turning to the sweeper, he said, "beat him."

Danny watched in horror as the sweeper threw a punch at his father’s stomach, sending him to the ground groaning in pain. "Stop! You’re hurting my daddy!"

"Stop it! You’re hurting my husband!" The woman cried, trying to free herself from the two sweepers to run and protect her husband.

Mr. Raines replied, "Okay Mr. Peterson, this is your last chance, if you don’t want your son to commit suicide unknowingly," he threw an amused at Jarod, "Then you better tell us the code of your safe deposit box in Switzerland.

Mr. Peterson, now with tears of anguish streaming down his cheeks he whispered, "The code is family," Looking with love at his wife and children with so much love in his eyes, "Family."

Jarod smiled mockingly, and remained unmoved by the love he saw that was in the man’s eyes when he look at his family and sat down on the chair, awaiting further orders.
 
"My God," Sydney whispered as he closed the DSA player, "They killed Jarod."
 
 
 

Any Compliments or Criticisms

Thank you!!