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Disclaimer: The characters Miss Parker, Sydney, Jarod, Broots etc. and the fictional Centre, are all property of MTM and NBC Productions and used without permission. I'm not making any money out of this and no infringement is intended.
It had been completely useless to go into Miss Parker’s house. The cleaners had done a damn good job. Nervously Broots glanced over to the older man in the seat at his right side.
He was sitting there with nearly closed eyes, gaze focused on a framed picture he held in is hands. It was the only thing he had taken from Miss Parker house . A picture of Catherine Parker with her baby girl. Both are smiling happily at the unseen photographer.
The way Sydney was starring at the picture scared the hell out of Broots. The only interruption to his absorption in the picture had been a short phone conversation with Emily just a little while ago when she had given them further information how to find her..
It was nearly time for the last turn... ah yes there was the road that would lead them directly to the farm. Moments after he’d started down it Broots silently wondered who would dared to call this rutted, gravel topped track a road, and prayed inaudibly that his car would survive this unscathed.
Once again Broots shot a quick look at the other man before he returned his attention to making his slow way up the rough road. Sydney seemed totally unaware of the bumpy journey. His heavy heart lightened when Broots saw the distant light from the farm, maybe now Sydney would pull out of this dark introspection. Broots sympathised with his friend’s feelings of sorrow at letting down Miss Parker; he knew Sydney was more of a father to her than Mr. Parker, but he also knew that regrets weren’t going to do anyone any good. He pulled the car up in front of the house with a feeling of relief, mixed with renewed apprehension about their course of action.
"Syd," he tried a last time to change the older man’s mind. "Are you sure that Jarod’s sister really should to stay at my place? " His eyes pleaded with Sydney to tell him ‘No’. He wanted to hear that Sydney had changed his mind and was going to put the girl up in a motel somewhere.
Instead, Sydney looked up from the picture and gave him a reassuring smile, then he gave Broots’ shoulder a quick pat, and left the car.
With a big sigh Broots followed him.
****
"I want her alive!" He was walking up and down the row of Sweepers, his oxygen tank squeaking behind. "And the Clone as well." He added.
After he reached the desk he studied every sweeper carefully… "I just hope for your own good that you all know that your first loyalty belongs to the Centre" he threatened and with this he dismissed the men.
After the last sweeper has left the office he turned over to the phone on the desk.
"I assure you, Sir. We will find her soon. She has no money and no place to hide. "
"What about Sydney and Broots?" A deep male voice came cracking over the speaker.
"Don’t worry about them; they are under control. Sydney is just a old powerless man. We took everything from him long ago. As for Broots he has a daughter, he will not do anything stupid. I already arranged that she will be picked up from school tomorrow. " Raines assured.
"Agreed! What about the tests?" the voice came up again.
"Everything is ready, we can start as soon as we have them. There is a jet ready to bring the clone to you. The woman will be tested and go to Mexico a day later. Nobody will ever find them again. I only hope she is better than her mother was, but even if she is not we will get a new Pretender from her. If our calculations are right, the IQ of this child will be higher than that of every other subject we’ve had so far. "
"I hope you are right. She has already cost the Centre a lot of money; she’s had more time than anybody else. Not to use her for the breeding or cloning project was a waste. You had tested her more than once after Catherine was finally out of the way and always with negative results." The voice sounded annoyed now.
"We had to be careful in her case, to push too hard could have destroyed everything. We had hoped her hunt after Jarod would trigger something. I kept her under close observation at all the times. You know what happened when we tried to hurry matters; Lyle was a total failure. The only benefit he ever brought us was to free us from that man."
"True. You may go ahead with your plans, but keep it in mind that I do not tolerate any failure. This matter is far too important for any mistakes; we need it to work. You know yourself that the Pagode is not far behind us in this. Whoever succeeds first will have the lock on the market for the next several years. Don’t fail us!" With this the connection was terminated.
Unnoticed by anybody, Angelo stopped recording their meeting and made his way back to his hiding place.
*****
"Mr. Jamison? " a friendly voice asked.
Before Sam could react, JJ pushed past him.
"How is she? " He asked, worried.
The doctor smiled down at the boy
"Don’t worry, your mother is fine. She is sleeping now, we gave her something to calm her down. Why don’t you go over and keep her company? But please be quiet and don’t wake her up. She’s just down the hall in room 214." The man pointed out the direction.
Without further hesitation JJ hurried toward the room. Sam started to follow him, but he was restrained by a firm hand on his arm.
"Mr. Jamison, I need to talk with you alone." The doctor stated.
"She is not fine, right? What is it?" The former sweeper asked, concern clearly written on his face.
"I am sorry, sir. Your wife is in a state of shock. We’ve sedated her, but I am concerned about the child. She started spotting and having contractions while I was examining her. We’ve given her steroids to halt the contractions, but if she doesn’t relax, and stay relaxed, she will lose this baby. I’m very sorry.... " the doctor trailed off.
"That’s not all, is it?" Sam pushed further.
"Unfortunately not. A miscarriage is always traumatic, particularly emotionally. In your wife’s current weakened state..... There’s a significantly greater risk that we would lose her as well. You should go to her now as well. She needs her family now more than ever." With this the doctor turned and left.
******
With a resigned growl the Major swung his legs out of the bed and padded over to the adjoining room. He stood in the door frame and watched his son pacing through the room like a caged animal.
"Jarod, could you at least lay down and try to rest a bit?" The Major sighed.
"Can’t sleep." came the muffled response from the window.
"I know. Me neither." The older man replied. "Especially not when I’ve listened you pacing for hours now. There’s nothing you can do at the moment and you’re definitely going to be no help to her if you wear yourself out this way. "
"Dad, I let her down. All these years I’ve been trying to convince her trust me. I never believed in the image she displayed for the Centre. I pushed her to her limit and sometimes even further. Then, the first time she needed my trust I failed her.
"The last time I talked with Sydney----he was sure she had sold her soul as well. Do you know what this means? She was alone. Completely alone; nobody to turn to, nobody to trust. I know that feeling. The only person who had faith in her was JJ. He only met her once and only for a few minutes, but he knew her better than I did after all our years together."
Jarod stopped glanced over towards his father, unshed tears glittering in his eyes, and than stared out into the darkness again.
He was sitting there with nearly closed eyes, gaze focused on a framed picture he held in is hands. It was the only thing he had taken from Miss Parker house . A picture of Catherine Parker with her baby girl. Both are smiling happily at the unseen photographer.
The way Sydney was starring at the picture scared the hell out of Broots. The only interruption to his absorption in the picture had been a short phone conversation with Emily just a little while ago when she had given them further information how to find her..
It was nearly time for the last turn... ah yes there was the road that would lead them directly to the farm. Moments after he’d started down it Broots silently wondered who would dared to call this rutted, gravel topped track a road, and prayed inaudibly that his car would survive this unscathed.
Once again Broots shot a quick look at the other man before he returned his attention to making his slow way up the rough road. Sydney seemed totally unaware of the bumpy journey. His heavy heart lightened when Broots saw the distant light from the farm, maybe now Sydney would pull out of this dark introspection. Broots sympathised with his friend’s feelings of sorrow at letting down Miss Parker; he knew Sydney was more of a father to her than Mr. Parker, but he also knew that regrets weren’t going to do anyone any good. He pulled the car up in front of the house with a feeling of relief, mixed with renewed apprehension about their course of action.
"Syd," he tried a last time to change the older man’s mind. "Are you sure that Jarod’s sister really should to stay at my place? " His eyes pleaded with Sydney to tell him ‘No’. He wanted to hear that Sydney had changed his mind and was going to put the girl up in a motel somewhere.
Instead, Sydney looked up from the picture and gave him a reassuring smile, then he gave Broots’ shoulder a quick pat, and left the car.
With a big sigh Broots followed him.
****
"I want her alive!" He was walking up and down the row of Sweepers, his oxygen tank squeaking behind. "And the Clone as well." He added.
After he reached the desk he studied every sweeper carefully… "I just hope for your own good that you all know that your first loyalty belongs to the Centre" he threatened and with this he dismissed the men.
After the last sweeper has left the office he turned over to the phone on the desk.
"I assure you, Sir. We will find her soon. She has no money and no place to hide. "
"What about Sydney and Broots?" A deep male voice came cracking over the speaker.
"Don’t worry about them; they are under control. Sydney is just a old powerless man. We took everything from him long ago. As for Broots he has a daughter, he will not do anything stupid. I already arranged that she will be picked up from school tomorrow. " Raines assured.
"Agreed! What about the tests?" the voice came up again.
"Everything is ready, we can start as soon as we have them. There is a jet ready to bring the clone to you. The woman will be tested and go to Mexico a day later. Nobody will ever find them again. I only hope she is better than her mother was, but even if she is not we will get a new Pretender from her. If our calculations are right, the IQ of this child will be higher than that of every other subject we’ve had so far. "
"I hope you are right. She has already cost the Centre a lot of money; she’s had more time than anybody else. Not to use her for the breeding or cloning project was a waste. You had tested her more than once after Catherine was finally out of the way and always with negative results." The voice sounded annoyed now.
"We had to be careful in her case, to push too hard could have destroyed everything. We had hoped her hunt after Jarod would trigger something. I kept her under close observation at all the times. You know what happened when we tried to hurry matters; Lyle was a total failure. The only benefit he ever brought us was to free us from that man."
"True. You may go ahead with your plans, but keep it in mind that I do not tolerate any failure. This matter is far too important for any mistakes; we need it to work. You know yourself that the Pagode is not far behind us in this. Whoever succeeds first will have the lock on the market for the next several years. Don’t fail us!" With this the connection was terminated.
Unnoticed by anybody, Angelo stopped recording their meeting and made his way back to his hiding place.
*****
"Mr. Jamison? " a friendly voice asked.
Before Sam could react, JJ pushed past him.
"How is she? " He asked, worried.
The doctor smiled down at the boy
"Don’t worry, your mother is fine. She is sleeping now, we gave her something to calm her down. Why don’t you go over and keep her company? But please be quiet and don’t wake her up. She’s just down the hall in room 214." The man pointed out the direction.
Without further hesitation JJ hurried toward the room. Sam started to follow him, but he was restrained by a firm hand on his arm.
"Mr. Jamison, I need to talk with you alone." The doctor stated.
"She is not fine, right? What is it?" The former sweeper asked, concern clearly written on his face.
"I am sorry, sir. Your wife is in a state of shock. We’ve sedated her, but I am concerned about the child. She started spotting and having contractions while I was examining her. We’ve given her steroids to halt the contractions, but if she doesn’t relax, and stay relaxed, she will lose this baby. I’m very sorry.... " the doctor trailed off.
"That’s not all, is it?" Sam pushed further.
"Unfortunately not. A miscarriage is always traumatic, particularly emotionally. In your wife’s current weakened state..... There’s a significantly greater risk that we would lose her as well. You should go to her now as well. She needs her family now more than ever." With this the doctor turned and left.
******
With a resigned growl the Major swung his legs out of the bed and padded over to the adjoining room. He stood in the door frame and watched his son pacing through the room like a caged animal.
"Jarod, could you at least lay down and try to rest a bit?" The Major sighed.
"Can’t sleep." came the muffled response from the window.
"I know. Me neither." The older man replied. "Especially not when I’ve listened you pacing for hours now. There’s nothing you can do at the moment and you’re definitely going to be no help to her if you wear yourself out this way. "
"Dad, I let her down. All these years I’ve been trying to convince her trust me. I never believed in the image she displayed for the Centre. I pushed her to her limit and sometimes even further. Then, the first time she needed my trust I failed her.
"The last time I talked with Sydney----he was sure she had sold her soul as well. Do you know what this means? She was alone. Completely alone; nobody to turn to, nobody to trust. I know that feeling. The only person who had faith in her was JJ. He only met her once and only for a few minutes, but he knew her better than I did after all our years together."
Jarod stopped glanced over towards his father, unshed tears glittering in his eyes, and than stared out into the darkness again.
