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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.
part XVIII
By Rebeckah
part XVIII
By Rebeckah
JJ looked at the shops, feeling a little guilty because his spirits were rising while Miss Parker was still having such a hard time. But Sam had given him 5 bucks and sent him out of the cabin. JJ saw an ice cream vendor and his spirits rose even higher. Grinning hugely around a drumstick, he began to stroll down the walkway.
Kahtie froze in front of the store selling romantic gifts. It was time, something big was about to happen. For the first time since she’d started this trip she felt fear. She simply wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what had pulled her to this spot.
However, the feelings couldn’t be denied and she slowly turned away from the store, scanning the people around her with a faint sensation of dread. Her blue eyes fell on an adolescent boy, innocently enjoying an ice cream cone at the same moment his fell on her.
"Jarod!" She whispered, color draining from her face as a barrage of memories broke loose from the bonds that had held them back. She sank slowly to the ground, holding her head in her hands as she remembered everything: her daughter, her husband, the Centre, the children, her murder…
"Miss Parker?" JJ whispered, just as incredulously. The woman had Parker’s face and white hair! Who was she. His cone tumbled from numb fingers as he started through the river of people to the woman who sat so still against the front of the store.
"Please, let me through." He pleaded with the well meaning people who surrounded her, asking her if she was all right. "She’ll talk to me."
Grudgingly, the crowd parted and he was allowed through. He knelt beside her and placed an uncertain hand on her shoulder. Her head slowly came up and she stared at him with a touch of blank incomprehension.
"You can’t be him. It’s been twenty years." She told him faintly.
"I’m not." He answered, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "Do you know anything about Gemini?"
Color began to return to her cheeks as old memories started to settle into place and she was able to reassure herself that she hadn’t lost her mind.
"Yes." She told him, more strongly now. Her hand came up to cup his cheek wonderingly. "It worked, apparently. But how is it that you are here? They wouldn’t-----" She stopped suddenly, realizing that they were surrounded by curious onlookers.
"I’m okay, now." She told everyone firmly. "It was an old injury." She explained with heavy irony that only she understood. Still, as she stood, with the boy’s help and moved off, holding his hand firmly, the crowd parted and let them through unhindered.
She held JJ’s hand in her own until she found a secluded park. Then she seated them on a bench and turned to him urgently.
"Please, tell me what’s been happening. I haven’t been in touch with anyone from the Centre in over 20 years. Has it been destroyed?"
JJ’s suspicions about her dissolved at the hope on her face when she asked about the Centre.
"Who are you?" He asked curiously, instead of answering her. "You look just like Miss Parker except for your hair."
"My baby? Is she okay? Where is she?" Catherine responded breathlessly.
"You’re Miss Parker’s mother? But she said her mother was dead?"
"I survived the attempt." Catherine answered slowly. "But I don’t know how. I don’t know who rescued me from that elevator and got me to the hospital. When I actually woke up in the Intensive Care Unit, I didn’t know who I was or what had happened to me. I didn’t remember anything except strange feelings and nightmare flashes until I saw you----You look so much like the boy I tried to rescue from the Centre."
"I’m the clone." He said matter-of-factly. "Jarod helped me escape and I was with our father, Major Charles for a while. Then I ended up with Miss Parker and Sam. We’re staying at Sam’s cabin near here. I think you should come with me. Miss Parker needs you, I think. Oh, and you can call me JJ. Jarod Junior." He added with a smile that was all impish boy.
"What is wrong with my daughter?" She asked, deeply concerned and realizing that this was what here intuition had led her here to deal with.
"She’s going to have a baby. But she had to shoot Lyle, to save me, and he’s her brother. Now she keeps crying and she almost lost the baby once. She keeps asking for her mother, though, so I think you should go to her." JJ recited flatly, trying to push down his feelings of guilt for the part he played in Lyle’s death and Parker’s subsequent anguish.
"Yes, she needs her mother." Catherine whispered. "And I need answers. Take me to her, please."
Silently JJ took her hand and started back to the cabin..
****************************
Angelo chewed on a fingernail while he pondered the way events were developing. He’d never known of the name of the Pagode, but he’d known that there was more than one organization that competed with the Centre. He’d always known that Parker had special abilities, even though she didn’t. His problem now was communicating this knowledge to the people who could act on it----Sydney and Jarod.
He’d been alert when Jarod opened his e-mail, and he knew that Jarod still missed the point, as did Sydney. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see a way to make his knowledge clear to them. His speech, as always, was inadequate to the task. He sighed and concluded that there wasn’t anything he could do at the moment. As always, he had to wait for the opportunity to present itself and seize it when it came.
*****************************
"Sydney." Jarod’s voice was low and full of anguish. "Do you know where she is? Is she okay?"
"No, Jarod." Sydney sighed heavily. "I don’t know where she is, and she isn’t okay. She’s already come close to miscarrying the baby."
"Oh, God!" Jarod groaned. "I’ve got to find her, Syd. I’ve got to be there for her!"
"They went to a hospital. I don’t know which hospital or where, but there might be a lead if you can find that hospital." Sydney offered his protégé sympathetically. "I need to apologize to her too." He admitted a moment later.
"How could I have let her down like this?" Jarod castigated himself.
"We all make mistakes, Jarod. Just find her and make it right, okay? If I speak to her first I’ll tell her how you feel."
"Thanks, Sydney." Jarod said hoarsely, trying to suppress tears. "I’ll keep in touch."
"Find her fast, Jarod." Sydney urged. "I’m worried about this Pagode organization."
"Me too, Syd." Jarod admitted heavily. "Me too."
******************************
"So, what are your plans now?" Broots asked Emily nervously. He still found her very attractive, but he was sure that she wouldn’t think twice about a computer geek like himself.
"I’m not sure. The trail I was following on my brother is bound to be ice cold by now. From what you’ve told me about Miss Parker, I wonder if I shouldn’t try to catch up to her and lend a hand? I’ve had a lot more experience in eluding the Centre than she has." Emily answered thoughtfully, absently twirling a strand of mahogany hair around one finger.
"I’m sure that if you find Miss Parker that Jarod won’t be too far behind. He’s bound to know by now that she’s having his baby."
"I still can’t believe you guys thought that she’d had an abortion! Men!" Emily snorted derisively.
"Well, she did go to great lengths to convince everyone she had." Broots defended his friends mildly.
"Yes, but anyone with an ounce of insight would have known better. Beneath that stone cold facade beats the heart of a very caring person. Even I knew that before our first encounter was over----and she was supposed to be my jailer!"
"Well, I called in sick today, and apparently so did Sydney. He should be on his way here soon and we can decide how to proceed then." Broots wisely decided to change the subject.
"Yes, but I suspect that I’m going to end up going after Miss Parker while you two try to cover for everyone at the Centre. Be careful, though. I don’t believe that they don’t suspect that your loyalties have been compromised. They aren’t that stupid." Emily speculated darkly.
"We’ll see…" Broots responded noncommittally. ‘Thank goodness,’ he thought gratefully. ‘That Debbie is safely at school during all of this.’
********************************
Meanwhile, at Debbie’s school, a black suited man explained to the secretary that he had been sent by her father’s work to pick her up. There had been an accident, he explained, and he was to take the girl to the hospital to be with her father. Innocently, the secretary called Debbie to the office and delivered her into the hands of a Centre Sweeper.
**************************
"Raines, why haven’t we received a progress report?" Big Mutumbo’s distinctively deep voice asked with sinister calm over the speaker phone. Remembering his recent stay at Equatorial Africa, Raines began to perspire.
"I just received a report from my Sweeper team." He stammered, grateful he had something good to report. "It looks like she’s gone to ground in Niagara Falls. Apparently Sam’s mother left him a cabin there several years ago. And Jarod has already spoken to the source who gave us this information. There’s a good chance we’ll be able to retrieve him at the same time."
"And the other matter?" Mutumbo’s voice was still disapproving.
"Debbie Broots was collected from her school twenty minutes ago. She’s on her way to a safe house even as we speak." Raines voice was more confident now, his fear subsiding as he realized that matters were progressing towards a productive end.
"Keep me informed." Mutumbo broke the connection, still without expressing a shred of approval.
Kahtie froze in front of the store selling romantic gifts. It was time, something big was about to happen. For the first time since she’d started this trip she felt fear. She simply wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what had pulled her to this spot.
However, the feelings couldn’t be denied and she slowly turned away from the store, scanning the people around her with a faint sensation of dread. Her blue eyes fell on an adolescent boy, innocently enjoying an ice cream cone at the same moment his fell on her.
"Jarod!" She whispered, color draining from her face as a barrage of memories broke loose from the bonds that had held them back. She sank slowly to the ground, holding her head in her hands as she remembered everything: her daughter, her husband, the Centre, the children, her murder…
"Miss Parker?" JJ whispered, just as incredulously. The woman had Parker’s face and white hair! Who was she. His cone tumbled from numb fingers as he started through the river of people to the woman who sat so still against the front of the store.
"Please, let me through." He pleaded with the well meaning people who surrounded her, asking her if she was all right. "She’ll talk to me."
Grudgingly, the crowd parted and he was allowed through. He knelt beside her and placed an uncertain hand on her shoulder. Her head slowly came up and she stared at him with a touch of blank incomprehension.
"You can’t be him. It’s been twenty years." She told him faintly.
"I’m not." He answered, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "Do you know anything about Gemini?"
Color began to return to her cheeks as old memories started to settle into place and she was able to reassure herself that she hadn’t lost her mind.
"Yes." She told him, more strongly now. Her hand came up to cup his cheek wonderingly. "It worked, apparently. But how is it that you are here? They wouldn’t-----" She stopped suddenly, realizing that they were surrounded by curious onlookers.
"I’m okay, now." She told everyone firmly. "It was an old injury." She explained with heavy irony that only she understood. Still, as she stood, with the boy’s help and moved off, holding his hand firmly, the crowd parted and let them through unhindered.
She held JJ’s hand in her own until she found a secluded park. Then she seated them on a bench and turned to him urgently.
"Please, tell me what’s been happening. I haven’t been in touch with anyone from the Centre in over 20 years. Has it been destroyed?"
JJ’s suspicions about her dissolved at the hope on her face when she asked about the Centre.
"Who are you?" He asked curiously, instead of answering her. "You look just like Miss Parker except for your hair."
"My baby? Is she okay? Where is she?" Catherine responded breathlessly.
"You’re Miss Parker’s mother? But she said her mother was dead?"
"I survived the attempt." Catherine answered slowly. "But I don’t know how. I don’t know who rescued me from that elevator and got me to the hospital. When I actually woke up in the Intensive Care Unit, I didn’t know who I was or what had happened to me. I didn’t remember anything except strange feelings and nightmare flashes until I saw you----You look so much like the boy I tried to rescue from the Centre."
"I’m the clone." He said matter-of-factly. "Jarod helped me escape and I was with our father, Major Charles for a while. Then I ended up with Miss Parker and Sam. We’re staying at Sam’s cabin near here. I think you should come with me. Miss Parker needs you, I think. Oh, and you can call me JJ. Jarod Junior." He added with a smile that was all impish boy.
"What is wrong with my daughter?" She asked, deeply concerned and realizing that this was what here intuition had led her here to deal with.
"She’s going to have a baby. But she had to shoot Lyle, to save me, and he’s her brother. Now she keeps crying and she almost lost the baby once. She keeps asking for her mother, though, so I think you should go to her." JJ recited flatly, trying to push down his feelings of guilt for the part he played in Lyle’s death and Parker’s subsequent anguish.
"Yes, she needs her mother." Catherine whispered. "And I need answers. Take me to her, please."
Silently JJ took her hand and started back to the cabin..
****************************
Angelo chewed on a fingernail while he pondered the way events were developing. He’d never known of the name of the Pagode, but he’d known that there was more than one organization that competed with the Centre. He’d always known that Parker had special abilities, even though she didn’t. His problem now was communicating this knowledge to the people who could act on it----Sydney and Jarod.
He’d been alert when Jarod opened his e-mail, and he knew that Jarod still missed the point, as did Sydney. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see a way to make his knowledge clear to them. His speech, as always, was inadequate to the task. He sighed and concluded that there wasn’t anything he could do at the moment. As always, he had to wait for the opportunity to present itself and seize it when it came.
*****************************
"Sydney." Jarod’s voice was low and full of anguish. "Do you know where she is? Is she okay?"
"No, Jarod." Sydney sighed heavily. "I don’t know where she is, and she isn’t okay. She’s already come close to miscarrying the baby."
"Oh, God!" Jarod groaned. "I’ve got to find her, Syd. I’ve got to be there for her!"
"They went to a hospital. I don’t know which hospital or where, but there might be a lead if you can find that hospital." Sydney offered his protégé sympathetically. "I need to apologize to her too." He admitted a moment later.
"How could I have let her down like this?" Jarod castigated himself.
"We all make mistakes, Jarod. Just find her and make it right, okay? If I speak to her first I’ll tell her how you feel."
"Thanks, Sydney." Jarod said hoarsely, trying to suppress tears. "I’ll keep in touch."
"Find her fast, Jarod." Sydney urged. "I’m worried about this Pagode organization."
"Me too, Syd." Jarod admitted heavily. "Me too."
******************************
"So, what are your plans now?" Broots asked Emily nervously. He still found her very attractive, but he was sure that she wouldn’t think twice about a computer geek like himself.
"I’m not sure. The trail I was following on my brother is bound to be ice cold by now. From what you’ve told me about Miss Parker, I wonder if I shouldn’t try to catch up to her and lend a hand? I’ve had a lot more experience in eluding the Centre than she has." Emily answered thoughtfully, absently twirling a strand of mahogany hair around one finger.
"I’m sure that if you find Miss Parker that Jarod won’t be too far behind. He’s bound to know by now that she’s having his baby."
"I still can’t believe you guys thought that she’d had an abortion! Men!" Emily snorted derisively.
"Well, she did go to great lengths to convince everyone she had." Broots defended his friends mildly.
"Yes, but anyone with an ounce of insight would have known better. Beneath that stone cold facade beats the heart of a very caring person. Even I knew that before our first encounter was over----and she was supposed to be my jailer!"
"Well, I called in sick today, and apparently so did Sydney. He should be on his way here soon and we can decide how to proceed then." Broots wisely decided to change the subject.
"Yes, but I suspect that I’m going to end up going after Miss Parker while you two try to cover for everyone at the Centre. Be careful, though. I don’t believe that they don’t suspect that your loyalties have been compromised. They aren’t that stupid." Emily speculated darkly.
"We’ll see…" Broots responded noncommittally. ‘Thank goodness,’ he thought gratefully. ‘That Debbie is safely at school during all of this.’
********************************
Meanwhile, at Debbie’s school, a black suited man explained to the secretary that he had been sent by her father’s work to pick her up. There had been an accident, he explained, and he was to take the girl to the hospital to be with her father. Innocently, the secretary called Debbie to the office and delivered her into the hands of a Centre Sweeper.
**************************
"Raines, why haven’t we received a progress report?" Big Mutumbo’s distinctively deep voice asked with sinister calm over the speaker phone. Remembering his recent stay at Equatorial Africa, Raines began to perspire.
"I just received a report from my Sweeper team." He stammered, grateful he had something good to report. "It looks like she’s gone to ground in Niagara Falls. Apparently Sam’s mother left him a cabin there several years ago. And Jarod has already spoken to the source who gave us this information. There’s a good chance we’ll be able to retrieve him at the same time."
"And the other matter?" Mutumbo’s voice was still disapproving.
"Debbie Broots was collected from her school twenty minutes ago. She’s on her way to a safe house even as we speak." Raines voice was more confident now, his fear subsiding as he realized that matters were progressing towards a productive end.
"Keep me informed." Mutumbo broke the connection, still without expressing a shred of approval.
