Chapter 6. The Line is Crossed.

  Miss Parker reached back across her desk, "I didn't know he'd fallen apart..." She muttered to herself, reluctantly resuming the footage where they'd left off.

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  Jarod's gaze fell back to the plastic evidence bag on the table before him. The last time he'd seen her wearing the tiny gold medallions was the day she died...

  "Well... don't leave me hanging Jarod..." Lyle's tone was joyous, as if Jarod's obvious pain was spurring him into a good mood. He crouched down to Jarod's level, leaning his elbows against the table, "Must have been someone important..."

  Mr Cox folded his arms across his chest, his eyes all but giving himself away as the man with all the answers.

  "...You... knew...?" Jarod choked, desperately searching Cox's eyes for the truth.

  "I couldn't call myself much of a doctor if I missed it... What interests me is the fact that you did..."

  Jarod knew that this was just another tactic to get him to crack and he was more than ashamed to admit that it was working. He'd already spent many a week going over just how he could have missed the signs...

  Lyle was becoming impatient with being left out of the loop, his game suddenly becoming more serious as he slammed an open fist on to the table, "Who died Jarod?"

  "Are you familiar with George Huntington, Mr Lyle?" Mr Cox relished his chance to break Jarod and was enjoying the weariness that had penetrated Jarod's steely façade and was now readily evident in his eyes.

  Lyle turned to face him, "No I am not and unless George is the ‘she' that died, I'm not interested either..."

  "On the contrary Mr Lyle, George Huntington was a male American physician in the early 1870's..." Mr Cox's eyes shone as Jarod's fell.

  "Not interested..."

  "Well are you interested in Chorea Major, or perhaps Huntington's Chorea, or even Huntington's disease as it is more commonly known?"

  The penny began to drop and a smile quickly replaced the frustration on Lyle's face, "So this ‘she' died of Huntington's and you didn't even pick it up...?" He turned back to face Jarod, "Well now we're getting somewhere..."

  "Westphal-variant wasn't it Jarod? Early onset... Zoë had probably known since she was a teenager..." Mr Cox took a deep breath. The hardest part of his job being over, he was now determined to revel in Lyle's closing.

  Jarod hung his head into his chest. He'd tried to convince himself without avail that she'd hidden all her symptoms from him, but deep down he knew that it was his fault he'd missed them... After all, how many people walked out on their lives to buy shiny red convertibles and pick up strangers in the desert? Especially those that were supposed to be running from an abusive relationship...

  "How exactly does someone live with that Jarod? Knowing that someone as close as your precious Zoë was suffering right next to you in silence, whilst you were busy planning mystery parcels to send to Parker... I know I'd be inclined to blame my sister myself, but to send her those photographs...? That's disgusting Jarod... Maybe Alex and Kyle weren't alone in their respective psychoses after all... Maybe it's the ‘curse' of the Pretender gene... Maybe Gemini's going to be the next to crack... What if he already has Jarod? What if you've unleashed yet another psychopath on the world...?" Lyle pushed against the table, getting slowly to his feet, "...How could you live with yourself...?"

  Jarod shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but his vocal chords stubbornly refused to oblige and remained silent. His mind was racing and the pain in his chest was increasing with each breath. The only thing that was worse than the pain itself, was that he could see his freedom disappearing right before his eyes and couldn't even bring himself to fight for it... He couldn't even convince himself that he deserved it...

  "Well, you did send Parker those photographs, didn't you Jarod...?" Lyle straightened up, staring deep into Jarod's eyes as he smoothed his lapels.

  Jarod nodded his head in confusion.

  "You know what her reaction was Jarod? She wanted to hurt your family... She wanted to hurt everyone you've ever cared about..."

  Jarod looked up at him is disbelief. He'd expected Parker to be a little shaken and maybe upset, but the look in Lyle's eyes told him that Lyle wasn't lying to him. She'd been furious...

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  Miss Parker felt Sydney's hand squeeze her shoulder gently as she saw Jarod nod his head at the mention of the photographs, "He hasn't said which..."

  She shook Sydney loose, raiding her pockets for a cigarette, her eyes transfixed upon Jarod's, "...not my concern..." she muttered, again to no one in particular.

  Broots watched Sydney sink away with the least amount of confidence he'd ever witnessed from the psychiatrist. Whatever had transpired between he and Miss Parker earlier, had Sydney doubting his belief in Jarod and that was something Broots couldn't believe he was witnessing. Desperately fixing his eyes back on the screen in front of them for any insights, Broots watched Lyle push the medallions off the table and replace them with a yellow envelope in a larger plastic evidence bag, "Recognize this?"

  Miss Parker turned her back to the screen, unable to watch the scene that in her heart she wished was untrue, but in her head couldn't be certain.

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Jarod examined the red lettering on the envelope's front and nodded his head.

  "And the seven photographs inside, you recognize them too?" Lyle twirled the evidence bag across the table with his index finger.

  Jarod thought for a second, before nodding his head slowly.

  "Use your words Jarod. I want to hear you say it. I want to hear you say that you sent these photographs to Parker."

  "...I sent those photographs to Miss Parker..." Jarod stared at the camera in the corner of the room, "She deserved them."

  Sydney gasped, his hand covering his mouth. Jarod spoke with such resolution. He didn't even ask to see what was in the envelope...

  Miss Parker smiled through the scarce tears that dared to defy her eyelids, folding her arms protectively across her chest as she faced Sydney, waiting in turn, for him to face her.

  When he finally did, she spoke over the sounds of Jarod being beaten by a sweeper, "Where exactly do we keep Cousin It these days?"

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  Angelo watched the footage Sydney was playing through the tiny gap between his fingers, that were busy trying to shelter him from the worst of the vision he was seeing, "Jarod lost... want Sydney... want Zoë..."

  "Is Jarod hurt?" Sydney spun the chair around so that Angelo was facing him once more, "Is Jarod lying Angelo?"

  Angelo nodded his head, "Hurt."

  Sydney watched as Angelo subconsciously rested his hand on his heart, "Angelo, is Jarod lying to Mr Lyle?"

  Miss Parker sat on the leather lounge blowing smoke rings in a blatant attempt at appearing disinterested, though her eyes were adiently flittering back and fourth between the psychiatrist and the empath.

  Broots on the other hand, was openly pacing the office, unashamedly hanging off every word exchanged between Sydney and Angelo.

  "Please Angelo. Is Jarod lying?" Sydney repeated, doing his best to keep his voice calm, though he was obviously anything but.

  Angelo glanced back over his shoulder at the frozen image of Jarod on the screen, "Jarod tired... Not care..."

  Sydney crouched down in front of Angelo, pleading for something more, anything that could re-instate his previously unwavering faith in Jarod.

  "Gemini hidden... Secret... Jarod not lie..."

  Sydney smiled up at Angelo, "Thank you."

  "Thank you?" Miss Parker absently flicked her cigarette into the empty ashtray on the coffee table, "He didn't even tell you about the photographs..." She stood up and approached Angelo in a matter just about as unthreatening as a cyclone, "Did Jarod send those photo's Angelo?"

  Angelo sank into her desk chair as far as he possibly could, "Jarod sad... Confused... Miss Parker angry..."

  Sydney stepped between Angelo and Miss Parker, guiding her misdirected rage away from the empath, "Jarod doesn't understand why you would be angry with him Parker. You saw how confused he was when Lyle told him that you wanted to kill his family... He didn't send those photos and he doesn't know where Gemini is. If we don't stop Lyle, he's going to do some serious damage..."

  "Really? You think I'm that reckless?" Lyle straightened his tie as he leant against Parker's now wide-open door, "And you've got yourself a petting zoo..." He smiled malevolently at Angelo, who'd positioned himself safely behind an equally afraid Broots. "I take it, It's here because you've seen the DSA...?"

  "Jarod doesn't know where Gemini is, Lyle." Sydney stepped forward, a mildly threatening gesture that was prevented from amounting to anything serious by Miss Parker's well-placed arm, a strategical move designed specifically to block his path.

  She smiled at Lyle, a smile that showed no particular emotion or intention, but in turn said more than words ever could, "But he knows exactly how to find him..."

  Lyle grinned, "My point precisely."

  "And you want my help in obtaining that information?" Parker crossed her arms gently, lifting an eyebrow in her twin's direction.

  "Well, you're not just a pretty face..."

  Parker decided to ignore that comment, instead feigning indifference akin to that of which Jarod had demonstrated towards her earlier, "I already know what's in it for you, what's in it for us?" She could be one hell of an actress when she so chose.

  Lyle matched his sister's stance, a rare show of equivalence rather than condescendence, "If we have them both in our possession, whatever you want..."

  "...And ‘them,' what happens to Jarod and the clone...?"

  Lyle gestured towards Sydney, "The pretender program resumes and given that our star captives cooperate, life at the Centre goes back to the good old days..."

  "And if Gemini can't be found?" Sydney stepped passed Miss Parker, no longer able to hold his silence.

  Lyle smiled, "Jarod remains as he is. Stuck in Limbo without a shoulder to cry on."

  Miss Parker nodded her head thoughtfully, "We're in."

  Lyle grinned at Sydney, whose anger was visibly building by the second. Even Broots had to admit that Sydney's usual stoically resolute appearance had been replaced by a look of anger and umbrage.

  As he turned to leave, Parker added a condition to their agreement, "...But you say nothing about Zoë to Jarod ever again... Cox and Raines included..."

  Lyle's ears rose with the smile on his face as he continued out, "It's a deal... But only you have clearance to see Jarod... The circus stays put."

  Sydney watched furiously as Parker closed her office doors behind her twin, leaning against the heavy wood to ensure they got no more surprise visits, "We've got a clone to catch."

  "Jarod will never forgive you Parker..." Sydney's eyes had turned somber, his words spoken flatly.

  She sighed in return, "He won't have to."

  Broots's jaw fell open, "But you just agreed to turn Gemini in..."

  "That's what Franken-sibling believes."

  "So we're not going to turn Gemini in...?" Broots was confused. Lost completely amongst Parker's sudden twists and turns.

  "Gemini already knows. The kid's a genius for crying out loud... I just bought myself a few hours to try and work out just which masochistic scumbag around here, is hell-bent on turning me into their little pawn."

  Broots nodded in understanding, despite the fact that he clearly didn't follow, "...So where does Gemini fit in...?"

  Miss Parker shrugged her shoulders, "With a bit of luck the major's taken Jarod's family underground."

  Sydney watched her out of the corner of his eye, "You've crossed a dangerous line Parker..."

  "That line was crossed for me days ago. I'm just blurring the boundaries."

  "And how do you propose that you find tout who is behind this, given that secrets around here are guarded with lives...?" He placed his hands in his pocket, a poor attempt at disguising the depths of his concern.

  "I figured I'd start with the resident evil, work my way back from there."

  "You're going after your father?" Broots whispered, leaving Angelo's side for the first time since Lyle's unscheduled appearance.

  Parker grinned, "Daddy's always had a habit of showing up at pivotal moments in Centre history and I don't know about you, but I can't imagine anyone else with more to hide than everyone's favourite cradle-snatching, skydiving, scroll stealing..."

  Sydney sighed, "Mr Parker isn't known for his disclosure. What makes you think that he'll give you anything other than more questions?"

  "Exactly why I got Lyle off my case Pavlov. I need time to work that one out." She stepped aside and opened her office doors, "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to find out how we get Megan, to give up Morag."

  Broots motioned toward the open doors looking to Sydney for an explanation.

  "...Miss Parker was referring to Jarod and Gemini as a pair of sheep..." Sydney replied impassively.

  "Oh."  Broots led the way out of Miss Parker's office, followed closely by Sydney and Angelo. He may not have gotten the sheep reference but he was the first to get the hint to leave. Besides, he for one did not want to be around for the showdown between the chairman and his daughter... or niece...

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