Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Pretender characters they belong to others and no money was involved and no infringement is intended. I am just having a little fun.

Authors note: The title is borrowed from a song from Jewel's Spirit CD. The words from the refrain struck a cord, and Staind gave me inspiration. This is my first fan fiction so much constructive feedback would be greatly appreciated.





Life Uncommon
Part I
By Callisto



With one arm tucked under her head and the other hand resting on her stomach, she contemplated her life. As she lie on the soft, thick grass staring up at the clear blue sky, perfect save a few white clouds, she thought about how hard she had tried to please her father. She had stopped torturing herself by trying to consider that wheezing, amoral walking corpse as a possible candidate for her paternal parent. No, the lying, scheming, cold-hearted man she had referred to as Daddy all her life was still to her mind, the only person she would ever consider her father. She had given up so much, had let so many pieces of herself be eaten away by bad choices, undue pressure and an obsessive desire to measure up to standards so debased and corrupt that her efforts had turned her into a moral contortionist.

A deep sigh of relief escaped her lips as she thought about the last straw that had been piled on top of a haystack that stood at least a mile high. 'Freedom, that's what this is, yes Jarod, it truly is sweet.'

She crossed her legs and completely relaxed her body while listening to the birds in the tree she was resting under. The past continued to seep into her thoughts; images of Jarod and herself as children, her sadness at being sent away to boarding school, rare, quality times spent alone with her father, graduating from her classical education a few years earlier than usual. She briefly closed her eyes remembering her mother's advice to hide her intelligence, to conceal the truth of how easy learning was, and how much school completely bored her. Centre training was more of a challenge; she quickly realized the wisdom of her mother's advice and heeded her father's strictures of never showing her emotions and developing a convincing facade to show the world. There had been so many barely hidden shadows waiting for her to slip up, make a mistake so they could mold her into a lab rat on a sub par of Jarod.

Forcing aside her depressing thoughts, she reminded herself that she just recently managed to step out of the darkness that her life had become. She reluctantly sat up from her comfortable position in the grass. Briefly surveying the large enclosed yard she found the small figure she was searching for, trying to hide behind a small bush in the corner of the yard. A huge, rare smile lightened her face as she tilted her head to one side and looked at the love of her life.

The little boy, seeing the smile on his mother's face, began to giggle. Unable to restrain himself any longer, he ran up to her as fast as he could, throwing himself into her arms with unabashed pleasure. He was immediately enveloped into a welcome embrace, full of love and peace. He snuggled further into her body enjoying her scent and the softness of her hair. Hearing her gentle, deep laughter, he breathed a contented sigh as she nimbly raised both of them from the ground and walked into the large house with him still in her arms.








The Centre
Blue Cove, DE


"This is Sydney."

"I always told you that I would never give up searching for my family." Jarod began without preamble.

"And I believed you. Has anything changed to redirect your focus?"

"No, but now that I'm closer than I ever have been to completing my dream, there is a touch of sadness to finally ending this journey. It's as though once I reach my journey's end, I will loose something important, vital even. It feels like I'm forgetting something."

"You won't be forgetting anything but you will be letting go. Tell me, once you find your mother Jarod, will you continue with your pretends?"

"I haven't given it much thought. There is still so much to do. Quite frankly, I'm tired of the chase, I want to settle down now and enjoy having my family around me." Exhaustion was creeping into the Pretender's voice. "No more clues and no more games."

"I confess that I'm not surprised to hear that. I was starting to wonder how much longer it would take for you to grow weary of the chase. Unfortunately there are some still here that will be extremely disappointed if you should stop leaving behind clues."

"So how is Miss Parker these days? How is she adjusting to the recent expansion of her family tree?" Jarod concealed his worry for her with sarcasm.

"Funny you should ask about her. I was referring to Lyle and Raines. I thought you already knew about Miss Parker's situation." The psychiatrist replied with a bemused tone of voice.

"Sydney, I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't talked to her since our return from Carthis. Has something happened to her?" Concern for her well being now clearly showing in his voice. Since they're last conversation and her stubborn adherence to the status quo he felt it wise to steer clear of Miss Parker, she had enough on her plate. Even though he could sympathize with all the nasty revelations she had to contend with, as well as having Raines as her new boss and possible father, her last rejection still stung a bit.

"There have been a number of changes going on here in the past six months, Jarod; most notable is Miss Parker's disappearance. About 2 months after they returned from Africa, she simply vanished. A letter had been slipped into my letterbox the night she left, in it Miss Parker wrote for me not to expect her to ever return to work. She said she was tired of the chase and she had absolutely no intention of capturing you, and turning you over to her brother and Mr. Raines knowing full well what would happen to you. She asked me not to worry and that she was taking Master Parker with her in case anyone bothered to ask. No one has seen or heard from her since. Mr. Raines has redirected the search from you to her. It is the prevailing belief that you helped her disappear and that perhaps the two of you are still together. Rumor also has it that she left a rather abrasive e-mail for Mr. Lyle." It was clear in Sydney's voice that he was both amused and proud of Miss Parker's actions.

"I was just about to give up hope that she would ever break free from her prison there. I'm proud of her too Sydney, I was afraid that the discovery of her family history would destroy her. It seems I have underestimated her, but Sydney I didn't help her disappear this is the first I have heard of it." A note of wonderment was in his voice. After a short pause he continued,
"how are you holding up Sydney? Were there any repercussions for you?"

"I'm holding my own so far. Miss Parker knew I wouldn't leave, that I couldn't leave Angelo on his own here. Broots took Miss Parker's departure fairly well, better than I anticipated. He never said but I am certain that Parker left a farewell message for him and Debbie. Especially since Broots also disappeared with his daughter about 2 months after she left. He copied Parker's tactics but instead of leaving me a note, he dropped by my house in person to tell me that he was leaving. Apparently Parker had set up her own style of "retirement plan" for him, complete with new identities, new home and a generous bank account. The whole affair was ingenious and very carefully laid out. In the end, she was very good to Broots," Sydney said wistfully.

"You sound as if you miss them both very much. Are you ever going to leave, Sydney?"

"Not while I'm still needed here. There are still a few disenfranchised souls who need someone to look out for them. I must admit though that I miss Parker's scathing sense of humor. Broots' nagging nervousness was her perfect foil. She always felt he was more of a brother to her than Lyle could ever be, and poor Broots had such a crush on her."

"Don't wait too long to leave, and Sydney, stay safe."

The line was abruptly disconnected. The new tech that replaced Broots had been working feverishly to establish a trace while Sydney talked to the Pretender but finally gave up when the signal bounced from one end of the world to the other. He shook his head in defeat when Sydney looked over at him. With a gentle chuckle, Sydney placed a sympathetic hand on the tech's shoulder.
"Jarod discovered Radio Shack several years ago."



Providence, RI

Jarod sat quietly in the cozy family room, deep in thought from his conversation with Sydney. He didn't acknowledge the other presence in the room until a soft inquiry broke his train of thought.

"Why did you tell him that you hadn't found your family?"

Turning to face his companion, Jarod smiled and answered. "Sydney taught me a long time ago that misdirection is sometimes the best if not the oldest strategy. He didn't need to know that I have finally found my family and whoever else was listening didn't need to know either."

"Then was it because you didn't trust him or that you suspected your phone call was being monitored?"

"With the Centre one should always expect that every conversation is being monitored. They are well aware that your mother told me you would be instrumental in finding my mother. This way, they aren't sure if I have found you or if I am close to finding my mother on my own."

When shouts of laughter erupted from the kitchen, both men smiled at the sound. They sat in companionable silence each momentarily lost in their own thoughts.

"I would have never found my mother if it wasn't for your help, Ethan, your gift is truly amazing. You seem to be adjusting to it very well as of late. Are the headaches still bothering you?"

"I still have the headaches, but they're not as severe as they were before, with Mr. Raines. Um, Jarod there is something I want to talk to you about." Ethan paused as he gathered his thoughts and courage to say aloud what he had planned. "I'm glad the voices led me to your mother. Reuniting you with the rest of your family made me feel something I never have before. Meeting my real father and being a part of this family has been beyond anything I could have imagined."

"I sense there is a "but" coming. Ethan tell me what's bothering you, you know I'll help if I can," Jarod answered after his brother's second hesitant pause.

"It's the voices, her voice in particular. Jarod, I need to leave, I need to find my sister, my other sister. I know that this family is just about all that I really need but I feel incomplete without her. I hope you'll understand, it's not that I'm unhappy or discontent...it just feels like I'm missing something, someone and the voices are saying it's her, my sister," Ethan finished, unhappy with his less than fluent explanation.

Jarod was silent for a moment as he quietly studied his brother. He understood what Ethan was going through and had said as much to Sydney only a few minutes ago. He considered what he would say next carefully.

"Do you feel Miss Parker is in some kind of danger, like before?"

"No...I don't believe she is in any danger, but I have to see her. I have a feeling that she needs me, almost as much as I need her. She's my family too." Ethan rose from his seat and started pacing as if to burn off some pent-up energy.

"I understand. According to Sydney, Miss Parker left the Centre several months ago. They have a large group of computer technicians working on trying to locate her, but so far they have been unsuccessful. I could start searching myself but I wouldn't want any of my inquiries to attract their attention and possibly lead back to her. Do you have any idea on where to start your search?"

"No, not really but I wanted to talk to you first, to make sure you understood my motives for looking for her before I begin. The voices will lead me in the right direction once I get started. I'll need your help in explaining this to everyone. I don't know how long I will be away but I promise to keep in touch." Ethan breathed a sigh of relief knowing he had Jarod's support.

Studying his brother's face, Jarod made a quick decision. "Well, I think this little road trip will prove to be very interesting. I hope you don't actually think that you're going alone on this adventure. You're my brother, and we are going to do this together. I know you can do it on your own, but your sister worked for the Centre all her adult life. Until we're sure it's safe, I'm not letting you anywhere near her, for your safety as well as for hers," Jarod said smiling at the shocked expression on Ethan's face. Breaking into a delighted laugh he continued, "besides, I would love to see the expression on Parker's face when we show up on her doorstep."

"You really like annoying her don't you?" An intrigued look settled in Ethan's face, as another idea popped into his mind.

"It's an acquired taste. There are a few things that I think Parker should know, mostly what my mother had to say about her relationship with Catherine Parker and the things they discovered together." Jarod paused reflecting on the information his mother had shared with him. Mentally shaking himself from his reverie Jarod caught Ethan watching him.

"Okay little brother, let's go tell our slightly over-protective family that we're taking a road trip to find an ex-Centre operative."







Outside Cedar Rapids, IA


Oliver waved happily to her as she waited patiently for him to gather his things. She always marveled at how well he was adapting to their new life. Over six months ago he was at the Centre, his future was bleak. As far as she knew, she was the only person, besides his nanny who ever spent any time with him. When he was alive her father barely acknowledged the boy's existence and seemed to avoid the child. Of course now she thought she knew the reason behind that, it was almost a certainty that the boy was not his natural child. Just another life to be experimented on, tortured and thrown away when the corrupt powers that be in the Centre grew tired or bored.

Looking at him now playing with the other children, she could detect the shadow that always used to cloud his features slowly fade away. She didn't care about his paternity, any more than she cared about her own. That whole mess was better left behind them. A putrid grave of secrets best left buried.

Just as she was completing that last thought a voice, quiet and insistent started whispering in her head. She hadn't been bothered with the voices since she left the Centre, now they were starting up again. She was starting to become alarmed that perhaps the voices were trying to warn her that the Centre had caught up with them when one voice separated from the others and made itself intelligible. "He's coming to you. He needs you."
'What the hell is that supposed to mean?'

Before she had a chance to concentrate further on what the voice was saying, Oliver ran into her legs and started tugging on her pants.

"Mommy, look what I made for you." His voice was clear and sweet as he looked up at her adoringly.

Gingerly removing the small square of construction paper from his fingers, she looked at Oliver's rendition of the two of them standing next to a very large tree. Smiling proudly at his artwork, she began to praise the picture as she led him to the car. All thoughts of the Centre and the voices momentarily faded from the forefront of her mind.




The Centre
Blue Cove, DE


Raines was having difficulty keeping his temper in check. The project he had helped spearhead, begged the Triumvirate to bring into fruition and honed into a viable reality was well on its way to an early, unceremonious death. All the work and planning was being derailed by old deceptions that were returning to haunt him. He realized that he had become too complacent with his sudden rise to power. He had given Miss Parker too much freedom; too many areas in her life went unmonitored. Now with her absence and continued success in avoiding detection, the next step to solidify the Centre's power and the chance to prove his own scientific prowess was in jeopardy.

He was now getting anxious and vaguely threatening phone calls from Triumvirate lackeys wanting progress reports. There was no way he could explain to them why the project was in its current state of limbo. It all started with Catherine Parker. Parker had let the woman have too much influence on her child. He was certain that Miss Parker had always possessed promising abilities that had been concealed. Miss Parker's initial testing had been handled by doctors under Catherine's influence; now holding some of those recently discovered results in his hand the rage he had been suppressing was in danger of erupting. He took a long, deep cleansing breath from his portable oxygen supply and slowly let it out, regaining control. He would regain the upper hand, a small ghastly smile formed on his lips as a plan for action began to take shape in his mind.




Somewhere in Pennsylvania


The road trip was for the most part uneventful, making the journey even more enjoyable. Jarod was having a blast hanging out with his younger brother. Ethan was great company and seeing him utilize his gift to hunt down his sister's whereabouts was like watching a bloodhound sniff out a fugitive. Jarod shivered at the thought that Miss Parker shared this gift with her brother, if she had discovered earlier how to use her gift, he would have long ago been shut away in some dark, lonely cell.

Dismissing the unpleasant thoughts from his mind, Jarod grabbed a package of chips and started snacking on them while he continued west on the interstate in their classic convertible. Ethan was relaxing against the headrest on the seat next to Jarod, his eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep. Jarod was tempted to turn down the car radio, but decided against it, the sudden cessation of the music would probably wake him.

Deep in thought, Ethan opened his eyes to the brilliant sunlight, taking in the passing landscape. "She knows I'm looking for her. The voices would have warned her."

"If she knows it's you that is looking for her, then she'll wait around to see you. Don't worry, I doubt Parker will run away."

"That's just it, I'm not sure if she has developed a way to communicate with the voices. Her gift is slightly different than mine; she hears the voices but not to the same extent that I do. She has premonitions, that's something I don't have."

Jarod asked, trying to redirect Ethan's thoughts from his worries, "how do you know she has premonitions?"

"She told me when I rescued her from the rubble of Tommy Thompson's office. She said she saw our mother, walking towards her in the debris and telling her to ask her father about the secrets, that he knew all the secrets."

"Well, while we were stranded on Carthis there were a number of secrets that we discovered. I think its safe to say that Miss Parker has had her fill of secrets."

A sly smile appeared on Ethan's face. "It'll be nice to have both my brother and sister together, I hope you two can get along with each other."

Jarod noticed the smile and wondered what was going on. He had a feeling that Ethan wasn't sharing everything the voices in his head were telling him. Shrugging Jarod decided to let it go, he felt confident that he would find out eventually what Ethan was smiling about. Right now he was more concerned about putting some more westbound miles on the odometer, then finding a motel where they could crash for the night and watching Ethan do his thing with the candle. A rumble from his stomach reminded Jarod that getting some solid food was something that needed to be included in the agenda.

After being comfortably settled in their motel room, Jarod and Ethan were relaxing after their meal. There was an easy silence between them. Neither felt the need to fill the silence with words; they just enjoyed each other's company. After several minutes, Ethan got up and started rummaging through his duffel bag. He pulled out a fresh candle and some matches. As he set up the items on the table, he turned to Jarod and asked him about the Centre, what was it like living there.

"It was always dark, the hallways seemed to be endless. For most of my life, I didn't know anything different. I wasn't allowed to go outside, I rarely saw the sun. My entire existance was dictated by expanding my genius. Honing my pretender skills was more important than personal relationships. Being away from that hell has been liberating, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. I've learned to understand people in a more visceral way, my time away from the Centre has expanded my mind and challenged me farther than they could have ever managed," Jarod answered taking Ethan's question to heart.

"Mr. Raines wanted to take me there. He made it sound so safe and desirable and he promised that the voices wouldn't plague me as they used to. I get the impression that the Centre is a place that's hard to leave, even when you succeed in physically separating yourself from it. Do you think it's because you lived there so long that it stays with you or is there something else, something more sinister?" Ethan asked with interest.

Bitterness was in Jarod's voice as he answered. The usual easygoing gleam was replaced by an angry glare. "Sinister is the correct word to describe the Centre. I was their most successful pretender, the crown jewel, or so I was lead to believe. Whenever Raines came around, a new experiment using me as the primary guinea pig was sure to follow, whatever new drug was available that had the remotest possibility of expanding my mind was used on me. There was one time when Raines and Lyle stopped my heart in the hopes their experimental drug would revive me. If I died, then 'oh well guess that didn't work' was the prevailing attitude. It was horrible, I was no more than a pawn to see who could out do the other in vicious, amoral science."

"I'm sorry he put you through that. Look, I shouldn't have brought it up, I'll just finish setting this stuff up and get started on figuring out where my sister is living," Ethan said quickly, he was seeing the darker side of Jarod, but instead of being alarmed he felt only a weighty sadness. He watched Jarod from the corner of his eye as his older brother brooded about the monsters from his past.



Parker's residence
Outside Cedar Rapids, IA


Parker exited her SUV with her arms loaded down with groceries. She still had an hour or so before she had to pick up Oliver from daycare. Lying about his age turned out to be necessary, he was extremely clever for his age and no one would believe that a 2 1/2 year old would be capable of doing the things he could do. She hurried into the large house and sat her purchases on one of the counters. Returning to the vehicle she extracted a large bundle that was encased in a white plastic bag. She walked across her lawn to the neighboring house about a hundred yards away carefully balancing the parcel.

The ranch style house was similar to her home. It was large and had 2 stories, the front lawn was neatly kept and the rose bushes that lined the walk had been recently tended. She waited patiently for the elderly woman who lived there to respond to her knock. Patience, now that was a virtue she thought had deserted her long ago. Once away from the Centre's pervasive influence she noticed that gradually she was rediscovering certain attributes to her own personality.

'I wonder if Jarod felt this way too.' He was popping up often in her thoughts. She decided not to dwell on the subject of Jarod too long, and hearing the scrape of a deadbolt being thrown clear rewarded her patience. The door opened slowly and a neatly dressed elderly woman cautiously peeked out. Her almond shaped eyes squinted at the glare of the post afternoon sun and a sparkle lightened them when she saw whom her visitor was. The door was closed again briefly and then opened wider to admit the guest. The elderly woman began chattering away happily in Japanese as she bowed slightly to her young guest.

Miss Parker returned the cordial greeting with a wide grin of her own and answered the elderly woman in the same language. Removing her shoes, Parker crossed the threshold and bowed respectfully to her hostess.

In flawless Japanese Parker said, "I've brought you something from the restaurant. I haven't had a chance to come by as often as I usually do because the re-opening was a bit more work than I anticipated."

The elderly woman answered, "I am honored that you remember a useless, old lady. Please make yourself comfortable and tell me about you day. What have you been doing with yourself and how is that fine son of yours?"

"I think he grows a foot taller each day. He's so active, just trying to keep up with him is more of a challenge than an aerobics class. Would you like me to put this food in the kitchen for you?"

A short pause of uncertainty crossed the old lady's face. In her younger years, she would have never countenanced a stranger helping her in this way. But times have changed, most of her family was either dead or indifferent and the visits from her young neighbor were fast becoming the highlights of a usually uneventful week. No one else in the neighborhood knew how to speak Japanese and when her husband died, Mrs. Kanimoto had no one who could help her. The fortunate encounter in the grocery store with this young woman saved the elderly lady from a frustrating misunderstanding. The young woman's unselfish help was like the brilliant sun revealing itself on an otherwise overcast day.

Seeing her neighbor pause, Parker smiled again kindly and again bowing her head slightly slowly made her way to the kitchen. She occasionally helped put away Mrs. Kanimoto's groceries and didn't mind stowing this dinner in the fridge for her. When she returned, the old lady had a complete tea service laid out.

Using Parker's pseudonym she asked, "would you like to have a cup of tea, Ms. Ogilvie?"

They spent a half hour chatting companionably, most of the information being disseminated on Parker's part, relating to her restaurant's re-opening and her daily routines.

"You are so very kind to spend so much time keeping me company. You should remarry, you are a beautiful girl and should have your pick of husbands."

Genuine laughter answered Mrs. Kanimoto's statement. "I like spending time with you, and if you knew me better you wouldn't be puzzled about my lack of husband. There was someone once but he died." A brief shadow crossed her brow and the sadness that was constantly in her eyes, deepened.

"Yes, I know the sadness of loosing a loved one. But you are young, and your life is still ahead of you, please don't make the mistake of living your life alone. You have so much kindness in your heart that it should be shared with someone." Watching a stubborn resistance cross the younger woman's face she quickly continued, "enough of my pestering, I was your age once and I hated it when others claimed to know what was best for me. I'll only say this, you have the perfect temperament to be a wife and mother." Smiling at her own audaciousness, Mrs. Kanimoto looked satisfied as her young neighbor rolled her eyes indulgently.

"Well, I have to go pick up Oliver from daycare. Would you like us to visit you later?"

"Yes, please. I would love to see him, his exuberance is as contagious as it is exhausting." Mrs. Kanimoto laughed in response.



2 weeks later
Outside Cedar Rapids, IA


"This is the second day that she's been to this restaurant. It must be where she works, cause she spends most of the day there. This surveillance is making me a bit nervous. This is just a small suburb, not a lot of places to spy on someone without anyone noticing." Ethan said as he peered around to see if they had aroused anyone's curiosity.

"Yeah, I agree. Let's just keep this up for one more day before we approach her, just to be on the safe side," Jarod answered absently as he adjusted the binoculars for a better view.

"Do you have any idea who's that kid she has with her all the time?"

"Sydney said that she took Master Parker with her when she left. It's got to be him."

Peering through the binoculars he took from Jarod, Ethan remarked, "she looks different than the last time I saw her, more relaxed and happier. Seems like time away from the Centre has been beneficial to her as well. I can't wait to talk to her again."

"I wonder what made her finally take that last step. Something had to have pushed her she was too firmly entrenched in a rut. Besides, this scenario of hers took some time to set-up, I wonder how long had she planned to make the final break from the Centre."

"Well, if we walk up to her today, then maybe she'll give us the answers to those questions," Ethan said hopefully.

"Patience, tomorrow is the weekend, so her schedule should change slightly. Let's just keep an eye on her for one more day before approaching her. At least it appears that the Centre is still in the dark about her current location."


*The next day*

Parker exited the SUV and unstrapped Oliver from his car seat. She had a picnic basket on the sidewalk next to her with all the provisions they needed for their outing. As she lifted the toddler from the confines of his car seat the voices started whispering to her again. "He's here to see you. He's here."
'I wonder who they are talking about. Well since I haven't gotten the message to leave, I'll just wait till "he" approaches me.'

Shifting the child to her hip, she made her way into the park and settled with the basket under a large tree near some playground equipment. Releasing Oliver so he could stretch his legs under her watchful eye, she spread the blanket that was tucked into basket close to the exposed roots of the tree. The sun was still bright but was starting its slow descent in the late afternoon sky. This was her favorite time of day, when the sun was still in the sky but light shadows offered relief from the heat of the sun. A light breeze ruffled her hair as she plopped ungracefully onto the blanket.

Oliver was playing with a ball he carried from the car as Parker relaxed gratefully against the tree trunk. After an hour of playing with the ball and running around frantically from one piece of playground equipment to the next, Oliver finally agreed to have a bite of lunch. They munched on homemade sandwiches and talked quietly to each other. Oliver, sitting on his mother's lap started to play with her hair. She allowed her thick tresses to grow longer than usual and was acutely aware of how much she resembled her mother. Oliver surprised her with a kiss and they played kissy face for a few minutes before she decided to return home. The day in the park was peaceful, except for the constant chattering of the voices in her head.

As she finished repacking the picnic basket and replacing items Oliver kept removing, she slammed the lid shut and straightened up. It was then she felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise up. She took a long careful look around. She spotted a black convertible on the far side of the park; there was no one around it. She had seen the vehicle several times in the past week but always there was no one in it. She attempted to reach out with her mind, trying to determine if there was any danger. Still there was nothing but a feeling of calm; back at the Centre just before she left, she had gotten the constant feeling of danger and when the warning chatter became too loud to ignore, she heeded her internal alarms and left as soon as possible. Still feeling slightly uneasy, she picked up both child and basket and returned to her vehicle.


"She knows I'm here, I'm going to talk to her," said Ethan with a note of finality to his voice.

"Okay, but at least wait till she gets home. Then we can walk up to the door and I won't have to worry about her feeling it necessary to pull a 9mm on me." Jarod conceded.

"You two have an interesting relationship. You have to explain it to me sometime, I have a feeling it will be an absorbing story."

"It's complicated. I think it's become a habit for her to pull a gun on me whenever she sees me. It's not exactly the most pleasant experience."


Once she was home the persistent feeling of being watched continued as she retrieved the picnic basket out of the SUV. Looking around again, she noted that the black convertible was nowhere around. Releasing a tense sigh, she entered the house and closed the heavy front door with a thud.

She had just settled Oliver in front of the TV with a Sesame Street video and was starting to prepare their dinner when there was a knock at the front door. She froze; knowing that whoever had been watching her for the past several days was now at the door and ready to make their presence known. She briefly considered getting her 9mm out but again was greeted with a feeling of calm, as though there was no danger waiting for her at the door. Another knock sounded and Oliver in his child's voice piped up loudly, "Mommy, someone's at the door!!"

Noting wryly that Oliver hadn't unglued his eyes from the TV set she said, "Okay, thank you", and answered the door. She was shocked at who she found waiting there. As she stared at him, a wide range of emotions was running through her. She bit her lip and then relaxed revealing her usually suppressed emotions and allowed an impossibly large grin to grace her features.

"My God, Ethan!!! What are you doing here?? You look great!!" She then did something completely out of character; she threw her arms around his neck and almost squeezed the life out of her younger brother.

"Hi, Miss Parker", was all a surprised Ethan could choke out shyly. He wrapped his arms around her slim waist and lightly returned her squeeze.

Joyful tears started to prick her eyes, and the siblings remained in the embrace until Ethan, who was unable to hold his breath any longer started lightly tapping her on the shoulder. She immediately released him, and seeing the color slowly return to his face, she laughed apologetically, grabbed one of his hands and dragged him into the house.

She was about to close the door again, when Ethan stopped her with, "I didn't come alone. Hey, where are you?" Ethan grinning poked his head around the open doorway and spotted Jarod who was sporting a wide grin of his own.

"Who are you talking to?" Miss Parker asked as she leaned around her brother and finally saw Jarod standing on her porch wearing his usual smirk. Parker's eyes widened at the sight and she almost fell out of the doorway in her surprise. Jarod wasn't disappointed by her reaction and started laughing heartily at her expression.

Parker having quickly regained her composure, looked from one man to the other and asked, "what's going on? Jarod, what are you doing here?" Wonder and disbelief laced her words.

"Let's go inside, and we'll answer your questions. I hope you don't mind that I brought Jarod along?" Ethan asked anxiously.

"Um...yeah, it's okay. I'm just surprised to see you here. How did you find me?" Parker asked shaking her head in wonder, and leading them further into the house.

"I needed to see you again and the voices led us here." Ethan responded as he took a quick look around the dining room. The home was very comfortable and welcoming. Every piece of furniture seemed to have been thoughtfully chosen, not for ostentation but for the sole purpose of offering comfort and ease.

"I'm sorry, I almost choked you to death. Would you like something to drink?"

Ethan smiled at his sister. "Yes, that would be nice."

"Mommy, who are they?" A small voice asked, hiding shyly behind his mother's legs.

"Oliver, this is my brother Ethan, that would make him your uncle. And this is Jarod, I've known him for a very long time, he's Ethan's brother too." She lifted Oliver to her hip and smiled at him proudly.

"How do you do?" said the child very politely to both men.

"How are you, Oliver?" Jarod said good-naturedly.

The boy smiled bashfully then tucked his face into his mother's hair to hide. Parker hugged him and smiling told them to make themselves comfortable while she got the drinks. She returned a few minutes later with a pitcher of lemonade and glasses on a silver tray, and silently served them. Both men watched every move she made, the grace that exuded from her every movement, caught their attention.

"Are you two on your way to somewhere else, a pretend? How long will you be in town?"

Ethan quickly interjected before Jarod had a chance to answer. "We were planning on staying for a while if that's okay with you. Do you know of a motel nearby where we can stay?" Ethan asked ignoring the fact that they were currently staying in a motel in the nearby town.

"Oh, well you can stay here with me and Oliver if you like. The house is very large and I have a guest bedroom upstairs, you both can stay as long as you like."

"That would be great! Are you sure it wouldn't be too inconvenient for you to have both of us here?"

Parker replied with a smile. "No, not at all. One of you could use the upstairs guest bedroom, and I have a sofa bed in the den." She was surreptitiously watching Jarod's reactions and concluded that this arrangement was exactly what her brother had intended. Ethan settled back contentedly in his chair and sipped at the lemonade.

"Well then that's all settled and since you'll both be staying with us for awhile, then you're just going to have to suffer with my cooking." Miss Parker said brightly barely concealing her laughter as she took in the pained, disbelieving expression on Jarod's face.



The Centre
Blue Cove, DE

"Yes, I understand completely. I have a plan that will insure the return of Miss Parker to the Centre." Raines rasped into the phone. He paused as he listened to the unhappy, demanding voice on the other end of the line.

"I agree there is no need to cancel Progeny. Of course I can't guarantee the success of my plan but I have reason to believe that it is almost foolproof." A longer pause followed.

"Yes, you have my complete and total cooperation. Thank y--." Raines briefly frowned at the phone in his hand before replacing the receiver on its cradle.

Looking up, he saw Mr. Lyle relaxing cheerfully in a chair across from his desk. A small malicious smile touched his lips. "What, the Triumvirate lackey didn't let you finish your sentence?"

"There seems to be another player at the table. Another plan to retrieve your sister has been introduced and your help is needed to implement it." Raines paused to suck in a long, greedy breath of air from his oxygen tank. "Contact Mr. White and inform him that his services will be needed."

"What about your plan to use my sister's attachment to Sydney?" Lyle asked, hoping that plan wasn't going to be abandoned.

"That has been left on the back burner for now as a failsafe in case your inability to get satisfactory results should continue. The search for Major Charles and the boy has been reestablished. The Triumvirate seems to feel that Jarod is instrumental in your sister's continued success in eluding our attempts to reacquire her. If that is the case, then holding Jarod's family hostage would have numerous benefits."

"I'll contact Mr. White immediately and give him his new instructions. Is there a specific timetable on this operation?"

"The sooner the better Mr. Lyle," Raines growled satisfied at the slight discomfiture he caused in Lyle.

Lyle gave a curt nod of assent and quickly retreated from the chairman's office, vastly relieved to be away from that soulless stare.



Parker's residence
Outside Cedar Rapids


After bathing and putting Oliver to bed for the night, Parker returned downstairs to her guests.
She thought about having both Ethan and Jarod show up unexpectedly on her doorstep and wondered if there was a chance the Centre had somehow followed them. She immediately dismissed that idea knowing the voices which had become her internal alarm system would have been sounding loud and clear if that were the case. Spotting them both reclining contentedly on the couch, she joined them and seated herself in one of the chairs opposite.

The room was large and comfortably appointed with attractive and obviously expensive furniture. There was a large wood-burning fireplace. The bottom half of the walls were lined with dark wood paneling that matched the hardwood floors, the top half of the walls contrasted pleasingly. Large, expensive looking rugs protected the floor in strategic spots and there were several pictures that were obviously drawn by a child framed and hung tastefully throughout the room.

Jarod said with a teasing glint in his eye, "Miss Parker, that meal was exceptional, I didn't know you could cook so well."

Miss Parker replied in the same tone. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me Jarod. Tell me, have you had any success in finding your family?"

"As a matter of fact, yes. With Ethan's help, my family is all back together again. There are a few things I would like to discuss with you, things my mother told me about her relationship with your mother."

"I would like that, but perhaps tomorrow would be better. Right now, I'm pretty tired. I usually get up early because of Oliver," she replied but she didn't look a bit tired to Jarod.

He couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. "I do have one question for you though, before you turn in for the night. What made you finally make the break with the Centre?"

Miss Parker moved towards the liquor cabinet. "I think I need a drink before I answer that one, would either of you like something?" Receiving two negative gestures she poured herself a small drink. Returning to her seat she answered Jarod's question.

"Almost immediately after I returned from Africa with Lyle and Raines it became patently clear that I wouldn't be able to work with and for them. I gave Broots a rather difficult assignment that required his genius with computers and started to finalize my plans for getting out.

"I knew that I had to make sure everyone close to me would also have the means to leave. You see I had already set up this and two other places for myself, complete with alternate identities and bank accounts. I started all this when I worked security for Corporate. Well to make a long story short, since I had Broots on his special assignment, it was left to me to start finalizing plans for his and Debbie's new identities, something I originally started setting up shortly after Brigitte made her attempt on Daddy's life.

"Broots came up to me one day and showed me a file he found hidden in the Centre's mainframe about a project that Raines was starting up. It was an old project, but for some unknown reason it had just recently been approved. When I finished reading the file, I knew that I had run out of time. I had to leave immediately. Broots was so freaked-out he suddenly grew a pair, and refused to let me return to my office. He handed me his car keys and told me leave right there and then. We were talking at one of the outer concourse areas so our conversation couldn't be overheard. I took his advice and left. I haven't looked back. Fortunately by that time I had finished all the retirement plans for my team."

With some trepidation, Ethan asked, "I probably don't want to know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway. What was this project that Mr. Raines was starting?"

Giving her brother a sad smile she continued, "I was supposed to be the major factor in Raines' newest endeavor. The file was called Progeny and it necessitated the removal of all my reproductive eggs. A convenient accident was to be arranged that would put me in a coma, my guess is if I wasn't in a coma from the 'accident' then one would have been induced for me. According to the file, my eggs would've been inseminated with the seed of various other red file candidates in an effort to make several different super-pretenders. I was to be kept alive so that I could carry at least a few of these manufactured babies to term. The date for implementation of this project was the day after Broots showed me the file, thus his insistence that I leave immediately. The incessant warning chatter from the voices in my head wouldn't give me any peace either."

While Parker was giving her explanation she watched the faces of her audience. Jarod had a serious and disgusted expression on his face, while poor Ethan looked like he was going to throw-up the dinner he had just finished enjoying.

Jarod, leaning forward in his seat fixed her with an intense stare, "so that's the reason they shifted the focus of their search from me to you. You have become more important to them. I would just be gravy to them, a stopgap till the babies they wanted were old enough to take over my job. Each child with your ability or a variation of your gift, and the attributes of another red file, this madness was never going to end. I talked to Sydney a couple weeks ago and he told me that Raines had intensified the search for you."

"The Pretender project was a sideline, something Raines cooked up that just happened to be profitable. They wanted to extend that profitability," Ethan said in concurrence to Jarod's statement.

The three refugees of Mr. Raines' experiments adjourned for the night. Each reflected on the day's events and the ramifications of one man's over-weaning ambition.



The next morning Jarod walked slowly through the house. The rest of the downstairs was very much in keeping with the living room he had seen last night while Parker told them her reasons for leaving the Centre. He had been up most of the night thinking about what she had said and briefly considered calling Sydney to warn him of Raines' machinations. Jarod was worried that Raines would possibly resort to using Sydney in an attempt to lure Miss Parker back to the Centre. He changed his mind reasoning that since Raines had no idea of Parker's current whereabouts, it would be useless to do anything to Sydney till Parker could be contacted and any rescue attempt she would try be thwarted and turned against her. Telling Sydney of what Raines had planned for Miss Parker would put him in further danger and probably convince Raines that Sydney had some contact with her.

Shaking his head in disgust, Jarod made his way to the kitchen. He wanted to get a bite to eat before making plans for the day. When he entered a sight greeted him that he never thought he would ever witness. Miss Parker was feeding Oliver pretending that a spoonful of oatmeal was a buzzing airplane. Jarod stilled the swinging kitchen door quietly and watched Parker's behavior in silence. He was taken aback at how natural her actions were. She was comfortable with the child and seemed to deeply care for him. The gentleness in her movements and the way the early morning sun graced and softened her features gave her efforts a unique beauty.

Miss Parker was aware of Jarod's presence the minute he walked through the door, but her budding success in getting an increasingly finicky Oliver to eat the rest of his breakfast held her attention. When she finally got the child to eat the portion on the spoon, she gave up on the rest of the bowl and began rinsing it out in the sink. Without turning around she asked, "Would you like something for breakfast? I have to warn you that I don't have any breakfast junk food," she said smiling as she turned to face Jarod.

Returning her smile, Jarod pushed himself from the wall and walked over to where she was standing. "You've changed. I was surprised to see the way you were with Oliver just now. I recall someone telling me that you were heard to have said and I quote: I don't do Mommy." Jarod tilted his head to one side waiting with interest for her reaction.

Parker gave him a wry smile. "Yes, I recall saying that but I also recall saying there are a lot of things about me that you don't know." Swiftly changing the subject Parker continued in a light manner. "I have fruit, fruit juice, toast and cereal. Anything else you'll have to cook."

"I think I'll have some fruit juice," Jarod replied trying to shake off his unintentional gravity. He didn't want to start a fight or get her angry. He knew he was reacting to his own sudden attraction to her. He retrieved the fruit juice in silence, listening to Parker and Oliver's conversation.

Once she released the boy from his high chair, she started cleaning. Jaord decided now was the right time to tell her some of the things his mother had told him of her relationship with Catherine Parker. Taking a deep breath he began, "Parker, there are some things you should know about our mothers and the past."

Parker visibly flinched, and stared down at her hands distractedly. Before Jarod could continue she stopped him by turning suddenly to face him, "Two things first Jarod. One, please don't call me Parker any longer. I have a new name now, and I would appreciate if you started using it for the duration of your stay. My new last name is Ogilvie. Just about everyone around here calls me by that name but if you prefer you can use my first name-my real first name. Second, I realize that your mother has probably given you a truckload of information about my past. After some of the things we discovered in Scotland, I would also appreciate it if you didn't tell me just yet what your mother has said. I've made a sort of pact with myself concerning my past. What I don't know is fine by me. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that we found out about our connection with Ethan and I'm grateful for even the things we found out on Carthis but I am still dealing with so much dead baggage and any more right now and I'll scream."

Seeing a slightly hurt expression mixed with sorrowful understanding on his face, Parker reached out instinctively and touched Jarod's arm. "Please, don't be hurt. There's enough of that between us to last a lifetime. I just need a little time to distance myself from the horrors we uncovered just in the last year or so. I promise, my curiosity will come roaring back and I will start pestering you for information." Empathy for him was shining in her eyes and they stared at each other for a long moment as a tacit understanding was reached between them. They continued to stare at one another enjoying the unexpected intimacy.

Jarod was the first to break the connection. He felt his emotions starting to stir again and wanted to avoid any possibility of another rejection. The acceptance in her eyes, the complete understanding was making him want more. With a sad smile Jarod replied, "Okay, then Madchen tell me when you're ready and I will be happy to fill you in on what my mother had to say."

Parker nodded at the use of her given name and smiled shyly at Jarod as she left the room. She had been equally affected by what had passed between them in the kitchen. She knew she was attracted to Jarod, but was acutely reminded of their past and her last rejection of his advances. She wanted to growl at herself for her prior stupidity but thankfully recalled that her actions had been based on an accurate assessment of her situation; Daddy had been attentively watching them. Her training required her to stick a gun in his face whenever they met. The evolution of their strange dance of hunter/hunted was something no one could have anticipated, especially Daddy and his minions. Had they known her true feelings towards their prized lab rat, she would have been dumped in an adjoining cell so fast her head would swim. And given Raines' latest pet project she would most likely be fat with Jarod's children before her arse hit the cell floor.



For Ethan, watching his sister's routine up close was unpredictably enjoyable. Her schedule was more unstructured than he had previously thought. Instead of being tied to a fixed work schedule, he soon understood that she owned the restaurant that he and Jarod saw her going into so often. Another pleasant surprise, especially for Jarod, was that she could cook. She was practically a gourmet chef and they both had the joy of tasting her latest experiments.

These last few days had been more tranquil than he could have imagined. Being so close to both his siblings was relaxing and extremely agreeable. The voices continued to chatter to him, but he kept their messages to himself. He decided to wait and see if what they were whispering to him was true. He knew the voices rarely lied to him since he was removed from Raines' influence, but still he felt it prudent not to act on or say anything about their messages.

Jarod and Parker quickly slipped into an easy relationship. They still bantered back and forth but it was light and teasing without any acrimony. Ethan could tell they cared deeply for each other, but also knew they were unaware of this.

Jarod who was carrying a thoroughly entertained Oliver upside down into the backyard interrupted Ethan's thoughts.

"Okay, how would you like me to spin you around like a rocket ship?" Jarod asked the boy.

"Yes, yes, yes!!!" the boy demanded happily.

Jarod easily lifted the small child and holding an arm and a leg, he carefully swung him around. Once the circle had been completed a couple of times, Jarod gathered the laughing child into his arms and placed him on the soft grass. He laughed as Oliver drunkenly attempted to regain his equilibrium.

Turning to Ethan who was watching them while seated with his back propped against the thick tree in the yard Jarod asked, "Hey there, little brother, what's up?" Noticing Ethan's pensive expression.

"Nothing, I was thinking of asking Madchen if she wouldn't mind me taking Oliver to the park this afternoon. I could probably burn off some of that excess energy he seems to always have and give her a bit of a break."

"She would probably be very grateful for that, but I know the real reason behind your generosity," Jarod said smilingly.

"Really, what?" Ethan asked, perplexed that Jarod should have guessed his true intent.

With a conspiratorial glint was in his eye he said, "you're after those devils food sandwiches she makes. I promise not to say a word if you agree to let me have a couple of them before you leave."

Ethan released his tension with a laugh of relief. The last thing he wanted Jarod to know was that he was doing his part as a passive matchmaker for his unrelated siblings by giving them time alone. "Okay, that's a deal."


Miss Parker was in her favorite comfortable position under the tree in her backyard. She was staring up into the blue sky, this time contemplating her present. The recent changes in her life were monopolizing her thoughts. She had thought she would never see her half-brother again. The ecstasy of seeing him was unexpected. Then there was Jarod. Here he was again in the flesh, she had to smile at herself recalling how she had once told him that whenever she stopped looking for him, he always seemed to instantly pop up in her life. This time she had an entirely different battle to contend with, her growing attraction to him. As this thought was being carefully examined she felt his presence behind her on the patio and unconsciously shifted her body deeper in the soft grass.

Jarod had been searching for her in the house when he spotted a figure laying in the grass by the tree in the yard. He walked catlike onto the patio without making a sound. He was contentedly chewing the last of an apple wedge as he watched her. She looked supremely comfortable lying in the grass, when he noticed her slight movement and realized she knew he was standing there. He was on the verge of turning around and leaving her in peace when he changed his mind suddenly. A mischievous notion popped in his head, and said aloud with humor in his voice.

"You look way too comfortable, I can't leave you here without disturbing you at least a little."

He walked over to where Parker lay and joined her in the grass. He breathed a heavy sigh of contentment as he felt the grass cradle his body. She made an amused sound from the back of her throat and continued her inspection of the sky.

"What did you mean when you said you had made retirement plans for your team?" Jarod asked after a few minutes, breaking their comfortable silence.

"Daddy had left me the bulk of his monetary estate in his will along with a few diaries and a letter addressed to me. When I saw the amount of my inheritance I realized that I could provide a fresh start for everyone on my team. Sydney, Broots and Sam were more like friends than colleagues. I wanted to make sure they could leave without feeling they had to buy into that false feeling of security that everything would be okay if they stayed put. Daddy's money helped me do that."

"That was very kind of you. When I talked to Sydney he sounded very proud of you. He misses you very much," Jarod said quietly.

"I miss him too, but I can't contact him. Raines would use him against me to lure me back and that's something I couldn't possibly do," she replied sadly. "I gave Sydney the option of leaving whenever he felt like it. He won't leave Angelo and Dannie alone to be victimized by Raines again.

"He's lucky to have earned your loyalty and trust. I can't imagine you leaving him there too long without eventually pressuring him to leave," Jarod said with emotion.

"I won't," she said cryptically. Wanting to change the subject she rolled over onto her side and leaning on her propped up elbow she asked, "what was it like for you to meet your mother for the first time?"

She watched his face as he told her how Ethan had engineered the meeting with his mother. His face was clear and he looked simply beautiful. His dark eyes expressed his joy in meeting his mother more eloquently than any of his words. His deep voice worked its magic in her brain as she slowly reached over and touched his closely shaven cheek. He stopped talking abruptly and turned his head to look at her. That was all the incentive she needed as she leaned over and kissed his lips.

He was obviously surprised by her behavior but calmly returned the kiss with a gentle insistence. She deepened the kiss by slightly opening her mouth and they continued until they both ran out of breath. Separating they stared at each other mutely. Parker started to smile as she licked her lips seductively and released a deep chuckle. "I guess that solves one mystery. I had wondered what it would be like to kiss you since that time we were on Carthis together. Not bad genius."

"One mystery? I would like hear about the other mysteries you've been wondering about," he said with a small inquisitive smile. He then reached over gently cupping the back of her head in his hand and brought her lips back to where they belonged. They continued kissing and groping each other when the slamming of the front door announced Ethan and Oliver's return. Parker immediately broke the kiss and disentangling herself from Jarod got to her feet. She was just outside the patio door when she turned back to him.

"You earned my trust a long time ago Jarod. You were always there for me when things got dicey and you were even there for me on Carthis after I was the obstacle that kept you from your mother. Right now I'm working on getting over my loyalty issues." She gave him a huge grin and winking at him she entered the house.

Jarod watched her go inside. He had a curious feeling that things were coming together for the two of them. It was almost like a resolution to question neither of them had asked but both wondered about.


It was late when Jarod had gotten up to get a drink of water from the kitchen. He was startled to see the light on under the door. He half-expected to find Ethan raiding the refrigerator but instead found Parker sipping a mug of warm milk.

"Thirsty at this time of night? I would have thought you would be sound asleep," he said giving her a knowing grin.

"Yeah, you and your middle of the night calls. Well, I haven't had a decent night's sleep for several years. I think its rule twenty in the 'Bad-guys for dummies' handbook." She took another sip of the warmed milk. "Sometimes this helps, for obvious reasons I've severely cut down on my alcohol consumption."

Detaching himself from the opposite counter, he slowly approached until he was standing directly in front of her. Smiling into her eyes he replied, "I believe I can help you in your battle with insomnia. I'm not making any guarantees mind you, but I can at least insure that you won't be bored with my attempts."

A stunned and somewhat musing smile touched her lips as she let him lead the way to his bed.


The next morning Jarod woke up alone. It was somewhat disconcerting finding her gone and the indentation on her side of the bed cold. He dressed and made his way to the kitchen again. This time he found Ethan, Oliver and Parker enjoying a freshly made breakfast.

"Hey Jarod, it's about time you got up." Ethan stated happily taking careful note of the silent exchange between his siblings.

Slightly puzzled by Jarod's pique she said, "have a seat, I made enough for a small army."

"Thanks, did you sleep well?" He asked innocently.

'Oh, so that's what's wrong with him, didn't like waking up alone,' she thought, perversely charmed by his sarcasm.

"Yes, like a baby, thank you. I have to go to the restaurant today, would you mind taking care of Oliver for me today, if you have plans then I'll take him to daycare as usual."

"I think Ethan and I can look after him for you. When will you be getting home?" He realized they sounded like a married couple the minute the question left his mouth.

She smiled at the question, catching the unintended inference. "Around 6 o'clock maybe a little later. I'll give you a call before I leave and bring dinner from the restaurant." Keeping up the married couple routine, she leaned over and gave him a quick kiss before leaving to get ready for work.

With a wide smile Ethan remarked, "You two seem to be getting along very well. Your relationship doesn't look so complicated from here."

"It's still complicated and if I didn't know better, I would say that you are not only unsurprised but pleased." Jarod narrowed his eyes as he looked at his younger brother.

Ethan was all innocence. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I was just commenting on how friendly my sister was this morning."

"Yeah, right. Let's check out this town and maybe cruise into Cedar Rapids and rent some videos for later on tonight."


Later that night after watching a couple of videos, Parker got up from her seat and bade Ethan good night. When she approached Jarod on her way out, she leaned over and whispered an invitation into his ear then left.

Jarod looked at Ethan with a momentary blank look on his face. Then grinning he got up eagerly and followed Parker from the room.



A week later Mrs. Kanimoto decided on taking a predawn walk around her property. As the years went by she found sleep becoming more elusive and had taken to napping though out the day like an infant. She missed Ms. Ogilvie's visits. It seemed her neighbor had visitors and the beautiful woman was preoccupied with them. Mrs. Kanimoto hadn't seen her for a couple of weeks so far.

The elderly woman slowly walked her circuit from her back door approximately 100 yards over to a small garden that was planted close to Ms. Ogilvie's house. The air was unseasonably warm and held a deep-breath inducing sweetness. As she approached the Ogilvie house, she heard some unmistakable sounds. It had been several years since she had heard this but it was a sound one never forgot. The lovers were in the throws of passion and were being a bit loud about it. There was only one place it could be coming from and the elderly lady no longer felt slighted by her young neighbor's negligence. She paused for a while listening to their sounds, unabashedly refusing to feel like an eavesdropper. The woman loudly climaxed and said something clearly in English but while Mrs. Kanimoto didn't understand the words, she clearly understood the manner in which they were said. She waited a few seconds longer for the man to also express his pleasure and was soon rewarded by hearing a loud and deep unintelligible groan of intense satisfaction.

Mrs. Kanimoto smiled to herself as she peered up at the second story window and slowly continued her morning's constitutional.

After a few moments, Jarod got out of bed and walked over to the window. A soft warm breeze gently fluttered the curtains as he looked out at the soft smudges of light dawning the new day. His instincts told him to look around to see if he had been observed but leaning forward to peer out the window he saw no one. When he felt Parker's arms encircle his waist he straightened and turned towards her. He gently lifted a few wisps of damp hair from her face and looked lovingly into her gray eyes. He saw his own feelings for her reflected in her eyes.

"I almost lost you, lost us," he said as he used both hands to cup her face in his palms.

"Let's not worry about what almost happened. I would prefer to concentrate on the here and now. And right now I would like some post-coital attention," she replied happily as she leaned her body into his. The warm breeze had started drying the fine sheen of sweat that had coated their bodies.


Later in the afternoon, Parker made her way over to Mrs. Kanimoto's home. She was feeling slightly guilty at having been remiss in her attentions to her elderly neighbor. She knocked on the door and waited patiently as the elderly woman answered the door. When she entered and replied to the usual pleasantries and inquiries she seated herself down for a nice cup of tea that always seemed to be ready.

Mrs. Kanimoto was all affability and not a hint was made to Ms. Ogilvie's prior absences. Their tea continued as usual until Mrs. Kanimoto sensing a slight reluctance in the young woman, gently broached the subject of her guests. Parker replied distractedly and immediately became lost in her own thoughts. To Mrs. Kanimoto, she appeared to be struggling with making up her mind to open up and discuss what was bothering her. Guessing that this was the problem, Mrs. Kanimoto decided to help her out.

"I once had a friend back in Kyoto who was very much in love with her husband. The woman talked on about the plans she had for him and made a vow to give him the best of her best years. I was a newlywed myself and my mother listening to my friend shook her head sadly. When my friend went home my mother told me that the best years of anyone's life should be enjoyed not given away like a commodity at the market. My mother predicted that one day my friend would live to regret her vow explaining that it too easy for the husband to disappoint and fail to appreciate the gift she had given him. My mother predicted that my friend's obsession would drive him to seek solace in another's arms. I vowed to follow my mother's advice and eventually she was proven correct. "

"How did you know I wanted to talk about a man?" Parker replied, still hedging trying to decide if talking to Mrs. Kanimoto was the right thing to do and how much should she reveal.

"I have seen him in your yard, playing with your son. There is another young man with him."

"Ethan is my brother the younger of the two. Jarod came along with him for a visit. I've known Jarod most of my life. This latest development in our relationship is making a complicated situation even more complicated."

"Complications are only obstacles when we allow them to be. I am not a romantic, but if you truly care for this man and want him then where is the problem?" Mrs. Kanimoto probed.

With her vulnerability showing she replied, "I wish it were that easy, our past makes things difficult. I told you once that a while ago there was someone in my life and he died. He was a friend of Jarod's and Jarod was the one who set us up together. Now Jarod and I are together, I don't know how long this is going to last but when I'm honest with myself I know that when we're together it feels permanent...right. I'm not much of a romantic either, so I'm left wondering how much of what I'm feeling is my own loneliness and desire to have a husband. Before Oliver the last thing I wanted was a husband, but now that's all changed." Parker looked at the older woman tentatively.

"Do you like him?" Mrs. Kanimoto asked abruptly.

"Like him? Yeah, I guess I do. The way I feel about him is a lot more than just liking him," Parker said, slightly confused by the question. She was beginning to feel she had made a mistake in coming to Mrs. Kanimoto.

"Well, liking him is far more important than loving him. If you like him, than seeing him in your bed 30 years from now will be like waking up with an old friend. If what you feel is the strength of lust then you will tire of him within a few years and the sound of his voice will begin to irritate you for no reason. There is nothing to be ashamed about in wanting a husband. It's almost the same as wanting a companion only with fringe benefits." Mrs. Kanimoto laughed.




The Centre
Blue Cove, De

Lyle was walking through the dark hallways with a purpose. He smiled at a few passing employees who returned his wordless greeting with fearful respect. That was the way he liked it. It was best to instill a measure of fear in those around you to insure their respect. He was just about to enter his office when he was unpleasantly accosted by the sound of the oil deprived high-pitched squeaking of Raines' portable oxygen tank. He came to a halt irritably but rearranged his features into a pleasant, slightly subservient smile as he faced the newest chairman.

"And to what do I owe the honor of this visit?"

"Results, Mr. Lyle, results. Have you heard any news from Mr. White?" Raines rasped.

"As a matter of fact I have, would you like to discuss this in my office?" Lyle held open the door to his office for Raines to proceed inside.

When they were standing within the relative privacy of Lyle's office, he continued, "I received a call about an hour ago from Mr. White. He said he found a lead on the Major. The Major possibly made a credit card purchase; White is on the way to the store to confirm it. He should be getting back with me the minute he has any information."

"Where does he believe the Major and the boy are located?"

"He didn't say, he wanted to be sure of his facts before telling me anything concrete." Lyle responded knowing this was going to make Raines unhappy.

"I don't like this. Have Mr. White inform you of all his movements from now on we need to take a more hands-on approach to this search. Perhaps it hasn't been impressed on you enough the importance of success in this matter." Raines took a deep hit of oxygen, but the thinly veiled threat was in his eyes.

"This search is at the top of my priorities. I have also impressed on Mr. White the importance of success. From now on I will have him submit daily detailed reports on his progress," Lyle said smoothly.

"You now have only one priority. Do not disappoint me or the Triumvirate Mr. Lyle." Mr. Raines warned ominously as he turned and dragged his squeaky oxygen supply with him.



Outside Cedar Rapids, IA


"You were a big hit back there. I think my Sous chef fell in love with you at first sight," Parker said, grinning with proud mischievousness.

Coloring slightly at the compliment Ethan replied, "she was very nice but I don't think she was interested in me in that way."

"Well, she didn't bat an eye when I told her I wanted to introduce my brother, but her whole attitude changed when she got a look at you. You're very handsome you know." Her delight in his discomfort was obvious.

"Thanks, where are we going now?" Ethan asked trying to change the subject.

"I would like you to meet my neighbor, and then your torture will be over." She answered, seeing him drop his shoulders in defeat she decided to alleviate his misery. "Don't worry, she's a nice old lady and speaks only Japanese. I told her that you were visiting and she asked about you. It will be over before you know it."

Ethan brightened a bit and smiled at her. He was touched at the obvious pride his sister was having in showing him off to her friends. He decided that staying with her would be more than agreeable. He thought about the other side of his family, he would miss them terribly but he knew his place was here with her. Never in a million years when he was living with the Clausons did he imagine that he would have a large family or any family member that would want and need to have him around.

Parker pulled into her own driveway, and getting out they both started to walk across the lawn to Mrs. Kamimoto's house. Ethan was carrying the carefully wrapped, over-loaded parcel of food from the restaurant that his sister had prepared for the old lady.

They both heard the noise of a door slamming and saw Jarod holding a chattering Oliver and walking towards them. They both paused waiting for him to catch up then continued to Mrs. Kamimoto's front door.

"Hey, mind if we join you?" Jarod asked as he hoisted Oliver onto his shoulders.

"I don't think Mrs. Kamimoto will mind. I was telling Ethan that she only speaks Japanese. She's a bit of a traditionalist so be patient," Parker explained.

Mrs. Kamimoto was gracious at meeting Ms. Ogilvie's brother and young man. They had both excited a lively curiosity in her as she invited them into her house. She served tea and was pleasantly relieved to find that Jarod was also fluent in Japanese. He was well spoken, polite and extremely knowledgeable in Japanese customs in the same vein as her young neighbor. The looks that occasionally passed between him and Ms. Ogilvie assuaged all the elderly lady's curiosity. It was obvious to her that the two were crazy about each other and at least in her eyes their bond to each other was deep, strong and enduring.

The social visit more than made up for any of Ms. Ogilvie's prior neglect and Mrs. Kamimoto was exceedingly grateful for her neighbor's attention. She was determined to repay her neighbor's kindness the minute an opportunity arose and felt she had truly found a worthy friend in Ms. Ogilvie.


"Do you visit her often?" Jarod asked as they were all walking slowly home.

Parker replied feeling a bit defensive. "Yes, she didn't have anyone. No one around here or in Cedar Rapids that I know of, speaks Japanese. We keep each other company."

"She's lucky to have you and she knows it," Jarod replied with certainty.

Oliver broke the silence with his high-pitched demands for dessert.


Another week passed and the inhabitants of the Ogilvie household had settled into a type of routine. They had unconsciously formed a family unit. Their relationships had solidified and they continued to be comfortable and at ease with each other. Jarod and Parker's relationship followed the dictates of their feelings for each other. They acted like the devoted couple they were and Ethan was the brother they had both wanted since they were children. Oliver fitted nicely into all their lives.


More than a month had passed since Jarod and Ethan had shown up on Parker's doorstep. He and Madchen were happy with each other but Jarod was beginning to miss his family. He wanted to merge his two families but wasn't certain how amenable Madchen would be to the suggestion. The question in his mind came to a head when he received an encrypted email from his father. Major Charles had written that the family was to meet at a large house he had rented. He left instructions for Jarod and Ethan to meet them at the house on the northern Oregon coast in three weeks time. They had voluntarily separated for security sake when Jarod and Ethan announced their intention to take a road trip. Now was the time to reunite again.

Jarod showed the email to Ethan and carefully watched his brother's reaction. He knew Ethan felt he had finally found his home with Madchen it was a sentiment he shared with him.

"When are you going to tell her?"

"When she gets home. What are your thoughts?" Jarod asked, interested in Ethan's opinion.

Keeping his expression neutral Ethan said carefully, "I don't think she's going to be too happy, she's gotten used to us being here."

Jarod got up from his chair in the living room and started pacing nervously, his mind racing. He took a deep breath and then turned to face his brother. "I want all of us to go, especially her. I want us to be one family."

Ethan thought deliberately on his next choice of words. "What about Dad? I don't think he likes Madchen too well, especially given her role in chasing you for the past 5 years."

"This time I need your help, Ethan. I'll convince Madchen to come with us, help me with Dad. I have no intention of letting Madchen go, especially when I almost lost her," Jarod said distractedly, his thoughts already jumping ahead forming convincing arguments to Madchen.


The next morning Jarod woke to the sound of Madchen in the bathroom that was adjacent to the bedroom they shared. He got up and followed her. She had just finished brushing her teeth when she looked up to see Jarod leaning in the doorway. She checked out his reflection in the bathroom mirror and gave him an appealing leer. "I just love that outfit of yours."

Jarod gave her a wide smile acknowledging that he wasn't wearing anything. He returned her appraising leer with pleasure as his eyes traveled leisurely down the length of her body. "I need to talk to you about an email I got yesterday from my father." He replied unable to tear his eyes off her more than agreeable curves.

She turned and took a step towards him then reaching behind the door she grabbed a robe that was hanging there and put it on. "Okay, talk to me, without any distractions." She grinned briefly at his obvious disappointment when she covered herself. "Is everything alright with your family?"

"Yes, when Ethan and I left them, we all agreed to separate in order to thwart any Centre attempts to locate us. My father wrote that he has rented a large house in northern Oregon and he wants all of us to meet him and my mom there. They will arrive in a little over 3 weeks." Jarod was attentively watching her face to gauge her reaction.

Madchen had been expecting something like this for the past few weeks. She had kept getting one reprieve after another. Now that the issue of Jarod and Ethan's departure was finally staring her in the face she felt like someone had just given her a swift kick in her ulcer ravaged stomach. It hurt like hell; she had grown to love both of them so dearly. Her face was expressionless as she silently brushed past Jarod and reentered the bedroom. When she reached the bed she put one hand on the footboard and bowed her head. In a quiet voice she asked, "when do you plan on leaving?"

"In a couple of weeks. Ethan and I both would prefer to get there before anyone else arrives, just to check things out. That's not what I want to talk to you about," he said and taking an intrepid deep breath continued, "I want you to go with us, you and Oliver."

A sad smile was on her face when she turned to him. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

"I think it is, we've created a family of our own here. It's time we've merged the two. I need this and I think you need it too," Jarod said emphatically.

She could tell by the determined look on his face that he was ready to win this argument. It was obvious that he had given this considerable thought, and since this was Genius-boy she was looking at, her chances of winning the impending argument on logic alone was slim to none. But then again she never backed down from anything easily.

"Jarod, your family has every reason to hate me. All the misery that my family has inflected on them alone would make them want to shoot me on sight. And we haven't even broached the subject of all the misery I've inflected on you all by my little lonesome," she said bitterly.

"You know how I feel about you. I want you now and I've wanted you for a quite a while and since I've finally succeeded in breaching that wall you put up, I'm never going to walk out of your life. I need you because I don't have to worry about explaining my situation to you; most of all you understand what I am and where I've come from. We've been told the same lies and have fought many of the same battles. Sweetheart, I'm something you're just going to have to get used to; the issue here is that I want both my families to be one," he said with heavy emotion.

"I feel the same way, you know that. We both have always been able somehow to know what the other is feeling. I don't think you're seeing something here. Do you realize that I've pointed my 9mm in both your parent's faces? Remember when I captured your father and I believed Fenigor's lies that he was responsible for my mother's death? Well, I was fully prepared to shoot him and threatened him until he told me that my mother was being so secretive because she wanted to protect my father and me

"You know what happened on the island with your mother, did you ever tell her why I had a gun in her face?" she asked with sudden curiosity.

"Yes, we talked about it and she understands. She thought you were the one who shot her until I told her that it was one of the monks who was working for the Centre and that he had hit you over the head when you tried to catch up to her." Jarod answered with some amusement. She was actually upset over the notion that his mother thought she had tried to hurt her.

"Thanks," she said with gratitude. "It's not me Jarod. I just honestly don't think that your family would be thrilled to see me."

"You're probably right, but I want them to meet the most important person in my life. Once they realize that then I believe they will make every effort to get to know you, if not just because they're curious to find out why I'm crazy about you." Jarod replied sensing victory with clearing the first hurdle.

With an air of mock defeat she sat on the bed and said, "Oh, alright, then Oliver and I will meet your family. I didn't think I would win this argument but I had to let you know how I felt about it."

"Um...there is something else I wanted to talk to you about." Jarod began again. This time Madchen turned and looked at him with wary surprise.

"My God, what else could there be?" She asked with trepidation

Jarod walked over and sitting next to her on the bed he reached over and took her hands in his. "I think we should get married. I know what we feel for each other goes beyond marriage but I like the thought of you belonging to me, legally." He smiled at the idea as he looked in her eyes.

She was too dumbfounded to give him any answer. She opened her mouth and then closed it without saying anything. Tears began to prick her eyes as she stared into his dark expressive eyes with the feeling of being pulled into their vortex.

Taking advantage of her uncharacteristic muteness, Jarod continued telling her what he tentatively had in mind. "I would like to get married with my whole family around us. It would be a dream come true," he said enthusiastically.

"Are you nuts?!" She practically screamed. "If the Centre had even the smallest hint of where we were and that we were together, we would all be occupying sublevel cells in the Centre. If we're lucky they might just give us adjoining cells. Is that your idea of family togetherness??" She had finally found her voice. Sometimes this genius was a complete moron.

"Calm down. It was just an idea," Jarod was a bit shocked at the vehemence of her reaction. Then he looked at her with more hope than he had previously entertained. She hadn't said 'no' to his proposal, just to the idea of getting married with his family in attendance. "Wait a minute, does that mean that you....accept me?" he asked with uncertainty.

She heaved a great sigh. Standing up she positioned her body between his knees, then placing her hands on either side of his head she looked deep into his absolutely gorgeous eyes. "I will always lo--, um..I want you so much, I need you..." She gave up trying to express herself verbally and merely nodded her approbation. What she was feeling in her heart showed clearly in her eyes. She lowered her head a fraction until their noses touched.

"Somehow, someway we'll make this work. You know all about the darkness inside of me and still you don't run screaming. You know about my horrible family, its history and have been a victim of their machinations most of your life and you still want me. You have been there for me during the worst moments of my life and are still generous enough to try to help me despite all the rotten things I've done to you. I could never fully or accurately describe the depth of my feelings for you, my beautiful genius."

Jarod was deeply affected by her words. It was more than he could have hoped or imagined. The look in her eyes stirred other feelings that his body was beginning to express on its own. Keeping his eyes glued to the deeply intelligent twin gray orbs that were carefully watching him, he slowly untied the knot in the sash that fastened her robe around her body. She finished removing the garment as they started to kiss.



Mrs. Kamimoto started her morning's constitutional a full hour later than usual. Even though Ms. Ogilvie and her young man had no idea that she had overheard their lovemaking, the elderly lady wanted to give them her own measure of privacy. The old Japanese lady carefully and slowly made her way from her back door to the Ogilvie house. Just as she was approaching the garden, the unmistakable sounds of the other day greeted her again, this time a bit louder. Their passion seemed to have grown in intensity. Mrs. Kamimoto was slightly startled, then silently chuckled at the young people. She had forgotten how energetic lovers of their stripe could be. She and her dead husband had been the same way up until his untimely death. As Mrs. Kamimoto continued her slow circuit passing directly under the bedroom window she heard Ms. Ogilvie's passionate comments in English and her enthusiastic lover's response. Mrs. Kamimoto wished them from her heart the best in what she knew would be a lifelong and fruitful partnership. By the time the old lady returned to her home and started setting up her usual tea service, the lovers had time to rest and were groping their way to round two.



Much later that morning, Madchen and Jarod made their way downstairs to the kitchen. They had decided on having a light breakfast before tackling the task of breaking the news of their engagement to Ethan. When they entered the kitchen, Ethan was already there with Oliver trying to convince the child to eat. He looked up at his siblings and greeted them with a teasingly knowing grin. "Hey, it's about time you two decided to get up today."

Without looking at each other, Jarod sat down at the table with Ethan, while Madchen poured them both glasses of fruit juice.

Jarod began cautiously. "Ethan, there is something that we need to tell you." He knew that Ethan was fully aware of their relationship. He suspected that Ethan knew even before they had consummated anything. "This will probably not come as a surprise to you, but Madchen and I are engaged. It's the first time I've been able to talk her into anything," Jarod said with humor.

Sitting next to Jarod at the table, Madchen asked with determination. "Ethan, you're the only remaining family member I have that I can still look at without shame. I want you're blessing. Not having it won't stop us, but I want it anyway."

Ethan gave them a wide grin that was identical to one of Madchen's. "It's about time you two got around to getting serious about each other. Yeah, you have my blessing. May I give you away at the wedding?"

"I would be honored to have you give me away." Madchen laughed at her brother's audaciousness, and acquiesced with the utmost sincerity.

Madchen decided to have a little fun at Jarod's expense. "You won't believe this but Wonder-boy here wanted us to get married in Oregon with his family around us. I think he's getting soft in his old age." She looked at Jarod with loving amusement.

"You were the one who impressed on me the importance of being careful where the Centre is concerned." Ethan said pointedly to Jarod who rolled his eyes at Madchen's teasing.

"I have an idea though. What about getting married in Reno? We have over 3 weeks before Dad and the rest of the family reassemble in Oregon. I propose that we, or more accurately Jarod, hack into Nevada's state marriage bureau computers. Make their records show that you have already completed all the necessary paperwork for getting married, including any blood tests. We never know what records the Centre is monitoring and who they may have working for them. Then all we need to do is pick a minister and get you two hitched."

Jarod and Madchen were both nodding at his idea as he laid it out to them. They looked at each other and smiled both proud that the solution to their problem came from their brother. Ethan's readymade solution also confirmed their suspicions that he had been getting more input from the voices than he let on.

"After you're married, then you two take off for the house in Oregon. No one should be there for another two weeks and you can have your honeymoon there. I'll take Oliver and we can stay in Lake Tahoe and have a little vacation of our own. We'll join you at the same time the rest of the family is expected to show up," Ethan said looking satisfied that his plan should work perfectly.

"That's a wonderful plan, Ethan, but I don't think I want to be separated that long from Oliver. How about the two of you stay in Lake Tahoe for a week and then you join us in Oregon? That way the four of us will have a week together before the rest of your family joins us." Madchen suggested hopefully. She was deeply attached to Oliver and knew she would miss him after being separated for so long.

"That sounds like a plan. I'll get started on Nevada's computers now," Jarod replied. He left the kitchen wanting to get the ball rolling so they could set Ethan's plan in motion immediately.

"Have I ever told you that I'm lucky to have you for a brother?" Madchen told him lovingly.

"I know I'm lucky to have you for a sister. I'm fortunate that you're gorgeous too." He replied with a smile and equal sincerity.

"I have a feeling that the voices told you what was going on between me and Jarod, am I right?"

"Yes, they did. Actually, she did, our mother's voice. Do you still get premonitions, like the one you had of being trapped in that building last year?" Ethan asked with interest.

"That's odd, as a matter of fact I had what felt like a premonition not too long ago. It seemed like a dream, until I had the same vision while I was wide-awake in my office at the restaurant. Its strange seeing scenes in my mind that are clearly taken out of context, scenes that I have no idea when they will occur." She said with some worry in her voice.

"Tell me what you saw. Maybe an objective viewpoint can help decipher it." Ethan offered.

"Well, I'm in a large room but I can't see all of it. There is a man near the door and I have the impression that he works for the Centre. He wants me to return and is threatening the lives of everyone I love. I have the feeling that no matter what he threatens I can't go back as if something more precious is at stake. What that is I have no idea." Madchen was trying to shake off the intense feelings that the vision had caused.

"That is strange. I have a feeling the Centre is going to catch up to us. That's why I suggested Reno. I'm not getting any warnings about going there." Ethan looked at her expectantly.

"No, neither am I. But every instinct in me is telling me that going to Oregon is a mistake. It has nothing to do with the voices, just the instincts I honed during my years working for the Centre and hunting Jarod. Let's just be extra vigilant, I can't disappoint Jarod with vague feelings." She started looking as worried as her voice sounded.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Pretender characters they belong to others. No money was involved and no infringement is intended. I am just having a little fun.

Authors note: The title is borrowed from a song from Jewel's Spirit CD. The words from the refrain struck a cord, and Staind gave me some inspiration. This is my first fan fiction so please give me some feedback and constructive criticism.





Life Uncommon
Part II
By Callisto




The Centre
Blue Cove, DE

Mr. Lyle was nattily dressed in a designer suit that was chosen to show to great advantage his trim and clean cut figure and facade. His hair was expensively cut and his cheeks were clean-shaven and scented with only the best and most expensive of aftershaves. Walking into Raines' office he knew that none of this would give him an advantage over the soulless wheeze bag but was solely for his own comfort.

Lyle took a deep breath of courage and entered the chairman's office. Raines' favorite sweeper Willie had summoned him unceremoniously there wasn't any illusion that this was an optional appearance. As he entered he saw Raines seated behind a massive desk shuffling papers that were artfully scattered on the surface.

Raines kept Lyle waiting 10 minutes before condescending to look up at the dapper sociopath who stood obediently in front of the desk waiting to give his latest report. From the looks of it, Raines decided that Mr. Lyle had a less than encouraging report to make on Mr. White's progress.

"What news Mr. Lyle?" Raines asked prepared for disappointment. He was tired of being inconvenienced by Lyle but unfortunately the man had his uses.

"Mr. White informs me that he has finally picked up a lead on the Major and Gemini. His lead originated in New Orleans but then went cold from there. White believes they may be heading west from something a storekeeper overheard the boy saying to the Major. He will be staying in New Orleans for another few days to see if he can find out anything further about their destination."

"Were the Major and boy traveling alone?"

"As far as White can ascertain, they were, but it seems that they are expecting to meet up with someone. So far there is no evidence to connect them with my sister or if she was the one they are enroute to meet. The search for her is still not turning up any leads. She seems to have effectively erased her identity and changed her most traceable habits. Didn't know Sis had it in her." Lyle added with sarcasm. He was conflicted about his twin's departure. For the most part he was happy, her absence left him with the lion's share of the power pie, on the other hand he still had a few issues he wanted to resolve with her.

"Keep me updated, Mr. Lyle. We need more satisfying results and the clock is ticking. There are certain aspects of the scrolls' predictions that directly concern your sister and the Triumvirate is as much aware of the timetable as I am." Raines returned his attention to the papers on his desk as a sign that the interview was over.

Lyle mentally shrugged and sparing a last depreciating glance in Raines' direction, he left the office. He was still digesting Raines' information about the predictions from those stupid scrolls. It seemed that all the smart people paid attention to whatever was written on them and Lyle hated to be out of the loop. He was thinking of a way to find out more about those predictions as he strolled to his own office, with a more determined air than when he left it.



Oregon coast
Outside Florence, Or


The large Victorian style house was well maintained with a large homey living room and comfortable bedrooms. The house felt more like a mansion with the numerous rooms and baths present. Jarod and Madchen decided to occupy only the downstairs. They chose the bedroom off the den and stayed indoors the entire week; cooking, talking, making love and occasionally playing. During this time Jarod presented her with a plan on how they should handle whomever the Centre had sent to retrieve them. By the time Ethan and Oliver joined them the plan had already been partially implemented.

Jarod filled Ethan in on the plan and his part in it. The final touches had been completed when Jarod decided he wanted to spend one last day alone with his bride. They enjoyed a leisurely drive to the coast and set up a picnic site on a bluff overlooking the shore.

"You haven't even left yet and I already miss you," Jarod said quietly.

"I can't wait till this is all over so we can finally start living like normal people--well at least living a less uncommon life," she replied in response. "When are you going to tell your family about us?"

"I want to wait until we get this mess sorted out and tell them without having to worry about the Centre still being at our heels. Once we figure out how they got a lead on Dad's whereabouts and shore up that weakness, then we will all disappear."

"So you're going to wait till we're all in Maine. That's going to be hard, first telling them that you're married, and then the coups de grace-who you married."

"What did Ben say about the house?" Jarod asked wanting to change the subject to more pressing matters. He wanted everything about his plan to go smoothly, like his pretends.

"He thinks communicating from the phone at his favorite diner instead of the inn is nutty, and that I must have watched one too many James Bond movies when I was a kid. Everything is settled, his friend has agreed to give us a short lease on the island cabin. According to Ben, calling the place a cabin is being modest and from the deposit the old geezer demanded it better look like the Taj Mahal." Madchen replied lazily as she enjoyed the feel of his muscular torso against her back and his arms wrapped around her.

Jarod laughed softly as he buried his face in her soft hair and tightened his arms around her. "Well, it's not like the money is coming out of our bank accounts."

"No, I just hope it's as nice as Ben claims. Personally I would prefer staying with him at the inn." Her eyes were closed as she felt Jarod move further downward and start to nibble her neck. "You keep doing that to my neck, I'm not going to leave."

"I hope you're already packed because I'm not letting you get up early to do it, you're staying in bed with me," He said as he bit her teasingly.

"Ummm, yup, we're all packed and ready to go. Ben is looking forward to meeting Oliver." She leaned further into him and started a full stretch. Jarod could feel every muscle in her lean body tense and then slowly relax; it was a uniquely sensual experience with her in his arms.

"Talk about seductive," He smiled as he took her by the shoulders, eased her to the ground and quickly got on top of her. "This is my favorite part."


*A few days later*

Ethan had just finished up breakfast and was enjoying a few moments of solitude. Jarod was surfing through the Centre's mainframe on his laptop so he had a few minutes to himself. He felt a little nervous knowing his siblings had based the bulk of their plan on the messages he was getting from the voices in his head. The paralyzing headaches he used to get had all but disappeared, nothing a typical aspirin couldn't handle. The voices were still plaguing him with their warning chatter but at least the volume of the cacophony was down to a more reasonable level. He knew his family was close and he was only slightly startled by the sound of a car coming up the drive. Ethan took a quick peek through the curtains to confirm that their first guests were Emily and Margaret. They drove up in a non-descript brown Toyota Camry.

Ethan ran to the back room where Jarod was absorbed in whatever he was working with on his computer. "Jarod, your mom and Emily just got here."

Jarod closed the laptop with finality and looking up said, "It's time to get started."

Jarod and Ethan greeted the two women with affection. "Mom, I've missed you. I can't tell you how great it is to see you again." Jarod said after the usual round of hugs and kisses were finished.

"I still pinch myself when I realize that I'm here talking to you. I'm looking forward to this time together," Margaret said smiling.

"Mom, Emily I think you both should sit down. I have a lot to explain to you," Jarod told them, turning suddenly serious.

"Is something wrong, has anything happened to Dad?" Emily asked anxiously.

"As far as we know Dad and Justin are fine but it appears they may have been compromised. I intercepted some email traffic between the Triumvirate and the Centre's new chairman. Apparently they have refocused their efforts back to our family. They have a lead on Dad and Justin and have sent someone to retrieve them. I have a plan to trap the Centre operative that should be following them here. The only way for the plan to work is to determine if either of you were also compromised, if so then we need to shed those identities. Now we're fairly certain that Ethan's identity and mine are still viable. We were in Reno for a week and didn't see any signs of sweepers. I even left a false trail for them to follow and so far no one has bothered to check on it," Jarod said earnestly.

"If the Centre is concentrating on Dad and Justin then me and Mom's identities should still be okay," Emily said.

"Have you had any contact with either Dad or Justin before coming here?" Ethan asked.

"Dad sent me an encrypted email saying they left New Orleans about a week ago and they were both on the way here. Other than that we haven't had any contact with them," Emily replied stealing a look at her mother who shook her head in agreement.

"Perfect, then you should be okay. I had made up new identities for you just in case. My plan is this; I need both of you to go with Ethan to the new place we have set up. I'll wait here for Dad and Justin and give them their new identities and see if they have spotted anyone suspicious before having them follow you," Jarod said with a determination.

"When you send your father to us will you be joining him?" Margaret asked. She had only a few months to get to know her oldest son but that look in his eye had been with him since birth so she knew he had something else planned.

"No, I'm going to send Dad and Justin ahead to the new place alone, complete with clean ID and a fresh set of clothing. Don't worry, Mom, I have some experience in setting up this kind of trap by the time the Centre's tracker shows up, I'll be ready for him." Confidence was in his voice.

"So where are you sending us? Do you have someone already there that we're supposed to contact?" asked Emily.

"We chose a house on one of the islands off the coast of Maine. A friend recommended it and helped us rent it. The house is being opened up and everything is in the works to get it ready for us to live there," Jarod said ready for more questions.

"Who are we going to meet once we get there? And do we have time to catch our breath and freshen up before getting on another plane?" Margaret asked.

"I have our contact's name and all the information we need, including the boat we'll need to reach the island. Our plane leaves tonight. Why don't you two relax a bit, we have time for you to get freshened up before the long drive to Eugene. I have the airline tickets and everything is ready, why don't you two have a bite to eat? Jarod made a terrific lunch for you," Ethan asked looking from one perplexed woman to the other.

Jarod got up and knelt at his mother's feet, "Mom, I'm hoping that after this, we will have some time to really get to know each other. I'm tired of running from the Centre and playing their games. Now that I have found you, I'm not interested in that any longer."

"I've missed out on so much of your life. There are milestones in every person's life and I've missed too many of them in yours. I would be greatly relieved to see you settle down and be happy, hopefully with someone special in your life." Margaret said tenderly as she stroked the side of Jarod's cheek. She didn't say anything aloud but she was very curious about the sudden guilty look that suffused her son's features.


*Two days later*

It was morning but Madchen was having difficulty getting out of bed. She felt positively worn out. The 'cabin' she arranged with Ben's help to rent was deceptively large. On the outside it looked average in size, but once you got inside it seemed to go on forever. Airing out the long closed house and preparing the rooms for occupation was a lot of fun. She smiled at the thought of the looks on Margaret and Emily's faces when they found the small personal touches she left for them.

The long plane trip back to the west coast took more out of her than she anticipated. Added to the incessant chatter from the voices in her head and the headache they were giving her was a bad omen for how the rest of the day would be. She knew Jarod had gotten up a couple of hours earlier as she swung her legs from under the covers and slowly got out of bed. There was still plenty to get done before Major Charles (Dad!) and the boy, Justin, finally arrived.

Downstairs she heard Jarod making a lot of racket in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Finishing off her cup of coffee she went upstairs to join him. They were busy for another few hours completing the last of the preparations, when they heard a car pull up. Looking through the thin curtain, Madchen saw the bulky form of a dark SUV pull up in the drive.

"They're here. Your Dad looks like he's unpacking Noah's arc down there," Madchen commented as she turned to her husband.

"Okay, this is going to take a bit. He had this reunion all planned out, and he's not going to be happy," Jarod answered as he caught her eye and held her gaze for a few long seconds of unspoken intimacy. He then treated her to his trademark smirk before disappearing through the door.

Jarod met his father enthusiastically just outside the front door. The two men threw their arms around each other and hugged tightly for a few seconds. When they separated the same process was repeated with Justin. Stepping back from the embrace, Jarod took a breath and said, "Dad, there's been a change of plans."

Looking up at his oldest son, Major Charles stopped what he was doing as he looked into the sorrowful expression in his son's eyes. "What's happened? Are you mother and sister all right? Has something happened to them?" the major asked anxiously.

"No, nothing has happened to them. They got here two days ago; I sent them ahead to a safe house with Ethan. Let's leave this stuff inside the truck for now and talk inside," Jarod offered as he opened the door and waited for them to follow him inside.

"What's going on Jarod? Has the Centre found out where we are?" Justin asked nervously as his eyes scanned the front yard half expecting to see a sweeper jump out from behind a nearby bush.

Once inside the spacious living room Jarod answered cryptically, "Yes and no. Ethan started getting warnings from the voices that the Centre was on our trail. I checked the email traffic between the Triumvirate and Raines and confirmed that the pursuit had been redirected again; this time you and Dad are the targets. They are hoping to capture you two and use your kidnapping as a lure to get me and Miss Parker to give ourselves up."

The major was skeptical. "How would capturing us lure Miss Parker back to the Centre are we even sure that she's actually left?"

"Ethan and I spent over a month with her, she's definitely left and they are so desperate to get her back that they are willing to use the two of you as an incentive. The Centre underestimated her, they think that she needed my help to escape, and since she continues to be successful in eluding them, they are convinced that we're together. They want to use both of you to get to me and eventually to get to her. Part of that email traffic also indicated that someone from the Centre has been on your trail, they got a lead on you while you were in New Orleans. If their 'finder' is any good then he should be on his way here."

"Great, just great!" Major Charles viciously kicked a duffle bag that was resting at his feet.

"Then you must have a plan to throw him off our trail or else you would have warned us away instead of sending Mom and Emily away to a safe house. Is there anything we can do to help you?" Justin said with a quiet determination that matched Jarod's.

"No, I have everything under control. I have set up a trap to hold the operative here for a few days while we disappear. What I need the two of you to do is to strip out of the clothes you have on now and leave all your ID and credit cards in the bathroom down the hall," said Jarod nodding in the direction of the hall behind him. "I have set up new identities for both of you, there are some fresh clothes in there for you also. I want to examine everything you brought along with you, there maybe a tracking device hidden in your things or possibly a tracking program was placed on your credit account."

"We'll do that right now, can we at least assist you in checking our things?" the major asked.

"We don't have time for that, I don't know how far behind the Centre is." Jarod pointed out gravely. "Once you're changed, I'll give you your airline tickets and the keys to my rental car so you can catch the plane in Eugene."

"You're not coming with us?" Justin asked.

"No, the trap I've set requires someone to be here to make sure the prey has been caught. I'll follow you in a day or two once I'm sure their finder will be sufficiently tied up for a few days," Jarod said with an evil grin.

"One of us should stay behind with you, just in case something goes wrong," the major said with some determination of his own.

"Don't worry about me, Dad. I've had some experience in this line of work, besides who said I was going to be here alone?" Jarod replied with a sly smile.

Smiling at his oldest son, the major shook his head. "So you've recruited someone, have you? Is she blonde, brunette or possibly a certain red-head that I know you're partial to?"

Laughing happily at how easily his father read him Jarod responded, "She's a brunette and very capable."

"So where are we going, and will Mom and Emily be meeting us?" Justin asked.

"You're getting to be a lot like Emily, you know that? She asked me almost the same thing. Yes, one of them should meet you, though I think it will be Ethan. You'll meet up with them in Maine, we've rented a large house on one of the islands off the coast," he said as he studied both their faces.

"So it's Maine that we're headed to, when does the plane leave?" the major inquired.

"I left an itinerary on the front seat of the car so you'll know where to meet Ethan. Your plane leaves in about 3 hours." Looking at his clone he continued, "that's just enough time for you to grab some sandwiches on your way out." He smiled knowing how hungry he always was at that age.

"What about the rest of our stuff?" Justin asked as he and Jarod followed their father to the bathroom.

"I'll examine everything. If there aren't any tracking devices or anything else nefarious that the Centre could use to track you, then we'll bring it with us when we're finished here."


Later that night after Major Charles and Justin had left for the airport in Eugene and most of their belongings had been carefully searched, Jarod and Madchen took a well-deserved break.

"Where did you go with Dad's truck this afternoon? I heard you pull away but I couldn't reach the front before you were out of the driveway"

"I went into town, I needed to pick up a few things. Since all their stuff appears to be clear of any tracking devices, the only thing I could imagine they would use to track your father is something a little more obvious, like his credit card activity," she said trying to avoid giving the reason why she went into town.

"I was thinking the same thing. It had to have been a coincidence when they were spotted by a Centre employee who forwarded the information to the finder, all he had to do was tag the account for the credit card used in the shop and follow them from there. It was just bad luck that they had chose that particular shop to buy swim shorts," Jarod said. "If he's any good, then he should arrive in a day or two like another human bloodhound I got to know," he said with a grin.

"Ah, the bad old days, how can I ever forget?" she asked with some feeling.

"I would love nothing better than to help you with that. Now, my efforts may not be entirely successful, but I'm fairly certain that you won't be bored," he said with a wolfish leer.

Laughing at the reminder of the first time they were together she said, "Oh, I doubt you could ever bore me." She reached over and grabbed him.


Checking the angle of the mirror for the last time, they both decided that everything was ready for their Centre 'guest'. They checked and double-checked all their preparations; when the ever-careful Jarod was completely satisfied they turned in for the night setting the perimeter alarms to an extra sensitivity in case their 'guest' should arrive earlier than expected.

Madchen came out of the bathroom after her shower prepared for bed. Jarod was already under the covers and waiting patiently for her to join him. Looking at him she marveled at how much her life has changed and continues to change in such an incredibly short period of time. Shaking her head in amazement, she lifted the covers and joined him. Immediately his arm encircled her waist has he shifted to his side to look at her.

"Is everything alright with you? You seem more distracted than usual today," he asked gently.

"Sure I'm fine," she replied hesitantly. Looking into his dark eyes she knew that she had to tell him her news. "When I went to town earlier today, I stopped at the drug store on a hunch."

"A hunch? What were you looking for?"

"I had my suspicions before I left for Maine, and this morning I couldn't stand it any more, I had to find out for sure, so I brought a few do-it-yourself tests, I just got my third positive result, " she began as she shifted her gaze from his eyes to the ceiling. "Jarod I'm reasonably sure that I'm pregnant."

Jarod blinked, nonplussed by her admission. He stared at her without saying a word his mind was spinning. He turned over onto his back again and stared at the ceiling also, shaking his head he rolled over and reaching for her he gently turned her head so she was facing him again. A large, deliriously happy smile started in his eyes and spread across his face.

"I'm going to be a father. You're having our child, this is incredible," he said wide-eyed and awestruck.

She nodded slowly then started to laugh and blinking tears of relief, she threw herself completely into his arms as they celebrated the new life they were about to bring into the world.


The next morning an argument started about what her role should now be in the capture of the Center operative. She was determined that nothing should change. It was she that the Centre wanted and since they had already grossly underestimated her, she wanted to use that to their advantage.

"Jarod, if he sees you, then he's going to expect a trap and take off before we can spring it on him. When he sees me, he'll just think that he hit the mother load and make a grab for me. The mirrors ensure that he won't lay a paw on me," she reasoned as patiently as she could.

"I don't want to take any chances not with your health. Just because that email said it was Mr. White that was sent, he could be trigger-happy and you could still get hurt. I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you." Jarod insisted.

"This is the same argument you gave when I first interjected myself into your scenario. Darling, I will be very careful. I was a Centre operative myself and I had on numerous occasions the dubious honor of chasing your sorry butt all over the world and falling into most of your traps."

"That was different, you weren't pregnant and you weren't on my side of the trap." He continued to insist emphatically.

Waving at him to shut up, she stood at one of the upstairs windows that looked out over onto the front drive and saw a white Lexus slowly cruise past the house. She couldn't get a look at the driver because the windows were tinted, but she was fairly certain that he was their quarry.

"He's here, he just cruised by to check things out. Let's get ready, the plan stays the way we originally agreed; no changes," she said using her no nonsense voice reminding him of the old Parker. She walked away to get into position before he could change his mind.


The house was quiet as he squeezed his form through the barely opened door. The lock was laughingly easy to pick. Looking at the house he realized that because of its size he might not be able to hear where all the occupants were located. He had spotted the dark SUV parked in the driveway and knew it was the same vehicle the major had been driving.

Mr. White took a cautious look around the empty kitchen. His piercing glance took in the dirty dishes piled in the sink and the box of pop tarts that were left on the counter. He smiled in spite of himself this was going relatively smoothly. He would be happy to have the major and the boy safely tied up in the back of their own vehicle and on their way back to the Centre. The change in management had made his job decidedly more unpleasant than necessary. After this job was completed he had made plans for his own disappearance. No one was going to find him or be able to blackmail him like the Parker woman.

He heard noises and heavy footsteps upstairs. Still being extremely cautious, Mr. White put his ear to the kitchen door fearing someone might be coming to the kitchen for a snack. When everything continued to be silent, he quietly slipped through the sliding kitchen pocket door.
Mr. White could hear the young boy talking to his father, asking him a question. It sounded like they were in one of the bedrooms. He debated on whether or not to make a noise downstairs to prompt them to come to him. He decided against it, he didn't want them to run thinking the noise was made by exactly who they thought it was being made by. White silently considered the stairs and shaking his head in disgust and resignation, he slowly started to climb them extracting a large dart gun from his jacket.

The conversation between the boy and major continued intermittently. As he was about to crest the stairs, White ducked down so he wouldn't readily be seen by anyone looking out from a bedroom door. Turning to his right where the boy's voice was coming from, White decided to tackle him first. The Centre's finder crept silently down the hallway; at the end of it there was a door. The boy's voice was coming from a nearby bedroom, as he placed his hand on the doorknob someone suddenly appeared in the hall. It was the Parker woman, her eyes widened in surprise and she dashed immediately through the door at the end of the hall before White's dart could hit her.

Knowing the game was up, White rushed headlong after her. She was his primary target he didn't care about the others, but was still wary of their interference. When he got to the door he realized his mistake. Looking up he saw the mirror sitting strategically against the wall making it appear that someone was standing in the main hall instead of in front of one of the other doors.

He turned around towards the way he had come and found himself face to face with the infamous Miss Parker. She was about 6 feet from him when White raised his dart gun and aimed it at her chest. She was wearing a strange outfit; a dark loose fitting, long sleeve shirt that was tucked into matching pants made of a soft cotton-like material.

Staring at her, knowing that something was wrong he paused for no more than half a second, another mistake. A sharp pain shot up his arm when she made a swift, graceful move and a long wooden stick connected with his arm. The dart gun was still held fast in his hand when a second blow encouraged him to loosen his grip.

The Parker woman was wielding the thick stick strangely, almost like it was a sword. It was held with both her hands almost in the same manner as a batter in a baseball game; the weapon was at the ready again. Her stance was vaguely familiar to White, and then he remembered seeing a kendo master giving a demonstration. He realized she was holding the bokken exactly like the master had in the demonstration. It was obvious that she was an expert in its use. Hazarding a look into her eyes, he knew that he was out-matched. He was forced to revert to trying psychological pressure. He had thoroughly read her confidential file; which included her many emotional weaknesses-namely her connection with certain people in her life and an obsession with her mother's untimely death.

"You don't want to do that, I can tell you not only who killed your mother, but who ordered it as well," he offered. He saw her pause with satisfaction.

"Is that all you have to offer, because that's old news. Looks like they haven't updated my file in some time," Madchen said with equal amounts of sarcasm and disdain. "You don't have anything of value to offer, I'm not Jarod looking for my long lost family."

"I have plenty to offer you. Such as why the Centre is so anxious to get you back," he paused for effect before dangling another carrot. "I know that he's been helping you. Imagine how grateful he would be if you were the one who provided him with the information that lead to the discovery of his mother," White replied with a sly grin.

"Figures they would assume that I couldn't stay hidden without Genius-boy's help. Well, here's the good news: Jarod found me about two months ago, he never helped me leave or cover my tracks."

"What's the bad news?" Just a slight tendril of worry was creeping into his voice.

"Jarod's mine now and I've never been good at sharing. The bad news for you is that there is a medieval jibbet with your name written all over it just waiting for an occupant," said Madchen, thoroughly disgusted with White's posturing. With a few swift moves she hit him several times with the bokken, leaving him battered and unable to stand. She then shoved him through the door they had planned on him going through.


When Mr. White woke up, he found himself suspended no more than a few inches from the floor. He was completely naked save his boxer shorts. From what he could tell, he was completely encased in a medieval torture trap that was suspended from the ceiling by an extremely thick rope. The device was a metal cage molded into the shape of a body with its arms outstretched. He was being kept quiet by a leather strap tied around his head.

"It's about time you woke up. The sedative you planned on shooting me up with was more powerful than what we gave you," Madchen said conversationally.

He would have answered her, would have liked to, but the strap prevented him from even opening his mouth.

Seeing his attempt to talk, she looked at him impassively. "Don't bother, I'm not interested in anything you have to say. To set the record straight, I watched the DSA that contained the details of my mother's death; as for project Progeny, unless Raines has some strange plans for my twin, he's fresh out of luck." She turned her attention to the pile of clothes that had been striped from him. Briefly rifling through the expensive pile she found what she was looking for; his cell phone. Holding it up so he could see what she had, she gave him a cold smile, "It's truly amazing what that boy of mine can find on the Internet. The jibbet was his idea, whatever you did to piss him off, well if I were you, I would avoid Jarod like the plague.

"Now I wonder what Lyle will do when he sees you hanging like that," she said eying him speculatively. "That's one conniving cannibal I wouldn't want finding me, especially if I was left hanging helpless but you're in luck, I hear that he only eats Asian women. Tell Raines and Lyle that I hope they can keep each other company in Hell, my exit has come up and I'm not interested in joining them down the same tired road."

She left him dangling, wondering if they meant for him to die like this. He was kept wondering for about four days, the time Jarod estimated it would take for him to dehydrate, before a team of sweepers showed up and cut him down in disgrace. All Lyle could offer him was a calculating glare as he thought up ways to deflect this latest failure entirely on White's sore shoulders.




The Centre
Blue Cove, DE


"This latest failure doesn't look well on your record, Mr. Lyle. It also doesn't bode well for your future with the Centre," Raines said as he stared across his desk at the seated Mr. Lyle.

"If you read my after-action report, you would see that Mr. White's failure to keep me apprised of what he was doing was the reason the Pretender and my sister got away. A sweeper team would have been able to subdue them."

"We will now have to resort to our contingency plan. Unfortunately we will be unable to implement it until either Jarod or Miss Parker makes contact with Sydney."

"On that score, I believe that I can be of some assistance. Mr. White informed me that Parker took his cell phone with her and made sure that he saw her do it. She wouldn't have done that unless she wanted us to make contact." Lyle said smoothly and was outwardly impassive as the dark gleam in Raines' eyes sparked brighter.

"That piece of information was left out of your report. Very good, Mr. Lyle I believe that we will be able to make good use of that cell phone. Where have you put Mr. White?"

"He's in the Renewal Wing being re-hydrated, and it seems he has developed a temporary case of claustrophobia. He will be properly remonstrated for his lapse of judgment as soon as he is healthy enough to survive it."

"This latest development presents an interesting opportunity, an opportunity that I choose to use to our greatest advantage. There are other inducements that can be offered to lure Miss Parker back into the fold. Is there anything else that you neglected to include in your report?"

"Mr. White also informed me that Sis and Jarod are an item. She told him that she left without Jarod's help but apparently he was more successful than we have been in tracking her down. I'm not sure what else she did to him but there were some strange marks on Mr. White when we found him. The doctor's are at a loss to identify the item that caused the marks and White is singularly uninterested in letting us in on the secret," Lyle said as he looked expectantly at Mr. Raines. "I take it that the timetable is still an issue?" Lyle continued deeply interested in how Raines would answer.

"Yes, it is still an issue, but your sister has left the door open just enough that we may have a chance to yank her back through and onto our side," Raines replied closely watching Lyle and trying to read his reactions through that mask of impassivity.

Sensing the interview was over Lyle got up languidly and prepared to leave. "I'll get back to work, if Jarod could track her down, then we should be able to also," Lyle said with fake confidence. What he intended to do was to return to the Renewal Wing and continue White's interrogation. There were a few tidbits of information that the finder still possessed and Lyle was determined to find out for himself what they were, preferably without any witnesses.



Island cabin
Off the Maine coast


It had been two days since Jarod and Madchen had left Mr. White dangling in the medieval cage. When they finally reached Maine, they spent the night with Ben at his inn. Ben had been more than happy to look after Oliver for them and the reunion for the three of them was sweet. They told Ben about their marriage. He was surprised at first but then congratulated them sincerely concluding that his first impression of them had been accurate after all. He saw them off late in the morning after giving the three a lift to the coast where they could rent a boat that would take them to the island.

The air was clear and warm when they stepped off the boat. They took their time getting to the cabin, opting instead to explore the area surrounding the dock and taking a circuitous route. They knew they were delaying the inevitable but were busy enjoying the view and each other's company. When they finally arrived at the cabin they paused and looked at it. Oliver who was hungry again, continued ahead of them. They looked at each other and kissed lingeringly knowing they were about to make at least 4 people unhappy campers once they entered the cabin. Opening the screen door for the patiently waiting Oliver, they followed him inside.

"Hey there, big brother. You two sure did take your time getting here," Ethan said with a wide grin.

Jarod returned the welcoming greeting with a smile, "So did everyone arrive okay?" He looked around into the living room and saw his family gathered there. The front curtains had been pulled back to allow the morning's sunshine to stream through and had offered a wonderful view of their reassuring kiss.

"Yes we're all here, did your plan go well? What did you do to the Centre's sweeper?" Justin asked as he looked from Jarod to Madchen.

"We strung him up in a medieval jibbet. There was no way for him to get out until someone released him. We contacted the Centre and let them know where to find him. Nothing like low tech to keep someone immobilized for as long as you like," Jarod said with a laugh.

"Who's your friend, Jarod?" Emily asked smiling, feeling her brother's unintended rudeness in not immediately introducing the tall woman they all saw him kissing in the front yard.

Madchen stood next to Jarod quietly, wondering how long it would take for them to recognize her. She wasn't in her usual style clothing; she was wearing a white silk, short sleeved, camp-style blouse and faded jeans. A pair of dark sunglasses concealed her eyes and her hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail.

"Miss Parker, is that you?" Justin asked before Jarod had a chance to answer Emily. He walked up to her in anticipation.

Treating him to a genuine smile she answered the younger version of Jarod. "Yes it is. My, you have grown a lot since the last time I saw you. You look handsome." She placed a hand on his shoulder as she gazed into his eyes.

"Thanks, you look different than you did back at the Centre. Actually you look terrific," he said with a smile of his own.

Sensing the abrupt change in the atmosphere of the room, Justin turned around and noticed the shocked and alarmed expressions on their faces.

Madchen removed her sunglasses as Jarod spoke while he perched on the arm of the couch. "I wanted to tell all of you at once what was going on in my life. Parker and I are together, it happened when Ethan and I visited her. She's finally escaped the Centre, for good," he said with a wider smile as he looked at her with obvious affection. "We got married in Reno 3 weeks ago, this has been the happiest time of my life," Jarod stated, the honesty and understatement of his words were obvious from his expression.

A heavy silence followed his announcement. It was pretty much the way Madchen had suspected they would take the news. The air was full of unspoken comments and unexpressed dismay. She stood steadily beside Jarod and catching his eye they stared at each other, communicating without saying a word. This silent conversation was picked up on by everyone in the room.

Madchen finally raised an eyebrow and breaking the eye contact she looked around and spotted Oliver sitting quietly on Ethan's lap. She stepped over to them and easily lifted Oliver into her arms.

"Come on little man, we're going on a picnic," she told the child softly.

"Are we going to have Devil's food?" Oliver asked, wanting her special concoction that made her picnic sandwiches such a big hit with both Ethan and Jarod.

"Ummm, no, but I tell you what. We'll take the boat to the mainland and walk over to a diner I spotted on the way here. We'll get a tuna sandwich and one of those flavored, sugary, frozen drinks you and daddy like so well," she said as she looked into her wallet for some money.

"They're called Icee's and they're very good." Justin offered longingly, they were a favorite of his also. He would prefer going with her than staying there. He held no grudges against Miss Parker she had always been nice to him in the short time he was acquainted with her.

"But I want the Devil's food, mommy," Oliver persisted.

"I'm sorry, baby. Jarod, I need some money for the sandwiches. I forgot that I insisted on paying for the taxi ride to Ben's," she said quietly realizing how domesticated she was sounding.

Jarod smiled at her, catching on to the reason for her sudden awkward uneasiness. He pulled out two bills from his wallet and handed the $40 over to her. Looking up at Oliver, he gave the child a small smile that encouraged the toddler to play peek-a-boo. Oliver ducked his head and buried his face in his mother's neck.

"Go ahead, rub it in," Jarod said wistfully, he wished he could do that right now.

Barely suppressing the laugh that Jarod's comment prompted, she turned her head and lightly pulled Oliver from her neck. Looking into Oliver's eyes she continued, "why don't we take the sandwiches and Icees and camp out on the sand and watch the waves? We'll pick a nice cool spot, how does that sound?"

"Wonderful," Emily muttered with feeling. She looked up to find everyone looking at her. 'Apparently I said that a little louder than I intended,' she thought wryly.

"Miss Parker, would you mind if I joined you?" Justin asked hopefully.

Looking at the eager look on his face that reminded her of Jarod she said with another smile. "The more the merrier."

Margaret, who had remained silent since Jarod dropped his bombshell, spoke up. "Your name is Madchen, isn't it?"

"Yes, I've changed my identity but I still go my given name," she answered having assumed that Ethan told them her name.

"Your mother once remarked that only she called you by that name," Margaret paused for a few seconds. "You don't remember meeting me do you?" Margaret asked.

"Should I?" she asked narrowing her eyes.

"Lord, it's been so long ago. You were just a little girl, not much older than your son," she commented nodding at Oliver. "Your mother introduced us when you were no more than 4 or 5. It was about a year after Jarod and Kyle were taken from us when I met your mother. I was deeply depressed and she was being so kind," Margaret said. "Of course you were too little to remember. I asked your mother to tell me about her daughter she was reluctant at first, she didn't want to make matters worse, but then she started telling me stories of your antics, she made you sound like so much fun."

Margaret got up and walked over to the massive fireplace. She looked at her husband and seeing the inquiring look in his eyes, she continued, "I asked Catherine if she would bring her daughter by so that I could see her. Catherine could see the desperation in my eyes. I wanted, no needed is a better word, to see a healthy, happy child. She brought you to a restaurant in Boston she said she told her husband some story about wanting to spend more time with you. You were a bundle of energy, practically humming with it. Seeing you, I was so nervous. I remember pulling you into my lap and you looked at me with those huge, gray eyes and asked me why was I so sad. I almost lost it right there in the restaurant." Margaret paused.

"We talked throughout the meal. Catherine just watched us quietly; knowing that having you there was therapeutic. It was obvious that you were very intelligent like Jarod. You questioned everything and eventually pointed out that some people at the next table left some money behind."

"You taught me the 'philosophy of tipping'. How to tip a server is very important, almost as important as how much you give them." Madchen recited almost by rote as she looked at Margaret with disbelief. "Auntie Maggie?" she said softly, as she lowered Oliver to the floor.

Margaret smiled at the younger woman and opened her arms to her. Madchen blinked, her eyes wide with confusion. She then stepped into Margaret's embrace saying, "I always wondered what happened to you. I had no idea that you were Jarod's mother."

"There was no way for you to know, you were too young then, there are so many things I've wanted to tell you. I heard that your father had taken you away and when I found out that you were the one chosen to chase my son, I didn't know what to do." Pulling out of their embrace, Margaret looked at Madchen and covering her face with her hands she shook her head and said, "now this, you've married my son. Give me a little time to adjust to this twist in fate. I had almost convinced myself that what we had been told of the predictions were just stories."

Turning with a hand on her forehead, Madchen looked at Jarod and shrugged at the coincidence, he tilted his head and looked at both women. His and Madchen's lives were always connected, and were turning out to be more connected than he could have imagined.



*Two weeks later*


In the days following Jarod's startling revelation, the newlyweds discovered that they had both accurately predicted his family's reaction to their marriage. Madchen was correct about their initial reaction to the news. Their shock was evident and their dismay and wariness showed in their eyes. However Jarod was also correct in that after the first shock wore off and they gave themselves a chance to get to know her they would start to like her. It took a few uncomfortable days but it soon became clear to them that the relationship contained a special bond between the couple. It was the kind of bond that answered the needs of both in friendship and trust. The fact that Jarod was simply crazy about Madchen and vice versa forced the family, especially his parents to accept Jarod's wisdom and embrace his choice of wife.

Emily was the chief beneficiary of Jarod's addition. She had often wondered what it would be like to have a sister. In Madchen she finally got her opportunity and took full advantage of it as soon as possible. Madchen seldom had female friends but she found Emily to be a wonderful and intelligent companion, one that she didn't feel the need to compete with, and they quickly became close. Jarod watched their friendship with astonishment as he saw previously long buried aspects of Madchen's personality reemerge. The beauty of her true self, sans façade, was now shared with others instead of being exclusive to only him, Ethan and Oliver.

The now combined family was finally enjoying their vacation home. They usually spent time together or would break up into two separate groups: one would be playing in the sand or wading in the water and the other sitting around on the porch with its swing or inside the living room with its generous window watching the others.

Madchen was curled up on the couch taking a nap while the others milled around her when a nightmare took hold of her. Justin was the first to notice her distress while he was waiting for his mother to refill the cooler with lemonade for the others who were wading in the water. He was getting impatient when he heard a low, sorrowful moan. He looked behind him and saw Madchen writhing in her sleep. He quickly forgot the lemonade and went to her side. Her face was soaked in sweat and she was murmuring softly. Justin quickly got a dampened cloth from the downstairs bathroom and gently brushed the sweat from her face. This seemed to calm her some and he stood up from his ministrations with a worried look on his face. He too had been a victim of numerous nightmares, it seemed to be a recurrent theme with anyone associated with the Centre. He had taken only a few steps away when Madchen let out a bloodcurdling cry and sat up. Her scream startled everyone in the house as they rushed to her side. Justin leaped back to her and grasping her shoulders he gently shook the frightened woman, then pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"It's okay now Madchen, you're safe now I promise," he repeated a couple times until she abruptly woke up. Taking a deep breath she pulled from his embrace looked into Justin's sympathetic eyes and smiled weakly at him.

"I'm sorry, did I frighten you? I sometimes have bad dreams and call out in my sleep," she explained. When Justin moved to sit on the living room table, she stretched slightly and swung her legs to the floor. Looking up she saw everyone looking at her worriedly.

"I guess I made more noise than I usually do," she said trying to make light of her violent nightmare.

"Do you usually have nightmares like that? It sounded like something Jarod or Justin usually suffer from," the major said compassionately.

"Not too often, I think it's rule eleven in the bad-guys handbook: nightmares, mandatory," she said with a kind smile trying to use humor to assuage his worry.

"Would it help to talk about it? " Emily asked.

"No, bad dreams are the first thing they hand out at the Centre. It usually doesn't happen when I'm with Jarod."

"Are they bad dreams about your mother's death?" the major pressed. He was still very curious about this fierce young woman whom he just recently found out possessed a rare brand of kindness.

"I'm that obvious? You would think that I would have gotten over her perfidy by now," Madchen said sadly.

"Your mother betrayed you? How? Catherine was the kindest, most devoted woman I've ever known," Margaret, replied alarmed and almost angry.

"The day my mother 'died' she brushed my hair that morning, gave me a present and took me with her to the Centre. A few hours later I saw her go into one of the elevators, then shots rang out. I ran over to where she was and I saw her lying crumpled on the floor of the elevator. That day an important part of me died," Madchen said mournfully.

"How horrible, to see your mother die practically right in front of you," Emily said softly as her imagination was assaulted by a wave of empathy for Madchen.

"That's the kicker. For most of my life I've been fed one lie after another. First I was told that she committed suicide, a tale that never quite sat well with me, but I believed it for over 20 years. Then Jarod uncovered one small piece of evidence after another pointing to the truth; that she had been murdered. Last year Broots and I found two damaged DSA's at Raines' forest house that showed her alive and trusting Raines a few months after she faked her suicide." Madchen finished feeling almost ashamed to voice what had been plaguing her for so many months.

"Did you ever find out how she really died? " Justin asked.

"Yes, the other DSA showed her death at Raines' hand. He shot her immediately after she gave birth to Ethan," Madchen replied. Glancing at the grave expression on Margaret's face she continued, "Aunt Maggie, would you have exposed Emily to your faked suicide, knowing she would hear the shots and do everything in her power to get to you? Or would you have done whatever was necessary to spare her that, make sure she had to be at a piano lesson, say or perhaps a dance lesson instead?"

Margaret's face changed and she lowered her eyes allowing Madchen's grief and confusion to wash over her. She quietly choked out a reply, "No, I wouldn't have done that." Major Charles clinched his jaw to control his own emotions and shook his head in answer that he too wouldn't have put any of his children through that kind of useless trauma.

The room was solemnly quiet as each occupant silently came to terms in their own way to what Madchen had said. After a few minutes of stillness Margaret spoke, "Madchen, there is something that I need to tell you. Your mother didn't forget about you, she had a plan in place, a contingency plan unfortunately it failed."

Jarod, Ethan and Oliver entered the room as Margaret made the last admission. They finally came in after waiting in vain for Justin to return with the lemonade. Seeing the solemn faces in the living room, Jarod immediately whisked a sleepy Oliver upstairs where he could get started on his nap. When he returned, he saw Ethan sitting next to Madchen on the couch and he sat perched on the arm of the sofa next to his wife.

"Just before I lost contact with Catherine, she asked me to help her. When we discovered the scrolls' existence, she asked me to take you and raise you as my own if anything happened to her. She was certain that her life was in danger and she wanted me to rescue you. She gave me a letter that she wrote to you explaining her plan and why it was necessary. She had been dead for almost a year before I heard about her death. I was in hiding myself when the news reached me. By the time I was able to make it to Delaware, I found that I was just in time to see your exile. The sense of failure I felt ate at me. The last time I saw you, your small face was so sad and your father shoved you into the back of a black limo and sped away before I could kidnap you," Margaret said wryly.

"I hung around anyway to see if I could figure out where he was taking you. I ingratiated myself with one of your father's maids. She told me that you had been sent abroad because of some indiscretion on your part, she hinted that it was sexual in nature. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what a sheltered twelve year old could do that would have been so terrible. All I could remember was the sweet child who did the impossible and made me laugh when she was just 4 years old, so I couldn't believe what I was being told. I followed you to Switzerland but there were too many guards around you, I finally gave up. I'm so very sorry," Margaret said tearfully.

"Thanks, for letting me know. Somehow that makes me feel a lot better; it's not your fault you couldn't get to me. What you were planning is exactly what Daddy was afraid of, or at least that's what he told me," Madchen replied. "How would you like to hear about my so called indiscretion?" she asked with a smile. Margaret returned the smile weakly and nodded gratefully as she wiped the tears from her face.

"One day in the Centre I sneaked into an observation alcove above one of the sim labs. I looked down and saw one of the doctors teaching a lab rat how to dance. I saw him being taught waltzes, and other formal dances, nothing modern or up to date. I thought I had gone unobserved and when the lesson ended I waited patiently for them to leave. I was just about satisfied that no one would see me leave when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I almost jumped out of my skin. When I turned around I found it was the lab rat who had just finished his lesson. We were fairly good friends so we started chatting away immediately," she said with a smile of remembrance.

He asked her if she were interested in learning the dances he had just been taught. She shook her head and replied that real teenagers only danced like that when they were forced to, she softened her comment with an insouciant smile. He accepted her comment and asked her if she knew how to dance. She replied in the affirmative and added that she had also learned ballet but hadn't had lessons in quite some time, ever since her mother's death. She averted her eyes so the boy wouldn't see the raw pain she still felt. The boy was silent for a few seconds and asked if she would show him what she had learned.

They entered the darkened sim lab that the boy had just left. He stood just inside the perimeter of the open area he had been practicing in just a few minutes before. He watched in awe as she pirouetted, leaped and glided across the floor. She was caught off guard by the amazed look on his face and lost her balance. Before she hit the floor the boy, seeing that she had lost her balance rushed across and broke her fall. They were in a tangle on the floor when her father walked into the room.

"Well, Daddy chose that particular moment to walk in on us. What he saw was two preteens sprawled and tangled up together on the floor. He went into a cold fusion melt down, he dragged me away by the shoulder. When we got home I asked him what did I do wrong, he hit me so hard, I could feel the welt begin to form on my face," Madchen said with a laugh.

"That was the first time I heard the terms lab rat, science experiments and Centre property being applied to human beings. I was being punished for interfering with important work. Then Daddy held up one of my school notebooks. In it I had doodled on several of the pages the name of the boy I fell on, I was suffering from a harmless crush. That's when Daddy presented me with the first of our numerous deals; I was to return with him the next day and break it off with my first boyfriend and to do it in no uncertain terms. In exchange, Daddy promised that he wouldn't take his wrath out on the boy and beat him senseless which he reminded me would be a waste of Centre resources that I would have to make up. I obviously agreed.

"The next day, I went to see my young friend. We met in one of the darkened sim rooms; he immediately embraced me, asked if I were okay and then started yammering on about finally knowing that I was the one. He was certain of it the minute I landed on top of him. He knew that when we were older we would be married and have children. Well, that's when something in my head snapped, I started laughing. You know that hiccupping laugh one gets when they are just on the brink of complete hysteria.

"Well he was hurt, I could see it in his face. Before I could stop myself from laughing and explain, Daddy entered the room and dragged me out. From the proud and pleased look in his face, I knew I must have crushed that poor kid's heart. I ignored the shame I felt and the slow erosion my own heart was suffering and returned home. The next morning you saw me getting packed away to Switzerland," Madchen concluded slightly shocked that everyone in the room was hanging on her every word.

"What was the name you wrote in your notebook?" Emily asked wondering if Madchen knew if the boy were still alive or not.

Before Madchen could answer, Jarod said, "you never told me that before. I'm glad I was right, you're still the one for me, we're married and your pregnant."

"Oh my God, it was you? Jarod, you were the boy she was involved with before getting shipped to boarding school?" Margaret started to laugh at the convoluted coincidences, her laughter was infectious and soon she had everyone laughing with her.

When the laughter calmed down some the major asked with a smile, "so when were you two going to tell us about the baby?"


The next morning started as usual, the family woke up fairly early to start the day, fussing and teasing Madchen about her pregnancy. By midday almost everyone was enjoying a luncheon picnic out on the sand. Inside the house, Madchen was talking incessantly on her cell phone; first in rapid fire Japanese to someone who was obviously a friend, then to the manager of her restaurant in Iowa. A minor emergency had cropped up that needed her attention and she was busy giving her manager specific instructions about what was to be done, she also insisted that he frequently visit and deliver a specially made dinner to her elderly neighbor. As she was finishing the call, she noticed Margaret sitting at the breakfast table, waiting for her patiently. Hanging up she asked, "Is there something wrong, Margaret?"

"No, dear nothing is wrong," she replied while her fingers fidgeted with an envelope. "How many languages do you speak?" she asked curiously.

Shrugging in mild confusion, Madchen answered, "six fluently and 2 others fairly well, why do you ask?"

"Just curious," she replied and with a sad sigh to herself to stop stalling she continued, "your mother gave this to me several years ago to give to you in the event I was able to extricate you from your father. I know too many years have passed but I feel it's only right for you to have this," she said, handing the aged and creased envelope to her.

When Madchen delicately took the letter from her hand Margaret gave her an apologetic smile and with the purpose of giving Madchen her privacy she walked outside towards where the others were picnicking. Madchen looked at the envelope for a few long seconds before carefully opening it and removing two folded sheets of paper. She slowly unfolded the sheets unsure if she wanted to have another piece of her twisted past revealed. Almost as if they had a mind of their own her hands gently smoothed the pages straight and she began reading.

An hour later she was still sitting at the breakfast table, now just staring into space. She couldn't believe what Margaret had just handed her. It had been almost a year since she first found out about her mother's plan; she had searched in every place she knew. Now here it was laid out before her, stirring memories and pleading to be acted upon. She released a deep breath she didn't recall holding and made a decision. For all her grief and anger at her mother, she was determined to make sure her last request would be made a reality. Madchen got up and walked to the others with determination.

As she approached the group, they called out to her warmly to join them. She smiled at the familiarity and the uncertain feelings in her breast hardened and made her even more resolute. She walked directly up to Jarod, and crouching down on her haunches, careful not to jostle anyone and faced her husband. Looking directly in his eyes she said simply, "I need your help."

Taking a moment to return her frank gaze, he answered, "What's the matter?"

"I finally was given my mother's plan, her final wishes. I need your help to implement it."

"Alright, it sounds like you have something specific in mind."

"Your right, read this," she said handing him the letter Margaret had given her. "I have a plan of my own, but according to this letter, I've overlooked a few things."

Jarod took the letter and began to read. He scanned the pages again after reading it through. Looking up in awe he said, "are you sure you're ready to do this?"

"You don't know what I have already set up. Let's go inside, I don't want to interrupt everyone's fun," she said noticing that everyone around was paying close attention to their conversation.

Laughing easily Jarod replied, "It's a bit too late for that. You don't know this yet, but you've just joined the ranks of an overprotective family.

"Come on, Wonder-husband, I have some things I need to explain to you, and you're going to need your laptop for this," she smiled as she straightened up. "Anyone else interested in this little endeavor of mine is welcome to join us, but if it were me I would enjoy the beautiful weather.

Once everyone had reassembled in the front living room area and Jarod had his laptop powered up and ready, Madchen began telling him what she needed him to do.

"Just before I left the Centre I had Broots and Angelo formulate two different computer viruses designed to selectively delete certain files and then corrupt all the remaining data in the Centre's various mainframes. Jarod, what I need you to do is to design a program that will redirect the funds in each account my mother talks about in her letter to another anonymous account where the funds can then be reallocated and distributed to various charities."

"I think I can come up with something along those lines," he gave her his trademark smirk. "I can make it difficult to detect right away and virtually impossible to stop."

"Perfect, that's exactly what I need. I think I'm beginning to understand why Daddy and his minions never wanted us to have any relationships they couldn't control," she replied treating him to her own mischievous grin.

"There is one problem. According to your mother's letter there are hidden assets in numerous financial institutions as well as shell companies. She alludes that you know which companies and banks were used but without the specific account numbers this could take some time to figure out which accounts belong specifically to the Centre."

"That's the one thing my mother planned ahead for that had a reasonable chance of success. She had me memorize all the account numbers, access codes, passwords and the names of the people who handled the accounts for each shell company. She made me promise never to tell Daddy what we had done. I still remember all that stuff she gave me," she replied pensively. "It was only after reading her letter that I realized the import of what she had me do, it is the last thing that connects me to her, besides hearing her voice in my head occasionally."

"Madchen there are almost a thousand different accounts she refers to, how could you memorize all that information?" he asked perplexed.

"And not ever become one of Raines' science projects? Momma said that was part of the secret of what made me special. She didn't want anyone to know about it and made me promise to hide the fact that learning was easy, especially from Daddy. I heard one of the doctors who evaluated me tell her that I had superior analytical skills, something most toddlers didn't possess. She wanted to protect me from being used and wasn't too confident in Daddy's willingness to keep Raines' at bay. Believe me, my memory made school a total bore," she smiled affectionately at his astonishment.

"Okay, let me get to work on the program, and then we can get into placing a trigger in each account," Jarod stated already becoming absorbed in solving the problem in hand.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Justin asked eager to be a part of anything that would hurt the Centre.

"Well, as a matter of fact there is. I want to divert all the funds from at least eight sleeper accounts into highly secured and confidential Canadian accounts. Those will be my contingency plans, just in case anything goes wrong." Madchen replied as she watched Margaret play quietly with Oliver.




*Three days later*
The Centre
Blue Cove, DE



"I was unaware there was a change in leadership at the Triumvirate. Any idea who the big noise is and why they felt it necessary to breathe down our necks personally?" Lyle asked feigning unconcern.

"Our job is to protect the Centre Mr. Lyle. Whatever the new Triumvirate head should want than I for one will make sure he is pacified," Raines rasped looking genuinely unconcerned.

"Then what is the problem that brings him here to our humble corner of the world?" Lyle asked feeling certain it had something to do with Progeny.

"Your sister's coincidental and continued absence at the beginning of a project in which she was the principal participant. The Triumvirate is aware of Progeny and had approved it when she decided on her career change," Raines stated with some venom.

"Really? Silly me, and I thought it had something to do with certain predictions and timetables. There was no coincidence in her disappearance, that computer geek Broots must have stumbled on the file and showed it to her."

"The timetable is narrowing, and your failure to reacquire Miss Parker was a profound disappointment, Lyle."

"I keep reminding you, Mr. White failed to keep me apprised so she slipped from his fingers; he is still in the Renewal Wing recovering from the force of my displeasure. Would you mind sharing the reason for this timetable, perhaps if I knew the nature of it, it would assist in dear Sis's recovery."

Pausing a moment to consider the request, Raines' looked at his most successful sociopath. There was no harm in telling Lyle the scrolls' prediction, especially since any failure in controlling the outcome would fall squarely on his shoulders. Taking a deep, surreptitious breath of bottled air Raines began, "the prediction was simply this; your sister holds the legacy of the Centre in her hands, or more accurately in her womb. The future of the Centre will be her child. To control who the father will be and then subsequently controlling the child itself was of paramount concern to the Triumvirate. I am told the timing was specifically spelled out and the next few weeks are critical. If she is not already pregnant within that time frame then she will never have children."

"Interesting, if I had been told this in the first place, then I would have accompanied Mr. White myself. When White fell into Parker's trap that insured the loss of any more leads on any of Jarod's family and with the fact that she and Jarod are now an item, I seriously doubt that we'll hear from them again." Lyle said contemplatively.

The voice that answered him had a deep, booming quality; one that was familiar and at the same time impossible because it was supposed to be dead. "You're forgetting about the cell phone your sister procured from Mr. White. My Angel is a highly intelligent and capable operative. I'm sure once she is made aware that not all was lost then she will come to her senses and return with Jarod to her rightful home."

Lyle jumped up from the seat he was lounging in as though someone had lit a fire underneath him. He spun around in incredulity and faced the man who claimed to be his father. He looked very well for a man presumed dead from drowning. He had lost a few pounds, but looked the better for it, more fit and domineering in appearance as well as attitude.

Mr. Parker strode purposely towards the desk and ignored Lyle's presence as he stood across the desk looking at his brother who had slowly risen to his feet. With a sepulchral smile he nodded familiarly at Mr. Raines. "Has anyone made contact with my daughter or has she attempted to make contact?" he asked haughtily.

"No Mr. Parker, she hasn't called and I have been waiting for your arrival before making any attempt to contact her," Raines responded sounding as though the words were coming with his last breath.

"Good, then let's get the show on the road. The window of opportunity is closing and we haven't any time to lose. So far the scrolls have been accurate to the last detail, I would be surprised if she isn't already pregnant with Jarod's child as much as that disturbs me. This whole situation should have been closely monitored and controlled," he said accusingly.



Island cabin
Off the Maine coast


The final touches on her plan had been completed. Jarod had been slightly awed at her total recall of the massive amount of information entrusted to her when she was just a toddler. When they finished she felt numb and relieved, the secret she carried with her was finally revealed and would be utilized in a plan so ingenious that she had to smile. The spirit of her mother's plan, which had been annexed onto her own, would see the light of day.

She was quietly talking and teaching Oliver to read when the cell phone she took from Mr. White began to ring. She had it set up on the counter nearby already fitted with an anti-tracing device. The room, which had been filled with raucous voices and laughter abruptly, stilled. Slowly Madchen rose from the floor, walked to the cell phone and answered in her usual Parker manner, "what?"

"Miss Parker, it is so nice to hear your voice. Have you been enjoying your extended vacation?" Raines rasped into the phone.

"I've been waiting for your call, what's taken you so long, someone replace your oxygen with helium?" Madchen asked with sarcasm.

"It's nice to know that you haven't changed in the months you have been away but it's time to come home now," the older man said proprietarily.

Releasing a low, humorless laugh she answered, "it's a little late for the concerned father act Raines, 'Make room for Daddy' doesn't suit you, how Annie ever stomached it is beyond me."

If he had the air, Raines would have sputtered, instead Mr. Parker saw the man turn ashen as an uncontrollable rage seized him and precluded speech. Taking the phone from him, Parker decided that now was the time to reveal himself to his daughter.

Hearing the choking sounds on the other end of the connection, Madchen allowed herself a grim smile of satisfaction. She truly detested Raines and any attempts on his part to try to exert control over her were depraved. She was waiting patiently for Raines to regain his breath when another voice came on the line.

"Angel, is that you?" her father's voice boomed into the receiver.

A door in her mind opened and a flood of emotions transfixed her. Long intensive training, years of blind loyalty and her obsessive need for his approval and love in the face of his many perfidies took hold of her outward appearance and voice. "Daddy? Daddy? Is that you, are you there?" she asked with a convincing note of disbelief and incredulity in her voice.

"Yes Angel it's me. It's good to hear your voice again, believe me I thought I would never hear another friendly voice," he said, confident that he had reestablished control over his daughter. No one understood the bond he had painstakingly established in her since the moment her mother brought her home.

"Daddy," she whispered in awe. "We all thought you were dead, what happened? Are you alright?"

Satisfied by the note of emotional neediness in her voice he answered, "Yes, when I threw myself on the mercy of fate, I was sure I was going to die. Funny thing, when I plunged into the sea I lost my grip on the scrolls, and then I felt a tugging sensation just as I started to sink deeper. Seems I was just a few hundred feet from landing on the deck of a commercial fishing boat. They hauled me out and nursed me back to health."

"My God Daddy. It's so good to hear your voice, I was sure I had lost you," she said almost tearfully.

Pleased with the sound of her voice he decided that now was the time to get her to return home. "Angel, what is this I hear that you left the Centre? I realize that you never got along with Raines but you're my legacy. I need you here to make sure the Parker name remains strong."

"Daddy, you were dead. I saw no point in continuing, the Centre was your dream not mine," she paused for effect then continued, "or Momma's."

"You are my legacy, you're needed here, you're home is here. You're a Parker; no matter how you feel about it the Parkers and the Centre are intertwined. You belong here as much as you belong to it," he said with a sudden flash of anger. "Come back now and it will be like old times, nothing will be said of your absence or temporary loss of faith. I have big plans for you, and it's about time you start living up to them. The chairman's position is waiting for you to occupy it," he said smugly.

"Yes Daddy, I understand, but it's been so long-."

"The sooner you return than the sooner we can start building this corporation into a place that even your mother would be proud of," he interrupted brusquely. "I understand from Lyle that you have caught up with Jarod."

She could hear his avaricious interest over the phone and was sure that White told him more than he was letting on. Deciding a change of subject would yield more information from him she asked, "Daddy, you're the chairman. There is no way that I could ever replace you, I would never dream of it."

"We'll get into all that when you return, suffice it to say that I have solidified our family's position with the Triumvirate."

There was a long pause then she answered him taking a deep breath, "Daddy, I won't be returning. You don't need me any longer let me go."

"Okay Angel, I could never hide anything from you. I am the leader of the Triumvirate now. It happened when the fishing vessel I was on returned to port, to one of the ports on the western shores of Africa. When I came to, I had a new vision and purpose. I have accomplished half of what I set out to do, you as my legacy will fulfill the other half."

"It also didn't hurt that you were the last person to have read the scrolls and lived to tell about it. The Triumvirate knew that and you were able to tell them a few details to get them to back down from killing you. In true fashion you must have turned the tables on them."

"As I keep telling you, you can't keep a Parker down. That applies to you; I know it was hard staying here and having to work with Raines. Especially believing that I was dead, well that's all changed, I've returned and I'm in a better position to protect our interests."

"Let me go, Daddy. You have Lyle, he's your son, he'll do anything you want and we're both aware of how much he has coveted the chairman's position. You couldn't have a better sycophant."

"Nonsense, I need both my children here, by my side ready to take up the reins of power. You belong to the Centre; it's part of your blood. And while your at it, bring Jarod in also there's no need to let on that you're returning, just pick a spot and we'll meet you."

"No Daddy, I no longer belong to the Centre, my place is with Jarod now," she said with intrepidity.

"Angel, this isn't the time to be stubborn. I can only protect you so much, trust me, bring Jarod in and all will be forgiven. He's been filling your head with nothing but lies, preying on your emotions during a time of weakness, return to the Centre where you both belong," he said unthinkingly as he felt his control slowly slip through his fingers.

"Jarod is mine now, we belong with each other, and neither of us are returning," she hissed allowing her anger to show in her voice. "'Trust you', you have used that line on me so many times it's become hackneyed. I don't need Jarod to open my eyes, you did that all by yourself when you did your flying Walinda imitation on the plane."

He winced when he realized his slip of the tongue, but as she continued his face became white with rage. "You don't know what your saying. Angel, you don't want the full force of the Centre to be brought to bear against you. This is your last chance to return and take your rightful place by my side, as my daughter and a Parker."

"And what about Project Progeny? It was you who finally gave approval to Raines' pet project. I wondered why it had been suddenly permitted. How long were you going to keep me in the coma Daddy? Is that your idea of returning to my rightful place by your side?" she asked genuinely curious.

"Is that why you're being so recalcitrant? I gave him approval only to shut him up, I would never have let him do anything to hurt you, what has Jarod been telling you?"

"Daddy, I love you, more than you can know. I tried so hard but you were never satisfied. The Centre doesn't scare me, I've been off their radar for several months, and I'm not likely to break out in a sweat to continue to elude you. I have a new life now and Jarod is part of it, remember it was you who taught me never to share."

Sensing that she was on the verge of hanging up he continued quickly with his threat, "It's not over my dear, not by a long shot."

"I know the reason for the sudden concern in having me return, Daddy how could you?" she asked mournfully. "Margaret told me what she and Momma found out in Carthis, about the predictions."

"All they could have heard were rumors, I know the truth. You are the legacy of the Centre, my legacy and I will never let you go," he replied with steely determination.

"You've put all your confidence in a pair of dusty, stupid scrolls and when they predict a course of action, you're willing to follow it regardless of the steep price in misery, my misery. I will do everything in my power to make sure Progeny never happens," the regretful resolve in her voice reverberated through the connection. It was clearly apparent that she finally stopped allowing her father to exercise his influence over her life. She abruptly ended the call and leaning forward with both hands on the back of the sofa she fixed her gaze on the opposite wall. The room around her was quiet she had finally confronted her father without caving into his demands. She understood his reluctance to let her go, she felt the same reluctance but knew it had to be done. Without warning she threw the cell phone still in her hand at the wall with such force that it shattered to bits.



The Centre
Blue Cove, DE


Mr. Parker slowly returned the phone to its handset. He was staring into space when he realized with a start that he wasn't alone. Looking up he saw the interested and malevolent stares from Lyle and Raines.

"She refuses to return. Knowing my daughter, she's probably destroyed the cell phone she took from White," defeat tasted like bitter ashes in his mouth.

"Then we wait, It's almost certain that she's pregnant and that Jarod is the father. If that is the case, he will find it necessary to inform Sydney when the child is born. We will obtain the baby directly from its mother's arms," Raines said with unquestioning purpose.

Mr. Parker looked at Raines blankly. He had just lost his most steadfast ally, an ally weakened by her emotions but uncorrupted and possessing a hidden kindness and naiveté about his true self that was always endearing and easy to manipulate. Straightening his shoulders and his slumped posture he said gruffly, "I don't know about you, but I'm going to reallocate my assets, just in case Jarod fails to call Sydney."

"Um, Dad, there is going to be a little problem with that. I for one honestly thought you had fallen to your death; in your will you left the bulk of your monetary assets to Sis. We found out when she pulled her disappearing act that she liquidated all your assets. We have reason to believe she created 'retirement' plans for Broots and Sam, her sweeper, there's probably one hidden away for Sydney as well. It's all gone, including the money you had hidden in your safe deposit boxes," Lyle said impassively. He was secretly pleased by the shock-slackened look that plastered itself all over the Triumvirate leader's face.



Island cabin
Off the Maine coast



She stared at the destroyed cell phone blankly. Walking slowly to her own cell phone she started dialing. Looking up at the concerned expressions on her new family's faces, she gave them a shaky, reassuring smile.

"Broots? How are you, and Debbie?" she asked him considerately. Questioning looks were passed back and forth around the room. She paused listening to Broots' lengthy answer to her simple question. "That's good to hear. Yes, I'm fine and Oliver says 'hello'. Broots, Listen! It's time; I was just contacted by them. I need you to trigger the first virus, now," she said almost forcefully.

She paused again, listening and continued, "Yes, I'm sure. It's time for this to end once and for all. Take care, I'll call you next month," she disconnected hastily.

"Approximately 2 months from now the Centre as we know it, will be well on its way to complete extinction," she said quietly.

"What did you do?" Ethan asked, intrigued by his sister's grand announcement.

"Broots is in the process of activating a virus that will completely corrupt the data in all of the Centre's numerous mainframes. Angelo created another virus that will lay dormant in the Delaware mainframe until it is transferred into one of the blue boxes that are decoded and eventually stored in the data annex in Connecticut. Angelo's virus is designed to spread faster than an Ebola outbreak and start eating away large chunks of that data making all the past and present information stored there look like Swiss cheese," she said with a malicious grin.

"So without data than the Centre has nothing to trade, but what about the Triumvirate?" Major Charles asked, excited hope was apparent in his face.

"Angelo designed a second virus that is linked into the Centre's email system. Once Broots activates the initial virus, it will cause a cascade effect and trigger the other viruses. Any email sent to the Triumvirate will carry the virus with it and affect their entire computer system and the systems of anyone they contact using computers."

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Margaret asked hesitantly, "we're finally free?"

"Yes, we're all free. No more running and hiding and no one chasing any of us." Madchen remarked as she looked around the quiet room of stunned faces. They had been running for so long the thought of finally being able to stop was more like wishful thinking, a distant dream without the hope of ever being fulfilled.

Hesitant smiles were exchanged and all at once everyone was talking, crying and embracing each other. The serious look on Madchen's face convinced them as much as her conversation with her father.

"When will we know for sure that we're free? How will we know?" Emily inquired holding on to Justin as though he were a lifeline.

Smiling at her uncertainty, Madchen felt she understood Emily's reluctance in believing the behemoth organization that had dictated and controlled her life was finally in the process of being destroyed. "It will probably hit the international news channels in a few weeks. Broots wanted to make sure that some of the Centre's more notorious activities would grab the attention of Interpol. So he made sure some highly classified files were buried in their database. He will send a few emails to them and the press to make sure the files are recovered."

"My God, it's true. Those dusty, old scrolls are real. They predicted that the end of the Centre would come when it succeeded in betraying one of its own. Nothing would be able to stop it." Unaware that tears were flowing down her cheeks, Margaret reached up and hugged her husband.

Jarod enveloped Madchen in a hearty embrace and after kissing her tenderly whispered in her ear, "thank you."

Ethan who was grinning from ear to ear had taken down several glasses and poured wine for everyone. "This deserves a toast! To our freedom: Nothing desired for so long could be sweeter!"

A round of cheers and shouts of joy reverberated through the house as Madchen was immediately swallowed up into a group hug from her new family.



*Two weeks later*
The Centre
Blue Cove, DE


"Any news on Raines' whereabouts?" Lyle asked with a modicum of curiosity.

"I would guess he is still trying to talk his way out of being cleansed. My two colleagues were unimpressed when Interpol showed up with documented proof of some of his scientific failures. I felt it only right to abstain from the proceedings, I didn't want family ties to muddy the waters." Mr. Parker responded as he and Lyle stood just outside his outer office doors looking at the unusually bustling traffic of Centre employees scrambling to shred any incriminating paperwork.

"It's a wonder he was even able to attend. From what I understand, Sis took some extreme measures to make sure there wasn't a dime left in any of Raines' personal accounts. She also knew about some hidden accounts that our breathless brethren thought he had concealed from everyone." Amusement at Raines' financial situation was one of the few things that kept Lyle coming to work at the Centre. He had always known Parker's feelings towards him but so far she hadn't tampered with any of his accounts or his life. A fact that made him nervous, he had the prevailing feeling that there was another shoe left to drop and it was aimed squarely at his head.

"Not having a private pilot at our disposal has severely cut down our ability to travel abroad. Thank God there were a few offshore accounts that your sister was unaware of or we would really be left hanging," Parker said with disdain.

"Sorry Dad, I guess you haven't heard the latest report. All offshore shell account funds held by the Centre were liquidated. All the money in those accounts has officially gone missing, the accounts were all closed late yesterday."

Heaving a disgusted sigh, Parker looked appraisingly at his son. "Part of your mother's duties at the Centre was the setup and control of the offshore accounts and the shell companies. When she began to actively defy the Triumvirate, they became worried and ordered her silenced. The only way for your sister to know about those accounts was for your mother to have told her."

"It's comforting to know that I took over part of my mother's responsibilities. I suppose I would be fighting with Raines over the window seat if the affects of Miss Parker's scheme had been detected sooner. Seems that Sis has a soft spot for me after all." Lyle commented dryly.

With a soft grunt of disapproval, Parker turned on his heel and entered his office, leaving Lyle to contemplate his future. The end of the Centre was an established fact and his daughter's betrayal had brought it about. He would never tell her, and she would never believe him if he did but he had tried to protect her in his own small way by concealing some other parts of the scrolls' predictions from the Triumvirate.

'The fall of the Centre will be in the hands of the Legacy. Uncontrolled, the Legacy will unite with the Chosen and the Centre will end in infamy.'

He knew it the second his Angel had started defying him, just like her mother. Currently he didn't have the means, but there were a few things that neither mother nor child knew about. He had one other bank account, small compared to his prior holdings, which he could draw on for funds. A slow, sly smile grew on his face as he already began to plot his comeback and his daughter's inevitable return with his grandchild in tow.





Later on that same day, Jarod and Madchen were lounging in the sand thoroughly enjoying the late afternoon. Madchen was resting her back on Jarod's chest relishing the feel of his arms wrapped around her body. She released a contented sigh and turning slightly she rested her forehead against his stubbly chin.

"According to Angelo it looks like your plan is working. I can keep in touch with him because his computer isn't tied into the Centre's mainframe. So when are you going to tell me the rest of it?" Jarod whispered to her. "I remember your ideas, they usually turned out to be more than what they originally started out."

"You're right, my original plan was for Broots to find a way to seize the accounts each mainframe draws on for payroll purposes. I told him to divert the entire payroll to a number of non-profit organizations that help abused and endangered children. It's hard to demand loyalty when you're not paying your employees. The minute the Centre looses the principal assets it draws upon to pay for services rendered then they will start to loose personnel as well. The whole thing should start to fall apart from within. I included Raines' personal accounts because he murdered my mother. How did it go with Lyle?"

"I have a little poetic justice in mind for him, Lyle doesn't know it yet but there is documented proof that he absconded with millions in U.S. government funds that were allocated for certain impoverished Asian countries. There is a trail even the dimmest bulb in the pack could follow. Unfortunately the trail winds directly through your father's last hidden account." Jarod said cautiously waiting for her reaction.

"Thank you, Jarod, for handling that particular loose end," she said with a small chuckle. "Daddy would have never let me go, as long as he's alive I think he would try to use me to resurrect the Centre," she said, ashamed for her father and all the misery and lies he heaped on his own family as well as others. "Why don't we go back inside and join in the celebration. I think our family will be celebrating for the rest of their lives," she said trying to shake off the oppressive cloud of depression that was threatening to enclose her.

"I have something better in mind. How about a celebration of our own?" he said with a smile in his voice.

Madchen felt Jarod's hands on her shoulders as he pulled her back against his chest. She settled against him feeling secure that he honestly loved and wanted her.

"I felt our baby move inside me today, I know it's early but I can feel him all around me," she said contentedly.

"Him? Then is it going to be a boy?" the proud father asked.

Turning half way in his arms so she could see his face she replied, "yes, and he talked to me for the first time, he says his name is Matthew. I can't explain how bizarre that feels, to have our child's voice in my heart already."

Thoughts of his impending fatherhood were beginning to monopolize his thoughts. "I want to share this with the whole family. You're going to have to get used to being fussed over because you are carrying the first child to be born completely free in our family." He was ecstatic that the baby had told her his name, just then she leaned further into him and started to stretch every muscle in her body. Jarod was speechless for a few seconds from sensory overload. Her stretch was extensive as he placed his hands under her shirt feeling her muscles contract and slowly relax.

Smiling mischievously he guided her gently down onto the beach blanket and rolling on top of her, he stared into her smoky eyes and grinning said, "ah yes, my favorite part."



Finis